Advice, please?

First grow. Unknown bagseed. Genetics unknown.

Here's the pertinents:
Soil grow, mix of coco/homemade worm castings/fish emulsion/perlite
Nutes: GH micro and veg, 1/4 tsp each (as per directions), pH down to between 6-6.5
Feedings: twice a week (just fed before bed last night)
Untreated well water. Ppm unknown Super hard water. Drinkable, but turns everything red over time.
Watered 2-3 times a week (only when they feel light)
Lights: 4 bulb T5 fixture, 18/6 cycle
Atmosphere: RH ~55-65%, temps ~75deg on, 70deg off

Notes from journal:
9/3 Plant #1 emerges.
9/4 Plant #2 emerges.
9/6 Plant #3 emerges.

All three have been topped, I'm training them for mainline (hence the landscaping staples).

After 4 full weeks of veg, shouldn't these plants be, uhm ...bigger? Main stalks seem still pretty spindly, making it difficult to train the side branching (I just gave it up on plant #2). I'm usually a pretty patient person, but I'm thinking something's wrong that they're still so tiny (they're in 6" pots). They seem healthy, but they're not beefing out like it seems like they should be doing. The only other variable I can think of would be my water. Could that be enough stunt their growth?

How close are the lights? Switch to 24/0. Seedlings take longer than clones. Feeding regimen matters etc... Patience is a virtue that is REQUIRED when growing anything. If you want speed, switch to hydro.

I would not really worrie about training yet put more effort into getting them a tad bigger first ,they look fine with bigger lighting you would get bigger plants is this 4 week from when the seeds first split,if so there doing fine for t5 lighting,first 2/3 week the plant will be putting all its effort into makeing plenty of roots

Not forgetting too that you have topped the plants so this will have slowed vertical growth down.

I find it best to get a good root structure established before topping/messing with the plants. Also, without a good solid root structure it will take them longer to bounce back from manipulation. I bet if you transplanted them to larger pots they will speed up a bit too.

Keep those lights a few inches above them.

I'm not too worried about speed. If anything, I'd at least like a nice, solid mother or two that I can work off of for a long time (granted that they are not fathers!), and they're a good producer.

Light height doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I've had them almost against the bulbs, to about 2 ft above the plants. It doesn't seem to affect them either way.

Surprisingly enough, I do have some roots poking out the bottom holes. They seem to be pruning themselves and circling the holes, which was my cue that they were healthy enough to mess with. Thought that training would stimulate growth, so yeah, I messed with them. I'm trying to keep them short and squat, because of area constrictions.

I've worked with indoor vegetable starts for a number of years, and these are inordinately fussier to me than tomatoes or peppers. And yeah, I top and train those, too. I'll resist temptation and leave my meddlesome fingers out of them.

All ways,never mess with the plants till they have got a decent set of legs on them it causes un due stress,once they are filling the pot with nice root structure then start to train the plants,topping at such a young age will defo set you back,after all it has to re grow the growth that has been taken away,that is why once you get rolling with the growing get your next set going while you have some in flowering,this lets you top several times,I clone my plants the day before i go to 12/12 off takeing 7/12 days to root,then once they have rooted this is when i let the roots do there thing,

You really want good root structure before you start topping ext,I really don't see the point in training,seeds found in weed or reg's ,because you may be wasting your time could be male,so all ways remember to focus on getting a cut of the plant and putting it straight on 12/12 off,i do this after about 4 days after the clone is took,once the clone starts to stand again and wilting stops,it will show you the sex this way,then focus on the females and do away with the males

Got it. I'm actually transplanting to 3 gal smartpots today or tomorrow. Will see how they do in those.

keep at it

You got it.

Girls are snuggled up in their new 3 gal smart pots, now. Roots on plant #1 were actually wrapped a couple times around the bottom (not too bad, though). 2 and 3 were starting to wrap too, but not to the extent of #1. Will be interesting to see how this changes things. I'm going to try putting them on for 24/0 and putting the lights down lower to the plants.

Aaaand, just for shits and giggles, I'm starting germinating some tabasco peppers for the hell of it. Might throw some basil in there, too. I'll have an entire tub full of greens.

Also just remember be very very careful feeding plants that young

Is 4 weeks of veg really considered THAT young, though? I've been really super careful and adding a drop at a time to the water, and only feeding/watering when the pot felt lighter, but the bottom leaves were starting to yellow so I figured it was time to start them on something. They seemed to respond ok, they're just, eh...kinda putzy with this growing thing.

Wait Wait. Your water very hard and turns everything red. That must have iron and sulfer in it. I would go to cheap bottled water. Then Ph will be good and water will be clean. This is my opinion from being around that type of water. Tube turns red. Everything. Crazy water. Must be a real deep well.

Do you have fans blowing on your plants? That will help with stem structure as well

Yea and I'd stop right now using that water that turns everything red....can you explain what you mean by turning things red...BC I wouldn't drink that shit if you paid me money

That kind of well water is just plain not good.

I don't know how you live or if it's private well...if the country or state controls that you need to call someone out for it...if you own it TIME TO FORK out some money and get with someone to make sure you don't have nothing crazy going on...I never heard of such a hard water that people even drink....I wonder what your throat looks like? Will you take a picture?

Untreated well water. Ppm unknown Super hard water. Drinkable, but turns everything red over time.

Thats what he said.

That well must be 100 feet plus deep. It is hard to find good well water anymore. The depth should not be deeper than 40 feet. You also might want to stop drinking that.

Yes, it's rust. Iron and calcium. Not red, so much as it will leave a rusty film on things over time. And yes, it's a deep well (65 feet). I've grown up on it so I'm really used to it. City water turns my stomach. It was tested for contaminants as of last year (paid a well professional), and it's definitely tested potable and safe. I'd read in a book that well water is actually a good thing, so I'd figured it was alright.

Ok. It's about my only variable left, so I guess it's worth a shot to see if it makes any difference.