Growing Mids with CFL (Experiment)

thc1114

thc1114

Member
I got 4 more cfls today so now i have a total of 8 26 watt cfls. Thats 208 watts total and 12800 lumens. I have had the extra lights in for maybe a few hours and i can already see that they are growing faster! i Didnt get a fan today so im just going to keep my box open. The temp stays around 78 with it open in my closet. Ill try and stop by walmart tomorrow to get a fan for a descent price.
 

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thc1114

thc1114

Member
Over the past week the plants have built up a lot more structure and are growing at a very steady pace, but a good pace. They look the healthiest that they ever have looked. I rigged up a cooling fan setup which is seen in the pics. When adding this setup the temp dropped to about 87 when it was around 96 before which explains the curling leaves.

As i was adding more soil to the plants today, i turned off the original fan so there was less risk of a mess. I did the soil thing for about 30 min. and noticed that the temp dropped to about 82 when i was done. So i will be keeping that fan off for now maybe turning it on every now and then to give the plants some added wind.(the other fan does not produce much wind but obviously much cooler air)

I am pretty confident that this will be the last week of vegging and then its time for 12/12. I plan on topping half of the plants halfway through the week. I want to see if the topped or reg plants yield the most. I am really hoping that i get at least 4 females but not more than 6 so i can get a good amount of light to each girl.

enjoy the pics as well:bigjoint: Peace, Love, and Green.
 

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ent931

ent931

Well-Known Member
thc1114 said:
Over the past week the plants have built up a lot more structure and are growing at a very steady pace, but a good pace. They look the healthiest that they ever have looked. I rigged up a cooling fan setup which is seen in the pics. When adding this setup the temp dropped to about 87 when it was around 96 before which explains the curling leaves.

As i was adding more soil to the plants today, i turned off the original fan so there was less risk of a mess. I did the soil thing for about 30 min. and noticed that the temp dropped to about 82 when i was done. So i will be keeping that fan off for now maybe turning it on every now and then to give the plants some added wind.(the other fan does not produce much wind but obviously much cooler air)

I am pretty confident that this will be the last week of vegging and then its time for 12/12. I plan on topping half of the plants halfway through the week. I want to see if the topped or reg plants yield the most. I am really hoping that i get at least 4 females but not more than 6 so i can get a good amount of light to each girl.

enjoy the pics as well:bigjoint: Peace, Love, and Green.
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dude for dat to be mids or whatever dat shit looks really good i will definitely get a grow box next time...and also if u do grow with seeds from a seedbank try to get a good sativa like Super lemon haze and a good indica like afghan kush or something good like that
 
thc1114

thc1114

Member
ent931 said:
dude for dat to be mids or whatever dat shit looks really good i will definitely get a grow box next time...and also if u do grow with seeds from a seedbank try to get a good sativa like Super lemon haze and a good indica like afghan kush or something good like that
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Thanks dude i appreciate it. Yeah im thinkin for my next grow ima get some dank shit, like white widow, ak47, or big bud and LST it. I did a little googling of LST and i think i can do it for sure with a really good yield.

I was also wondering if anyone knew how long i was going to have to flower? I was guessin 8 weeks but i didnt know if my plants being small made a difference in the budding process.
 
ent931

ent931

Well-Known Member
thc1114 said:
Thanks dude i appreciate it. Yeah im thinkin for my next grow ima get some dank shit, like white widow, ak47, or big bud and LST it. I did a little googling of LST and i think i can do it for sure with a really good yield.

I was also wondering if anyone knew how long i was going to have to flower? I was guessin 8 weeks but i didnt know if my plants being small made a difference in the budding process.
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man i learned that u can never go by number when u grow weed go by how the trichs are looking when they start turning milky white(head high) or when they turn amber(couch lock) thats when its ready to harvest
 
thc1114

thc1114

Member
ent931 said:
man i learned that u can never go by number when u grow weed go by how the trichs are looking when they start turning milky white(head high) or when they turn amber(couch lock) thats when its ready to harvest
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haha ok thats cool. Then maybe ill harvest half or so at each time cause i love both of those highs...lol. I guess ill just get one of those pocket microscopes around 6 weeks of flowering.
 
spiralstaircase13

spiralstaircase13

Well-Known Member
i think flowering is one of those things that no matter how long it takes its longer than you want it to be cuz your just so damn excited. lol. unfortunately i had to harvest my last grow sooner than i would have liked. would have been nice to see what it could have been if i could have been able to let it go longer. was still a good smoke tho :)
 
thc1114

thc1114

Member
Alright i am stoked to start flowering the plants. Over the coarse of last week i gradually changed the light cycle until last night which was the first night of 12 hours of darkness. I took out all the daylight bulbs and replaced them all with 2700K bulbs. I had 8 26 watt cfls in there for a total of 208 watts. Now i have four 30 watt cfls and four, mac daddy 40 watt cfls for a total of 280 watts. Also a total of 18400 lumens.

