CFL Grow from Seed White Rhino and Bagseed

[rocksteady6]

Ok all its a fairly long story but i figure the more info i can give the better the advice will be. I planted 3 bagseed in plain potting mix with a small amount of time release nutes already in the soil. This was a while back and had them outside. I had them inside originally when they had broken the soli without any lights and they stretched a lot. Dont ask why. So once i put them outside they grew ok but i tried to get extra light by putting them under 1 yes 1 20w CFL during the night.
I am pretty sure moving them in and out did them no favours. I guess i have learnt that i want to keep the environment as stable as possible to make it easier for me. Anyway i decided to mix up some nutes and leave them outside for the day. The temp was 105 farenh.. in Aus for the day and it mamed them. The nutes and heat was too much and one died and one is pretty irritated/burnt. The last seems to have faired much better. Here are a few pictures. I think i will need to do a few posts as only 4 shots can be done at once. Before the abuse starts flying i have improved the setup a lot in my eyes.

 

[rocksteady6]

The Australian sun was playing havoc with some days being 20 degrees C and some being 40C. It made it very difficult for me so i decided that indoors was the way for me. I had them under 3 28w CFLs 24hours a day. I also thought that after i nute burned them it may be good for them to get flushed and sit in a cooler more stable place to recover. I will hurry up as my typing is pretty crap.
Here is what i decided to grow in. The shelf is removable and i can adjust the height pretty easily. I also bought myself a 14000K 130w CFL with a reflector. This baby is bloody bright. I think i am going to start wearing my fishing sunglasses for protection.

 

[rocksteady6]

I have two lamps with 28w 6700k bulbs. I actually like these as i can move them around daily and get the best angles. Well thats at least what i will do. We dont have the spliters here in Aus and ordering them on ebay is about $15 delivered. I also cut up some old wood i had so that i can easily adjust the height of the plants as they are growing at different rates and i want them as close as they can be without burning. There is also a spare CFl but cant figure where to put it.

 

[rocksteady6]

The last post for a bit is showing how lanky my best plant is. Thats from not giving it sufficient light at the start i presume. I also took a picture of the distance they are from the CFL's. The last is a picture of the cupboard with one door open. I plan on putting a little fan in there but not sure if i need an exhaust fan somewhere. The last picture is of a Melazane Alla Parmagiana which i just whipped up with my Mrs. Was the bomb. Anyway i am happy with people commenting even a bit of light hearted abuse will be tolerated. Bring it on.

 

[rocksteady6]

Oh sorry if i lead anyone on but the White Rhino has been ordered and as long as i dont get customs knocking on my door they should be here soon. I will plant ASAP and get em growing. The bag seed did come from some of the best smoke i have had out of Aus and i have smoked the best in the Dam and Uk. I am sure there is some other good stuff out there from the grows i have seen on here.

 

[rocksteady6]

Comments or advice people?

 

[rocksteady6]

Just updating that since i have added them under the 130w CFL they are growing nicely. I think they have pulled through from my initial stupidity of giving too much nutes. Can anyone advise when it would be safe to give nutes again?

 

[beginnerbloomer]

Hey man firstly congrats for startin to grow,im no veteran but the first advice i would give is;start with soil outdoors.
I had 2 brief encounters with both soil indoors & also hydro and let me tell u,if either of those 2 are not planned properly they will fail miserably.

A couple probs i could foresee with ur setup is,not enough light (big prob),ventilation and gettin water all over the fukin place with electrics nearby.
I would suggest chuckin ur plants outside now though its definately pretty late but u'll get a couple buds.

Then thoroughly research how to setup a grow room,get sum proper lights and wait till u get sum good seeds n start growin once u know wat the go is or u can keep stumbling and spending lots of money for no result.

I honestly suggest gettin a good outdoor grow under ur belt before headin indoors.
BB.

 

[rocksteady6]

I completely agree. Somewhat. I had them outside but the heat made them continuously droopy but i caused a lot of their pain with my nute application. i have tomato plants outside which are continuosly plagued with bugs and i know my smoke would end up the same way. Its just a hobby grow not after massive yields. Any suggestions of better mediums for inside grow but not hydro? I prefer inside as i feel i can control it better. I have another 130w 2700k CFL on its way so that makes 318w of CFL and i only plan on growing 1 or 2 at once. I would switch the 14000k bulb for another 2700k when the time is right. Good man for getting involved. +rep.

