popping my grow cherry

Just registered after spending many a night scrolling through posts soaking all the info in, so thought id say high to my fellow friends.

ive smoked all my life as far back as i can remember and have got sick an tired of been bumped and been given the same old shit, so decided to grow my own.

ive set up my tent with a 125w cfl (around 7000k or lumens i think :S) with ballast hung on chains, 2 15litre pots with biobizz allmix soil mixed with hyrdoballs with a 1inch layer at bottom.


i also purchased biobizz grow and bloom but as far as i have researched i wont need these till at least 3 weeks in. i also have seaweed extract.

I recieved my cheese and northen lights seeds and bought an electric propagtor, soaked the seeds in quarter strength seaweed extract then planted in propagator, on the 29/6/2011

they sprouted within 2 days and started to grow long and thin stems with only tiny leaves at the top, i panicked thinking they were searching for light so removed the propagator lid and left for a day or so, only feeding quarter strength seaweed extract through a spray bottle, every now and then.

after watching for another day i decided to pot them in there final 15litre pots on the 3/7/2011, a little lower than i should because of the long stems, since i have potted them i have put my cfl about 4 inches from the plants and have my fan on 24/7 lights on 18/6

now i only watered them a small amount when i transferred them over, but they still seem to be long thin with the tiny leaves, im really on edge as this is my first grow, dont want anything going wrong, i dont know now weather to take them out and bury them lower as i have just read in a post (plant so soil is just under leaves) or weather to water them any more or how much as soil is still damp,

ive attached pictures of my babies below

sorry if ive banged on a bit,

Just to update, i have followed the info on the sticky in the newbie forum about long stems and just tried to replant my babies, the first seedling i picked up by its leaves and heard a snap, nothing seems broke, i removed the excess soil and there was a tiny white root, looked ok not to sure what the snap was, i replanted this with the soil around half inch away from the leaves, the second one i bottled and buried it with the soil still attached but lower down,

hey man welcome and happy growing. the "snap" you heard in transplanting is the tap root snapping because you dint get everything. next time just add more dirt to cover the long stem insted of transplanting twice. also i see in 1 pic looks like the leaf tip is burnt, you do not have to feed them till bour 3-4weeks old or until you see the cotyledons(oval leaf set) go yellow.

oh dear, seems ive made my first mistake then, will this cause a problem for that one, when i inspected it, it still had root attached although the whole thing was so thin i just made a hole and pushed the soil around it, the second i just cupped with my hand and replanted further down, ive only fed very small amounts of water with a very small amount 0.5 ml of seaweed extract per 1litre as ive been told this will help them with root growth ect, im worried as they have stuck at this stage they are now 4 days old and seem to be at the same height they were when they sprouted, long tall thin stem, ive looked at other plants at the one week stage and these little babies seem a bit behind, i havent watered since i buried them deeper.

i will hold off on watering although the soil is starting to dry, as i am still unsure as to how much to give plants this small, i know at later stages i can water untill it runs thorugh but seems a lot for a plant this tiny right now, and cant think of anything more than to leave the fan on 24/7 and keep the cfl as low as poss (3-4inches) away, and just hope

mvmarley said:

im worried as they have stuck at this stage they are now 4 days old and seem to be at the same height they were when they sprouted, long tall thin stem, ive looked at other plants at the one week stage and these little babies seem a bit behind, i havent watered since i buried them deeper.

i will hold off on watering although the soil is starting to dry, as i am still unsure as to how much to give plants this small, i know at later stages i can water untill it runs thorugh but seems a lot for a plant this tiny right now, and cant think of anything more than to leave the fan on 24/7 and keep the cfl as low as poss (3-4inches) away, and just hope

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Youve got plenty of time to go yet mate. As long as you dont drown the plant and dont dry it out completely you Cannabis plant will do just fine. Don't let all the jargon in these forums baffle you, growing weed is eassssyyy. ... Not too much water, Cannabis roots like air and soaking water can drown them, let them ALMOST dry out , then water.... I dont like when any water comes out the bottom, I imagine that water containing nutrients for the plant. Judge so only a drop comes out (takes a few attempts).

also, keep that fan OFF. (for a week) its not needed yet for the plant. You may use it to cool down the air above if needed
Yes , keep those CFL's about 3-4 inches away, when the plant starts getting stronger you may wish to move them even closed. My T5's are almost touching.

Goodluck , peace

They are the same size because all of her energy is going into making roots, Not growing.

You don't need to water alot with seedling, When you think you need to water, Wait another day. babies don't have the root space to use all that water.

Cheers and good luck with your grow, Subscribed

youre doing great. i remember my first seeds id watch and watch and watch. i know its gonna be impossible for you to do, but the best thing is to just relax. its like going to a strip club... watch the ladies dance for you. youll see what i mean when they get big and it gets "old hat" lol. have fun man. dont stress. may your garden be green.

They look pretty good, but right now, your biggest challenge is going to be watering. The soil needs to be moist, for the new roots to spread throughout the pot, but not soaked. Think if a sponge, and the way it feels when you run it under water, then give it a squeeze, getting the majority of the water out. That's about what your looking for, moisture-wise. Not soaked, but wet. It looks like your soil has decent drainage, so overwatering shouldn't be as risky as it could be. Right now, everything looks good, just be patient because it's likely your plants will appear to 'stall' for a week or so, as the babies are building new roots. Then they'll take off, and being that you're in a good-sized pot, with good-sized lights, I think you'll be quite happy with the bushiness of the plants, once they get growing. Many growers underestimate the effect 'pot size' can have on their plants, and can make for nice bushy plants, with zero training. Basically, if your roots are wide, your plant will be too. You just might have to moisten the edges, around the rim, from time to time, allowing those roots to occupy that space. That's the main drawback of using a big pot for a small plant....the center can stay moist for a long time, while the edges dry up. You'll see what I mean, soon enough.

