3 Weeks from Seed - Need More Light?

turtleblood

turtleblood

Member
This is my first post ever, I hope I don't fuck it up. This is also my first grow project ever, and I think it's almost already fucked up.

I got good seeds and I am growing 12 plants. They are about three weeks old (to be exact: began germinating on April 25th, it is now May 14th) and they are only 5 inches tall and only the second set of leaves is growing out now (see pics if I figure it out).

I have plenty of space for the seeds to grow (started in small peat cups and transplanted this week), and I am keeping everything organic. I have only fertilized once, but I don't think my problem is lack of nutrients. I water every two days now (150mL per plant).

I believe my problem is lighting: I have 3 5000k CFL's (in regular old lamps found around the house) hanging above the plants with homemade reflectors pointing down onto the plants. [Edit: Forgot to mention that I am using an 18/6 light cycle.]

So now for my questions:

1) Is it possible that the household lamps that my bulbs are screwed into aren't powering the bulbs correctly? I noticed that in one of my other lamps in the house that the bulbs don't work at all.

2) With 12 plants (I was planning to have 10 before realizing I had to reject the males, so I want to keep all 12 around as long as possible), should I invest in more lights?

3) If I invest in more lights, would it be stupid to get more CFL's? I want to spend as little as possible because I have already put almost $200 into the project and I am beginning to seriously worry about the return. Should I get an HPS? Should I say "Fuck the CFL's" and get more than one HPS?

4) I need to harvest by September, when I will no longer be in this house. Is it too late for me? Can my babies possibly grow big and strong in 3.5 months?

Thank you everyone in advance for any help.

BTW, all 12 plants look just about the same as these two, I just figured I'd post more than one.
 

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pokesalotasmot

Well-Known Member
Wow dude, did you even read any of the FAQ's?

I don't think you understand that 10-12 plants are going to overgrow your area quickly. I only have (lol) 4 20 inch plants and they take up some space when you consider all the auxiliary stuff like lights, height of pots, fans, etc.

Don't use 5000k bulbs for veg, use 6500k. Use 2700k for flowering. Highest wattages you can find, unless you go with an HPS/MH light. Your current 3 bulbs is barely enough for 2 plants.

They don't need any nutes for a couple weeks yet. When you do give them nutes, start at about 1/4 strength.

And why did you reject these supposed males? Your plants are far too young to determine sex.

Good luck
 
J

jasonm230

Active Member
turtleblood said:
This is my first post ever, I hope I don't fuck it up. This is also my first grow project ever, and I think it's almost already fucked up.

I got good seeds and I am growing 12 plants. They are about three weeks old (to be exact: began germinating on April 25th, it is now May 14th) and they are only 5 inches tall and only the second set of leaves is growing out now (see pics if I figure it out).

I have plenty of space for the seeds to grow (started in small peat cups and transplanted this week), and I am keeping everything organic. I have only fertilized once, but I don't think my problem is lack of nutrients. I water every two days now (150mL per plant).

I believe my problem is lighting: I have 3 5000k CFL's (in regular old lamps found around the house) hanging above the plants with homemade reflectors pointing down onto the plants. [Edit: Forgot to mention that I am using an 18/6 light cycle.]

So now for my questions:

1) Is it possible that the household lamps that my bulbs are screwed into aren't powering the bulbs correctly? I noticed that in one of my other lamps in the house that the bulbs don't work at all.

2) With 12 plants (I was planning to have 10 before realizing I had to reject the males, so I want to keep all 12 around as long as possible), should I invest in more lights?

3) If I invest in more lights, would it be stupid to get more CFL's? I want to spend as little as possible because I have already put almost $200 into the project and I am beginning to seriously worry about the return. Should I get an HPS? Should I say "Fuck the CFL's" and get more than one HPS?

4) I need to harvest by September, when I will no longer be in this house. Is it too late for me? Can my babies possibly grow big and strong in 3.5 months?

Thank you everyone in advance for any help.

BTW, all 12 plants look just about the same as these two, I just figured I'd post more than one.
Click to expand...
1.) 1 it is possible the household lamps you are using do not support the wattage of your bulbs yes

2.) If your using CFL's yes more lighting the better and keep them 1-2 inches away from the plant as they dont get very hot

3.) if your on that strict of a budget you can get more CFL's BUT make sure you get 26watt (100 wat equiv) DAYLIGHT CFL's if theyre non daylight theyre pretty much useless as the daylight bulbs put out a specific spectrum of light. Dont forget though if you want quality bud in higher quantities then eventually your gonna have to spend more on those lights a MH or t5 for vegging and a HPS for flowering the 2 lights/ballast/reflectors for both will run you around 400-500 at your local hydro store or online. and yes 400-500$ is a pretty penny but in a years time it will have paid for itself.