 

[Allgood]

Okay, from what I see your set up is okay. Don't stress about your plants dying, it took me ages to work it out. I used to grow 2 WW plants at a time, so I will give advice where I can but just be aware I am no expert.

Firstly, I disagree with begineer bloomer, stick to indoor growing. It's easier to control the conditions and your plants will grow quicker. Secondly, don't go nuts on the light, you may only be using 130W but your using the cool blue light, which will emit more "useful" light so just keep using the 130W until your babies grow a little more.

Okay so the reason your plant stretched like that is actually more likely due to you keeping your light too far from the plant. Your using a nice cool 14000K (same as I used to) keep the light about 8cm from the top of your plants BUT you must have a fan blowing the heat away, so buy a fan or a couple and point it towards the light. Fans are also great because they will put stress on the plant stem, and you will see a much thicker stem in time. Incidently, Target have these awesome little metallic fans for about $10 AUD, there very small and don't blow too hard so they are great!

Heat wise, MJ plants like pretty much ambient or a little cooler temps, so try and get a cheap thermometer and keep the temp around 18-24C (another reason not to grow outside). This may require you to grow with your door flap open, or install a sufficient exhaust system.

Nutes wise, I can't give exact amounts. My plants were beautiful and green on a tablespoon of Osmocote general nutes from Bunnings for about 4 litres of potting mix.

On potting mix, do yourself a huuuuuuge favour if you haven't already. Go to Bunnings and buy some Coco Peat, it's about $2 a block and makes up about 10L of potting material. Put the block in a bucket of water, let it seperate, then transfer to a conatiner making sure you squeeze all the water from the husk (it's coconut husks) and it will squeeze to near perfectly dry. People say you need to wash it 2-3 times but I have never had to. Mix the coco peat with a normal soil potting mix (about 25:75, soil:coco peat), use this as your plants potting mix.

Every now and then you may need to flush your soil to rid it of salt buil up from the nutes. Every month I would run 2 litres of distilled or filtered water through the plant. If you see the nute pellets getting smaller, this would be a good time to maybe add a tea spoon to top up (never over do the nutes). If your plant ever stops growing for no apparant reason (light, heat etc) it's probably root block, flushing will fix this also.

Water is very important, never use straight tap water. Either buy that nice cheap distlled water from Coles or buy a Brita water filter jug and use that.

Lastly on the light, that 130W will be good for probably another few weeks. When you can see area's of your plants that are not getting any light, use spotters, little CFL's to get into the area shaded by fan leaves. When it comes time for Budding, your 14000K light will be near useless. Switch all your light off of 24-48hours and have the plants in total darkness, then switch to as much light in the red region as you can. These will be the "warm globes" or heavy CFL's in the 2700K range. You would want for two plants at least 200W, I budded on 230W and kept the plants a little further from this light, as this light is a bit otter than than the blue light.

Other than that, your set up looks pretty cool, I always prefered simple growing without all the fancy system set ups. Happy Growing

 

[beginnerbloomer]

I really feel strongly bout growin outdoor,ive grown tomatoes near my bud & only have a couple caterpillars & spidermites on the canna plants,get a good enviro-friendly spray and ur sweet.

In regards to indoor substrates u can use rockwool cubes/torn rockwool pieces. Or 50% perlite 50% coco coir (cheap as shit from bunnings) u will have to deliver 100% of nutrition manually usin these mediums though.

U might think its easier to control everything indoor but unless its perfect u'll still have pest probs,temp,humidity,ventilation,smell.watering,height,space,nutes,lights,pH, etc.

Most of these probs are much easier dealt with outdoors (if in ur yard that is),its up to u though.
Good luck.

 

[DarkCursade]

Ditch the cfls, if power consumption or heat is a problem, get a small HPS 250w, use it for both veggin & flowering, Lucragrow have the best bulbs.

Also Use coco & perlite 50/50 mix as a medium.

 

[rocksteady6]

Ditch the cfls, if power consumption or heat is a problem, get a small HPS 250w, use it for both veggin & flowering, Lucragrow have the best bulbs.

