Home made cabinet for 1st CFL grow!!

[bigman4270]

Wow what a come back!!! Good dude I'll be watching!I'm at about the same point at flowering. Best of luck !

Thanks Uber! I am pretty happy they came back like they did. just shows how resiliant they are.

Checked out your journal and things look good. cant wait to see the end results. Subscribed!

Keep em green!

Big

 

[riddleme]

Looking real good Big, keep it up your doing great

 

[Ubersoldat]

thanks dude, i got new pics up please stop by and check it out.also lemme know how your girls are doing !

 

[Kriegs]

Wow.. you've had your struggles, but that's one of the more amazing turn-arounds I've seen in a while. Good going! You might get something out of this yet.

One thing I encourage a lot of CFL growers to do is to total up the cost of all those little sockets and bulbs and tape and whatever other doo-dads they have, and see if you don't come close enough to the $200 it would take to get an all-in-one HID unit. Not that you can't grow some bud with CFL, but I think a lot of peeps say "I don't have that to spend" and end up spending it anyway.

Anyway, just a thought. Looks like you're on track now.

 

[bigman4270]

Well here is my girls at day 26.

They are starting to get there trichs but my cam wont get that close so just the pistols for now. I made it rain on Wed of this week and the girls are taking off again. I have not fed them anything but mollases and a small dose of Epsom Salt since the double feeding. When they are ready for more water I am going to feed em a small dose of the dyna grow for now and see what happens.

Hey Kriegs thanks for stopping by. Your rite about the turn around. And to think I almost trashed em at day 51 of veg.

 

[Ubersoldat]

Oh wow man those plants are looking mighty nice !! How many girls do you have left? 3? All but one of my six plants turned out males good job with them girls !

 

[bigman4270]

Oh wow man those plants are looking mighty nice !! How many girls do you have left? 3? All but one of my six plants turned out males good job with them girls !

Thanks Uber,

Just the 2 girls left. I do have a clone I think might make it. Not sure what the sex is though because it is from the one I sacrificed to examin the root ball for any damage.

At least ya got one left. Some people here have had all their's be male.

Keepin em green!!



BIg

I think I was posting in your thread the same time you posted in mine

 

[bigman4270]

"One thing I encourage a lot of CFL growers to do is to total up the cost of all those little sockets and bulbs and tape and whatever other doo-dads they have, and see if you don't come close enough to the $200 it would take to get an all-in-one HID unit. Not that you can't grow some bud with CFL, but I think a lot of peeps say "I don't have that to spend" and end up spending it anyway."





I do plan on upgrading in the future. Gonna go with the CMH when I do buy. I figured if I can't grow something under a cfl than an Hid ain't gonna do me shit for now. I realy have not added up the cost of the material but I will give it a try and see were we are at.

4-y splitters - 10.00

1 roll electrical tape. .50 (had connectors)

sockets from salvaged track lighting I found in trash.- free

All the wood used in the cabinet I already had from bathroom remodel. 2 2x4's - 4.00 , sheet cdx. - 7.00

3 fans from goodwill - 11.00

2 Metal clamp lights from goodwill. - 3.00

2 plastic clamp lights from goodwill. - 2.00

12 2700k 100w contractor box from home cheapo. - 9.00

Reflector material from car sun shades. - 1.50

Computer fan free from old pc given to me.

12 6500k cfl contractor pack. 9.00

So all that for less than 60.00. I dont think thats to much for a new grow.



Big

 

[Kriegs]

Well, it looks like you've def saved yourself some money. Don't know that I agree on having to prove yourself with CFL's first, though. I went 400W HID right out of the box; never grew anything indoors before. Having some serious light power eliminates rather than creates challenges, IMO.

You get bigger plants faster. A bigger plant is more resilient to everything - over/under watering / nutes, bugs, etc.

Of course, I would say that if you can succeed under CFL, you should DEF succeed under HID..

To everyone their own... just sharing some thoughts. Your plants are looking good now - that's what counts.. Cheers!

 

[bigman4270]

Well, it looks like you've def saved yourself some money. Don't know that I agree on having to prove yourself with CFL's first, though. I went 400W HID right out of the box; never grew anything indoors before. Having some serious light power eliminates rather than creates challenges, IMO.

You get bigger plants faster. A bigger plant is more resilient to everything - over/under watering / nutes, bugs, etc.

Of course, I would say that if you can succeed under CFL, you should DEF succeed under HID..

To everyone their own... just sharing some thoughts. Your plants are looking good now - that's what counts.. Cheers!

Hey Kriegs,

Thanks for stoppin in again. Any and all input is welcome here so your thoughts are appreciated.

I was thinking about what you said about the hid and I guess I should have added that with the way the last two grows have been going, there was no way the ole lady was gonna let me spend the money.lol She is starting to change her mind now that the girls are comeing around.

