Ridiculously slow growth

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i would and i do personally. think of it this way: right now you have 6 hours where the plants are not photosynthesizing.

and your temps would stay steady too.
 

Black Cough

Member
Be patient, not a patient.....unless you have a mmj card lol. But for reals, don't try so hard, and try to enjoy your first few grows. Remember, you are growing as well, and it will all take some time. Keep up the good work!
 

undercovergrow

Well-Known Member
you don't need to feed them at this stage. the one seedling you can clearly see the top has a bit of black on the new growth and generally looks over watered yet the one in the group shot to the far right looks like it is drying up or burnt. you might be loving them too much? :wink: they look a little small, but they take a few weeks of growing (roots mostly) to start noticing it--before you know it, they'll be much bigger. i used to pH my soil, but no longer worry about it (well, except for when an occasional plant gives me problems). check out ROLS and try to keep it simple. your new lamps are gonna rock! 8-) good luck on the grow @Camo Hat :blsmoke: it's awesome to smoke your own! :bigjoint:
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Oh, snap! Here goes the 24/0 thing again.....It's BEST to have SOME lights off time to promote more ROOT growth!

More roots = More buds!
 

Camo Hat

Well-Known Member
I'm not freaked out over the slow growth. Well, sort of. I do believe that they'll take off one day.

When they get bigger I'm switching them to a new grow space. They'll be living in an unused shower stall in a room with no windows. There's a ceiling fan over the shower that leads outdoors.

It's gonna be fun to smoke my own weed.

I thank you all.
 

Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
Oh, snap! Here goes the 24/0 thing again.....It's BEST to have SOME lights off time to promote more ROOT growth!

More roots = More buds!
Yes annuals do appreciate a dark period in its daily light cycle. But to say the dark/lights off time promotes roots growth is just ridiculous. The more natural light cycle promotes more overall benefits, both above and down below...
 

Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
I asked for help in the newbie forum (I'm a newbie) but didn't get a definitive answer. Maybe you guys can help.

Growing under 3x 65W CFL 18/6 with a few hours of sunlight when it's available. The photos show my plants at about three weeks old.

I'm careful with watering and have only very lightly fed them 1/4 strength "Jack's Classic" water soluble plant food (20 20 20.) My grow box has a fan and humidifier. My CFLs are no more than two inches above the plant tops.

Commercial seedling starter soil (Black Gold.)

Strains are Jackberry x Shack, Candy Kush and Cheeseberry Haze.

I don't know what my pH is but plan on finding out ASAP.

This is my first grow. Take pity on this old man and help me out.

Thank you
Its your lights causing the slow growth. CFLs can veg and grow just fine. Just dont expect the same growth rates as those using HID or similar...
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Oh, snap! Here goes the 24/0 thing again.....It's BEST to have SOME lights off time to promote more ROOT growth!

More roots = More buds!
6 hours of dark is 25% less the plants could be growing. and dark period has nothing to do with roots.
don't believe me, try 2 plants under 18/6 and 24/0 and let me know what happens. i've done it and that's why i do 24/0.
 

cc2012

Well-Known Member
Sorry its a Copy and Paste, been looking for the other Info I have on Plants and Light Cycles and Rest(dark/night) Periods...

all Creds to > SmokeyMacPot 420Member

To simplify things, lets use an analogy. Try to think of a plant as a building… one constantly under construction. The plant needs raw materials, (fertilizers and water), and energy (light) in order to “build itself”. The raw materials are the “bricks and mortar” of the building. The energy is the workers, vehicles and power tools used to assemble the building.

The Plant is capable of storing some raw materials and some energy for use later, but the amount is limited...think of a warehouse and a battery.

* During the day, (Lights ON) the plant is collecting and storing light energy, and is using and storing raw materials. The plant is stockpiling raw material, and is charging it’s batteries… it is ALSO using raw materials and using the energy it is collecting. It’s building itself, literally putting itself together.

During the day however, the plant is not as efficient at building itself, as it is at night (lights OFF.) It can build itself, but not as quickly.

* While the lights are OFF, the plant is using energy and raw materials to build itself…. the plant is more efficiently using the raw materials that it stored during the day. The plant is better at transporting and assembling the raw materials.

The bad news: since there is no light energy, the plant must rely on energy it stored while the lights were ON (its stored energy). (Essentially, the plant is running on batteries, and using raw material from the warehouse.)

There is no light energy to collect. Since the plant needs energy to absorb more raw materials, it is easier for the plant to use raw materials that it stored during the day than it is to absorb raw materials through its roots.

* Although the plant IS capable of “doing it all” with the lights on, (Collect, store and use energy & raw materials) it does a better job of actually doing the work (using the energy and raw material) while the lights are out. During the dark however, it relies solely on its limited supply of stored energy and stored raw material.

One last thing to remember is the fact that a plant will always strive to maintain a balance between the size of its roots and the size of its canopy (Leaf mass.) The roots must be big enough to supply as much raw materials as the canopy can use, and the canopy must be big enough to provide the energy required to store those raw materials….

atb
 

az2000

Well-Known Member
If you use tap water, what is its TDS in parts per million? My tap is up around 600ppm. When I used that it had a similar effect on my young plants. They didn't grow much, seemed stunted, held back. (You want it to be in the 100-200 range.).

