Hey everyone! This is my first grow, looking forward to having some of you on my adventure and gaining knowledge from you. just wanted to post this over here in the Micro Grow section to see if I can get some love! I have both a PC case and a Small Cabinet that I built myself. The Cabinet is under a 125w CFL and the PC case is under 73w of CFL. Both have two plants in them! Im using FoxFarm Ocean Forest and the FoxFarm Trip for nutes. They are all 3 weeks and 1 day into veg just bag seeds that I have had saved over the years. PC Case My PC plants are by far the best looking ones. They are in 2 gallon pots and will start getting LST this week. Just waiting on the wire to arrive from amazon (Wednesday). Today they got their first nute's at quarter strength. Going to work my way up each week. I have the FoxFarm Trio and will be following the schedule they have on their website. Cabinet Grow The Cabinet plants are a tad smaller then the PC case but this is clearly due to the lighting in the cabinet. Each day I swap them around so they are getting equal light but it is causing them to suffer a tad. I really under estimated the size of the CFL I been trying to think of what I could do with out having to pull a plant or build/buy a new box. I plan on upgrading to a tent after this grow but would really like to get threw this first grow. I'm open to all suggestions on what to do to increase the light in the box on the left side. These plants have not got any nutes yet but they will with the next watering. The soil was still damp today when I watered the PC plants. I must say the Smart pots are doing really great! They are 2 gallon pots and really help to keep the soil moist. The PC case has been every other day when the Cabinet has been every 3 for watering. Thanks everyone who comes and checks these out. Im looking forward to growing with you!
My Twist wire came a day early, Here is the before and after with LST. Feedback welcomed! PC Box Cabinet Grow
Looking good so far bro! Before I get too far into this, stop watering on a schedule. Being that this is your first run, it's most likely the area where you'll have trouble. If anything, you want to water your plants less, not more. The plants will start to wilt when they need water, but they'll also wilt when you've given them too much water. As far as the 125w CFL goes, I'm running 4 of those in my tent right now, and temps peak at 86F. It's a 3x3 tent. Yu can keep them as close to the plants as 4" I'd say, maybe even 3. As long as you don't feel the heat coming off the bulb when you put your hands between leaf and bulb, it's fine. Your leaves will start folding up, or " tacoing" when it's too hot for them. But from the looks and sounds of things, you're gonna be fine! Final bit of advice tho, do less... Leave your plants alone as much as you can..still pay attention to them yeah, just don't do anything haha! If anything, do different things with the plants..LST one and top the other a few times, and pay attention to how the plants respond differently. U can really learn a lot from just watching! Been a strong first three weeks! Keep it up!
Thank you! Im not so much watering on a schedule I just been watering after the top soil (about an inch down) is dry. It just seems that the Smart pots are keeping the soil damp longer. I have the Apollo 125w cfl and im very surprised about how little heat this thing kicks off. With just that turned on and my exhaust fan on low its stays right at 73F. The bulb is actually so cool that I can wrap my hand around the bulb and hold onto it no problem. I been keeping it right at 1 inch with no problems! With me adding the other 2 CFL's its right at 84F now. I might go buy another socket and throw in my flower bulb just to see what the temps stay at. If the temp stays cool I could buy another set of bulbs and my low light issue would be solved! I appreciate the advice and will deff leave my plants alone more! I think im going to take your advice and top one and LST the other to see how it looks! Im your opinion, and others, when should I start considering switching them into flower? For my PC case I believe im gonna wait until week 6 just to keep the plants small and short, but im not really sure when I should switch for my Cabinet being that it is bigger. Thank you again!
Hey bro, Good one on the watering! And you could also buy some Cree LED bulbs(A19). They're like $8 a bulb but they run cooler than CFLs even, and I've see nsome EXTRA impressive results with a guy only using I think 16 of the 9w/9.5w Cree bulbs. So when I'm finished this run, I'm gonna drop a couple hundred on the red bulbs and replace my CFLs with them. Minimally, you can go with 3 of the 2700k LED bulbs, and 1 of the 5000k to give you a nice full spectrum. As far as the when to flower goes, you really gotta play it by eye bro. Depending on your strains, your plants can grow up to 3x as tall as they are when you flip them, but you can still bend them and train them as this point, to help minimize that vertical stretch. You really gotta play it by eye tho. There's no way to tell just how much your strains will stretch unless you grown the same pheno of that same strain in the same cab haha. You'll be fine tho! Just pay attention to the plant and watch the subtle changes! I'll be lurking!
Are these the bulbs your referring to? http://www.amazon.com/Cree-9-5-Watt-White-2700K-Light/dp/B00BYG7O8A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427917395&sr=8-2&keywords=cree+led+a19 Im just gonna have to watch these carefully, they are all bag seeds from many different bags!
Decided to throw my other 125W CFL (Flower Bulb) into my cabinet to see if the heat would be an issue. I honestly figured that it would be too much heat for the box. Turned my exhaust fan on high and took out one layer of the carbon filter to help push more air out...and it worked!! Going tomorrow to pick up a new veg bulb from the local shop!! This makes me feel alot better now that I wont have light issues in my cabinet on the one side anymore. Im just going to stagger the lights a few inches apart!
Sad news for my PC case, over the night my lights fell onto my plants..Anybody know if these can be saved?
Prune the Dead leafs off with some sharp sissors make sure it's a quick cut to prevent shock make sure they have plenty of water and they Gould recover okay mate. Let me know if they recover Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Damn! Prune the dead growth. You can top em just below where all that happened. It'll be a week or two behind when all is said and done, but life will go on lol.
Update on my Cabinet Grow! This marks 4 weeks in veg. I moved my lights up to the top and from plant bottom to 1 1/2 inches from the light I have 13 inches of vertical growth area. With the plants tied down in LST they are right around 3 inches tall. I was told that 1/3 of the height should be used before switching. Also besides LST what are some training methods I should be using to get the most potential out of the plant. I cant think of the name right now of the training method but I would like to start plucking some the of the lower fan leaves to help with the light penetration and giving the plant the most energy now that im about to switch into flower. Anyways here are the pictures, thanks for looking! If anyone has any tips/tricks/suggestions on what I should be doing feel free to comment!
Don't pluck any leaves as it's the same as removing solar panels. If need be tuck them. As far as the training goes, I think LST is your best bet. You can manage a mean stretch with LST and super cropping if you need to. Can't really even tell the lights fell on them anymore either! Stay steady & don't make the most common first timer mistake of doing too much.
I had no doubt they wouldn't recover plants are amazing as long as there is one healthy leaf they will always recover with good tendering Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Thanks for the reply's guys! These are actually my Small Cabinet grow plants it was the PC case that the lights fell on. I didnt have time to snap any pictures before I had to leave for work. They are starting to recover good tho! They actually grew like another inch while I was away for Easter. I will try to get some pictures later today when I get home from school!
Sounds good mate, my plants and just comming out of there seedling state a few days or so and it'll start vegetation can't wait until I can see its first distinct leaf I'll be back after work today, I look forward to seeing them. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Here is some pictures of the PC Grow that the lights fell on. They are starting to recover and new growth is taking place!
Hopefully you guys can help me tell if my cabinet plants are Male/Female If I read right in my grow book I should beable to tell by now if their male/female but I could not. Sorry the pictures are so potato quality I tried getting the best I could with my phone. The Cabinet will be switching into flowering most likely tomorrow View attachment 1743378 View attachment 1743379 View attachment 1743380 View attachment 1743381 View attachment 1743382 View attachment 1743383 View attachment 1743384 View attachment 1743385