333maxwell
Active Member
Hello to anyone who finds interest. I thought maybe a few things I learned hands on using CFL and soil might come in helpful to the next guy down the road. I WAS that guy down the road (still am actually) looking for information. That is how I found this forum way back when.. I have poured over some of these posts (like fro those who know, on nutes, lights, pot sizes, lst etc etc) endlessly and applied much of what I have learned here to my own humble grow. SO... I thought I would share..
I'm a medical user and stay completely inside my states laws. I've been married for 30 years and decided if I wanted to stay married 31 the best thing would be for me to get off the daily morphine and back to my roots (every pun intended).. so I started growing again.. no more pharmacy visits for me (went cold turkey.. man o man) and no visit to any state licensed distributer. And certainly no visits to fast Freddy int he alley anymore.. my o my how times have changed.
---
Before I do the pics though, a few things I fought with along the way.
The NUMBER 1 thing.. in my opinion, you can do for your ghetto grow is to ph your water.. I am an old guy.. and I read for years in here.. 'what is your ph' as I was thumbing through the posts trying to find the solution to my problem. Turns out the PH was my problem most all the time I had problems as I look back over the years, and educate myself a bit more (instead of just relying on magic which is what I always did).
IF YOU ARE READING THIS and thinking about your own grow, and what to get and what you need.. before you do ANYTHING else get yourself a PH tester.. in my case it was a silly 4 dollar dropper tester for aquariums that straitened all my problems out (I thought one plant was nute deficient, one was certainly over watered, and one had a severe mag def.. but alas, a bit of ph water after 2-3 waterings BANG.. lesson learned.
GO get yourself a PH tester NOW if you don't have one.. plants do great.. for months.. then BANG.. I've fought it time and time again for years.. now I have a STUPID 4 dollar dropper test, ph my water before I use it (city tap.. runs about 8 here) and it solved 3 different plants very different ailments in one swoop.. get it get it get it get it get it get it get it.. did I leave out anything? Oh ya.. GET A PH TESTER.. even a cheesy one is a much better gamble than none at all.
---
Once I got all my plant problems sorted out with PH adjustments.. they took right off.. then lo and behold.. mites.. where did they come from.. I'll be darned.. what to do.. what to do..
I studied up and saw some people were drowning their plants.. actually submerging them.. seemed like if it would work I'd rather use water than anything.. sooooo
I completely soaked them with water.. I mean every tiny bit.. the darn things were dripping.. then I would shake them, pull out a hair dryer and give em a quick blast to give em a chance at drying.. I did this every day for a week.. then I stopped and I haven't seen a trace of them for 2 weeks now.. close to harvest.. what are the odds they pop up at the last minute.. BUT.. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.... keep a very close eye and no sign of mites since I drenched them daily with plain water.
--
Sooo.. first the PH, and then the mites.. both corrected with water adjustments.. of sorts..
--
Plants started out as bag seed, I only knew where one came from, and it was good. I planted 3 seeds, got 3 females.. kept the one I wish I had grown in a big pot, inthe dixie cup due to room.. rats.
THIS WAS HUGE for me.. to LST.. I had never tried it, never heard of it.. although I had always done it instinctively I had NEVER thought to keep a plant short as can be through brute force.. here was my first results.. again, after studying this forum throughly about LST.. the idea fascinated me..
At this point I am using a few 28 (6700k) watt blues and a 45 watt (2700) red.
My space is roughly 18 inches deep by as long as I want it to be up to about 4 feet. This is 3 plants, 2 in larger pots, one in a cup.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/plant-1.jpg
Right as we are starting to flower.. this would of been about Christmas time
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-5.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-1.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-2.jpg
This is the same little space now.. at this point it has to be incredibly inefficient (at this level, who cares about inefficiency.. costs me less than 10 bucks a month) as I just toss light at it.. I've got right at 300 actual watt's cfl spread out in a 18 inch by 3 foot spot where I am growing the 3 fully mature plants and 4 lst'd seedlings ready to roll upon harvest.
