What I got going on- first grow

[Tonto]

Here's my large female, she's been growing for about 3 months. Please let me know why she's so little in comparison to many of the plants I see on the site!!

The smaller one has been growing for about a month. Why are they growing so slowly?

Any tips of any kind would be appreciated. Here's some more info:

Room is a 3' by 6' closet.
Light is a Philips 175W Metal Halide HID

What am I doing wrong?

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Whats up Fluid1. Tell us everything about your set up from lights, dirt, temps, nutes and so on. This will give us a better idea on what your doing.

 

[Hick]

"CLICK" here fluid

..an "uninformed" guesse?...not enough light(lumens), lack of flow through ventilation, and dfinately lacking circulation on/around the plants or they wouldn't require the stakes.

 

[W ï l l]

That 1 liter container isn't helping.


Nice camera though.

 

[Tonto]

For soil, I bought some of the 'nice' stuff from Wal-Mart, with a decent amount of moss and the white spongy things.
For lighting, I just have the one light, it's a Metal Halide HID phillips 175 watt. I ghetto rigged it as seen in the pics in the following post.
Temps? I keep the house at about 74*, but it's a little warmer in the growing room, because of the light itself and the ballast that gets hot. As for ventilation, I keep the door cracked open, have the small fan in the grow room as shown in the pics in the following post, and open the door while I'm on the computer and let the large ceiling fan and my CO2 that I breathe do it's stuff.
The good thing is that the momma plant smells like dirty skunk butt!

See next post for pictures of room/light/fan, ect.

 

[Tonto]

"CLICK" here fluid

..an "uninformed" guesse?...not enough light(lumens), lack of flow through ventilation, and dfinately lacking circulation on/around the plants or they wouldn't require the stakes.

Thank you for the link, I have read that, but I'm not too great on reading and then applying, sadly.

I have a fan aimed right by the plants because I have read that airflow will naturally make the plants grow stronger.....
Could be a lumens issue. Before I got the HID light, I was using some flourescents in regular fixtures, extra ghetto I know.

 

[Tonto]

Picture of the room as I look into it:

From outside the room

 

[Darth BongWongDong]

young jedi, put a 400 hps on them and they will do very well....your lights dont have the umphhh for em, however they look very healthy. They will grow an extra 2 feet in budding. and you will have many budds..........


The Colas will erupt with power...when given a taste of the dark side........

 

[Tonto]

Thank you master. What is this dark side you speak of?

When should I start them on the flowering stage? They currently get 16 hours of light a day.

 

[ROOR]

Going to a 12/12 light cycle will start the budding process. However, your little baby is def not getting enough light...look how far that light is from your plant...move it as close as possible w/o burning it!

 

[Tonto]

Going to a 12/12 light cycle will start the budding process. However, your little baby is def not getting enough light...look how far that light is from your plant...move it as close as possible w/o burning it!

That's the problem, it is at that distance now. You can see the tips of the lower leaves are slightly brown and black....they were burned from being closer than about 25 inches. Even with the fan aimed straight at the area between the plant and the light... I need moar lights

I know that going to 12/12 will begin the process, I'm just wondering when I should do it. Has my plant gone through enough vegetative growth at this point, or should I wait?

 

[Tonto]

I added another light I had laying around, one of the spiral flourescent ones that have a higher output than normal or whatever. It can't hurt, right?

Anyone with suggestions or anything would be appreciated.

 

[noobneedshlp]

Three months is a long time. They are definitely undersized for their age. I don't know of any soil that Wal-Mart carries that would be good for MJ.
1. Your plants definitely aren't getting enough light.
2. They look hungry. What are you feeding the plants? I didn't see a mention of nutes anywhere.
3. You also need a fan blowing on the plants. That helps develop the stalk nice and strong to hold all those buds.
4. What size is that pot? If that pot is full of roots already you will not get more growth. Root growth is proportional to top plant growth. Roots stop growing so does the top.
5. Metal Halide is good for veg. Not for flower. Wrong color spectrum. You need High Pressure Sodium.
6. Too hot or too cold stall growth. You definitely have heat issues. When i did a closet grow i used the AC that ran through it to cool it off. It made my bedroom warmer but it cooled that closet pretty good.
You can solve all the other problems but if you don't get that heat down your efforts will be in vain. Adding more lights add more heat even the new flourescents. More heat requires more CO2. With your plants being in the closet their CO2 intake is minimal at best. Hope you talk to them a lot. Talking to plants DOES help. You don't have to talk just breathe. Breathe in oxygen, breathe out CO2.

