Urgent need help

I have been growing my plants for the last four to five months. The last problem I had was the leaves were turning yellow at the base, I used two tea spoons of Epsom salt in a gallon of water to cure it. It did but now the leaves at the base of the plant are dieing and shriveling up and I can effortlessly pick them off. Also my plants seem to be growing high instead of out. One is a full foot higher that the others.
I also feel now would be a good time to flower them as they have been on a 12/12 for some time now. Should I wait, will they flower on 12/12 eventually or should I change the light cycle to induce flowering? The plants (four in all) are in three gallon pots and kind of close to one another, should I move two into another closet?
I need a Bud growing Jedi Master to teach me. This is my first grow and I am scared I am going to lose my plants before I can harvest them, and I have already put in five months worth of work.
Someone please help me save my crop. I need to first know how to stop the leaves from dieing, then how I can start flowering. At this point I don't think I am going to produce great buds, but I want to produce something.
It is important to know that I have no idea what kind of buds my plants are, I simply planted a bunch of seeds I had around to see what happen, and not I have four plants well over 16 inches tall that look ready to flower if it were not for the dieing leaves at the base.

It is also important to mention I water them every two days or so or when the soil is dry.

Any advice is much welcome.

Thanks.

Much more information is needed. Light source, ph, nutes, feeding schedule, temps, humidity etc etc. You can become your own "Jedi Master" just by researching and reading. RIU newbie forum Stickies are a great place to start. Also, Jorge Cervantes' Ultimate grow dvd 1 & 2 as well as High Times Ready, Set, Grow 1 & 2 are available in their entirety on you tube.

If you have been growing these plants for 4-5 months and that is what they look like now. The major issue you have is as you said in your posts, just throwing some seeds in pots and seeing what happens. I am certainly no master gower. But, with some time, research, and care I am gowing some very nice medicine for personal use. These plants are abot 2 1/2 to 3 months old and are about 4 weeks from harvest. Good Luck and keep growing.

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Man at 4-5 months of veg they should be huge. Like the previous poster said much more info is needed. Imo you got something very very wrong going on.

Well first off not enough light is being provided to the plants which is why your growth has been so slow. My plants are that big at a month old so 5 months will be a 5' plant give or take for genetic variations and indica vers sativa traits.
also....your soil is crappy, get rid of all that stuff and start with a good organic soil like Fox Farm or Roots organic. There is hardly any perilite in your soil now so i can assume that is adding to the current problems. Mix a 50/50 ratio of perilite to soil and you will be good for planting. It also bulks up your soil so you can plant more herb ^_^

Need a lot more info to diagnose the issue
But for sure improve your current growing implements because a floro is only really good for cloning. Metal Halide is the way to veg!
-CC

IMO Your gonna have a nightmare with that tall plant forcing you to push ya flowering light right back and depriving the others. Chop 50% off ya big uns and let the lower growth come through. The smaller but bushier plants could go to flower now but ya gonna need some decent light to get any return.

Actually, I would bin the big un and flower the better plants now, you've waited long enough.

is that one of those lights you put over a poker table? next time get better lights , put drainage holes in the buckets and get a ph meter so you know its around 6.5, looks out atm.

*BUDS said:

is that one of those lights you put over a poker table? next time get better lights , put drainage holes in the buckets and get a ph meter so you know its around 6.5, looks out atm.

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I was looking at that last pic he posted thinking it could be pH also. Probably the most overlooked thing when starting out but gives untold headaches if not monitored. But as all have pointed out, there is a myriad of problems starting with the light. Do yourself and your plants a favour and get some better lights, CFL's are cheap and easy and i have seen some good grows with them.

Thanks for all the info. I think I might loose this crop but growing is trial and error. For the time being I will try to get the plants better food and some better lights and see if I can't get at least something out of them.
Will they bud on their own on 12/12 or should I switch to something else to induce budding?

Thanks a lot!
And first poster, you are right! Doing my own research can make me my own jedi master of growing, the thing is from website to website people not only tell you to do it different, but they bash ways in which I just read how to grow. I guess I should find one method I like and stick to it!

Thanks guys!

deff need m0re light 0n that 0r ur yeild will b skimpy..