So I changed up a few things in the cab with the lighting. I made a new reflector and added a 68w 2700k bulb today. The bulb is putting out 4200 lumens so I think the nugs will tighten up a bit. the bulb cost me 15.87 at home cheapo and the mylar I got again at goodwill for .50.(sun shade) so it brings the total up to around 77.00 or so.

Temps climbed a little with the new bulb, but leveled out at 77 instead of 75. I also went ahead and fed them today since the pots were getting lite. I used 1ml of dyna-gro, 1ml bloom from c/e, and a teaspoon of molasses airated for an hour. Some of the fan leaves were starting to lighten up so thought she needed some food since flushed her pretty good last week. Now we just wait and see.

Any comments welcome.

keep em green



BIg

 

[Riggzy]

"One thing I encourage a lot of CFL growers to do is to total up the cost of all those little sockets and bulbs and tape and whatever other doo-dads they have, and see if you don't come close enough to the $200 it would take to get an all-in-one HID unit. Not that you can't grow some bud with CFL, but I think a lot of peeps say "I don't have that to spend" and end up spending it anyway."





I do plan on upgrading in the future. Gonna go with the CMH when I do buy. I figured if I can't grow something under a cfl than an Hid ain't gonna do me shit for now. I realy have not added up the cost of the material but I will give it a try and see were we are at.

4-y splitters - 10.00

1 roll electrical tape. .50 (had connectors)

sockets from salvaged track lighting I found in trash.- free

All the wood used in the cabinet I already had from bathroom remodel. 2 2x4's - 4.00 , sheet cdx. - 7.00

3 fans from goodwill - 11.00

2 Metal clamp lights from goodwill. - 3.00

2 plastic clamp lights from goodwill. - 2.00

12 2700k 100w contractor box from home cheapo. - 9.00

Reflector material from car sun shades. - 1.50

Computer fan free from old pc given to me.

12 6500k cfl contractor pack. 9.00

So all that for less than 60.00. I dont think thats to much for a new grow.



Big

Bro.. i was doing what you were and i always said i didn't have the money..or thought my temps would be too hot...finally i broke down one day took a shot and bought a hydrofarm 250 watt MH/hps convertible ballast fixtureit's the best thing i ever did!!($269.00+bulb)...its a all in one unit with no remote ballast...it weighs 20lbs and is easy to mount..it is ultra quiet and REALLY does not get hot at all..i'm growing in a 3x3x6 Cab that i made(pics in 205 watt club page 299)..
it puts out 28,500 lumens and then i added 6 42 watt cfl's on the side and it bumped me up to 45,000 lumens!!that 5,000 lumens per sq ft.i'm able to grow 6 kick-ass plants i lst them and i got 10 tops per plant(60tops)..my electric bill has only went up about $25 a month and theres less bulbs cords and just less stuff...and i was able to still use some of my cfl stuff for side lighting which has really made the difference...so i would save some cfl stuff and go with a 250 watt convertible hid...u can't go wrong my temps ar 78-80.. i grow bluecheese and northern lights i get close to 1/2 pound per harvest...strain means everything too.....hope i helped...happy growing

 

[bigman4270]

Bro.. i was doing what you were and i always said i didn't have the money..or thought my temps would be too hot...finally i broke down one day took a shot and bought a hydrofarm 250 watt MH/hps convertible ballast fixtureit's the best thing i ever did!!($269.00+bulb)...its a all in one unit with no remote ballast...it weighs 20lbs and is easy to mount..it is ultra quiet and REALLY does not get hot at all..i'm growing in a 3x3x6 Cab that i made(pics in 205 watt club page 299)..
it puts out 28,500 lumens and then i added 6 42 watt cfl's on the side and it bumped me up to 45,000 lumens!!that 5,000 lumens per sq ft.i'm able to grow 6 kick-ass plants i lst them and i got 10 tops per plant(60tops)..my electric bill has only went up about $25 a month and theres less bulbs cords and just less stuff...and i was able to still use some of my cfl stuff for side lighting which has really made the difference...so i would save some cfl stuff and go with a 250 watt convertible hid...u can't go wrong my temps ar 78-80.. i grow bluecheese and northern lights i get close to 1/2 pound per harvest...strain means everything too.....hope i helped...happy growing

Thanks for stopping by Riggzy. I appreciate the input. I checked out your grow in the 250 club thread and the buds look good!(page 298 by the way)lol.

I have been mulling over the upgrade and I think I have the ole lady convinced I can grow something so I think she is going to go for it. Gonna take a little whille because of the fund situation but it is definetly going to happen.



Big

 

[bigman4270]

So tomorrow is the start of week six and things are going good still. The girls grew faster than I expected and I ran into a little N and Mag deficiency. The older fan leaves started to yellow and necrosis was starting on them.

