Vegetative slow growth

[SkunkyRob69]

Im a newbie at growing but I've done my research.
I have 1 plant with 3x60W lamps, a fan and a temperature gauge kept between 25°c - 28°c.
it gets watered 1ce a day and feed 2wice a week. I'm using a NPK solution 6-3-7.
I don't know anything about the soil I've used but seems fine.
I'm concerned that it might be growing slower than others I've seen on Google and YouTube. Any advice will be appreciated =)

Ph level is at 6.2... its 10 days old and on a 24hr light cycle.

Im also trying to put some pics up now.
Cannot figure out how to move from gallery to thread. . Their title is... my lil baba ...lol

 

[Weaselcracker]

I only water once or twice a week. Cannabis does well with a wet-dry cycle, as opposed to being constantly damp. So that could be a cause of the slow growth.

 

[Serpent]

hows you PH if off for sometime it will block food uptake or if your pot is two small and the plant is root bound send some pics

 

[Major PITA]

I only water once or twice a week. Cannabis does well with a wet-dry cycle, as opposed to being constantly damp.

Same here. I up-potted a plant more than two weeks ago. It hasn't had a drink since and it looks great.
If you put a small-ish plant into a large-ish pot, it will spend a lot of time building its roots in all the soil it has to work with. It could be, all the action is taking place below ground.
How old is the plant and how big is the pot?

 

[SkunkyRob69]

Thanks mann I'll try your advice.
PH level is at 6.2.
Its also on a 24 hour light cycle.
And its 10 days old from when it sprouted out the soil.

Ps ive uploaded some photos to the gallery but I don't know how to attach um to a thread.

 

[SkunkyRob69]

I only water once or twice a week. Cannabis does well with a wet-dry cycle, as opposed to being constantly damp. So that could be a cause of the slow growth.

Thanks mann I'll try ur advice

 

[Serpent]

when you re post look for the camera beside the film strip ^ click on that to upload pic everything looks good and the ph is fine must be root bound I'm guessing

 

[Weaselcracker]

Wait to water till the pots feel light. Testing the weight is by far the best way, if not the only way, to decide when to water, IMO. Test the weight of pot of dry soil. The one with the plant in it should be almost that light before watering.

 

[SkunkyRob69]

Bingo. I was on da mobile site lol awkward

 

[Serpent]

Bingo. I was on da mobile site lol awkward

set up looking boss just try to find a way to pack more light and try to find some CFL's you may have them around the house bigger the better and keep the light close like super close the soil looks wet so dry that baby out she's young so give it some TLC not THC and find a clean bottle to mist the plant that will help a lot you'll be back on track before you know keep up the good work

 

[TorturedSoul]

Might consider adding some perlite next time you transplant. (Or that soil might be lighter than I'm thinking it is?)

Is that aluminum foil on the walls? If so, I have found that flat white paint performs much better - it is much more reflective and does not create hot spots.

I cannot tell what type of bulbs those are. I hope that they are some type of CFL and not incandescents, lol. Know that light bulbs produce the bulk of their illumination (as opposed to from the tip or, obviously, from the base). Therefore, the light bulb that is hanging over the plant is illuminating your walls far more than it is your plant. It would be far more efficient if you changed it to a horizontal orientation. You would (again) gain if you fabricated simple reflectors for the light bulbs to direct the light downwards onto the plant. One can do much just by cutting open a soda can in such a way that it can be attached to the socket/lamp and spread around the bulb (not so close as to be touching).

CFLs also lose their usefulness very quickly as the distance to the plant is increased. With established plants - and using low-wattage bulbs - I'd want to keep them within an inch or so of the plant. With tiny little seedlings, this is not as necessary... But if it were me, I'd move them much closer than they are now at. If your fan is pointed at the plant, it should prevent overheating (and, incidentally, help develop a healthy stem). The moving air will aid/encourage the plant to transpire more water from the soil, too. Ironically, if you were to move the plant closer to the source of illumination, you could probably get by with only using two - or even one - bulb at this stage of growth if you wanted to.

Finally, with only one plant in a grow area that is much larger than that one plant, I would move it into one of the corners so that they could aid in helping you use more of the illumination that you are producing. There is no reason to light up an entire area unless it is filled with plants, lol.

 

[TorturedSoul]

and find a clean bottle to mist the plant

Just curious, but why would you recommend that the person mist their plant with water when they are concerned that they have been overwatering their soil? In such conditions, I would be encouraging the plant to transpire water instead of retarding the process. EDIT: Also, (especially) with such a small plant, I would be somewhat worried that the light - such as it is - could conceivably cause stress to the leaves if they have water droplets on them, since they have a tendency to act like little lenses.

