Well im leaving my house going off to college and i plan to be growing my own plants. I was wondering where would be the best place to purchase light fixtures for my hobby. Home depot? Also What would be the best place to grow the plants? In the closet at night n by the window during the day to get sun? How much does lighting usually cost? 50-60 dollars ?> I leave for school in 4 days and want to try and get my supplies before i leave. I already got seeds germinating, and will be rdy for growth as of friday. *DuTcH Ma$teR*
Welcome to GC. The only concern I have is if you live in a dorm, it would be a very bad idea to grow. But if you've got your own housing... Lighting can cost you anywhere from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars, depending on what you want to buy. A bunch of compact flouros are going to be cheap and probably what you want to go with. You can get them anywhere. You could move your plants, but I'm willing to bet you'll get tired of doing that and it's really not necessary, just leave them in the closet with the lights on.
No dorming for me. Im rooming with another guy in a 2 bedroom apartment 15 mins from campus. For 500 dollars a month you cant really go wrong u know ? Fluro's seem easy enuff to find. ill try home depot! I'll prolly just leave em in my closet for madd long wih the lights on em, no movement. I just took apart an old power supply for a computer , ima use that fan to give sum air movment . I also considered using a box fan on the lowest setting , to move the air but i wasnt sure it it would be too much air. I figured if i opened the window in my apartment n used the fan as a vacumn to suck the fresh air into the closet. What do u think? * DuTcH Ma$tEr *
Well just got back from the pet store, i found a heat lamp for like 10.99 and a 100 watt bulb was 15.99 that emitted heat and nice lighting. I figure to start out ill use the 100 watt bulb and il cut out the drawers in a see through little cabinet and ill line the walls with tin foil and at the bottom ill use 2 elbows and a little DC computer fan and run air intake pipes up next to the plant. What does every1 think good idea? or bad idea? any suggestions. *DutCh Ma$tEr*
A heat lamp is definately not very good for your plants. Pot virtually stops growing above 90 degrees (F). What kind of bulb did you get? Instead of lining the walls with foil just use white paint. It works better and will help keep the box cooler. Also invest in a thermometer/hygrometer and watch the temps.
I just looked at supplies ! i havent bought anything yet! What i was thinking is with the heat lamp i could just open up the drawer to let cool air in n cool down the box just enuff to give the marijuana some breathing air. I'll definatly invest in some white paint! Any other tips? * DuTcH Ma$tEr *
I really wouldn't recommend a heat lamp. It will be a pain to cool down the box, not to mention that when you close the box it will be well over 90 degrees. I'd recommend getting a few compact fluoro's. CFL's stay cool therefore you can place them alot closer to the plants. Have an intake near the bottom of the box and exhaust with an inexpensive bathroom fan (home depot) near the top of the box. You may also want to have a fan to circulate air within the box. And keep the temps low. Heat creates stress, and the more stress you put on your plants, the less they grow. If it becomes too hot they'll eventually die.
ok well ill definatly abandon the heat lamp idea! I think i may have a compact desk lite thats a fluro but ill have to look. As an air moving fan i was thinking of using a small 12V dc fan that is usually used to cool down a power source for a computer. As an intake fan and exhaust fan what kind of small fan's do u reccommend? *DuTcH Ma$tER * EDIT: Found a fluro light its only got 15W/118V/60HZ Think its enuff to grow maybe liek 2 plants? I just wanna start out small so i can make my own head smoke for now , will this work ? Also i just found an old blacklight i have, maybe ill pick up 2 stronger bulbs since there the exact same size.
Incandescent bulbs are useless for growing. Replace it with the highest wattage compact flouro you can find. I have a couple reptile heat lamp hoods that I use with compact flouros in them, but the actual heat bulbs don't do anything for your plant.
ok well i found 3 compact fluros, ones a 118 volts and 60hz the other was 115volts and the last one is 120 vac 60 hz and 16w. Im going to swap the bulbs outta 2 of the 3 b/c im starting out small. I dont think ill need all 3 fluros in one box thats only like 28 inchs high. Do you think that if i swap out the bulbs in these compact lights and replace them with higher wattage bulbs will the light be able to handle that wattage? * DuTcH Ma$tER * Also with my setup i was figuring ill have the fluros lining the side of the box with an exhaust fan right over the pot and the intake fan on the botton of the box on the side wall. Kinda liek a box i saw on this site where a person use an old cabinet and he knockedo ut all the shelves.
so any other suggestions from u massive amount of growers out there?? all info is helpful also this morning i started with my seeds by putting em in a glass of luke warm water, i read that on here sumwhere. how logn shud it take to get the seeds to crack? 1 day 2 days ?
All this information is out there if you just do a search for something like marijuana lighting or something to that effect. But anyway, the important thing (as far as compact flouros go) is the wattage; Volts and amps don't matter. In general, and there really isn't a concrete rule, each plant needs about 100 watts of light. So that 13 watter isn't going to cut it. Your plant will grow, but it will be slow and not yield much. You want to give your plant optimum conditions so it grows large, quickly, and gives lots of bud. So use all the lighting you can find. You can also place the lamp as close as a few inches from the plant, as long as it doesn't burn it (allow it to get too hot).
well i stopped at home depot today, i cudnt find anything that had more than 18 watts. i got 2 bulbs that are 15 watts each but have 1000 lumins a piece. where could i possibly find more wattage , b/c im limited in space here and only plan to grow maybe 3 or 4 plants just for head smoke. i can get fans easily and all that its just my lighting situation seems to be running poor.
to get you going ...heres what I use go to Home depot....get a 3 blub el cheapo wall mount bathroom light fixture...9.99... get an standard extension cord....cut off the plug end an wire it to your bathroom fixture.... then get a 3 pack of there 100w cfl....they draw 23 watts to run an put out 1600 lumens each....4800..total...get a timer for later... this will get two, three plants going in a small box...I use 2 liter bottles 10" high for the first month during veg...run lights 24 for 7 days then switch to 18/6 to veg.. after a month you'll prolly have your HPS light ..then transplant into 3 gallon pots an for 3x3 room...use 1 400 watt hps.....an you should be fine....check temps keep em under 90...perfer 70-85....
I germinate the same way....usually the second day they crack....I leave em in the water for three days till the sprouts are stickin out...always worked for me....75% germ rate..
im sure 28 " will not be high enough ... the pot you will want will be about a foot tall .. then you have the plant above it .. if you start to flower at say 4 weeks then the plant will be about 8 - 10 " high presuming it hasnt stretched for light .. when you flower it will about double in size .. that will make 16" for the plant at the least plus 12" for the pot .. then say 2 or 3 " room above them will be your light which will hang probably 4" from the top of the cupboard soooo that would be 34" at least .. thats all presuming you stick to the flouros you get a hps light in there you got no chance ... do a little research dude ... a wealth of knowledge all written down on these boards .. good luck all the same