James' CFL Indoor Grow

Hi Guys

i need some help and advice on this one!

I currently have a 300w cfl bulb running on half capacity (half the elements work) due to its failure. So i will assume this means i got 150w of dual spectrum (1x blue/red lamp) light pumping out! I am am going to get this replaced though as it was a faulty good on arrival! This means i will have this lamp back up to 300w which will be good. Yet i am still wondering hwether or not ot invest in another 125w red spectrum cfl. I will only be having ever at a maximum 4 plants under the lamp for now. Can anybody help me out here. How much w (from the 300w) is ging to ensure no light deficiences? How much w (from the 300w) is needed per plant?

Thanks guys!

Hey james, at this early stage you should be fine until your new bulb shows up. With CFL's, most people like at least 100 watts per plant. More is better. You can successfully grow 2 plants with 300 watts. But, you could probably improve your results by adding additional CFL's to the sides of your plants when they get bigger.

My current grow is Easyryder, Pakistan Ryder and Top 69 (for the autos) and I just dropped a Kandy Kush (regular) seed into the dirt. It's the top link in my signature. Cheers!

Thanks Pablo appreciate the realness ofteh figures you provide! Extremely helpful! The pakistan ryder is just starting to show above the soil in a knot! Hopefully the WW and lowryder2 will son follow suit!

Pablo i have a question. As i said i am most likely going to be buying a 125w cfl red additional lamp. I will pay for this on Monday and hopefully receive it on Tuesday! However, for the 300w lamp to be repaired i must ship it back to where i purchased it. I am posting it tomorrow on Monday for it to be delivered the next day on Tuesday to the hydro-store so they can send me a replacement. The earliest i could receive the 300w lamp back is technically Wednesday but more likely to be thursday or friday. The 125w red cfl lamp will hopefully be here as i said on Tuesday if im real lucky but lets say wednesday to be dramatic and realistic with the postal service service in all its glory!

So therefore, my plants are going to be left with no real light spurce for a minimum of 24 hours (pray!) up to 48 hours!!!!! Is this going to be a problem! I am going to supplement with as many desktop lamps as i can until i get a light back....probably around 2-3 of them. what you reckon?

I have also developed a trick for hanging the bulbs sidesways to get more light directed towards the plants...i will do this with both bulbs once i have them both! real easy using cable ties and a hanging hook or teloscopic bar from the ceiling! Perfect! Will post pics as when anything happens really that is worthwhile.


Oh well! Nice to see the Pakistan Ryder coming though the soil! Been around 50 hours now for both the autos and 34hrs for the WW!

I will be checking out yoru grows very soon Pablo and most definitely following your new one!

Peace

james2627 said:

So therefore, my plants are going to be left with no real light spurce for a minimum of 24 hours (pray!) up to 48 hours!!!!! Is this going to be a problem! I am going to supplement with as many desktop lamps as i can until i get a light back....probably around 2-3 of them. what you reckon?

Peace

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Disclaimer: I am not an indoor grower and I'm basically parroting advice/info I've gleaned from this site. I purchased the CFL's and related equipment to do an indoor grow - but chose to stay with outdoors.

I would suggest posting this question to the CFL growers forum: https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/

Plenty of folks with more knowledge about CFL growing than myself read and post there. My initial thoughts are that your soon-to-be seedlings will be just fine without a day (or 2) of CFL lighting. Hell, you could put them in a windowsill for a day. But, I'd hate to steer you wrong on this one. Best of luck!

I thought the same to be honest. Couple of days maximum isnt going to cause bad problems...im thinking of just cancelling my online rder and going to a store to buy the 125w cfl....

I'll keep them on a windowsill or something similar. Will be fine your right. The only reasons for my panic is that i like to think of the plant life cycle in comparison to that of a childs. At this stage of growth i am very wary! Once they pull thrugh and shed their first leaves i will be more than happy! lol!