The lights don't cause enough heat to worry about (at least in the winter, haven't tried it in the summer when it is HOT out already). So I have one 4 inch cage fan just blowing air for airs sake. I have a 65 watt red cfl in the middle, 2 45 red watt cfl's on the sides and some blue 28 watt to fill in some spaces. I also run a 15 watt tube under the plants to give them something a bit extra to think about down .. there.
INCREDIBLY inefficient.. and a bit time consuming.. I screw with it every day..yet, I always screw with it every day regardless..
The other ting I learned about CFL's that should be a no brainer, is it will take longer.. If your lights are placed correctly, the whole 'but the buds come out fluffy' stuff is nonsense in my opinion (I'll demonstrate in the pictures a bit.. same enviornment, different buds). AS LONG as you have good close coverage, and the plants genetics say yes, you will get fine hard bud that will rival in hardness any HID BUT they wont be as big, nor as quick. BUT they will be every bit as potent, and cured correctly it might be the best bud you will have had in some time.
Here is the same grow space now more full of flowers..
Excuse the patchy leaves, did I mention getting a PH tester is the best thing you can ever do for the life of your crop?
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/flower-garden.jpg
A peek inside a bit from the outside..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b4.jpg
I pulled the cup plant and the new plants (new plants ready to go http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b9.jpg) to get a better look inside at the horridly inefficient lighting job.. Again, it works, it will produce way more in financial relief for me, than the cost of me not producing it this way.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b9.jpg
---
Three totally different plants and strains.. same environment, until just recently none were prioritized for light preference.
First one is what I assume is a sativa.. she was tied down just like all the rest.. she fought it since day 1.. hated it.. finally a few weeks ago I untied her, put her in the corner and said 'go girl go' ..
This is her top section.. I can't take the whole plant without removing it from the room.. that isn't happening today.
She has plenty of light (in fact has grown into it) and was the early bloomer, and will be the last to be harvested..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b10.jpg
Yet these buds I expect to be airy (they are hard now, but not rock hard)
(smaller side bud I could get the camera up to) http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/B1.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b10.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b6.jpg
I gave her all the light in the world, all she wanted was to be free. I don't even much maintain her.. she's a wild child.
--
Then this girl will be the prize of the lot for quantity I think.. she is 50 days today into the first sign of sex.. I was hoping to move her along quicker, but I anticipate (from what I read in these forums) she could have another 20 days or more. You can only some of her.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b4.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b7.jpg
---
But the prize of my lot.. oh man o man how I wish I would of cloned her.. I will indeed TRY and re-veg (using what I have learned here as well) in a few days when I harvest.. the tric's say they could go longer, but I accidentally broke a stem off the other day in a blind (that I should of attempted to clone) and smoked it and it layed me as low as I have been in a long long time.. so I am worried if I let it go it might somehow change the characteristic I found so yummy..
BUT, alas, she is only a little thing..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b3.jpg
Before and after..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-4.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/B2.jpg
---
Well.. and there ya have it.. that's my story.. harvest is very close.. I figure a day or two on the little one (flushed it a few days back.. something else I learned here) and she is starting to yellow nicely.. maybe 2 weeks on the middle one.. and who knows.. another month on the wild sativa (assuming that's what it is)...
I've got 4 more ready to replace, I am going for a perpetual 2.5 month or so type thing.. yet obviously using random seeds there are no real controls.
---
Now that I have finished mostly rambling, I want to recap the things I learned here that made this a successful grow.
1. Motivation.. this place is full of it.. (and I mean 'full of it'.. *L*).. you yourself CAN grow with very little investment but you will have to be diligent about educating yourself.. the most valuable tool, knowledge, is free.. you can find it right here.
2. PH meter.. get one, use it every time. Grow wonderful plants that don't get rapid deficiencies cropping up, mostly due to ph being whacky. Remeber, a 4 dollar dropper test is far better odds than no test at all.
