light

[Jacob Bell]

ok, short on time this am. question? if naturally plants have a darkness period, outside that is, how imperative is it that I have super correct lighting times? like 18/6, 12/12, etc? Right now, I have had my lights on for about 4 days straight, and I am not seeing much growth at all. Even added another light. Plants need darkness right? Or wrong? I am leaving the light off today for about 9 hrs or so to see what happens. Plants are about 3 wks old. Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated. My plants just are not growing the way everyone else on here is lol. There are bagseed, but just really small leaves right now. I have new growth, but the first few sets of leaves are only like an inch long! and maybe half inch wide, if that. Help!

 

[Lemon Paradise]

sounds like you are in veg state... 18 on 6 off is what I do,, some people do a 20 hr on, and 4 hr off, and some even do a 24 hr on... I read somewhere that the plants store up their building blocks during the day,, and assemble them at night,, so some dark is needed... (don't know how accurate that is,, so some of the experts will correct me I am sure..)

for flowering though, you do want that 12 hrs of dark,, (well, I think 10 hrs is minimum? again,, the experts will chime in)

I wouldn't just go changing the dark times,, (4 days @ 24hrs on, then 9 hrs dark today,, different tomorrow etc..) that may stress it out...

you mention it is 3 weeks,, from when you dropped the seed, or from when it sprouted,, how/what are you feeding,, how often, ph etc.. some pics would help too..

 

[LighTer]

Plants NEED darkness only for flower. I have grown in VEG before with light on 24/0.
Get a timer for when you want to flower.
Sounds like you have a medium issue rather than a light issue. If there is not any growth happening, it may becuase it has no nutrients for its roots to uptake! What are you growing in and how big a pot is it in?

 

[Lemon Paradise]

thanks Lighter,,, I knew they needed dark,, just not quite sure when..lol reps

 

[Jacob Bell]

I am growing in 6 inch pots, with Organic Miracle grow potting soil. They are 3 wks old from the time they sprouted and I planted them. I will post some pics as soon as I can. So far, I have not given them any nutes at all. I plan on getting a better light setup this week, I am gong to buy a 250 Watt Switchable MH/HPS system. I am also going to get some Fox Farms Light Warrior Soil, and as far as nutes go, I have no idea what to buy lol. Any ideas on nutes? And thank you all for your responses, it's greatly appreciated!

 

[LighTer]

guitarman, ppl swear by advanced nutrients and fox farm. i am going to get technaflora just to be different. they have a really nice starter kit you could look at.

 

[Lemon Paradise]

I use canna nutes myself,, but they are a bit pricey... here are two good threads on nutes

A top nutrient study - Which is the best? Produces most?

A Poll To See What Kind Of Nutes Are Preferred

 

[OldSkoool]

Only thing I see missing is your current lighting method, I read that you wanted to scale up, but what have you been using thus far?

As far as lighting schedules, I've been using 18/6 veg, and 12/12 flower schedules for my all grows with no problems, and have yielded excellent results with CFL's for the past 4 years.

 

[ol hippy]

Be carefull adding nutes to Miracle grow stuff it already has timed release nutes in it .(at least some of it does) .If you have a large enough area or good ventaltion why not get a 400 hps not much more money almost dbl the light ! I love AN nutes I just use half of what the say and plants love it !! (sensi A&B grow / bloom)

 

[ItsChrome]

I am wondering what is their current lighting situation? I know you said you looking a a 250w HPS but what do you have them under right now?

Also I want to point out that during veg you'll often see periods where it seems your plants just not growing, but it is! There are two reasons for this, first your looking at your plants too darn much and can not notice the change and secondly they are working on their roots. you have to remember theres more to a plant than what you can see. Where the leaves may seem to be lagging in growth the plant is focuses its growth below the soil.

Nutes or the lack there of could also be at play. really there is soo much that could be happening here. Your not giving them enough light, enough food, enough water, too much food, too much water, too humid, too dry, not humid or dry enough, ect...

As for the lighting I use to run 24/7 but I then I gave 18/6 a shot and every morning I noticed growth that wasn't there at night. Its like in flower when you go in in the morning to wake the ladies up and you have to move the lights even though they were fine the night before. I agree with Herb that plants need the darkness in the sense that they build up all this energy during the day and need a period of rest from producing the materials to actually apply them.

Oh yeah, as LighTer mentioned. the technoflora starter kitis awesome! Its what I use and i love their system!