Fed them another dose of 1.5ml of the dynagrow, 1.5ml of the C/E micro 6/0/0 for the extra N2 and 1/4 tsp Epsom Salts to help with the Mag shortage. The N2 in the ferts are predominately Nitrate N2 instead of Ammoniacal N2 so the uptake will be faster for the plant. Well it seemed to work because the yellowing has backed off and the necrosis has stopped for now.

The buds are filling in nicely with lots of trichs starting to form.

So I finished my veg box and have started the process again. I have 7 seeds planted and waiting for them to pop their heads up.

Just a little side note. When I sacrificed one of the plants to get a look at the rootball I must of left some roots in there because a plant has sprouted. I topped the pot off so I could use it as a gauge for my watering weight and I look over the other(plant sitting on work bench)day at the pot and there is a plant growing. lol

I did not have the veg box ready so I fed it some cal/mag water and she is starting to take off. Now you may not believe this but since she was with the 12/12 girls, the runt sexed! Its a girl too. Well I put her into the veg to get her back to growing. I am hoping that when the girls are harvested, the seeds will be ready to go to flower? If I can keep from screwing this grow up. I am going to start a new thread when the seeds pop so stop by.

Pics 1-2 are the new veg box, 3 and 5 are the baby girl, and the rest are the girls in their box.

keepin em green!!!



Big

 

[Kriegs]

Way to go, Bigman... stuff is looking nice. Cab looks nice and clean. I looked at the pics before I read and said damn, is that a little seedling showing hairs? Hah - I love it! I'm thrilled with how my 12/12 from seed superskunks are coming along. Have a look at my page if you have the mind. I'm thinking next year about running some sativa dominant stuff with a really short veg period, like 2 weeks or so.

Good work with the Dyna Gro, getting the nitrate-N thing clear and all that. I'm so excited about my next grow cuz I now have a handle on that knowledge. I've gardened for years outdoors and just used off-the-shelf ferts without really knowing anything about them. Works fine outdoors where you have a lot of soil buffering and what not. Indoors, you need to know a little more about what you're putting in there.

 

[bigman4270]

Way to go, Bigman... stuff is looking nice. Cab looks nice and clean. I looked at the pics before I read and said damn, is that a little seedling showing hairs? Hah - I love it! I'm thrilled with how my 12/12 from seed superskunks are coming along. Have a look at my page if you have the mind. I'm thinking next year about running some sativa dominant stuff with a really short veg period, like 2 weeks or so.

Good work with the Dyna Gro, getting the nitrate-N thing clear and all that. I'm so excited about my next grow cuz I now have a handle on that knowledge. I've gardened for years outdoors and just used off-the-shelf ferts without really knowing anything about them. Works fine outdoors where you have a lot of soil buffering and what not. Indoors, you need to know a little more about what you're putting in there.

Hey Kriegs,

Thanks again for stopping by.

Ditto on the off the shelf ferts issue. just think how nuch better our gardens would have been if we new about NPK ratios and such?

I love the baby girl. Cant believe she popped some hairs after only 7 days in 12/12.

Checked your thread and the Queen looks mighty tasty. Wish I could have enjoyed her with ya. hopping to have a sample of my girls in a week or so.



Big

 

[bigman4270]

So its day 38 and the girls are bulking up nicely, considering what they have been through. Fed again last nite with 1ml Dyna Gro, 1/2ml each of the cal/mag. Trying to feed them with a minimal dosage every feeding these last couple weeks instead of letting them deplete the nutes and pop up with another deficiency. When I do feed/water them I give them a realy good drink so that they have a good run-off and to wash out any crap left behind from the last feeding. I am watching for any signs of burn so that I know if its to much for em.

Root clone is doing great. although she slowed down the growth from the light scedule change, she is still growing slowly. She should start taking off in the next couple days.

three of the seven seedlings have sprouted and its been 5 days. Hope the rest pop so my odds improve on getting females again. After all they are bag seeds.

Well, Keep em green!



Big

 

[bigman4270]

Forgot the pics!!

 

[riddleme]

Looking real good there Bigman

and congrats on that root clone, isn't MJ just so f-ing cool

 

[bigman4270]

Looking real good there Bigman

and congrats on that root clone, isn't MJ just so f-ing cool

Thanks for stopping in and takeing a peak. They really do look good even though they are so short from being stunted I do not know how many times since I started. Although your noob thread taught me patience, I still want to sample a nug.

M/J sure is an amazing plant! I could not believe my eyes when I seen that stem sticking up. Gonna try and take a couple leaf cutting from her when the time is rite. I am sure I will hit ya up for some help.



Keep em green!!!



Big

 

[Kriegs]

Nice work, bigman.. I can't believe that head bud - that plant had a helluva journey, and just looks great now. I'm really loving the Dyna Gro stuff too - works great, mixes right up to 6.5 in my tap water, and no burns or weirdness whatsoever.

Good luck with your new seedlings - I love the fresh start of a new set myself. And your root clone too -- I'm gonna have to page back to see how you did that. Cheers..!