Hi first of all i would like to say thanks to everyone thats posted usefull info on here it's kept me busy for months readin up on how to grow stuff;-) Well ive finaly got around to it i got some seeds From GC the Germination process went perfect the cracked and the tap root was out in under 20 hours " im growing AK-48, Chrystal and orange bud " anyway that first bit went way better then i expected. ok i got some soil from my local nursery " the guy said it was ideal for my use " so i dropped the little babies in and the next day there they all were popping there heads above the soil, so i moved them to there perm location i popped them under 8 20Watt CFL's " about 2 inches from the top of them " they seemed to be going fine but the next day i took a look and they were very stretched i would say about 2 to 3 inches long. So i couldent lower the lights any more as then stems and gone past the top of my lights anyhow, So i came back to GC forums and looked about for reasons why there stretching so much and the common answer seems to be the lights to far away which i dont think was the cause of my stretch " but hay im a noobie at this so i might be wrong " anyway to cut a long story short as im starting to waffle and ive got no smoke to chill me out " i went to my local DIY place and by 2x2 ft 18 wat strip lights and i mount them in between my CFL's now the question is (1) is this to much light for them or is there no such thing as too much light ? and will it stop the stretching as now there is more light to go around ? ok Round (2) My misses has just brough me a weather station so i popped that in to my grow room and the temp seemed steady at about 92F about 36oC now from what i can see the plants dont seem to mind the high temp there all nice and green and ive read different views on the ideal and extrem temps one post wil say my temp is way to high and the other one that it's fine so im confused So if one of you pro farmers out there could answer me this one direct i would be truly greatfull. Final Round " honest " Humidty ok at the moment in my grow room the humidty is <=19% is this a good or a bad thing should i bring the humidty up or just leave it as it is ? Ok thats that off my chest sorry for the mini novel but i might aswell get it all off mychest if theres any info ive missed out thats needed then feel free to ask and i wil get back to you ASAP, If anyone is intrested i might start up a grow journal but please if i do and my plants fail then be nice thanks all for reading wolfie
hey man, sounds like you have really done some reading. good job on your part. i would say that your lights may not be the right spectrum. but, i am kinda new and i have only used h.i.d lights. but my plants also strecthed at the begining. i think they will calm down though as they continue to grow. the answer to your 2nd question is, jthe ideal temerpature for the pant is 78 degrees. you can go up to 85 but it is recomended that after that you have co2 in the room. the co2 allows the plant to maintain higher temps. so if you dont have co2 find a way to get the temp down some. i think you will see some heat stress develope as the plant gets older if you dont. good luck on the grow brother. i will pull up a chair to watch
I'm with SmokeifUGottem. I would be willing to bet that if your plants are still stretching when your lights are bright and close, then you are providing the wrong color temp. Look for CFL that are close to 6500K in color temp for veg growth. I'd bet you are using warm bulbs. Look for "Daylight" (6500K) or "cool white" as a second choice. Good luck.
welcome to the city wolfie good job for doing your own bit of research it goes a long way huh... anyway you will probably find even with all those lights you havent actually got enough light ... the ones we get in the uk arent the same as they use over the pond theyre not as powerfull ... your 20 watts i'm guessing makes 60 watts of normal light ??? where as the ones you generally see people talking about on here are 60 watts producing 140 watts ... and so you would be better off losing them and either buying more strip lights which you can get from wickes for about 6 quid .. or have a look on ebay for a hps or the cfl's which are more suited for the job ... the temps you have are not ideal ... that doesnt mean to say they wont grow but just like you or i its not gonna like it eh ... theres no way you would sit in a room for 24 hours in 31'c heat huh ... i was getting temps nearing 40'c on my grow last summer and they still grew some very nice buds indeed but took an extra 2 weeks or so getting there .. the humidity maybe is a little dry too as theyre only seedlings ... if you were flowering the plant then you would get away with it ... just place a bowl of water near your grow and that should bring it up a bit ... like i said they are all ideals as such and not something that HAS to be if you get what i mean good luck have fun and keep us updated
Thanks for the warm Welcome and thanks for your responses, Looks like ive stumbled at the first hurdle with getting all them CFL's i think i'll dump them on ebay and try to get some of my money back lol, i think ive solved my heat probs if i leave the door open and have a fan blowing in there the temp drops to about 80f. But at night i have to shut the door so i wonder if i just turn of all the CFL's and leave the 2 strip lights running so the plants are still getting light but the heat aint so extreme " but if i do this way will i run the risk of something stupid happerning like hermies cause im mucking with the lights or is it a safe thing to do ?" I wont be able to get any more strip lights untill this time next week even so when i have the new strip lights will 4x2ft 18 watts be enough for say 6 plants in a 3 ft by 3 ft room ? im sure i will have more questions as the days/weeks go by ;-) Thanks again wolfie
those lights will only be good for the veg cycle ... when you come to flower you will need plenty more lumens unfortunatley..
