First time growing learning on the fly. Are my plants small?

[Cj_xxi]

My plants went into the ground October 11th and sprouted around October 14th I had my plants in small pots for 2 long and with a basic cheap soil I found through research that I was dealing with 2 issues. My roots outgrew the cup and halted growth, there was also a lot of bark and wood in the dirt which I’m told can affect growth. I moved plants into 5 gallon containers and growth seemed to improve. I also had a horrible lighting set up but now I have 1 LED for 2 plants and a small seedling and a normal home made lightbulb set up for the fourth plant. When I transplant the seedling into a 5 gallon I plan on changing the normal bulb to a CFL so I can compare LED to CFL. Long intro I’m sorry but want to give some history on my plants. Basically I’m wondering if they are screwed, I’ve messed up to much, or if I should just leave them be. I’m also wondering if I could put them into flowering now because I don’t care about my yield whatsoever this is purely a learning experience grow.

 

[iShatterBladderz]

So you’re using LED now? What kind of light did you go with? What are you feeding? What kind of soil? What have your temps and RH been at? what ph have you been feeding? Also, why did you fill the soil so low in whichever container they are in, in the picture? Is this the container you said it got rootbound in or the one you moved it to?

 

[Blent]

Do not flower now I'f you are learning. You have a lot more. To. Learn about veg

 

[Cj_xxi]

So you’re using LED now? What kind of light did you go with? What are you feeding? What kind of soil? What have your temps and RH been at? what ph have you been feeding? Also, why did you fill the soil so low in whichever container they are in, in the picture? Is this the container you said it got rootbound in or the one you moved it to?

LED now. New pots (the seedling is in the pot the other plans were in before) successful transplant 2 wks ago. As per soil level I’m stupid that’s why tbh. Soil is like a regular garden promix has the little white rocks in it. Temps are 18-20c. Kinda hoping the soil was doing my feeding atm. I typically used bottle or Britta water. And to clarify again all plants r in there new homes as seen. I also don’t know what Rh is

 

[Cj_xxi]

Do not flower now I'f you are learning. You have a lot more. To. Learn about veg

My concern is Christmas as I’m gonna go home for a while (I can come back if really needed)

 

[iShatterBladderz]

LED now. New pots (the seedling is in the pot the other plans were in before) successful transplant 2 wks ago. As per soil level I’m stupid that’s why tbh. Soil is like a regular garden promix has the little white rocks in it. Temps are 18-20c. Kinda hoping the soil was doing my feeding atm. I typically used bottle or Britta water. And to clarify again all plants r in there new homes as seen. I also don’t know what Rh is

RH is relative humidity. When you say it’s a regular garden promix, are you using “promix” as a generic term or is it actually a soil made by promix? Knowing which soil you’re using is key to determining if it can feed your plant or not, and if so, for how long before it needs to be amended.

what led light are you using?

 

[Arnski5000]

Temps maybe a little low rh is basically humidity probs wants be around 65 _70 for seedlings

 

[Cj_xxi]

RH is relative humidity. When you say it’s a regular garden promix, are you using “promix” as a generic term or is it actually a soil made by promix? Knowing which soil you’re using is key to determining if it can feed your plant or not, and if so, for how long before it needs to be amended.

what led light are you using?

Promix premium potting mix. So yes actual promix. Qfeit 2ft led plant grow light says can be used for weed on the box. Humidity it’s in my basement so i don’t know for sure but average house if anything leaning lower.

 

[iShatterBladderz]

Temps maybe a little low rh is basically humidity probs wants be around 65 _70 for seedlings

That’s a pretty good range in general, but it is dependent on the temps. A better, more accurate way for determining the correct humidity level is using VPD. Pulse has a great calculator where you can plug in your temps, leaf temp offset, and which phase of growth you’re in and it will generate a VPD chart for you based on your parameters.

 

[Cj_xxi]

Temps maybe a little low rh is basically humidity probs wants be around 65 _70 for seedlings

We are right about there

 

[Cj_xxi]

That’s a pretty good range in general, but it is dependent on the temps. A better, more accurate way for determining the correct humidity level is using VPD. Pulse has a great calculator where you can plug in your temps, leaf temp offset, and which phase of growth you’re in and it will generate a VPD chart for you based on your parameters.

Vpd......?

 

[iShatterBladderz]

Promix premium potting mix. So yes actual promix. Qfeit 2ft led plant grow light says can be used for weed on the box. Humidity it’s in my basement so i don’t know for sure but average house if anything leaning lower.

On the light itself, not the box but the little power sticker on the light, does it say what the average power draw is?

I would pick up a hygrometer at Walmart or any home improvement store. They’re cheap, and are a necessity. Personally, I would probably do A lot more research on the equipment needed, and just growing in general, but you can definitely learn on the fly. Are they in a tent or in the open in your basement? Is it bagseed?

