okay, so i am new to growing and im currently growing under my bed, i know its not the best spot but hey, ill work with what i have. i have 4 plants, each in 1 gal buckets, they have just recently all sprouted. all i have is 2 CFL's...trust me after reading a lot and talking with people i know that isnt much at all....but im on a tight budget so anyways, i realized when they sprouted that its hard to divide up the light good and it seems like they arent getting as much light as they should be...so should i either keep all 4 going w/ just 2 CFL's or just eliminate 2 of them and keep the CFL's on those 2? (if i do this i was thinkin about putting the other 2 outside and just see how it goes)....really which one do u think will get me a higher yield....less light to 4 plants or more light to 2? i am planning on topping these as well, but we'll just see how that goes seeing that it is my first grow. just for info if u need it my setup is: 2 CFL's, 4 1gal buckets, shit potting soil (ill admit it but its workin for right now), and a 12" fan....
Well two cfls might veg two plants(assuming their over 50 watts each) but they won't even flower one well. I would put the other two outside then work on geting more lights in there or moving your grow somewhere esle that can hold more lights.
thx for the info, so i guess im goin to put 2 outside, btw i dont know if this matters but i am only planning on growing the plants about 12-18"...so will 2 CFL's still not work? (the box says 60w for both) im not really lookin for a huge grow, just some for me im not goin to deal or anything...i know this is a really hard question to answer because it depends on strain and what not but what do u think the average plant would yeild at lets say...15" tall? (about the strain i dont know what they are, i got them from some pretty dank bud i got a while ago) some ppl have told me 5g, some have told me 15, im just lookin for another estimate... thanks for any help!
Well the hieght of the plant doens't effect the yeild as much as you would think. I've had plants a 12 inchs tall that yeild the same as 24 inch ones. It just depends on how your grow am. I'd recomend looking in to LST to keep your plants height down while still keeping yeild up. Best part is it doesn't cost any money =). In this case light is going to be your limiting factor. 60 watts total really isn't alot of light at all. If you could get another 25 watt light in there, you should be able to veg them so their a decent size in a decent time frame.(You could grow them with your 60 watts but its going to take alot longer) Your going to need at the very least 70 watts per plant for flowering as mj plants require alot more light during this phase. This is just me of course but I wouldn't bother doing it with any less, due to how long you have to wait. If you do this you could yeild upwards of 10 grams a plant. Thats a conservative estimate as so much is unknown. The ones outside if they get enough light will yeild so much more its not even funny. Just somthing to think about.
well, i have 2 60w CFL's, i know u said 70 for flowering so when im ready for flowering and i get some more money i am planning on just getting another cfl...mayb a more powerful one, cuz i want the highest yield possible. i was actually really thinking about doing LST, like u said it cost nothing and it allows more growth. what time should i start it? right now the plants are just getting their first set of spiked leaves so its not like they are far into growing at all. btw do u have any like simple things i could do to increase the yield by a little bit without spending a lot of money? even if it is not that much of a difference every gram, even tenth of a gram counts in my book lol. thanks for the help! peace out
Yeah then your two cfls should veg your two plants just fine. If you want to increase your yeild I would highly recomend lst. Its easy its effective and to be honest its just cool to see all those extra tops and know their gona be buds. I normaly start lst on about the 5th or 6th node. Heres a post that vokal made about lst. Also to increase your yeild you can ethier top or fim your plants. This will cause extra growth shoots to come out. For instance where you once had one branch you will now have two or more. This will stress the plant however and will take a little bit longer to veg, but it is well worth it in the end. I would recomend fiming as you don't want to stop vertical growth all together. Heres a link about fiming and toping. Also try pruning your plant, but don't go over board. I only cut off the big leafs that block light to the lower budsites. If its not blocking light it stays on the plant. Also wait till your plant is a decent size to start this. You'll know when as your plant will look like it needs a hair cut.
well i just read the fine print on my CFL box and i figured out that they are only 15w......i know lame....so now i am goin to get some more lights, i think shop lights (suggested by dier). i dont think ill prune them cuz that slows down the veg. process and i want it to be kind of short. i think im just goin to kind of LST the hell out of it, sort of like the vokal lst that u suggested to me lol. anyways, thanks for the help mog....peace out
Yea, i was going to say..the 60w's means equalivelent to 60 watt incandescents, but it's actually only 15w. They won't even grow one plant well...i had an actual 125w fluro (equal to 500w incandescent) for my first grow and i only got about 1/2 ounce from the only female, and she was over 3 feet tall and very bushy. they just don't penetrate enough ,the buds ended up very nice but way too airy. I still use it for when they are young though, keeps em nice and bushy. I suggest saving up a little bit of cash any buying a 250w or 400w hps system, you can find a 250w for around $90-$100, and a 400w for $110-$120. If you can't get either, then pick up a few 42w cfl's from home depot. I use a few of those for vegging also, they are the strongest cfl's i've seen at home depot. They cost about $9 a piece, so buy like 4-6 and you should be fine. You won't get a huge yield but you can probably get atleast a half ounce per plant with that much light if the conditions are right. Good luck