GanjaGurl13
Active Member
Ok... I've been reading the hell outta this site for the past few days and because of all of the info here, I realized a couple of the things I was doing wrong.
Before I found this site, on a whim and at the prodding of my brother in law, I followed his instructions on how to germinate some seeds that I had been collecting over the months. I didn't think they would grow simply because I've always thought growing sounded really complicated. Much to my surprise, they took. They got tall, but the stems seemed real thin. I read on another site that you can start to flower the plants as early as 4 weeks old. This was when I got concerned. I'd say I'm maybe about 3 weeks from germination, and I don't think they are anywhere near ready to flower. I found all kinds of pictures of what the germinated seeds looked like, but I couldn't find any pictures of each stage of growth, so I could kinda use them as a gauge to see where I was and how I was doing. Basically, I was flyin' blind.
I now know that the problem was not enough light and the light was too far away from the plants. They were stretchin' like mad. So I've got like 12 plants goin' in a 6 ft long by 2 ft deep area. That's waaay too many plants I know, but I'm comforting myself with the hope that some will turn out to be males and will have to be sacrificed to the Smoke Gods. I'm on a budget, so I'm kinda McGuyvering this thing a bit. Each plant is in it's own 10-1/2" pot now, although I've noticed that one of them has spawned it's own little Mini-Me. What's up with that? Do I need to get it out of there?
I've lined the surfaces with heavy duty aluminum foil for the time being to help with reflection of the light. I got six 100 watt CFL's (they are the curly ones) from Ikea and four 25 watt CFL's along with these cords that have a light socket at the end. I thought the cords would be good because I'll be able to raise and lower the lights as needed. I only got the new lights yesterday and it's much brighter now, and I've turned my box fan on low for a gentle breeze, hoping that will help strengthen and thicken the stems.
I'm not watering them a whole lot, maybe once every 3-4 days... although I'm not sure how much water I should give them when I do water them, so I've been kinda stingy with the water for fear of overwatering. I've got plant food (nutes), but I haven't given them any because I've seen postings suggesting that at this stage they are probably too young for it. The pots are not full with soil, so there is still space that I think I will need to fill with more soil because I've read other threads about stretched plants and everyone has suggested burying the plants all but up to the leaves. Is that right? Should I put dirt up past the two little roundish leaves on the stems? How far up should the dirt come on the plant?
Even though I only added the new lighting yesterday, they seem to be responding pretty well. Some of the stems seem a hair thicker than they were or maybe it's my imagination. They are a really nice bright green, no yellowing on the leaves, no wilting, they appear healthy as hell, just not "robust" ya know? I'm going to try to put some pics in my gallery, have I let them go too long or do you think they are still viable?
Any input would be great!
Before I found this site, on a whim and at the prodding of my brother in law, I followed his instructions on how to germinate some seeds that I had been collecting over the months. I didn't think they would grow simply because I've always thought growing sounded really complicated. Much to my surprise, they took. They got tall, but the stems seemed real thin. I read on another site that you can start to flower the plants as early as 4 weeks old. This was when I got concerned. I'd say I'm maybe about 3 weeks from germination, and I don't think they are anywhere near ready to flower. I found all kinds of pictures of what the germinated seeds looked like, but I couldn't find any pictures of each stage of growth, so I could kinda use them as a gauge to see where I was and how I was doing. Basically, I was flyin' blind.
I now know that the problem was not enough light and the light was too far away from the plants. They were stretchin' like mad. So I've got like 12 plants goin' in a 6 ft long by 2 ft deep area. That's waaay too many plants I know, but I'm comforting myself with the hope that some will turn out to be males and will have to be sacrificed to the Smoke Gods. I'm on a budget, so I'm kinda McGuyvering this thing a bit. Each plant is in it's own 10-1/2" pot now, although I've noticed that one of them has spawned it's own little Mini-Me. What's up with that? Do I need to get it out of there?
I've lined the surfaces with heavy duty aluminum foil for the time being to help with reflection of the light. I got six 100 watt CFL's (they are the curly ones) from Ikea and four 25 watt CFL's along with these cords that have a light socket at the end. I thought the cords would be good because I'll be able to raise and lower the lights as needed. I only got the new lights yesterday and it's much brighter now, and I've turned my box fan on low for a gentle breeze, hoping that will help strengthen and thicken the stems.
I'm not watering them a whole lot, maybe once every 3-4 days... although I'm not sure how much water I should give them when I do water them, so I've been kinda stingy with the water for fear of overwatering. I've got plant food (nutes), but I haven't given them any because I've seen postings suggesting that at this stage they are probably too young for it. The pots are not full with soil, so there is still space that I think I will need to fill with more soil because I've read other threads about stretched plants and everyone has suggested burying the plants all but up to the leaves. Is that right? Should I put dirt up past the two little roundish leaves on the stems? How far up should the dirt come on the plant?
Even though I only added the new lighting yesterday, they seem to be responding pretty well. Some of the stems seem a hair thicker than they were or maybe it's my imagination. They are a really nice bright green, no yellowing on the leaves, no wilting, they appear healthy as hell, just not "robust" ya know? I'm going to try to put some pics in my gallery, have I let them go too long or do you think they are still viable?
Any input would be great!
