New grower, is my setup ok? specifically the lights (pictures)

I am quite new at growing, so I may need some advice as to how I can improve my design and stuff. I am using 8xcfl 23 watt lights (half 2700k, half 5000k). My grow box is small, maybe 1.5x2.5 and I covered the inside with white paper. The pots are fairly small as well, 8.3 inches in diameter and I plan on using them from start to finish. I just have a few questions:

1. Are the lights enough and are they close enough to the plant? From my research I gathered that 6 of the lights I have would be enough but I went ahead and hung 2 more above the rest.

2. I am not looking for huge plants but the pots should be big enough right?

3. I watered the soil after I put the seeds maybe an inch or half an inch into the soil but it already feels dry and I am to afraid to water them until tomorrow (put maybe a quart, probably less in each pot)

4. I don't have any fans or anything running because the lights I have don't really put off any heat should I still have a fan just to move air around or am I fine?

5. Is there anything you have noticed that I may be missing?

Thank you so much if you help me out!
Pictures:

That will be enough light for a small harvest. You may want to think about eventually reconfiguring the bulbs to be more even across the canopy once the plants begin growing. Right now, the 2 lights in the back and the 2 suspended over top aren't going to do much at all.

The pots are big enough for the amount of light you have. Normally, I use smaller pots for seedlings and transplant into larger ones after a couple weeks of growth (once the roots are visible in the bottom of the pot). This allows me to better control soil moisture content and promote healthy root development.

Did you germinate the seeds prior to placing them in soil? An inch is typically too deep. However, they will eventually climb out of the soil. My first watering after placing seeds in soil is from the bottom up and I ensure the medium is completely saturated. I normally don't have to water again until the seeking is completely out of soil. If it feels dry where the seed is and you see nothing happening, then add a bit of water.

You should have a small fan gently blowing across the plants once they sprout to help develop strong stems.

What's your light schedule? Are they fem seeds? What soil are you using? Do you already have a plan to completely light proof that little box when you flip your lights? What are your temps like?

Temperatures would concern me the most. My temps were in the 30c mark with two 23w CFL's in a similar size space.

-Temperatures
-Those CFL's have the majority of their light intensity focused in a frontal cone
-You want a high ratio of 5000k:2700k for veg, and the opposite for flower(maybe go 3:1)
-You will need something to exhaust/remove the hot air from the enclosure, get a small computer fan running on the top somewhere
-Cut a small intake near the bottom for negative air pressure
-Get a temperature/humidity gauge
-It's easier to germinate seeds in a plastic cup/paper towel
-Use your hand as a guide to how far the lights should be from the plant; if it's hot for your hand it's hot for your plants.
-Are you going to adjust the height of those side lights? I don't see much room to allow a plant to grow there

I'm assuming you have a front door for this thing? You will need to find a way to make this space completely light-proof for the 12/12 flower cycle.

Iim a new grower as well but from what little I know it looks like you're wasting a lot of light, it's all misdirected all over the box. Try using reflectors to focus more light towards the plans!

also what kind of soil are you using? It could be retaining to much water, did water drain out from the bottom or none at all?

CokeyoDrips said:

That will be enough light for a small harvest. You may want to think about eventually reconfiguring the bulbs to be more even across the canopy once the plants begin growing. Right now, the 2 lights in the back and the 2 suspended over top aren't going to do much at all.

The pots are big enough for the amount of light you have. Normally, I use smaller pots for seedlings and transplant into larger ones after a couple weeks of growth (once the roots are visible in the bottom of the pot). This allows me to better control soil moisture content and promote healthy root development.

Did you germinate the seeds prior to placing them in soil? An inch is typically too deep. However, they will eventually climb out of the soil. My first watering after placing seeds in soil is from the bottom up and I ensure the medium is completely saturated. I normally don't have to water again until the seeking is completely out of soil. If it feels dry where the seed is and you see nothing happening, then add a bit of water.

You should have a small fan gently blowing across the plants once they sprout to help develop strong stems.

What's your light schedule? Are they fem seeds? What soil are you using? Do you already have a plan to completely light proof that little box when you flip your lights? What are your temps like?

Click to expand...

