hi there. im new to this site and new to growing.i have put a pic up of what i have set up at the moment.i have a 400watt sodium shining on the pots which contain white widow seeds and a fan to keep the temp between 69-79F.
At the moment they are only small seed pots but once they sprout etc i will transplant them to larger ones.
They were planted on monday evening, how long til i see some sprouting and is there anything major i need to add to this?
thanks

What compost is it your using? Looks a bit heavy and a bit too wet from that pic. Temps for germing are best at around 23c, and keep them in the dark until they sprout. It's quicker that way.
Seeds can take up to a week to sprout, then you can start worrying.

Oh, and top tip...........don't post pics with your cars number plate in them!

they arent mine,someone left them on my wall and for some reason i kept them.thanks for the input.

out of the 5 seeds planted one has sprouted and is growing at an impressie rate.gained a few inches today alone.
still nothing from the others though

If that's your number plate - I'd be getting shot of that pic pretty quick....

vangraffe

just read the posts - i saw the plate and wrote a quick reply.

please delete if appropriate

Sounds like the light is too far away. 12 to 15 inches is probably about right.

And don't be in a hurry to repot - it'll take a couple of weeks to grow out of their first pots.

EDIT :-

and whoever those plates belong to, you need to tippex them out of the photo.

Hey Smiley!

I'm a noob here too! Patience is the one thing I didn't bank on - I've found I need lots of it.

I've felt that my seedlings aren't growing as fast as others do, but I'm not so sure.

The only thing that I know - is that one worry is replaced by another!

My current worry is that I have had my 200w blue envirolite about an inch away from my seedlings
and I've just seen a post suggesting a larger distance.

I went out for a few hours today and my seedlings grew enough to touch the bulb and so now the
tips are a slight shade of yellow.

I might go against advice and give a very gentle tonic to my babies and help 'em along the way,
especially as I know now the compost I've got them in isn't the best, by far.

It's hard being a daddy to these bloody things!

good luck with yours!

vangraffe

"I might go against advice and give a very gentle tonic to my babies and help 'em along the way,"
fookin behave will ya
advice like that for new growers isnt needed

hey smiley , is your extension lead totally unwound ? i hope so .....

yes im an electrician so i've made sure everything is safe.dont wana burn my house down now do i.
okay thanks for the input, i'll move the plant closer to the lamp.

Vangraffe - I find an inch and a quarter (thumb's width) is fine between a 20 watt CFL and a seedling, my instinct tells me an envirolite might need to be a little further away. I found 9 inches to be right for a 250 watt HPS from seedling through to flowering.

And you want a fan blowing between lamp and seedlings.

whoo!!all 5 seeds sprouted(on 5 different days...but still...) 5 out of 5 aint bad.how do i know when to re-pot them?is it when the roots start poking out of the bottom? also they are all growing under one 400watt hps and was wondering if i need more lights?

It depends on so many things, but under ideal conditions I find it takes a good 2 weeks to grow out of a pot - and if anything I'm probably to be repotting a bit early from the 7cm pots I start my seeds in.
Roots will appear at the drainage holes long before they've filled the pot.

My seedlings spend 4 weeks under a 250.

A 400 watt lamp will be sufficient to cover maybe 3 feet by 2 feet for a whole grow.

hi,was just wondering,i know i'm a bit far away from this point but can you re-plant the plants once they have been harvested? this might be a stupid question but hey,dont ask dont know.thanks

just cut off the plant but leave some leaves on........ then put it back under 18hrs light.... it should reveg it worked on the 2 in my room look at my diary

ok so i've been reading up on lighting times and was wondering if i could get some personal input on the matter.
the plants are a few weeks old at the moment and have started growing leaves that are growing.They are under a 400watt hps from around 6pm till half 7am then they are left on the window till i get home from work.Is this o.k and when do i start doing the 12/12 cycle and stuff?
thanks

I'd have them under the lights for the full 18 hours - i havent tried mixing artificial light and sunlight - my mate was doing it this summer and the plant involved sort of half heartedly had a go at flowering then didnt really do much so he ditched it. If someone knows otherwise im sure they will come along and say so. As for 12/12 - when they reach roughly half the height you want them to be go 12/12, some stretch by up to two thirds though. You can top em if they get too big. Good luck mate.

