Troubleshooting

I 've started a small indoor cabinet CFL operation with two feminized White Widow plants. I'm nearly a month in and have two seedlings (see photo) going under eight 26W CFLs, with a 40 W on the way and another one coming later. Lights are on an 18-6 cycle.
I've also tweaked the lighting arrangement to get the lamps closer to the plants. I had a helluva time getting the heat down, even with two fans and a cabinet that looks more like Swiss cheese than a solid box, what with all the vent holes I've had to add, but the temp's down to high 70s-low 80s with lights on.
My concern is that I'm not getting the kind of growth rate I should be at this stage of the process. Light meter readings show 7+ in the close growing area. I just gave the babies a light nitrogen dilute treatment, and I'm wondering what if anything I may need to do now to get up to speed. So anything you all may have to offer in the way of advice, suggestions or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated...

It's kinda hard to tell from that picture, but looks like you could move you lights closer. What is your watering schedule? Do you soak the whole pot? It may be best to water a small measured amount during watering/feedings, so as to not cut off the supply of air to the roots. At that size I give mine ~150ml of water every 2-3 days.
I dont really know what to tell you as far as nutes, because Ive only ever used organics, which is ok to overdo, but you dont want to overdo it with chemical ferts.

A month and they are only that big? They look healthy, but if they were only a week old. I would switch up your ferts, make sure your timer is accurate, and remember, its a weed, it will grow. You may be doing too much. Thats all I can think of.

if ur temps are running high you might consider adding co2, fementation , or baking soda and vinegar. it can't hurt,,also two little plants do not require that much light cut some of them off if the heat gets too high

Well for proper troubleshooting, we need more info and better pics

what soil?

how often your watering?

Your PH?

your temp & humidity?

You said you were hitting them with 7000 lumens??? (twice as much as they need)

What I see in your pic is a bit of stress could be heat could be lights

and a bit of burn (most likely lights)

and an N defeciency

Better pics would help

riddleme said:

Well for proper troubleshooting, we need more info and better pics

what soil?

how often your watering?

Your PH?

your temp & humidity?

You said you were hitting them with 7000 lumens??? (twice as much as they need)

What I see in your pic is a bit of stress could be heat could be lights

and a bit of burn (most likely lights)

and an N defeciency

Better pics would help

Click to expand...

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Thanks for your reply. I've tried to provide better pix. Hope they're adequate.
Green pot is a loam, peat moss, perlite mix, 4 to 1 to 1, with no intrinsic nutrients. Earth pot is a commercial mix, Sta-Green, with a 14-11-8 NPK formula.
I'm using a Miracle-Gro liquid, 12-4-8 NPK as a supplement, in a solution less than the recommended 1 TSP per gallon, which I've applied sparingly.
I'm watering lightly, and only when the water meter shows less than 5 about halfway down the pot.
Soil PH appears to be right around 7, unless my PH stick isn't working as it should.
Temp is high 70s-low 80s in the middle of the cabinet.
As for lights, I'm still a bit confused, because there's a lot of contradictory info out there. I am throwing a lot of lumens out, because I had been reading that CFLs don't throw their lumens very far and therefore need to be up next to the plants. Then there's this thing about "actual" wattage, which also has me chasing my tail. I also just received a 40W CFL, which I was planning to add to the mix by replacing one of the 26W.
And yes, that browning effect on the lower leaves has me baffled, so any advice or suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated...