Ok, so i have 5 seedlings that have been under 2 F40s for 6 days now. The F40s are on 24/7 and were 6 inches above the plants but i moved them to about 2 inches above. However, 5 of my seedlings are stretching like crazy, they're like almost 5 inches tall, and i'm replanting them today. I can't get a 400w MH until wenesday, so should i go ahead and put a 23w CFL on them for the time being to start them on in vegging state? Please help!
Pictures would help. When you repot then make sure you pack plenty of soil around the stem right upto the first leaves. I'd give them a CFL or two and get a fan on them. Good luck
yeah they were stretching because of the 6 inches... those lights need to be 1/2 - 1 inch away.. some even let the plants grow into the lights before moving (this is only ok with tubes and not cfls) CFLs keep at 1-2 inches. I would get a 400w hps instead of a mh and then you your 6000k cfl to supplment the hps. Also, don't worry that they streched, you can tie them down. Do you know about low stress training (LST)?
Sorry i can't give pictures, my cell phone has a shitty camera and i don't have anything else to get pictures with.. They have like 3-4 inch stems, but they haven't fallen over yet from being topheavy.. and they're in the sun right now. So, what are you saying i should buy tonight? (lighting wise?) I'm thinking about hitting up home depot in an hour or two and getting 2 100W (23w) Cfls, and probably getting a y socket as well.. i should buy anything that has the colour temperature above 5500k right? And as of now, i have a ballast that is holding the floros, can i buy two 200w hps lights for a total of 400w to put on my plants, and simply exchange them with the floro lights? That would save me way more money if i didn't have to buy another ballast. And yes, i know about LST, but not much. I know that you have to pick the first node or something after the second set of leaves form, but honestly i need to do more reading about it.
For veg you're going to want 50 watts per plant and fluoros is all you need for veg. Whatever combo of fluoros you want to use to get 50 watts per plant, 5500k is ok but really try to get anything above 6,000k (I know home depot has 6,000+ look for the blue packaging that say daylight bulbs). The hps lights at home depot are not hps grow lights and won't work.. just for reference typical grow lights are 250w, 400w, 600w, and 1000w. So if you're looking at a 200w hps it's most likely not a grow light. If you're tight on cash the fluoros will be good all the way up to the second week of flower. LST is where you tie the plants down using string and you are able to control the exact height and shape of the plant.
Alright, well, i went to home depot tonight and i could only find lights with 5500k. I'll check out other stores tomorrow cause i want at least 6000k. Maybe i didn't look hard enough, i don't know. Anyway, i saw hps grow lights at home depot that were 250w and 400w, a hps is a hps right? It will grow the plants just the same as long as its the appropriate wattage right? and i thought the purpose for LST was to make more budding locations?
Walmart has daylight cfl's that work well... I think they are 27w. Maybe home depot does have grow hps lights, but there are also hps flood lights that don't produce the right spectrum. A grow light will have a ballast that is seperate from the bulb and has like a 10 foot cord connecting the ballast to the bulb. If you use ebay you can get a good deal on a 400 watt hps there. LST makes it so there are more bud locations near the top of the plant which means more buds will get more light, making it so you have more "top" nugs
