When should I top these plants??? First ever CFL closet grow with many PICS!!!!!

kesto

Member
First ever grow of any kind so all input will be greatly appreciated. Right now Im using 3 160w cfl at 6400k and 2 105 watt ones. Does our setup look efficient with the lights we have and how can we improve without using hps cuz we dont have great ventilation and cost of electricty is very high. Also where on the plant and when should i top them?

TIA
Kesto
 

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cj7420

Active Member
thank you how does the lighting look?

With CFL's the light comes off the sides 90% and maybe 10% from the tip. i would try to find Reflectors and set them over the top a few inches, no reason to have light going off into the rest of your grow room for no reason as they are now. then once they get taller add a few more a round the sides. just my opinion
 

cj7420

Active Member
1 600w HPS would actually be more cost effective...you're pushing 690 watts now. Just an observation! Happy growing! :)

Yes you are right... very true. Plus you mite get a better yield as well. BUT..... there always is one.... Just out of pocket the cost for a portable AC is 100-400$ up front not counting the cost of power another 600 watts per hour maybe, i have seen some 900watts. 600 watts by its self is around 25-28$ ( based on a 18 hour veg cycle ) a month where i live. now times that by 2 we get you are looking at 50-56$ per month. Then again you could reduce cooling cost of the HPS by getting a vented hood so you can run air and take a bunch of that heat and transfer it else wear attic, window, hall way ect ect. now depending on the watts used in this fan it could cost you lets say 10-15$ a month.
I hope you get my point. yes HPS would be ideal for growing but the point of CFL's is to not have to buy all the other stuff and make 690 watts turn into 1000-1500 watts per hour which it would cost if you ran HPS. So i dont feel running a 600 watt HPS would be more cost effective.
 

D.tea

Active Member
A man who gets it, when I post in the CFL section I dont need to know the HPS way of doing things. I've decided that CFL is a way to go for me. Glad to have read your post CJ, +r3p
 

bunnyface

Well-Known Member
Hey,, just on your cfl front,,, how many lumens dose it all add up too? I find going off lumens means you either add lights or not. I work off 10,000 lumens a plant. I have one cfl,250 watt plug and grow. has a reflector, and is about 19,500 lumens , of course it will go down over the 8,000hr life.
So if you want to add more lights what sort of heat, air vents and that do you have??
I dont know if you will be able to but cfls hung vetically arent as effective as horizontally, thats from my grow bible,, but for the size of your lights I dont know If you could change the setup. That will increase how many lumens are gettin to the plant. If you see what I mean,, from your second light pic, all the light coming from the hanging bulbs is directed toward the walls, light dosnt travel down, it travels straight out the side of the bulbs,,,, and very little light is direct light, its just that small u shapped bit on the bottom giving light,,it should be the long side of the buld..so your not getting all the lumens you can, cause reflected light looses lumens.
Im not saying your setups wrong,, not at all,,looks good, but thats how the cfl bulb works.

On your topping question,, you should wait till a week or ten days before you flower them. That when I topped one ,,o its the top two branchs to cut ,or top off,,so go to the top of the plant,come down past the first sprouting leafs,passed the ones that are half open(2nd leaf set),,if you see what I mean then chop it off right between the two branchs so the stem with branchs at the top are a T shape,, sorry, my description is poor,,I did oneof mine and she has turned four branchs into tops,,compared to my other plant that looks like a normal plant..

Hope that helps ,,
Take it easy,,..
 

kesto

Member
thanks for all the input im going to try and suspend the cfls horizontally ill get back with pics if im successful if not i will continue to post pics of the plants as they grow anyone heard of bioheaven by biobizz? I purchased some to use but dont want to burn the plants do you know how much a safe amount would be to use on the bottle it says 2-5ml per L i thought i would start off towards the 2mL end and work up. pic212361.jpg
 

r3dn3ck

Active Member
start at quarter or half strength and work up to the label directions. Once you get more experience you'll start playing with the nutes more. I'd probably start with the 2ml/L mix though. MJ is pretty tough. If you start seeing leaf tip burning then flush and back the mix down a bit.
 
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