 

[Mutt]

5. Metal Halide is good for veg. Not for flower. Wrong color spectrum. You need High Pressure Sodium.

I have to comment on this one. Sorry. Just want to before you send the dude off to get a 150 buck system that he might not need.
MH might not be the "perfect" spectrum. but it is very capable of seeing a full grow through. HPS is the best for flower. but several on here get very decent yeilds from an MH. So decent in fact they don't see the need for the cost of an HPS.

 

[Tonto]

Three months is a long time. They are definitely undersized for their age. I don't know of any soil that Wal-Mart carries that would be good for MJ.
1. Your plants definitely aren't getting enough light.
2. They look hungry. What are you feeding the plants? I didn't see a mention of nutes anywhere.
3. You also need a fan blowing on the plants. That helps develop the stalk nice and strong to hold all those buds.
4. What size is that pot? If that pot is full of roots already you will not get more growth. Root growth is proportional to top plant growth. Roots stop growing so does the top.
5. Metal Halide is good for veg. Not for flower. Wrong color spectrum. You need High Pressure Sodium.
6. Too hot or too cold stall growth. You definitely have heat issues. When i did a closet grow i used the AC that ran through it to cool it off. It made my bedroom warmer but it cooled that closet pretty good.
You can solve all the other problems but if you don't get that heat down your efforts will be in vain. Adding more lights add more heat even the new flourescents. More heat requires more CO2. With your plants being in the closet their CO2 intake is minimal at best. Hope you talk to them a lot. Talking to plants DOES help. You don't have to talk just breathe. Breathe in oxygen, breathe out CO2.

First, thank you.

Okay.
1. I need more light. I will get a HPS 400 watt as soon as I have the extra $150 disposable income.
2. I don't feed them at all. I did a little at one point, some generic blue Miracle Gro granules that I would dissolve in water, but even with just a pinch in the water the plants didn't seem to like it. I ordered some of the Fox Farm big bloom last night after I read one of TBG's posts.
3. I have placed the plants more directly in front of the fan.
4. I'm not too sure what size the pot is. I guess I'll replant them in a larger pot.....what soil should I use to fill the extra areas?
5. Lighting again..... can the HPS work for both vegetative and flowering growth? After this test grow I plan to make a two sided cabinet, one for the mother and veg. growth, and one side for flowering. I suppose that I'll need two lights....
6. I don't really think that the temperature is an issue. I leave the closet doop open during the day, and I am in the room that has the closet most of the evening when I'm home, to look at them and provide them with the CO2 I exhale.

Any other suggestions??
Thanks to all, cheers!

 

[Tonto]

I have to comment on this one. Sorry. Just want to before you send the dude off to get a 150 buck system that he might not need.
MH might not be the "perfect" spectrum. but it is very capable of seeing a full grow through. HPS is the best for flower. but several on here get very decent yeilds from an MH. So decent in fact they don't see the need for the cost of an HPS.

Thank you for the information, Mutt.

 

[Darth BongWongDong]

do not trigger them til you get the hps, you will be sadly dissapointed. It will taste like bantha dung. will be weak and scrawny, and when you dry it, your main COLA might be as big as your thumbnail....

GET A 400 HPS......IT IS YOUR DESTINY

 

[Tonto]

So it has been written.....and so it shall come to pass

 

[Tonto]

Well, I have moved the smaller one to a different location, in a smaller enclosed location with two fluorescent lights very close to it, and flat white walls as opposed to the crap aluminum foil.
I am going to begin flowering with the MH light in about a week, after tonight's repot to a 3-gallon container with proper drainage I figure a week will be substantial enough for the plant to get adjusted to it's new home. Should I just take the foil off of the walls? The color is an off-white on the walls, would that be better than the foil?

 

[Tonto]

Here are the new pics: