My seedlings are stretching, not sure how to fix.

[Archeron]

Looking for advice on how to slow down my seedlings from stretching. I planted 3 autoflowering seeds and they came out of the ground 2 days ago. They are now 2.5 inches tall and the leaves are not getting any bigger. I'm growing in a 32"x32"x63" tent with a Spider Farmer SF2000Pro light. I initially had the light at 30" with a PPFD of 150 as reported by Photone. The seedlings at that time were under clear solo cups to try to increase the humidity. The temp was about 82F and RH was around 50%. The seedlings are in 5 gal pots with 4 gallons of soil in them. The soil I'm using is Sunshine Natural & Organic Flower & Vegetable Garden Soil. I also mixed in about 1 cup of EWC and added some Mykos to the area near where the stalk would be. I watered the area around the seedling with about 20-30ml of dechlorinated tap water.

I have now adjusted the lights to 24" and a PPFD of 200. The temp is now 79F and RH 54%. I let the soil dry around the stalk and then added 10ml of water to each seedling. I also added a 6" oscillating fan to the tent to give the leaves a very slight breeze.

When should I get concerned if the leaves aren't growing in size or adding new leaves?
Any ideas as to what I could be doing differently to promote leaf growth and not stem growth?

 

[GNick55]

Looking for advice on how to slow down my seedlings from stretching. I planted 3 autoflowering seeds and they came out of the ground 2 days ago. They are now 2.5 inches tall and the leaves are not getting any bigger. I'm growing in a 32"x32"x63" tent with a Spider Farmer SF2000Pro light. I initially had the light at 30" with a PPFD of 150 as reported by Photone. The seedlings at that time were under clear solo cups to try to increase the humidity. The temp was about 82F and RH was around 50%. The seedlings are in 5 gal pots with 4 gallons of soil in them. The soil I'm using is Sunshine Natural & Organic Flower & Vegetable Garden Soil. I also mixed in about 1 cup of EWC and added some Mykos to the area near where the stalk would be. I watered the area around the seedling with about 20-30ml of dechlorinated tap water.

I have now adjusted the lights to 24" and a PPFD of 200. The temp is now 79F and RH 54%. I let the soil dry around the stalk and then added 10ml of water to each seedling. I also added a 6" oscillating fan to the tent to give the leaves a very slight breeze.

When should I get concerned if the leaves aren't growing in size or adding new leaves?
Any ideas as to what I could be doing differently to promote leaf growth and not stem growth?

light is to close,. too warm ambient temp can stretch seedlings,. try not to go higher than 79,.. 75,76,77 better,.

 

[Archeron]

Would 30" be better and still keep the PPFD at 200?

 

[GNick55]

Would 30" be better and still keep the PPFD at 200?

hey i dont use measurements etc, i can tell just by looking at it,.. yes 30 inches is better

 

[GNick55]

even though tiny,, can you see the leaf edge curl? too much light,..

 

[Archeron]

I hadn't seen the leaf curl before you mentioned it, thanks. Is there a recommended ppfd or dli for seedlings?

 

[GNick55]

I hadn't seen the leaf curl before you mentioned it, thanks. Is there a recommended ppfd or dli for seedlings?

that i don’t know

 

[HerbalEdu]

150 is a bit low, i usually give my seedling 250 300 ppfd, they tend to stretch with smaller value

 

[HerbalEdu]

The soil I'm using is Sunshine Natural & Organic Flower & Vegetable Garden Soil. I watered the area around the seedling with about 20-30ml of dechlorinated tap water.

I have now adjusted the lights to 24" and a PPFD of 200. The temp is now 79F and RH 54%. I let the soil dry around the stalk and then added 10ml of water to each seedling. I also added a 6" oscillating fan to the tent to give the leaves a very slight breeze.

When should I get concerned if the leaves aren't growing in size or adding new leaves?
Any ideas as to what I could be doing differently to promote leaf growth and not stem growth?

you should moist the whole soil till a little run off at least once to activate microbial life in the soil and so the roots will always find water as they grow.

1/6 soil volume in water is usually enough to moist the whole soil evenly

you shouldn't need to water for like a week after doing so.

 

[Imzzaudae]

After reading your specks. Everything is perfect!
Best advice is don't try and fix what's not broken.
Every seedling grows tall and it takes a few days for the roots to grow. The plant cannot grow a top until it has grown roots to feed the top.
Relax everything is fine. Support the seedling if you must with bamboo.

Don't weight long to transplant. When you transplant, plant it deep up to the funny round leaves deep. Be careful not to break the seedling when transplanting.

When it comes to phone light meters. Just look at your plant it will tell you everything you need to know about your light. Spend an hour looking at light stressed plants and you won't need the meter.

 

[Archeron]

After reading your specks. Everything is perfect!
Best advice is don't try and fix what's not broken.
Every seedling grows tall and it takes a few days for the roots to grow. The plant cannot grow a top until it has grown roots to feed the top.
Relax everything is fine. Support the seedling if you must with bamboo.

Don't weight long to transplant. When you transplant, plant it deep up to the funny round leaves deep. Be careful not to break the seedling when transplanting.