 

[Cj_xxi]

On the light itself, not the box but the little power sticker on the light, does it say what the average power draw is?

I would pick up a hygrometer at Walmart or any home improvement store. They’re cheap, and are a necessity. Personally, I would probably do A lot more research on the equipment needed, and just growing in general, but you can definitely learn on the fly. Are they in a tent or in the open in your basement? Is it bagseed?

12 W I believe they are on a shelf that was built in a corner. Planning to enclose with insulation plastic. Yes it’s bagseed.

 

[iShatterBladderz]

12 W I believe they are on a shelf that was built in a corner. Planning to enclose with insulation plastic. Yes it’s bagseed.

Well there’s your biggest problem right there. 12w is not enough power to grow a plant with, unless maybe you’re looking to grow a plant about that size, I’ve never tried. To put it into perspective, in my 4x4 tent, I’ve got 480w Of LED lighting and in my 2x4 tents, I’ve got 240w worth of
LED lighting each.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

the genetics you have to work with, the medium you're growing in, the lights you're using...those are the three biggest factors in growing inside. not the only three by far, but if any one of those three is bad, you're kind of fucked. let's assume you have decent genetics. soil isn't hard to come by, the problem with most soil is that they make it too hot. it looks like yours isn't too bad, if you're feeding properly, it should be ok.
that brings us to light. you need at least 25 watts per sq foot to get energetic growth during veg. thats in cfl or t5s, you can probably get away with a little less using good leds, but not much. using cheap crappy leds isn't an advantage, and will take as much wattage or more than just using cfls or t5s.
if you have a window that gets good light, you can use it to supplement your lights. have the lights kick on before the sun rises, and go off when they've had 18 hours or so. the sun will proably only be helpful for half of that time, but that's way better than nothing...

once you get to flower, you need about twice that much light to get decent results....

 

[Cj_xxi]

New lights bring me to about 5k lumen per sq ft for2 of my plants 3rd is under a cfl

 

[iShatterBladderz]

View attachment 4429014New lights bring me to about 5k lumen per sq ft for2 of my plants 3rd is under a cfl

lumens doesn’t mean anything for cannabis plants.
depending on the type of lighting you use, you need 30-50w per sq ft. if You’re trying to keep it small and simple right now, you can get a Mars Hydro sp150 for $115 USD on amazon today. This is sufficient for about 4-5 sq ft. I’ve been running a test run on the sp250 in one of my 2x4 tents, and it’s done great. Growth is comparable to the quantum boards I’m running in my other tents. This picture is 3 weeks old under the mars sp250.


I would also get a smaller pot to start out in, my local grow stores sell 1 gal fabric pots for like $2/each. You definitely need a hygrometer, to monitor the temp and humidity in the area your plants are in. I would also get a ph monitor, and do some research on plant nutrition. Promix does not have the nutrients needed to feed your plants, you will need to decide which nutrients you want to use. If you have any Grow stores in your area, I would recommend going to one and getting an idea of everything you’ll need.

 

[Nutbag Poster]

All I'll add is that if you flower them now you'll get virtually no yield whatsoever. You'd be better off throwing them out and starting over than waiting 2 months for almost nothing....I mean a couple of grams per plant nothing. Keep them vegging and work on getting them thriving.

You're getting an awful lot of info thrown at you but I suspect the ph of the water you're using might be too high. I'd buy a cheap little pH test kit (probably 10 bucks) and make sure what you're watering your plants with has a pH near 6.2. If you're up towards 7 or higher , you may have slow growing, poor rooting plants regardless of any of the gear stuff.

 

[iShatterBladderz]

All I'll add is that if you flower them now you'll get virtually no yield whatsoever. You'd be better off throwing them out and starting over than waiting 2 months for almost nothing....I mean a couple of grams per plant nothing. Keep them vegging and work on getting them thriving.

You're getting an awful lot of info thrown at you but I suspect the ph of the water you're using might be too high. I'd buy a cheap little pH test kit (probably 10 bucks) and make sure what you're watering your plants with has a pH near 6.2. If you're up towards 7 or higher , you may have slow growing, poor rooting plants regardless of any of the gear stuff.

At the end of the day, I agree with you that the best option would be to call this a loss and do some research, I just always feel like an asshole for telling someone to give up.

 

[Nutbag Poster]

At the end of the day, I agree with you that the best option would be to call this a loss and do some research, I just always feel like an asshole for telling someone to give up.

I wasn't necessarily saying give up, but definitely don't start flowering them at this stage. They need to be bigger and healthier to make 2+ months of flowering worth bothering with. If the seeds aren't special and he has more, I suppose starting fresh wouldn't set things back too much though.