my first cfl grow any help very much appreciated.

[nitroman]

ok i am new here and have met a few people already. i have done lots of reading since i have been here and have determined that i will have to use cfl's as stealth and space are a big factor in my grow. i understand that cfl will not yield as well as using hids. i have just knocked the first part of my build out this evening and still need to add a door and actually decide what strain i want to grow. i have a few sprouts i was planning on putting out side they just came out of various bags of schwagg. i was wanting to order from a seed company and get the real deal right off the jump. i have heard that attitude is very reliable and am thinking of going with them. if anyone reads this and has exp. with using a cfl set up and have tested diff strains i would love to know what they think is best as far as yield and growability with the cfls. i will not be able to clone and mother to do a sog sytem as i dont have the room. my chamber is 2 foot deep 3 foot wide and 3 foot tall. i have put in 10 cfl lights. i am not really sure how to calculate how much light i have so if some one will help me i would be greatful. also should i add some more? i have 6 soft white that are 1750 lumens with 26 watts of energy used i have 4 daylight 1600 lumens with 26 watts energy used. here are some pictures i also have to add some sort of cooling system.

 

[EpyxN]

Your using 16900 lumens @ 260w. as long as your lights are directly above your plants thats like 2.8k lumens per sq ft. What color temp are your lights? (its usually always on the box just not every with the rest of its info prolly near the item #


just add it all up.
10 lights @ 26w = 10x26=260
6x1750=10500 lumen's
4x1600=6400 lumen's

10500+6400=16900 lumens

to figure the size of your area its what 2x3x3?
2x3=6
6x3=18

now your total space inside your box is 18sq ft but since your using cfl's well just call it 6 sq ft since the lights are gonna be right on the plants anyways. (so we just use the 2x3=6 base area)

to figure your lumens per sq ft just 16900/6=2816.66~

ugh never ever throw this line out there

" i am not really sure how to calculate how much light i have so if some one will help me i would be greatful" because then someone just a tad baked like me spews eye spam math lol

Anyways as long as you can afford it and control the heat the more lights the better.

As for where to get seeds from that are reliable thats hard to say, i have used nirvana and had no problems at all, actually extremely fast shipping, i had my package before they even sent me a confirmation that it was shipped But i have also read posts of others saying they got no seeds etc. Customs is a biatch but hey they have to get paid too i guess

 

[nitroman]

Your using 16900 lumens @ 260w. as long as your lights are directly above your plants thats like 2.8k lumens per sq ft. What color temp are your lights? (its usually always on the box just not every with the rest of its info prolly near the item #


just add it all up.
10 lights @ 26w = 10x26=260
6x1750=10500 lumen's
4x1600=6400 lumen's

10500+6400=16900 lumens

to figure the size of your area its what 2x3x3?
2x3=6
6x3=18

now your total space inside your box is 18sq ft but since your using cfl's well just call it 6 sq ft since the lights are gonna be right on the plants anyways. (so we just use the 2x3=6 base area)

to figure your lumens per sq ft just 16900/6=2816.66~

ugh never ever throw this line out there

" i am not really sure how to calculate how much light i have so if some one will help me i would be greatful" because then someone just a tad baked like me spews eye spam math lol

Anyways as long as you can afford it and control the heat the more lights the better.

As for where to get seeds from that are reliable thats hard to say, i have used nirvana and had no problems at all, actually extremely fast shipping, i had my package before they even sent me a confirmation that it was shipped But i have also read posts of others saying they got no seeds etc. Customs is a biatch but hey they have to get paid too i guess

the soft whites are 2700 k
and the day lights are 6500 k

i was planning to use this cabinet for both veg and flower but after i posted my first thread earlier i talked to a buddy who will mother and clone if i just flower so im leaning towards a sog method now. i can get 15 6 inch pots in the cabinet now with out the venting. i was planning on pulling cool air in from under the house and blowing the exhaust out side. if i do it the way i was planning i will be losing 2 pots. so i will have a total of 13 six inch pots. i am planning on using pc fans. one on intake and one on exhaust. i am just wondering if i should use the lst tech on the clones before putting them in this box now? it will be a cramped grow for sure but i would like to make it a revolving grow where i could harvest every couple of weeks or so.

i understand i should use the 2700 k bulbs for flowering should i also keep the 6500 k in there while i flower or change them to the 2700 k as well and use the 6500 in the veg cabinet?

