First Grow (CFL+GoodPics)

C

caNt

Member
Hiya, been browsing this forum for a few weeks sucking all the information I can out of it since I decided to stop buying shitty pot from my local ghetto-lo-mart. Anyways, for my first grow, I attempted to germinate 5 seeds, 4 of them germinated, but a sprout died because, well, I still don't know. Not worried about it. Originally when I started, I figured I would just use flouros, but I decided to switch about a week ago because I was having temperature control problems. The plants themselves (as of now) are nearly 4 weeks old, so they have only been on CFLs for about a week, and what a difference it has made!

I have added pictures of all my equipment and plenty of angles of my 3 thriving plants, and request feedback/tips/w/e. I have actually been wondering if I should throw them into flowering mode, but I feel I should let the lower canopy grow out some more before I do. Any comments on this with my given information?

EQUIPMENT (All in pictures):
-A 3-gallon bucket for each plant
-The Miracle grow is 10-10-10 I believe
-Plant food is 10-10-10
-Air filter/recycler
-De-humidifiers (for flowering stage)
-10 23-watt CFL bulbs (5 above the plants and the other 5 around the sides of the plants)
-A 125-watt blue-spectral grow light centered above the 3 plants.
-Sink water (set out for days)

Also, I forgot to take a picture of my heating fan. It is very small and blows very gentle warm air onto the plants at night both to thicken the stems and bring comfort to my sweet babies.

-caNt

EDIT:
I decided I would post my total $$$ invested. It isn't accurate down to the last penny, but I'm sure the world will keep spinning. The dehumidifiers were free because a while back, a nasty storm came and flooded my basement. So I was able to get them free of charge. Never thought a natural disaster could be so great! The air filter/recycler was sitting around my house for God knows how long, so I didn't really include it because I don't know how much it was, or how old.

Potting soil: $8
12-pack 23-watt CFLs: $22
Plant food: $12
125-watt blue spectral grow light + ballast: $15
Bag of pot (low-grade mids) I got the seeds from (around 10 more seeds left): $20

So in total, I've invested about $80 into this grow, not including electricity/water bills, which shouldn't be much because CFLs are so secksy.
 

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rocksteady6

rocksteady6

Well-Known Member
Hi Cant. Dont think i will be able to offer you too much help but thought i would comment on your grow for a bit of moral support. Firstly it makes me cry when i see the prices that you pay for lights. I just paid $74AU for a 130w light with reflector and built in ballast. That was from ebay too. It looks like you have raided every lamp in the house. Crazy setup. I am also doing a cfl grow and i think you need the lights much closer. CFLs dont have the lumens or the penertration of HID lights so they have to be within about 2 inches for them to be effective.
I am pretty surprised that with that amount of lights in there you need a heater but i am not sure what temp it is there. By the way i think you bought 2700k cfls which are supposedly good for flowering but not so good for veg. I think you said the 130w was blue which is prob greater than 6500k which is good. Seeing you paid sweet FA for those lights i would have bought another 12 pack of the 6500k and then swapped them come flower time. Anyway good luck with it all. Think i will subscibe.
 
C

caNt

Member
Hi rocksteady, any feedback is very valuable help, and I appreciate you for it!

As for the set-up, 3 of the 5 lamps placed around the sides of the plants are small clamp lights; the other 2 (1 can be seen in img 1132 in the bottom right corner) I did indeed raid. :) The top 5 CFLs, however, are in 1 big tall stand with 5 uhm, 'squiggly' cords allowing me to easily move them around. I'll take a picture tomorrow when the lights come back on. The 125-watt blue lamp is hanging from a long wooden board placed from shelf to shelf.

As for the 2700k vs 6500k issue for vegging, I am indeed aware of that. I looked for more powerful CFLs at Home Depot, but those were the best I could find, so I figured with the 125-watt blue spectral light, it would supply enough light with the 10 2700k CFLs. I see what you mean about the distance too, I will definitely take some time tomorrow to readjust and make sure they are within that 2-inch range, thanks for the tip!

After reading more people's journals and other interesting stuff, I've decided I'm ready to move them onto the 12/12 flowering stage. I am, after all, growing for my own recreational purposes and it's been about 4 weeks too.
 
rocksteady6

rocksteady6

Well-Known Member
Sounds exciting. I think that we may well know about equal amounts, which isnt that much, about growing. I saw you commented on my journal too but havent had a chance to read it yet so hope its not telling me my plants suck.
With regard to the 2700k globes i must have just misread as i didnt realise you had so many. I would still suggest for your next grow to have more of the higher k cfls for the veg process not that i am commenting from experience.
Looking forward to seeing it on 12/12. Keep the pics coming.
 
C

caNt

Member
More pics here, and something seems to be happening to one of my plants.

When I got home today, that big blemish appeared on my leaf, can anybody tell me what the problem might be? The problem isn't high temperature burns or nutrient burn. I know this for a fact, so what does that leave?
 

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rocksteady6

rocksteady6

Well-Known Member
Could it be from having water on the leaf and then the light? I know you said it wasn't a burn so sorry for suggesting that. Maybe a deficiency in something? On my phone waiting for an appointment so will try and help you research when I get home.
 
rocksteady6

rocksteady6

Well-Known Member
Hey cant i just had a quick look around and cant see anything that really matched it. Post it in the plant problem area and i am sure you will get a growing geek that can tell ya.
 
C

caNt

Member
I take it back, maybe it could of been from water on the leaf and light. I remember giving a spray of water and then taking pics to make them seem more 'lush' :wall:

..I just excused that problem because I was not thinking straight. :x
 
rocksteady6

rocksteady6

Well-Known Member
caNt said:
I take it back, maybe it could of been from water on the leaf and light. I remember giving a spray of water and then taking pics to make them seem more 'lush' :wall:

..I just excused that problem because I was not thinking straight. :x
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Dont quote me on this but i think it takes a while for the burn to occur. So if you sprayed and then photographed it wouldnt come out like that. I think the water magnifies the light in some way and thats how its burnt. Maybe get a second opinion. People are a bit tight with their comments arent they....
 
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