First plant. Need help

Ok so I watched a few vids and made myself a hydro system and a box. Currently I have reflective mylar on the inside of my box, a hole on top for a fan to ventilate, and I am putting 4 90mm computer case fans to blow air around the plant. I made a light reflector out of an aluminum popcorn container and have one CFL light. It is very bright especially with the mylar. Haven't ordered the seeds yet and need suggestions. Any advice???

well what seeds depends on what you are growing for. is it personal use or is it to sell or what? also, how good of shit have you smoked. bc i have been smoking for almost a decade and i smoke california buds on the regular, yet i grew out a strain called "medijuana" and it literally fucked me up...to the point where i would not let a nubs smoke it with me. too strong lol

how many watts is that light ? looks like it will only do a seedling for about 1-2 weeks , and whats the deal with the hole ontop?+your pushing around air with your fans but if your making that closet airtight u need an exhuast fan also

smallclosetgrowr said:

how many watts is that light ? looks like it will only do a seedling for about 1-2 weeks , and whats the deal with the hole ontop?+your pushing around air with your fans but if your making that closet airtight u need an exhuast fan also

Click to expand...

Preach!

the box itself looks ok but your lighting and ventilation still need work. Get the environment perfect before you even think about seeds or nutrients.

3 Rules:

1. Environment is everything.
2. Genetics is everything else.
3. Focus on Rule #1 First

I'm militant about using HID lighting. Even in a small space like that a 70watt HPS will outperform equivalent fluro. That said, some ppl are happy with CFL bud..... In for a penny, in for a pound, I say.

Ok well the hole in the top is going to be for a 6 inch fan for ventilation and I am going to have the 4 computer case fans on the side of the box. I hooked up a fan speed controller to the 4 fans so i can adjust them. The fan on top is going to have a filter attatched. It is going to be airtight, I just haven't completed it quite yet. And I wanted to start off with something small like the seeds from dutch passions - strawberry cough. Thought it might be a good starter. I should have the fans put in by today. Hopefully make the door as well. The light is just a 13w light. I'm growing on a budget. Hahaha. Whats a good light I can use without spending so much money?? And I made the noob mistake of buying clear tubing for the hydro system. Going to buy the black in a bit. I'll have new pics posted up as soon as I get the holes put in. Thanks for the help.

jonvid said:

Ok well the hole in the top is going to be for a 6 inch fan for ventilation and I am going to have the 4 computer case fans on the side of the box. I hooked up a fan speed controller to the 4 fans so i can adjust them. The fan on top is going to have a filter attatched. It is going to be airtight, I just haven't completed it quite yet. And I wanted to start off with something small like the seeds from dutch passions - strawberry cough. Thought it might be a good starter. I should have the fans put in by today. Hopefully make the door as well. The light is just a 13w light. I'm growing on a budget. Hahaha. Whats a good light I can use without spending so much money?? And I made the noob mistake of buying clear tubing for the hydro system. Going to buy the black in a bit. I'll have new pics posted up as soon as I get the holes put in. Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

sorry i didnt even look at your set up before i posted...but they are all right. you NEED much more light than that one 13 watt. i would say buy like 3 or 4 42 watt cfls at the least. if you only have that one light socket, then buy one of those 150 or 200 watt cfls. if you cant afford that, then you might want to not buy seeds for this grow and invest the money you were gonna spend on seeds and buy a light and then just use bag seeds. you will shoot yourself in the face if you waste 60+ bucks on some seeds with good genetics, and then not have the sufficient light to grow it. In my experience, light is everything and that light you have will be good enough to only veg your plant for a week. you NEED MUCH MORE!

Ok so today I found another light that im not sure might be helpful for the growing. Its a halogen 500 watt light. But I've read that they don't provide the right color spectrum for growth. Fuck. Oh well, I'm trying to get a friend that works at home depot to get me a HPS light. But whats the difference in those?? I'm not too familiar with ballasts and that stuff. I put in the 4 case fans on the sides. It cools pretty well. Tomorrow I will hopefully get an air purifier that I found on CL that will fit in the hole I have at the top of my closet. Any suggestions before I fuck shit up?? Hahaha. I appreciate you guys helpin me out.

Halogen is terrible, way too hot, wrong spectrum.
Ideally you want a few(maybe 4) 43 watt cfls or something similar.
HPS is the next step up, you not only need a ballast but also much better ventilation(a good in and out) as they will generate a lot of heat.
Air purifier is something to worry about in a couple of months.

ok as bubble said, DO NOT put a halogen in there. it will burn ur plant asap, temps will be in the 90s for sure! your best bet would be one of those 150 or 200 watt cfls as i said or getting a 150 watt hps. the whole ballast things is becasue hps and what not are hid lights, they dont just turn on with a flick of a button like regular lights. they have a warming up period and the light doesnt get to its brightest point until after about 2 or 3 minutes of being on. DO NOT just use a hps or mh light in a regular socket without a ballast. the ballast steps up the voltage in a controlled mannor to excite the gases as where not using one the voltage will just be released and cause ur light or circuit to blow or shit maybe even a fire.

