space between nodes due to type of light

all the pics of plants ive been seeing are short and bushy and seem to have shorter distance between nodes than mine....is that due to having most of my lights vertically?...i have 4-4ft flourescent tubes vertically and 1-50w halogen flood mounted about 5in from the tops

The two main things that make a plant stretch is heat and not enough light. I am sure you have both problems. First off take your halogen and go mount it on your garage. It is worthless. You need to get a mh or hps light.

i really dont think i have a heat problem as my grow space is roughly 2ftx2ft and 4ft high and i have a window fan on it constantly...plenty of air circulation....so the flood light doesnt help at all?....i cant really afford to buy an expensive light fixture at the moment ....

bluntedinwarren said:

i really dont think i have a heat problem as my grow space is roughly 2ftx2ft and 4ft high and i have a window fan on it constantly...plenty of air circulation....so the flood light doesnt help at all?....i cant really afford to buy an expensive light fixture at the moment ....

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Build one.
Go to WallyWorld and get a cheap bathroom light fixture, CFL bulbs, electrical cord, and some Y adapters. (all for about $30)

ur plants will stretch and have lots of growth between nodes. don't use a flood light. wrong kind of spectrum.

You can put the tubes almost in direct contact with the seedlings and will soon have internodes about 3/8 an inch between . just lay it on the pot or supported by some bricks

I just have one CFL bulbs , do i really need more or will the one do?

YOU NEED LUMENS AND THE CORRECT WAVELEGTH OF LIGHT TO PROVIDE ON OF THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS PLANTS NEED.
65 Watt Fluorex Fluorescent Area Floodlight

You dont have CFLs according to the OP, you have 4 foot tubes , they are way to far away. throw away the halogen put the tubes horizonally right over the the plant or get a fixture that can go right over the plant once the palnt it taller the 4 footer can work on the side, .If you have only one 4 footer you can turn the palnt every few hours.

no i dont have any cfl's and i dont have room to mount anything horizontally bisides this 1 light bulb i have hanging....it is a really small space...i topped my plant at the 4th node early in veg then additionally tried a fim on both the 2 tops a cpl weeks later...i dont know if it worked or not...what can i say im new to this...i relaced the flood with a red light bulb...i mean i think it has 2 help if only a little bit to have SOMETHING in there...im guessing that my distance from the very beginning had 2 do with not having the lights close enough when they were seedlings....its has been on 12/12 for 12days now and i still have no clue if it is female or not....is it bad to top the plant so early?...here are some pics so u can see what im talking about..this is just 1 plant may look like more cuz of a mirror behind it...which i hear is the best for reflection...is that true?

If you are unwilling to spend money on lights ,real lights not christmas bulbs perhaps you can show the plant pictures of lights .Im sure that will help just as much as xmas lights, Im out of this one. G.L.

LURP said:

If you are unwilling to spend money on lights ,real lights not christmas bulbs perhaps you can show the plant pictures of lights .Im sure that will help just as much as xmas lights, Im out of this one. G.L.

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so 4-40w 4ft flourescent tubes and 1-24" 25w fourescent tube and the socketed bulb is not enough for 1 plant in an area that is 20"widthx20"lengthx4ft height?

plant looks great IMO

but wuts up with that red light? its not helping, just wasting electricity so get rid of it, and listen to widow maker, shes on point with her analysis.

although u might not have heat issues with the 50w halogen, halogens are not made for growing bcuz they dont have the right spectrum for growing. they put off immense amounts of heat after being on for only a short while, if put too close it can fry ur plants, so thats why we dont use em to grow.

when u flower u may need to at least double the amount of light u have. plants need a lot of light during flowering, particularly the red spectrum which U can get from a HPS, the fluoro tubes are best for vegging

good luck

you should get rid of the red bulb and trade it out for a y socket and 2 at least 27 watt cfl bulbs... incandescant and halogen lights use most of there energy making heat (or so it seems) these lights are highly ineffective and basically useless in growing cfl's are cheap and very easy to use they still put off some heat but no where near as bad. I have personally gotten rid of all the shoplights i had (tube flouros) and replaced all the ones in veg area with cfl's big difference I took them out of my flowering area in favor HID 400 watt MH and 400 watt HPS huge difference. All that said my last grow was entirely a cfl grow and i was very impressed with both yield and quality. Anyways good luck.

that red bulb is worthless. mirrors are even less efficient at reflecting light than flat white wall paint.

you need cfl's.