Stunted Growth

[greenlivesmtr]

Hello fellow growers! This is my first post and like many first time posters out there, I'm in search of answers / advice. I'm growing a single feminized White Widow in a 2 X 2 tent. I'm using a "300 watt" LED gro light from MarsHydro. It hangs about 18" from the plant.

Humidity fluctuates between around 30 - 45%. Temperature is usually 22- 28 degrees C (72 - 82 F for our southern cousins).

I pH the water down to between 5 and 5.5 ish and the soil pH reads at around 7 .

This plant is on her 27th day since germination. I feel like she should be taller. I recently transplanted her to the larger pot (5 days ago). I feed her as per the instructions on the FloraGro/micro/bloom bottles. I watch the YouTube grow videos and immediately realize I have Veg-envy.... The leaves seem healthy, she's just short.

I feel like it may be soil pH is a little high (7)... That's a No Bueno high.

What do y'all think? Any experience here?

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[greenlivesmtr]

Ermmm... Is this thing on??

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[NuttyProfessor]

those meters are not great , better with a ph pen , rise the light a tad see if she follows

 

[safeman]

Some strain grow slow - don't worry strain generally double if not triple in size once on flower. just keep doing what you are doing. plant looks only 3weeks old (+)

 

[greenlivesmtr]

Aaah... My first replies! Thanks guys! Ya I test the pH of the water with a different meter but still.... They certainly aren't the most expensive meters. I'll have to upgrade at some point. Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to post some new info and pics. Personally I'd like to see her grow to not much more than 2.5 - 3 feet... More than enough for me!

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[safeman]

Whats' your nutrient line-up Also indica's like a bit lower PH than sativa's

 

[I like Cheese]

Try raising the light. This will make the plant stretch up for it.

 

[greenlivesmtr]

Hey guys! I'll try raising the light to maybe 20, 22" from the plant. As far as nutrients go, I use FloraMicro/Gro/Bloom with water pH'd down to around 5.5 . I use a 500 ml bottle for accurate math. So per 500 ml water I use 2ml FloraGro, 1.5ml FloraMicro and .75ml FloraBloom. I'll also add about 5ml seaweed extract. I use a few drops of lemon juice to bring the pH down.

All the nutrients:

Seaweed extract:

pH:

.
Although in this particular instance, I tried pH'ing lower than usual as I felt the pH was too high in the soil.

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[Curly Beaver]

I adjust the pH of everything going into the plants to 6.5., and I believe Marshydro recommends 18-24" for veg.

This is an email answer from Mars hydro:

As to the distance,you can keep it at 24-30inches above the plants when germination,and 18-24 inches for veg,12-18 for flower,hope it helps.

 

[greenlivesmtr]

Thanks man! I've moved the light up to around 22"... Now time to wait and see! I feel like she'll just explode suddenly!

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[Curly Beaver]

Thanks man! I've moved the light up to around 22"... Now time to wait and see! I feel like she'll just explode suddenly!

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While the light distance might not make it explode, I'd bet raising the pH to 6.5 will help

 

[greenlivesmtr]

Yooo... How's everybody doing tonight?! Just thought I'd update the ol ' stunted growth situation. Not a whole lot has changed. She is growing, just not in height!... Well, I lie.. She is growing in height a little. Though I do like my ladies on the shorter side, I'm not sure how I feel about this... Maybe it's genetics. She's about a month old now. Here are some shots.

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[greenlivesmtr]

Last week:

This week:

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[greenlivesmtr]

Anyway, if anybody has any thoughts about this ( or suggestions ), please feel free to write! Thanks!

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[I like Cheese]

Still looks like the light is too close to the plant. The further the light is away, the more stretch you get.

 

[Curly Beaver]

"""Although in this particular instance, I tried pH'ing lower than usual as I felt the pH was too high in the soil. ????

4.68 pH??? I hope you're kidding. You need to read about pH, I don't think you understand the significance of a balanced pH. The plant doesn't care about how you "FEEL" about pH, it must have the proper pH in the range that the roots will be able to USE the nutrients, You mights well just flush them down the toilet, the plant isn't able to use them. You are killing that plant, you mights well be watering with vinegar and forget the nutrients.

I would advise flushing that plant with water pH'd to exactly 6.5 (Thats six point five.) and half hour later feed it with half strength nutrients pH'd to 6.5 (thats six point five) with 2 gallons and don't worry about what the run off is. Just be sure you pH everything to 6.5 (Six point five.)

6.5 6.5

6.5 6.5 6.5

6.5 6.5 6.5

Look at the charts at the following link. Pay particular attention where a pH of 4.68 is.

 

[MehGreenThumb]

Hey Greenlivesmtr,

I'm also 1st time newb, also growing White Widow, started from Crop King seeds.
My 5 plants are ~ 4" tall as of today (day 24), so we're in a very similar boat.

