100 Watt CFL Grow / Update#2: What Should A Marijuana Plant Look Like At 2 Weeks Old?

One of the most common questions asked by novice growers is “What should my plants look like at x days/weeks old?”

Naturally, anyone putting their time and effort into a project wants to have a point of reference against which to judge their own progress (or that of their pants, in this case). The answer is:

Plants will vary in size and appearance depending on a variety of factors: Genetics, soil, lighting, nutrients, temperature, handling, and the elusive “green thumb” factor. As you can imagine, a plant growing outdoors under full sun in June (northern hemisphere) will be a lot bigger at 2 weeks old than a plant growing in a converted computer case running 50 watts of lighting!

In any case, cannabis plants do tend to develop certain physical characteristics at certain times in their life span (first true leaves after 3 – 4 days, alternating nodes after 30+ days of vegetative growth, calyxes and pistils after a week of flowering light schedule, for example). Barring any problems, after two weeks of vegetative growth, you can expect to see a plant with several sets of leaves, and are likely to be able to smell that characteristic “mary jane” smell on your fingers after gently rubbing the leaves.

Don’t be surprised if your plants leaves alternate between “reaching up” towards the light and “sloping downwards” towards the ground – this is normal. Leaf color will range from an intense, deep green to a light yellow-green or “lime” color. What isn’t normal is yellow leaves with stunted-looking new growth, patches of brown or browned edges, dark spots or a mottled look to the leaves, or leaves curling up into a sort of “taco” shape.

Here are some shots from our current 100 Watt CFL grow. A two-week old Dinafem Critical + plant. She’s (yes, “she” – this is the only feminized seed in this grow) looking quite healthy and of good size for the humble 100Watt grow. She’s ready for transplantation into the larger final grow pot.

Next is a picture of a 10-day-old “Royal Queen Seeds Automatic x Double Gum” cross breed. Both of these plants are looking healthy, and have a particularly strong aroma so far:

For comparison, here is a plant that is not doing well. It is one of the three “Afghan Kush x Double Gum” cross plants in the grow. This plant has lagged behind from the start, although the others are exactly the size of the RQSxDG pictured above. Sometimes a “runt” does show up! This is one of the reasons I always recommend that first time growers grow two plants and then pick the strongest of the two to take into flowering.

This plant has the same soil, lighting, and music (yes, these plants seem to dig the new QOTSA album…) as the others, it’s just not doing well. The green thumb in me wants to try to save it, but I want to keep this little 100Watt grow under wraps so I can focus on our larger medical grow, so this plant will not make the transplant roster:

Notice the stunted look to the leaves – they don’t have the length and width of the previous pictured plants, and the color is a pale greenish yellow. In particular, the new growth leaves at the top look wrinkled and “mini”. Hey – this happens! In the wild, this plant would simply be overshadowed by taller neighbors and eventually just fade away. Why did this happen to this plant? My guess is simply that the genetic “roll of the dice” wasn’t particularly kind to this specimen. As this grow progresses, the different traits of each plant will become apparent – it will be very interesting to see how the “daddy” Double Gum plant’s offspring look with both the Afghan Kush mother and Royal Automatic mother plants. And all this under 100 watts – get yer popcorn ready!

cheers

glenn panik

[Author and Medical Marijuana Grower Glenn Panik’s “How To Grow Cannabis At Home: A Guide To Indoor Medical Marijuana Growing”, is available on iBooks here, for the Amazon Kindle or via Smashwords here. You can also order the ‘stealth title’ of our information-packed ebook for the Kindle here. Protect your privacy!]