this is my first grow with cfl's... i had no money and had little resources...

Ok... this is my first attempt at growing with cfl’s (compact florescent lights). I started this with no money and with only the light-bulbs I had in the house...That's why the low Wattage.
I have three lights, 2 x 13 Watt 6500k on outsides (white) and 1x 11 Watt 2700k in middle (almost orange). I have the lights 2- 4 inches from the top of sprout (soil).



I have three seeds planted. One has sprouted (we’ll call this day one), two have not as of today.



I have placed them all in a section of my bedroom closet.



I currently have the lights on a 18hrs on-6hrs off of cycle...



I have built a door so that the light and the heat don’t escape too much. I have tried different cheap indoor methods for growing, but to no avail.... hopefully, I’ll get better results this time.


I will update as much as possible.

OK... so it is now day 5 of the grow... the two peat pots did not sprout, so I have removed them from the room. The sprout seems to be doing well apart from a slight purple tinge to the stem... that’s ok though... shouldn’t hurt anything. I have also changed the light cycle to 24 hrs on.



Ok now we’re having fun... checking daily to see the progress... it is now day 13, and everything looks great so far. First set of five finger leaves came up yesterday and going strong. I have changed the setup a bit. I still have the two 13 watt 6500k cfl’s... but I have changed out the single 11 watt 2700k bulb for an 11 watt 6400k one... hoping to get better light throughout veg stage. I will change to 2700k after 21 days for flowering.

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I have added a small house fan to the room to circulate the air a bit and help with stem strength.

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Getting a good strong stem and it’s starting to branch...

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Everything is going very well... I can’t imagine how much this could potentially save me. I will update on day 21 when I change everything for flowering.

Happy 4:20 and good growing!!

Good job on a no money grow. Try to get the cfl horizontal,they give most light out from the sides instead of the ends.
As you know, you need more light, so add to the lights as you can. subscribed

One tip I can give you is that you need to switch that seedling in that big pot to a small one. The big pots retain too much water for a small plant and if you try and put a little bit of water it will sink to the bottom and be too dry where the seedlings roots are. It's not hard to transplant so I would recommend it. Good luck!

thanx for the tips.. i will try them out...

not sure if the picture links r working or if its just me... here it is @ day 13.




hope this works and let me know...

very nice man, cfls are pretty amazing a times

well i couldn't wait to get these up on here to c what tip u guys have... i have switched out the 11 watt 6400k for another 13 watt 6500k.. and have turned lights horizontal.


i have also transplanted her to better soil two days ago.



was also wondering if the drooping of the leaves where because of transplanting or over watering or something else...

well i seem to be have a slight problem... the leaves are curling a bit and there is slight discoloration on the edges... the stems seem to be going a slight purple ...
not sure what the problem is...
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I'm a bit of a noob @ indoor so not sure if it is because of the transplant or if its over watering or something more severe... anyone got any ideas? Maybe nutrient burn from the new soil?? went from old crappy soil to new fresh container mix..

what kind of soil did u use?
if it's straight from outside the soil may not be leting the oxegen the rootz love so much.
easy way to tell if it needs watering is to poke a hole an inch deep and if it's dry to the touch it needs to be watered.
if u haven't givin it nutes it may need it at this point. when are u planning on flowering them?

ok... so i switch lighting to about 18\6 and after a good nights sleep... she seems to be less curled and doesn't seem to be drooping as much. I will leave it @ this for a day or so... to see if everything is ok... if she is alright, I will start flowering on day 30.
i will try to get new pics up today...

here are some new pics of her... she has started perking up a bit.
less droopy and not as much curl to the leaves...
I will keep an eye on her for a couple days and if she's alright... I'll start flowering on day 30.View attachment 911664View attachment 911665
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i just got back from the hardware store... bought two 19 watt 6500k cfl's to switch with two of the three 13 watt lights i currently have... when i switched them out... she was looking really good...very little curling... has grown about 1\8 inch... since early this morning...
i think she's alright...

That little planty is looking great for a first time grower with an extremely limited budget. I started off the same way and since I haven't worked in a little over 2 years, I'm still workin' it on a non-existant budget. It definately can be done. Do you know the strain that the plant is, or is it just bagseed?

no idea what strain she is... been saving seeds for 10 yrs.. figured it was time to use some...lol...

only from the best i've bought... so @ least i know it will be decent...grew 1 outdoors last year and it was killer... so i have high hopes...

Ok... so she seems to be going good... perking right up. it was a scary couple days for me but thanx to u guys and ur tips... everything is green again!

Here she is today...





figure now that she is ok... i'll start flowering on day 30...

lookin really good.. if u switched lights for flower u should do so soon.

Purple hues in the leaves could be the result of cool nighttime temps. Do you know what your grow room temps are? Highs/lows? Now, I have minimal growing experience - I'm currently flowering my 1st plant under 8 23w CFLs - but I've heard that may be one cause for purple leaf edges. I've also read/noticed on a plant I took care of for a friend that the stems turning purple is a sign of vigorous and healthy growth inside the plant. You may want to look into my analysis a bit more. That's just my 2 cents Happy growing!

my plants are just about a week older than yours, i have 3, i started flowering 1 at 30 days, only difference is i had some money and i figured i could go buy an oz, or i could make potentialy unlimited oz's so i went with the latter, anyways back to the topic, mine look almost identical to yours, the discoloration on the outside of your leaves you were talking about seems like chlorine burn, set your water out for 24 hours to evaporate it out of the water, or water with rain water but remember to check the ph no matter what you do, keep the thread updated im eager to see how your flowering goes, i plan on doing the other two of mine in a couple of weeks or so and im sure seeing what you do will help me out substantially

sounds good... gonna start flowering tomorrow... day 30... she is looking really good... no more discoloration or anything...

I just have one question maybe someone could help me out... when i switch out the 6500k lights for the 2700k... should i leave a 6500k just for growth, or should they all be 2700?

im gonna put up some new pics either tonight or tomorrow morning...

im gonna put up some new pics and update on how shes doing probably tonight or tomorrow morning...