My First Grow!! 200W CFL + 40W Flouro

Hello GC colleagues! This is my first grow, and I'd like to start a newbie journal on it. I hope all of you can throw me some tips or whatever it takes to grow some decent bud!!

The "Grow Box"
I am using an old entertainment center, with the shelving removed for this. I enclosed the entire back/sides with cardboard and duct tape! Really professional!! For the "door" I am using a 4mm thick piece of tarp sealed around with Velcro.

***One of my first questions for you guys is about the flouro. light. It's on a glass shelve above the plant. Now does is the light still efficient when passing thru glass?***

Edited by Chuck_Darwin, 01 February 2009 - 03:12 AM.

Lighting
I am currently using 2x100W 5500K CFLs about 5in away from the plant. I also have a 40W flouro directly above the plant, resting on a glass shelf.

The lighting is run on a timer at 18/6, dawn being 4am.

Also, the timers are ran off of a surge protector, which is plugged into a back-up power box, good for 18hrs after a power loss.

***Another question for you guys... Is this enough light? It is said that 100W per plant is sufficient, but I am only growing 1 plant this run.***

Ventilation
I started working on this today. For ventilation I am using 4" dryer ducting, with an inline duct-fan, ran on a timer. The fan comes on randomly thru-out the light hours. The exhaust vent is ran to the top left wall, and there is a 2" intake vent on the lower right wall, and a 3" intake vent in the middle of the right wall. I think this should be more than sufficient thru-out the grow.

The Seed!!
I am only growing 1 plant, as only one of four seeds germinated. The seed was from a good bag of some crazy looking haze. I'm really impressed so far, I havent heard anything good about bag-seeds.

Here is a pic from yesterday morning, and a current pic as well.

Edited by Chuck_Darwin, 22 January 2009 - 03:04 AM.

I have made some real progress with this box. This is a current picture of the setup...



And below is what it looked like about 5 days ago...

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. I know you weed-brainiacs out there can help me out!!!

***Info. on the soil and nutes will come a little later down the road. I still have to do some research on a medium that will work best for me. Currently it is in Seed Starter and is getting 24-hour tap water.***

Edited by Chuck_Darwin, 19 January 2009 - 05:26 AM.

Lighting
I am currently using 2x100W 5500K CFLs about 5in away from the plant. I also have a 40W flouro directly above the plant, resting on a glass shelf.

The lighting is run on a timer at 18/6, dawn being 4am.

Also, the timers are ran off of a surge protector, which is plugged into a back-up power box, good for 18hrs after a power loss.

***Another question for you guys... Is this enough light? It is said that 100W per plant is sufficient, but I am only growing 1 plant this run.***

Well last nite I found out that the ACTUAL wattage used from these lights is 27Wx2, so I think Ill be stepping it up a bit tonite. I thought the equivalent was the wattage to look for. Oops!

Hey dude, way to go, that's hella sick. The more people that grow the better. It can be a good source of income and a great way to have an endless supply of the dankest weed. Rock on bro.

I would get a reflector for those cfl's, lik $6 to $10 bucks depending on size, the ones I use come from the hardware department at Walmart. No point lighting your ceiling... Good luck!

I would get a reflector for those cfl's, lik $6 to $10 bucks depending on size, the ones I use come from the hardware department at Walmart. No point lighting your ceiling... Good luck!

The area is completely sealed! There are no light leaks, if that is what you meant. I want to get some reflective foil for the entire inside, but we'll see how this first grow goes first.

I just picked up 2 more CFLs at 26W/100W that are 6500K. Now I have two 27/100W CFLs that are 5500K and the ones just purchased.

I noticed that she grew a lot today. When the lights go off tonite I'll snap a couple of pics..

I forget to say that I got a digital Thermo/Hygometer with a probe. The current temp. in the room is 65.7*F and Inside is 71.2*F with a Humidity that keeps climbing, but is at 28% right now.

Tomarrow I get the Digital PH meter and see how the Seed Starter is doing!

The plant today and a pic of the Thermo/Hygometer I picked up! The little thing next to the plant is the sensor/probe for the meter.

I stayed up 'til now, 5am, to read the temps of when the lites turn on. The temps sky-rocketed to about 85*F, so i did some wiring and now the fan is on at all times when the lites are on. I'm getting a constant temp of 79.5*F now. SO HAPPY! (oh, and the temp is a constant 60-62*F with the lites off.)

Day 6
Well day 6 is about to be over, the lights are going to shut off soon. The plant has made some noticeable growth, and I have added a bit more to the setup.

I added 2 more lights, as I mentioned earlier, and I also made a humidifier device, that seems to be working perfectly.

I took a tuperware, added 2 fish tank heaters, some fish tank sponge filters (to improve evaporation), and a fish tank air pump, to further improve evaporation. The heaters are set to 90*F, and the water they sit in seems to be much hotter than that.

I'm pretty happy that there is no condensation inside, on the lights and such, although the humidity has noticeably risen..

I will move this to journals.
Your setup looks real nice. Good job. Lets pray that one is a female. If not a lot of time will have gone by for no weed.

I will move this to journals.
Your setup looks real nice. Good job. Lets pray that one is a female. If not a lot of time will have gone by for no weed.

Yes, but he'll have learned quite a bit... enough to make his first female count.

As mentioned, a decent reflector or at least emergency blankets can be a cheap efficiency boost for your setup. You'll do fine without it, but it's always better to do more work with less when possible.

Good luck!

True but he won't learn about it in the flowering stage, if its male, which is the most important stage. But true a learning experience nonetheless.

Well my fingers are crossed hoping for a female..

There has been outstanding growth in the last 2 days, as the pictures I'll post tomorrow will indicate.

Here are some pics from today, Day 9.

Some of the leaves are curved, tips pointing downward. They seem fine and healthy, I'm just wondering if that is a problem.

Let me know what you think!

No problem looks fine.

Good stuff. Thank you again SmknVTEC.

Tomorrow I'm going to be planning out my soil options. I was really thinking about a bubble-bucket setup, but I don't know if it is possible to switch over to that. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.