I decided that spending more money on CFLs would be a waste, so I took the plunge and ordered a 400w HPS. I don't see the point in spending almost as much on CFLs which I have to rig up sockets and y adaptors for, and which will have their ballasts pumping out heat right there in the box and giving me 1/10th the lumens and no penetration.
I might have to rework my grow area for better ventilation, but it's worth it. And I really don't think the remote-ballast HPS will put out much more heat (if any) than 8 or 10 42-watt CFLs would.
If I can, I'll try to supplement it with some CFLs or tubes to get some blue light into the mix, but I'm not that worried about that for now, especially in flowering.
Charlene's sibling has suprised me and shown female! She is now officially named Betty and will be repotted to a larger pot with the next watering, now that I know she's a she.
![Laughing :lol: :lol:](/styles/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
The first attached pic is of the two of them.
Both of those got watered with molasses two days ago at 2 Tablespoons per gallon, with no nutes. I got some Orchid Bloom food to start them on with the next water. Pics of it below.
I also tossed in another pic of the clones, BOTH OF WHICH have now been knocked over, the taller of them TWICE. I've never knocked over a potted plant in my life until the last few days. From now on I'm using shorter, square pots for seedlings or some kind of tray. I'm not spilling another plant. Luckily these girls had already made big rootballs. I'm thinking of turning one of them into a mother.
I tossed in some pics to show my LST job from the side and underneath. Only the main stem is really thickened up, because I started flowering as soon as I filled up the pot, after only about 6 weeks veg.
I know I've left more fan leaves and undergrowth than a lot of people like, but I'm trying to leave as much healthy plant as I can, just removing leaves that touch the soil or have to grow up from the underside of a stem. When I LST'd Betty, I took off way too many fan leaves and shocked the plant - she didn't grow much for a couple weeks, and didn't show sex until a month after her sister in exact same conditions otherwise.