i started growing my plants on october 2, 2008. i've watered them every 3 days with filtered water that was poured into a cup of miracle grow potting soil that drained into another cup. i only have 4 plants as an experiment to see if i have a green thumb. now its been about 2 weeks and i'm not sure if my plants are supposed to be this tall. i have to keep raising the lights in the closet (where i am growing them on the middle shelf) almost eveyrday. i have a fan blowing on the bottom of the closet with a radiator w/ thermostat constantly on so i can keep an ideal temperature. I have 2 garden flourescent lights that are about 15 inches being used. my plants are already about 5-6 inches tall but 2 of them are starting to get weak and are toppling over. i have them supported now with popsicle sticks and will be transferring them to pots at the end of the week. am i doing something wrong? is there a way i can make the stems stronger? as you can see (hopefully) i'm starting to get 3 leaves per branch now.
lower the light, dont move it up until your plants get fater. you can transplant to knew pot and putt more soil futher up the stem. i would allso try toping the little guys to promote outward growth
i've never understood topping... am i supposed to trim the new leaves that are just starting to sprout? and will the roots be okay if i just keep throwing soil over the stem to make it stand more upright? sorry about all the questions but i really dont want to mess this up. :edit: are there any pictures to show how to top the plants?
dont top for abit yet, not till it gets its 3rd or 4th node and the bulbs your using i think are 18watters because of the length, 36 watts isnt good, your gonna need more light.
okay the lights are 24 inches long i actually measured it and how many more should i use because i dont see a wattage on the bulbs themselves.
These plants look very spindly. I agree with top-dressing to help support the stem. Not sure what type for floro tube you're using but a standard 24" T-12 tube is rated at 18 to 20W...maybe 1800 lumen. Bring the light close to the plant...3-4 inches from it. Get more light as soon as you can. additional tubes are cool or Compact Florescent Lamps.
In the right direction, 80W is probably only about 20W flourescent though. Check to make sure 80W is actualy wattage. You don't need to hang the cfl's far at all, i have 16 26W bulbs 2-3" away from the tops.
okay i have new pics of their 3rd week. the tallest one ended up falling over so i've decided to LST that one but the other ones are looking ok. i topped one of the plants also but i'm not sure if i did it right
i have a box fan on the bottom of the closet that is constantly on ::EDIT:: i have 3 new pics the first one i'm not sure is growing these "appendages" at the stem not sure you see them but my question is is this a male plant that is growing?
the soil i'm using is a mix because where i went to buy the soil i couldnt find one with the right amount of nitrogen so i mixed the soil.
well i'm down to 2 plants my friends dad found out about them and told me to get rid of them....but i kept the two that were growing the best. i think one might be male and the other female. i have a set of 7 leaves on my LST plant and 5 leaves on my topped plant. I've heard that 7 leaves is female and 5 is male. is this true?
bump need question answered oh yeh the plant that has 7 leaves is now sprouting 9. the one with 5 is still @ 5
new pics!!! stony (my LST) and Roxy (My topped). both are about 10 inches tall now and not showing any sign of sex just yet. the are about 5 weeks old almost 6. do they look okay?
It looks like your plants are doing well. Are you going to increase the light intensity when you switch to 12/12 to bloom? Remember that the plant will put on a growth spurt when they start flowering.