why aren't my seedlings growing? *pics*

Ok, this is 2 weeks in.

The plant on the left doesn't seem to be growing at all. I have been treating both these plants the same, except I kept a a moisture dome on the left one a lot longer. At first the leaves on the left began to droop, so I took off the moisture dome and it seems to be doing better. You can sort of see, but the tips of the leaves have curled up a bit..

Anyway, during the first week I think the coldness in my house was severely stunting the plant's growth (it was on average 62 degrees inside grow tent, but now that I put the ballast inside the tent, it is 70-72 degrees), but even after the temperature raise, the plants don't seem to be growing as fast as they should, especially the left one. It has looked like that, except it was more droopy, for 3-4 days. Any ideas?

Maybe the light is too far away from the plant? No idea what the distance is, but it seems like 2-3 feet. they are in 3 gallon pots. the bulb is a 250W MH.

thanks for any help

edit: to confirm, i measured it with a piece of paper and there is roughly a 25 inch (2feet) distance between glass and top of plant.

light should be closer. Dome should never be used, plants need fresh air which they don't get under a dome. And like you said, the cold held them back quite a bit probably. What kind of grow medium is that? have you given them any ferts yet?

how much closer? im using coco coir. no nutes yet; i am wondering when i should..

weak nutes immediately, imo.

bring the light down to may 16", then start moving it closer until maybe 12".

Get the air temp to 80 for young plants like that. I had a set of seedlings at about 70 degrees, and they took FOREVER to get going. I bought a seedling mat and a dome (with vents for fresh air, just trying to keep the heat around the plants) and the temp was about 80 in there. They were like lightning, took less then half the time. Lighting and Temp are everything for a seedling. Move the metal halide closer and tinker with your ventilation (both within reason) to try to achieve an 80 degree environment, that may solve your problems. Check the pH while you are at it.

zizou21 said:

how much closer .

Click to expand...

although this is for HPS MH would be similar (10 inches BTW)

Kerovan said:

weak nutes immediately, imo.

bring the light down to may 16", then start moving it closer until maybe 12".

Click to expand...

what would you consider weak nutes? 1/4th of what is prescribed ?

and fmrboi, should i be keeping bulb 10" from plant throughout the entire grow?

edit: Alright I lowered the reflector about a foot and a half. Hopefully this will raise the temp

edit#2: One more question; The grow tent is a fairly decent sized bedroom, do you think I need to have a fan circulating outside the tent to move the air around in the room? The door to the bedroom is usually open.