Just to add for cfls all you need to buy is some crappy desk lamps (I get the clip on type, $10 or so) then go for the highest wattage you can find. I just checked and mine are 48w(240w equivalent) and cost about $30. I use 'natural' 5000K ones for growth, and 'warm' 2400Ks for flowering, you will find they have two options in these ranges.

or what you can do is buy a power strip(surge protector) and buy some of these plug in adaptor things that turns a regular outlet into a light socket. its basically a light socket that you plug into a 2 prong power outlet. you can find these at walmart. buy a few of them and plug them into your surge protector to make like a 4 or 5 light outlet. pretty cheap and effective

So here's the pix of the semi finished product. All it needs is the lights. I think I'm going to get 2 100w CFL Bulbs. Sound good?? Everything on the closet was modified, cut, and made to fit. I think I did a pretty good job. The computer fans were a weird idea. Got them all at different heights. Hopefully shit turns out great!!

you should be fine with that. those lights will do you good. get her started

sweet. i'll keep ya'll updated on how she does. thanks bro. appreciate the help.

just get a shit load of cfls and get that shit nice n big!!!

Ok well I'm just now updating this because I didn't realize I was gonna need this much prep time. Plus I haven't had much cash flow so thats another factor. Well I decided to take the advice of HigherLearning420 and just use bag seeds. Actually what I did was buy a bunch nicks from different dealers and narrowed down my choice to this schwag that tastes awesome. Just as my first grow. And I had made my hydroponic system but decided to go with soil. I bought some pretty good soil mix and mixed in a bit of fertilizer. These seeds cracked in 3 days and had one seedling sprout the very next day. So now I'm on the 6th day and I can see all 5 sprouting. I have 4 100w equivalent cfl's with 6500k. I was pissed because 2 of the bulbs burnt out really fast. Idk why. So i just went back and returned them, got new ones. I'm using the 18/6 right now for growing. So I haven't given any nutirents to my babies but when should I start? And what kind? I'm going to build a different box so I can clone these plants to find their sex. So most likely will remove 3 plants total regardless of what sex. I only got enough space for 2 plants. If I have 4 females and one male, I feel shitty for having to kill the other females. Idk who to give them to..... Hmmm... Maybe I can plant them at the local park and let them grow. Shit I'll see. And I love this weed because I think its a sativa/indica mix. No couch lock. The guy that sold it to me said it was called lime green. But yeah well gimme some feedback on this. Thanks. Will post pics later on tonight.

Ok so here's the pics from yesterday. So far they're on their 7th day from seed. Idk about you guys but I think it's growing pretty fast. They're atlready at about and inch and a half. I have 5 sprouted and growing like champs from what I see. I'm just using filtered water now. When would be a good time to use nutes?? And do you think I'll be able to grow them there in that small space to where i can find out their sex?? I mean i got like 2 square feet. Its retared I know but oh well. If I have to I'll make another contraption for clones. So let me know what ya'll think.

i put my germinated seeds in the dirt this past friday, the popped on sunday. now they are about twice the size of yours with the second set of "weed leaves" starting to grow. Im using a small space also with just 2 42 watt cfls right now. you may want to get ur plants closer to the light, mine were about 4 inches away, got them to about 2 inches away just a minute ago before the lights went out, so i guess we will see how that works in a few days. im also doing 18/6. as far as nutes, dont start feeding them for another 2 weeks AT LEAST! im gonna give mine about 3 weeks, but then again thats all deciding on how nice they veg. vegging pretty good right now, so i may be able to get away with 2 weeks. you dont wanna feed em too early or you will burn the babies to shit, they are kinda like humans. dont give em steroids until they are old enough and even if they are old enough, too much will hurt more than help. peace

Cool. But how about me having 5 plants in this bitch ass closet. Lol. I mean its decent for two plants but you think I'll be able to keep all 5 in there til veg and then find out what sex they are?? Or bad idea?? Oh and I have 4 23w cfls 6500k. Yeah i moved them closer to the lights right before the lights went off. Oh and another question that might be too early to ask but do you think that easing into the 12/12 would help them in vegging?? Like if one week i switched to 16/8 then the other 14/10 and finally 12/12. Idk what effect it would have on the plants so I'm just asking...

i have 6 plants in a smaller closet lol. an experimental grow with 5 2liter bottles and 1 20 oz bottle, just to see what i can do with it. Being that ive grown a bit, Im shooting for almost an ounce off of each plant in the 2 liter bottles. the other one i dont really care much what i yield off of it, but i think ill get a decent amount. all 6 of mine will be sexed in the small closet and whatever is female will finish its life in there, no matter how many of em. as for easing them onto 12/12, there are few that do that. personally i havent found it beneficial. tried it my first grow bc i was trying to play god wayyy too much lol. id just give em a dark period of 24 hours then go to 12/12(jmo, its what i do).