3. Soil.. hard to find good soil without going to a nursery. For years I have avoided it and picked up whatever the grocers had etc.. for years I have had soil problems.. never again.. save yourself time and stress.. do some research, get eh best soil you can get in your area.. this doesn't mean the most expensive.. educate yourself.. become a soil expert, then go out and get good soil. The internet is soooo valuable. This forum is a good place to start learning about soil.
4. Pot size.. I may go bigger next time.. you CAN grow a usable amount to maturity in a 2.5. If I went any bigger in my space.. I dunno.. I may have to find out..
5. Ferts.. 'read the laves' someone wrote in here.. it is the way it is.. you don't have to kill em in ferts and expensive magic potions.. just be reasonable, keep a chart if you need.. if they go a bit hungry that's ok.. you have plenty of time to figure it out.. not so much of you douse them and start burning them.
6. LST.. what a cool thing.. I wish I had known to do this as radically as I have now learned, years ago.. For me it was kind of good because I like to fool with my plants daily, but some of the best advice I ever heard in here was 'leave em alone'.. so LST gives me a reason.. an excuse to play with my plants near daily.
7. CFL .. they are inefficient.. people try and maximize them with reflectors and the likes.. I have found reflectors in my situation don't spread the light evenly.. I want my entire space glowing.. the corners are essential (to me).. so I don't use reflectors.. but I try and keep my ceiling only an inch above my lights, so it does have some reflective back at them that way. When it comes to reflectors etc.. I'd rather have another light and a drop cord.. that's just me.. cover the area as well as you can, including underneath.
That said they DO work and produce a wonderful product. It will take somewhat longer under CFL (assuming you have a high powered HID and not just a 150 watt or so) so your patience is strained way beyond HID. Your Bud's won't likely be as big.. then again I have grown some mighty big buds under cfl.
--
Nothing more to add.. just wanted to maybe do a bit of motivating myself.. it CAN be done..
I am very much a noob at indoor cfl lst.. so I might add it can not only be done, I imagine it could be done MUCH better in the same space with the same lighting by someone a bit less ignorant about the whole thing than I.. BUT, I am learning..
Thanks to this room and those who have helped me along the way (and they never even knew it)..
Peace~!
-----
Homegrown music
http://soundclick.com/333maxwell
I'm a medical user and stay completely inside my states laws. I've been married for 30 years and decided if I wanted to stay married 31 the best thing would be for me to get off the daily morphine and back to my roots (every pun intended).. so I started growing again.. no more pharmacy visits for me (went cold turkey.. man o man) and no visit to any state licensed distributer. And certainly no visits to fast Freddy int he alley anymore.. my o my how times have changed.
---
Before I do the pics though, a few things I fought with along the way.
The NUMBER 1 thing.. in my opinion, you can do for your ghetto grow is to ph your water.. I am an old guy.. and I read for years in here.. 'what is your ph' as I was thumbing through the posts trying to find the solution to my problem. Turns out the PH was my problem most all the time I had problems as I look back over the years, and educate myself a bit more (instead of just relying on magic which is what I always did).
IF YOU ARE READING THIS and thinking about your own grow, and what to get and what you need.. before you do ANYTHING else get yourself a PH tester.. in my case it was a silly 4 dollar dropper tester for aquariums that straitened all my problems out (I thought one plant was nute deficient, one was certainly over watered, and one had a severe mag def.. but alas, a bit of ph water after 2-3 waterings BANG.. lesson learned.
GO get yourself a PH tester NOW if you don't have one.. plants do great.. for months.. then BANG.. I've fought it time and time again for years.. now I have a STUPID 4 dollar dropper test, ph my water before I use it (city tap.. runs about 8 here) and it solved 3 different plants very different ailments in one swoop.. get it get it get it get it get it get it get it.. did I leave out anything? Oh ya.. GET A PH TESTER.. even a cheesy one is a much better gamble than none at all.
---
Once I got all my plant problems sorted out with PH adjustments.. they took right off.. then lo and behold.. mites.. where did they come from.. I'll be darned.. what to do.. what to do..
