Is this too much lighting for my babies?

[growsomebuds]

These plants were born on 4/24 and 4/30(the one in the white bucket). They haven't done shit in more than a week. Then I took the picture w/ the Viparspectra after just 30 hours of utilizing it for the 1st time, ever. OK, so that Viparspectra is just 24 inches above those plants. I think that might be too low at this stage in her life.

[D.A.A.S.69]

I don't know how you have been watering them, but I got one of those Vipar 450s, and that might be to low, maybe even with just the veg switch on.
You might want to raise your light, an quit watering until your soil is dry.

[growsomebuds]

Thanks for chiming in, DAAS. I started my 1st grow last May w/ an unknown Indica strain. The only thing I did different with that grow vs this current one is this. With this current grow, I just planted my germinated seeds directly into the 5 gallon buckets. With the previous grow, I started the germinated seed in a Solo cup, then moved it to a 1 gallon pot. Finally, it went into the 5 gallon pot. Everything else between that 1st grow and the one you see in the pics, I did the same. Same soil, same distilled water, same A19 style bulbs you see in those 2 reflectors. I do think my watering amount and frequency got screwed up b/c I put the germinated seeds straight into those 5 gal buckets. I had been watering them before the soil got dry. But, I did stop that nonsense about 5 day's ago. I watered them the very next day with the same amount of water, though. That's b/c there's a custom built fan you don't see in the pics that I keep blowing on the plants to deal w/ some fungus gnat assholes, and the soil was completely dry 30 hours after the last watering. And, yes, your right, that light is too close. I just looked at the manual and it says to keep the light 36-40 inches away from seedlings. And to lower them to where it's at now after a week or two. Even though it's been a week for Wendy and two weeks for Ellie, I think they got off to a slow start. Therefore, I just turned off the big light, and am using those two other lights plus a third I just added for now. Tomorrow morning I need to set up a rig to to re-hang the Vipar at the correct height. I'm only going to have the veg switch on.

[D.A.A.S.69]

growsomebuds, I just use cfls, for the first couple of weeks, when they are seedlings, then I'll use my 315cmh.
But anyway good luck with your plants, I'm sure you will do a great job with them.

[Campesino]

Why did you abandon the transplant regime?
I agree about CFLs, but when I used my Viparspectra 450 with small clones I started it at 40" Veg only, and slowly lowered. It runs best at 21" in Mid-late Veg, but get there slowly.
I think abandoning the transplant regime will slow them down considerably compared to your last grow.

[growsomebuds]

What's 315cmh mean?

[Chefbjy]

Cmh = ceramic metal halide. 315 is the wattage it pulls. I agree with starting with low level light intensity for seedlings i.e. cfl or daylight leds. Takes up to 14 days before I switch to bigger lights. T5 grow lights are great too. You can get the cfls really close and keep the light on 24hrs moving the light up as it grows. It's going to be kind of a slow grow since you planted in a big pot. The roots will want to fill out before it starts focusing energy into other growth. Seedlings will grow better under less intense lighting.

[DankwingDuck]

your plants where planted almost the same day as mine. I look forward to comparing the growth of our plants to each other as the weeks go on . Mine has just started to pick up a little growth speed . And moved my newer seedling to a less intense light . I would give it a few days and see what happens with the new light set up . I guess we will both see in the near future

here is a photo of my plant as of today . The rockwool cube of the oldest one is 1in x 1in if that gives you a better idea of the size. The newer seedlings are in 3x3 rockwool cubes .

This is the one that was planted same day as yours (in net pot) . My other 2 that we’re planted in the last week or so are the ones under the new led but not much smaller then yours . It would be nice to see the growth of others plants at this age and we could use it as a reference point to see how they compare .

From myunderstanding . If your light is to intense it delays the seedlings growth because it has to use so much energy to cool its leaves . Which means it’s putting less energy into growing bigger .

This is is just my personal experience so far . Im only a beginner.

I wish you luck .

[growsomebuds]

I saw your grow journal. You're way more pro looking than me. I'm only just going to be using a pro made led grow light for the 1st time w/ this 2nd grow i"m doing now. I haven't yet purchased a grow tent, and probably won't get one until the start of my 3rd grow. Later you will see what I've come up w/ for this current grow. I used it on my 1st grow, thus far.

[DankwingDuck]

Work in progress . I had an idea of what I needed and just started ordering stuff .

[growsomebuds]

Lookin' good, bud. What days did your plant actually pop up? Not when you planted them, so I have a better reference. If you want, your more than welcome to keep posting updates on this post or post a link on this post to your grow so I can keep track of your progress. I'm new to this hobby/ love myself.

My big light was too close. I saw some weird coloration on the biggest leaves of each plant. That light has been shut down, 'til tomorrow morning when I can rig a new light setup that allows me to raise the light to as much as 40" as the light's manual suggests. But, I will say this; I've had more growth from both plants in the 30 hours I had the Viparspectra running compared to about 6 days of running those other lights you see in one of my pics.

[DankwingDuck]

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/201456-first-grow-special-kush-1-white-widow-grow-journal

All the info is there day by day . The first post covers about the first week and then day by day from there .

[DankwingDuck]

The first set I planted only the one lived because I’m a brute . The 2nd which are the smaller two I germinated them in the rockwool they did much better

[GreenhouseEffect]

Hi GSB,
I am of the same school as Daas, as far as using the CFLs at first, burned some with my MH once, cause I moved a touch closer, and cleaned the glass on the same day( ya, was DUMM on my part!) won't risk it now, my opinion at least. Looks like the Humidity is a bit low, that could cause you some weird Nute deficiency looking symptoms, later on in growth. I believe you want 60-80% for now, since the roots aren't to developed yet, they take some moisture in through the leaves. Think actually it was Daas is who taught me that they will be a little poky in the leaf and stalk development for a while, since they are spending most of there energy to put down roots at first.