I put seeds into dirt on 12/31 and they all started pushing out of dirt 1/1. I have them under Advanced Platinum 600 LEDs. I've made my share of mistakes, but they're still alive so!!! Not sure if I stunted them or they're just dandy.

1st, I forgot to lower the lights from the recommended 38" for seedlings; but they didn't seem to stretch (good), but maybe they grew slower than they might have?

2nd, I thought grow lights would make the tent hot, but it was barely hitting 68 degrees, and humidity was very low (bone dry) since dry winter air. I've read seedlings need high humidity. Mine had to tough it out. Boston Strong!

I started correcting things one by one. Put in small space heater set to maintain 80 degrees. It switches on and off and seems to keep the tent around 75. (I have a 4x4x6.5) That helped the humidity a bit too, but it was still very low. Took a few more days, but I got a humidifier going. I think about 2 weeks had elapsed at that point.

During week 3 I realized I never lowered the lights to the recommended 24", so did that. After reading random internet comments, people seem to say the light proximity should be as close as you like; based on heat produced by the lights. My lights are in VEG mode and frankly produce almost no heat at all. I put my arm under the lights, very close to the lights. No heat. So - I moved the lights pretty close to the plants; I think they're about 18" above the plants right now. I'll have to test again when I flip on the 'bloom' light mode.

My plants are all short, like yours. Maybe that's white widow? Maybe it's our dirt or the PH? Probably it's because we're new to this.

My plants did mature a lot in week 3. They're 3 to 4 inches but they are decently bushy, have good leaves. I should mention, last Tuesday/Wednesday I transplanted them from tiny pint (?) starter pots (roots popping out the bottom) to 3 gal air pots, gave them a good water, then didn't water them again for about 5 days.

I was hoping they'd stretch a bit. Add more stalk between nodes; but as a 1st time grower, they're really trying my patience. During this 4th week (this past Sunday/Monday), I decided the notes are there; so I'll FIM and TOP and LST. I topped 2 of them, FIM'd one, and bent a 4th over and tied it down to the side of the pot, and left the 5th alone (for the moment).

I'll probably top all them them (some for the 2nd time once the new growth appears). The LST seems to work very nicely. The underbelly of the plant grew overnight once it was exposed. Hopefully they get a bit taller so I can bend them over some more.

Next Sat/Sunday I think I'll switch the lights to bloom. Will leave them in veg for another 1-2 weeks based on how much they grow. I read you want to train plants in veg and I want to FIM or top each plant twice before switching putting them into flowering mode.

Good luck. Keep sharing your progress and let us know if they decide to reach for the sky. On the PH front; if it's way off the plant would not be able to get nuts and you'd see problems in the leaves. Since you're leaves are healthy, my opinion is you're in the zone enough to be OK.

 

[greenlivesmtr]

Still looks like the light is too close to the plant. The further the light is away, the more stretch you get.

The light is currently at 25 inches. She's grown about an inch in the last week. Most of her growth seems to be undergrowth. Under her fan leaves seems to be quite lush and green!

.

I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. Maybe mess with the light height and see what happens.

I wonder if maybe the height issue has anything to do with the plant being a lone plant. Personally I feel like a plant would grow like crazy if there was no competition for light. But then again, perhaps she doesn't need to grow as there is no competition for light. I'm not a pro by any means. This is all experience. I'm taking notes throughout the entire process and hopefully I will learn something I can pass on to fellow cannabis growers out there!

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[greenlivesmtr]

"""Although in this particular instance, I tried pH'ing lower than usual as I felt the pH was too high in the soil. ????

4.68 pH??? I hope you're kidding. You need to read about pH, I don't think you understand the significance of a balanced pH. The plant doesn't care about how you "FEEL" about pH, it must have the proper pH in the range that the roots will be able to USE the nutrients, You mights well just flush them down the toilet, the plant isn't able to use them. You are killing that plant, you mights well be watering with vinegar and forget the nutrients.

I would advise flushing that plant with water pH'd to exactly 6.5 (Thats six point five.) and half hour later feed it with half strength nutrients pH'd to 6.5 (thats six point five) with 2 gallons and don't worry about what the run off is. Just be sure you pH everything to 6.5 (Six point five.)

6.5 6.5

6.5 6.5 6.5

6.5 6.5 6.5

Look at the charts at the following link. Pay particular attention where a pH of 4.68 is.

My friend.... "This particular instance" meaning that one particular time I watered. The pH in the soil was pretty high so I felt, in my admitted ignorance, that lowering the pH that ONE TIME would help. Normally I shoot for between 6.5 and 6.8... ( That's six point five and six point eight). One time... Thank you for your input and I will certainly make use of that chart you added. Much appreciated. .

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[greenlivesmtr]

This is all a learning process for me. I've read and heard pH values from 5.5 to between 6.5 and 7. It seems the 6.5 is the prevailing value and so that's what I'm going with.

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