T5 bulb questions, and I might have fucked this up...

Right now I'm just trying get seedlings to the veg. phase. I have a shitty little grow light, it's an 18 inch bulb. I also had it way higher than I probably should have and my two sprouts are really tall. Now the light is 8 inches from them. I started them in some Growdan plugs then moved them to FoxFarm soil yesterday, but they've been this size for a couple of days now and it's like they just stopped growing. wtf? They have literally not changed in like 2-3 days now.

So I was wondering about T5 bulbs. Why are they so great? Why doesn't Lowe's sell them? And if I wanted to grow 10 cups like this, how many bulbs would I need and what size?

I guess they got such a long stem because the light started so far away? I've thrown seeds in soil before in the past with no real idea of what I was doing and it seems like they grew shorter than these, and soon I had the second set of leaves a couple days later.

Plz help somebody!!!

Looks like not enough light and light to far away.

if possible bring the lights to 1" away from the tops and pot more soil up the side to stop it bending over once new leaves grow

K, will do. I'm gonna get some mylar to put around the edges as well. Do you think running the light 24 hours would be overkill?

stretching like a mofo....

Damn, should I scrap them and try again, or can they still be salvaged?

Maybe you could transplant them and bury the stems about half way
Dr. Jekyll

You should not be using a clear cup and, I'll assume you did not mix any perlite in your black muddy soil
Yes, kill them and start again
Mr. Hyde

You can find the thread "replant those leggy stems" or something like that to find a good tutorial on how to transplant those stems deeper; rule of thumb on lights for plants, just very basically 100w/plant;
you've gotten good advice about keeping your lights close--2" is what I'd say but if you can get em an inch without burning that'd be fine too.
T5 are lauded more for veg by most people but it is possible to take grows all the way through. They run a little cooler, but their intensity is a little less than HPS; With aquarium and other specialty bulbs it is possible to tailor your lights spectrum to your plants;
Beacuse T5s are a little less intense they afford a little less penetration (see inverse sq. law of light intensity), which is why you need to keep them as close to the tops of your plant as possible.
While it is not harmful to run them on a 24/0 schedule for the early part of vegetating, most will tell you at least 4 hours of dark will be beneficial for growth (plants do their growing when lights are off, they store their photosynthetically generated energy for that purpose when the lights are on);
when you transplanted from cube to FF cup, you probably shocked your plants, hence the cessation or slowing of growth. Bad news about having to transplant again for the stem length is you'll probably shock them again. Get some rooter's mycorrhizae and apply the powder directly to the root system when you try to transplant again. Btw, most people shock their plants when they transplant, very common, but, being as gentle as possible and practicing, with some other tips and tricks, helps most of us do it with minimal shock.

As unpleasant as it may be to accept, Hyde is right about clear cups--thats not a good idea. And, your foxfarm does need amending with perlite at least for aeration.
hope this helps,

P.s: don't start over; try to get these gals through: you'd be surprised how hearty these gals are. I totally fucked one grow and decided to just do the bare minimum to complete it (12/12fs, perlite, oc+ and molasses H2O). Plants turned out smokable--not great, but better than any schwag or mid-grade (if you can find that).
be easy,
Dr.J

t 5 are much brighter then any other florescent light. each t5 are 55 watts. I veg 20 plants in a veg room until they are 2.5 feet tall with two of these http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-4-Foot-2-Lamp-High-Output-T5-Fixture they will grow them very well. yeah guys that is a lot of plants per light but I put them in a row and raise the light to 6 inches above the plants they all fit in. saves major electric over the mh, is use t5 when im not in a rush, but when im in need of big plants very fast then the 1000 watt mh hortilux comes out to play to grow them an inch a day. the t5 growth is a lot slower. mabe an inch every 5 days, so you learn epher the more light the faster they will grow. your pics tell me your light is very weak or very far away. it should be as close as possible , if possible an inch away, you need to buy one of these lights. its worth every penny .

Bury 'em up to tha neck n' lower yee lights; swash good with the latrine liquids then keep 'em sweatin' under humidity domes; arrrgh! N' support the damn necks in the meanstwhile!!! With your crazy clear-cuppin self...! yarr..

You need eighty(real) watts minimum to get things started. Then if you plan to veg for a while you'll need a minimum of 300 actual watts to keep them happy.