Also Use coco & perlite 50/50 mix as a medium.

Ok agreed that i am off to Bunnings tomorrow. Getting some perlite and coco. I just checked on em and the roots are starting to stick out the bottom of the pot. Time to change? I cant believe it as they are puny plants and the pots are quite big compared to the plants. BBloomer i live pretty close to the city centre so blocks of land are small. I guess i dont want some junkie jumping my fence and destroying a lot of work too. Otherwise would le to have em in my yard. I have bought some CFLs now so i will try and my first smoke before i buy any HID lights. I am sure it will be better buds but lets see what CFLs can do. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[DarkCursade]

Honestly I dont know how anybody is even able to grow using cfls, I only use them for lighting clones.

Also dont transplant too earlier, Its better to be full of roots then transplant rather than transplant too early and the root base fall apart, which does shock your plants for a while, for example u can grow a 1 foot plant in a plastic party cup, I know this from experience, only problem is they drink more often in smaller pots.

 

[rocksteady6]

Thanks for the post DarkC. I actually transplanted them today into much bigger pots. I dont plan on moving them again. The roots were coming out the bottom of the pot. I dont water from the bottom so not sure why they were going out. The transplant didnt seem to go well. I really had to shake it violently to get em out of their old pots. I should have waited longer i presume. I know CFL's arent that good for growing but thats what i have for now. They were in pots of completely soil, which was low grade, and so i bought the most expensive they had and some perlite and vermiculite. I tried for coco but they were out. Its a mix of organic soil perlite and vermiculite. About 20% perlite and vermiculite and 60% soil. Will let you know how they like their new homes.

 

[caNt]

Heh, I made the same mistake by not having the lights close enough when the seeds sprouted. You seem to have caught yours in time, mine have stretched pretty far; had to stake one for support.

Looking good though, I like your set-up, it's very simple but looks very effective!

 

[rocksteady6]

Heh, I made the same mistake by not having the lights close enough when the seeds sprouted. You seem to have caught yours in time, mine have stretched pretty far; had to stake one for support.

Looking good though, I like your set-up, it's very simple but looks very effective!

Thanks cant. I have just turned the lights from 24/day to 18/6. I read on here that it can help develop the roots and i am open to experiment anyway. Will post up some pictures tomorrow. They seemed to have slowed a great deal since i tranplanted them into the final pots.

 

[beginnerbloomer]

They'll bounce back in a week or 2 dont worry,might have just damaged the roots a bit.Worth it in the end.

 

[DarkCursade]

Hey Rocky,

I think turn your cfls back to 24hrs, 18/6 will slow things down heaps. They may have a shock from when you trans planted them meaning stunted growth for a couple days to a week, also always water from the bottom of the pots, it heaps with the roots trying to escape, find a container like an old icecream containers or somthing fill it with nutes then sit ur pot in there for like 30sec -1min, have the water level filled about 1/3, you only want to about the 1/3 of the base of the root ball if that makes sense, I can get u pics if you need it.

Pretty much dunk & then let drain... With a watering cycle like this I dont know how often you would have to do it under clfs, as my plants drink heaps I have water mine daily, urs maybe every 3rd day. You should be able to tell by weight.

 

[rocksteady6]

Ok so thanks for the comments. DC i have put them back on 24/day. Dont think giving them 1 night of 18hrs would do them much harm i hope. Regarding the watering i have read a lot about feeding from the top and that helps to stop the roots coming out the bottom of the pot. Have i got it wrong and should i be feeding from the bottom? Watering tomorrow so would love to know before i give your dunking method a run.
BeginnerB i think the roots have bounced back strong as like i will show you in the pics are coming out the base and i put at least 2 inches, maybe more, of my soil mix in before i transplanted.
Yeah cant i didnt have any light on them for their first few days and they are a bit long to start with but fuck me they are getting bushy everywhere. There seems to be new growth all growing into each other to the extent that so many of the leaves are growing into each other. I try and use a pair of tweezers and softly move them out if they are willing. Not neally as bushy though. I cant even see the stalk really. The other plant that i screwed up with nutes seems to be recovering and growing a fair amount of new groth on top which is promising. Anyway always love the comments. Suggested improvements are welcome too.