Good luck with your grow!

[growsomebuds]

Hi GSB,
I am of the same school as Daas, as far as using the CFLs at first, burned some with my MH once, cause I moved a touch closer, and cleaned the glass on the same day( ya, was DUMM on my part!) won't risk it now, my opinion at least. Looks like the Humidity is a bit low, that could cause you some weird Nute deficiency looking symptoms, later on in growth. I believe you want 60-80% for now, since the roots aren't to developed yet, they take some moisture in through the leaves. Think actually it was Daas is who taught me that they will be a little poky in the leaf and stalk development for a while, since they are spending most of there energy to put down roots at first.

Good luck with your grow!

I'm afraid I'm at the mercy of nature, where humidity is concerned. Except for a fan, I won't be able to do anything else when it gets hot outside. Thanks for your thoughts.

[growsomebuds]

Thanks, Chefbjy, my plants are growing so slowly, and putting my germinated seeds directly into a 5 gal bucket was tho ONLY thing I did different from last year's grow. I was going nucking futs trying different things to get these girls growing. Now I know what I did wrong! At this point, is it worth it to take a little gardening shovel and dig out a chunk of soil around the plant about the same volume as a Solo cup and put it into same cup? Or would that be more stress on the plant than it's worth?

[Campesino]

I probably wouldn't down-size them if they have been going more than a day or two. Just be careful not to over-water and they will eventually get their feet and get going. Try to water around them and don't water them directly where the stem meets the soil.
Transplanting effectively, like you did the first time, really helps plants to develop more quickly. But with TLC they should be fine.

[Chefbjy]

Just let them continue their course roots are there they just need some time. But you would probably be better off with cfls or a t5 for the first few weeks to get it going in that bigpot. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

[growsomebuds]

Thanks, Chefbjy, but I think I'll stick with the 3 A19 style LED bulbs I have on the plants for now. I used them on my 1st grow, and they worked(seemed, at least) great all through the veg phase. They are 6500K bulbs. The bulbs did suck when I switched over to flower, even though I changed out 4 of the then 8 bulbs w/ 4 2500K bulbs and kept 4 of the remaining 6500K bulbs.

[growsomebuds]

@ Campesino, thanks, I didn't catch your post, earlier. I thought that this time I would forgo the Solo cup, then the 1 gal pot transfers before putting my seedling in the final 5 gal bucket. Attribute this decision to to being very green. I will never start my seedlings like this. This was a valuable learning experience I will never forget!

[Campesino]

Happy to help diagnose them. You've got a great attitude and I am sure you'll be a master grower in no time.

[growsomebuds]

Because I planted directly into the 5 gal bucket, I've been very insecure as to how much water to give them. I started giving them a few cups, as you can see in the pics, the soil is moist in about a 9" circle. My thinking for doing this, was that there's plenty of soil below to wick away any water from drowning the roots. But idk about this. Thanks for the help. I'm feeling less uneasy about my grow as I continue to move forward.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Morning growsomebud, on seedlings like yours, I only feed them about a half a cup to 1 cup of water a day, seedlings don't like alot of water,
Overwatering them can slow them down bigly, I start my autos in big pots I don't transplant much anymore. I don't even water my soil before putting in the seed.
I just pour half a cup in a circle close to the stalk, maybe a little slower than transplanting, maybe, But I'm old and lazy now. And I never water to runoff.
I think your gonna do fine, just be easy on the water, an keep your led ,at the right height.
Peace.
Ps, everyone grows differently !!

[growsomebuds]

I started my 1st grow getting advice from 420magazine forums. I started getting some good advice. Then I would sometimes get some pretty snarky attitude. That was it for me. This forum is my new go to for great advice!

[Campesino]

Yeah, we're pretty friendly here - and nice to each other!
Rare for an internet community - It's why I am here too

[GreenhouseEffect]

Me To.

[Redwasp]

These were planted on the 23rd of April. All sprouted by the 25th. Used 3 cfl's for the first part. Switched to a 450 led on Monday of this week. Eventually goung to 1000 watt hps. They were just transplanted to 1 gallon air pots.

[growsomebuds]

One of my Aurora Indica's were born on the 24, and are way smaller than that. I learned that it was a big mistake to put the seed straight into a 5gal bucket. I'll never do that again.

[D.A.A.S.69]

If you grow enough, you will find out planting in their final pots, is not that much slower, than transplanting, maybe a a day or two, but not much.
Transplanting is easy but if you have any slight problems, that is when you will see super slow growth, Slower than planting in their final pots, transplanting doesn't always go right. I don't care how good you are, it's easy to mess up transplanting, if you are not careful, .I know I don't transplant autos anymore, just for that reason. Where you slow them down in their final pots is by overwatering them, it's not the final pot causing the problems.

[growsomebuds]

Look at my latest post at the end of page 3. Latest pics from today. I also started the mainlining process on Wendy today.

[Redwasp]

Yes mine went from the little easy plugs, to a small peat pot, and currently just went to the gallon air pots. The peat pots are about the size of a solo cup but you can plant them pot and all when its time. The seedlings really like cfl's so grow pretty fast under them. When they outgrow the gallon size they will go to either a 7 gallon or 12 gallon air pot depending on how big i am going to let them get.
I am almost always starting seedlings of some sort so have gotten pretty good at it. Pretty much the same as starting tomatoes or peppers which ive been growing for over 40 years. Give it time and just have fun with it. You will get good quick.