Almost 2 weeks old - sick babies?

Hey there,

I have 18 babies, almost 2 weeks old growing hydro
under 400w
pH 5.8
The stem bent over on the one little girl, I cut a straw, slit it and put around her, she was good the next day, but the day after that her leaves started to brown.

Ive noticed the others seem to be lightening up. I had the lights at 12 inches, plants seemed to be stretching, moved the lights a little closer and dont seem to be seeing anymore growth and now color change. Should I move the lights further away again? Have I lost the one seedling? Her stem is white...the others are purple. The other two small seedlings got a slow start ewhen the seed wouldnt come off. Their leaves never did straighten out. Any idea here? The round leaves are starting to turn yellow, I know they usually die but is it normal to be this soon at just under 2 weeks? I did flush the one sick one....and start over with 5.8pH.

Thank for any input here

I don't know what the temps are but you might want to consider using cfls at first because a 400 watt can be a little too much...

either MH or CFLs would probably be best for the seedlings... it could be the plants not being able to use much of the red light that an HPS emits.

my plants at 2 weeks (from sewing the dry seeds in rockwool) under CFLs had two 7-leaf sets, so as you can guess your plants are growing very, very slowly...

i'd try just giving them straight up 7.0 pH mineral water with a bluer spectrum and see what happens... i'm pretty new to growing but this seems like a successful strategy.

-- our fine four fendered friend

its pretty cool in there I keep a fan on them, they are under fluorescent bulbs so it isnt really too hot I dont think. 60% humidity.

This is our light, so this is too much for the seedlings?
8-lamp
120v/60Hz
3.78A
454W
3”H x 26"W x 46"L
Rated up to 37,600 lumens

T5 Fluorescent Light System

Ah, so you do have fluorescent. Fluorescent light does not penetrate very far so you need to make sure it is very close to the plants. If it is not too hot (hold your hand at plant level for one minute and make sure it does not get hot), try putting it just a few inches away.

I think your problem is just that the light was too far away for the first 2 weeks which caused them to grow slowly.

Also I've never grown hydro so I'm not sure what you planted them in or how the nutrient schedule works, but if they are getting lighter green maybe they are not getting enough nitrogen? With plants that small I wouldn't expect a nutrient problem but I've only grown in soil.