Dopey's cfl closet grow fall 2011

Whats up guys. Started a couple journals here but seems I never get to finish so here am again, giving it another whirl. Feel free to post. I welcome all comments and criticism. This is my 3rd grow but the first of which are indoor. I've contemplated going indoor just never could afford to spend shit tons of money on lights and ballast and such. Finally i decided to try with cfl's. I'm starting to think buying a HID bulb and ballast would have been cheaper in the long run. As you can see i've already germinated my seeds a couple weeks ago. They are all purple kush as far as i know. I started out with 10 purple kush bag seeds and germinated them in a damp paper towel in a zip lock bag which i kept in a dark cupboard. when they sprouted I dropped them into party cups with schultz potting mix. Yesterday i transplanted them all into 5 gallon pails.


Medium
ProMix HP

Nutes
Jungle Green plant food. (Our hydro store makes it locally)
I also will be getting a calcium and magnesium booster called cal pow.

Light
15 23w cfl's ( i think 6 of them are ott lights made for growing)
I'm using a homemade reflector i made out of half of a snap together duct fitting i found at home depot. As you can see i havn't yet finished making them. I am just waiting for the glue to dry. If they aren't reflective enough i will put some mylar on there. My walls are already white so i wont be adding anything to them. i also plan on adding more bulbs as i go.

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm PuRpLe KuSh ..... been wanting to try them!

Its pretty good, im getting sick of it tho. Our market around my area is so saturated with purple kush. Every time i get a bag its purple kush with the odd exception here and there.

Heres my first update. Since last time, i've built my light reflectors. I'm not so sure i want to stay with these. they are very difficult to move up and down. Maybe i could incorporate a pully system somehow?? I would like to put 2 power bars on the reflectors but i think that the weight would be to much for the glue. I was going to go to home depot and see if i could figure out how to wire my own fixtures then i could make a custom fixture for my closet. I also put in my scrog net. That was frustrating! i think next time i will go with something with smaller holes, but this will work this time. Also i'm not convinced i have enough light and its not looking very easy to add more to this setup. Probably gonna be temporary. maybe i'll leave it till harvest. Its kind of a pain in the ass to pull out and blah blah. I dunno,we'll see

yeah thats sweet.... hehehe looks like DR WHO's landed in your closet

dopeyG said:

Heres my first update. Since last time, i've built my light reflectors. I'm not so sure i want to stay with these. they are very difficult to move up and down. Maybe i could incorporate a pully system somehow?? I would like to put 2 power bars on the reflectors but i think that the weight would be to much for the glue. I was going to go to home depot and see if i could figure out how to wire my own fixtures then i could make a custom fixture for my closet. I also put in my scrog net. That was frustrating! i think next time i will go with something with smaller holes, but this will work this time. Also i'm not convinced i have enough light and its not looking very easy to add more to this setup. Probably gonna be temporary. maybe i'll leave it till harvest. Its kind of a pain in the ass to pull out and blah blah. I dunno,we'll see

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Heres what I did. Just drill 4 holes into your reflector and use them to run zip ties through and ziptie your strips to the inside of your reflector like what I attempted to represent in my crudely drawn MS Paint photo below The red lines would be your zip ties and hopefully you can make out the rest on your own.

With that said, subbed and waiting to see what you cook up.

silusbotwin said:

Heres what I did. Just drill 4 holes into your reflector and use them to run zip ties through and ziptie your strips to the inside of your reflector like what I attempted to represent in my crudely drawn MS Paint photo below The red lines would be your zip ties and hopefully you can make out the rest on your own.

With that said, subbed and waiting to see what you cook up.

View attachment 1852119

Click to expand...

well, i already glued on the one right in the center so i dont know if there is room for another one, altho that is a good idea that i may still consider doing in case the glue doesn't hold on the one that is on it already. im thinking of a totally different set up i saw using pvc piping but i think im gonna see how this harvest goes first being that is is my first indoor. That way i can figure out what i need to tweak for the next time around. My gf is starting to get pissed at me because she is seeing me spending all this money and thinks it is a waste of money. She doesn't understand that i'm spending all this money to get better quality and bigger yield thus benefiting us in the long run. Anyway not sure what im gonna add next but im always on the hunt.

dopeyG said:

well, i already glued on the one right in the center so i dont know if there is room for another one, altho that is a good idea that i may still consider doing in case the glue doesn't hold on the one that is on it already. im thinking of a totally different set up i saw using pvc piping but i think im gonna see how this harvest goes first being that is is my first indoor. That way i can figure out what i need to tweak for the next time around. My gf is starting to get pissed at me because she is seeing me spending all this money and thinks it is a waste of money. She doesn't understand that i'm spending all this money to get better quality and bigger yield thus benefiting us in the long run. Anyway not sure what im gonna add next but im always on the hunt.

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yeah i've been down that road with my other half recently.... but hopefully once round one is over results will stop her gums bumping

lol. ya, im hopin so. I'm gonna be pretty pissed if i end up with all males.

yeah or 10g's ... .... i'd never hear the end of that!

dopeyG said:

well, i already glued on the one right in the center so i dont know if there is room for another one, altho that is a good idea that i may still consider doing in case the glue doesn't hold on the one that is on it already. im thinking of a totally different set up i saw using pvc piping but i think im gonna see how this harvest goes first being that is is my first indoor. That way i can figure out what i need to tweak for the next time around. My gf is starting to get pissed at me because she is seeing me spending all this money and thinks it is a waste of money. She doesn't understand that i'm spending all this money to get better quality and bigger yield thus benefiting us in the long run. Anyway not sure what im gonna add next but im always on the hunt.

