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wut does it mean if the leaves on my plant start to rise towards light? it looks like all the tips r pointn directly at my light... does that mean watern time? cuz snow its only been 1 day n my soil is already dry n these big ol pots not jus the topsoil either around 3" b4 i feel nethng close to moisture

Hey guys,

I was wondering how the vegetative stage works in a greenhouse. If the plant is supposed to be in light for 16 to 20 hours how am I supposed to supplement the other hours of light? I mean, where I am it dawns at around 5:30 AM and gets dark at around 8:30 PM.

Thanks.

I think your gonna need to buy some lighting if you want more hours.

But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a greenhouse, utilizing just the suns light?

Or is this hours of late spring/ early summer enough? The day lasts about 16 hours and so the plants can receive 16 hours of light a day. Is this actually just good enough for veg. stage?

good question dave i just home from work this morning and one off my plants was doing the exact same thing i was thinking of asking the question in here.my plants are only like 4 to 5 inches tall right now but one off them has all its leaves pointing straight up in the air the other five are laying all nice and pretty i did notice a little yellow coloring on the end of my leaves on the one that is pointing up.ive never fertilized them yet i started them in miracle gro moisture control soil now i know hardly anyone in here likes miracle gro products but i didnt know that and they were already in the dirt but the reason for never fertilizing them is the soil had nutes in it and they have been lookin good so i was gonna wait till i thought they needed it.

hope someone can give some insight about this and if it is something to be worried about.

time get ready for work check back in morning....peace all.

davemeradith said:

wut does it mean if the leaves on my plant start to rise towards light? it looks like all the tips r pointn directly at my light... does that mean watern time? cuz snow its only been 1 day n my soil is already dry n these big ol pots not jus the topsoil either around 3" b4 i feel nethng close to moisture

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When your plant needs water it will look like it needs water. It becomes wilted.
Plants are not children. They don't reach up at you going "Bah-Bah. Bah-Bah."

Your plant is reaching for the light, finally, because that is what plants do. The leaves are actually trying to get as close to the light source as they can because they are looking for more energy.

And you just don't get it... do you? LIFT the MFing planter!!!! It is the last time I am going to tell you. Stop poking your finger in there. I very much doubt you have any idea of what actually dry soil looks and feels like, so your determination here means jack.

The top 3 inches don't matter. The whole soil, every bit of it, needs to get to nearly dry. LIFT the planter. Lift it! This will tell you how much water is left. When the planter is outrageously light it will be time.

Your tiny little plant isn't drinking all that water. There is still plenty of water beneath the surface for your plant to find. Encourage your roots to search out moisture and this will benefit your plant.

AlecEinWindir said:

But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a greenhouse, utilizing just the suns light?

Or is this hours of late spring/ early summer enough? The day lasts about 16 hours and so the plants can receive 16 hours of light a day. Is this actually just good enough for veg. stage?

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Outdoor growing is not indoor growing. They are EXTREMELY different when it comes to light schedules.

Outdoors plants don't have an "8 week finishing time." They veg as the daylight hours increase up to the Summer Solstice. After the Solstice the number of daylight hours per day begins to decrease and this indicates to the plants that it is time to flower.

Different locations on the globe will get different light hours. Up here in Oregon I'll get nearly 17 hours of daylight at one point, and this is the same latitude that indica varieties originated in over in North India, South China and Afghanistan. This is the natural light schedule these plants are accustomed too.

So if you'd like to add more light, some people do, then you can if you choose. It doesn't "defeat the purpose" of using sunlight. When the sun goes down, they keep the party going, that is their purpose.

tristynhawk said:

good question dave i just home from work this morning and one off my plants was doing the exact same thing i was thinking of asking the question in here.my plants are only like 4 to 5 inches tall right now but one off them has all its leaves pointing straight up in the air the other five are laying all nice and pretty i did notice a little yellow coloring on the end of my leaves on the one that is pointing up.ive never fertilized them yet i started them in miracle gro moisture control soil now i know hardly anyone in here likes miracle gro products but i didnt know that and they were already in the dirt but the reason for never fertilizing them is the soil had nutes in it and they have been lookin good so i was gonna wait till i thought they needed it.

hope someone can give some insight about this and if it is something to be worried about.

time get ready for work check back in morning....peace all.

Click to expand...

