Weak Stems.. Help!

[finchrocks215]

I didn't tie the plants tight enough to damage the stem I made sure of that.. though i will be using a straw soon as that seems like a great idea...

Update.. today I just checked the progress.. It seems that on Pot 2 one of the plants is done for.. it has a really thin stem and the plant has become too droppy to hold up... (which is why i planted two to a pot)...
The other plant seems to be holding up well..
I got the 24/6 light cycle from another forum where I was told that during veg period the more light the plant gets the taller/faster it will grow.. but since the roots grow more in the dark..

Long story short I was told this cycle was Ideal as 24/7 light can overstress the plant... I was also told this particular strain (Strawberry Cough) Loves rich nutrients at the Veg period and and the more light the better..

plus lets face it these plants aren't growing in nature to begin with, and there a few advantages to that... example more time under the light.. I doubt nature provides 20/4 light cycle or even a 18/6 light cycle...

I appreciate your advice but given what i have been reading about this strain I'm more inclined to do as Grub suggest and put the plant under a 24/7 light cycle.. flowering though should be 12/12 I had that in mind..

Also I have replaced my Lights with four 60 watt bulbs and placed them about 3 inches above the tip of my plants making sure not to burn the plant..
It seems the streching is due to the light being to far away...

I don't have fans since my house has central air.. but I will do the morning shakes.. Though I think the stem will thicken regardless given the branchy stemy* nature of this strain.. or am i wrong?

[dj #]

Also, do roots only grow in the dark dj? As my plants are 24/0 and get no darkness at all, I wasn't aware of any side effects of doing this? (apart from the leccy bill being a tad higher )

yes roots do grow more during the dark period surely, so a lot of growers like to give their plant a little dark time, i think you would see benefits from doing this when vegetating a plant for a few weeks to get her bigger before flowering

Long story short I was told this cycle was Ideal as 24/7 light can overstress the plant... I was also told this particular strain (Strawberry Cough) Loves rich nutrients at the Veg period and and the more light the better..

Also I have replaced my Lights with four 60 watt bulbs and placed them about 3 inches above the tip of my plants making sure not to burn the plant..
It seems the streching is due to the light being to far away...

this is your first problem i see, you say you have 4 x 60w bulbs, are these the standard old incandescent type household bulbs?
something like this--->
if it is then these are absolutely no good at all and are one thing thats contributing to your seedling s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g, they provide very little light lumens and have a very poor spectrum (light colour) aswell, they are very inefficeint and waste electricity and produce too much heat too
get energy saving compact flourescents instead until you can afford a better light system

plus lets face it these plants aren't growing in nature to begin with, and there a few advantages to that... example more time under the light.. I doubt nature provides 20/4 light cycle or even a 18/6 light cycle...

nature might not provide that kind of light cycles everywhere on Earth but it does the further North and South you go on the planet, i live in a place where we get nearly constant light during the summer months
but one thing that nature does do is provide much more light when its daylight

I don't have fans since my house has central air.. but I will do the morning shakes.. Though I think the stem will thicken regardless given the branchy stemy* nature of this strain.. or am i wrong?

plants have a certain amount of genetic characteristics but they are also variable due to environmental conditioning, get a small fan to blow gently around them and this will help no end, for both constant fresh air and toughening them up

plus you are over watering them too, the size of pot you have them in just now will only need watered every 5-7 days right now, the soil needs to dry out, not just to touch but to a certain depth too, this makes the plant grow roots so it finds moisture to drink and this causes a plant to make a bigger, better and healthier root system in the process
poke your finger (or a pencil) into the soil about 2-3 inches and see how wet it is also the weight of the pot can tell you how much moisture is in the soil too


hope this is of some help this time

cheers

dj#

[finchrocks215]

Thank you all for your replies...
@ DJ, I am already using Flouresent bulbs.... I read the label on the lamp which says for 60 watt bulbs... so i was mistaken on that part... i think it might be the distance from the plant.. and I have managed to obtain a small fan for 3 dollars :P... I set the fan on low... and have it running now...

I'll update in a few weeks n let you know how everything goes..

[finchrocks215]

Ok so.. I must admit failure once again.. today when I woke up both my plants where extra extra droppy... so I gave up on them.. I but my curiousity has not been quenched.. I guess I'm going to have to go buy some proper growing materials...

I'm going to my local menards store...
aside from potting soil and pots
can anyone recomend cost effective lighting and whatever else is needed to grow?

[nooby_dr_green_thumb]

couldnt you have just burried the stems abit for some suport
but a restart will do you good mate
get yourself the right lighting

if you want fast cheap lights get a cfl light

you can buy a 250w cfl light with the reflector and fittings for around £50
they dont give off alot of heat and you can have the light within centimetres of your plant

blue spectrum blub for vegging and red spectrum bulb for flowering

if you have the money and you want to go al out then buy a 600w hps light with fittings, ballast, and reflector for £88 from here
http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/...-Light-802.asp

its a trusted site recomended by this site
and you want the one with sunmaster bulb or the dual

if you carnt wait and you want one today try a garden shop but i think you will need to use a specialists one that does hydrophonics equipment
these hps do shift out alot of heat tho and has to be a foot and half away from your plants

if you decide to go with cfl make sure you get a good decent one not just a house one and you will have good results because i did a plant from veg to flower with cfl and i seen a good result i even did half flower with a cfl and it was good

[finchrocks215]

Well I still don't want to spend alot of money on my first grow...

So here's what I got and you guys let me know if i need anything else or if i should change something (I got receipts)

I got Two New lamps with reflector backs (mirrors) for only $10 fairly flexible so I can position them any way i want..

I managed to get myself 2.. 25 watt Flourecent "Sun Spectrum Bulbs" (supposedly it has the same spectrum as the sun naturally produces.. each bulb produces about 1800 Luminance.... (lights are 5x brighter than the ones i Originally had) each bulb cost me $6

A small fan about 6 inches in diameter with high and low speeds..

A power timer ( time is set for 20/4 light cycle)

A larger pot that is also self watering (has a resevoir in the bottom you fill up with water and somehow it gets the plant the water it needs for about 3-4 weeks).. dunno the exact size but definitely larger than my original pot..

For soil I have the following configuration

2/4 Of Miracle Grow Potting soil and 1/4 Miracle Grow Perlite (give or take)
and 1/4 Small rocks.
Then on top I placed a 2 inch layer of Miracle Grow Seed Starting Potting mix.. ( I figured this way I don't have to move the plant once it gets bigger)

All of this ran me about 60 american Dollars..

[finchrocks215]

I will be adding two more 25 w bulbs as the plant grows to give me a total of about 7200 luminens.. which i've read is ideal for optimal growth..

[dj #]

72,000 lumens would be getting closer to the amount of light that would provide somewhere near "optimal growth"
7200 lumens will allow your plant to grow and flower but not at optimum capabilities

[finchrocks215]

72,000 for a single plant? is that not overkill...

[dj #]

no, not when you see the size of plant that could be grown under that amount of lumens, anyway thats less lumens than a 600w HPS bulb produces, they kick out between 90,000-95,000 lumens