Expensive seedlings really stretching and struggling

[thebudman123]

Germinated the seeds one week ago. then planted them into small rock-wool cubes. they seemed to be doing great, but were really stretching. so i got two new lights. 48 inch FL 40 watt sunshine and daylight bulbs. color temp in one is 5k and other is 6250k. i think those are both sufficient lights no? i had them 12 inches, they were getn lanky so i dropped them down to 8. the rock-wool seemed to be drying out rather quick maybe bcuz of the fan i dont know. so i transplanted all into bigger cubes after soaking them in balanced water of course. the temp in the closet always stays between 80-85. humidity is norm. feeding is a couple squirts of Ph balanced water wen i feel the cubes are either light in weight or jus dry. its been a few days since under lowere lights and new bigger cubes and they seem to be going stagnant. the stems are quite long n lanky and the leaves rather short. they look healthy but are jus really small. i dont know what the issue is. im thinking of putting them a few ft under my 400watt HPS cuz i jus feel as thought there not gettin enough light? i honestly dont know this is my first seedling grow and the blue cheeze big bubbah has died already.

Sorry for the shitty pics, dont be fooled by the low light in the pic i jus lowered the brightness. cameras charging ill try and get some updated ones so you guys could help bettter diagnose.

any ideas to help these lil girls would be huge guys.
thanks in advance!

[dsq1989]

im new to all this aswell but i kno for a fact 8in is way to far for your cfl's go head and lower em down to 1-2in above your sprouts hopefully that will do the trick i dont think they are to far gone but like i said in a noob to. anyway good luck!

[pal_treaux]

my plant stretched like that at first from not getting light, I read that you can put them in soil and just cover up about 75% and it'll be ok. I had it under a 50w plant light from home depot but now its under a 400w hps and its doing fine

[gr1dlock]

Put the CFL bulbs as close as you can get them without them burning the seedlings. I had this problem.

Basically lower the lights as close as possible and use the back of your hand to check for heat; put ur hand between the tops of the seedlings and the lights, if its hot move them up a little.

This solved my streching problem and I am using CFL's also you can get them pretty damn close before you start to feel any heat.

[thebudman123]

see ive heard so many mixed reveiws ppl telling me to riase them and drop them. do you guys think it would be better to jus throw them under the HPS light. im not worried about wattage use i jus want them to survive and i feel like the FL lights blow.

[gr1dlock]

Ive never had problems with the 120w CFLs since I lowered them just above the plants. The bulbs are decent when used properly. I'd basically lower them and see how they go; you have definately got them too high hence the streching. Your plants really want the light right now.

[thebudman123]

ok il sit the lights right on top and see how it goes. you guys think its too late?

[martyrprojekt]

Dude...Read my grow log...I am getting out of the light at the end of the tunnel on this same issue. Start going around the grow logs on here and you will find a lot of the same information you are asking for being answered through other peoples experiences.

Your lights are WAAAAAAAY to high. They need to be right on top of the plant. in my set up my lights sit about 2 -3 inches from the highest plants.

I too experienced stretching...It is very common in a number of plant breeds. In citral, for example, it is impossible to not find a grow where there was not some kind of stretching involved...EVEN WITH HPS lamps.

What I would do is prepare for the plants to fall over. Get some zip ties or a little stick and twist ties to brace the seedlings for the leafy veg period coming up. By doing this, you will save all of your plants from falling onto the rockwohl and dying.

And go buy a T5 light for veg growth, it will save your ass...and by making these little mistakes, it only makes us better in future grows.

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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