Wondering what I'm doing wrong

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
I have germinated seeds and they are out of soil for almost a week now. The problem is the stem is really long (about 5 inches) and it only has the original 4 leafs on very top. It has not grown any further.
my growing area has an average temp of 65 with the humidity at around 70.(with a fan circulating while light is on)
I started with fluorescent(18/6 timer) after they sprouted a few inches and started getting long stemmed I went to 400 MH with a 18/6 running time.

I checked the light by hand and the temp was fine. I just can't figure out why they are not growing. Do I need to transplant and bury stem? Any help would be awesome. I told you I was a noob...lol

P/s I can post pic if need be.
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
don't panic yet, you can probably transport into your final containers at this point. its normal for plants grown from seed to take a whiel before they really start growing like crazy
for example I have 2 white widow plants that didn't grow barely at all for the first few weeks and are now 2 foot wide monster plants.
the plant will develop its root system a lot in its early life before it starts growing up and out. its perfectly normal.
the reason you will see people with big plants that are only a few weeks old are either because they are autoflowers, clones, or a fast growing strain.

when you transplant bury them up to the cotlydeon leaves for best results
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
100_2361.jpg100_2358.jpg100_2360.jpg I might add I am using distilled water and my light is roughly 8 inches above plant. My soil/potting mix is peat moss,organic compost,composted and aged softwood bark fines,perlite,dolomitic limestone
Thanks for quick response
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
Matter of fact it is white widow..good call my friend.I grew years ago outside but never inside. thanks for response.
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
Once again thanks for quick response. Should I transplant in another week also should i stay with same potting soil. Don't want to shock them.
 
do what adjorr said, transplant into bigger pots or buckets , make sure you have proper drainage out of the bottoms, and watch them grow
 

bignugdoug

Well-Known Member
Yeah i would go ahead and replant them and when you do plant them a little deeper where you can add dirt and put it all the way up to the firt leaves almost. should help a lot it looks like your plants have streched some.maybe lower your light some if it not to rough on your plant heat wise. good luck
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
tansplant now and u will wait longer for growth to start as it fills the new pot with roots. transplant after growth starts and it will stop for a while to start rooting again
my vote would be to transplant now
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
Is it ok to transplant now after 7 days. I have a 5 gallon pot with a bottom drain and tray. I also water daily..but very sparingly right now. Just enough to wet the top. Every 3 days I let it drain through. 1 more question..is it better to transplant during dark hours or light. Thanks everyone..was leary about posting..but you made me feel right at home...
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
id say its alright.
don't water daily though a 5 gallon pot will hold enough water for a seedling to last quite a while.
cannabis likes to dry out nearly completely and then recive a large watering the soaks the whole pot. similar to how there is monsoons in tropical climates followed by long dry periods.
if you are only doing small daily waterings you can introduce problems like root rot and mold because the soil isn't drying out all the way between waterings
I have a couple medium sized indoor plants 5 weeks into flower growing in 3 gallon smart pots right now, and I only need to water them every 4 or 5 days, but when I water them I water heavily
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
I usually stick my finger in soil about 3 inches if its dry I water(sparingly) with the 400 mh the small planter seems to dry out quickly. But when i transplant I will follow your direction on watering..for sure. Thanks again..
Also I probably wont introduce nutrients till week 4 or 5 because of slow growth. Of course this is just my opinion. And I'm usually wrong...lol
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
that sounds about right, for nutrients id say wait until the plant has grown its 5th node (this is also a good time to top or fim) or when it starts to show deficancy before you add any. and when you do go very light with them and gradually increase the dosage over time to allow the plants to adjust to the nutrients and reduce risk of burning, this way you can see how they react to the nutes and you can increase or reduce acrodingly.
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
yea I will probably go a 1/4 strength to start to see results. Then adjust accordingly. Thank for all the help. Now off to transplant....might wait till lights out though.Thanks again.
 