 

[blazedkiwi]

Dude, you have more than enough plants there, you will find you will be fucked for room in 5 weeks. 12 plants is ideal.
Check out my box grow in my sig for ideas

 

[nitroman]

Dude, you have more than enough plants there, you will find you will be fucked for room in 5 weeks. 12 plants is ideal.
Check out my box grow in my sig for ideas

thank you for your input blaze. like i stated before this is my first cfl grow and my buddy and me are gonna go in partners on this. after looking at his space we will be able to build his cabinet much taller than mine as height is not a problem in his grow space. so what i am thinking of doing is building him a cabinet with shelves in it so we can flower multiple stages and then i can just do the vegin in my box. man this is really getting me amped up shouldnt be much longer before we get everything ready and start the grow. thanks for all the advice from everyone here!!

 

[EpyxN]

the soft whites are 2700 k
and the day lights are 6500 k

i was planning to use this cabinet for both veg and flower but after i posted my first thread earlier i talked to a buddy who will mother and clone if i just flower so im leaning towards a sog method now. i can get 15 6 inch pots in the cabinet now with out the venting. i was planning on pulling cool air in from under the house and blowing the exhaust out side. if i do it the way i was planning i will be losing 2 pots. so i will have a total of 13 six inch pots. i am planning on using pc fans. one on intake and one on exhaust. i am just wondering if i should use the lst tech on the clones before putting them in this box now? it will be a cramped grow for sure but i would like to make it a revolving grow where i could harvest every couple of weeks or so.

i understand i should use the 2700 k bulbs for flowering should i also keep the 6500 k in there while i flower or change them to the 2700 k as well and use the 6500 in the veg cabinet?

Honestly I don't know about leaving the 6.5ks in or not.I am attempting to do a CFL for the first time myself. lol. I would probably replace them with the 2.7k's. But then again some of the best hps bulbs are the ones that also emit the mh blue spectrum (like Son Agro bulbs) . So maybe having a mix of 2.7ks with 6.5ks would work good.

If you vent outside are you going to make some sort of scrubber?

 

[nitroman]

Honestly I don't know about leaving the 6.5ks in or not.I am attempting to do a CFL for the first time myself. lol. I would probably replace them with the 2.7k's. But then again some of the best hps bulbs are the ones that also emit the mh blue spectrum (like Son Agro bulbs) . So maybe having a mix of 2.7ks with 6.5ks would work good.

If you vent outside are you going to make some sort of scrubber?

the smell shouldnt be a problem where we live esp. with it being such a small grow and i dont have neighbhors too close. nereast neighbor is about 200 yards.

 

[RollingJoints]

Nice little set up. +REP

 

[nitroman]

Nice little set up. +REP

thanks rj i have done lots of reading on the cfl grows and am going to try and do several techniques i am so excited about my grow and havent even finished by chamber yet. well in fact i got so excited i took some ugly bagseed sprouts that i had in solo cups out side now for about a week i repotted them and took one of the hang down cfls with a y socket and installed it in a rubber maid tub so i could just seem like i was growing lol. i am a big fan of the stealth grows as stealth is a key in my home. i like seeing others do the stealthy grows and have those nice short bushy lst plants that yeild good with cfls. since my buddy and myself are going to be doing this together and he has more height where is chamber can go we were thinking of doing a multistage cfl grow if that makes sense like cabinet with shelves in it with each level being able to hold pots that were in the flowering stage. i was figuring if i did mothering and cloning i could also take some of the clones and use the lst tech on them before i sent them to his house and maybe use an autoflowering type strain that wont grow much in the way of stem or plant stretch so to speak and maybe we could put several shelves in that cabinet and get bigger yields.

 

[nitroman]

thanks rj i have done lots of reading on the cfl grows and am going to try and do several techniques i am so excited about my grow and havent even finished by chamber yet. well in fact i got so excited i took some ugly bagseed sprouts that i had in solo cups out side now for about a week i repotted them and took one of the hang down cfls with a y socket and installed it in a rubber maid tub so i could just seem like i was growing lol. i am a big fan of the stealth grows as stealth is a key in my home. i like seeing others do the stealthy grows and have those nice short bushy lst plants that yeild good with cfls. since my buddy and myself are going to be doing this together and he has more height where is chamber can go we were thinking of doing a multistage cfl grow if that makes sense like cabinet with shelves in it with each level being able to hold pots that were in the flowering stage. i was figuring if i did mothering and cloning i could also take some of the clones and use the lst tech on them before i sent them to his house and maybe use an autoflowering type strain that wont grow much in the way of stem or plant stretch so to speak and maybe we could put several shelves in that cabinet and get bigger yields.

sorry i forgot to elaborate on the sprouts i will post pics of them a lil later on tonight. also please feel free to steer me in the right direction as i am totally new to this and am only gathering info from the forums and trying to put it to good use.

