HELP slow vegg... 3months in, t5

[asdmo]

Wsup fellas, ive been veggin my plants for 3 months now and there only about 14" under 8bulb 4ft t5's... I keep the t5 about 3-4 inches away from the plants.
Im growing Blue dream, giesel, ******s White fire, Fire og x romulan.
They are in 2 gallon pots now, I really need the communities help right now! Thanks guys!

 

[VerdantGreen]

really hard to say without a pic, and i think you need 50 posts to put up pics.

are they healthy looking? you might get the tubes a bit closer like 2" but that is unlikely to make a huge difference. do you have good air circulation and extraction? what soil are you using?

we need a bit more to go on...

VG

 

[asdmo]

thanks vg im trying to get my camera to work, i will upload some pics ASAP!
i have 1 10" fan blowing directly at the t5 bulbs, and 1 stand up circulating fan running 24/7. The plants are very green and healthy but im not sure why there not growing in length, there just bushing up.
The spacing between the nodes of my plants are ridiculous, about 1cm spacing per node... Im not getting any stretch so im not sure when i should be fliping to 12/12.

 

[Scrappy4]

What's your soil/medium? Can you repot them? If not I'd at least top dress with ewc....... good luck...........scrappy

 

[asdmo]

This was about 1 month ago,

This one is today,

This one is lst,

This ones supercropped,

same plant as one on top, http://s749.photobucket.com/albums/xx133/xxitzeugenexx1/?action=view&current=IMG_20101204_111350.jpg

 

[asdmo]

My soil consist of, 1 part ffof, 1 part fflw, 30% pl, 30%ewc, dolomite lime. thanks for the help guys!

edit: ive been feeding it compost and nute teas,
Compost Tea (Using a amended soil) used once per week
4 gallons Tepid water
2 handfuls EWC or fresh compost
1 TBS Fulvic or Humic acid per gallon
1 TBS Fish emulsions of Hydroslate per gallon
1 TSP per gallon of water

Nutrient Tea for veg rotate with the above tea
2 TBS N guano or Alfalfa ( I rotate these one on and one off)
1 TBS P guano
1 handful EWC
1 TBS Fulvic acid or Humic acid per gallon
1 TSP Molasses per gallon of water.

 

[VerdantGreen]

asdmo, im presuming you have extraction too so you get some fresh air i there?

tight node spacing isnt necessarily a bad thing either - under t5's you want to have short bushy plants because they lights dont have much penetration depth. perhaps it is time to flip them to 12/12? you should get some stretch then as well.

VG

 

[VerdantGreen]

just seen the photos - they look ok but the soil looks very dry in all the pics. are you sure you are watering them enough? you need to wet all the soil in the pot each time you water or the roots wont penetrate.

 

[BPJR]

My plants do the exact same thing under my T5's. Last week I finally got fed up and installed a 400mh and the same plants are ready to flip as of today. I find T5's great for rooting clones, keeping internodal length to a minimum, and building a strong root base. But for explosive veg growth MH might get you there a lot faster.

Cheers,
Bobby

 

[VerdantGreen]

have you been defoliating them ???

 

[trichrider]

not sure why you want stretch in veg. i am happy when the nodes are that close,
if you been in veg 90 days and they aren't as big as you would imagine, they may be as big as they will get...they will still reach a bit in a 12/12 cycle, so if you want them to grow more, flip 'em.
btw...that plant in your pic looked awesome...good luck!

 

[Sleepy]

asdmo, im presuming you have extraction too so you get some fresh air i there?

tight node spacing isnt necessarily a bad thing either - under t5's you want to have short bushy plants because they lights dont have much penetration depth. perhaps it is time to flip them to 12/12? you should get some stretch then as well.

VG

agreed.

flip them into flowering.

what are your temps like?

cold temps can sure slow the growth down...

 

[asdmo]

just seen the photos - they look ok but the soil looks very dry in all the pics. are you sure you are watering them enough? you need to wet all the soil in the pot each time you water or the roots wont penetrate.

Im not quite sure what you mean verdant, I water them about every 3-4 days with compost teas or nute teas. I feed them until i get a couple drips of water leaking throw the pots so im pretty sure im feeding them enough. Am i supposed to be watering the soil every day to keep it moist ???

 

[asdmo]

My plants do the exact same thing under my T5's. Last week I finally got fed up and installed a 400mh and the same plants are ready to flip as of today. I find T5's great for rooting clones, keeping internodal length to a minimum, and building a strong root base. But for explosive veg growth MH might get you there a lot faster.

Cheers,
Bobby

Wsup bobbby! Im glad that your plants do the same under the t5's i thought i had to change the bulbs or something. I got a ss1 hps ballast and all i have is a conversion mh bulb... i compared both t5 and mh bulb and it was about the same so i stuck wit the t5 due to less power use.

 

[BOSCO]

what are your temps like?

cold temps can sure slow the growth down...

I was thinking the same thing, this is just a stab in the dark but the newer growth looks a bit paler than the old growth?

Is it possible the temps are too cold when your lights are off and your air/soil temps are falling?

 

[asdmo]

have you been defoliating them ???

defoilating them meaning picking leaves off???? If so, i used to defoilate them before but it seemed as if the plants liked it with all their leaves on. Give me some more info on this bro, thanks!

 

[asdmo]

agreed.

flip them into flowering.

what are your temps like?

cold temps can sure slow the growth down...

UH OH.... I just checked my thermometers past memory, and the temps ranged from 65-90 degrees in my tent... lol this might be the problem. Any suggestions on how i should keep my temps @ 78??

btw I leave one side of the tents windows opened so the temps fluctuate alot....

 

[VerdantGreen]

asdmo - some people swear by defoliation but i would not advise it - especially in soil and with seed plants that you dont know much about. leaves are what the plant makes it's energy to grow from.

temps from 65-90 arent that bad but reading between the lines it sounds like you dont have an extractor fan - so your plants may be short of fresh air and the co2 that comes with it - which is another essential for growth. you will need extraction and a carbon filter when they start budding.

i have grown with tubes before and you can get decent results but you want to employ some training or a scrog because as i said the useful light depth is very shallow. keep the plants as close as you can to the light - they can be almost touching as long as they dont burn they are ok.

your watering regime sounds ok.

VG

 

[trichrider]

listen to VG

 

[asdmo]

VG your advice is awesome!
This is the equipment i have for flowering:
-dr150
-600watt ss1 ballast
-6" hood
-6" vortex
-10 plants in 3 gal
- 10" fan (blowing at top of canopy)
- huge standup oscillating fan
what i need:
carbon filter (im not sure which size to get, im growing in dr150)