Topped too young??

[lrnotu]

2 seeds germinated on Oct 4. Left them in soil/peat pots for 1 week but didn't have $ to get anything to transplant them into. I created pots by cutting down 2liter bottles and put them under low volume CFLs (it was all I had available). They simply weren't growing, I'm sure it was a combination of soil that couldn't breathe and lack of light.

- Oct 20 I finally transplanted these seedlings, yes they simply weren't growing, used FoxFarm Ocean Forest in 3-gallon grow bags/smart pots. 2x2x4 tent with a 450w Viparspectra LED at 32" set at VEG only for 18/6.
- The girls liked this change and finally started growing up and additional nodes. Lowered light to 26" and increased to full-power. Continue to look good.
- Nov 3 I got tired of waiting to build the manifold. Plants have 4 nodes with the 5th starting to grow and I topped to the 3rd and stripped all but new shoots and 3rd fan leaves. In retrospect, it would've probably been better if I'd left the lower growth for a couple of days to provide stability.
- Nov 4 The girls appear to be putting all growth energy into the fan leaves so I cut them off. Very scary as they look like sticks with a little green on the ends.
- Nov 5 They seem to trying but the growth seems very slow.

My question today, "How badly did I screw these up? Should I continue to wait for these to recover? If so, how long will this take?"

Thanks to anyone that responds.

Peace

 

[Canuck147]

Screwed up big-time. How are the plant supposed to photosynthesize without leaves?
Start over.

 

[lrnotu]

Thanks Cannuck, I was afraid of that... Here's some pics that show the progression. Do you think I should pull these or let them try to grow?

 

[lrnotu]

oops, here's the pics

 

[Canuck147]

Pictures tell a whole different story. Had I seen those pics, I wouldn't have posted what I said.
First pic shows a beautiful young plant, healthy looking, perked up and absorbing light.
Other two pics show plants with potential. Don't pull them out, let them prosper. Just let them get some serious growth happening before you try your training.
Cannabis plants are very durable, and forgiving. Give them lots of love, and don't overwater.
Keep it up, they look good.

 

[lrnotu]

Cannuck thanks for the input! I just need to be more patient and let nature take it's course. I wasn't sure if these were going to make it so I did start germinating 2 other seeds. I'll add more to this post as things progress. Thanks again!

~peace

 

[Dutchman1]

Ya, they can recover.

 

[WeirdWiredWolf]

They can indeed...just give em lots of TLC and patience. I almost gave one of mine up for dead and now she's threatening to take over my entire grow tent

 

[lrnotu]

thanks dutchman, i'll let y'all know how they come along.

~peace

 

[ZigZag]

Yup, leave them be and give them some time to get some more leaves. You need some leaves to drive the photosynthetic process that drives growth. At this point your babies need that kind of nourishment.
Once they start taking off and producing more stems. leaves and nodes then initiate more training as desired. I usually defoliate and prune over a two day period so I can judge how the plant is affected_ if it shows stress after the first day I hold off for a few days, if it looks fine then I proceed.

 

[lrnotu]

Good morning everyone, nature seems to be on my side... Girls are trying to grow, leaves have good color and are stretching up to the light.

 

[oldjarhead100]

ok Irnotu they will pull through I would personally add more dirt right up to the bottom of those grow shoots and start tying them down you will need to leave a little space so water doesn't just flow out lol but it will give the stems strength , how far are your lights and what type it looks as if they are stretching

 

[lrnotu]

Hi oldjarhead100, I assume a good Hoo-Raa and Semper Fi are in order. As Veteran's Day approaches let me say Thank You for your service!

Thanks for the input. I'm using a 2x2x4 tent with a ViparSpectra 450W LED. I've been watching the leaves and when they're this immature, they seem to burn fairly quickly so I've kept the light at 26" at just the Veg button on. Just this morning I watered with 1/2 strength FoxFarm Grow Big for soil and adjusted the pH to the proper yellow color (seems a bit 'old school' to eye-ball this measure in 2017) and turned lights up with the Bloom switch to full spectrum, still at 26". This is the way I got them to grow the 1st 2 weeks prior to topping them down. With a soil pH tester, it appears the soil is steady at just at/under 7.0. I'll watch the leaves and make height adjustments from here. Here's how she looks this morning...

~peace

 

[lrnotu]

And folks, if you haven't figured it out yet... I'm a rookie, this is my 1st grow. I helped a friend grow outdoors one season about 30 years ago. I'm a bit of a knowledge junkie and have read just about everything I could over the years, even had a subscription to High-Times back in the day... So although it's my 1st grow, I'm feeling pretty confident, My only concern is that these are somewhat mystery seeds, although they came from what I was told was Mango Kush. Definitely seems to be growing slowly which I understand is indicative of an indica dominant strain.

~peace

 

[oldjarhead100]

yes it does seem like it takes them forever to go(wanna see a change don't look at them for 2 days when you do, it should be obvious)
they are looking much better, did you add dirt ?
I have leds for my Autos ,I hung them at 20 inches to start, my plants stretched alot, so I lowered them to 18 so far so good. I just put some more autos in there room so even the babies I put under 300w leds at 18 inches. I have lightmetel 300w full spectrum leds . I still think you need to lower yours but its your choice
if you want to manifold them you should start now those new growth shoots are big enough to hold them down. check out green75 he has a vidio on how he manifolds

 

[lrnotu]

I bought the 450W instead of the 300 because I thought it would provide more light and only cost $45 more. It claims to max out for a 2.5x2.5... I have 2x2x4 tent so I thought I was good. Is it possible to have too much light for a small grow space? I did move the light down to 18" yesterday on only the VEG mode. They do look to be happy and growing but leaves from the stems out are light green and get darker to the tips(see new pics). It doesn't really show in the pics, maybe I'm overthinking it... but I've read a lot about LED issues when the light is too close.

on another note... when I flip to flower, how militant do I need to be about light leaks? When the room is dark and the tent is closed, I can see light seepage in some light spots on the zipper. Do I need to put some electrical or duct tape over those spots?

 

[lrnotu]

Oh yeah, the dirt and plant ties should arrive today. They seem to be responding to me just bending them down so far... I'll post new pics Friday, that's 1 week after topping.

 

[Dutchman1]

What light? It makes a difference as to how close. But 18 inches seems a little bit close for where your plants are right now. 18 inches in flower is usually good and even closer depending on strain and light.

 

[lrnotu]

Hey Dutchman... I'm using a ViparSpectra 450W LED

 

[Dutchman1]

Pretty sure they tell you 28 or 30 inches or more at seedling stage and 24 inch early veg. Then you gradually drop the light or do what I do, just lt em grow up into the light.Careful you dont burn em.