Your plants definitely don't need food. MG w/ moisture control is among the worst soil available.
I mean, good luck to you, but unamended MG soil is probably going to kill your plant. You'll have problems with soil acidity, fertilizer release rates, and water retention.

But like I said before. This is what plants will do.

You guys are probably so used to your plants looking all over watered and droopy you're just not accustomed to what your plant is supposed to be doing.

And really guys, you are weeks into your grows. Things are obviously not going well. I think it is time you guys stopped asking questions and got back into research mode. The first few days of life are really hands off and having such a slow start... With all these mistakes that could have, and should have, been avoided. I dunno... I know personally I would be frustrated that I didn't have the proper education before getting started.

Here are the first 5 weeks of a group of plants' lives. Getting to this point takes little more than lighting, good temperatures, and PROPER watering habits. It really is that simple, you just have to know what lighting, temperature, and frequency to use. So figure out those 3 foundational skills and you can have plants that actually grow too.

Day 1


Day 4


Day 9


Day 14


Day 19


Day 21


Day 24


Day 27


Day 30


5 weeks from Hatching.

alright everyone, my first grow ever, using cfls also lsting my plants tell me what you think, 4 weeks old , any tips will be really useful

i'm going to flower on the 5th week, oh yh there some bag seeds from some thai brick weed i've got :/ hopefully i will grow something better than that shit

damn snow you broke my heart when you said worst soil available...lol i knew after reading in here people recommended against it but that hurt

my plants were already in it so i figured let em go till transplant time but i do pick up the pot to determine when to water them i usually grow outside in the ground but always have a few buckets in the yard to watch grow and knew from that they needed to be dry before watering them so what soil you recommend that i dont have to order

anyway thx for your input bro im really grateful

is 120W cfl a decent light for one pot and for the whole grow cycle?

swantip said:

is 120W cfl a decent light for one pot and for the whole grow cycle?

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Decent... no. Acceptable... Barely.

If your bulb is ACTUAL wattage 120w then you're probably just barely okay. If it is actually a 25-ish watt bulb, with a 120w equivalent, then you need more bulbs. When we talk about lighting we ALWAYS talk about the actual wattage of the bulb. A single 120w equivalent bulb isn't going to cut it. You might get 3-4 grams off of a plant in 3-4 months with a system like that.

I have 6 bulbs 20w actual wattage equivilant to ~200W. I am going to add a 150W (actual) + the current bulbs so i think it will be okay. but even with the current light setup, for the first 15 days, the results are satisfying

each bulb gives 4000k lumens

swantip said:

I have 6 bulbs 20w actual wattage equivilant to ~200W. I am going to add a 150W (actual) + the current bulbs so i think it will be okay. but even with the current light setup, for the first 15 days, the results are satisfying

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6 bulbs at about 20w actual are going to be just fine. I'm using maybe 2 more bulbs than that in a tent I have for bonzai mother plants and they are looking fine. Spectrum of light is important to consider, I use a combination of day light color temperatures from 5000K to 6500K

swantip said:

each bulb gives 4000k lumens

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Maybe the 150w actual, but not your 20w bulbs. 20w cfl bulbs are lucky to be rated above 1200 lumens. This is a measurement taken at a fair distance from the bulb. You can actually keep the bulb closer than this measured distance which results in increased lumens at the canopy. I find that the medium sized, 6", clamp light reflectors found at any hardware store make for the best reflection at a reasonable price which can greatly increase the energy directed at the plant. The round, twisty shape of the bulbs make them a bit difficult to be efficient with but the reflectors help. I've taken a measurement of a 1500 lumen 27w bulb at about 1 inch from the bulb in a reflector with one of those cheap soil pH/Moisture/Light meters and had the needle go off the charts (over 5000 lumens).

How you utilize the energy, and what spectrum the energy is in, determines everything. It isn't just a numbers game. You need to understand the theory and the concept and come up with an optimal design when working with several low energy light sources. I like to combine vertically held, uncovered, bulbs with bulbs in reflectors. You can see an example here:

whats wrong with my plant ?? bottom leaves yellowing, isit to do with underwatering? i've been watering them once a deay but they have benn getting really dry befor i water them, all the other leaves are fine tho, 4 weeks and 3 days old

View attachment 1539972View attachment 1539973View attachment 1539974View attachment 1539975

Thanks for the informative post.The design of your growroom is much similar as mine.But i am growing only a single pot so i think adding the 150W will be just fine.If i harvest around 20g in about 3-4 months i will be very happy.I think this goal is possible isnt it?

rufusgrower said:

whats wrong with my plant ?? bottom leaves yellowing, isit to do with underwatering? i've been watering them once a deay but they have benn getting really dry befor i water them, all the other leaves are fine tho, 4 weeks and 3 days old

Click to expand...

