Leaning plants??

t1m_mcgrath

Active Member
Hi guys, this is my first time growing and I was just wondering if anyone would be able to help me with my problem. I have a couple plants that are getting a little tall and kind of spindly or skinny...my question is that now that I have gotten to the point where using straws to help support the plant is no longer working, what should i do??
 

MightyBuddha

Well-Known Member
If the plant is still stretching you need to think about why... probably not enough lighting and not close enough. Then make sure you have a fan blowing on the plants to strengthen the stems. To keep the plants up-right use wooden dowels/rods stuck down into the medium taking care not to damage roots. Otherwise get a tomato cage thing and use that to support the plant.
 

t1m_mcgrath

Active Member
If the plant is still stretching you need to think about why... probably not enough lighting and not close enough. Then make sure you have a fan blowing on the plants to strengthen the stems. To keep the plants up-right use wooden dowels/rods stuck down into the medium taking care not to damage roots. Otherwise get a tomato cage thing and use that to support the plant.
This is the first time for me so I wasn't really sure why, I have been kind of learning on the go basically while I have been doing this nothing high tech. But is it possible that maybe the problem is too much light?? Maybe a problem with the placement of the light? I have 2 grow lights that I just bought at wal-mart that are florescent lights set up in the corner of my room and the plant is leaning and the leaves themselves are actually starting to curl down a little bit.
 

DoobsDay

Well-Known Member
your talkin bout those $10 grow lights at walmart, they dont put out alot of light and can be an inch from your plant
 

MightyBuddha

Well-Known Member
What kind of lights are they? Can you post a picture of the plant? What is the temp of your grow space? Sounds like the plants are getting fried but a couple floros wouldn't do that unless the temps were already in the upper 80s or into the 90s.
 

t1m_mcgrath

Active Member
What kind of lights are they? Can you post a picture of the plant? What is the temp of your grow space? Sounds like the plants are getting fried but a couple floros wouldn't do that unless the temps were already in the upper 80s or into the 90s.
I'll post pics tonight I Just took a couple of them... and yea they are just those basic grow lights that are sold at wal-mart but I also have a regular light on it to give it some heat and that possibly could be hurting the plant. I put my hand right above the top of the plant to see what kind of temperature the plant was dealing with and it seemed to be warmer than room temp but not really that hot... pics coming soon
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Looks like overwatering and possibly some excessive air temp as well.

Are there holes in the bottoms of those plastic tubs of potting soil?

What does your thermometer/hygrometer say? Guesses don't count.
 

MajoR_TokE

Well-Known Member
I'll post pics tonight I Just took a couple of them... and yea they are just those basic grow lights that are sold at wal-mart but I also have a regular light on it to give it some heat and that possibly could be hurting the plant. I put my hand right above the top of the plant to see what kind of temperature the plant was dealing with and it seemed to be warmer than room temp but not really that hot... pics coming soon
That regular light bulb you got in there to add heat. why?
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
whoo, I missed the bit about the incandescent lamp in there... well spotted, MT.

Yep- get rid of that!
 

Godkas

Well-Known Member
water less lose the incandescent make sure your fluoro's are within 3 inches of your leaves. Then grab a oscillating fan because thats a big part of your problem.
 

t1m_mcgrath

Active Member
That regular light bulb you got in there to add heat. why?
i stopped using it about a week ago after I learned that it doesn't necessarily help to keep it hot all the time, that was just the impression I had that it would thrive in higher temperatures.. and no I don't have any holes in the bottom of the containers that hold soil, I'm doing it in my room and I'm not really sure of the best way of going about it seeing that I have limited room and resources. If there's something that I can pick up at a store or soemthing liek that I will give it a shot but I have looked around at dept. stores without really finding anything that I woudl think will help.
 

t1m_mcgrath

Active Member
ok so I just bought an oscilating fan today but how long should I keep it on there for?? should I just leave it on for a little while during the day or just put it on every other day or something? Also, a couple people have commented on me using fluerescents that won't provide enough light given that I am just working out of my room would it be possible to find something that would be compact and do the job without me having to spend $2342355663
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
would it be possible to find something that would be compact and do the job without me having to spend $2342355663
HPS lights produce high-intensity light which has good foliar penetration and will produce dense, heavy buds. The low-intensity light from fluoros tends to produce small, wispy, fluffy buds with low weight.

HPS security lights, in the 150-250W range, can be bought at hardware stores for cheap. Go shopping. Bet you find one for $50-75 or perhaps even less.

There's probably a FAQ entry on here somewhere showing how to convert a security light into a proper grow light with a good reflector and a remotely mounted ballast to keep some heat out of the grow area.
 

MightyBuddha

Well-Known Member
If you don't want to spend the money on HID lights then get a couple CFLs (compact floros) and put em all over the place!
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
MB, fluorescents, compact or not, and no matter how many you have, simply won't produce the same density and weight as HID lighting. You could have 500W worth of flo's and they won't make the quality of a much smaller HPS.

Once more- fluorecents produce low intensity light with poor foliar penetration. Adding more won't increase their light intensity.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
what??? more light = more intensity. basic math.
nope... adding more low intensity lamps doesn't increase light intensity. It effectively increases the volume of light but not the 'force' with which they're hitting the plants. Each tube, flo or HPS, will have a certain amt of light leaving them from their given surface area. When you add flo tubes, you're adding surface area and more low intensity light, but not improving the foliar penetration.

An analogy in water is 10 oscillating garden sprinklers vs one firehose.
 
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