First off can i just thank all of you for taking the time to reply, feels me with reassurance after reading the above that im not screwing things up at my end.

i know the early stages determine what an adult plant will finally end up like, and its nice to hear some sound advice from people that are more exstensivly knowledged than i am.

i will carry on adding small amounts of water and diluted seaweed extract when needed, does anybody know if it does help with these early stages in any way?

i have also just checked temperature and seems high (35c) now im going to kill the fan for a week is it worth me leaving the doors to the tent open to keep it down (tent is inside an empty boiler cupboard)

apart from that i will watch with much anticipation!



for now i will watch in amazment as they start there life in there new home

Seaweed not needed until the root system is better developed. Just wasting it IMO

mvmarley said:

i have also just checked temperature and seems high (35c) now im going to kill the fan for a week is it worth me leaving the doors to the tent open to keep it down (tent is inside an empty boiler cupboard)

apart from that i will watch with much anticipation!



for now i will watch in amazment as they start there life in there new home

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its probably worth trying to dial in your temps and do what you can to get them down a bit. Its not going to be a problem for a while but as the plants grow it will only get hotter. Are you venting to outside the tent/cupboard?

no vent set up yet only the gap for the ducting to go (hole in top of tent) the cupboard already convieniently has a hole going to the loft cut out, so i was planning on getting some ducting or a fan but didnt want to buy the wrong one as i have no experience with these things and done no research yet

i take it if i set up a fan/extractor/vent then it will bring the temp down anyway?

after advice taken from a reply on this post im going to leave the fan for a week, the misses started worrying just now, she is afraid they will wilt but im going to listen to people who have done this before instead

mvmarley said:

i take it if i set up a fan/extractor/vent then it will bring the temp down anyway?

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Yes. Venting the hot air from your grow tent will bring temps down..... you'll also need an inlet at the bottom of your tent for cool air..... to be honest though, if you only intend on using that 125W CFL for Veg and flower you could probably do without the Exhaust Fan.

Just remember...the missus is standing in front of the plants....we're only looking at pics and reading descriptions. If she has any experience growing houseplants or tomatoes, she might have a good sense for growing weed...if things start going downhill, I'd listen to her advice.

Good Luck - YO

RuchaYolanda said:

Just remember...the missus is standing in front of the plants....we're only looking at pics and reading descriptions. If she has any experience growing houseplants or tomatoes, she might have a good sense for growing weed...if things start going downhill, I'd listen to her advice.

Good Luck - YO

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True .........

Hello again,

Bit of an update, my misses dont really know a lot about plants she just likes to think she does ,although she does pay as much attention to them and worry as much as me!

Since i last posted the plants seem to have grown a bit but the stems are still looking a bit thin to me, thought id post em up and see what you guys think

Ive added a layer of hyrdo balls to the top of the soil and fed half a litre each with seaweed extract diluted yesterday

The lights are as low as i can get them, i only had enough allmix soil to fill 3/4 of the pot so the bulb can only go as far as the top rim, ive also kept the fan off altogether as instructed but no change in the stem growth, only leaves are showing any sign of getting bigger...

Hello peeps!

Not too sure who will be reading this thread now, considering its ageing a bit, but thought id post some pics up of how my young babies, have turned into sexy women , well one of them at least, anyway .

These two started out as feminized seeds from attitude, Northen lights x Big bud & UFO Cheese.

The issue i have come across now is that the taller of the two (the UFO cheese seed that came free from atttitude) is towering way above the northen lights.

From what i know about the two strains so far, is that i will need to leave at least, 2-3 times the size of the plant during the end of veg, for when i need to flower as it will need the space, taking into account the light an all.

I know that although she is towering above her sister, she is still not mature yet and ready to flower as she still does not have alternating nodes, the problem i am faced with is although she is not ready, the northen lights is nowhere near her size.

Sooner or later the cheese will get to the point where she is growing to tall and i will not be left the adeqaate space to flower her, if i do force her into 12/12 when i have no choice left, i have the issue of the smaller plant been rushed into flower when she is nowhere near as big.

These are now 38 days from sprout, they are both having 1ml each feed of seaweed, the smaller having 3ml of biobizz grow and the taller having 2ml of grow included, ive done this in an attempt to get her going a little more,

as you can see from the pics she has had previous heat stress damage to her leaves, but apart from that all her new growth seems fine with only very little tips of the leaves showing discolour, her sister, the bigger of the two has had the same heat stress damage to the very lower leaves but she has had so much new growth they are barely viseable

i was told when i bought these seeds that the northen lights is an easy grow for a first timer, but so far she has been the one with issues.

any opinions would be much appreciated

thanks for your time

Anybody wanna even attempt a reply?

Well I always wanted to know what my plant should look like in a week. so here is a picture of a plant at 10 days.make sure not to kill your plant by adding nutes to early.

looking great to me! the biggest one is about ready to top if you want. also i have been a victim of the strech and there are things you can do like lsting and stuff later if they seem to strech to much. i love lsting and i have had good yields with it. i did these things long before i even though about adding soil or planting deeper. lol. also when they get taller you can add a fan on low blowing lightly on them if they still stretch and this will thicken up the stems. looks fine to me though. good luck and welcome to riu!