Jack Herer not growing nearly well enough.

Hi guys, I need some help here.... This is a first time jack herer grow Im 4 weeks in and they arent growing nearly fast enough. For the three weeks after germination I used 2x 250 W LEDs and after that a 12W growlight and theyve just stopped growing at all. Ive kept them on 14/12 cycles replanted them a week ago thats when they got a new set of leaves. Ive made sure not to overwater them at all.

A lot of other growers's plants look way bigger and healthier at this stage and I really need some advice on how I can fix my babies up..

Im going to post a few pictures Im just trying to figure out how...

What soil are you using there? I suspect that's your biggest issue.

MickJagger47 said:

Hi guys, I need some help here.... This is a first time jack herer grow Im 4 weeks in and they arent growing nearly fast enough. For the three weeks after germination I used 2x 250 W LEDs and after that a 12W growlight and theyve just stopped growing at all. Ive kept them on 14/12 cycles replanted them a week ago thats when they got a new set of leaves. Ive made sure not to overwater them at all. View attachment 3899264View attachment 3899265

A lot of other growers's plants look way bigger and healthier at this stage and I really need some advice on how I can fix my babies up..

Im going to post a few pictures Im just trying to figure out how...

Click to expand...

First why a 14/12 light cycle? Get them on 18on/6off. Also why did you lower the wattsfrom 500 total to 12w?
Give some more info and it may be easier to find other problems.
What type soil?
What amendments to soil?
How often watered?
Have you added nutes?
If so what type how often?
Have you checked ph?

The nursery I got it from said it was collected from beside a river so it was very fertile
I need to get a new fan in the room and am going to get the leds back tomorrow with the 12W and a third LED connected if possible
I suspected overwatering them caused them to initially stretch and the weak cfls that I was using but the LEDs caused more leaf formation before they stunted.
They germinated great in this type of soil but I'm not entirely sure on how to make it more nutritious because the soil was fresh and the only other kind of fertilizer I could find was rich in nitrogen but I wasnt sure how that would react with the plants when theyre so weak and if it would even help them, and I could find any nutes at all in the area.

The 12W essential choice grow light provided red and blue lights so I thought it would stimulate them more than the simple 250W plain white LEDs

I really need some help guys the advice is appreciated more than anything

MickJagger47 said:

I really need some help guys the advice is appreciated more than anything

Click to expand...

Get yourself a General Organics grow box. You won't need to worry about ph. That soil alone won't grow herb. It takes highly worked and amended soil to run water only. Get the large cfls back up on an 18 hour schedule, and you'll be fine. How big is that pot?

why the light schedule? You need at least 14-15 hours daylight to stay in veg.

MickJagger47 said:

Hi guys, I need some help here.... This is a first time jack herer grow Im 4 weeks in and they arent growing nearly fast enough. For the three weeks after germination I used 2x 250 W LEDs and after that a 12W growlight and theyve just stopped growing at all. Ive kept them on 14/12 cycles replanted them a week ago thats when they got a new set of leaves. Ive made sure not to overwater them at all. View attachment 3899264View attachment 3899265

A lot of other growers's plants look way bigger and healthier at this stage and I really need some advice on how I can fix my babies up..

Im going to post a few pictures Im just trying to figure out how...

Click to expand...

The soil may indeed be "fertile" but plants need more than that, much more. Your soil desperately needs aeration. This dirt may be good for a potting soil base, but you need to add some things to it. I would mix it 50/25/25 percent soil/perlite/peat moss. They may or may not survive transplanting into a new mix, but they are slowing dying in that stuff because the roots are being smothered, IMHO.

MickJagger47 said:

The nursery I got it from said it was collected from beside a river so it was very fertile
I need to get a new fan in the room and am going to get the leds back tomorrow with the 12W and a third LED connected if possible
I suspected overwatering them caused them to initially stretch and the weak cfls that I was using but the LEDs caused more leaf formation before they stunted.
They germinated great in this type of soil but I'm not entirely sure on how to make it more nutritious because the soil was fresh and the only other kind of fertilizer I could find was rich in nitrogen but I wasnt sure how that would react with the plants when theyre so weak and if it would even help them, and I could find any nutes at all in the area.

