Possible stretching problem. Need knowledge from experienced growers

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ljpowner

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First off. I'll introduce myself. I'm ljpower a full time college student who has recently got a pation to grow my own cannabis. I have started 6 plants and from seeds I got out off my bud. I don't know the genetics. I had started cultivation with 1 125watt hydrofarm grow bulb. 6400k spectrum. 20 on 4 off. I had started this light to grow 6 plants. They are on their 3rd week. They are taller but very thin stalked. And I read this was because light distance. I originally started with the light 16in away. It is a cfl. I read that that was way too far. So now I have moved them to about 5 inch's away from the light and added another bulb. I have a little desktop fan applying a breeze to strengthen stalks. I've also tied a couple of the plants up because they were at an extreme lean. Is there anything I need to do to help recover the strength from the plants? [

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Hi LJ, welcome. You have lots of stretch. Keep your lights on 24/7 and get the light closer. When you transplant bury those stems up to the leaves. I have never grown with CFL's.

Those cups need drainage holes, and slipped into another opaque cup. Roots don't like the light. Get some keg cups and replant.

What soil are you in?
 
I'm worried if I move the light closer that the plants will horde towards it and may neglect a few and I don't want to neglect any. This is my complete first time growing and I'm trying for 3 females. So how much farther down should I drop the lights? And also what size pots should they be going into? I don't have any on hand currently because im not sure what size they need and I'm in fear of that I'll hurt them because I've already damaged one stem while tieing one up. More info please? Its greatly appreciated. And I'm currently using miracle grow because of not being able to find organic. But I have found organic miracle grow on amazing and I'm ordering 64 quarts of it.
 
first of all, skip that miracle grow order ahd get something suitable to grow weed, which is very differentt from MG. get your lights to about 2" from your plants, put some white walls like cardboard or something to reflect the light being spilled sideways, and of course, you need opaque pots. the size of pots depends on how much you want to grow it, but i recommend it being 10liters or more. theres a learning curve you will go through, the best advice i could give you now is to listen to advice on MP from all the experienced growers, that will give you the most chances of getting it right, good luck
 
What soil should I get for growing? I've seen some that are ridiculously expensive. I've got nutes already. I've got a 20-20-15 a 30-10-10 and a 5-10-5 for the different stages. I haven't been using any because of the nutes in MG. I understand I'll need 3 gallon pots for the final flower stage because of roots. I'm attempting a 3-4month grow. I'm going to move them into red solo cups tonight with holes in the corners of the bottom for draining. And plant them down lower to where they are about 2in above soil. And move the lights up. So what will I need for soil wise that isn't 30 dollars per bag(with unreasonably small size)?
 
Hang your lights horizontally, you will increase your light output, your lights will also last longer with less heat in the ballast.
 
With those nutes and a prenuted MG, you are going to sink this grow.

Get a small package of fox farm ocean forest and you won't need any of those too strong nutes you have.
 
My real debate is now. Do I restart. And rebuild my grow stand design to use horizontal lights? I haven't really lost much resources.
 
If your talking bag seed then yes, you could start over, or you could make some changes and see what happens. You are learning a lot right now.
 
I feel as if I started fresh. Buy foxfarm. Hang the lights horizontal and keep 2in away from top of the leaves and in close the grow station with the reflective material I would be on schedule and have a better harvest. Rather than try to salvage an overstretched MG mess up. I really appreciate this guys. I'll keep everyone posted on how I'm doing. Thanks again
 
I agree. Mojo for the setup. The best reflective material is flat white paint. True.
 
Update. My baby's are gone. Giving back to the earth. Starting again soon. Thanks again
 
Update. My baby's are gone. Giving back to the earth. Starting again soon. Thanks again

Probably for the best, they were way way too stretched, next time come for help a little sooner and the people here will get you staightened out.
 
Dman is right--this is an extremely difficult hobby to go into blind. I recommend doing a bunch of reading before you pop seeds again so that you know the basics--things like the amount and types of light you need, ventilation, good soil, mixtures, nutes you need (those you have sound awfully strong), the best environment to grow in (temps, RH, etc), and how to set a grow space up. Reading up before hand would have told you that MG is not good, CFLs need to be really close, foil is a poor reflector of light, and the need for opaque pots. There really is a lot to growing indoors and cannabis has some very specific wants and demands. This is about a 4 month process and a myriad of things can go wrong. I hate to be the one to tell you, but IMO, getting the seedlings going is one of the easiest parts of growing--it is going to get more difficult from there on out. The more you know and are able to put it in practice, the better your chances for a successful grow.
 
Update! New set up. Took all of your advice and got rid of the old! I put reflective mylar up to reflect my cfls. I hung my cfls horizontal to maximize light. I just got done planting my seeds from Herbie's. Both are femenized money maker strain. I ditched the MG soil and bought 2 bags of Fox Farm Ocean Crest. Made a little irrigation system to catch the run off from me watering them. Obviously got real pots this time. They're in 1 gallon pots. I think I'm headed in the best direction. I also have the lights only 4 inches away. And both have a light! Thank you all so much for the help. Good vibes my new bud-dies. [emoji12] everyone have a happy holiday's!

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Your on your way, congrats, not to be a downer but you will need good ventalation and a better light as well as a filter and an enclosed space to flower properly.

You can back those lights off until u get some growth.

Good job, Happy holidays to u too.
 
I'm way too afraid to use any metal HID or HPS... So I'm gonna attempt to stick with my 125w 6400k cfl. And I have too ventilation. There is about a 4 in gap on the top where I have a desk fan pointed down that kicks on every 30mins. and I have a different light for flowering.
 
Spounds like you are on the right track. However, why in the world would you be afraid of using HID lighting? CFLs of like wattage put out more heat and less usable light. For example, your CFLs are using 250 watts and probably putting out around 15,000 lumens. A 250W HPS will put out 25,000-28,000 lumens, produce less heat, and can be housed in an air coolable hood that makes cooling quite easy--that is twice as much usable light for the same electrical usage. It matter not whether you are using 250W of CFL or 250W of HPS, you are using 250W....and the CFLs are hotter and produce less light than the HPS.

Your CFLs are larger so while the plants are young, you are going to want to start with the light further than 2" and work your way down. One light would probably be better while they are small. You will find that your ventilation set up is probably going to need some work. You actually do need to exhaust hot "used" air out of the space and bring in new fresh air. Right now you are mostly just moving the air around and not bringing in fresh air. While this is not critical while they are so small, later it will be. You need adequate ventilation for both heat control and supplying a continual supply of fresh air to the plants for proper photosynthesis. Also, like Dman mentioned, you are going to need a light tight space for flowering. What light do you plan on using for flowering? Your 2 125W CFL lights are only going to adequately cover a space about 5 sq ft or a space 3' x 20". If your space is bigger than that, you will be underlit. Also you will need more light for flowering--40% more.

Try and get your mylar hung perfectly smooth with no wrinkles. Wrinkles reduce the reflective ability quite a bit.
 
They're about 5-6 inches away from top of soil for starting location. I figured that would be good enough so that they wouldn't be too close
 
Watch them carefully and check on them regularly to make sure that the light is not going to burn them. Do you have an oscillating fan blowing on the plants?

Why are you afraid of HID? The large wattage CFLs are more of a fire hazard as they are hotter.
 

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