Red Spec Slow Veg Growth? Please Help

[PurpzDawg]

Hey peeps!

I've been having kinda slow growth with my seedlings (or so it feels at least).
They're under a 250W 6500k Spectrum LED and 250W 8U Red Spectrum CFL both with reflectors.
Growing in coco-perlite 50/50 mix, check pH regularly, give less nutes than on bottle, healthy root stuff etc.

I'm wondering is my red light is maybe too strong for their stage in life ? They're on their 2nd/3rd set of true leaves now. My logic was double lumens = double growth, but obviously it doesn't always work that way xD
Please provide me with your knowledge, master growers <3

 

[dajerm119]

I would think the one 250 watt would be fine for veg... you don't need that red 250 yet. Save that for flower , ok. You're probably giving to much light... also make sure not to over water! That's easy to do, and some don't even realize they are doing it. You want the pot it's in to be almost as dry as before you watered after you planted that seed. At least the first couple of waterings. Mainly just watch for signs of needing water, then give water. No sooner. Good luck!

 

[Rasselberry]

Repotting should help, I noticed that humidity is really important at this stage, if it goes down less than 40, girl not happy

 

[dajerm119]

Repotting should help, I noticed that humidity is really important at this stage, if it goes down less than 40, girl not happy.

Why repot? He says they are seedlings... but yes I was figuring he knew to keep the humidity up.

 

[Rasselberry]

Would be nice to see pictures, to make objective guess

 

[PurpzDawg]

Repotting should help, I noticed that humidity is really important at this stage, if it goes down less than 40, girl not happy��

Ohh you might be on to it there. I knew humidity is important, but I've struggling to keep it above 40% the past week or so. Going from 35%-40% most of the time. Last night I added a bowl with a towel to add extra moisture in the air and it's been going steady at about 53% now. My temps vary from 21c to 25c (very hot days). Do you think I should add another bowl to bring it up to around 60%?

Will post some pics shortly

 

[PurpzDawg]

Here's the pics as promised

Mama Mia (Fem Seed) - Coco-Perlite 50/50 - 3 Weeks Old

Mama Mia (Fem Seed) - Hydro - 3 Weeks Old

Amnesia Haze (Fem Clone) - Coco-Perlite 50/50

OG Kush (Fem Clone) - Coco-Perlite 50/50

**NOTE**
Lights were off before taking pics, that's why humidity is so high. Usually at 50% with 1 water bowl in there

 

[Mayne]

weird shaped leafs are from lack of humidity. Try wetting a clean towel and hanging it somewhere. I think adding a pot without a plant, wet it down helps alot to if you have the room.

65% is the lowest you should be at in veg.

 

[PurpzDawg]

weird shaped leafs are from lack of humidity. Try wetting a clean towel and hanging it somewhere. I think adding a pot without a plant, wet it down helps alot to if you have the room.

65% is the lowest you should be at in veg.

Ohh, thank you! I'll definitely try that. okay cool, so I shouldn't worry too much? You think they'll all jump back into action once the humidity is better? And will these leaves "repair" or should I just watch the new leaves mostly?

 

[Rasselberry]

Don't worry, they gonna be ok, in veg they are bitchy, when it comes to humidity or temperature fluctuations during day/night

 

[PurpzDawg]

Don't worry, they gonna be ok, in veg they are bitchy, when it comes to humidity or temperature fluctuations during day/night

Okay cool, thanks I've put the 250W Red CFL off now and the humidity is staying at 65% lights on.
I'm wondering though, if I can keep the humidity at 60%+ with the RED Spectrum 250W CFL on with the LED, should I do that? Or should I wait until they're all about 2 weeks from flowering?

 

[Rasselberry]

I would leave only led on for now, a week maybe, till they get stronger, and then turn on cfl on.

 

[PurpzDawg]

Sweet, I'll do that then! Thanks for the help
Will give a little picture update when I see a notable change

 

[Shreder]

only need about 50 watts of cfls per plant thus stage,
keep your leds at least 24" from plants and even 36" should do it
humidity is crucial with 70- 80% its so much faster.. once they establish roots growth gona be fine with 40-50%....
i recently found that it is very hard to over water 50/50 coco perlite... so dont be afraid to water even once or twice a day if the plant asks for it... mostly at flower though... i water my veggies in a 2-4 liters pot about every other day with 10-30% runoff... check runoff ec and ph daily.. if it goes way off then adjust with a big amount of water with a relative level of ec or ph to get to where u wanted to...ill explain:
say ur last water was 1.5ec and 6.0 ph, runoff is 2.0 ec and ph is 5.5, now you know you gave your plant too much ferts. water the same amount of the first watering session (this time expect a lot of runoff) with half the ec so 0.75 (50% dose, apply same nutes.) and a little higher ph, say 6.5..
then check the last 100-200cc of runoff and see if you got to your desired measurments. say 1.1 ec and 5.8 ph.
next water a day or two later, water again with the same readings you dialed in before, and check runoff again. keep monitoring until what goes in comes out, then your golden.

6am here and am very stoned, hope you find this info useful as this helped me a lot, and wasnt aware of up until i started doing hydroponics.. cheers man, and very best of luck

p.s
also i highly recommend on using a vpd chart, it helped me a lot dealing with 28c groom temp with ac on... just check online for vpd chart.. pros say that vegging at 8 vpd is best then slowly move towards 10 at flowering... again best of luck buddy!

 

[PurpzDawg]

Hey guys, just wanna say thanks for all the help that was given! It definitely helped to keep these babies alive

Here's a little update on how they're doing:

Mama Mia - Hydro (Week 4)

Mama Mia - Coco (Week 4)

OG Kush - Clone (Just transplanted)

Amnesia Haze - Clone (Early Flowers, yay! )

AK-47 - Clone

 

[Mayne]

man, they arnt looking to good bud.

are you adding any calmag? I think thats the problem. 3ml per gallon and see if that helps any.

definitely a nitrogen deficiency, and purple stocks and stems. Try the calmag. LEDs need more in coco

 

[Shreder]

happy they doin good buddy now always keep on track with them.

check ph in and out
distance from lights / lights intesity (more is better)

dial in ur nutes
temp and rh

post again in a week brother im sure they gona look great

 

[PurpzDawg]

Thanks guys!
I've been spraying with calmag but perhaps not enough. I check ph going in but as I use a liquid test kit I can't accurately test what's going out. (Cheapest digital pH meter I can get soon is $200, which is ridiculous).
I bought a soil/coco pH meter yesterday and saw that the soil is around 7 pH. I put in around 5.8-6.3ph nutes so that's quite weird.

Should I lower nute ph or water more?
I'll also try adding the calmag straight to nutes now.