small cfl grow questions

hi, im new to the whole world of growing but have been smoking years...Since im a newb at this i am wondering is it worth my while just growing 1 plant under cfl's...i have a pretty tight budget and cfls seem to be the cheapest option.Since its my first grow it'll be more of an experiment..i need to know what whether i should buy hot or cold cfls and how many watts i need..any other info would help...thanks

keep tokin'
peace

theres not just the bulb type (which you should get 6500k for vegging) but i actually had to use 42w 3000k CFL's for vegg and they worked GREAT! theres also a hell of a lot of information you need to read in the GROWFAQ up at the top of each page the link is available.. start there and then come back with any questions, its all covered there.

wow thanks man!!i never even new that growfaq was there..i figured out my grow box will have height restrictions and i no about low stress training but it seems a bit complex..is there any strain i can pick that just does not grow over 2foot??thanks
peace

mango, short get from bcseedking and get some juicyfruit also.

Ya check out autoflowering strains like lowrider2 or any lowrider crosses. They are pretty tight but you cant clone them. They usually grow between 12-14 inches and under optimum conditions can yield a half to a full ounce per plant but I'm not sure if those stats are with CFL's. I am also going to be starting a grow with CFL's cause my budget is small like urs. What I would do is grow a couple and try to get a male and female then let the female get pollinated so that you can have tons of seeds. Clean ur box very well then start ur grow.

get lowlife auto-ak47 best auto strain.

go to 1000bulbs.com you will get a good deal on cfl's here look for screw in cfl then look for 125 to 150 watt i use the 6500k 125 watt for my whole veg witch is three mothers and a few clones . this works well i did go with the low watt cfl's but after so many you are just better of with one ore two big ones . they are 125 watt but equal 500 watt with a hell of a lot of lumen's and that is what you want the more lumen's in one space the better this is the light that the plant absorbs to live. i see you want to grow one plant this will turn out harder in the long run you are better off with like three or four. if this is just for you and only you it should last you till the next harvest. what you are kinda looking for is at least a qp if not more every 80 days. this is not rocket science just some time out of your day some good dirt {i use miracle grow African violet works great } water if you can filtered but if not cool. a fan to move the air around and your good i use five gallon bucket as my pot's the bigger the root the bigger the bud keep the cfl's as close as you can. but always mind where your leafs are they will burn in the flowering room you want 2700k to 3000k full spectrum cfl's you can find these all over the net for like 45 buck these are also 125 or 150 watt low heat out put. for extra security i wrapped my whole grow closet with thermal wrap just to keep thermal eyes in the Sky out of my business. it may be over kill but you never know and never never ever tell or show any one. good luck

yeah i was planning on growing from seed simply because none of my friends are growing at the moment and have no cuttings.that plan sounds good.thanks.
any other info welcome

just look for good seed out of any swag bag but at least look for seed from what you think is good bud because you can turn it into bad ass bud with love. to see if the see it viable pinch it between you finger with some pressure but not a lot. if it cracks it is no good if it does not crack that is a good one . now that you have your seed's take a paper towel and get it wet .put the seed's in the center of the moist towel then fold it over and put the towel in a ziplock bag. you can put it in sun light but i have found that warm dark place works really good. in like three days the seeds should have grown tails. now what you should do is get a little hot house or green house they sell them as soon as you walk in home depot. some even come with the peat grow plugs these are better. any way this is basically how i started and i got great results this is the only way i would start any planting not just this kind a heat mate works really good roots love it to be warm. the first time i did this i ended up with 6 females 2 hermaphrodites and 3 males not bad if i say so. of course i killed all but the girls and two day i am on my fourth harvest..................

do u think a 150w full spectrum envirolite cfl would be enough to veg a plant or two in a stealth grow box,and then add another one the exact same for flowering..and if i picked up some of those lowlife auto-ak47 seeds would i need to LST them (my grow box height is 2foot).And with those lights could i hang them at the top(with reflector) of my grow box..im worried about light penetration...and with that lowryder strain i mentioned what photoperiods would i use..could i 12-12 for both veg and flower or what..thanks
peace

oh and also this is another noob question...what does 2700k and 5000k etc. mean!i no it has something to do with the spectrum of the lights but wot does it mean in weed growing terms...any info is a great help.thanks

no one wanna get back to me on this???

Check out:

Color-Measurement

K is Kelvin temperature of the bulb or how red or blue it is.

5600K and up are for vegitative growth and 2700K are for flowering

so a cool white is what i would use for vegging because it emits blue light and i would use a warm white for flowering because it emits red light???am i right...

Ya use high K ratings for vegging cause the blue light is better for vegging. I have heard that it is much better during flowering to use a mixture of blue and red(more on the red than blue though). Also the best photoperiod for autos is either 18-6 or 20-4 not sure which is better but they dont need 12-12.

stoned16 said:

do u think a 150w full spectrum envirolite cfl would be enough to veg a plant or two in a stealth grow box,and then add another one the exact same for flowering..and if i picked up some of those lowlife auto-ak47 seeds would i need to LST them (my grow box height is 2foot).And with those lights could i hang them at the top(with reflector) of my grow box..im worried about light penetration...and with that lowryder strain i mentioned what photoperiods would i use..could i 12-12 for both veg and flower or what..thanks
peace

Click to expand...

If that 150W is real and not 'equivalent incandescent' Then no. 1 150W HPS would be better (you can relocate the ballast to cut down on heat)


---bbb Smoke happy

stoned16 said:

do u think a 150w full spectrum envirolite cfl would be enough to veg a plant or two in a stealth grow box,and then add another one the exact same for flowering..and if i picked up some of those lowlife auto-ak47 seeds would i need to LST them (my grow box height is 2foot).And with those lights could i hang them at the top(with reflector) of my grow box..im worried about light penetration...and with that lowryder strain i mentioned what photoperiods would i use..could i 12-12 for both veg and flower or what..thanks
peace

Click to expand...

Bud above sez no but I say it is enough to veg 1 or 2 plants.
I vegged 4 plants under ONE 42 watt CFL (200 watt incandescent equiv) and they grew nice and compact to 5 or 6 inches before I put them into a 12/12 cycle.

I also have a box about 2 feet tall and want to keep them as short as possible.

Lights on top with a reflector will be fine. Keep the plants CLOSE to the lights. If you have room to LST, then you can try that. You can thin out some of the fan leaves if you want light to penetrate a little deeper but we all know CFL looses intensity pretty fast. Lots of people use LST to better expose more bud sites to the light.

Some use SOG and essentially do the same thing with many plants producing one main cola at the top.

All you can do is experiment and try different things. Each strain, lighting method, feeding method, etc take some dialing in. Pick a method, make some notes, and learn what works for you.