ALright, i started 8 plants under two 40w tube floros (4 feet long). The plants are about 3 weeks old and growing very slowly. They only have there first pairs of leaves, some have a few tiny leaves on them also. Will they be ok for like another week until i grab another 400w hps? The stems are turning like dark red and they are about 4 inches tall. I water them regularly also. I just need to know if they will survive until i grab another hps.
As I think you know, you are running way short on light. Because MJ is hardy I would say yes they would survive another week but, try to get that HPS in there ASAP.
I know i need an hps, i just can't pick one up for a few days or so. They aren't being overwatered either. I have one hps already, but i have a few females under that right now so i can't use that one for these plants.
I'm a fluro tube grower too. I do not use HPS or MH. I'm assuming you put the tubes too far away from the plants. Get them close, like 2 inch. 4 inch high with only 1 set of leaves in three weeks is pathetic regardless of what lamp you use. (extremely bad lamps excluded) Sounds to me they are strechting so get those lights closer to your plants. 80W of fluro-power is enough for these little plants you got. Check out my post 'needs professional assistance during flowering' and you can see what I grow with only 108W fluro-power. I actually recommend fluro-growing for people that do their first grow, because its cheap so you don't have much too loose and its easy to mess up a 'first grow' Also, are you sure the soil is any good? If the soil is **** the plants will have trouble growing anything after all the energy from the seed is spent. The plant can only make 1 set of starter leaves from the energy in the seed. You water them regularly (in three weeks) time, I don't like the sound of that. Such a skinny little plants hardly use any water at all. So I suspect your problems are, from worst to least bad : 1.soil. 2.distance from the light. 3.too much freakin water. GOOD LUCK! p.s. : if anyone can tell me how I can post a link to my own posts please tell me!
The soil is fine, scotts unferted soil. I've used it the last 4 grows with no problems. The light is about an inch away, as close as i could get it without burning them. I'm not overwatering, i wait until they are completely dry and water them witha small water bottle of water each. I don't know what the deal is...oh well i'll probably just start new plants or once i get another 400w hps just continue these.
well, that is very small for 3 weeks, but I'll try to give some ideas. might want to try giving them very diluted doses of fertilizers with your watering... I just started this yesterday and it's helped a ton already. my fert for veg growth is 24-8-16. my soil also has no ferts, like yours, and I wish I had started feeding them a lot earlier. just make sure to dilute it a lot for the first time when they're that small. if you're running 24/0 maybe try going 22/2, 20/4, or 18/6.... I first started out on 24/0 for the few first few days of the first seedlings and have beens slowly counting time down with the light... i'm about 19/5 right now and going to keep it at 18/6 when i get there. the plants seem to grow a bit more quickly when they have atleast about 4 hours of darkness. other than that, i'm not really sure what the problem could be. an hps would help of course, but those tubes should be doing better than that. a few months ago i had a plant under one of those (40w 4 foot) and it was growing just fine, so I don't think you can blame the lights for it. don't toss the plants though even if you do start over. just keep em off to the side. hopefully they'll pick up the pace a bit.
Three weeks into the grow its definantly time to start fertilizing. I would also definantly get some more light because your just wasting time with that much light, my plants have 3 leaf sets and only broke soil last monday.
Hey bro. I have had only 4 cfls on these for 16 days. They are 45w 6500k bulbs. And they're at the 4th and 5th nodes. I'm in coco with fox farm trio hydro nutes. Couple different strains...same growth rate. IMO u need to start fertilizing just a few days after the cotyledons pop and u see the first set of tiny leaves when u grow in a medium that offers no nutrients. I usually start feeding (very lightly, about 1/4 strength) 3 days or so after I see those first leaves and I haven't seen any burning from it yet. I think u really need to get some food in there so it can be used for energy to grow. That's 101 stuff right there. Good luck. Lets see some pictures. Also perhaps some CalMag may help with the reddish/purplish stems. Works like a charm for me. Id worry leas about the lights and more about the diet. Best of luck to u.
The light is certainly not the problem. The plant sounds in a sorry state, I would guess it's a soil or watering problem. Changing to a 400w hps now is not going to fix the problem. I have grown plants with just a 20w CFL for the first few weeks with perfect health
This is a 3 week old auto that was under just 20w fluorescent lamp. If yours has only its first pair of leaves it can't be from the light
under an 1000 watt MH my plants got to be 24 inches tall in 3 weeks. all 12 of them. Go get an hid. Even a 200 or 400 watt will do for one big plant or a few smaller plants. Also keep those big fan leaves on those things make the plant grow mad quick.