hi,only did one indoor grow before with only 400 w hps bulb.didnt do so bad.too cheap to buy a mh bulb cause I read you can go full term with the hps bulb.i don't wanna say I made a lot of mistakes but I could have done things a hell of a lot better. this time ive really done my homework and before even starting ive made a lot of improvements and have read til my head hurts. anyway I didn't know jack about cfls but during the time it took my seeds to get mailed(I was goin to start under 400 mh)which some say is fine.but I had time to read up on cfl and liked the idea of starting seedlings with them,just not so hot temps and pretty dam cheap to make a homemade light fixture. I liked all the posts and pics of cfls in use,even going full term with them so I decided to give it a go and I can say for sure now I like em! gonna make a veg room now cause with low heat you don't have to go with expensive fans for cooling and the ductwork n such so the expense list is cut.i cant wait to get started on it. ok anyway seedlings just broke soil after only 36hrs of being planted(paper towel germed first)with just a tiny taproot showing.(roots organic potting soil)1/2 deep.72 degrees.i placed them under the lights as soon as planted with a small fan blowing. as soon as they broke the soil I snapped a pic.then another 24 hrs later.i like what I see.they are growing great.i want to give them a chance to get strong before they go under the 400 mh and can handle a nice breeze. anyway heres what I saw.i should have put a ruler in the pic.they grew almost a inch.and the lights are close2-3inches I will moniter them closely to avoid stretching. take care people
When you're growing weed, there's many many different ways to do it and get a harvest, but the key is optimizing your grow area to give you the very best results possible. So when you heard you can go full term with an HPS, that's true you definitely can..you can also go full term with CFLs, LED, t5, metal halide, etc. But, growing with HPS full term is definitely not optimal..so spend an extra $20-$30 on a MH bulb for veg and swap to the HPS for flowering..then at the last 2 weeks or week of flowering pop the MH back in for the extra trichomes that the blue spectrum light gives.
really?see you learn something new all the time.i was unaware of switching back to mh at the end of flowering.so much to learn.im looking forward to many experiments and honing my skills and having fun as well. ill read up on what you mentioned. im a few months away from there!
How supposedly creates more stretching during Vega. So node spacing is a little further apart, the plant gets taller which causes issue as I ran a hps bulb through veg and regret it. I thought damn this is getting huge and bushy which it did but looking back it was a mistake they were totally and nodes to far apart for sure. Cfl is ok for seedlings, however as they get bigger and if you have multiple plants you have to keep adding for bulbs. The light is only effective for growth for 2" so you can see when your girl is a foot tall that's an issue. Led is better than cfl and it gives you the added bonus you are looking for less heat. I will say though you should always be exchanging air in a grow room. Co2 is pretty important so unless you are adding co2 yourself you need an inline fan and ducting. You can skip the carbon filter in veg if you want and use a smaller inline fan if you aren't battling heat but it's still needed in a real grow. Some people switch to mh at the end and I have heard the same thing four twenty is saying about trich adding. Obviously this isn't standard practice but it's pretty cool. No matter what you do its more about the care you give your plants that gives you a good harvest. Stay positive, stay clean, don't over water and over feed less is more. Check ph spend some time with three girls watch out for pests check top bottoms of leaves daily. That kind of stuff is what separates good growers from bad growers. How large is your grow area? Are you running two rooms or one? Obviously two areas is the way to grow if you plan on a long term grow. I saw you make a comment about being to cheap to buy a my bulb. Cheap and good growing don't go together at all. You can be smart with your money but being to cheap to buy something is a bad plan. I buy cheaper equipment but not cheaper nutes. I cheap out on my ph pen and tds meter but not on my soil or containers. Sorry for writing another book you have to read just wanted to throw down my two cents. I read and read as you say your doing. Reading was awesome helped me a ton to just be calmer when I hit roadblocks. There's nothing like good experience though.