My first closet grow, much needed help!!

Welcome! and thank you for taking a look,

Well firstly, i want to start off by saying that this is my first grow ive ever attempted so i am still in the process of learning and experiencing new things. These plants were givin to me at 4 weeks old and one of them was 3 weeks. I've had them for 2 weeks now and been have taking quiet good care of them and doing everything i can do in my situation. There in good pots with soil i bought at home depot and i added percilite to the mixture.

Well my setup is basically based of home materials and minimumally under 50$ invested into equipment. So its not a super pro closet setup some of you might be thinking.
I know i definatly need better lights and im going to invest in them soon but till then i am using 100W bulbs (3), on four plants that i am growing. I am wondering how long this will last as far as there grow process because i know when they start flowering there is going to be a diffrent cycle needed.
There is a good consistancy of breeze though, bottom right there is a fan that is blowing air and giving them a good consistancy of air flow and there always moving nicely.
How long might this setup last? Whats needed.




my question is : Will my plants survive at the rate there going? and i cant really afford right now a full metal ballast setup so what should i do ?

Well not much you can do without more lumens. To ensure you get the most for what you have, get those cfls as close as possible without burning the leaves. You should be able to get them about 6 inches away from the leaves. Those shades around the bulbs could go if you get them close and that will allow the heat to dissipate into the air more efficiently. I suggest you get a ballast and light off ebay asap though CFLs have a good wavelength for veg but lack the red spectrum for budding.

Look into T5 HO florescents, you'll get a better yield than cfl's and they don't cost so much, make sure you get 3000K lamps for bloom, they come with 6500K lamps for veg, replace that aluminum foil ( if that's what it is ) with flat white poster boards you can purchase in any stationary store like staples it reflects better than foil.....good luck with your grow.

^^^ Do this. T5 is the way to go.

I am also on my first grow i am now a few weeks into flowering. when i first started i didnt know what to do, i was just excited to see a sprout. i tried very different methods for cheap lighting systems. went with this costed about 30$ spent maybe 60$ including my veg and flowering lights. i put a 2 way in each side. used 4 42watt (200w per) 6500k for veg, and now useing 2 42watt (200w per) 2700k, and 4 26watt (100w per) 2700k side lighting. i heard using a mix of 6500k and 2700k cfl lights works wonders. i had 3 plants going under this light untill sex. 2 were males now just rocking a female. but i would defiantly get more lights

also u can use emergency blankets as reflector.
put the cfl lights closer to the plants. my cfls are about 3inches away from sides and top.

I am a newbie and i am just really high atm. figured id to put my 2 cents in plants look great and good luck on your grow.

I just harvested 3/4 - 1 oz from my single LST'd plant, and I was using 3 23w cfl, 2 13w cfl and a 15w led panel, about 110w total. you want to get about 200w minimum for those 3 plants. the wattage you are stating, is that the equivalent wattage or the used wattage? im thinkin those are 23w bulbs, get some 'y' splitters and another pack of bulbs. then, get those reflectors off and get those lights no more than about 4" away. cfl bulbs do work quite well, you just have to make sure all the lumens are being used. cfls are only efficient for growing when they are close to the plant..... so ya, get some more bulbs and some 'y' splitters. you'll be set! keep it up!!

You need to crank up the wattage, a lot. For the same amount of space I use 10-40W 6500K's during veg. That's the equivalent of 20 of your current bulbs.

Thank you guys this is helping me a bunch and i've made good adjustments and going to make more soon.

Longarms, the Y splitters is a brilliant Idea and im going to get on that immideatly. so then ill be running 6 bulbs on 4 plants. But what should the wattage be for the CFL's during flowering period which im starting in less than a week?


Also yes, i will be changing the reflecting paper and hopefully be getting T5 lights not to long.

Caliweed760 said:

Thank you guys this is helping me a bunch and i've made good adjustments and going to make more soon.

Longarms, the Y splitters is a brilliant Idea and im going to get on that immideatly. so then ill be running 6 bulbs on 4 plants. But what should the wattage be for the CFL's during flowering period which im starting in less than a week?
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Forgot to add, your plants are severely stretching due to lack of light. All of that space in-between your nodes is being wasted, bulbs need to be much closer and you'll need more than 6. I don't flower with CFL's b/c they give off absolutely zero UV light, but plenty here do so. Without proper UV light spectrum, the terpenes(which are essential oils in THC)do not develop fully. That's the huge drawback of CFL growing, and why I now supplement with an HPS.

i got 1000watt equivalent (252 actual watts) in 10 bulbs. with 17,000 lumens for 1 plant all 2700k

Sunbiz1 said:

Forgot to add, your plants are severely stretching due to lack of light. All of that space in-between your nodes is being wasted, bulbs need to be much closer and you'll need more than 6. I don't flower with CFL's b/c they give off absolutely zero UV light, but plenty here do so. Without proper UV light spectrum, the terpenes(which are essential oils in THC)do not develop fully. That's the huge drawback of CFL growing, and why I now supplement with an HPS.

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Your wrong about that, they do but the UV rays are intercepted by a phosphor coating that absorbs the energy and re-emits them as visible light, of course some UV gets through. Which would make in fact possible for them to flower with 6 or 8 CFL's on them. I do realize they stretched. I also think one or two might be a male. I added photos let me know what you think. They still have spider mites too and ill be curing soon. You think i shuld ditch these plants?

Caliweed760 said:

Your wrong about that, they do but the UV rays are intercepted by a phosphor coating that absorbs the energy and re-emits them as visible light, of course some UV gets through. Which would make in fact possible for them to flower with 6 or 8 CFL's on them. I do realize they stretched. I also think one or two might be a male. I added photos let me know what you think. They still have spider mites too and ill be curing soon. You think i shuld ditch these plants?
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Well I'll be damned, upon further review I found this:

"According to the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) in 2008, CFLs may pose an added health risk due to the ultraviolet and blue light emitted. This radiation could aggravate symptoms in people who already suffer skin conditions that make them exceptionally sensitive to light. The light produced by some single-envelope CFLs at distances of less than 20 cm could lead to ultraviolet exposures approaching the current workplace limit set to protect workers from skin and retinal damage. Industry sources claim the UV radiation received from CFLs is too small to contribute to skin cancer and the use of double-envelope CFLs "largely or entirely" mitigates any other risks.[SUP][48][/SUP]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

How much they give off I have no idea, but I'll now be wearing sunglasses.

Edit: I never ditch plants unless they pose a risk to healthy ones...but have never experienced spider mites either. Your first set of pics show 4 plants, all looking fairly healthy considering the insect infestation.

Yeah there all good and healthy and im trying to flower them soon once theses spider mties go. But i was wondering if my plants were males. I see like single hairs coming out in all of them . but 2 have buldges at the stem bases looking but maybe not, they look like there kinda growing bud there too so i cant tell.

Pics are too blurry to even see any pre-sex. But, I don't even trust my own eye on that b/c I'm not about to toss what I think may be a male without flipping it first to confirm.

You might want to re-post the spider mite issue under plant problems, many folks here have had them and could probably assist.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/603983-first-cfl-grow-journal-blue.html#post8438161

Here's my grow journal for these plants if anyone is interested! Cheers and thank you for all the help