Not growing enough in height?

[leafer]

Just wondering if these look okay or if they should be taller with more space between leaves? My first time with this but when I look at others plants, looks like mine should be taller. Should I raise the light a bit and make them "stretch" or they look fine and just leave it alone?

View image in gallery​

Thanks for looking and your advice!!

 

[leafer]

193 views and no opinions??

 

[KarlJay]

From the pic, your only light is from the side. They are very short and bushy, give us some more info about your setup.

1st off it looks like only CFL lights and they are on the side.

I have a CFL grow myself [click the link in my signature] and I have the lights right up next to the plants, about 1" from the leaves.

How long have they been in veg and are they from clone or seed?

 

[leafer]

From the pic, your only light is from the side. They are very short and bushy, give us some more info about your setup.

1st off it looks like only CFL lights and they are on the side.

I have a CFL grow myself [click the link in my signature] and I have the lights right up next to the plants, about 1" from the leaves.

How long have they been in veg and are they from clone or seed?

Sorry Karl, the pic is deceiving. Yes, I do have the CFL lights on the sides but that is only for extra lighting. They are actually under a 400W MH dome which is about 12" above the plants. Temps and humidity are running great (72° and 58%) and I bought a digital ppm and PH meter and right now every other watering is with about 450ppm and 6.4ph feed. Nute water AND regular water are being aerated constantly and every few days I burn a candle in the grow room. They are from feminized seeds and have been in veg for about 2 weeks maybe a little less.

Appreciate your reply!!!

 

[KarlJay]

Ok for 2 weeks from seeds or even close to that, you have healthy growth!
I'm NO EXPERT, but:

I'd go higher on the light, about 18 to 24", make them reach for the light.

Get the temps to about 80 lights on / 70 lights off (the bigger the difference between lights On/Off, the bigger the distance between nodes)

I assume your light schedule is 18 on / 6 off, so let it get hotter during lights off and that should help.

Drop the RH a tad, 30-50.

Nutes sound right.

Move all lights to directly above the plants.


If you look at my grow, I show an example towards the end of two plants side by side. They are from the same strain and same grow conditions...

Notice the tape and green string on the branches? That's LST

My point in the pic is that the shorter one NEVER got much taller. In fact I've bent the branches over to get more bud sites. It's as if they select their height early on. Even my clones are looking a bit short and bushy.

One other note, my bushiest plant looks like a little monster! It has thick branches and looks like she'll be a real producer.

Have you looked into LST? It's where you tie the branches so they grow very wide. It's seems to be doing wonders for my mid-height plants.

I actually have side branches that have exceeded the main branch! Look on YouTube for Low Stress Training...

Trim the leaves to get light down inside to those side branches.

After these changes to the lights and temps, you won't see much change for about 2 weeks.

 

[leafer]

Yup, lights are on a 18/6 schedule as you said. I have already done some LST reading and had thought about it. Do you just have string loosely tied around the side branches and then the string tapes to the sides of the pails? The reason I had the RH to about 58% is because I read to keep it a bit higher like that and then drop it to 30% or lower for flowering, so I'll drop it a bit more. Will also adjust the height of the light and take it 18" - 24"

When you suggest trimming the leaves, are you talking just trimming the tips of the fan leaves off or actually taking some of the fan leaf branches right off?

Again, thanks for your time!

 

[KarlJay]

LST is basically taking a string and bending a branch so that it grows the way you want. What you should want is max yield. What helps max yield is when the small side branches get light.

Here's a YouTube that show it, but he's using metal, I don't like anything harsh on my branches, but he does bend the branches.

NOTE: I REALLY don't like using those metal clips, look at the sharp edges cutting into the branches... but you get the general idea.

Think of it as your plant growing sideways, the branches will move towards the light, so you take a primary branch, bend it 90 deg, and al the little branches start growing towards the light (I move the small growth so that it gets direct light). After a few weeks, they've grow up towards the light and become a bud site. You've taken something that would have naturally been a 'popcorn' site and made it into a full or near full bud site.

In other words, you control the growth shape of the plant, it wants to live, you force it to a certain shape, it responds. The end result is that you've got 10 bud sites vs 3 bud sites. You get light down into something that wasn't going to produce much and now it's going to produce 2x as much.

Some say you can DOUBLE your yield with these techniques.

Here's one that shows one of the primary branches pulled 90 deg out, you can see that one of the 'side' branches is actually up as high as the 'primary' branch. You can see that this has a whole bunch of bud sites that have direct access to the light. This plant isn't tall at all, it's perfect for a short grow room. I don't know what it'll produce yet, but I'm sure it'll be better than if I just let it go it's own way.

This 4th pic really shows the width of this plant, you can see the tops are near even, this is one of the goals of LST, an even top where they all get great light!


Note: you can also add side lights, but most grows have the primary lights up top.


As far as RH, I've heard 30-50, but I really have no background in growing, so I just know what I read, and what I read sometimes conflicts ... so you are in the general ball park.

I'd also mention that I dry my plants out... by that I mean that I wait 'an extra day' before watering them. This forces the roots to 'find the water' and they grow out in search of water. I can't say for sure how much it contributed to the root system, but here's a pic of the results:

 

[leafer]

Okay great. Everything else has been taken care of, light height, etc. Off to do some LST now

Nice pics Karl, urs are looking really good

Thanks for your time!

 

[OG1969]

Hey guys you are way off on putting the light so far away,,, Why do you think they made the cool tube and the sealed light??? because the plant gets more light and more intense light. Which in turn , KEEPS THE INTERNODE SPACING DOWN, WHICH MAKES TIGHTER DENSER BUDS . stretch, they will do on their own when budding comes along/ mines should fire off next week. Already seeing some growth, Peace OG.

 

[leafer]

Now that's also what I had read in my many pages of reading. Put the back of your hand as close to the light as the plant is and if it's not too hot for your hand, then it's okay for the plant as well. That's why I had it initially set so close to the plants.

So OG, ur saying keep the light as close to possible to the plants right? Any pointers regarding humidity, etc.?

 

[KarlJay]

Now that's also what I had read in my many pages of reading. Put the back of your hand as close to the light as the plant is and if it's not too hot for your hand, then it's okay for the plant as well. That's why I had it initially set so close to the plants.

So OG, ur saying keep the light as close to possible to the plants right? Any pointers regarding humidity, etc.?

I just re-read your post, I noticed you're using a 400W MH, I was thinking of a 600 or 1000W. You should be fine where you were. 12" is pretty close for a 600/1000, but might be fine for a 400.
OG and most others here have more background than I do, I'm still learning things

 

[leafer]

That's okay Karl, I appreciate any help from anyone. I am a little concerned with some yellowing going on with some of the leaves, and only on a few of the plants

Anyone suggest what might be causing this and a possible fix for it? Or is it even anything to worry about?

 

[hank123]

Have you feed them?

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

 

[leafer]

Every other watering they get about 450ppm of Sensi Grow. The other watering's are done with just water set at about 6.3 ph.

To me, and I'm new to this so may be wrong, looks like a Nitrogen deficiency. That's why I wanted to get more experienced opinions in case I am wrong, so I don't screw things up while I continue to learn

 

[OG1969]

Maybe maybe not on the Nitrogen, what does all the new growth look like?
And yes you want the light as close as possible without burning the plant and those are lower leaves so the light can be rules out.
What strentgh are you feeding at ?

 

[leafer]

New growth looks really good. The top sections of the plants look really healthy but more and more of the bottom leaves are yellow like that. If by strength you're referring too PPM, it's at about 420 - 450 PPM right now, again, that's every other watering.