Lighting, seedlings and advice! All feedback is appreciated

[420Steve]

Hey guys 420Steve here,

Quick question about lighting and lumens and if i got enough sufficient lighting, i am new to growing and hydroponics and i currently have 6 little seedlings growing under a 2ft 2-tube – 48 W (2 x 24W tubes) in a propagator, it has been almost 2 weeks and growth is very very slow and some seedlings are struggling i think this may be down to lighting or lumen output or just my poor knowledge about lighting.

Current got the propagator in a 3ftx3ft veg tent raised from the floor on a 25 liter bucket with the CFL almost touching the top of the propagator dome, is this enough? what can i do better?. I know the temp and humidity is not where it should be but its winter here and gets really cold at night and still cold in the day.

Max temp and humidity: 66.9f 70%

Low Temp and Humidity: 58.3f 69%

Reverse osmosis water, with a 1/4 strength of regen-a-root nutrients with PH around 5.7 and 400ppm.

Currently just misted the dome to increase humidity also tried to insulate the seedlings in the dome to raise the temperature also have placed the big seedling in a bigger rockwall cube as the tap water root was getting bigger.

Any information how to grow seedlings perfectly would be greatly appreciated and if you need any information about the seedlings please don't hesitate to ask me.

Here are a few photos of my seedlings:

 

[420Steve]

1

 

[go4snypr]

is there water in the bottom of that tray?? are you letting the rock wool dry out a little?? I would lose the dome and lower the lights, water the cubes once a day. I also would not be giving nutes for a couple of weeks, I give my full size veg plants 500 ppm of flora series. 400 ppm of anything I would assume is alot at this stage of growth.

 

[420Steve]

is there water in the bottom of that tray?? are you letting the rock wool dry out a little?? I would lose the dome and lower the lights, water the cubes once a day. I also would not be giving nutes for a couple of weeks, I give my full size veg plants 500 ppm of flora series. 400 ppm of anything I would assume is alot at this stage of growth.

Great advice im going to take it and will give you an update very soon, do you think the current cfl i have is enough?

 

[VonDankenhoek]

Your low temps will dramatically slow growth. I think you should be 10° warmer lights out, 10-15°F lights on.
Those 10+ degrees really boost metabolism.

Cold as hell here as well.

 

[420Steve]

Your low temps will dramatically slow growth. I think you should be 10° warmer lights out, 10-15°F lights on.
Those 10+ degrees really boost metabolism.

Cold as hell here as well.

Yeah i think im going to get a heater from my local store for £10, that should bring my temperature up and hopefully increase growth!

 

[go4snypr]

that light should be more than enough at this stage. If you were letting that rock wool soak and not dry out that is probably half your problem right there. As for your temps your room temperature is probably warmer than 66, if you pull the dome and lower the lights your day time temps will probably go up. Maybe put the dome back on at night if your worried about night time temps. If you wanna talk cold, I am on the Canadian Prairies, just woke up , its 27 degrees below C here this morning. (thats before the wind chill, probably closer to -40 with the wind)

 

[420Steve]

that light should be more than enough at this stage. If you were letting that rock wool soak and not dry out that is probably half your problem right there. As for your temps your room temperature is probably warmer than 66, if you pull the dome and lower the lights your day time temps will probably go up. Maybe put the dome back on at night if your worried about night time temps. If you wanna talk cold, I am on the Canadian Prairies, just woke up , its 27 degrees below C here this morning. (thats before the wind chill, probably closer to -40 with the wind)

Oh shit yeah that sounds cold, the dome at night sounds like a good shout! thanks man

 

[go4snypr]

no problem, keep us updated though...

 

[420Steve]

Guys i need a big favor, i currently have a 3300k 2x24watt CFL currently on my seedlings i dont think this is enough light and i am looking at getting a 125watt 6400K Spectrum light is this overkill? I really believe my seedlings are not getting the correct light growth is still really slow. Any information around lumens per square foot and what is optimal would be appreciated. Propagator dome is (37.5L - 23W) currently light is 3300k Spectrum 2x24 CFL bulbs this is not optimal?

 

[go4snypr]

the more the merrier... 6400k is more what you want for veg. your plants will love more light. I have my seedling under 1 6400k cfl bulb probably 24 watt. been out of the rock wool for 1 week and is as big as your biggest plant in the above pictures.

 

[VonDankenhoek]

I use a homemade hood. it has sockets for4 bulbs. i use 1-4 100-125 actual watt 5500.
Seedlings can handle this full blast no problem. I use just one bulb to start but i can get 4 plants into 6-8 weeks of veg when needed. At amazon you can find potent and appropriate huge cfls w standard socket for <$20
.

 

[420Steve]

Thanks guys going to look into this abit more i have some questions over on my journal please take a look.

 

[HighDesertGrower]

lose the dome and get the light about 4 inches away from leaves.

 

[JBUptown]

Judging by the OP original post date, I'd guess they are either flowering or returning to earth by now!

 

[420Steve]

Had an issue but learnt from mistakes