Click to expand...

Mark my words, after the first harvest, after she has a chance to see the rewards of what you're doing, she will begin pressuring you to expand and upgrade the garden if she is a true smoker Good luck brother!

yeah man.... weird? ..... shame its made a mess of your journal.... can you not report it and have it removed??

silusbotwin said:

Mark my words, after the first harvest, after she has a chance to see the rewards of what you're doing, she will begin pressuring you to expand and upgrade the garden if she is a true smoker Good luck brother!

Click to expand...

Ya im already expecting to have to expand, but im hoping that i can scrog a shit ton. i still have space for more light, I'm trying to avoid as much as possible upward growth because with cfls, i think that would make it extremely difficult to get good light penetration. If i was using an HID, i wouldnt really care so much of course. But i mean if you think about it i got almost 300 watts for 4 plants. Thats not to bad is it?? Definitely will add some more somewhere down the line.

Been a little bit lol, taking forever to upload those dam pics. Anyway, havn't really done much, just letting em grow now. On a once a week schedule with the nutes and twice a week watering, If they need it. No point in watering them unless their bone dry IMO. Been keeping pretty steady with the scrog, next time i think I'm gonna get a small spaced screen tho. its hard to scrog with so few space so that are so wide. i mean, it works but its just not as convenient. I been trying my best to follow the feeding schedule but like I'm not sure if i supposed to add all the water with the nutes in it to one plant?? I put in a 1/4 of a teaspoon in 2L of water. That's what it says for young plants, and i gave the full 2L to each plant. Seem to be getting good results. Next Wed. I'm going to put 1/2 teaspoon into 2L as i will be starting my 3rd week of veg. I want to keep a mother when and take some clones but i'm not exactly sure where I'm gonna keep the mother lol. Maybe if i just clone and flower them all instead of keeping a mother?? decisions decisions. They are already smelling up our spare bedroom and they aren't even into the flower cycle lol. My gf walked in there and she was like " whoa it stinks in here" and i was like "he he i know". Lol it was pretty funny. She wasn't to impressed. so I think I'm gonna have to invest in a small scrubber. Anyone know of a good one that would suit my size of op?? i don't want to cut any holes or anything as i am just renting this place and i would like as much of my DD back as i can get lol.

dopeyG said:

Been keeping pretty steady with the scrog, next time i think I'm gonna get a small spaced screen tho. its hard to scrog with so few space so that are so wide. i mean, it works but its just not as convenient.

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Oh don't worry man, they are just now beginning the veg stage. They will be utilizing that scrog soon enough, especially once you flip to flowering. Then they will start elongating enough to utilize such a wide gapped scrog. Looking good, amigo

nvm actually not changing journals

silusbotwin said:

Oh don't worry man, they are just now beginning the veg stage. They will be utilizing that scrog soon enough, especially once you flip to flowering. Then they will start elongating enough to utilize such a wide gapped scrog. Looking good, amigo

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I suppose, as long as i can keep a fairly even canopy i'm happy

I would definitely get some extra CFL's very soon. Ideally you want a 23-26 watt bulb within an inch of every leaf on the plant. That isn't a requirement but it's about the closest you can get to compare to HID using CFL. What you have will work but if you continue with it into flowering, you will wind up with airy and wispy buds, and a lower yield altogether.

As for how to feed your nutrient solution, you can use that one mix for all plants provided there is enough solution to water all of them in a single mix worth of water. The important thing is how concentrated your mix is, and yours is properly concentrated. All you are doing with all the extra water per plant is wasting nutrient solution. How much run off do you get when using the method you are using? It might be efficient if you don't get too much run off. Just water your pots just enough to achieve run off at the bottoms and thats enough. If you have to you can bump up the total amount of solution you mix from now on and just save the leftover solution for the next watering.

QUOTE
"I would definitely get some extra CFL's very soon. Ideally you want a 23-26 watt bulb within an inch of every leaf on the plant. That isn't a requirement but it's about the closest you can get to compare to HID using CFL. What you have will work but if you continue with it into flowering, you will wind up with airy and wispy buds, and a lower yield altogether."

so are you saying he should put what? 70-80 No. 26watt lamps in his grow room? that seems a tad extreme to me.... thats if i understand you correctly, how many 23/26watt cfl's are you using/used in your grow room... i blasted through your only grow thread (first medical /4 posts) and so far i see a handfull of seedling under a t5/8 (pics blurey and too far away to tell), i aint bitching bruv (unlike some that have called you out in your other thread).. just want to know how many lamps your saying he should use based on your experience of what?

Maybe time for a new GF? Mind you, that's not really cost-effective either!

dopeyG said:

well, i already glued on the one right in the center so i dont know if there is room for another one, altho that is a good idea that i may still consider doing in case the glue doesn't hold on the one that is on it already. im thinking of a totally different set up i saw using pvc piping but i think im gonna see how this harvest goes first being that is is my first indoor. That way i can figure out what i need to tweak for the next time around. My gf is starting to get pissed at me because she is seeing me spending all this money and thinks it is a waste of money. She doesn't understand that i'm spending all this money to get better quality and bigger yield thus benefiting us in the long run. Anyway not sure what im gonna add next but im always on the hunt.

Click to expand...