Slow growth - Does it actually matter?

[420Girl]

What I'd like to know is does slow growth affect quality/yield? Or does it simply mean you'll have to wait longer and spend more money on electric bills?

 

[Kamehameha]

Thats a difficult question to answer. It's difficult to answer because there are so many things that can cause slow plant growth. It could be natural, for example, Indica's naturally tend to grow slowly. Or there could be a problem in your grow that is causing the plant to grow slow.

Now, if slow growth is being caused by a problem in your grow room then I'm gonna need more information about your setup. Also, a pic of the plant would really help me determine what the problem is if theirs even a problem.

 

[420Girl]

That's a really good point actually. For me, I'm pretty sure the main reason is that I've only got 2 15w CFLs above my 2 seedlings and at 16/8. The reason is because I was struggling with heat generated by my T5s and had to quickly replace with CFLs as a bit of an emergency procedure while I get my extractor fan sorted. My girls had suffered from pretty severe heat stress during their first 2 weeks under the T5s so they had a bit of a rough start, poor things. They are recovering though. Here's my other growth info:

Age: 3 weeks
Strain: Northern Lights auto
Tent: 90x60x90cm
Lights: 2x 15w CFLs
Light cycle: 16/8
Medium: Coco coir
Nutes: Very diluted chilli nutrients
Temps: Between about 70-82
Humidity: No idea at the mo
PH: 6
Ventilation: Tent vents and a desk fan (which is fine with such low wattage lights at the mo)

I'll upload a pic in a bit

 

[Kamehameha]

Well it seems your slow growth sounds mostly natural because Northern Lights is a typical slow growing indica but the lack of lumens isn't helping either. Even worst you're stain is an auto-flower so any delay in growth will seriously affect final yield. You probably wont walk away with more than an ounce but you rest assure your potency wont be harmed.

 

[Kamehameha]

I would also suggest that you increase your light schedule from 16/8 to 24/0. Cannabis plants don't need to sleep and can work around the clock. It's also recommended by strain breeders to grow auto flowers under continuos light to maximize growth and final yield.

 

[420Girl]

Here are some pics. Excuse the primitive thermometer lol. The biggest plant is actually an NL photo which I planted in October and had growing on my windowsill throughout winter so it's insanely stretched and pretty much got most of its growth in the last few weeks since being put in the tent haha. Therefore I'm not expecting much (or anything) from this one but I'm certainly not going to get rid of it. Anyway, you can see how bad the lower leaves are in all the plants and particularly the biggest one, but thankfully the newest leaves are looking very healthy to me apart from a couple of burnt tips.

Also excuse the yellowness of the pics but my CFLs are 2700K unfortunately. The newest leaves are actually a nice, healthy green.

 

[HigherTheHigh]

im on growing some northern lights autos, on day 46 starting to show white hairs, same with myself the worry of costs.
if you grow with hps at 18/6 the cost would be for a 90 day grow
US $140-170
UK £140-160
cfl would be alot cheaper to run, i run cfl for 30-40 days then switch to hps lights

hope this helps and good luck with your grow

 

[420Girl]

Cripes, an ounce is almost nothing. Okay thanks for the advice, I'll get them some more lumens ASAP and increase the light schedule if I can, although I can't do 24hrs because I can't afford it :/

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Kamehameha]

Even if you only get an ounce, I'm sure it will still be great bud to smoke.

420 Girl, if you're interested in growing more than a couple ounces, you should make the switch from soil to hydroponic. MJ plants grown in soil don't even come close to plants grown in hydroponics. Hydro is faster, bigger and you'll ed up with 4x as much bud.

There are plenty of videos on youtube showing the difference between soil and hydro. Check it out and I'm sure you wont be disappointed.

 

[420Girl]

Actually I'm growing in hydro already... coco counts as hydro, right?