Seedlings: Got Stretch, Want Squat

[Pbass]

Hiyall,

My first foray into homegrown! I got a VP Par450 for cheap, my low budget closet grow is just sprouting. Running gifted LA Confidential feminized seeds in pilfered from my wife's Miracle Grow potting soil which I have germinated a little staggered due to still just splashing around the kiddie pool in wonderment and fascination. My first seed (LAC1) popped about 3 weeks ago under incandescent grow's (didn't have light yet), seems very healthy but has small leaves and looks a bit stretched compared to so many of the seedlings I see on the interwebs. I have a little squirt (LAC2) just forming first leaves today who has emerged only under the LED (on full power BWR). I have LAC1 about 16" from light, LAC2 is 14". Small fan always running. Heat between 72-76 degrees, no humidity monitoring yet so I've just been misting couple times a day. Look ok to you? Anything I can do to keep LAC2 short and wide from the start or will the LED light take care of that for me? Thanks for your knowledge and help!

Cheers,
PB

 

[Pbass]

Oops already screwed it up, sorry! Dear moderator, can you move this to the FAQ?

 

[bluter]

that is a fair bit of stretch. is the light dimmable ? you might want to run it a bit stronger or maybe lower it a little. a lot of the stretch is genetic. you might have just got a pheno expressing super long sativa characteristics. can always train and lst the tall ones starting young enough.

 

[Pbass]

Thanks for the reply bluster, I've been worried about heat I guess so from it's initial incandescant bulb birth I've kept the lights up a bit on LAC1, how close can I be (16" away atm) without burning her with a LED? The Viparspectra Par450 is red/white/blue dimmable, 202w at the plug, I have it running at full power now but had it lower to start. I have seen vertical growth slow down and horizontal speed up on the seedling since I've got the new light (4 days). The main stem looks woody at the dirt line, but man is it thin! The sprout was born under this light (14" away atm), can that go closer too?

 

[bluter]

you don't sound that far away to be honest. most led / cob / quantum are backed off further. i grow under cob and i barely raise or lower the light at all. i try keep 24 to 30 inches head room. it is a pretty strong light tho. i have the light at a fixed height in my veg room and just adjust intensity with the dimmer.

the plant looks not bad to me tho. you can also add a little more soil if you want, and bury the stalk higher when you up pot.

i'm thinking it's not doing that bad as is.

 

[Greenlizard]

If the stretch took place before going under the LED then that is what caused it and you should be ok now. Have you had any further stretching since going under the LED?

 

[Pbass]

Hi Greenlizard, it definitely happened before the LED and I do feel it's stopped since. My concern (or curiosity) is whether I will pay for the stretch later on the tall seedling with such a thin stalk, and whether I can do something now to prevent that on her subsequent sisters. I jiggered the plants up a bit to see the effects, running 11" on both now.

 

[Growingasmile]

that is a fair bit of stretch. is the light dimmable ? you might want to run it a bit stronger or maybe lower it a little. a lot of the stretch is genetic. you might have just got a pheno expressing super long sativa characteristics. can always train and lst the tall ones starting young enough.

Spot on, they need more intensity.

 

[Jackalope]

See how everything goes for a few days with the new light. That early stretch will not hurt you any. If everything starts looking better you can bend the plant over later if need be.

What you are experiencing is not really " Stretch". That reference is normally used when plants go into flower. The stretching was light related and not genetically. That will happen later LOL.

Indicators like you have are a good way to know if your light is too high or not intense enough.

 

[Pbass]

Hi Jackalope thanks for your input. I'm looking forward to the proper application of "stretch"!

After a large amount of watching and reading I wasn't confident with my decision to move the lights closer so I moved them back to about 16" off the tops. I have my blue and white to 100% but I also pulled the red back a little to about 60%. I have a feeling both of these changes have provided negligible effects, what I think I'm seeing is pretty much all lateral growth now that I've upgraded to the LED. LAC1 is 2 weeks old today, maybe 3/4" of vertical since the light showed up.

She looks and seems to be telling me that she's doing fine, but I'm still trying to get a good light/feeding schedule going that makes me feel I'm doing my best for them.. I see pictures of other grows, I sure wish I had more leaf growth by now! Here's a 1 week and a 2 week top down angle:

 

[Jackalope]

Yeah the leaves are small for now. Amount of light has a lot of affect on it. New lights could turn this around. Not sure about running colored LEDs I don't do it myself. I do know in the veg stage plants don't use much red. They need lots of red when they flower.

You may want to ask people the percentages of each to run in veg and flower.

 

[Pbass]

Good morning! @Jackalope Vertical growth has pretty much stopped, lots of lateral. I have three sets of leaves going in the top quarter inch of the 2 week old, 2 new sprouts over the last couple of days are really sticking to soil level, nobody's having to search for light. Based on the body of evidence I've collected off the interwebs, I could run the VP full veg and bloom, but because I do have the ajustability, I'm going to stick with RWB 60/100/100 untill I see fit otherwise. I think I'm chugging along in the right direction. @Emilya I even measured my runoff this am! Thank you for your advice and support!

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

If you are worried about the long stem you can always bury it deeper when you up pot. I agree with whats been said already and sounds like you got it under control now cuz.

happens to all of us bro lol