 

[nitroman]

sorry i forgot to elaborate on the sprouts i will post pics of them a lil later on tonight. also please feel free to steer me in the right direction as i am totally new to this and am only gathering info from the forums and trying to put it to good use.

ok i just got back from my buddies house and took the measurements of what we will be able to use at his house. i have a space 44 inches wide by 4 foot deep and 5 foot high. should i construct this with two shelves in it say like one on the bottom that is 2 feet high so when i first transfer them i can put them on that shelf then as they get bigger move them upstairs to say a 3 1/2 high shelf to finish with lots of lights on the sides and overhead. please anyone with personal experiance point me in the right direction. i just checked on the sprouts and they are looking good i will post pics of them in a lil while.

 

[nitroman]

ok here are some pictures of the sprouts i just transplanted them from a plastic cup that has been out on the porch in thunderstorms all week so please tell me how they look im sure they will have some stress and take a few days to get used to their new pots but they both had nice root structure.


sprout one

sprout two

sprout one is on the right and sprout two is on the left

 

[nitroman]

ok here are some pictures of the sprouts i just transplanted them from a plastic cup that has been out on the porch in thunderstorms all week so please tell me how they look im sure they will have some stress and take a few days to get used to their new pots but they both had nice root structure.


sprout one

sprout two

sprout one is on the right and sprout two is on the left

ok here are soem better quality pics after only 12 hours under the lights after moving them in from outside man they sure look way better than they did while they where outside!! i am taking care not to over water as the soil is still moist and am thinking of leaving the lights on 24 straight does this sound like a good idea or do they need a rest peiod? i cant wait to get home tommorow and see if there is any new growth ill keep you posted with pics as i take them.

sprout 1 after its first 12 hours in veg stage.

sprout 2 after its first 12 hours in veg stage.

 

[blazedkiwi]

You can get away with no rest period for the first 7-10 days. My girls have only had dark time as of tonight, and they are healthy at 2 weeks

 

[nitroman]

You can get away with no rest period for the first 7-10 days. My girls have only had dark time as of tonight, and they are healthy at 2 weeks

thank you very much kiwi that was going to be the next question i asked i just got in form work to find that sprout one has fully developed its second set of leaves and is workin on the third set. sprout two is pushin out its second set of leaves also. sprouts both look very good. here are some pictures.

 

[EpyxN]

I never give my veg plants any darkness. 24/0 here. Plants are lookin good

 

[nitroman]

I never give my veg plants any darkness. 24/0 here. Plants are lookin good

thank you epyxn so you do your complete veg cycle with no rest period? how long do you norm veg? also do you have a grow cabinet or do you use a closet. im kinda flying by the seat of my pants on this one as this is my first cfl grow. i have so many questions for some experienced growers if anyone doesnt mind sharing some information on tried and true tested techniques. i was wondering from an electrical stand point how many cfls you can put on a single circut if its dedicated to just a grow box. also is it possible to get really dense buds from using just cfls? i wanna get the densest heaviest buds possible from using these cfls and i dont mind buying more i can even run more circuts where the final flowering box is gonna go. i have also been playing with the idea of making a very long cabinet say like ten feet plus but still am limited to height of 3 feet but i can cut holes in the floor to countersink the pots and gain the 6 or 7 inches i would lose from the pots. so who knows what i will end up doing for the flowering cabinet but as of tonight the lil sprouts are going to be evicted from there lil rubbermaid tub under the two 23 watt cfls and put in the main veg chamber under 16900 lumens hell yeah!!!

 

[nitroman]

well i was hoping to put my sprouts in the cabinet i built but folowing true stoner fashion i measured the door it had to go through and built the boxes inside dimensions to the doors opening so guess what? lmmfao gotta disassemble it and put it back together in the room its going in. and i seem to have gotten side tracked again this evening with a friend that stopped by with some shit he calls og kush so i dont think i will be moving the sprouts till atleast tommorow

 

[nitroman]

well i was hoping to put my sprouts in the cabinet i built but folowing true stoner fashion i measured the door it had to go through and built the boxes inside dimensions to the doors opening so guess what? lmmfao gotta disassemble it and put it back together in the room its going in. and i seem to have gotten side tracked again this evening with a friend that stopped by with some shit he calls og kush so i dont think i will be moving the sprouts till atleast tommorow

ok even though i got side tracked again tonight was not a total waste i did some reading earlier and saw where some one suggested to someone that they should try to make a homemade hood so i decided i would try to make one myself. i used a card board box and some spray glue and tinfoil take a look it seems to be doing the job nicely for the sprouts.

 

[Southshalrise]

Man ur at the same spot I'm at..working on my first grow and it's cfl..it's working out nicely..doing my first harvest with bagseeds bfore I attepmt to do danK shit..my grow is really small..2 plants using LST..hopefully get half an ounce or more..keep up the journal.btw what soil are u using...I'm trying to decide on that