A few questions.. This is a very first grow. Researched over a month, but still not sure about these last few things. Do you add nutrients at every flush, or more often? I have six bulbs; in 6500K, two 18 watt CFL bulbs at 1,170 lumens each. In 2700K I have two 23 watt CFL bulbs at 1,600 lumens each, a 14 watt CFL bulb at 900 lumens, and a 26 watt CFL bulb at 1750 lumens. Would be enough from start to finish, and would they use all the lights all the time, or..? Is the Rockwool too small (6 inch netpot, 1.5 inch rockwool (freshly germinated seeds already in the wool)), and are dragon tears okay, and should there be more? And just put one of those 6500Ks on it, an inch, maybe an inch and a half away from the wool. Is that alright? I'm using a single 5 gallon bucket with 3 seeds in that one Rockwool cube.
I don't know what you mean by flush. I add nutes to all the water I add to the buckets when I top them off. If you can get all those lights focused on the plants, maybe. But you'd be way better off to get at least a 95w 2 ft. 4 bulb T-5 HO. You'll get 9,000 lumens. That's the bare minimum for really small plants. The very least I will recommend is the Tek-4 T-5 HO (PLL 55w). 200w 2 ft. 4 bulb 20,000 lumens. You can grow a pretty good size plant with this light. I use one to grow up to close to 2 ft. plants before they go into the flowering thet. And the light gets all the way to the bottom of the plants. It covers 3' x 3' all the way to the corners too. You can get bloom and grow bulbs for them. And they don't cost a whole lot. Under $200 with both sets of bulbs. I don't know what dragon tears are. Move beyond rock wool as quickly as you can! Go into Hydroton. One plant per net pot. Put your brightest light as close as possible without burning the plant. Use a thermometer to check and hold your hand under the light for a full minute and see if it feels hot.
It cost money to do an indoor grow spend wise get a six or thousand watt mh/hps you be happy you did. You will want to mix nutes into the water you are toppin but not every time you are going to have to check you ppm's. too much of the wrong stuff and you fuckem up.
I guess I probably should've mentioned that I'm on a pretty tight budget.. lol. The supplies were donated. "Dragon tears" probably isn't the correct term.. They are those little glass things in the bottom of the net pot. I got them from the fish part of the pet aisle at Walmart. I thought maybe they would work in place of gravel or hydrotons since.. You know, budget and all. I might be able to do more for lights, but probably not more than $50 or so..
Ouch! That's an impossible tight budget for a grow op. Save your pennies. No more Starbucks etc for a while!
I may be able to spend more a little later. Although.. When I brought up HIDs and HPS, the donor said they would get one.. What's a decent wattage? Is 250 good?
I have never used HID growlights and don't want to because of their high cost of operation and the amount of heat they generate. I greatly prefer the Tek 4 I mentioned earlier and my first choice in a growlight is the Inda-grow PARs. They are pretty costly but they use way less electricity, have aa way longer life and give the best quality of light for plant growth. The next best, IMHO, is the Tek 4 T-5 HO (PLL 55w) for a small grow like yours.
I was just reading Kamel's CFL Guide and I think I'll stick sith CFLs . Although I'm looking at some 100+ watt bulbs
[quote name='"OldPothead"']Each bulb is 55w, 2500 lumens. 220w for the whole thing and 20,000 lumens.[/quote] Wouldn't that be 10,000 lumens? 4 bulbs at 2,500 each? Anyways all good suggestions. In the market for a new t5 ATM aswell. Hydro stop near me offered me a 4 Ft 4 bulb for 150$, bulbs/tax included. Prolly pickin this up in a few weeks
Oops. I goofed. They are 5,000 lumens each bulb. They are double bulbs with each side being 2,500. The whole fixture puts out 20,000 lumens. At any rate, the Tek 4 puts out 20% more light than a regular 2' 8 bulb T-5 HO will.
Ya, me too. But I don't worry much. I think it will be legal pretty soon and the Govt. knows it. So they don't really care unless you're growing commercially. Maybe the next grow I'll do one too. For now I have a few in the Gallery.
Also, does that netpot need to be filled all the way up? It's not right now. There is a layer of about 2 inches of those little glass things in the bottom.
[quote name='"Tansko420"']I'd love to post pictures to keep a journal, but.. Kinda worried about "the Man" and whatnot..[/quote] As long as your pictures aren't geo tagged, you'll be fine. Grass city server runs out of Amsterdam so
The donor has arrived and I'm ordering more lights, pH meter, TDS meter, and maybe a new airstone and pump for a second bucket. I'm going with CFLs, but should I get a bigger (105 watt is what I was looking at. 6200 lumens) one or several smaller ones (like two 65 watt bulbs that are 4000 lumens each) I already have the two 18 watt 1170 lumen ones.