4.) if you veg for another 6-8 weeks then force flowering for another 8 you should be right at your september deadline i could be wrong as i'm relativeley new to this myself
 
turtleblood

turtleblood

Member
Thank you all for the help. And very quick too.

brick20:
Thanks for talking with me yesterday via chat, and I will attach a pic of the entire grow room.

pokesalotasmot:
I haven't read all the FAQ's but I've done a lot of reading on many websites, and apparently I overestimated the power of the lights I have, which is why I'm asking for help here, but thank you kindly for the condescension.
I don't think my grow area is going to become overrun, especially because they are small to begin with and I have them each in their own 12" pot save 2, because I couldn't find any more pots, but those 2 plants are in 6" pots. I would also happily accept the plants growing much too large. That would be wonderful.
I will take your advice on the bulbs - I have revised my plan to include one bulb for each plant and I plan to order those bulbs tomorrow.
That sounds like a fine plan with the nutes, I will do that as well.
I didn't reject the males; I am growing more plants than I really want because I know that I will be rejecting the males. I really want 10 females, but I expect to get about 6 at this point.

jasonm230:
I now plan to replace all my house lamps with legitimate mounts that I am going to wire myself.
The new setup will place the lights much closer. Right now they are farther because they are stretching across a bunch of plants, but each plant is going to have a designated bulb eventually.
Can't afford a $400 light system, so I have devised my own that will run me more like $100 with more CFLs.
I hope you are right about my timeline. I hope they start growing bigger soon!

I will come back and post more pictures when I get the new set-up going, which unfortunately won't happen til next week (waiting for bulbs in the mail).

The first pic is from the day before I transplanted into the large pots. The second is now. Sorry you can't see my lights but they are hanging down in a row above the plants and have reflectors attached to put more light down than up.
 

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Blueberry2008

Blueberry2008

Well-Known Member
turtleblood said:
Thank you all for the help. And very quick too.

brick20:
Thanks for talking with me yesterday via chat, and I will attach a pic of the entire grow room.

pokesalotasmot:
I haven't read all the FAQ's but I've done a lot of reading on many websites, and apparently I overestimated the power of the lights I have, which is why I'm asking for help here, but thank you kindly for the condescension.
I don't think my grow area is going to become overrun, especially because they are small to begin with and I have them each in their own 12" pot save 2, because I couldn't find any more pots, but those 2 plants are in 6" pots. I would also happily accept the plants growing much too large. That would be wonderful.
I will take your advice on the bulbs - I have revised my plan to include one bulb for each plant and I plan to order those bulbs tomorrow.
That sounds like a fine plan with the nutes, I will do that as well.
I didn't reject the males; I am growing more plants than I really want because I know that I will be rejecting the males. I really want 10 females, but I expect to get about 6 at this point.

jasonm230:
I now plan to replace all my house lamps with legitimate mounts that I am going to wire myself.
The new setup will place the lights much closer. Right now they are farther because they are stretching across a bunch of plants, but each plant is going to have a designated bulb eventually.
Can't afford a $400 light system, so I have devised my own that will run me more like $100 with more CFLs.
I hope you are right about my timeline. I hope they start growing bigger soon!

I will come back and post more pictures when I get the new set-up going, which unfortunately won't happen til next week (waiting for bulbs in the mail).

The first pic is from the day before I transplanted into the large pots. The second is now. Sorry you can't see my lights but they are hanging down in a row above the plants and have reflectors attached to put more light down than up.
Click to expand...

o.0 is that tinfoil I see there?? Hope not..
 
Mystik

Mystik

Active Member
I also notice that you only seem to be applying water directly to the seedlings, you really should get moisture through the entire grow medium.
 
turtleblood

turtleblood

Member
Wow you guys are quick.

frmrboi, sweet graph. I will hook up the 6500k's next week when they come in.

Bluberry2008, what's wrong with foil? It's reflective, it gets more light to the plant, yes? ...And if you're worried that it will "concentrate the light" and burn the plants (I have read about this concern before)... well at this point there's not enough light to hurt anything if it were all concentrated on a single square inch.

Mystik, I will keep that in mind next water day.

Thanks everyone!
 
M

manoftheyear305

Member
this is what my plant looks like on day 19 (same day as yours) with only 1 6500k CFL (Daylight). Looks like yours are a little behind schedule. But it looks like everyone has gave u some helpful suggestions. attached is my picture
 

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