Slow Growth

I know there are sections in the FAQ about slow plant growth and what not, but i just wanted to ask the experts what tricks they have up their sleeve.

This is more of a question about what do to when you have a plant thats growing slow, rather than how to prevent it. Prevention is a skill you learn over time, where as recovering from a mistake is a certain something all us noob growers would love to know... i hope

my setup - I have a couple of seedlings (in soil) each plant has a 48watt CFL hovering above em. I give them 1L of water every few days as needed, and use my spray bottle to foliar feed em a little, and keep the moisture up. The temps would range from very very minimum of 20, to about 30 (average of about 26 degrees celcius). My soil ph test kit is kinda retarded, but i gather the PH is about 6.5-7.5 from the tests ive done. At the moment i havent started using nutes, but have some miracle grow lying around somewhere that i might start using. The plants are about 1inch high, mayb a little more and are 14days old. I had them in a seed tray (8x 1inch deep tray things) and i had them in there for 8 or so days since sprouting... a little worried i might of root bound them.

anyways any tips and tricks on getting a plant to recover from slow growth would be greatly apprecieted by myself and im sure a lot of other noob growers!!

peace

My question to you if you know there are sections in FAQ about improving your yield and plant problems why didn't you check their instead of posting this? Not to rag on you but I am just curious who someone would do this instead of checking out info they know is there?

Well me not knowing much about growing I however DO know that those 2 CFL's aint helping you for shit.. Read about the lighting and you will find exactly what to do...

Hi Hermes...

everything is normal.. the first 14 days canbe very slow.... because the plant is establishing its roots.. You should actuall have about 4 nodes and be 4 inches tall at day 14.. give it a few more days before you panic..

What you need is a PH tester for water.. THIS is VITAL... the pH of the water needs to be 6.5 - 6.8

Your CFLs are fine... I have attached a plant that is growing with CFLs that is 11 days old...

lovelovelove

mogie said:

My question to you if you know there are sections in FAQ about improving your yield and plant problems why didn't you check their instead of posting this? Not to rag on you but I am just curious who someone would do this instead of checking out info they know is there?

Click to expand...

just read over my thread again... i have read all the info in the FAQ section. i was posting this thread to see if anyone has any tricks for recovering from slow growth. did i not make this clear?? i thought so... but maybe not. I wasnt asking to see what causes slow plant growth - i can read that in the FAQ, i was asking whats the best way to boost growth.

ExplicitKilla said:

Well me not knowing much about growing I however DO know that those 2 CFL's aint helping you for shit.. Read about the lighting and you will find exactly what to do...

Click to expand...

what the hell are you talking about? have you noticed how many people grow using CFLs??? people even flower with CFLs (which i am NOT going to do, will be using a 600w HPS) if YOU read the grow FAQs you would see my lighting situation is fine. am not sure if you know what your talking about... but its good to see you tried.

Garden Knowm said:

What you need is a PH tester for water.. THIS is VITAL... the pH of the water needs to be 6.5 - 6.8

Click to expand...

the water im using is good PH 6.7. im just not too sure about the soil im using. The soil PH test ive got gives me different results each time i test (from 6.5-7.5) which shouldnt be too bad... but i dont really trust it too much (its old had it for over 18months)

i wanted to transplant to better soil, as the soil im using has heaps of bark and shit in it, and im sure i could get a better mix going. If i transplant again would it damage the plant much?

my conclusion was the plants got a little bit rootbound leaving em in the seedlings pots for too long, and also the PH balance of the medium might not be ideal for fast growing.

the plant is spurting out its 3rd set of true leaves though, but its going slow. will try and get some pics posted up as soon as i can.

Thanks for the feedback!!

Yea sure, I use CFL's myself but your talking about two 48w CFL... Dont you think 48 is more than just a little low..?

Instead of wattage and Ks, you need to see how many LUMENS your bulb produces. Plants need lumens to grow, not watts or Ks. The K indicates the light spectrum (red vs blue, etc.) the light is being emitted at. Important but moot if you don't have the lumens. You need at least 2600 lumens for one plant. That's the minimum and will get you a stringy small plant. Go for a minimum of 7000 lumens per plant for well developed roots and thick stems. By comparison, standard 60 watt incandescent lamp is rated at an output of 900 lumens. A 400 watt Metal Halide lamp produces 36,000 lumens and a 400 watt High Pressure Sodium lamp produces 50,000 lumens. Generally High Pressure Sodium lamps are more efficient light producers (more lumens per watt), these lamps produce a range of 100-140 lumens per watt, while Metal Halide lamps produce a range of 70-110 lumens per watt.

Lumens for people PAR for plants. Light and Plants

dude , 46w cfl per plant is plenty for now . if you dont have some kind of hood, you need one you can get one at hardware w/socket for less than ten bucks. your watering schedule sounds a bit extreme , your ph will be lower after watering thats when you test seedlings do not need sprayed , make sure your soil is completely dry before you water. dont use the miracle grow yet use something w/n-p-k 5-10-5 and use half strength. even 1/4 strength miracle grow is gonna burn the seedling does not need that much nitrogen at that stage.goodluck