Peace

I wouldn't nute the LR until you start to see the bottom leaves begin to yellow which is usually when the show sex. I don't know what kind of space you have, but it you want it to be big and bushy then keep the lights up a bit until they show sex then bring me closer. That will make em strecth a little and avoid the "one big bud" plant. I have never grown with CFL keep in mind.

edcocks said:

I wouldn't nute the LR until you start to see the bottom leaves begin to yellow which is usually when the show sex. I don't know what kind of space you have, but it you want it to be big and bushy then keep the lights up a bit until they show sex then bring me closer. That will make em strecth a little and avoid the "one big bud" plant. I have never grown with CFL keep in mind.

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Cool man appreciate that info bout the nutes and lights. Think im gonna put both of those ideas into action. Would like the LR to grow tall as possible so added some nutes to the soil before planting root tips and not gonna give any nutes until late stages. Most definitely want to avoid one big bud plant!

Thanks for the advise!


Peace

Ok everyone all three seedlings had emerged from the soil by the time i woke up this morning! Looking good so far! Will be ordering my new 125w CFL lamp today and am waiting for the 300w CFL lamp to be collected for repair. I will have my red cfl 125w on Wednesday most likely and the 300w cfl back in action on thursday. So the plants are going to have to survive with no real light source for a couple of days! I'm sure they will be fine and thank me for the extra light eventually! After the purchase of the red cfl and a few other toys and gadgets i am awaiting to arrive my kit will be full for this grow apart from purchasing an oscillating 9" or 12" fan to be placed somewhere helpful for my grow closet.

Peace

james2627 said:

Ok everyone all three seedlings had emerged from the soil by the time i woke up this morning! Looking good so far! Will be ordering my new 125w CFL lamp today and am waiting for the 300w CFL lamp to be collected for repair. I will have my red cfl 125w on Wednesday most likely and the 300w cfl back in action on thursday. So the plants are going to have to survive with no real light source for a couple of days! I'm sure they will be fine and thank me for the extra light eventually! After the purchase of the red cfl and a few other toys and gadgets i am awaiting to arrive my kit will be full for this grow apart from purchasing an oscillating 9" or 12" fan to be placed somewhere helpful for my grow closet.

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Hey man, Yea I wouldn't worry too much about the light situation if its only gunna be a couple of days... Or even if it was longer it shouldnt matter too much... But they should have SOME sort of light source if its going to be any longer than a couple of days. Just put em next to the window - thats fine for em in my experience. I grow with cfl's and have always produced nice bud but it is true about the stretching with Lowryder. My first grow Lowryder was just one big bud haha but its a learning curve
About nutes - Again from experience - it is SO EASY TO BURN THE BABIES!!!! When seedlings, I would recommend using very dilluted nutes. Once they are bigger it aint so bad but BE CAREFUL!!! Thats not to say don't feed em, just dont give them the fully grown strength nute solution

Lookin forward to the next few weeks

Peace

Hey reggaesauce!

Thanks for the advice. Definitely not going to be really adding any nutes until maybe the end of this week. Added a mild concentration in the soil before i planted them and using nice soil so they will be fine nute wise for a while. Almost too scared to burn the lowryders than to give them anything worthwhile, this will probably be an ongoing problem lol!

All three plants are now showing signs of their first leaves above the soil. They have actually performed best when left in the dark so far lol but gonna sit them up by the window for a couple of days to make sure they get some light. Happy about that as i planted the lowryders on Friday 6pm and the WW on Saturday at 4pm.

When would you recommend i starting adding bio-bizz grow to the plant and how many ml's per litre? The bottle advises 2-5ml per litre.

How far away should i hang the CFL from the seedlings/plants during the first two weeks to stretch them out? Or is two weeks not long enough and would you go for three weeks to stetch em nicely?

Cheers.

Sean

james2627 said:

When would you recommend i starting adding bio-bizz grow to the plant and how many ml's per litre? The bottle advises 2-5ml per litre.

