if plants get comfortable, do they stop growing?

so i have:
- 2 indica dom. hybrids, 1 extra other much younger
- 5x5 under 400w hps aircooled
- temps are 75-78, humidity 50% ('comfort')
- advanced nutes, half to 3/4 strength micro bloom ferts
- happy frog soil with 'supersoil' mix in lower half
- watering every other day or every other, other day, about 2.5 liters for 5 gallon pots, feeding every time i water (i'll probably flush soon)
- pH 6.2, (run off always 5.8...what?)
- oscillating fan on low, 24hr

so far this is my first grow that is growing more stable, learning along the way. i actually started out with advanced leds for a few months and realized their growth was stunted until i hooked up a 400w. if my memory serves me right, they were growing very very well for, i dunno 6 inches? and then they just kind of coasted around that height...

sometimes i bend the tops' stems over to expose light to the shoots growing in em and exercise their stems a bit. unless i do that, they dont seem to grow as vigorously as they had before whether i water/feed or not. their lower shoots grow semi-consistent so maybe their focusing on them? recently i lst'd the heck out of them and cut many fan leaves to expose lights to as many shoots as i can and left quite a few fan leaves on the plants' perimeters. im sure this probably would slow grow but not by too much right? before that, they were growing at the same speed.

here's my question: i would've thought that under more or less ideal factors, they'd grow vigorous and strong, rather than slow and lazy? if i stress them a bit, i see a bit of growth until they eliminate the stress and get lazy again. do they slow growth and take their time lookin at scenery if they're comfortable?

when the ladies are stressed for more light, they stretch towards it right? (but grow lanky)
when they're stressed for more water, their roots grow and search for it right? (but may die off if drought'd too long)

with enough light and water they dont stretch but grow comfortably and consistently? maybe i need to be much more patient, as i am checking daily but may not notice that everything is actually alright. any enlightenment from the more experienced would be great.

if plants get comfortable, do they stop growing?
logically speaking i would say vise versa of the same statement.

you need to bring ur ph up closer to 6.5 and stop messing with plants,the stems dont need to be "exercised" lol,feeding every other day is a bit much too

oh yeah, one more side question on lighting distance vs. temperature.

again, 400w air cooled closed hood.

at around 6" from hood, temps are stable at 84degrees
at a foot and a half, temps are stable at 75-78

i heard that more light is always better as long as i dont burn the plants/or light bleach
i also notice the debate that 75-78 are IDEAL temps but that 85 is OPTIMAL?

so what's in my best interest?
is more lumens/par more important and as long as they're not burning or showing adverse effects they can take it? and would grow more vigorously?
as brighter light would balance out with their need for higher temperature that's still under 85?

or

is a very comfortable, no heat distance but still nicely above 2000lumens more beneficial to the plants? as i heard that between a foot or 2 for 400w is more standard.

also, please definitely enlighten me this one as its racking my brain and somewhat related, do plants enjoy heat radiation along with their constant air flow? or do they like no heat radiation at all to add to their temperature as they're more concerned with light? or is it as long as the heat radiation is at warm, comfortable levels? what's ideal?

Your not supposed to feed at all with super soil.....just water and cal/mag if using ro water.........your not even supposed to feed when using regular soil until your plants show slight signs of deficiencies........you are over feeding for sure if you are giving any nutrients.....especially every watering.......even when the nutrients in your soil are depleted you don't feed every watering....it's every other watering...

0011StealTH said:

if plants get comfortable, do they stop growing?
logically speaking i would say vise versa of the same statement.

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wait, uhh....u mean if they stop growing do they get comfortable? or if... my bad, i dont know what you mean.

DuMpSteRLoVe216 said:

you need to bring ur ph up closer to 6.5 and stop messing with plants,the stems dont need to be "exercised" lol,feeding every other day is a bit much too

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well im feeding em 6.2 and run off is 5.8. i thought it was kind of odd but they seemed fine and healthy. i heard that if i make big changes in pH that it'd be really bad for them? should i up the pH bit by bit until i hit around 6.5?

haha and yea that sounded stupid about 'exercising the stems' i know, but the lower growth loves it. i lst'd em by the way and got many more tops and am now lst'ing those too. so i know more light exposure is helping and sometimes i'll bend a top to the side as it's shading a lower one.

i thought i'd be feeding too much too. i fed em full strength one time to see their limit and i they had 'steel' green dark leaves, nitrogen toxicity? that was about it. put it to half strength and they look nice and well balanced. i do feed em every time i water but i water about twice a week? i should probably flush but still too much feeding?

jcdws602 said:

Your not supposed to feed at all with super soil.....just water and cal/mag if using ro water.........your not even supposed to feed when using regular soil until your plants show slight signs of deficiencies........you are over feeding for sure if you are giving any nutrients.....especially every watering.......even when the nutrients in your soil are depleted you don't feed every watering....it's every other watering...

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alright, ya'll are saying im definitely overfeeding and stupidly so as i have supersoil hooked up in bottom half. i'll start with the feeding every other water then. maybe that's what's attributing to slow growth?

Two stray observations:
1) Plants are programmed to grow as much as they can to produce max seed before the frosts come. Slowing growth is pretty much a certain indicator of (di)stress.
2) 75 to 78 is ideal. 85 is optimal for CO2 supplementation but a bit warm for a naturally aspirated grow. Jm$.02 ... cn

stateless said:

alright, ya'll are saying im definitely overfeeding and stupidly so as i have supersoil hooked up in bottom half. i'll start with the feeding every other water then. maybe that's what's attributing to slow growth?

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Don't feed AT ALL when using super soil.......and yes that is why growth is so slow.....give them a good flush wait for them to dry out and again do not feed at all.....only feed if and when your plants show slight signs of deficiencies... ONLY THEN or you will continue to have slow growing plants...

cannabineer said:

Two stray observations:
1) Plants are programmed to grow as much as they can to produce max seed before the frosts come. Slowing growth is pretty much a certain indicator of (di)stress.
2) 75 to 78 is ideal. 85 is optimal for CO2 supplementation but a bit warm for a naturally aspirated grow. Jm$.02 ... cn

Click to expand...

That makes sense. thanks for the heads up.

jcdws602 said:

Don't feed AT ALL when using super soil.......and yes that is why growth is so slow.....give them a good flush wait for them to dry out and again do not feed at all.....only feed if and when your plants show slight signs of deficiencies... ONLY THEN or you will continue to have slow growing plants...

Click to expand...

ahh ok. so that's what it is. i initially thought that as long as they're not showing signs of toxicity that they'd be at a good balance. thanks for clearing that up. i'll start watering with distilled water from now until i see deficiencies.

i have a younger one that's NOT using super soil. for that one, when i DO see deficiencies, should i feed it once or feed it until the deficiencies are gone and then go back to just watering?

Yeah for the one without super soil once you see slight signs of deficiencies you can start to feed every other watering....I would start half strength and keep it half strength until you see deficiencies......

well, a friend gave it to me early on and it had deficiencies until i started feeding it with the 'feeding it every water schedule', just recently it started to look very nice and balanced. so i'm at the point where i should keep it at it's half strength 'feed every other water' until it shows deficiencies and then up it to 3/4 until deficiencies then up to full strength right? all the while, since it's only on chem nutes, i'll be feeding every other watering until flowering flush time?

Yeah that should work....

Alright, good lookin out. i'll revise my regimen.