I'm a super newb but if it helps I found t5 fixtures with bulbs (only 4100k) in Home Depot yd with out really looking around and was advised just buy that use it for now than upgrade to a 6500k bulb. I also found good deals on 1000bulbs.com I think the site was greenes or greeners.com had 4' t5 fixtures for 20$ 2 of those 40$ 2 bulbs 20$. 60$ for a veg set up

http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/fluorescent-grow-lights/t5-fixtures/sun-blaze-t5-ho-4-light-strip.html sorry they are 30/ea

I use T5s with aquarium bulbs all the way through and have had good success. Probably not as good as an HID, but I get some good results. Here are a couple of threads on T5 lights if you are interested in learning more about them:

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first.html

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/493026-club-t5.html

WOW, I almost don't know where to begin, other than to say buy some fucking books and start reading before you continue to screw up.

That may come across as harsh, but it really isn't meant that way. Of course you can learn from unaware mistakes, but why waste your time, and dampen your enthusiasm (believe me I am talking from experience).

MJ is a weed, BUT, it does require a modicum of intelligence/care to produce a quality harvest, so again, buy a couple books and start studying.

epher350 said:

Right now I'm just trying get seedlings to the veg. phase. I have a shitty little grow light, it's an 18 inch bulb. I also had it way higher than I probably should have and my two sprouts are really tall. Now the light is 8 inches from them. I started them in some Growdan plugs then moved them to FoxFarm soil yesterday, but they've been this size for a couple of days now and it's like they just stopped growing. wtf? They have literally not changed in like 2-3 days now.

So I was wondering about T5 bulbs. Why are they so great? Why doesn't Lowe's sell them? And if I wanted to grow 10 cups like this, how many bulbs would I need and what size?

Click to expand...

PetFlora said:

MJ is a weed, BUT, it does require a modicum of intelligence/care to produce a quality harvest, so again, buy a couple books and start studying.

Click to expand...

I think it's also good to recognize that the terminology "weed" in gardening is a culturally defined terminology that refers to opportunistic, vigorously growing plants that compete with and often out perform the "more preferable" plants in a given garden. Hence, the biological processes of "weeds" are, on a generic, basic level, the same as any other fruiting/flowering plant; this is why a little reading can go a long way, and not just cervantes' bible but more mainstream gardening books and textbooks too. I just wanted to add that since my earlier comment could be thought of as another of those "its a weed, don't worry about it, it'll survive" kinds of comments. I think pet brings out that just because it can survive doesn't mean we shouldnt do what we can to help it thrive instead. be on the same team as your gals, not something htey have to fight against...
be easy,

PetFlora said:

MJ is a weed, BUT, it does require a modicum of intelligence/care to produce a quality harvest, so again, buy a couple books and start studying.

Click to expand...

I think it's also good to recognize that the terminology "weed" in gardening is a culturally defined terminology that refers to opportunistic, vigorously growing plants that compete with and often out perform the "more preferable" plants in a given garden. Hence, the biological processes of "weeds" are, on a generic, basic level, the same as any other fruiting/flowering plant; this is why a little reading can go a long way, and not just cervantes' bible but more mainstream gardening books and textbooks too. I just wanted to add that since my earlier comment could be thought of as another of those "its a weed, don't worry about it, it'll survive" kinds of comments. I think pet brings out that just because it can survive doesn't mean we shouldnt do what we can to help it thrive instead. be on the same team as your gals, not something htey have to fight against...
be easy,

Great responses everyone! Damn, I really love that T5 article, I kind of want to replicate it to the letter, though I can only do 2' bulbs due to space constraints. Atm I'm thinking the Sunleaves Pioneer Jr. kit, but it also comes with their bulbs, which I don't really need if I use those UVLs. Anybody know of another 2', 8-bulb kit that doesn't come with bulbs? Should also be plug-and-play, I can't deal with external ballasts right now! Yeah, I didn't have red cups, didn't know it mattered. And I thought the FoxFarm already had perlite, guess not, lol.

And just out of curiosity, is this thing the Dream Machine of grow lights? That's crazy ass money!

http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Plasma-Grow-Light-System/dp/B00GNJ2TBA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1389970439&sr=8-4&keywords=ROCKET+PLASMA