Do you think I could harvest around 3 ounces total for both plants? That is kind of my goal. And yes I did germinate the seeds and them placed them in the soil. And I will probably place a few pc fans in there (got tons around since I build servers, computers, etc... all the time). As far as your other questions I plan on leaving the light on 24/7 until I switch to the 12/12 cycle. They are lsd weed feminine seeds (supposed to be a high yield plant and disease resistant plus really potent). I didn't have much money so my soil choices were what was at home depot and they only had to organic ones, and the one other than the miracle grow had even worse reviews so I just grabbed the miracle grow organic stuff. I do not have a door but it is in the closes and we have black out curtains which literally allow no light in the closest so I was hoping that would be ok. Plus when I switch to the 12/12 cycle the dark cycle will run mostly through the night anyways. And the temps are pretty much the same everywhere in my home, we keep it around 70-83 degrees and I have not measured the box but I have kept sticking my hand in there and it doesn't feel hot at all, pretty much the same as the rest of the home.

Shaded420 said:

Temperatures would concern me the most. My temps were in the 30c mark with two 23w CFL's in a similar size space.

-Temperatures
-Those CFL's have the majority of their light intensity focused in a frontal cone
-You want a high ratio of 5000k:2700k for veg, and the opposite for flower(maybe go 3:1)
-You will need something to exhaust/remove the hot air from the enclosure, get a small computer fan running on the top somewhere
-Cut a small intake near the bottom for negative air pressure
-Get a temperature/humidity gauge
-It's easier to germinate seeds in a plastic cup/paper towel
-Use your hand as a guide to how far the lights should be from the plant; if it's hot for your hand it's hot for your plants.
-Are you going to adjust the height of those side lights? I don't see much room to allow a plant to grow there

I'm assuming you have a front door for this thing? You will need to find a way to make this space completely light-proof for the 12/12 flower cycle.

Click to expand...

I can easily adjust the height of the lights by undoing the tie straps and just cutting new holes higher on the box and raising the lights which was my plan. And as far as grow room if the plants get to tall I was just going to cut the top of the box and take wood and put them on the sides like support. And with that I was just going to attach more cardboard to the top to essentially make it taller. I am somewhat concerned that it isn't wide enough though do you think that is a problem? As far as the light proof thing I mentioned the curtains and I think that would do the trick.

FLgrower21 said:

Iim a new grower as well but from what little I know it looks like you're wasting a lot of light, it's all misdirected all over the box. Try using reflectors to focus more light towards the plans!

also what kind of soil are you using? It could be retaining to much water, did water drain out from the bottom or none at all?

Click to expand...

I just am so broke and have little money for things like reflectors . I am on a really low budget and am down to basically nothing now. I feel like I am wasting light on the open part but If I close it I feel like there would be no ventilation. And when I watered it I used a little less than half a gallon of distilled water for both pots. And water did run out of the bottom (thought it was around 20% of what I poured which I heard was what you wanted).

I understand completely I'm in the very beginning phases so I'm deciding on how I want my grow room to be like considering the cost of all the materials.

as far as the reflectors you can use tin foil!!! I watched a video on maximizing your light use age by making reflectors

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tMp8xzyw6ms

theres the link right there, the guys minds funny actually but take a look at what he used for reflectors!

Hope this helps

LOL that guy is pretty funny to listen to and watch. I am going to do the foil thing to see if I can direct the light so awesome that works because I already have foil. He made me sad when he said the 23w lights were worthless but its all I got so hopefully it will do the job. I literally can't buy anything else otherwise I won't be able to pay rent so any advice needs to be free and that was free so cool!

And apparently I can't spell closet or then so sorry for my grammar mistakes I just type so fast and never proof read anything.

I got you man any help is always a lot of help in growing !

I wouldn't say the 23w are useless, they just aren't the best for anything beyond seed or supplementing veg.

I think you may have been right about the temps shaded420. It is getting a little bit hotter, maybe up to 5 degrees hotter than the rest of my home. I went ahead and put foil over the very top to lights and the back lights in a way that I feel it is directing it towards the pots better so hopefully that may help a bit. I have noticed though the foil kind of gets hot is there anything I should worry about? I don't know how foil reacts to extreme temperatures over time so I was just wondering. I will take new pictures when my camera charges. Also I put books underneath the pots to get them closer to the lights. I am going to do what you advised and put some pc fans in there, on on the top of the box as an exhaust and something low as an intake. I have no ac to dc adapters but I plan on using a power supply from a computer or something. I am sure a lot of people on here know this but obviously a power supply won't work if the 20/24pin male connector is disconnected from the female connector. But if you take a paper clip and stick it in a green and black pin on the connector it tricks it essentially so it will work.