 

[Jacob Bell]

First off, thank you all for being so helpful! What a great forum!
Lighting situation as of right now is:
I have 2 6500K T5 bulbs at 32W a piece and 1 CFL at 26 watts, also in the 6500K. I do my best to keep the lights 2-3 inches away, although that is not entirely possible due to the overhang of the light fixture. (the sides of it hang down more, and I can't position it as close as I want to the plants, therefore, I do have some stretch going on. I have no timer, yet. I have noticed that when I give them some darkness they grow more. I do think all plants need dark periods, at least that is my conclusion so far. I think my soil is the issue, and no nutes as well. I get paid tomorrow, and I am going to buy some Fox Farm. Question is, do I get the Happy Frog, or the Light Warrior??? Please help on that. I am thinking Happy Frog, because it's for container plants. Either one would be much better than the Organic MG crap I am using now. I am also planning on getting some Fox Farms nutes, like the tiger bloom or whatnot. I officially now have 3 sets of leaves on 1 of my plants, so that one is ready for nutes, I think.

 

[Jacob Bell]

Ok, here is a question I need a quick reply to if possible. Like, tonight lol. I am using T8 lights. I can afford either some T5 HO Fluorescents or an enclosed, switchable MH/HPS 250 or 400W system. BUT I HAVE IDEA WHICH ONE TO BUY!! Or even some decent CFL setup. Please help on this. I want to spend the least amount of cash and get the best light I can, but I also need the light to be fairly compact and not noisy. Are the HID lights noisy? I know my current lights make no noise at all, none, and I need/want that. So if I get a HID system, is it going to be noisy? Is there a big difference between the T5 HO and the HID's? Please advice, what U all use, and what u think. Thanks!!

 

[ItsChrome]

Ok, here is a question I need a quick reply to if possible. Like, tonight lol. I am using T8 lights. I can afford either some T5 HO Fluorescents or an enclosed, switchable MH/HPS 250 or 400W system. BUT I HAVE IDEA WHICH ONE TO BUY!! Or even some decent CFL setup. Please help on this. I want to spend the least amount of cash and get the best light I can, but I also need the light to be fairly compact and not noisy. Are the HID lights noisy? I know my current lights make no noise at all, none, and I need/want that. So if I get a HID system, is it going to be noisy? Is there a big difference between the T5 HO and the HID's? Please advice, what U all use, and what u think. Thanks!!

Oh boy, thats a good question to stir the muddy water for sure!

First and foremost in asking what light is right for you is are you ready to handle the heat? If you are prepared to handle the heat I would say go with the HPS since thats what you seem to really want. How ever if you are not ready to deal with the heat I say CFL's. Though If you want to spend the money LED is probably the best way to go. really though it come down to what you want. I have had great success with CFL and so have others, I have seen great LED grows and T8/T5 grows as well. Of course I have seen amazing HPS and HID grows.

My point being every light has their ups and their downs. Each can grow great smoke. But with out more info on your space we really cant help you choose what is best for you.so how about you help us out some more, give us a break down of your grow space. A pic of the whole area would help alot as well.

 

[Jacob Bell]

Sadly, I don't have batteries for my camera, yet. But, heat would be an issue I think. Maybe. My grow area is a closet that is about 8 ft long, maybe eveh 10, and it's about 10 ft high. It's only 2ft. 1" wide though. It has sliding doors on it, which suck lol. I have a 6 inch fan in there, which does nicely right now, but if I put a 250W HID in there, I have no idea what the heat would be like, because I don't know how much heat they put out. So, let's say forget the HID for now. Is T5 High Output better than a CFL, or are they about the same? I want it to be compact, I could get a 2ft. T5 light with 2 tubes, or I could get a CFL. Gosh, I really just don't know. I am only growing 3 plants right now, and once I figure out if any are female, I intend on only keeping 1 for growing.

 

[ItsChrome]

hmm, yeah with out any sort of ventilation I'm not sure I would go sticking a HID or HPS in that space. I personally would be concerned about heat and fire potential having the light so close to the wall in there. I may be overly cautious though.

So that leaves T5's and CFL's. really this is going to fall more on how you want to set up your space. They will both emit the same light, but with T5's you have more of a fixed set up where as CFL require a little more playing around. What I mean is with T5's you have the ballast and reflectors, where with CFL's you need to rig them up your self. So its really your call.

Sorry That didn't help much did it..

Its really a call your going to have to make. I like the CFL's my self cause I can arrange them how I think they will work best for me, but some like the fixed aspect of T5's. I also like that CFL's are easier to store when not in use.

 

[Jacob Bell]

Yeah, after thinking about it most of the evening, I think I am going to go with CFL's. I will get 4 of them, probably 42 watt, maybe the 26's, I am thinking also of a grow cabinet of some sort, instead of the whole closet. Too much light is being wasted in the closet, due to it's length. Plus, I want a more stealthy setup. But, for what it is, the closet is ok for now. Until I figure out something better Thanks for the quick responses, I appreciate it! Have a great night, time for dinner and a show lol.