Is This Plant Healthy?

Im just growing for fun, i got the seed from a pretty good bag but i dont remember what kind it was. 18/6 lighting w/ daylight cfl's 13watt. its on like the 7th node and is only 5 inches. its growing alot of leaves but its not getting taller. The first two pics were on 5/25 the second were on 5/30 IMG_20110525_171852.jpgIMG_20110525_171937.jpgIMG_20110531_130449.jpgIMG_20110531_130520.jpg
 
you need A LOT more light, you can buy from foxfarm a 150w cfl for 50 bucks is, comes in a hood with the ballast built in. I grew with the same thing in the beginning and it pretty much stunted it growth, just not going to be enough light, prolly ok for now since it so small, but it's not growing taller because it needs more light. the 18/6 cycle is perfect, don't worry about food just yet, wait till about 4th week veg. get the light and watch what she does, it's amazing
 

phillk6751

Well-Known Member
If you have to ask if a plant looks healthy, you shouldnt be growing
This is the noob forum, if you said that in general or advanced cultivation forums you might have a point...not cool to troll -rep for you

The plant looks good. How many cfls you got on it? Surprised nobody asked before jumping the needs more light answer
 

bamfrivet

Well-Known Member
you need A LOT more light, you can buy from foxfarm a 150w cfl for 50 bucks is, comes in a hood with the ballast built in. I grew with the same thing in the beginning and it pretty much stunted it growth, just not going to be enough light, prolly ok for now since it so small, but it's not growing taller because it needs more light. the 18/6 cycle is perfect, don't worry about food just yet, wait till about 4th week veg. get the light and watch what she does, it's amazing
When plants want more light, they grow taller not shorter. When a plant wants light it stretches up towards it. Being short and dense is a good thing, it means your nug has a better chance of not being fluffy bud.
 

Jason2011

Active Member
This is the noob forum, if you said that in general or advanced cultivation forums you might have a point...not cool to troll -rep for you

The plant looks good. How many cfls you got on it? Surprised nobody asked before jumping the needs more light answer

how do you - rep someone for stupid comments ?
 

ValiD

Active Member
Your plant looks good mate, I mean healthy. You got only one 13w CFL in there or multiple? If it's the case of only one, you will need a couple more when going to flower, because your plant will grow some more and I'm guessing you'll be wanting to pick up a few buds for a couple weeks worth of smoking. If you don't invest in lights, you won't get very good results...might be satisfying, but not great. Closing the walls in is recommended, to make better use of the lights (will reflect back from the walls and to the plant).

You've got an indica there, so it's to be expected that your leaves are more tightly packed. This can only be good, trust me it's a freakin' nightmare growing sativas under CFL's. They stretch like hell. Also this means that you'll most likely get one huge cola. For the next grow, I recommend you looking into LST and/or topping + scrog. If you have the energy and the cash for a bit more equipment [and fun] that is :)

Well, that's about it, forget about the light not being enough thing, I've grown my 2 pretty big plants (about 1m high one of them and about 0.8m the other one) for a couple of weeks under just 7 CFL's (3 of which were 6400K) and they weren't dying because of the lights. Surely, they weren't very promising yield wise, but that doesn't mean the plants aren't healthy. Light not being enough usually makes the plant fall to the ground (after it has stretched for the light), and not being able to support its own weight. You don't seem to be experiencing neither stretching [lack of light] nor lack of vigor. I'd say you're doing very good. Congrats.

How old is your plant? Preflowers usually appear 3-5 weeks after sprouting, but I agree those look like pistils. When you going to 12/12? :)
 

ValiD

Active Member
depends on how many lights you already got on it :) You said you're going with 13W, so I'd recommend a minimum of 4 and a max of 8. But I'd suggest first get better bulbs (20-23W at least); about 4 of the 13W output barely 3K lumens, if even, where as 4 pieces of the 23W will get you to a near 6000. The difference in price is almost negligible. That will speed up your growth rate - plants grow slower with a smaller light source. But even if you decide to stick with the 13W, that will still work, in the sense that you're not going to end up with a dead plant. Just don't expect a very heavy yield from it. It won't be as good as with a HPS for example, but good enough for the daily 1 month smoke I guess.

Oh, by the way: you can still top/LST if you want to...the 2-3 weeks before flower are more than enough for recovery and you'll get a slightly bigger yield. Look the techniques up on the internet and see if you want to first :) Both are reliable, but I'm finding topping to be easier to maintain. In LST you just have to tie and tie and then...tie some more. Also LST takes longer than if you topped. Just my 2c.
 
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