Droopy young plants

Some of my plants are looking awfully droopy. Here is my setup:

-planted germinated seeds about a week and 5 days ago under 24/7 fluoro lights on a shelf in my closet.
-temp: 85 (as you can see on the thermometer)
-under domes that I mist daily and breath for 5 mins, but they dry out quickly

I was thinking about getting a portable AC unit, and moving them under the 400 HPS just so they are in an ideal scenario. I moved my other harvest after about 2 weeks, my question is do you think it would be wise to move them under 12/12 400 HPS with the light really far away?

Thanks

Heat is too high... imo, causing them to go spindly. More lights will make it worse, unless you get some cooling in there.

Use some make-shift stakes to support em & straighten out the stalks... but you'll eventually want to replant them deeper in the medium... when you up-pot you can level out the canopy again.

What he said ^^
Did you make any holes in the cups before you planted? It looks like they're a little over watered to me. You don't want to put them under 12/12 yet because they'll start trying to flower.

MIway said:

Heat is too high... imo, causing them to go spindly....Use some make-shift stakes to support em & straighten out the stalks...

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agreed. Also, you might have planted the seeds too shallow. As to moving to 12/12 under the hps, that would be a big no-no. The hps will be ttoo hhot if you're having heat problems. And the plants are too young to flower

i had similar problems and turns out to be several factors, A) lights were to far away and plants stretched a lot, B) i had planted very shallow and C) i had no fan or vent so the stalk was not developing strong like we want. Try to re pot and bury a little down the stalks worked for 8 in 10 of mine.

How close are the lights to the plants? If youre using floros you can have them nearly touching your plants without any light burn.
Would not put them under 12/12. keep them where they are and get them some cool air and more light.

Too much heat, too little light, too much humidity.

Pardon the "used" post but, I just posted this a few minutes ago and the general statements apply here...

They were ready for the 600 before they came up. These things are expecting the full power of the sun in all it's blazing glory. A 600 isn't even a pen light compared to what they're built for. This doesn't mean you need to germ under a 600 but, that 60 watter is why they're so stretched out. Plants don't know much but, they know where the good light is and will do whatever it takes to get there including hurting themselves.

Because you've told them the sun is a 60 watt lamp, they've built themselves accordingly. Simply tossing them under a 600 now will fry them to a crisp. Hang the 600 extra high. Place under the big lamp at "noon" so their first day under the big lamp is a half day followed by a good nights sleep. Lower the lamp a few inches a day over a week until you get to the proper height.

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While you can create conditions in cloning that require the use of domes, seeds have no use for them and they can only hurt you. High RH can be deadly.

First thought I had was over-watering but am now concluding to high temps. Do not use hps till you have stabilized these young'ns. Quick questions? Why do you continue to use the domes after the seed has popped?

i personally dont think its the heat, it isnt that high and heat doesnt cause plants to stretch like that.

what i think is whatever type of light you are currently using is either old or no longer works the way it should, the only time ive ever seen signs like that is because either the bulb was too old or just a bad one, when using lights you need to make sure its enough and correct for growing.

especially with flouros you need to also know that a majority of flouros are just very horrible for vegging at all, there are certain types that should be bought for vegging i currently cant remember the name but you can easily ask google, not sure if you are using a T5 but if you are im guessing it has to be old or something, maybe im wrong but based on the picture it doesnt seem that bright at all and clearly the plants are searching for more light but arent finding it..

also there is no reason for you to throw them under 12/12 so early on, they havent even begun to veg properly. no clue why you would do that but 18/6 or continuing your 24/7 is what you would want to do and yes make sure the light is far away until they adjust.

i set to flower when i know the plant is ready which is usually over 2 weeks of growth, i like to make sure i have a good set of healthy big inner nodes otherwise i noticed they take forever to grow under 12/12 if i start any earlier. another sign of a plant that is ready for flowering is when the nodes start to grow unevenly but if your using a small space to grow in just waiting for good inner node growth will do.

the lights r way too far away. and where are the drainage holes on the cups? lower the light get a fan and repot into some plastic cups with holes at the bottom. and when you repot put them in deeper and give the stem some support. problem solved

another thing you should do is never let your plants get to this stage anyway, they mustve been stretched for quite sometime before you posted this, just make sure next time if they do stretch because in some cases some just cant afford other options, using a tooth pick or creating a crutch for them so they dont fall over like that will really help.

letting things like this happen only prolongs the process, it will take a while for them to get back to a regular schedule now because theyve been left so unattended.

stake them up with something and move the light closer. definitely not ready for 12/12. I know a lot of people have good results burrying stems deeper but I myself have had major problems with stem rot doing that. I wouldnt bury the stem deeper just prop them up and give them more light. They are probably stretching due to not enough light, that doesnt mean they need a bigger light.

bobman said:

the lights r way too far away. and where are the drainage holes on the cups? lower the light get a fan and repot into some plastic cups with holes at the bottom. and when you repot put them in deeper and give the stem some support. problem solved

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do not do this, seedlings at that stage need to be moist, you will only suffocate the stems and can very easily cause stem rot because it needs to be so moist, the stem that you cover like he suggested most likely will rot from being so moist and clearly is already grown way too much to even prop them up like that, you would have to cover nearly half of those long stems and that for sure will suffocate the stems and cause stem rot. covering the stems with soil is only good for about 2 centimeters if its past that you will end up getting stem rot and smothering them.

always always, just use a stick or anything similar. its never a good idea to cover the stems like that, most people dont realize the stems actually breath as well.

i have done it before no problem. just do some searches on it if you don't believe me. i wouldn't do it all the way up but you can take some of that distance off and roots will even start to form from the stem especially this young. he has got a lot of problems here he needs to deal with.


p.s. what kind of soil is that and is there any perlite in there?