Weird Cola Stretching 4weeks since sex 12/12.

[Rattlehead]

Hi, This is my first post since registering. It's also my fists attempt at growing. Hope you guys can help this newb.

I'm not really sure if its a problem or I'm just getting impatient but my main cola on one plant just looks weird and stretchy. Kinda like a foxtail.

I've been 12/12 from seed and I'm at 4 weeks since showing sex.
Cheap "Stay-green" soil, Miracle grow all purpose food(not a lot, like every 3rd watering).
5 26W CFL's, 3 2700k, 2 6500K in a 2.25 sqft space. about 16 inchies high.

Yeah, gehtto grow all the way. I've probably spent $30-$40 getting this running and I'm not expecting miracles. Just wondering what the problem with this girl is and if maybe I can fix it.

I've got a few guesses.
1) too much nitrogen- the stay-green is a time release and I've given it a few feedings of 15-30-15 MG. so I could see this.
2) not enough light. could be. no money at this point to get more lumens.
3)heat? my temps are pretty steady at 80-83F lights on and about 67-68F lights off. not bad I guess.

I have no PH tester. I bought one for $5 but everything I stick it in reads 7. PoS.

Anyway here's a few pics. Hopefully it will pack on some more nugs in the next 4 weeks. let me know what you guys think. Thanks a bunch.

Should I cut off the buds at the base of the plant?

 

[Incognegro]

Wow, I'm actually surprised, they don't look very bad...

You may be getting the stretch, because of the lack of light...

N doesn't normally induce "stretching" lack of MAY though..

In MY opinion, since you started with 12/12 you plants are still gonna stretch til prob week 5, they should be slowing down by now. Is your light 16inches ABOVE the plants? For CFL's that's way too high... CFLs and Flouros should be almost right on top of them.

1. Shouldn't be anything to do with N
2. You don't have a LOT of light, but what you DO have should be almost RIGHT ON TOP of the plants
3. Your temps aren't too bad...I've heard many times though, that THAT big of a difference between day & night temps will encourage stretching also.

My 2cents..

 

[Rattlehead]

Thanks Incognegro,
My space is really tight. What I meant by 16 inches was floor to ceiling. The lights hang down about 4 inched so my plants are actually going up beside them. I rotate them daily.
My box is actually an end table with a cardboard box lined with mylar placed over the top of it. lol really ghetto as I said.

Maybe I'll try and get the temps up during lights off. Do you think I should up the nutes? I hate using MG but that's all I have. I'm getting a vacation in a week and plan on doing some shopping. Maybe I'll get a couple of 42W 2700k and some better nutes.

I just hope it bulks up a bit. Could be some good stuff If I get a little more weight. It's really sticky and smells heavenly. No idea of the strain. Bagseed from my son. He smokes some good stuff. Must be nice to have money lol.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[blahman]

Wow, i'm impressed that doesn't look bad for CFL's and miracle grow.

But depending on the strain you might not be able to stop continual stretching using cfl's. Just not enough light, these plants evolved under the sun.

It doesn't look bad, i'd be happy with what your getting and don't stress over it. Upgrade to a hps when you get some $$

 

[Rattlehead]

Thanks for the reply Blahman.
Oh I'll be happy for sure. Anything is better than nothing and I wasn't expecting much.
After this grow, now that I've got my "sea legs", I probably will make some improvements.
Just had to see if I could do it.

I'm still holding out hope to put some weight on this girl. I'll have to make a journal and show off my others. A motley bunch of girls. One has been twisted and broken and has really been through the wringer. Still looks good though. Amazing the beating these things can take.

+Rep to the both of ya. Thanks Again.
Peace out.

 

[Incognegro]

Instead of raising temps at night, try lowering day temps, do you have a small fan to put on them? even a 120mm (computer fan) will move a decent amount of air, and lower it a degree or 2, small box fan may lower even more.

You nutes NPK ratio isn't too bad for flowering...just MAY wanna bump up the dose a lil...

Lol, I remember my very first grow, I veg in a cardboard box lined with mylar and hand a 2foot flouro screwed into a 2x4...ahhhh..lol...how much we've improved...

You should be happy with your first successful grow! Then on to improvements!

 

[Incognegro]

any updates on the grow?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I bet it's already smoked. Looked like some good chit.

 

[Arthur Dent.]

Foxtailing, the one irritating thing about sativas and the blue spectrum

Not abnormal, just not normal.

Namaste

 

[The Evil Weed]

What strain is it? I had a similar problem with a strain named Alaskan ice from greenhouse seeds, which just kept on stretching all through flowering. I think it was because of the extreme equatorial sativa influence in that phenotype, so if you have one of those this might be just normal.

It might be possible to correct this to some degree if you decide to keep this strain for another run by adjusting you nutrient intake. Sativas differ somewhat in their nutrient intake to indicas, and should not be given too much nitrogen during flowering or they might keep stretching during flowering resulting in very airy buds. Or so I've heard at least.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I had lots of tails with the last haze cross. I'd read that high temps can contribute to this. This past winter's temps were prime and I still had tails. Probably more than the summer batch. Didn't give any more N than usual, 1 tsp FNB per gallon of water.

I've read that N causes stretch and I've read that P is the culprit. I've tried a bit of cutting back on each respectively during stretch and haven't had definitive results.

But I agree, sativas seem to perform well with less nutes than typical.