I studied up and saw some people were drowning their plants.. actually submerging them.. seemed like if it would work I'd rather use water than anything.. sooooo
I completely soaked them with water.. I mean every tiny bit.. the darn things were dripping.. then I would shake them, pull out a hair dryer and give em a quick blast to give em a chance at drying.. I did this every day for a week.. then I stopped and I haven't seen a trace of them for 2 weeks now.. close to harvest.. what are the odds they pop up at the last minute.. BUT.. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.... keep a very close eye and no sign of mites since I drenched them daily with plain water.
--
Sooo.. first the PH, and then the mites.. both corrected with water adjustments.. of sorts..
--
Plants started out as bag seed, I only knew where one came from, and it was good. I planted 3 seeds, got 3 females.. kept the one I wish I had grown in a big pot, inthe dixie cup due to room.. rats.
THIS WAS HUGE for me.. to LST.. I had never tried it, never heard of it.. although I had always done it instinctively I had NEVER thought to keep a plant short as can be through brute force.. here was my first results.. again, after studying this forum throughly about LST.. the idea fascinated me..
At this point I am using a few 28 (6700k) watt blues and a 45 watt (2700) red.
My space is roughly 18 inches deep by as long as I want it to be up to about 4 feet. This is 3 plants, 2 in larger pots, one in a cup.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/plant-1.jpg
Right as we are starting to flower.. this would of been about Christmas time
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-5.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-1.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-2.jpg
This is the same little space now.. at this point it has to be incredibly inefficient (at this level, who cares about inefficiency.. costs me less than 10 bucks a month) as I just toss light at it.. I've got right at 300 actual watt's cfl spread out in a 18 inch by 3 foot spot where I am growing the 3 fully mature plants and 4 lst'd seedlings ready to roll upon harvest.
The lights don't cause enough heat to worry about (at least in the winter, haven't tried it in the summer when it is HOT out already). So I have one 4 inch cage fan just blowing air for airs sake. I have a 65 watt red cfl in the middle, 2 45 red watt cfl's on the sides and some blue 28 watt to fill in some spaces. I also run a 15 watt tube under the plants to give them something a bit extra to think about down .. there.
INCREDIBLY inefficient.. and a bit time consuming.. I screw with it every day..yet, I always screw with it every day regardless..
The other ting I learned about CFL's that should be a no brainer, is it will take longer.. If your lights are placed correctly, the whole 'but the buds come out fluffy' stuff is nonsense in my opinion (I'll demonstrate in the pictures a bit.. same enviornment, different buds). AS LONG as you have good close coverage, and the plants genetics say yes, you will get fine hard bud that will rival in hardness any HID BUT they wont be as big, nor as quick. BUT they will be every bit as potent, and cured correctly it might be the best bud you will have had in some time.
Here is the same grow space now more full of flowers..
Excuse the patchy leaves, did I mention getting a PH tester is the best thing you can ever do for the life of your crop?
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/flower-garden.jpg
A peek inside a bit from the outside..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b4.jpg
I pulled the cup plant and the new plants (new plants ready to go http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b9.jpg) to get a better look inside at the horridly inefficient lighting job.. Again, it works, it will produce way more in financial relief for me, than the cost of me not producing it this way.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b9.jpg
---
Three totally different plants and strains.. same environment, until just recently none were prioritized for light preference.
First one is what I assume is a sativa.. she was tied down just like all the rest.. she fought it since day 1.. hated it.. finally a few weeks ago I untied her, put her in the corner and said 'go girl go' ..
This is her top section.. I can't take the whole plant without removing it from the room.. that isn't happening today.
She has plenty of light (in fact has grown into it) and was the early bloomer, and will be the last to be harvested..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b10.jpg
Yet these buds I expect to be airy (they are hard now, but not rock hard)
(smaller side bud I could get the camera up to) http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/B1.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b10.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b6.jpg
I gave her all the light in the world, all she wanted was to be free. I don't even much maintain her.. she's a wild child.