When it comes to phone light meters. Just look at your plant it will tell you everything you need to know about your light. Spend an hour looking at light stressed plants and you won't need the meter.

Thanks for the encouragement, this is my very first grow. I still have a lot to learn about reading leaves and trying to avoid damaging my seedlings. I've already planted the seedlings in their final pot after the seeds germinated.

 

[Budtirement]

Hey Archeron, I have always planted my seeds in the final pot and I find that works nicely.

I have an SF2000 I bought five years ago, and a 2x4, and I start my seedlings at 300ppfd. That's about 20 inches at 60%. My seedlings come up short and stout and spread out big leaves. The temp is 80f and 40h in the tent in summer.
In the pictures you can see the kind of seedling I'm getting, also a tent plant at about 3 weeks compared to a plant growing outdoors which is about a month old. The tent plant is growing more compact than the outdoor, which I prefer since my tent is 5' tall. When I take out 1 foot for the pot, 1 foot for the light fixture, and 1 foot between the light and the finished colas, that only leaves 2 feet of space for the plant. So I like having plants that are growing compactly from the get go. These are all Bubba Kush.

So, people have different equipment, strains and experiences but, from my own experience I can plainly see that seedlings started at 150ppfd get leggy and spindly. That's not a big deal as I can just bury the stem, but I want to avoid the issue. Not enough light equals leggy seedlings.
So you have that same light, you can test that out in your next few grows if you want but I would be careful if you up the intensity on this grow. Patience and incremental changes are my guide.

 

[budsofgeorgia]

just be sure you agree with these guys no matter what they say if they say it is 1 thing then it is but if you say there wrong they will stop talking to you

 

[Archeron]

Hey Archeron, I have always planted my seeds in the final pot and I find that works nicely.

I have an SF2000 I bought five years ago, and a 2x4, and I start my seedlings at 300ppfd. That's about 20 inches at 60%. My seedlings come up short and stout and spread out big leaves. The temp is 80f and 40h in the tent in summer.
In the pictures you can see the kind of seedling I'm getting, also a tent plant at about 3 weeks compared to a plant growing outdoors which is about a month old. The tent plant is growing more compact than the outdoor, which I prefer since my tent is 5' tall. When I take out 1 foot for the pot, 1 foot for the light fixture, and 1 foot between the light and the finished colas, that only leaves 2 feet of space for the plant. So I like having plants that are growing compactly from the get go. These are all Bubba Kush.

So, people have different equipment, strains and experiences but, from my own experience I can plainly see that seedlings started at 150ppfd get leggy and spindly. That's not a big deal as I can just bury the stem, but I want to avoid the issue. Not enough light equals leggy seedlings.
So you have that same light, you can test that out in your next few grows if you want but I would be careful if you up the intensity on this grow. Patience and incremental changes are my guide.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I set my light to 30" about 2 days ago and have the dimmer set to a little above 50%. Photone reports the ppfd at 240, although I have no way to verify if this is the correct ppfd coming from my light. I included a pic from my manual for the light I have.

I'm keeping a close eye on my seedlings for any light stress and well any other stress for that matter. I'm still trying to figure out how much to water my plants as I would like to avoid over watering if possible. Just trying to figure out how long it takes for my soil to dry out before needing to water again.

 

[Archeron]

My seedlings are now 3" tall with the leaves tip to tip about 1 5/8".

 

[MellowRello]

light is to close,. too warm ambient temp can stretch seedlings,. try not to go higher than 79,.. 75,76,77 better,.

If the light is too close, it will cause the exact opposite reaction. Definitely not stretch.

 

[MellowRello]

Looking for advice on how to slow down my seedlings from stretching. I planted 3 autoflowering seeds and they came out of the ground 2 days ago. They are now 2.5 inches tall and the leaves are not getting any bigger. I'm growing in a 32"x32"x63" tent with a Spider Farmer SF2000Pro light. I initially had the light at 30" with a PPFD of 150 as reported by Photone. The seedlings at that time were under clear solo cups to try to increase the humidity. The temp was about 82F and RH was around 50%. The seedlings are in 5 gal pots with 4 gallons of soil in them. The soil I'm using is Sunshine Natural & Organic Flower & Vegetable Garden Soil. I also mixed in about 1 cup of EWC and added some Mykos to the area near where the stalk would be. I watered the area around the seedling with about 20-30ml of dechlorinated tap water.

I have now adjusted the lights to 24" and a PPFD of 200. The temp is now 79F and RH 54%. I let the soil dry around the stalk and then added 10ml of water to each seedling. I also added a 6" oscillating fan to the tent to give the leaves a very slight breeze.

When should I get concerned if the leaves aren't growing in size or adding new leaves?
Any ideas as to what I could be doing differently to promote leaf growth and not stem growth?

Can't see any stretching from the photo angle.

 

[Archeron]

Here's a pic from a couple of days ago showing the stretch.

 

[budsofgeorgia]

Here's a pic from a couple of days ago showing the stretch.

I wouldn't call that a stretch

 

[BB22]

OP, When you up pot just bury the stem