Hi

Excuse my lack of knowleagde about growing. This is my first grow so have choosen a noob strain.

I appear to have a flopper on my hands.

She is a Low Ryder #2, planted about 2 weeks ago now (I think, not 100% sure when I planted her).

She shot up fast, although seems to have stalled this last week.

Light
She is currently under a 18w day light fluorescent, about 3 - 5 inchs above her leaves which is kept on 24/7.

Water
She is watered 3 times a day with 3 squrts from a sprayer.

What could be causing her to fall over?



Cheers

Michael.

try and get the lamp closer as close as you can without touching and try and get a small fan blowing on her a bit , to strengthen up the stem

whenever i have seen plants (seedlings) do that, it is because they are growing towards the light. is your light completely in the centre or towards one side? if it to the side that's why they are doing it. if its in the centre, as previously said try get the closer. i think they will be ok. it's important to strengthen the stem so try blowing it gently a few times a day or pushing it about with your hand if you havn't got a fan. if the seedlings can't support themselves prop them up with something like a lolly stick, or i used a cotton bud one time.

Hi, i'm not an expert but i do have an opinion.
I would gently pour as much more compost into the pot as you can and try to bury as much of the stem as possible. I don't think that stem will toughen up by blowing on it, it's already too long unless buried a bit.. And prop it up if it's still got a lot of stem showing. When you repot, you can bury the stem again, leaving a couple of inches under the leavesand above the compost.
3 squirts of water is not enough, water till the compost is moist but no soaking wet, then let it go nearly dry before watering again.
And most importantly for your baby, please read as much information about growing her on this wonderfully imformative site as you can.
Good Luck!
Owlz

Bury the stem under some more compost - fill the pot as much as you can, as owlzahootin suggested, and the seedling is really lanky so you'll have to stake it up.

An easy way to do this is to get a plastic drinking straw, cut it with a razor or sharp scissors lengthwise, and then put it round the stem like a 'jacket'. You can plant a little of the base of the straw to provide stability.

The lamp is too far away from the seedling which will be why it's so lanky - with flouros you can get them close so that they're practically touching the top of the plant.

Hi m8,

I'm ot an expert either but I think like they are stretching for light. Can't you get a 150w envirolight? 18w seems waaaay not enough.

Burrying the stems a bit may help, and a kebab stick and cotten to help keeping them from toppling over.

It looks healthy but is sure streching for light.

Loftmonkey.

E2A - I love the straw idea

Don't water it 3 times a day, your killing it with kindness.

If you dont it will "damp off" and die

If it was me, I'd prick it out into another pot and bury the stem, if the decent weather continues leave it in a sheltered sunny spot outside, or on a South facing window sill with the window open so it gets a breeze, and bring it in at night under your light, get your arse down to the shop and buy a higher wattage bulb BTW.

Also, take a few hours reading some of the grow diarys and the knowledge base on the site, you may also find LR2 ain't one of the best strains to grow, I hear,

Good luck and welcome aboard.

JOM

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I have just repotted it into a bigger pot. In doing so, have buried it so only about 2 inches is above the surface. I have also used the straw idea to keep it up for the moment.

Here are some pictures of my current setup.

Any more advice is welcome.

Im hoping to get a 400watt HPS lamp soon. Just waiting for payday.

Cheers

Michael.

That's the ticket.

Just don't keep spraying it all the time - you don't want rot to set into the stem which it will if kept too wet and warm.

You can let it dry out until it's on the verge of drooping (but don't actually let it get to that stage) before you water it.

If she keeps strectching you might need a stronger light. vegging will take a long long long time with 18w's

You need to get that light lower - practically touching the top of the plant, in fact - that's why it was so lanky in the first place.

You can easily built an array of household CFLs in parallel to use for growing seedlings/cuts/early vegging - they can be surprisingly effective if you chain 4-5x 18-20W lamps together and bung a decent reflector over them.

The current setup is just for the begining of the grow. I am expecting to have a 400watt HPS Lamp within the next few weeks. I might be a bit late for this one, but the next batch will be alright.



Great idea, consider it done!!!



