first time plant

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Stickyicky89

Active Member
my first time plant is growing and im wondering if i should trim the leaves or not? it seems to be leaning sometimes. btw, there are 3 differnet stems coming from the soil.

thanks a lot
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
Dont ever trim, the plant will redirect energy and resources in order to make up for its loss, rather let the plant do its own thing, many of the lower leafs will die, or fall off on there own, if the leaf does not need to then it will not fall off. Leafs are also indicators so you will wanna keep them around so they tell you how the plant is doing.

And yes pics would help.
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
OMG there stretched to all hell!! Thats your problem right there. Dude ill be honest with you, there probably not gonna make it, I would start over. Your light source is WAY to high to the plants, If you wanna try to continue the grow bring the lights down way lower. Here is how high I had my lights to my plants when I stretched them a TAD, not as bad as yours.

yea dont trim them, those small underdeveloped leaves are the only way that plant gets any of its energy right now.

 
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Stickyicky89

Active Member
thanks for the advice. btw, im using a 60w phillips plant light instead of flourecent b/c of the limited room space. do you think they appear to be getting enough air and water? im also groing in miracle grow moisture control mix.

thanks a lot
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
So why not just switch the bulbs? They make fluorescents in the form of CFLs (Compact Fluorescents) which you can purchase at a Home depot or Lowes. Your gonna need at least 2 right now for a small plant. Use a Y adapter for that. Ill show you pics of what each piece of equipment looks like.

A CFL bulb (average price: $5-$10 for 2):




A Y adapter (average price: $1-$2)



That pic is actually from my set up.
 
S

Stickyicky89

Active Member
wow, thanks a lot man. ill have to pick one up today. do you think the soil im using will be good enough? and will i need to just have on plant per pot?
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
Should be ok, if you must use Miracle grow, I would suggest an organic mix, the time released nutrient balls in the chemical stuff is crap. Ill suggest organic, no matter what type of soil.

And one more thing when you get the bulbs make sure you get the right color temp. I would suggest going to home dept/lowes/walmart since other places might not have high temp or "daylight" bulbs.

On the package there will be a color temperature on it. Your gonna wanna look for something 5000k or up. I know Home Depot have Nvision bulbs that have 5500K and 6500K bulb. If they dont specify light temperature most are considered "daylight" or "cool" bulbs.

When plants veg they need "cool" light and when they flower "warm" light.
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
Here are some pics to help clarify:

This is a "warm" light bulb at 2000K this is for flowering not what you need until they get older:



This is a "cool" light at 6500K and is what you need now:

 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
Here is a better pic the "cool" more of a pure white/blueish light on the left, and the others are warm lights, they are not all CFL's but you get the idea

 
S

Stickyicky89

Active Member
nice, i just picked up the cfl invision 60W bulb and some organic MG mix. only thing i need now is something to hold the lights in place. seeing that some of my growing will be done under the bed. heres a pic of my setup.

ive gotta keep the set up kinda low key btw
 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
I would get a regular desk lamp since they spread the light perfectly to cover a small plant, again if your gonna try to save these plants I would stand them up strait and tie them to a twig or anything you can prop up in the dirt....

and uhhh missing pic?.......lol.
 
S

Stickyicky89

Active Member
haha sry, heres the pics...

and i just planted a new seed in the organic mix. the other plants were leaning over all crazy. and if i use a desk lamp, wont the light be to far away? send me a pic of an ideal lamp.

thanks man
 

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robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
I would use a lamp like this, it allows for easy adjustment and can be clipped to anything for use just about anywhere.

 
robbie82

robbie82

Well-Known Member
As far as to how close they should be, look how close
I kept my CFLs to my plants. For seedlings no more than 2 inches away, No less than 1 inch close. Once they get older you can manipulate lighting more.

 
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