First time grower in need of some critique

Setup:
1- 3x3x7 grow tent
2 - 4 foot 4 tube 32w T8's 6500k
3 - 27w cfl bulbs 5000k
1 - vent fan pulling air from outside' putting air at bottom with plants

As you can see its a small grow; budgeted. Worried bout the plant in the center as it isn't developing as the other 2. Just raised the lights to stimulate some more vertical growth. Light cycle went from 24/0 for the first 4 weeks to 16/8 past 3 weeks. Plants are 7 weeks from seed and about 14" tall. From research flowering should be done when plants are 18" - 24" tall. Soil is miracle grow potting soil, that says feeds plants up to 4 months; but was considering on using fox farm big bloom, grow big , and tiger bloom. Also considering taking a cutting from each of the big plants to clone.

overall opinions on the setup and plants? suggestions, do's & dont's? any idea as to what strain plants may be?

Your lights are way too high? CFL lower them to below 10 inches from the top. I would keep them around 8 inches from the top or as close as possible by putting my hand under the lights to see if my hand was warm or cool to the lights. CFL can never penetrate plants as well as HID. I believe you will get a more robust growth by keeping them as close as possible. They look healthy though, but you asked for a critique. I would invest in a HPS 400 watt or 600 watt light.

I agree with the lights, and you prob don't want stringy stretchy plants by raising the light. Your plants look happy and healthy... as for the middle one, some are just runts.

yeah id suggest getting those plants closer to your lights. Also make the jump to HPS or LED, i've personally grown with both and i can tell you now either way is good. I personally grow with LEDs for the fact that it saves a good chunk of money on the electricity bill as the lamps themselves are highly energy efficient as well as the fact that they don't put off NEAR the amounts of heat that HPS does meaning your ventilation does'nt have to do alot of work to keep the inside of your cab cool. Also i'd like to make a suggestion to your soil, everyone has different opinions on their soil mix but i'd highly recommend doing an equal parts mix of perlite, vermiculite, and worm castings. Its a low cost mix that has the perfect consistency for root systems to thrive in, in my opinion. Would also recommend looking into superoots airpots, they allow your root system to explode and you can get a plant that you would normally have from a 10gal regular pot, out of a 5g airpot.

Your middle plant looks to me like it is wanting some more nitrogen, when the whole plant begins to get get a lighter color such as yours it tends to signify that its wanting some more nitrogen. Looks like you have a pretty good beginning setup so far. Just get those plants as close to the lights as you can without burning, around the 8 inch mark like twisted said. Keep up the good work and good luck with your grow!

oh and since your a beginner growing even if you know id still like to throw this out there. DONT over water those babies, they will tell you when they need water when the leaves get a more limpy look. You dont necessarily need to let it get to that point but it wont hurt the plant at all. I usually just judge by the weight of my pots obviously they will feel much lighter when they are about ready for some more water. Don't over think and over complicate things and don't freak out at the first signs of something like nutrient burn or deficiency. Its all correctable when you catch it early. They are weeds and very strong durable plants. All you really need to do is provide water, nutes, and lights and let those babies do the rest

awesome thanks, i was actually looking at the led's due to their low electricity consumption... i found this http://www.dormgrow.com/600-watt-led-grow-light.html says its equal to the output of a 1000w hps system... would it be safe to say any 600w led system would be equivalent to the 1000w hps? More light the better, right? depending on the yield, i was considering stacking in 6 plants 2nd time around, would one 600w led light be enough light for 6 plants or would 2 be better?

These are just opions what has worked for me:
Lights lower..as you can see the overall consensus.
Plants in Veg require a higher nitrogen intake. Green veg. hold high nitrogen, so i use strain peas to raise my levels safe.
your doing fine with food, but fox farm ocean would be a better soil due to its nuts. worm casting are a plus and we use coconut shaving and chunks which helps maitain over watering and more.
as far as lights,
i have found over the years that a good grower will averg. 1 gram pr watt. normally its approx. 1/2 gram to a gram. A lot really depends on yeilds and i think no one can really predict because one infestaion can kill you or stress from a rolling out power outage can really fuck you up too.
Your fan is good but depending on how it comes in,
if its direct, it can pull in pests and dirt and more, so i would try to keep a filter before it hits the tent. we used a direct hose once and pulled in something that killed the tast and smell. kinda of sucked but still smoked well lol
enjoy

http://www.gothamhydroponics.com/led-grow-lights/lighthouse-hydro-blackstar-240w-led-grow-light-ho.html

to me this thing is equal to a 600w HPS. I've grown NICE beautiful plants under 1 135w blackstar before. I dont see any reason why you would'nt be able to grow 6 plants under a 600w led at all
If i was going to make a purchase of a LED that range i would look more towards this though
http://www.gothamhydroponics.com/led-grow-lights/lighthouse-hydro-blackstar-500w-led-grow-light-uv.html
or
http://www.gothamhydroponics.com/led-grow-lights/lighthouse-hydro-blackstar-600w-led-grow-light-uv.html

heres some pics of a few right before flowering under 135w blackstar

Two thumbs up on the airpots they are just badass. I also vote to lower the lights, CFL lights have good enough output but the intensity drops off quickly as you move away from the light. Led's yieldmasterled.com work well but MH/HPS are still the best.

Barrazaburnz said:

Two thumbs up on the airpots they are just badass. I also vote to lower the lights, CFL lights have good enough output but the intensity drops off quickly as you move away from the light. Led's yieldmasterled.com work well but MH/HPS are still the best.

Click to expand...

Im still going to stick with my belief that MH/HPS vs LED will yield the same results..if you use equivalent wattage. Theres most definitely a trade off and I certainly believe they are both very viable methods of growing i don't think production wise one is truely better than the other. I only prefer LED because of the cost of running them, their lifespan, and their much lower production of temperatures. The price is the offset here, for the price of a 1000w HPS equivalent LED you could buy your HPS setup plus ventilation. So In my OPINION they both cost roughly the same in the end to have either setup. Its the ongoing electric bill that makes the true difference

yeah def. get those lights closer dude, I would even add more also. IMO you should get a few "y" splitters and try and get 2 bulbs inbetween each plant for side lighting, and keep the other triple set you have there right on top.

looks good though, plants all look healthy to me.

switched into flowering a week ago. during that week i had my t8s with 6500k bulbs and my 3 bulb cfl chandelier with 2700k bulbs; putting out about 556 watts... went ahead and switched out the t8's for 3000k bulbs and added another 4 bulb (100watt 2700k) chandelier putting my watts at 956. This should be enough light for 3 plants right? I heard with regards to yield 1 watt should equal 1 gram, is this true for all lighting; hps, cfl, led?