First Time Newbie

Hey everyone. I'm brand new to the forum, I've browsed alot and learned alot from everyone here and I decided to join. This is my first grow and I'm feeling a little over my head. I think everything started out smoothly and I'm not worried yet. I uploaded a few pictures and I have a cpl questions. It's been about 4 1/2 wks since my sprouts first broke ground and even though the plants look okay they are only like 5 inches tall and I feel like other people say that theirs grow wayy taller faster. Any thoughts and/or help would be awesome. I hope the pictures post ok.

First thing you will be asked is about your environment... soil, lights, light height, temperatures, humidity and pH of water.

Plants look great so far, but 4-1/2 weeks tells me you have little light (although it has to be nice and close due to height of plants/tightness of nodes).

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-spek

EDIT: I let my White Widow veg for four weeks up to 7", and now they are out of control and I'm tyiing them down every day Like poster below says, strain is important too. Let us know

Some plants grow slower than others. I've had some where they exploded and I couldn't go past 35 days of veg, and others that let me go 60+ days (I take care to look at height). In any case, what type lighting are you using, how many watts, what color temperature?

Looks somewhat like an indica dominant strain, indica's are usually short and bushy, they look fine to me, not all strains grow tall as fast as others, don't worry they'll soon grow fast enough.

I'm surprised and thankful for the quick replies. That's awesome. They are both INDICA strain 1 is a white widow and 1 is a bubblelicious. Both from what I read INDICA dominant ( I wanted plants that could tolerate my mistakes a little better). From the time they sprouted I had them under 4, 48" 40 watt floros for about 4 wks. And two days ago I moved them under a 400w HID MH light about 24" under the light, which is where they are now. I moved them to that light because I was worried they weren't getting enough lumens. The temp is 79 at the high and about 72 at the low. They got their first watering with fertilizer two days ago. It was 1/4 strength Pure Blend Pro Grow. And that's where I'm at now. I don't know the soil ph. So I know that's one of my mistakes to be corrected. To me, they're green and perky and look healthy but idk when they would be ready to take some clones and put to flowering. I don't want to rush things and ruin my plants and my yields. I am brand new to this, these are my first two plants ever.

You can probably move that lamp closer:

Dood. That chart is awesome. I haven't seen that before and I was worried about the heat and burning them.

Do the infamous "hand test". Put you hand under the lamp, backside facing the light. See how far you can put your hand under the light without feeling that it is too warm. You can probably move your plants close to that distance away but I'd be conservative and add a few inches more to see how your plants react. So for instance you don't really feel any discomfort at 8", I'd try 12" and go from there.

I appreciate the answers and the help. One more quick question for now. When should I repot, the roots are kinda creeping out of the bottom of the pots but I've seen taller bigger plants in the same sized pots. So idk

Taller plants mean little. Some are just that, taller. Indicas are typically short, sativas tall. But you can transplant any time now, it is best (imho) to get your transplanting out of the way as early as possible. I start in solo cups and immediately go to 3 gal fabric pots upon transplant. Not necessary, but easy and the plant then has plenty of room to grow.

In fact, this could be another reason your plants are small: they need more room to grow. I've read that indicas like alot more root space to grow, and that they will stop growing as well when they use up the space in the medium. I'm not so sure about that, but it makes sense. My indica doms rarely get any wider than their container since I do little more than one topping.

Idk if anyone is gonna re-check this thread or read it again but...so I went and re-potted the other night. Brother Jericho you were right, they might not have been tall but both plants root systems were huge. There was no root rot or anything but they were definitely root bound. I couldn't believe how a plant that size could have such a dense root system. I put them into 3 gal pots and don't plan on having to re-pot again. Hopefully the bigger pots will allow for some more growth.