Science's First CFL & Hydro Grow!

Hey guys,
first i would like to say that i love to grow.. even if i got 1 g per plant.. i'd still do it.. secondly, im in a mad rush and didnt have time to read your forum rules so take it easy on me if i break em..

k starting this journal 3 weeks in.. using cfls and experimenting with different additives.. if i am not clear enough please ask and i would love to answer your questions..

this is week 3 of vegging with 6 42w cfls.. i keep them almost touching the plant..

ill be updating this weekly and answering questions daily.. im pretty inexperienced as this is my second grow..



ohh..btw, i made everything.. i didnt buy any kits or anything lame like that.. and whats extra lame is the time it took to mod EVERYTHING to fit how i wanted.. even the power strips wouldnt fit over my drywall screws so i had to bore them out..

k so cfl's are beginning to be a pain in the ass and they are GREAT for vegging but im thinking about throwing a 250hps under there.. maybe leaving one under some cfl's for an experiment. also, one of my plants is getting big discolored patches. they cover most the lover leaves. not sure what caused it but to be able to nurture it i had to transplant all my babies from the cloner/seed starter to individual containers. the new growth hasnt shown this type of damage yet. ill post pics tomorrow..

also, my dead girl is showing signs of life after being dried out.. ill also post pics for this tomorrow too..

whoa dude i have almost tha exact same setup except i just have a dwc bucket system i made from sum micky d's pickel buckets lol. i use 3 40w cfls in my flower room and a 100 w mh security light for veg. imy flower room is 3x3 n my veg room is 6x3. can u help me out?

Sure. What's on your mind.

iamscience said:

Sure. What's on your mind.

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well right now ive got 16 plants that r 3 mnths from seeds that r in soil. i have a 2 gal bucket, lid, air pump, stone, net pot, bag of merical gro peralite and merical grow water solible nutriants. and want to build a dwc setup can u tell me if it will work?

juggalogrower said:

well right now ive got 16 plants that r 3 mnths from seeds that r in soil. i have a 2 gal bucket, lid, air pump, stone, net pot, bag of merical gro peralite and merical grow water solible nutriants. and want to build a dwc setup can u tell me if it will work?

Click to expand...

alright.. so i have only used miracle gr0w once and had very bad\pathetic results. if i were you i would switch to gen hydro.. its pretty cheap for everything including ph test on thebay.. secondly how big are your net pots? i dont use peralite either so ill recommend using grow pebbles.... everything else is pretty simple.. drill a hold in the lid, drop in your stone. cut a hole for the pot(i use 5 inch pots and noticed a difference with the bigger pots\better drainage.. not sure of your grow experience but you should keep close attention of your plants roots and the water level.. do not drowned them.. everything else is self explanatory.. if you hang tight til sunday i've got to get a few more in the ground and ill just write a tutorial for ya while i do it!

iamscience said:

alright.. so i have only used miracle gr0w once and had very bad\pathetic results. if i were you i would switch to gen hydro.. its pretty cheap for everything including ph test on thebay.. secondly how big are your net pots? i dont use peralite either so ill recommend using grow pebbles.... everything else is pretty simple.. drill a hold in the lid, drop in your stone. cut a hole for the pot(i use 5 inch pots and noticed a difference with the bigger pots\better drainage.. not sure of your grow experience but you should keep close attention of your plants roots and the water level.. do not drowned them.. everything else is self explanatory.. if you hang tight til sunday i've got to get a few more in the ground and ill just write a tutorial for ya while i do it!

Click to expand...

well this is my first grow and its soil right now but i want 1 to b dwc and i have a 5 in net pot and some pea gravel. will tht work? where can i get tha nutrients?

juggalogrower said:

well this is my first grow and its soil right now but i want 1 to b dwc and i have a 5 in net pot and some pea gravel. will tht work? where can i get tha nutrients?

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here is sum pics of my op

hey dude, your pics are sooo small its hard for me to see what you are working with.. any possible way you can get a hold of a better one?

iamscience said:

hey dude, your pics are sooo small its hard for me to see what you are working with.. any possible way you can get a hold of a better one?

Click to expand...

i will post some as soon as i get a chance but if u want check out the thread i posted about cfl grow n it has my entire grow. please comment on it

k so over the last week i had to take the seeds out of my cloner\seed starter and put them in their own buckets.. they are growing too fast! ive even been feeding the less nutrients! oh well, bigger veg bigger harvest..

also, had a plant dry out during its transition to that bucket. instead of trashing her i took away all her nutes and been feeding her water, lil h202(helps to blast away root rot), superthrive, and some revive(advanced nutrients) and that brought her to this condition within a week..

took some clones from the biggest plant in the flowering room which right now is a big veg room.. the way i have been cloning is cutting at 45.. rockwoll and olivia's cloning gel. so far i have had bout 95% success.. the only ones that died i killed by spraying too much water in the ziplock.. just dont seal the bag up all the way and have enough water to keep the bag moist and forget about them... has been taking me bout a week to get solid roots through the bottom of the cubes..

one of my girls waterstone broke so she looks a lil droopy but she'll recover.. ordered a just got a 250 hps and some more buckets and other stuff, ill update as my goodies arrive..

a note on my setup.. im cheap.. very cheap.. in fact i am so cheap that its ended up costing me money trying to find the cheapest things to use that'll work.. anyway, to build my setup with the cfl's itll prolly cost you about..

lights with reflectors - $6.75/light & reflector $7/42w cfl = 67.5 + 42
buckets &l ids - $2/bucket $2/lid
mylar and black n white plastic - $40
wood for fake wall and platform - $20
airstones - $1.75
small tub w/ lid - $2
net pots - $1.50/5" $.30/1"
air pumps - $12
water pump - $15
multi tap outlets - $3
timer- $10
fan- $10
drywall screws - $6
thermometer - $9

k got a new led light gonna see how it works with the cfls.

got some pics of led footprint. mother plant is growing nice and bonsai-like. remodeled room too. had some problems with spider mites in my veg room but tryin to kill then with pyrethium. one of my smaller clones died, water levels have been dropping faster than i can keep up. going to have to pay better attention or get a reservoir. this is the last day of the first week of flowering.

so hows tht led light help n?

a lot.. imma post picks and update tomorrow

had a few deaths. buckets are too small in my veg room. have to find some new containers to use. led light is helping immensely... all the plants directly under it are far beyond those not getting any light from it.

also, i am interested in this.... anyone use this or know anything about it? http://co2boost.com/productListings.aspx?did=1

i havent but sounds kinda sketchy to me

new growth under the led..(led is off)

cloneskies..

one of the mothers starting to be a good bonsai...


lovin the l.e.d.


dunno if you can tell by the pictures but my canopy is super uneven causing the led to hit only the ones closest to it. i cant raise the light anymore because of my space restrictions. so imma have to get wire and make this thing even or do some choppin..