First post here--hello everybody! 
So here's the deal... A while back, a friend and I bought some rather iffy looking weed--lots of stems and shake, but we couldn't turn down a bargain ($50 for a half of the stuff). In the bottom of the bag, we found two seeds. Neither of us have had any experience growing, so we just put the seeds in a pots of dirt from his garden, watered them, and put them on the windowsill, just to see if they would sprout. It was really half-assed, and we didn't expect anything to happen... "Wouldn't it be awesome if they actually grew?" we laughed to ourselves...
Fast forward one week, and both of them have sprouted!
So now we're a bit in over our head with two seedlings, and I've been researching everything I can get my hands on. I went to Lowes today and bought some lights (decided to do CFL due to cost, space, and the fact that it's only two plants). I rigged up a temporary grow box (cardboard box 20" long, 11" deep, 22" tall) with 4 of the bulbs, and it's sitting here right next to me. I'm using 4x 26 watt (100 watt equivalent) CFL bulbs which are "daylight" 6500k. Total lumens: 6400.
So, I have a few questions, and hopefully you guys can help me out.
1) What to do about soil? They've both sprouted now, but they're in random soil from my friend's backyard, and who knows what's in there. I feel like I should transplant them into better soil, but I'm worried about shocking them this early on. Any thoughts/tips?
2) A question about safety/fire hazards. I bought the light fixtures at lowes and it said that they were rated for "up to 150watt bulbs". Now, I currently have two 26 watt CFLs plugged into each of these using a Y-splitter, for a total of 52 watts. This all seems fine, but what I'm wondering is, when considering the rating of the fixture, should I use the ACTUAL amount of wattage (52 watts), or the EQUIVALENT wattage of incandescent (200 watts). If it's the latter, then I'm 50 watts over. This is important, because they're in a cardboard box, and obviously I don't want to start any fires. I like the idea of the Y-splitters, because it puts two bulbs very close to each plant, and it uses the side of the bulb rather than the top, which I read somewhere produces more lumens.
3) Ventilation. Any good/quick ideas given my set-up? For now I'm just keeping the door open, and the temp hovers right around 80 degrees, which seems fine. Still, I want to get some moving air in there, and I want to be able to close the box when I leave the house.
4) Reflection. I have read that it's best to paint your walls matte white for reflection. Given my small scale operation, and lack of paint lying around, I've simply taped pieces of white paper flush along the inside walls of the box. Are there any issues with this? Seems like it should be fine.
I think that's all for now. If you guys have any general advice, knowledge, or wisdom you'd like to impart on me, I would very much appreciate it. We had no intention of growing, but now we've been presented with the opportunity, and I want to do the best job possible without investing too much money into a questionable final product (seeds came from iffy weed to start with). I've attached 3 pictures that should clarify things a bit.
Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading, smoke on, and all the best
-floobler
So here's the deal... A while back, a friend and I bought some rather iffy looking weed--lots of stems and shake, but we couldn't turn down a bargain ($50 for a half of the stuff). In the bottom of the bag, we found two seeds. Neither of us have had any experience growing, so we just put the seeds in a pots of dirt from his garden, watered them, and put them on the windowsill, just to see if they would sprout. It was really half-assed, and we didn't expect anything to happen... "Wouldn't it be awesome if they actually grew?" we laughed to ourselves...
Fast forward one week, and both of them have sprouted!
So now we're a bit in over our head with two seedlings, and I've been researching everything I can get my hands on. I went to Lowes today and bought some lights (decided to do CFL due to cost, space, and the fact that it's only two plants). I rigged up a temporary grow box (cardboard box 20" long, 11" deep, 22" tall) with 4 of the bulbs, and it's sitting here right next to me. I'm using 4x 26 watt (100 watt equivalent) CFL bulbs which are "daylight" 6500k. Total lumens: 6400.So, I have a few questions, and hopefully you guys can help me out.
1) What to do about soil? They've both sprouted now, but they're in random soil from my friend's backyard, and who knows what's in there. I feel like I should transplant them into better soil, but I'm worried about shocking them this early on. Any thoughts/tips?
2) A question about safety/fire hazards. I bought the light fixtures at lowes and it said that they were rated for "up to 150watt bulbs". Now, I currently have two 26 watt CFLs plugged into each of these using a Y-splitter, for a total of 52 watts. This all seems fine, but what I'm wondering is, when considering the rating of the fixture, should I use the ACTUAL amount of wattage (52 watts), or the EQUIVALENT wattage of incandescent (200 watts). If it's the latter, then I'm 50 watts over. This is important, because they're in a cardboard box, and obviously I don't want to start any fires. I like the idea of the Y-splitters, because it puts two bulbs very close to each plant, and it uses the side of the bulb rather than the top, which I read somewhere produces more lumens.
3) Ventilation. Any good/quick ideas given my set-up? For now I'm just keeping the door open, and the temp hovers right around 80 degrees, which seems fine. Still, I want to get some moving air in there, and I want to be able to close the box when I leave the house.
4) Reflection. I have read that it's best to paint your walls matte white for reflection. Given my small scale operation, and lack of paint lying around, I've simply taped pieces of white paper flush along the inside walls of the box. Are there any issues with this? Seems like it should be fine.
I think that's all for now. If you guys have any general advice, knowledge, or wisdom you'd like to impart on me, I would very much appreciate it. We had no intention of growing, but now we've been presented with the opportunity, and I want to do the best job possible without investing too much money into a questionable final product (seeds came from iffy weed to start with). I've attached 3 pictures that should clarify things a bit.
Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading, smoke on, and all the best
-floobler