You have to understand that the aluminum foil is actually just bouncing/reflecting the heat back inside of your box, which is why we recommended getting a decent exhaust fan and maybe painting the inside of the box white(which will reflect light but won't reflect much heat). The main thing is you don't want your plants to be above 85f or 27c. If you are limited for space on the sides I would recommend moving all of your lights to the top of the box and have them pointing downwards at the plants.

Good tip with the computer power supply, maybe something like this would interest you: http://www.coolerguys.com/840556096955.html

Other people have also stripped 12v phone chargers and spliced them together with the power connector coming out of PC case fans. I would do this except a) I am not an electrician and b) I don't mess around with anything that could cause a short/spark.

Yes I am right on the ventilation thing. What sucks is all my spare computer parts are back home with my father because I had just so much of it I couldn't bring it and it is like an hour drive. And I know I have like three power supplies which I always kept for when I drained and refilled my liquid cooling systems I built for my pc's and xbox 360. I may try the phone charger thing though since I have a few of those I do not use. Here are some new pictures the only difference really is the foil and the books (which I don't think you can see). Foil is a pain to work with...

Also how long does it usually take for the plant to start coming up from out of the soil? It has been almost exactly 24 hours since I put the germinated seeds in the soil. I thought it took around 1-3 days is this correct?

Looks a lot better, but I would definitely try to get the lights on the very top of the box if possible. Those CFL's are tricky; it looks as though the light would "blossom" out from the center of the light, but the way they are designed they actually give light off in a cone that spreads out from the very top of the bulb.

You are losing precious lumens and kelvins simply because your lights are facing horizontal instead of vertically downwards towards the soil.

hmmm.... you have just inspired me with an awesome idea. I am going to build a horizontal platform thingy majig which can be lowered and raised as needed. Sweet! I totally have this pictured just give me a day or two and I should have the fan thing and this platform thing built. And this horizontal platform thingy majig will allow me to mount the power strips so that ALL of the lights face down directly onto the plants. And this may even allow me to get rid of that annoying foil. Thank you so much I wish there was rep on here so I could +rep all you guys.

Keep us updated with pics of the progress! It's pretty exciting building your own grow space.

Well here was my new idea which has now come to life. I pretty much just cut out the top of the box and used bamboo sticks I found outside to support the lights pointing downwards on the plants. Whenever I need the lights to be raised I simply cut holes for the bamboo in a higher place which will raise my horizontal platform thingy majig!

FLgrower21 said:

I understand completely I'm in the very beginning phases so I'm deciding on how I want my grow room to be like considering the cost of all the materials.

as far as the reflectors you can use tin foil!!! I watched a video on maximizing your light use age by making reflectors

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tMp8xzyw6ms

theres the link right there, the guys minds funny actually but take a look at what he used for reflectors!

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

Tin foil is an awful reflector of light, its very inefficient.

MUCH higher light intensity!!!

Looks good

your new design is way better than the tin foil thing, the only problem you will face with that is that as your plants grow you may need to invest in some side lighting for lower growth.

When your growing with CFLs they are great in this figuration for the top of the canopy but as internodes will be very tight you will notice the foliage at the bottom will not receive much light, this is where you need side lighting.

Your alternative to that is when your about 1-2 weeks from flower lollipop 1/4 of the bottom of your plant wait a week lollipop another 1/4 then switch to flower. As the growth stretches continue to lollipop the bottom of your plant so the lights focus entirely on top growth.

In a small space with limited lumens this will provide the greatest cover for your bud sites (main colas) and stop you from getting a lot of popcorn nuggets.

If I read correctly you are using miracle grow? It is a good soil for veg as it is high in nitrogen but during flower you really have to be careful to get the right amount of nutrients as it is low in potassium. PH swings are also a consistent problem in some soil types so make sure you have a Soil PH meter or if you have digital test the run off of your water.

Seeds that have germinated if planted an inch down may take longer than 1-3 days to sprout, usually you want to place them about 1/2 an inch or less, I often plant seeds about 3-5mm under the surface, usually had high rates of sprouting like this.

If I can advise anything it would have to be to remain PATIENT, people often make mistakes because they rush into things without giving the plant its natural time to do its thing (myself included, made this mistake with over feeding nutrients in my hydro, put back my growth at least a week or more and had to baby them back to strong roots).

Also I don't see any perlite in your soil, did you add some? Cannabis likes an airy soil and perlite encourages run off and aeration.