I am living in a rented house, and my house mates would prefer it if it were small. I however have 5 random seeds (found in some bud), and plan to get them going soon. I really want to grow some bubblegum, but want to learn with this plant.



See pictures. Have put it as close as possible.

Cheers for all the help so far. I shall get reading those diaries.

Michael.

Do yourself a favour and buy some decent seeds/genetics the seeds you "found" are unlikely to grow true to type and you will waste all the effort, time and money.

JOM

Hiya mate,

Just to add my 2pence worth as it looks like you've got a straw around it the littlen, i would recommend supporting that stem another way as you dont wanna restrict the thickness of the stem and you may find it really difficult to remove once the stem starts to thinken out. Your best off with a stick along the side of the plant that you can loosly tie it to.

I was just wondering if you have a drobe or tent that they'll be going in otherwise a 400w might possible cook em in that space. I would recommend an actual vegging light like a maxibright or something of that nature for at least the first couple of weeks, i know others may disagree but it all depends on what sort of temps/hum and ventilation you have.

Best of luck,
GT.

Edit: Or do what Scribble said and make up your own cheep light bracket. Ace idea!

I have cut the straw, down the middle and removed about 2mm of it. I'm hoping this will allow me to remove it when ready. Do you think that will work?

Im thinking of blacking out the windows of the shed, and then hanging the HPS lamp from the roof, keeping the veg area the same as it is (maybe a cheap light bracket as discuessed earier.)

I have thought about buying a grow tent, but I'm not to sure about the spending to much £££ as this was meant to save me money as local dealers are taking the piss. An 8th does NOT weigh 1.6grams!

Cheers

Michael.

That pot looks huge for a seedling. Id go and buy some other seeds, you can keep height down with training and flowering earlier, the amount of bud you would get off another strain would be more than a LR would produce aswell.

The cut down the middle was exactly what i was thinking.
You may feel like the setup is a bit of an expence but think of it as an investment, unless you only plan to grow the once then your better off spending the £££ and it will all pay off in time plus the smoke should be the best you've ever had. I know what you mean about the dealers but at least your doing something about that now, just think...not long now.

If you want a quick strain i would recommend Sweet seeds Speed Devil Feminized Auto. Link at the bottom of page.

Envirolights are very cheap - you can't afford to wait for weeks man, the veging could be done and dusted by then if you get a decent veging floro bulb, no balast or contact relays required. Cool enough to use in the small space you are in atm.

You need to plan this a bit m8, just popping any old bean without first sorting out the environment, lighting and extraction is gonna cause major headaches later on. Possibly even rendering the crop a disaster or worse - you get busted. You want to maximise yeald, minimise grow time and keep the chances of getting rumbled to an ABSOLUTE minimum imo. I would not attempt to pop a seed untill my carbon filter extraction is sorted, this requires a room or tent in a room ect.

It looks like it should now though, any idea what strain it is?

400w HPS is a great idea but think about how hot these things get. If you are going to use your shed (I have done this) I put a B+Q green garden tool shed (aprox 2m (high)x 2m (wide) x 1m (deep)) inside the shed. I drilled a 4" hole through the floor of the green shed and kept going untill it went through the shed floor, I used this as intake with a 4" rvk and had another 4" RVK on the roof of the green shed pulling through a carbon filter. This just managed to keep the temps from a 400w HPS ok as the cool air from uder the shed helped.

e2a - the green B+Q shed had mylar covered fiberboard on the inside to help reflect all the good light at the plants and helped with stealth.

Hope this helps.

Loftmonkey

You can leave the cut straw on to support the plant with no fear that it will harm it - I've done it with dozens of seedlings.

By the time that the stem is anywhere *near* think enough to matter the plant will be long have been able to support itself - the straw would give way, anyway because you have of the split you cut in it.

Its low ryder #2. Next stop will be bubblegum, as I had some when doing a gig in belgium and it was an amazing high.

Here are some pictures of my plant (I have called her mary) from this afternoon.

She had become a darker shade of green and looks like she has grown a little more over night.

Any idea when I should next water her? As im really worried I was over watering.

Cheers

Michael.