BTW: Jacks 20-20-20 is good. There are people who grow with 1-1-1 NPK ratio from start to finish. I would have recommended you get Citrus Feed for veg (it's 2-1-2) and Bloom Booster for flower (it's 1-3-2). You could mix them in early flower to get something ratios between those two.

But, nothing wrong with 1-1-1. You can't know how higher N in veg (or P in flower) work without comparing it to something.
 
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Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
6 hours of dark is 25% less the plants could be growing. and dark period has nothing to do with roots.
don't believe me, try 2 plants under 18/6 and 24/0 and let me know what happens. i've done it and that's why i do 24/0.
POS is a strong thing. But true knowledge is even stronger. You seem to be hanging out with POS,,,,
 

Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
Sorry its a Copy and Paste, been looking for the other Info I have on Plants and Light Cycles and Rest(dark/night) Periods...

all Creds to > SmokeyMacPot 420Member

To simplify things, lets use an analogy. Try to think of a plant as a building… one constantly under construction. The plant needs raw materials, (fertilizers and water), and energy (light) in order to “build itself”. The raw materials are the “bricks and mortar” of the building. The energy is the workers, vehicles and power tools used to assemble the building.

The Plant is capable of storing some raw materials and some energy for use later, but the amount is limited...think of a warehouse and a battery.

* During the day, (Lights ON) the plant is collecting and storing light energy, and is using and storing raw materials. The plant is stockpiling raw material, and is charging it’s batteries… it is ALSO using raw materials and using the energy it is collecting. It’s building itself, literally putting itself together.

During the day however, the plant is not as efficient at building itself, as it is at night (lights OFF.) It can build itself, but not as quickly.

* While the lights are OFF, the plant is using energy and raw materials to build itself…. the plant is more efficiently using the raw materials that it stored during the day. The plant is better at transporting and assembling the raw materials.

The bad news: since there is no light energy, the plant must rely on energy it stored while the lights were ON (its stored energy). (Essentially, the plant is running on batteries, and using raw material from the warehouse.)

There is no light energy to collect. Since the plant needs energy to absorb more raw materials, it is easier for the plant to use raw materials that it stored during the day than it is to absorb raw materials through its roots.

* Although the plant IS capable of “doing it all” with the lights on, (Collect, store and use energy & raw materials) it does a better job of actually doing the work (using the energy and raw material) while the lights are out. During the dark however, it relies solely on its limited supply of stored energy and stored raw material.

One last thing to remember is the fact that a plant will always strive to maintain a balance between the size of its roots and the size of its canopy (Leaf mass.) The roots must be big enough to supply as much raw materials as the canopy can use, and the canopy must be big enough to provide the energy required to store those raw materials….

atb
Yep, both above and down below. Better to be balanced rather than one sided....
 

Camo Hat

Well-Known Member
If you use tap water, what is its TDS in parts per million? My tap is up around 600ppm. When I used it it had a similar effect on my young plants. They didn't grow much, seemed stunted, held back.

BTW: Jacks 20-20-20 is good. There are people who grow with 1-1-1 NPK ratio from start to finish. I would have recommended you get Citrus Feed for veg (it's 2-1-2) and Bloom Booster for flower (it's 1-3-2). You could mix them in early flower to get something ratios between those two.

But, nothing wrong with 1-1-1. You can't know how higher N in veg (or P in flower) work without comparing it to something.
I don't know what my tap water's TDS is. It's from a deep well in my yard. I can use Poland Springs bottled water which is 35-46 ppm TDS. Is it better to have low TDS ?

Thanks
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
guess Cervantes, Rosenthal and myself are all wrong about 24/0.

i'll stick with what i tested to be the best IMO>
 

az2000

Well-Known Member
I don't know what my tap water's TDS is. It's from a deep well in my yard. I can use Poland Springs bottled water which is 35-46 ppm TDS. Is it better to have low TDS ?
If it's too low (for example RO water), you'll need to add some TDS. Either from high TDS tap water or from a small amount of calmag.

If you don't have a TDS meter, I'd say it's up there in importance as the ph meter. This HM TDS-3 is a decent one for $20. You don't have to buy any special calibration fluids. Eventually you'll want to calibrate it. But, you can dissolve 1g table salt in 1 liter of water. That's 1000ppm. That will get you close enough for what you're doing.

For now, without knowing your tap water's quality, I would use the bottled water and add 2ml calmag per gallon. If you don't have calmag (and there's probably no reason to buy it yet), the next thing I'd do is mix tap and bottled water equally. If your tap is bad, it would improve it substantially. If your tap is good, it shouldn't make it too light on minerals. I.e., seems like a good bet until you find out what your tap water is.
 

Camo Hat

Well-Known Member
If it's too low (for example RO water), you'll need to add some TDS. Either from high TDS tap water or from a small amount of calmag.

If you don't have a TDS meter, I'd say it's up there in importance as the ph meter. This HM TDS-3 is a decent one for $20. You don't have to buy any special calibration fluids. Eventually you'll want to calibrate it. But, you can dissolve 1g table salt in 1 liter of water. That's 1000ppm. That will get you close enough for what you're doing.

For now, without knowing your tap water's quality, I would use the bottled water and add 2ml calmag per gallon. If you don't have calmag (and there's probably no reason to buy it yet), the next thing I'd do is mix tap and bottled water equally. If your tap is bad, it would improve it substantially. If your tap is good, it shouldn't make it too light on minerals. I.e., seems like a good bet until you find out what your tap water is.
Thanks.
 
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