Need some Help growing (vegetative stage)

First, off I am a complete noob when it comes to growing pot. I am not a total moron horticologist, but I assume pot requires more skill, and so this is why I have joined this forum.

My friend and I decided to grow some White Dwarf and Skunk for our own use. The problem is, it has been a month or so, and the plants don't look so fantastic.

We are on exchange in Europe, and so we do not exactly have the money for extravagent lighting and grow ops. I am running three lights in my closet (fluorescent) 18 hrs a day now for 4-5 weeks (its on a timer so tis always 18 hrs). One skunk plant is doing ok i assume, as theya re all in the vegetative state, they are not budding but i am wondering why they are all so small...they should be bigger by now. (I will post some pics at the bottom of the post).

Heres what I ahve in my closet exactly:

All walls and door lined with tin foil, 3 fluorescent lights, a decent ventilator, good potting soil, (obvisouly not enough space, but we are moving in about 3 weeks so this will change soon), and right now I am using a liquid fertilzier (mixed wiht distilled water 2-4 ml per litre, but I am actually using more like 2-4 for 1.5 litres, diluting it a tad more because i dont wanna burn anything). Temp is maintained at 25 degrees celcius (i have a thermometer in there).

Anybody want to help me. (BTW one bad thing did happen. i went home for Xmas, and my buddy left on a euro trip for 2 weeks. I did have the plants in a tray of water before i left so they could absorb what they needed while we were gone, but when my friend came back before I did he said that some werent looking awesome. i have since trimmed off dead leaves and tried to recoup them...seems like they arent dying anymore atleast).

So judging by photos and what i have said...ANY HELP PLEASE??? DO NOT FLAME ME I KNOW I AM DOING SOMETHING WRONG....I am here to learn!

PS I have only 2 Skunk plants (the bigger ones) and the rest are dwarves...

BTW I do realize that we have to seperate the males formt he females when ti starts budding/flowering to avoid pollination and i assume getting hash...

Well I was growing with my friend, we each had two little plants, and he gave me his two since I had a nice set up in my room. I didn't water them for a couple days so they would be on my plants schedule, and the soil what really dry when I did notice it. Since then they have been very stunted, staying green, and even a tiny bit of growth, but definitely strugglin since

So i guess I am in your boat...plus i am not sure which ones are male yet cuz they havent really grown enough..one has the hairs so I know its a fem.

SOMEONE HELP!!!!

I'm new at this too, but judgeing from your pics if those lights are usually that high you'll want to get them closer. I'm using CFL's right now and I've found that when they're about 3-4 inches away fromt he leaves my plants do better and don't burn. I'm guessing that is what type of Fluorescents you have. Please correct me if I'm worng. Also you can get these things called y adapters that allow you to screw two bulbs into one socket which will allow you to get more light. Overall, it looks like you're doing pretty good with what you have.

well bro it could be a number of things, but lights seem to be the biggest problem here.

are you phing your soil/runoff/nutes/water?

they should defniitely be a lot bigger, well the lot of them should. the one looks good.

how long have you been giving nutes for?

Lets start with the lights

They need to be on top of those plants, Flouros give off little to no heat, so you are ok getting them as close as you can so the plants get more light.

Lets start by getting them real close and then go from there. You need more lights to accomodate all those plants
If you can get any sort of tube fixture, if you are looking to not spend $$. tubes or a few CFLs would be better.

Notice where you have the light and how the biggest plant is right under it? That means your other guys are not getting enough direct lighting to help them grow. Im not sure what bulb is under there, but its concentrated on only the area underneath.

you need more lights to give each plant attention ,or something like a tube that distributes light better


Just some other stuff for the future, i know your money and living situation arent choice right now. try and get some mylar and get rid of that foil. If you find a place that has it, mylar isnt expensive. Easier to hang and work with too.

Sweet thats a great reply^^ Light wise, I have to fluos, and one of those bright spiral energy saving type bulbs. So should I simply hang them from the top rack and let them dangle closely over the plants? Also i was theorizing that the one is bigger cuz its a skunk, a bigger species, while the tohers are dwarves, hence growing smaller and slower. So i assume, steps now should be get more lights, get them closer and be patient. Dont overfeed (I am using a nitrogen rich fert made by a dutch company..called Bio-Grow, its organic, shouldnt give me PH problems..I assume pH should be round 6.2-6.3?? SHould i simply buy some ph strips and test the soil>> dont really have the cash for a digital meter)./

emilio613 said:

Sweet thats a great reply^^ Light wise, I have to fluos, and one of those bright spiral energy saving type bulbs. So should I simply hang them from the top rack and let them dangle closely over the plants? Also i was theorizing that the one is bigger cuz its a skunk, a bigger species, while the tohers are dwarves, hence growing smaller and slower. So i assume, steps now should be get more lights, get them closer and be patient. Dont overfeed (I am using a nitrogen rich fert made by a dutch company..called Bio-Grow, its organic, shouldnt give me PH problems..I assume pH should be round 6.2-6.3?? SHould i simply buy some ph strips and test the soil>> dont really have the cash for a digital meter)./

Click to expand...

yeah you are on the right track

i mean, lights, literally a couple inches above them is good. Depending on your lights really, feel them if you can touch them, they can be a hands width away from the plants.

Im not too familiar with brand of nutes, but thats fine. you can go really light, honestly about 3 -4 weeks in you want to consider giving nutes, but if your plants look fine with just water than its ok. its hard to tell now tho just cuz of the issues you had. So if you nute them, do it light.