--
Then this girl will be the prize of the lot for quantity I think.. she is 50 days today into the first sign of sex.. I was hoping to move her along quicker, but I anticipate (from what I read in these forums) she could have another 20 days or more. You can only some of her.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b4.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b7.jpg
---
But the prize of my lot.. oh man o man how I wish I would of cloned her.. I will indeed TRY and re-veg (using what I have learned here as well) in a few days when I harvest.. the tric's say they could go longer, but I accidentally broke a stem off the other day in a blind (that I should of attempted to clone) and smoked it and it layed me as low as I have been in a long long time.. so I am worried if I let it go it might somehow change the characteristic I found so yummy..
BUT, alas, she is only a little thing..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/b3.jpg
Before and after..
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/P-4.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/333maxwell/B2.jpg
---
Well.. and there ya have it.. that's my story.. harvest is very close.. I figure a day or two on the little one (flushed it a few days back.. something else I learned here) and she is starting to yellow nicely.. maybe 2 weeks on the middle one.. and who knows.. another month on the wild sativa (assuming that's what it is)...
I've got 4 more ready to replace, I am going for a perpetual 2.5 month or so type thing.. yet obviously using random seeds there are no real controls.
---
Now that I have finished mostly rambling, I want to recap the things I learned here that made this a successful grow.
1. Motivation.. this place is full of it.. (and I mean 'full of it'.. *L*).. you yourself CAN grow with very little investment but you will have to be diligent about educating yourself.. the most valuable tool, knowledge, is free.. you can find it right here.
2. PH meter.. get one, use it every time. Grow wonderful plants that don't get rapid deficiencies cropping up, mostly due to ph being whacky. Remeber, a 4 dollar dropper test is far better odds than no test at all.
3. Soil.. hard to find good soil without going to a nursery. For years I have avoided it and picked up whatever the grocers had etc.. for years I have had soil problems.. never again.. save yourself time and stress.. do some research, get eh best soil you can get in your area.. this doesn't mean the most expensive.. educate yourself.. become a soil expert, then go out and get good soil. The internet is soooo valuable. This forum is a good place to start learning about soil.
4. Pot size.. I may go bigger next time.. you CAN grow a usable amount to maturity in a 2.5. If I went any bigger in my space.. I dunno.. I may have to find out..
5. Ferts.. 'read the laves' someone wrote in here.. it is the way it is.. you don't have to kill em in ferts and expensive magic potions.. just be reasonable, keep a chart if you need.. if they go a bit hungry that's ok.. you have plenty of time to figure it out.. not so much of you douse them and start burning them.
6. LST.. what a cool thing.. I wish I had known to do this as radically as I have now learned, years ago.. For me it was kind of good because I like to fool with my plants daily, but some of the best advice I ever heard in here was 'leave em alone'.. so LST gives me a reason.. an excuse to play with my plants near daily.
7. CFL .. they are inefficient.. people try and maximize them with reflectors and the likes.. I have found reflectors in my situation don't spread the light evenly.. I want my entire space glowing.. the corners are essential (to me).. so I don't use reflectors.. but I try and keep my ceiling only an inch above my lights, so it does have some reflective back at them that way. When it comes to reflectors etc.. I'd rather have another light and a drop cord.. that's just me.. cover the area as well as you can, including underneath.
That said they DO work and produce a wonderful product. It will take somewhat longer under CFL (assuming you have a high powered HID and not just a 150 watt or so) so your patience is strained way beyond HID. Your Bud's won't likely be as big.. then again I have grown some mighty big buds under cfl.
--
Nothing more to add.. just wanted to maybe do a bit of motivating myself.. it CAN be done..
I am very much a noob at indoor cfl lst.. so I might add it can not only be done, I imagine it could be done MUCH better in the same space with the same lighting by someone a bit less ignorant about the whole thing than I.. BUT, I am learning..
Thanks to this room and those who have helped me along the way (and they never even knew it)..
Peace~!
-----
Homegrown music
http://soundclick.com/333maxwell
LOL only one of them really turning green though. Also, I may have had the lights too close. They are