1st Grow: Advice with Lighting

[Sparky73]

Hey all. I am trying my first actual grow. 2 years ago, I planted like 3 or 4 seeds outside just to see if they did anything, and after they got 8-10", an animal ate them LOL. Anyways, I've got 7 started, and 5 more in pots that are just starting to come up. I am still debating whether I want to do an all indoor grow, or all outside, or maybe half and half. I am starting quite a few to make sure I get at least 1 or 2 plants that produce something decent.

I've been reading a lot on lighting, and decided that I should probably go with CFL due to my lack of space. Are CFL's fluorescent growing lights, or are they just a compact light? I went to Walmart, Meijer, Home Depot, Menards and McDonalds Nursery (specialize in greenhouses and flowers) with no luck with finding ANY grow lights. The only kind I found were an "Outdoor/Aquarium" light. Right now, I am using the hoods and bulbs from my aquarium. One of the bulbs is a "Natural Daylight" bulb. Could I keep using these, or what should I purchase?

Also, a couple of buddies that have grown before suggested I get some Nitro sticks? I am on a limited budget and am not expecting a huge yeild, just like I said.. enough to just say "I did it" LOL. After the plants came up, I started to use Organic Miracle Grow mixed with bottled water (not tap). What types of nutes do I actually NEED?

Last question.. (for now), if I keep a couple plants indoors, I need to keep the size down. I am unsure when or how to trim? Especially the first cut when you split the plant into two branches.

Sorry for all the questions! I just feel like I am making this seem harder then it should be.

Edit: Whoops. One more. On my largest plant, there is this light greyish color, kind of just looks dirty. Plant still seems very healthy.. but unsure on what it could be? Not sure if you can see it in the pictures. It's not very noticable to begin with.

[ThePot]

Hey SpaRky! my b

CFL = compact fluorescent lights, spiral bulbs. You can find them anywhere, cheapest place I've ever seen them is Walmart. 2 for 7 bucks or so. They're energy saving lights... Look for daylight spectrum, 6500k. There is a huge sticky on this forum or the indoor one all about CFLs. Your light seems to be working now, pics? I'm sure you can keep it, might not be the best though.
The last thing you want to be doing is giving them ANYTHING for the first 2-3 weeks. what kind of fertilizer did you use? NPK? They look good, but don't give them much more, if you've already fed them. Also never use at 100% especially MG, powerful shit.

You can LST, tie them down to keep them small, or top them, just cut the top off....

ALL the answers to your questions are in the stickies and mentioned hundreds of times, do more research!

[Sparky73]

Sparky

Thanks for the advice on the lights. Thats what I thought in the first place, but then I read a bunch about actual 'grow lights' -- guess that would be two different options I have. I will pick up some CFL tomorrow. I did read that sticky (along with many many others) about the 6500k, but don't really understand 'when to use what'. Is the 6500k for when your plants are starting off? And then you switch to ****k when the plant is ?" and/or in the next stage.

The plants are like 2 weeks old now. I started the seeds off with wet paper towel (bag seed), but after I planted, they stretched due to improper lighting lol. I put them in a taller container and filled it up with more dirt because they were still so young, the stems were weak - causing them to bend. Their doing great now!

I gave them the Miracle Grow once, very diluted. I've heard both ways on MG; don't use it and it's okay to use. Is there something similar to MG that would provide better results? I'm not sure what NPK is.. I'm guessing a brand?

If I grow indoors, there isn't really any place to tie them too, so I will probably end up trimming. Still havn't found a thread or sticky on how and when to trim, but I'll keep looking! I just picked up a half O today, so I'll be smokin and readin for a few hours tonight!

[Sparky73]

Well I did a little more reading. I now know what NPK is, and the soil I used was from our tomato garden (old dirt though), and mixed it with some Peat and Manure. Since I don't know if there was any NPK in the soil, what should I buy? Nitrogen Sticks like I was told about by my friends, since the Nitrogen is what I need most of?

Also, I can't really keep the plants indoors when the bud starts producing (since it gives off a smell) -- but how strong really? And what is during the flowering stage, I just put them outside? Would the sun hurt them if they are JUST being introduced? I planned on planting outside, but what if I just grew veg. indoors, and during flow. outdoors?

[Revolution]

Well, each strain gives off a different smell. So it will vary on how bad it will be.

During vegging, your plants will be almost odorless. They might start to give of a smell, but it's usually not detectable unless you're right next to your plants.

You can flower them outside, sure! Some growers, when introducing the plants to the sun keep them in the sun for a few hours, then bring them in under a CFL for the rest of their light period. Every day they increase the duration they're outside and decrease the time they're under a CFL until the plants are used to being in the sun for their whole flower period. It's not that uncommon that people veg indoors and flower outdoors.

[ThePot]

I've never heard of nitrogen sticks, just make sure whatever you use has more N than P and K. Everyone will tell you something different as far as what nutrients to use, look around, cheap people use MG or other stuff you find in local stores, others use Fox Farm (grow big for veg) or other nutrient lines.

Basically for veg you want the brightest lights you can find. If you can find the spectrum its about 5100-6500K, around 6500k is 'natural daylight' I think, also 'cool white' bulbs work. These emit blue spectrum, theres some sticky on charts somewhere, it might make more sense looking at those. So basically just use these until you flower, if you end up flowering indoors. Flowering requires more red spectrum, less bright light more kinda orange-ish light. Usually your best CFL option is looking for 42 watt 2700k lights, walmart - still pretty cheap. This is also when you really want to give your plants as much light as possible, from all directions, CFLs let you get creative. Throwing in a light from veg won't hurt either. Oh, and for LST just tie them right to the pots, I usually drill a hole through the top rim and tie it there, some people put screws around the outside and tie it to that.

One last thing, for future transplanting into bigger pots, make sure you get some perlite in there, especially if your finding your soil not draining quickly/well or seems really compact.

GL!

first 2 pics - lst in the beginning, last pic - end stage right at flowering. this is only tying it down once too.

[Sparky73]

Thanks for all the help guys! I have sure learned a lot! I will be making a different forum for my grow because this one if getting a little off topic.

So to stay ON topic, I have one more question regarding lights. This is what I have learned.. during the Veg. stage, I should be using a 5500-6500k Daylight Bulb. Must be over 20w, but the more the better. I picked up 2 bulbs from Home Depot that are 100w Equivalent, but are really 27w. This is the largest I could find in the Daylight Spectrum. They are 1300 Lumens and are 5500k. I found some other bulbs are Tractor Supply that I think will work.. but want to check and make sure before I buy them. They are 300w = 65w, 6300k White Color, 4900 Lumens for $9.98 a piece. They fit in a standard light socket as well. Would these be a good buy? Say 2 or 3 of them on top of the two 27w I have?

Also, I can't seem to find a lamp or anything for them! The only lamps I can find are $15-20 bucks a piece, and the bulb is completely fitted like.. inside the housing. The only part of the bulb that is showing is the end. Where does everyone buy their fixtures for their CFL's?

Oh and the fert. I picked up is Miracle Grow again.. I know.. cheap. Walmart had another kind that was a little more expensive that was made with fish or something? That NGK was 5-1-1 .. would that have been better? The MG I got is 12-4-8.

[Sparky73]

Anyone? Bump.

[Extracurricular]

check out the link in my sig, towards the last posts i made a light fixture for 3 42w CFLs. simple, and costs under $10.