Soil ph.- You can find a soil test kit, by me they run like 5 or 6 bucks. Just a couple vials with tablets. you mix he soil and tablet and water in the vial and it gives you a color to match up on the ph chart. If you can find it, that would be ideal for you and your budget.
if not, then yeah and strips or test kit so you can test what you water with and then test the run off. (anything is better than nothing).

you are on the money with ph, you can even go to like 6.4 with soil and not have it be a big deal.

i see what you mean by the strain and height and such, but seedlings are seedlings and early growth is about the same for most plants. I think these guys may have been stunted (regardless of genetics) so we just need to eb patient , get them going again and evalute any problems we run into.

check this out man

NEW PH MOISTURE LIGHT/ PHOTOMETER 3 IN 1 SOIL METER UK on eBay, also Hydroponics, Plants Seeds Bulbs, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 15-Jan-08 10:02:52 GMT)

storzbickel said:

check this out man

NEW PH MOISTURE LIGHT/ PHOTOMETER 3 IN 1 SOIL METER UK on eBay, also Hydroponics, Plants Seeds Bulbs, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 15-Jan-08 10:02:52 GMT)

Click to expand...

I got that exact meter from lowes for 8.97, so if you have a lowes, or home depot near you, cheaper, no shipping.

there you go emilio, dont need to wait on that stuff..hit up one of those places

you dont really need the photometer, although in your case it might be useful to see how much light your plants are getting...


but on top of that this gives you a good ph reading of your soil.

Not in Valencia, Spain ahah. If i decide to grow some when I go home in June then yea, I will get some better equipment, PLUS my dad has a crapload of good things to use in a grow op. (lighting etc..things he's picked up over the years from ppls curbs on trash day ahha free stuff is the best stuff).

So I will go to the gardeing store where i bought the soil and such I will see what happens(if the have pH kits etc...)

Patience is a virtue.

BTW What is the ideal watering schedule? Like every few days if the soil requires it? (like see how dry it is wiht ur finger lightly?)

Thanks for all the replies so far!

storzbickel said:

there you go emilio, dont need to wait on that stuff..hit up one of those places

you dont really need the photometer, although in your case it might be useful to see how much light your plants are getting...


but on top of that this gives you a good ph reading of your soil.

Click to expand...

Again if I could get it I would, but its ahrd to find that stuff if you dont know the city too well. Back home I knew where everything was (home depots, all that stuff). But thanks for the advice.

I will let you guyys know whats happens in the enxt week or two. Keep posting tho its helps me get ont he right track.

BTW noticed one fo the plants (smaller ones) is getting female hairs. I hoep to GOD that i have more than one female or else I will be uber mad at the ppl who sold me the seeds. It wasnt even like a street guy selling me them. A reputable store advertising on posters and such. They had a lot of varieties of seeds. So i hope atleast most of them grow into females..60%?

(Also, the skunk seeds came form a bag of pot my friend got, SO i doubt they are females, but they are gowing very nicely so I will see what happens.)

Ok got more lighting today, So i will have a total of 4 of the small fluoro`s and one of the big ones, all hanging about 3 inches above the plants..I pray to god its enough????

I will post a pic when i have it all hooked up and such.

more light is much more important than buying PH stuff now, i dont even really PH my plants.

Thats exacly what I was thinking. i simply assuemd potting soil along wiht the nutrients would be just about in the right range, altho eventually i may pH it. I am setting up the lihgting as I am typing...so in about 2 hrs i should have the photos up..I hope...if all goes well.

emilio613 said:

Thats exacly what I was thinking. i simply assuemd potting soil along wiht the nutrients would be just about in the right range, altho eventually i may pH it. I am setting up the lihgting as I am typing...so in about 2 hrs i should have the photos up..I hope...if all goes well.

Click to expand...

your new light looks good, an improvement. Its not the best of the best, but i understand what you are working with.

pH is pretty important. the wrong ph can lock out nutrients and essentially starve the plant. Just something to keep in mind. Also, when using nutrients your ph can get whack day to day just from plants using up whats in the solution, thus raising or lowering (not usually the case) the ph on a daily basis.

As far as watering, a moisture meter would be useful, very very cheap. Any garden center should have one. ill post a pic of mine in a bit. You want to check like 1-1.5" down underneath the surface. Your finger is ok for now, but if you can get a meter, do so, they are cheap. It all depends on your growing conditions how fast the soil drys out.

as far as your female ratio, hope for 50% on the purchased seeds. Bagseeds you never know. you could get lucky, but even so poor genetics can throw a wrench in the works.

you are on the right track tho, the lighting is a good step forward. ill keep up with your post and help you when i can.

so here is the meter i use when growing in soil....RapiTest seems to be a very common brand. I found mine at the local hardware store, not even a garden center type place. About 12usd or so.

simple device, but you can probe pretty deep in the soil and not disturb much.

when you are watering, be sure to "till" the surface of the soil with a fork or something, it will keep a crust from forming on the top layer of the soil.

here are some hydro retailers in valencia.

Maria & Compa??AC/ Dels Tomasos, 14 Bajo DrchaValencia
46006Spain(96)3951278
f:(96)3324646
KanopiaC/ Abadia De San Martin, 4 DrchaValencia
46002Spain(96)3324516
f:(606)106178
Maria MarktC/Sant Miguel 23Sueca - Valencia
46410Spain+31-34-962037585


the link is to a full listing of shops in spain overall. Advanced Hydroponics maker of Dutch Formula

Hope this helps bro!! if they dont have what you need they might be able to direct you where to go

Yea i know there is a whole cannabis store in the old town,a nd one by the bull fighting ring, never bothered to trip there yet. I think ym friend and I will do ti one day this week, taxis are very cheap here.

So here is ym new light set up (see pics).
All hung, fan is still there, temp should stay the same.

Lets hope this helps them improve.

Any advice is still appreciated.