Are my CFL's wrong kelvin?

Ok, so i bought 4 23w CFL's from Rona a few weeks ago and its 4100K, i read in the grow faq, that it can be used as a "supplemental" light to a light with 3000k, my plants have grown for jack shit basicly its been about two weeks and two are about an inch tall

Shook said:

Ok, so i bought 4 23w CFL's from Rona a few weeks ago and its 4100K, i read in the grow faq, that it can be used as a "supplemental" light to a light with 3000k, my plants have grown for jack shit basicly its been about two weeks and two are about an inch tall

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More info would be helpful. How many plants are you trying to grow with these lights? The 2 week period you're talking about, is that 2 weeks from when they plants appeared above the soil, since you planted seeds or what?

I find the 6500k work the best for vegging.

Hank.

Ativas said:

More info would be helpful. How many plants are you trying to grow with these lights? The 2 week period you're talking about, is that 2 weeks from when they plants appeared above the soil, since you planted seeds or what?

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its four cfl's with only two plants in there, it's been two weeks since they have appeared above the soil, and they arent looking too good, like they have a defficiency now, but they didnt always look that way

Hank said:

I find the 6500k work the best for vegging.

Hank.

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what type of store did you get yours from?


my seedlings right now look somewhat like this guy's
Error
except mine are lookin a bad colour

I got mine at Lowes.

Hank.

you can get them online on ebay in three packs or whatever for dirt cheap. if you're using a regular light socket, why not just go for the 42W? they put out quite a bit more light - the 23W are just kinda pathetic. The larger bulbs, 125W for example, put out even more, but are much more expensive and larger. The 42W are the sweet spot, IMO, and you can just throw half a dozen of those bad boys in there.

That said, your growth is not unreasonable, but it sounds like you have some nutrient issues to deal with before blaming the light too much for the slow growth. Are you using pre-nuted soil?

ceestyle said:

That said, your growth is not unreasonable, but it sounds like you have some nutrient issues to deal with before blaming the light too much for the slow growth. Are you using pre-nuted soil?

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my soil is .1-.1-.1 so you tell me if this is the problem

how close are your lights to the plants? if your plants are that small, it is unlikely that you are developing a nutrient deficiency (assuming you didn't add supplemental nutrients). i would guess that the lights are too close, or you are over/underwatering.

ceestyle said:

how close are your lights to the plants? if your plants are that small, it is unlikely that you are developing a nutrient deficiency (assuming you didn't add supplemental nutrients). i would guess that the lights are too close, or you are over/underwatering.

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i dont believe it's the watering, my lights are like 9" away because thats as close as i can get them secured. im gonna try seeding 4 more seeds in the same soil, but i tried to take out as much fert as possible. i think the light intesity is slowing growth, but i dont know what to do

a quick way to chill out the soil is to leach it with at least 2-3x the volume of the pot. this is a good quick fix to deplete supplementary nutrients. you can then add back your own dosage of nutrients as the plants revive. but let's wait to take a look at those pics.

Listen To This, You Have Got To Get Ur Plants Closer To The Lighting, Growing With Cfl U Do Not Want To Have The Plants More Than One Inch Away From The Light, Trust Me I Know From Exp. Check Out Some Of My Threads My Plants Were Growing Terrible And Stretching And Two Of Them Had Stunted Growth And As Soon As I Mopved My Plants 1 Inch Under Their Lighting Source I Saw A Huge Difference With 24 Hrs They Had Started To Grow Again And They Were Stunted For Two Weeks, Trust Me Having Ur Plants Close To The Lighting Source Is Everything, Trust Me I Dont Care If U Have To Stack Ur Plants On Top Of Books Or Game Cases Or Sumtin Like Me But Trust Me U Need Ur Plants Way Closer To The Light Like 1/2 An Inch Or An Inch At The Most!!! Also Ditch The 23 Watters Their Only Worth 1750 Go For The 32s Which I Have Found To Work Fin Which Give Off 2150 Lumens Or Better Yet If U Can Find Their Rarer But Only 9.99 42 Watt Cfls Give Off 2900 Lumens And Are The Shit Get As Many 32 Watt And 42 Watt Cfls As Possible Keep The Plants Only 1 Inch No More Than One Inch Over The Plant And You Will Have Positive Results You Are Looking For Trust Me, Your Gonna Notice A 400% Increase...peace

ceestyle said:

a quick way to chill out the soil is to leach it with at least 2-3x the volume of the pot. this is a good quick fix to deplete supplementary nutrients. you can then add back your own dosage of nutrients as the plants revive. but let's wait to take a look at those pics.

