hey we started nearly 4 weeks ago...our plants are still basically at 2-3 nodes, closely spaced, and the leaves are starting to yellow. THEY ARE NOT GROWING AT ALL!! i did do A LOT of research before starting, although i don't have some of the fancier tools (moisture meter, ph meter, whatever) i have a 430 watt hps. started from bag seed, 10 plants. all sprouted and grew. but growing and new leaves just seemed to have stopped. i transplanted into 3 gallon pots yesterday, but while doing that none of them really looked root bound, although most of them DID have substantial root structures. i'm thinking of just going out today and getting the meters and some real nutes. i'm not sure what the problem is. i'm not sure how to fix it. ask me more questions if needed, and i'll try to answer them as best i can. thanks!
only what's been coming out of my fish tank water...i'm assuming that's not strong enough?? or isn't "rich" enough in anything but N, huh?
Fish tank water?!? What the hell are you doing that for? No wonder they aren't growing. You need some proper ferts. I assume you only have access to a box store, so buy something appropriate for tomatoes for now.
that's the thing...i've read a lot...i found a couple of folks who totally used fish water and it was treating their plants VERY nicely. BUT, the itchy feeling in the back of my mind was totally telling me that it wasn't enough. i should've listened to my gut. as far as stores go...the most convenient is a box store, but there is a garden store that we haven't visited not too much farther away. perhaps we'll go there. and THANKS for answering so quickly!!
oh and one more question...would you just start over with new seeds at this point? i mean it's been a month...their growth is obviously stunted. it sucks that i wasted so much time...i was p-noid about registering on a site like this.
I had one plant that didnt grow for 9 weeks. I finally pulled it I think it was because the soil was too hard and/or it was too cold in the basement, though it was the only one. Dont get discouraged. I went from this.. 4 plants on a window sill, barely alive in one ghetto pot, to this... If it wasnt for these guys - theyd all be dead lol
imthejoker I WISH my going nowhere plants looked half as good as your 4 crammed in a pot on the window sill...they are seriously sad. with malformed leaves on about 1/3 of them. any new leaves that are coming up are coming in SLOW...they are at most 4 inches high...with little tiny leaves that are just getting yellower and yellower. time to pull. glad you were able to rescue yours though!!!
My first suggestion would be to go to home depot and grab a ph/moisture/light meter for ~$12 I didnt have one but after thinking about it, they may be nute locked. Are the stems really purple? You MIGHT still save them.
nope...they are white with some purple near the base edit: actually i went down to take another look...some of the better looking plants have almost completely purple stems. the sadder looking ones have some purple some white...almost alternating colors as they go up the stem.