Bagseed question

Hello everybody, not a new smoker but in the beginning stages becoming a grower. I've had a few outdoor attempted grows but nothing serious. I am now starting my new indoor grow project and had a couple questions I was hoping you guys could help me out with. I currently am growing 2 bagseed plants about a week and a half old in a 1ft, by 3 1/2ft tin foil covered cabinet. One of them was exposed to, too much incandescant lighting before the cabinet was set up and had little leaf growth and extreme stem stretch (has been reburied and is doing fine now), and the other one is just doing great. Very small and compact, leaves just piling on with little stem in between. I am also assumning that they are Indica dominant, with maybe a little Sativa in them but i'm not sure at this point yet. I am running one 40Watt CFL 24hour lighting for veg approximately 3-4'' from the plants, Miracle Grow potting soil, and is ventilated and using a small propped up window fan for air circulation. Hopefully getting some more lamps, just on a tight budget at the moment.
I am wondering what I could do to help improve my grow on the cheap, if at all possible. Lighting, circulation, nuts, etc. (cannot stress cheapness, poor man lol).
Would topping be beneficial to these plants, or should I just let genetics take the plants how they want to grow?
Also when is the best time to switch them to 12/12 lighting, and what signs should I look for to switch them?
I know alot of questions, but hey, i'm a driven individual and I want to do this right. Any help and opinions will be greatly appreciated

More lights (as ever! lol) any pics?

Most importantly TAKE DOWN THAT FOIL!!!!! foil can actually have a negative effect, flat white, mylar, or reflective insulation work much better, start flowering when ever you want, you can either top or lst to make the most out of your space.

I agree about the tin foil...it's a pain in the arse, white paint or mylar is best. If you top them, try to give them time to recover (a week or two) LST is great, I love it cos it always gives itching idle hands something to do in the grow room! lol!
A Sativa and an Indica; a good choice to learn on. Good luck!

im only on my 1st grow and on wk1 from seed but i keep my lights 2" to control stretch. 18/6 cylce atm in rubbermade cfl grow but plan to go 12/12 around 6wks but im just a newb so dont hold me to it
ide move your lights from 3-4" to 2" and plan at about 4-6wks when growth looks good to swap to 12/12

I know its 1'x3.5' but how tall, when you flower and whether or not you lst or top depends on the height of your box.

Good point. If there's plenty of height then some side lighting could be an idea...and no topping(?)

Tin foil is no bueno? The current spot that they are in now is a black shelf, would it be better to just have them in their with no covering for the time being? And a plan on getting more lamps, just on a crap budget And I mistakently said CFL's but they are Fluorescent's 40w. And the box is about 3 1/2ft tall and 10'' wide and another 10'' deep. But All I did was buy a crap shelf from Wal-Mart and took the shelfs out and put them together in a way to make a shifty little spot for the plants But it can easily be adjusted to a decent sized little grow spot when the time comes, if need be.

I'm not sure about the topping, the little one seems to be pretty dense as it is not really and stem between the nodes, the bigger one is a little stretched but is back on track now and starting to bush out some. ANd probably a sad question but what does LST stand for?

Low stress training

How would I LST my plants? Sorry, not very up to date on alot of the growing terminology

With string tying down the branches. Also when u get good at that u can even start to light train ur plants. But for now focus on the string training.

Don't tell anyone you are growing, not your girlfriend and not your best friend. Don't tell anyone, ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

FootballFirst said:

Don't tell anyone you are growing, not your girlfriend and not your best friend. Don't tell anyone, ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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Good advice.

For sure, my babies are in a safe place. But i'm not too sure on trying the plants down. It's my first grow and i'm just trying to get a feel for the basics of it not anything to intricate, just some decent bud.
Also they are about a week, week and a half old, but I swear I can see two little ity bity green pistils coming up from where the first set of true leaves came up, and are starting to branch out. Or is that just another set of small leaves?

Just new leaves.

Those green things are on all of them, male and female, you won't see pre-flowers till you see alternating nodes or about a 1-2 weeks into 12/12. I agree with just having a basic grow to learn the basics. The reason foil is bad is because of the way it reflects light, it concentrates and sends it in crazy directions and if your plant is close enough to it, it's possible to burn them. Home depot has a roll of reflective insulation for around $20, that's what I use and I see a lot of other people on here using it too, click the link in my sig, you can see what I'm talking about in some of the pics.

doctor.j said:

Those green things are on all of them, male and female, you won't see pre-flowers till you see alternating nodes or about a 1-2 weeks into 12/12.

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Ive seen preflowers around week 4 veg.

Do you usually flower before then?

That makes sense, I actually have been noticing small amount of burn on the tip of the leaf, but I thought maybe it was nute burn seeing how I put them in Miracle Grow after like 4 or 5 days. Haven't been over watering them, maybe one every 2 or 3 days and they seem to be doing fine. And what is alternating nodes? I thought that the leaves grow in different directions every new node?

Irie'eyed said:

Ive seen preflowers around week 4 veg.

Do you usually flower before then?

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That's about the time you should be getting alternating nodes.