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leach?

the fert already in it is slow release solid fertilizer...
plus i dont have a camera for pics...

What he means is to use water, 2-3X the volume of the pots, and flush out the nutes from the soil if you think this is an issue. Personally, I do not feel nutes are an issue so early and regarding the lighting, it is SOOOO easy to mount the CFl's anyway you want with some ingenuity and basic electrical skills. The plants really need to be within a close proximity to the lights in order to maximize growth.

willygoat said:

What he means is to use water, 2-3X the volume of the pots, and flush out the nutes from the soil if you think this is an issue. Personally, I do not feel nutes are an issue so early and regarding the lighting, it is SOOOO easy to mount the CFl's anyway you want with some ingenuity and basic electrical skills. The plants really need to be within a close proximity to the lights in order to maximize growth.

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Ya, ill try stackin them on top of some books, and get them a lot closer, it should make a nice difference, i think the problem is tho, that my lights are far from one another, they are basicly in an X shape, with the two Y-sockets.
but there is quite a bit of discoloration in the true leaves.

nutes ARE an issue if there are too many, but not generally an issue if there aren't enough. i would go with at least 2-3", at least when they are this young. plants at that age, well, size, are very sensitive and you can burn them .. .yes, even with a fluorescent.

Dude, Make Sure Each Bulb You Got Is Not Under 32 Watt Cfls, 26 Watters Get Rid Of Them, Assign Each Plant To Its Own Individual Light At First, Center The Plant On Stacked Books Or Boxes Right Under The Light, Make Sure The Top Of The Plant Is No More Than 1 Inch Away From The Tops, Then Over Time If Possible Add More Cfls Around On Different Sides Of The Plants To Induce More Width, Im Tellin You How Close Your Light Is Is Def Everything Man I Cannot Stress How Important This Is, If U Want Positve Improvement Try To Get The Highest Watt Cfls You Can And Make Sure Those Plants Are No More Than An Inch Away From Their Lighting Source

GrowingPassion420 said:

Dude, Make Sure Each Bulb You Got Is Not Under 32 Watt Cfls, 26 Watters Get Rid Of Them, Assign Each Plant To Its Own Individual Light At First, Center The Plant On Stacked Books Or Boxes Right Under The Light, Make Sure The Top Of The Plant Is No More Than 1 Inch Away From The Tops, Then Over Time If Possible Add More Cfls Around On Different Sides Of The Plants To Induce More Width, Im Tellin You How Close Your Light Is Is Def Everything Man I Cannot Stress How Important This Is, If U Want Positve Improvement Try To Get The Highest Watt Cfls You Can And Make Sure Those Plants Are No More Than An Inch Away From Their Lighting Source

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i will move them closer, i have been looking at some 40 watters but the problem is they are soft white bulbs, like 3000 kelvin, which i dont think is very good for em in veg

you can get a 2 pack of 23 Watt 6500K CFLs from Walmart. They come in a blue package and say "daylight" on them

Dude Dont Bother With The 23s, Im Tellin U, I Have 23s 32s And 42s In My Grow Room, The 42 Watter Is Over My Biggest Plant But Ive Noted The Best Improvement Of My Babi Plant Thats Under A 32 Watter At 2100 Lumens, Dude Dont Get A Pack Of 23s, U Can Get 42 Watt Cfls Like I Did Or 32s Like I Did For 9.99 A Piece At Ace Hardware!! 23s Cost Around 6.57 A Piece So Go Ahead And Buy 32s Or 42s , 42s Are Huge So I Like 32s, But Make Sure The Lights Are No More Than An Inch Away!! And Remember Higher Lumens Are Always Better!