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
id do it as soon as lights come on to be honest. that way they have the whole day to absorb energy to help them heal.
 

Brian.

Member
What is the STRAIN? Where is it from, where is its home on the earth? Is it sativa, indica, both, auto?

In the summer, the moon is brighter, and as we go into winter, the moon is slightly less bright, but enough so that first of all switch to 20/4 for a while, and really, you can keep these still under the florescent for a while too, if you wanna use less power also. So turn up the light to 20/4 for starters until they fill out for their height.

Next, go ahead and keep them wetter than they are, they aren't wet enough, they don't need to be drenched, but after a week, that cup should be wilting and stuff, they aren't being kept wet enough. Don't let watering scare you, take all you can about watering, you'll see it's all the same: Keep it wet, but let it get dry between waterings. It's always moist and wet, you just let the top inch or so dry out (depending on pot size) - this is strictly to avoid mold and stuff with old water, the plants seem to like it too. And it's also for bigger established plants with root mass. At this young of age even if they have lots of roots starting, they should be kind of wetter than usual and it should be humid, april showers bring the sprouts and keep them wet and the rains make for humidity. Use a spray bottle and spray four or five or ten times depending how it sprays and just put like a new few drops of water at the bottom of their stalk a couple times a day. You aren't trying to water them again, they should be already watered and moister than you think you want - you're not spraying to water, you're spraying to soften the immediate area of the original planted area and humdify directly around the stalk and root base and all that, it'll promote more roots to shoot out from the root tip too it seems. it's okay to do the whole surface, and good to mist the plants a lot until they fill out too.

You can cut off the spraying when you see improvements.

It's hard to say though also what is the actual medium if I missed it? It looks kind of dense, one pic almost "polished" looking area - I hope it's not the medium stunting it. I can develop a bit more than that in those starter cups, quite a bit more actually.

And put the lights no more than 4 inches away from their very top. As close as you can at this point in time. 1 inch, 2 inch, very close - the flouro - to keep them the same height and let the stalks and foliage fill in more, trust me. Keep them wet, soil loose and aerated, short with light, fill them in, if you already transplanted, it's fine, just spray the area like you would otherwise be spraying the cup area.

Also, if you transplant right, you don't wait. I just uppotted a rootbound (bottom leaves told me - never before that signal in 8+ ounce container is it rootbound, and it will always coincide with the need for much more frequent watering - a high amount of roots all around, yellowing, is beyond rootbound) to a bigger pot <2 days ago and already have 4 bone-white root tips coming down to the different holes below my new pot. How? Transplant just before they need water. Dry enough to be careful not to crumble, but moist. Put a dry towel folded up (like 4 or 6 layers due to folding, so it's thick) under the pots after their after-transplant watering for 6 hours after most but not all after-water dripping and drainage is finished (example, I water in a sink, and when it is almost done, put the plants back, when transplanting, they go on a towel, when normal watering, they go on a dish. The towel gets warm and soaks down water and makes atmosphere for 6 hours, the plant shoots roots like crazy. You will be amazed). When you return to remove it, it should be damp, but not even moist. Do not leave it a whole day. Just 6 hours. remove it, and the next day, your roots will already be finding their way down, medium permitting. I recommend 15% perlite (or up to none at all) for starting seeds or containers smaller than 10oz, 50% minimum for anything bigger. In my case, added always to either happy frog organic or non-organic potting soil mix of any kind, even if it already has perlite, I will still add the bigger coarse shit.

I have learned a lot from this round. I had 2 rounds before. This one, I have learned so much new shit I had no idea about this stuff is super helpful backed by hands on. It's good info, I think you'll all benefit from this and like it real well.
 

tbone47978

Well-Known Member
(Brian) I am using whit widow seeds, My soil/potting mix is peat moss,organic compost,composted and aged softwood bark fines,perlite,dolomitic limestone.

(Adjorr) I will transplant at first light. Thanks

(icebox 7420) I will start working on LST Thanks
 
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