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Hey man, to be honest I have never used bio-bizz nutes, I use Canna. But, assuming its the same principal, giving them maybe 1ml per litre once they have established their first set of leaves should be ok... But as I said, I haven't used bio-bizz nutes so I don't know how strong they are!! But as a general rule of thumb, feed em 1/4 of the "advised" dose when they are seedlings, then build it up. You'll get to know how much to give as you get used to the plant - while nute burn is a pain in the ass its not the end of the world (most of the time). Believe me I've been there lol and after your first grow you'll know how much is "too much"...!

james2627 said:

How far away should i hang the CFL from the seedlings/plants during the first two weeks to stretch them out? Or is two weeks not long enough and would you go for three weeks to stetch em nicely?

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There is a great article on here that I read a while back about growing with cfl's. I thinks it litterally called summin like "Guide to growing with cfl's" haha but I usually have them maybe 2-3 inches away then move them further away as they grow. Again, trial and error my friend. Basically, if over a period of time it looks like the plant isn't bothering to grow upwards at all, move em further away. If the plant has a stalk worthy of a fairy tale then move em closer.

My indoor lowryder had such a growth spert over the last two days its made me very happy!!! (that tiny son of a bitch just didnt wanna grow for ages!!)

Anyway, I think i've rambled on here long enough. Dunno if you think I've answered ur question or not....!!?? Just ask away man and I'll try to answer with my limited knowledge

Peace

haha reggae sauce! Sounds like you really learnt the hard way! Anyway i am really grateful for your contribution towards my grow and all your help is more than welcome!

Ok when i get my 300w CFL back (its out for replacement) i will put it a few inches away from the plant and will try to respond to the plants demands by now and again changing the lights to slightly further away! Eventually how far should the lights go at a maximumaway from the light. Say i started the lights at 2-4 inches away from the plants. Then by week two say how far away should they be hanging from the plants. Give me any form of measurement you are comfortable with (", cm, mm, ft) and i can convert if necessary!

Will be posting some pics up later today of all three plants and their progress so far! Also going to be going through your BB auto and lowryders when i get a chance!

Cheers man!

Ok guys here are the most up-to-date pics!

This is day 3 for the lowryder#2 and pakistan ryder and this is day 2 for the WW.

Lookin good mate

Time for a and a cuppa me thinks

Spot on boomdiddly! I think ill be joining you on that one!

Enjoy!

Do people really drink that much tea in the UK? Love me some Earl Grey.

hey james, what reggae said about how close you can be to a light is right, but I think you might only be able to be that close with a 125watt CFL, I know that 250 300watt CFL's are considerably hotter! and you dont want to heat stress/burn your plants.. just worth reading up a bit first, CFL info is in the CFL sub forum in INDOOR GROWING>

i use my hand to test how warm the light is, so put my hand roughly where the plant will be and if its too hot for me then i think it will probs be a bit hot for the babies!

peace

and yes, we really do drink that much tea in england... perfect combo: splee, cuppa tea and a muffin/bakewell tart mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tasty....

pabloesqobar said:

Do people really drink that much tea in the UK? Love me some Earl Grey.

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Hi Pablo! Here is an interesting article for you! Apparently tea is the fuel of Britain still! Healthier than water!!! How d all those really old english people survie on tea well heres your ansser buddy lol:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5281046.stm

dit said:

hey james, what reggae said about how close you can be to a light is right, but I think you might only be able to be that close with a 125watt CFL, I know that 250 300watt CFL's are considerably hotter! and you dont want to heat stress/burn your plants.. just worth reading up a bit first, CFL info is in the CFL sub forum in INDOOR GROWING>

i use my hand to test how warm the light is, so put my hand roughly where the plant will be and if its too hot for me then i think it will probs be a bit hot for the babies!

peace

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Thanks DIT. I will try to use this concept and measure the heat with my hands. Will do a bit of experimenting with height of the lamp but definitely will be hanging the lamp further away to start to avoid this infamous first time lowryder one big bud plant!