I was recently given a few marijuana plants that were roughly 2 weeks old and had been growing outdoors. The person pulled them out of pot and planted them into a new pot with unknown soil. I currently have 4 plants all growing in the same rather small pot that is inside a 10 gallon tub lined with white. I have had them under a large CFL bulb putting out roughly 3000 lumens and a fan blowing on them. They have looked pretty good up until today and they sort of look and feel really dry. I have been watering them lightly every other day with rain water and they are currently in vegetative state. As of now they have been growing under this light for an extra 3 weeks and this is what they are looking like. Image #1 - http://i.imgur.com/enqxG.jpg?1 Image #2 - http://i.imgur.com/Cjj5K.jpg IMO they look a little skinny and stretched out, and some of the leaves are yellow/brownish. 3 of the 4 plants are the same height, but 1 is about 2-3 inches shorter then the rest. My questions: Is it possible to separate all the plants, and what the best method of doing this is? I am short on money, what is a good all around soil to use for marijuana? Is rain water a good source of water to use? The fourth "short" plant, should I just remove that and pitch it or does it have a chance of coming back?
First, get some lights immediately, they're stretching up to God my friend. CFL's are fine, vegging you should have "Daylight CFL's" They're the Cfl's that give off a lighter blue color. What watt CFL is it, and how far away is it from your plant?
42W bulb, 2700 lumens, and 2700 K. I have the bulb roughly 2 inches away from the plant at all times.
Okay, get more lights as soon as possible, the general rule of thumb is 100w for 1 plant and 50w for any additional plants under the same light 2700k is good for flowering but for vegging you want somewhere within the 5800-7000k range
Any advice on if I could separate the plants? They are literally all growing within 1 sq. in. of each other. I'm afraid the roots are going to be too tangled to separate them.
that's a tough one at this point I'd bet money that it would kill them, I'm not very knowledgeable on that topic but if i Had to bet money it would be that it either kill the plants or drastically stunt them.
You need to thin those to one plant per pot and for sure need more lights. Also, both of those are super hungry already.
these plants are stressed. separating them could very well kill them, but they've got to be separated, as soon as possible before they kill each other. This is what I would do. get yourself some neutral soil. sometimes you have find soil that is made of 100% compost. You can mix it with a little bit of sand or perlite. Get yourself a pot with plenty of drainage holes for each plant. Fill each pot with the new soil, digging a deep narrow hole down the center. Make sure your existing pot's soil is fairly dry, but not completely dry. You're now going to have to remove as much of the dirt from the roots as you can to separate them. Do NOT discard the dirt it's been growing in. When separating the plants, try your best to destroy as few roots as possible. Once they're separated, you'll need to see if the hole you made in your new pots are deep enough. We're going to eliminate their stretch by burying most of the existing stem. So once they're replanted, the soil should come up to about an inch from the bottom leaves. Stand the plants up straight in the hole, and using the soil they've been planted in, fill in the hole. Once everything is planted, gently pack the soil down a bit. You should then water them. New soil will take up a ton of water, so water them heavily. If you don't have 100 degree weather like where I live, and it's nice outside right now, and if you're able, I would put these plants outside in a sunny spot for a few days and hope for the best. If that's not possible, then you've got to seriously up your lighting. 6500k 23 watt CFLs will do the trick, but with 4 plants, I'd say you should shoot for 3-4 bulbs per plant. If you want to go the CFL route, know that you'll have to add CFL's later on as these plants grow (assuming they live). These guys might be able to be saved, but since they're already stressed, and doing what's necessary to save them will for a time stress them more, then chances are high that not all of them will make it. Good luck!
UPDATE: I've taken into consideration some of the advice given. Sisterstorm i did exactly as you said and I have managed to get all four plants separated, though it was sort of gruesome, and I hope it doesn't hurt the plants. I've added two more cfl bulbs @ 13W a piece, and 800 lumen, though they still are the same color temp @ 2700K. I didn't have separate pots to put each plant in, but I did section of 4 parts of my 10 gallon tub I have them in already and have lined the pot in foil to hopefully disperse the light more evenly. I noticed my basement feels a little dry, so I was wondering if there are any ways of raising the humidity down there like putting a plastic bag over my tub or something. Anyways heres some pics of them now. Image #1 - http://i.imgur.com/lHD0s.jpg?1 Image #2 - http://i.imgur.com/Jvc67.jpg?1 Any other tips are welcome, and thanks for your help guys!
This will do for now, and I would leave them be until they get healthier, but they've got to be separated into different pots. If money is an issue, see if your local hardware store has any they can give away for free. Sometimes they have a surplus of cheap pots that they use to sell their plants in. You should aim for about 1 gallon pots. Before you're ready to flower, put them in 3-5 gallon pots. Humidity will do more harm than good. In a basement, added humidity could increase the number of bacteria that might harm the plant. A good general rule of thumb is to water them regularly, but keep the humidity low. During seedling and veg stage I will mist my plants with plain water from time to time if they seem dry. I'm not kidding about the light. The number one cause of young growers failing is seriously underestimating how much light you need. Go outside at noon on a sunny day. Look at the ground. Look at how bright it is. When you look at your plants, it should be that bright. CFLs put off very little heat. It's so minimal if you have a fan, that you shouldn't even worry about it. If you have a probe thermometer, you can measure the temp of the air. I've found that there's a great drop off in temps 2 inches away from the bulb. You will want to use 6500k bulbs, or any bulbs in the blue spectrum. 4 bulbs per pot. By the time you finish with veg, you will need around 8. 12 for flower. I would also get rid of the foil. All that's going to do is create heat spots.
well its been a couple of weeks, figured I would let you guys know what has happened with my babies. I separated all 4 plants pretty violently but all 4 have managed to take hold again and are growing pretty nicely. One grew too close to the bulb and it burnt some of the leaves, and i think I have some spider mites which I have been treating with soap/oil/water mixture. I know they're pretty small, about 8", but I just began the flowering stage so I am expecting to be able to sex them within the next week. Here are some pictures. http://i.imgur.com/gxEQo.jpg?1 (This plant is drooping quite a bit, looks least healthiest) http://i.imgur.com/LI8Bt.jpg?1 (This is the shortest of the group) http://i.imgur.com/SwYfc.jpg?1 (This is 1 of 2 of the healthiest looking, with a few burnt leaves) http://i.imgur.com/1ErMF.jpg?1 (2 of 2 healthiest, but with a few pretty burnt leaves) Any comments/tips greatly appreciated.