100 Grow Cab/First Grow

Hopefully this is an appropriate spot.  I'm new here and don't want to be THAT guy.  Anyway, I followed Jackels Tutorial on the $100 grow cabinet.  I got the exact same cabinet, and followed it fairly closely.  All in all with soil and seeds I think I'm just under the $200 range.  I now wish I had used a skinnier, taller cabinet, mostly for accommodating the space I actually have.
 
so this is my first grow.  My bigger plant was planted straight to soil on Dec.24 exactly one month ago. my other was germinated at that time and planted 2 days later.  as you can see it's behind its big sister.  I had two seeds that I had purchased in a mix pack and one from a sack.  Im honestly not sure which didn't make it, but the big plant is definitely one of my purchased seeds.  also the smaller plant has a different structure altogether, and I don't actually know what strands I have so its all guessing at this point.
 
my real question here is, how much head room do I need for buds once I start my flowering stage?  I've been trying to let my smaller plant catch up so I can get a decent amount of bud from her, but i'm running out of head space now.  I can move my light up another 4 inches at most, OR remove the top shelf and rehang my light from the ceiling of the cabinet and eventually sort my box different after my first harvest.  I suppose I could also change how I hang my light, by hanging it vertically which I may do between plants anyway.
 
heres pictures of my girls.  Please let me know how these girls look.

 

 

 

so grow 2/3 of the way then bud?  or grow 1/3 of the height then bud?   I think I may already be too tall then

 

thanks for the encouraging words!  I think I will top them and let them grow a bit longer then switch to 12/12.  I've learned a good deal on the first go around and i'm curious to see what this setup is capable of.

 

So im now 1 week into flowering after topping and waiting 10 days before switching to 12/12   im not seeing anything new besides new growth/fresh leaves    am I missing something or am I being impatient?
 
how my girls stad as of 15 minutes ago
 

 

 
 
I am still using the same cabinet with a 125watt CFL Grow Lamp.    I know this is not ideal but im only growing for personal use and to learn.   any tips for a first timer in my flower stage?

 

Im using a broad range spectrum light due to a recommendation from the lady at my local Hydroponics store. (After looking at the bulb itself it's a 6400k)But I will look into purchasing a warmer 2700k light ASAP. I have had this intention, im just trying to keep my budget as small as possible, it sounds as though its time to face the facts and pony up the ~$35


funny, I came home today and im seeing new growths at the base of what I speculated to be pistols in my post above. Less than 24Hrs made quite the difference.


thank you again!!

 

Unfortunate update:

I went to my local shop and tried to get a 2700k but the only light they had on hand was a dual spectrum 6400/2700k. I picked it up as it's better than my current bulb but I'll still try and find a 2700k before my next grow.

Anyway, I got home excited to feed my girls and swap the bulb but when I checked on my girls my stomach dropped. My plants were dropping and looked grim! I was 12hrs late on their feeding (I've only been feeding them water.) so I checked the soil and it was starting to dry up below my first knuckle. I watered my plants and started to look them over, and also decided to prune my plants. By the time I got done with my small plant I already noticed the tops of the plants were 80-90% recovered and the rest of the limbs had made a barely noticeable improvement.

My small plant still has not shown sex yet. But my big plant was showing growths a few days ago so I checked her next and to my dissapointment, it turned out it was a male, so I cut her down.

It's now been two days with the new light and I did notice that this light runs hotter than my other bulb. (Yellow/orange hue too) The top leaves had some burning marks so I tied the plant down so it's further away than I have been letting her get. I still don't see any evidence of sex yet , just trying to be patient at this point

 

thanks for the kind words and motivation.  with one plant gone I have more room and started looking into scrog setups and such.  obviously its to late in my grow to do a true scrog but I have used the principle a bit and started to train my one plant.  I bought like 4 feet of jack chain for my light only to find out it was just barely too small, so I bought one size up.  with the extra small chain I have I started tying my plant down and I've been trying to give each bud location equal light.   here is a picture.

 
That's 10 buds!
 
my plant is consuming more water now ive noticed, so I check on her daily.  also my two main bud spots were taking most of the light till about a week ago, and I now see several fine hairs on those two bud spots that are already pushing 1 inch +     its definitely a learning curve, and ive got several quality seeds to try again later.  although, with my setup now, i'm going to try growing 1 plant at a time with a scrog screen for grow number 2.  I also plan on doing some changes to my cabinet before my next grow, i'm limiting my height by about 10" as well as the depth of the box by about 2".  im mostly happy with it, but I see room for improvement now.
 
i'll update probably each weekend with updates now that my plant is showing sex and the starts of some buds!!!   i'm excited to try my own home grown fresh bud!!
 
like always i'm very open to C&C.  i'm just trying to pick up as much as I can.   thanks guys, thanks for reading and happy tokes!!

 

Alright guys. Just gave my girl her Saturday morning feeding and took some pictures for an update for you guys.

I believe I'm now just shy of 3 weeks in flower. (14 days with the new light) and now all ten bud spots are showing white hairs. My top two are looking pretty sweet.