Should I name them Happy, Sneezey... Dopey?

[Swany]

1. Are you growing from seed or clones - clones
2. How old are your plants - 14 days in Veg
3. How tall are your plants - about 7 to 8"
4. What type of hydro system are you using - DWC, 18 gl tubs about half full.
5. What brand/type of nutrients are you using - Botanicare Pure Blend now - custom for first 12 days
6. What is the Ph of your nutrient solution - 6.1
7. What is the PPM/EC of your tap water - 80 ppm
8. What is the PPM/EC of your nutrient solution - 1080 ppm
9. What is the temperature of your nutrient solution - 69
10. Does your PPM/EC show a rise or fall when you do your daily PPM check - slow increase
11. Does your pH show a rise or fall when you do your daily check - not really
12. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything - not yet
13. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (4) MH 1000w
14. How close are your lights to the plants - 18" to 2'
15. What size is your grow space in square feet - 121
16. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space 75 - 80 day, 66-70 night
17. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space - no
18. How much experience do you have growing - first run

My plants seem to be height challenged. I thought the cause might have been the nutes being low on a key ingredient. A friend came over to look and thought that I was giving them too much light. He thinks they are not growing tall 'casuse they don't need to.

They appear to be growing well to me, just short. Up until day 12 they were fed a custom nute solution based on Jack's that I had trouble replicating. Friday night I swapped the solution for the complete Pure Blend 'Advanced' recipe on Botanicares website. Last night I cut the light down to 50% via the e ballasts.

Any suggestions? Does this sound like a way to get them to grow taller? The lights are still about 24" away from the plants but putting out half the light.

Thanks -

 

[vaporedout]

what strain is it? looks pretty indica (would explain the shortness) did you top it? i think your spacing is pretty tight, should produce some massive buds. if you want them to stretch, pull the light up higher.

 

[alpinehi]

Dimmer ballasts are an unjustified use of resources in more than one way. Don't reduce the light, it will only diminish the capability of your plants to create food/energy/growth. Like Vapor said, some strains just wont stretch, but you could try raising the light. I ran an LA Confidential strain that grew annoyingly slow, it was just a dense shrub. Those ladies look happy to me.

 

[Swany]

Thx guys. The strain is Blue City Diesel. I believe it's a x between Blueberry and NYC Diesel. I'm too tired to go back out now so I'll turn them up tomorrow.
If I turn up the bulbs and then raise them, isn't that the same as leaving them low and turning them down? I'm just quoting theory here, though if light diminishes with the square of the distance I would think its half dozen of one, 6 of the other. Is the PAR spread better when the bulb is burning at its designed wattage?

 

[vaporedout]

seems like you have enough sativa in those genes to get some tall plants. keep the light at 100% and just move it up another foot. give it a few days then check your spacing on the top nodes. plus once you hit the switch, keep the light up there for the first week or so. should help you out a bit. i wouldnt mind running that strain outdoors to keep a nice lil bush ;)

ohhh and ALPHINEHI..... great avatar, kreeger is one of my favorites...... SMOKE BOMB!!

 

[Swany]

I moved the light up and Monday they seemed to have a bit more reach on the top shoot. So tonight i rewarded them by bending the tops over and tying them down ;-}

Thx again all -

 

[Swany]

So it's Day 24 in this picture from yesterday -

They do seem to be growing taller at a wee bit faster pace, though I would like to kick 'em up a bit if I can. Maybe I'm wrong and the stout, short nature of the plants will support some monster buds. To support more buds I would think I would need more stem though...

What do you all think about changing the bulbs to HPS from MH while leaving them in veg cycle? Might that get the girls to stretch a bit?

I read in Ed R's book that red light is suppose to promote stem elongation if I remember correctly. I suppose I could just try it but it helps to get y'all's thoughts first ;-}

thx -

 

[Swany]

I have decided to embrace my stout, short plants. I trimmed them last night, did a bit more supercropping and will turn them to flower this weekend.

After looking at so many pictures of monster plants on this site I guess I felt inadequate ;-}

 

[Swany]

As a footnote, I think I figured out what happened

Tyystikk was kind enough to share his nute formula with me on another thread. I really like the idea of just getting the raw materials needed to feed the plants and not paying for all the fancy containers and advertizing for the big name nutes. Timing being what it usually is, I rushed out to buy the recommended items a day before moving the clones but could not get basic ingredients in my local garden stores. I bought 'consumer' products that had what Tyy called out for as main ingredients and guessed on quantities to match his formula. I'm pretty sure I was low on Nitrogen.

The other night I was reading Ed R's grow bible and I came across this tid bit; if you want to keep your young plants from stretching keep the N a bit low to promote short internode length and thick stems. Not his exact words but that was the gist of what I read. I am pretty sure genetics plays a part, though I'm also pretty sure I stunted them by not providing enough N. I put custom nutes off for when I have more experience and have been running the full Pure Blend regime. You can find the recent shots on my grow journal, search Wild Rumpus ;-}