Someone else mentioned the number plates in your picture (post#1) i really would take that photo down. Or photoshop the reg out.

All the best.

U

thanks for the help mate...yeh i have no idea who owns the number plates...they were litterally left on my wall a few years ago and i havent thrown em away because im lazy...they are no connection to me in anyway...so if anything they are a decoy

Cool mate - good luck with the grow.

okay have some new pics of my grow room and the plants in the stages of growth so far.
pics arent great because my phone is shite and the frequency of the fan and light make wavey lines across the picture.
the plants look healthy and growing nicely but a few of the stems seem to be a bit too bendy/weak.i think they might be top heavy.

1st the room

2nd the plants a few weeks ago

and last the plants now re-potted

looking good m8, luv the wee stealth area in behind the wardrobes, shame you have to run an extension in thru the door tho

yeh.took up some floorboards and found an old fused spur so going to tapp off it and hardwire the extension into it.
will post new pics soon.

heres some pics of how the lil fellas are progressing since the last pics.

another

close ups of the stems

no more cables going through cupboard door means i can sleep at night without a 400watt beam of light shining onto me

look pretty healthy, no sign of stretching, good luck with the grow

thanks.need to do some thinking about the layout of my room. cant fit all the new plants under 1 hps and cant get another one because of the cost of running, and apparently flourescents dont cut it anymore.

ok so here is what i have at the moment.5white widows and 6pots of unknown seeds with 3sprouted at the moment.
i cant grow all these under 1 light so i have decided to loose the hps and go with a few flourescents.

here is the new layout.
x2 60watt 5ft flourescent fittings attached to the ceiling with hooks and garden wire for easy moving.
obviously there wont be the same growth rate as the hps but i can sleep osund knowing that im dowin my bit for the environment:) but mor eimportantly saving money on leccy.

temps been a bit low since the removal of the hps.
dropped to around 65 - 70F
the plants seem to be coping ok but havent noticed as much growth and the new seedlings havent grown as fast as the last lot under the hps.

you're covering an area that size with just 2x60w fluorescents? even if that was HPS you would need double that wattage for further growth. you really need a HPS or a lot more fluorescents

they seem to be growing still just not as fast.might get another 2 fittings the same.

Sorry, but this is wrong - you'll have to do twice as many grows.

i don't think young plants need as much light. but definitely when you get to flowering you will need way more light

In my experience it's all about intensity and getting the light down to the lower growth points.
Stick a fluorescent over a plant and the first leaves block the lower ones. This is a plant that (should) grows like a triffid.

Clearly there's no point in aiming a 600 watt lamp at a few teeny plants if you have an alternative, but I found that a 250 watt HPS was perfectly justifiable - especially when one is having to use electricity to heat the space in any case.

I have now tried (a generous quantity) of fluorescent light for the first 14 days and next grow I'm going back to the HPS.

... but maybe 12 years of growing with my HPS lamps has blinded me to the joys of gentle fluorescent growing ...

ok fair enough.i think i'll stick with these for another week and if theres no real change i'll go back to the hps.

plants seem to be dong ok under the flours.growing fairly bushy and still getting taller.
i have to move the lights up about and inch or 2 each day.

have some new pics of the plants progress under the flours.obv growth rate has slowed and have encountered a problem i knew would happen..lower leaves turning yellowish due to lack of light getting through to them.
i think i will have to add a few more lights to help these problems.

do i mount the new lights alongside the fittings that are already in place at the same level or at a lower position either side of the plants?

also, judging by this pic, would anyone suggest i start pruning?

ok ive tried to combat the yellowing by adding another light.
ive changed the layout of them aswel so that the light will get dispersed more evenly over the lower leaves aswel (hopefuly)
i know one more light isnt exactly going to make a big difference but every little helps i supose.

i have one question though, how tall should i let the plants get before i switch to 12/12??

How old are they? Need atleast 6 week from seed to show preflowers, veg longer and you will get a better yeild.

i planted them about a month and a bit ago,maybe 6weeks.

taking the advice from you guys,i've gone back to the old set up (400 watt hps) and re-potted the plants.
the roots were realy compacted and leaves were yellowing so hopfully this will cure the problem.
starting monday i will switch to 12/12 so they are going to stretch leaving me with a new problem.....out comes the thinking cap.