 

[Serpent]

Just curious, but why would you recommend that the person mist their plant with water when they are concerned that they have been overwatering their soil? In such conditions, I would be encouraging the plant to transpire water instead of retarding the process. EDIT: Also, (especially) with such a small plant, I would be somewhat worried that the light - such as it is - could conceivably cause stress to the leaves if they have water droplets on them, since they have a tendency to act like little lenses.

So you never mist you plants ok sorry you need a update my firend ya so if the soil is wet let it dry out and and mist every now and helps bump the RH up and keeps dust and bugs away and with cfl and incandescents will not act like a mag don't be funny come on ya 1000 HPS 2 feet away sure

My plants grow just fine that way and harvest is next week how about you big man

 

[TorturedSoul]

So you never mist you plants ok sorry

Never mist plants? No, that wouldn't be accurate. But would I mist a little sprout that was in a pot of soil that I feared was waterlogged, lol? Of course not... (Among other reasons,) The seedling presumably isn't real thirsty at that point. Also, there would be no point in covering the stoma when I wanted moisture to come OUT of them.

BtW, the last time someone went into a shrieking fit just because I disagreed with them... I decided to get a divorce, lol. There's no need to fly off the handle every time someone disagrees with you. That kind of stuff just causes fatal heart attacks and no little grief for the poor unfortunate sod that finally ventures into your house four months later to investigate the smells. How about we just respectfully disagree?

My plants grow just fine that way and harvest is next week how about you big man

You're not going to want to compare penis sizes next, are you? Because I wouldn't wish to scare you and excite you at the same time....

 

[Serpent]

its cool to show and tell but looks like nothing to show to bad Anyway I'm i girl on the upper note and if you pull that limp d out i would kick it lol but ya do your thing and let just focus on the real thing and this HELPING are friend grow some killer cannabis right

 

[SkunkyRob69]

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

And unfortunately they are incandescents bulbs but I will be getting some metal halide bulbs in 2-3 weeks (next payday).

I'll keep you all posted on my progress

 

[TorturedSoul]

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

And unfortunately they are incandescents bulbs but I will be getting some metal halide bulbs in 2-3 weeks (next payday)

Sadly to say, traditional incandescents - and even the ones that were sold as "grow bulbs" to the unsuspecting - were extremely inefficient. They basically produced a lot of heat with a little light as a side-affect. In addition to not producing much light, they produced almost none that plants could actually use.

As has been stated, CFL bulbs are far more useful and efficient than the old incandescents (although they are typically only about half as efficient as HPS (high pressure sodium) bulbs and, therefore, actually produce more heat per watt). I would strongly suggest that you go out and buy a CFL or four to keep the plants alive (they'll actually grow, assuming you place them properly) until you can get whichever light you're planning on using. Look for ones that are labeled as "Daylight" (around 6500K color temperature) for vegetative growth, with perhaps one or two 2700K ones thrown in at a 3:1 ratio if you would like your plant to stretch a little more (which can be helpful, depending on your preferred growing style and the strain).

Many people grow from seed to harvest using only CFL bulbs. I stopped doing that when I realized that they just weren't as efficient as HIDs (metal halide or high pressure sodium), didn't produce as much light per watt, produced MORE heat per watt, required me to use lots of sockets and wire them together instead of just buying one big light, that cutting up pop cans to make reflectors for them (which is actually helpful) was a PitA, that removing the electronic ballasts from the actual bulbs in an attempt to move what heat I could out of the grow room was an even bigger PitA, and that it's far easier to ventilate/cool one light than 20+ small ones. But for small grows or people who are just getting started and want to spend a few bucks at a time to buy their lights, they'll work fine. You can grow decent cannabis with them, especially if you favor indicas and hybrids that lean towards the indica side.

I see that you are planning on purchasing a metal halide bulb. IDK whether or not you are aware of it, but both MH and HPS bulbs require special sockets and ballasts to function. A reflector is almost always used (unless you are doing a grow that has them hanging vertically, surrounded by plants. A metal halide setup will produce less light and more heat than a HPS, but not exponentially less. It's... I guess you could say that MH is a lot more efficient compared to CFL than it is inefficient compared to HPS, lol. They are typically used for vegetative growth because they tend to produce shorter internodal distances. There are bulbs available that have a spectrum that is more favorable to the flowering stage (but they're still not as efficient at flowering than HPS) and, in fact, one can purchase a HPS conversion bulb for them. Lots of people have used metal halide lighting all the way through (this was a lot more common 20+ years ago than it has been recently, though). People who do typically end up with denser bud - but less of it.

Good luck in your grow!