The 12W essential choice grow light provided red and blue lights so I thought it would stimulate them more than the simple 250W plain white LEDs

Click to expand...

Overwatering does not cause stretch - that causes wilting. Stretch is cause by insufficient light intensity. Moving the CFL's closer would have been the answer there.

Maybe do some reading before planting seeds???
I've grown Jack Herer and wouldn't consider it to be a good beginner strain.

Chunky Stool said:

Maybe do some reading before planting seeds???
I've grown Jack Herer and wouldn't consider it to be a good beginner strain.

Click to expand...

Yeah, she does tend to be a finicky bitch.

Im transplanting them into a new mixture today and Ive checked the roots so theyll most likely survive it but Ill put them on a different light cycle, add a couple more and aerate the soil. Ill post more pictures soon thank you so much guys......

Any recommendations for how much light I should give them please?

As much light as you can without it causing problems is generally the rule.
Also, get them in individual pots, you don't want 4 plants in one pot. They will compete with each other and it won't end well.
Plain white leds provide the spectrum they need. Cobs are plain white and they get fantastic results.

Trich_holmes said:

Get yourself a General Organics grow box. You won't need to worry about ph. That soil alone won't grow herb. It takes highly worked and amended soil to run water only. Get the large cfls back up on an 18 hour schedule, and you'll be fine. How big is that pot?

Click to expand...

Looks like we are gonna debate this again.....Ops soil Is unamended which means it may not buffer ph well or at all.When a soil is properly amended PH will not be an issue but in the case I would definately check ph.

lio lacidem said:

Looks like we are gonna debate this again.....Ops soil Is unamended which means it may not buffer ph well or at all.When a soil is properly amended PH will not be an issue but in the case I would definately check ph.

Click to expand...

Agreed, ALTHOUGH...if he's using a non synthetic non salt based fert, the need for a buffer zone is highly decreased. We use the native soil in our outdoor grows, albeit slightly amended, they don't react negatively to Gen Orgs. I was more trying to give him advice for an easier new regimen for a beginner. He obviously needs to start feeding. Watering in some dolomite certainly wouldn't be a bad thing. He still wouldn't need to pH his mix though, just maybe pH the run off to see if everything is kosher.

OK, wait, wait.

According to your original description:
- These little plants are a month old.
- For 3 weeks you were using two 250W LED's (brand unspecified).
- You then switched to one 12W grow light. Or you added a 12W grow light. From your description, it sounds like you switched, but that doesn't make any sense at all. If you'd switched to 12W, the plants should be hopelessly spindly. 12W isn't enough to do anything, BTW. Not worth the extra wires in the grow area.
- You've been implementing a non-standard light cycle of 14/12, which also doesn't make any sense.
- You replanted them, but not to separate pots.

I'm sorry, but it's hard for me to believe there's not more to the story. The tiny leaves don't look terribly unhealthy. From my limited experience, if youngsters aren't really unhappy they're going to get bigger fast. If not enough light, they'll get super spindly and fall over. If poor soil, not enuf water, etc. they'll look sickly.

You see what I'm saying? Marijuana is gonna try to put on lots of growth ASAP because they're annuals and that's what annuals do. Pot plants don't look relatively healthy and exhibit glacial growth rates at the same time.

You're not trolling, are you?

You mentioned in Post #4 that the plants were spindly because of the weak CFL's. You hadn't mentioned CFL's before. And the plants aren't spindly. This story just isn't adding up for me.

I was using Cfls initially at the time of germination for awhile but swapped them out for the LEDs ( I cant remember the brand but they fused and I had to get another set they were electrician ordered. They had been on the 12W light for about a week and they werent spindly because I had just replanted them into the bigger pot.