I couldn't tell you because with that media I have no idea what is going on. If it is actually drying out in under 24 hours. You lift it and it has nearly no weight... Then it is probably time to transplant.

The lowermost leaves that are hidden beneath the canopy and the greatest distance from the light have a tendency to yellow off because they aren't needed. It is a way for the plant to "cut the fat." Pluck them as they wither off and watch out for the issue traveling up the plant further than the first couple of leaves.

Transplanting into a good organic media with some aeration material will probably contain all the additional food this plant needs.

swantip said:

Thanks for the informative post.The design of your growroom is much similar as mine.But i am growing only a single pot so i think adding the 150W will be just fine.If i harvest around 20g in about 3-4 months i will be very happy.I think this goal is possible isnt it?

Click to expand...

Yes. This is possible. Putting all your hopes and dreams into one plant is never something I suggest. Shit happens.

SnowCrash--Take a look at my journal please and let me know what you think. You helped me out with some issues in the beginning. Click my sig it will take you to my journal.

thanks man!

rufusgrower said:

alright everyone, my first grow ever, using cfls also lsting my plants tell me what you think, 4 weeks old , any tips will be really useful

View attachment 1537797View attachment 1537798View attachment 1537799View attachment 1537800View attachment 1537801View attachment 1537802View attachment 1537803View attachment 1537804 i'm going to flower on the 5th week, oh yh there some bag seeds from some thai brick weed i've got :/ hopefully i will grow something better than that shit

Click to expand...

Why does it look so dark?

I'm 5 days in germinating Northern Lights and the taproots are exposed but it's not very long, (I've heard it's desirable to have the taproot to be about 2cm in length.) My question is, once the taproot are exposed is it okay to "plant" them in my DWC or should I wait until it sprouts? All the threads that I searched through, everyone at this stage just planted it in soil from what I've found.

The last Taproot'd seeds that I planted in my DWC, nothing happened and the seeds eventually died and taproot turned into mush. Additional information: from day1 on my first attempted plantation, I used reversed osmosis water, and added nutes to about 150ppm concentration @5.5-5.8ish PH. could I have possibly fried the poor thing? I'm using Jack's Classic Orchid Special 30-10-10.

I've soaked them in a shot glass of filtered water for 24-hours. I then placed the seeds in 1" rockwool (soaked in 5.5ph water for 24-hours prior) that is then placed in a germination dome with a heat pad underneath.

They're Northern Lights from Nirvana, I've heard some people had mixed results with these seeds

S4v3dMyLyfe said:

I'm 5 days in germinating Northern Lights and the taproots are exposed but it's not very long, (I've heard it's desirable to have the taproot to be about 2cm in length.) My question is, once the taproot are exposed is it okay to "plant" them in my DWC or should I wait until it sprouts? All the threads that I searched through, everyone at this stage just planted it in soil from what I've found.

The last Taproot'd seeds that I planted in my DWC, nothing happened and the seeds eventually died and taproot turned into mush. Additional information: from day1 on my first attempted plantation, I used reversed osmosis water, and added nutes to about 150ppm concentration @5.5-5.8ish PH. could I have possibly fried the poor thing? I'm using Jack's Classic Orchid Special 30-10-10.

I've soaked them in a shot glass of filtered water for 24-hours. I then placed the seeds in 1" rockwool (soaked in 5.5ph water for 24-hours prior) that is then placed in a germination dome with a heat pad underneath.

They're Northern Lights from Nirvana, I've heard some people had mixed results with these seeds

Click to expand...

Im not familiar with DWC. I am running the ebb and grow but I put my seeds in the rockwool and put it right into the hydroton under a 1000 watt MH and just waited for them to pop up. I hand watered for a couple of weeks and the I turned the res on. idk I wish I was more help. I have 2 NL Auto going right now they are about 4 weeks old from seed. I have pics of them from seed up until now in my journal. I have one that is a tri. Its going to be pretty cool.