When i woke up this morning i had discovered 2 females for sure and one male. Females names are That Ho and Sweet Thang. I tossed the male out today so i could concentrate my light on potential fems. I really think that gradually changing the light cycle will help the plants show sex faster than straight up switching from 18/6 to 12/12. Haha and i also woke up to one of my plants touching a cfl this morning(Pic 6). When i went to bed it was at least 3 inches away from the cfl. It grew a bit you could say. It burnt a couple of fans on one leaf but no big deal i think. I just gotta be more cautious.

It was nice to get to observe the male up close though. The roots were reaching towards the edge of the pot but had plenty of room for growing, and the root system was about as big as the plant was. I am really glad this plant was a male, it was one of the more skimpy plants.

My camera is not good enough to get close up shots of sexed plants but i will get a mag. glass and hopefully post some more detailed pics then. Enjoy these for now. Peace, Love, and Green:leaf:
 

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itsgrowinglikeaweed

itsgrowinglikeaweed

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Nice looking plants. You should keep some of the 6500K bulbs in there. Mixed spectrum is better than just red (2700K). Using just red(HPS) and /or just blue(metal halide) is what HID growers do. CFL growers can easily provide full spectrum light. If you leave some of the blue light in there the plants will stretch less during the 1st 3 weeks of flower, and you'll get much better buds overall.
 
spiralstaircase13

spiralstaircase13

Well-Known Member
itsgrowinglikeaweed said:
Nice looking plants. You should keep some of the 6500K bulbs in there. Mixed spectrum is better than just red (2700K). Using just red(HPS) and /or just blue(metal halide) is what HID growers do. CFL growers can easily provide full spectrum light. If you leave some of the blue light in there the plants will stretch less during the 1st 3 weeks of flower, and you'll get much better buds overall.
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i also agree with using a mixture of cfls. in nature plants actually receive different kinds of light depending on what time of day it is. the light in the morning is cooler and changes to a warmer spectrum as the day goes on. and it can help save a little money on bulbs as you can continue using bulbs from veg into flower. i don't know if any of that makes sense, but as a photography major, knowing about and understanding differences in light are really important. lol. anyway, i'm done rambling. your plants are looking really good, so keep it up!
 
thc1114

thc1114

Member
Ok thanks for the advise itsgrowinglikeaweed. I looked at your first journal and i must say that i am impressed. I hope my plants end up looking close to what yours did. I wanted to lick the crystals right off your buds....haha. But how many cfls should i put back in from veg. or should i add them. lol actually i already made up my mind, i think i will go get another light socket or two and add some instead of replacing them.

Also i found another female today and another male i think. Ill let the potential male sit another day to confirm it.
 
itsgrowinglikeaweed

itsgrowinglikeaweed

Well-Known Member
thc1114 said:
Ok thanks for the advise itsgrowinglikeaweed. I looked at your first journal and i must say that i am impressed. I hope my plants end up looking close to what yours did. I wanted to lick the crystals right off your buds....haha. But how many cfls should i put back in from veg. or should i add them. lol actually i already made up my mind, i think i will go get another light socket or two and add some instead of replacing them.

Also i found another female today and another male i think. Ill let the potential male sit another day to confirm it.
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Thank you, and you're welcome. You've got the right idea. Add them instead of replace them if you can. Your plants are going to get bigger and will want more light anyway. Add them as you go.
Congrats on the female. Killing off the males is always tough lol. I hear you with the extra day or two to be sure.
:leaf:Happy growing.:leaf:
 
ent931

ent931

Well-Known Member
i dont think ur plants will get u high like mids its prolly gonna get u way higher than that lol
 
thc1114

thc1114

Member
Wow what an incredible week! The plants have shown much progress and even little buds are starting to form. My two biggest plants are showing the best and they are in most of the pictures.

I only wanted 6 females at first so i could have enough room for lighting in the flowering stage but i ended up with 7! Damn i ended out getting pretty lucky. Since i got 7 i decided to train the smallest one. I tied her all up right before the lights went out tonight. I did the LST so i could lower the height and fit it in the middle of all the other six plants. It will be fun watching her (Wanda) over the next few days. Her side colas were growing pretty good at the time anyways.

Here are the pics i said id post. Enjoy. Peace, Love and Green:blsmoke:
 

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ent931

ent931

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dude where did u get the light fixture that holds all those light like that i need something like that
 
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