First indoor closet cfl grow

Greetings, this is my first indoor grow, I live in an apartment complex in the city so space is limited. I used some scrap pallet wood and an old book shelf to make my closet so i could grow a plant in and I think I've had pretty good luck so far. My first plant was really nice looking but ended up a Hermie and I bought this girl from a friend who had a few extras. I've had it about a month now and since space is limited I put it on a 12-12 schedule about 2 weeks ago. I used the fox farm ocean forest soil and have the fox farms nutes to go with I use them at half strength. I know it's not the most perfect or ideal way to grow but im doing this more for fun and learning while on a budget. What are your thoughts so far? Also I'm just about to go on vacation for a week but will be coming home once about half way through vacation to check on it will I be ok?

How much bigger should I expect the buds to get? It doesn't really smell to much currently only a little bit.

CrazyWeeds said:

How much bigger should I expect the buds to get? It doesn't really smell to much currently only a little bit.

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Looks good for what it is , you might consider changing the over head bulb the a 18w led 2700k

The over head bulb I'm using is a 32watt 6500k the others are 20w 2700k. What would be the benefits of switching bulbs?

The canopy penetration and more dialed in spectrum's of light from the led suggested above. Good idea for electric bill and heat. Some people keep a couple cfls clipped around for more light needed than their led puts out and/or more mixed spectrum's.
Great looking budget rig going on there tho. Reminds me of my first successful closet grow. Car visor reflectors, clip lights with y-splinters hung all over for overall light coverage and dollar store buckets with drilled holes lol.

Waxmann420 said:

The canopy penetration and more dialed in spectrum's of light from the led suggested above. Good idea for electric bill and heat. Some people keep a couple cfls clipped around for more light needed than their led puts out and/or more mixed spectrum's.
Great looking budget rig going on there tho. Reminds me of my first successful closet grow. Car visor reflectors, clip lights with y-splinters hung all over for overall light coverage and dollar store buckets with drilled holes lol.

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So your saying Ill get better end product with the led light instead of the 32watt bulb I have now? Will it be fine the switch it out now? And thanks I did my best with what I have but it makes me feel more accomplished in a way knowing I rigged up the whole thing and it's obviously doing ok.

Is this the bulb your talking about? If so I might change to it but if it's the ones that cost thirty I won't bother as I just got let go from my job and have even less money now till I get unemplyment.

That's looks like the exact bulb I'm using.

Trick is to remove the outer diffuser and the inner baffle.

I use a hacksaw for the outer, gently.

Shit well ill prolly pick it up next time I go to the store. So with that bulb I'll get better penetration of light with will give me better bud then right?

CrazyWeeds said:

Shit well ill prolly pick it up next time I go to the store. So with that bulb I'll get better penetration of light with will give me better bud then right?

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It did for me and much less stretch.

Put up a fresh pic so we can see how it's going.

Bareback said:

It did for me and much less stretch.

Put up a fresh pic so we can see how it's going.

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Here we are, I just got back from camping still looking nice I just gave her some water. I notice some hairs turning, it smells pretty good but it's not enough to stink up my apartment just the grow box.

CrazyWeeds said:

Here we are, I just got back from camping still looking nice I just gave her some water. I notice some hairs turning, it smells pretty good but it's not enough to stink up my apartment just the grow box.

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It's looks good , your going to enjoy that.
The lack of smell ain't a bad thing , it is an indicator that the plant ain't stressed out.

Ahh ok and thanks, I can't wait to try it, I didn't think the low smell was any reason to worry it's just funny it was my main worry when I started out with the grow since I've got kids and don't want my place to be pungent. I've got three more seeds started I hope I get another female out of them haha.

looks good, nice sativa , gotta love cfl bulbs

BudmanTX said:

looks good, nice sativa , gotta love cfl bulbs

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Thanks, I'm still upset my first plant turned Hermie it was more indica, I definitely do love them they do the trick for a small scale budget grows.

CrazyWeeds said:

Thanks, I'm still upset my first plant turned Hermie it was more indica, I definitely do love them they do the trick for a small scale budget grows.

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yeah, i like the small budget grows, kinda shows what a person can do with a limited budget. Heck think i spent my total setup bout $150, been growing some nice stuff lately

BudmanTX said:

yeah, i like the small budget grows, kinda shows what a person can do with a limited budget. Heck think i spent my total setup bout $150, been growing some nice stuff lately

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All I spent money on is the lights and fan maybe fifty sixty bucks or so. I'm debating on changing to that led bulb but not to sure yet if I'll benefit much from it.

Bareback said:

Looks good for what it is , you might consider changing the over head bulb the a 18w led 2700k

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Ok so I bought that led bulb today at Wal Mart are there any thread or pics on cutting the diffuser and baffle as you suggested? How high off can I hang it so I don't hurt my plant ? Also it seems pretty bright without cutting anything off it, is it more powerful than the cfl bulbs that I'm currently using? I'm not sure how LEDs compare to CFLs and what not

CrazyWeeds said:

Ok so I bought that led bulb today at Wal Mart are there any thread or pics on cutting the diffuser and baffle as you suggested? How high off can I hang it so I don't hurt my plant ? Also it seems pretty bright without cutting anything off it, is it more powerful than the cfl bulbs that I'm currently using? I'm not sure how LEDs compare to CFLs and what not

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The plastic is pretty thin I cut mine with a hacksaw just over half way, or only leaving one third to say it another way. Be careful to only cut thought the plastic. The baffle has a single #1 philips head screw in the center, as you'll see after removing the defuser.

From the pictures of your set up, your light height is probably ok, but check it by placing your hand at the canopy . If it feels hot, raise it up , if not raise your hand to the point that it starts to feel warm, and that is the point that marks the height.

I hope my explanation makes sense. Basically if it's uncomfortable to your hand, then it's too close.
I hope this works as well for you as it does me, I run this and get great results. Much better than the cfl only.

Bareback said:

The plastic is pretty thin I cut mine with a hacksaw just over half way, or only leaving one third to say it another way. Be careful to only cut thought the plastic. The baffle has a single #1 philips head screw in the center, as you'll see after removing the defuser.

From the pictures of your set up, your light height is probably ok, but check it by placing your hand at the canopy . If it feels hot, raise it up , if not raise your hand to the point that it starts to feel warm, and that is the point that marks the height.

I hope my explanation makes sense. Basically if it's uncomfortable to your hand, then it's too close.
I hope this works as well for you as it does me, I run this and get great results. Much better than the cfl only.

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I can't wait to put it in there tomorrow morning I'll have a total of five 23 watt cfl and the one 18 watt LED all are 2700k. It's looking pretty good to me already I only hope this helps improve it!