As the title says, I am blind. I have decided to take up the challenge of growing a few girls. Not much, as the law only allows me 3. So, I am doing it the old school way in a clothes closet. Jerry has been kind enough to send me a basic water - only soil recipe. One that is simple, and easy to put together and mix. I need to take this step by step, as I want to have everything ready and set up before I begin to use anything. With the soil step done, I now turn to the lighting and ventilation. The closet I will be using measures 8'x3'x8'. Unfortunately, I do not have much of a way to ventilate the closet. So I will have a key issue. Therefore, since I have read some posts about CFL and LED lighting, I did a little research. I think either of these will be ok, but I have some questions. 1. Do you prefer to use CFLs, LEDs or a combination of the two, and why? 2. How much wattage would you recommend per square foot, cubic foot or the entire growing area? 3. How many individual lights would you recommend, and how would you recommend the placement of them to be? I know that more questions will crop up as I go along. If I need more information to have this part set up, please do not hesitate to give some advice. Please keep in mind that simplicity is the key to everything here, due to my limitations. Thank you in advance for your help... May God bless. trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
The best thing you can do is watch some videos, check out jorge cervantes. Mostly from the info from his ultimate grow dvd i was able to pull 381 grams out of a 4x4 box. Knowing the plants and what they need is your best plan of attack.
Very good suggestions. Thank you. The only issue with the videos... Is that I can't see them. I'm sure that there is some good audio in them, but I'm also sure it refers to what is being done that has to be seen visually. Thank you for your response and suggestions, but I don't think watching videos will help me very much. I just won't be able to pull enough information from them to be much help to me. trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
If I had to choose between CFL or LED, I would go LED. You will get better light penetration and more useable light. 50 watts per square foot should be good, or 100 watts per plant. Cubic feet is usually used to figure out how much ventilation you will need. You have 192 cubic feet so a fan rated at 200 cfm or higher will do the trick. As far as light placement, if you use LED I would hang it above the plants about 18" away to start. With CFL's you can use splitters and clip reflector to put them all over the place and within a few inches of the canopy without the risk of burning your plants. Sent from my HUAWEI Y536A1 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Home... So what you're saying is that the LED's well actually generate heat? I always understood them to not generate much at all. Or are we talking like Spectrum here? Sorry to keep firing off the questions, but they come to me and I forget if I don't ask. Thank you for taking time to respond, that is great information. trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
Yeah LED and CFL both produce heat, not as much as a HID system, but enough you will need to extract it somehow. I would also imagine that LED's would have a better range concerning spectrums. I'm sure soon enough the pro's will weigh in and get you some more info and tips/tricks. Sent from my HUAWEI Y536A1 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I run a 300 watt LED panel... I used to do CFL. Think of LEDs as like a radiator... they are always warm over a large area. Much safer than HIDs which have one tiny spot of very intense heat. In my box, if I just leave the door cracked it passively vents all the heat I'll ever need to vent. Even a computer fan could exhaust the heat from ny setup 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
That's a lot of great information! Keep it coming, people! The more I get the better it'll be. Thank you so very much for that information, guys. Another question just occurred to me. These LED panel... Are they hung on the wall of the enclosure? Sons of panel need to move in any way as the plants grow? Once again, thanks a lot everyone. trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
Hard to describe to the blind but I'll try Most LED panels ( I recommend a 300 watt rated for personal use) will come with a hanger system... four clips on to each corner of the panel, and each clip has an equal length cord... so you attach all the cords to one hook and it hangs perfectly level on its own. You can adjust it's height using a 2$ "lamp chain" at any Lowe's or Canadian tire. Hope that description helps 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
Keep in mind... a lot of people woll push a small HID light... like a metal halide or sodium light. ... but an LED is safer if you're blind because no part of it gets hot enough to burn you. Accidentally touching an HPS bulb can hurt. No such rush with LEDs 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
I have 2 x 250 watt CFL. Can someone tell me what to do next? I'm not a begginer but .. I could use a few good tips.
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' data-author="Cow Robot" data-cid="22340692" data-time="1454299865">I have 2 x 250 watt CFL. Can someone tell me what to do next? I'm not a begginer but .. I could use a few good tips.<br Read the stickies in this forum and indoor medical marijuana. Sent from my HUAWEI Y536A1 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I enjoy interacting with people.. of course the stickies are helpful. I would like to hear opinions of people who have experience to share
Id have so see pictures. 250 watt actual cfl's ?? 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
The last time I was posting on a forum, & I might be wrong now a days, it was rude to hijack someone else's thread and post your own question. The polite thing to do, was to start your own damn thread. Hijackers... I may be a Ricky to growing, but I am NOT a Ricky online by any stretch of the imagination. Now, back to the thread that I started. That is a wonderful description! Only having being blind for about two and a half years, I can picture it right now. What is the recommended distance from the top of the plants? I'm sure it differs from the vegetative to flowering stages, and as the plant grows. trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
If you don't have a way to vent the grow area, you're going to either have to use CFLs (which are great for veg but stink when it comes to producing good quality buds in flower) or LEDs (which work wonderfully well if you get a decent quality light) so the heat isn't so much of an issue. If it were me, I would go with one good quality high wattage LED. You can use it for both veg and flower just by flipping a switch to change the spectrums and they don't use too much power or emit a great amount of heat. One light should very easily grow you 3 nice plants. But to get one of any quality, it's going to cost you some money. Don't waste your time even looking at the super cheap lights advertised on Ebay or Amazon. They are made in China purposely as cheaply as possible. They do not put out the light that they are advertised to and are made with the absolute cheapest components, lesser numbers of diodes and using the cheapest labor possible to put it all together. If you go with LED's, wait till you can afford to get an LED that is a quality light. You'll only have to buy it once and it will last you for years and years...not to mention the quality of buds it will produce. Since you're only going to be growing 3 plants, a 600 watt should be plenty fine in the LED line to handle your needs. Yes, you'll have about a million more questions over the next several months, but this is a great place to find answers. The "new grower" threads here are just chocked full of good basic grow information that every new grower needs to know BEFORE he/she even drops a single seed. Do all the research and reading you can before you start because information is definitely your friend when doing this as a hobby. If you water correctly (allow them to dry out almost totally between watering since the roots don't like constant moisture), keep the pH of all liquids going into your plants in the proper range (6.3 to 6.7 for soil grows) and use a good quality soil to grow them in, you should produce healthy plants. Good luck and if I can help you out in any way, just let me know!! TWW
Woah... Great info there! If you don't mind, I would like to ask a couple of questions. Where can i buy the good quality that you're talking about, and what kind of price range will I be looking for? What manufacturer(s)? How are they hung over the plants? I also assume they're going to have to be moved over the course of the plant grow. How far from the plants or the tops of the plants does it need to be? And not to be really thick headed and dense here, but what makes a single LED with that type of description you give better than the good quality panels of LEDs previously mentioned and discussed I know, I know. More than a couple of questions... Just trying to educate myself. Asking questions and having them answered, is much better for me than surfing through information that I may not want just to get to what may help at any particular time. Thank you for your patience with an old man that cannot see.? trying to learn to grow flowers organically.
Dont sell those 80$ 300watt panels short. They can give you two ounces of bud easily. Height you were asking about i keep mine about 8-10 inches from the plants. Any closer and they bleach. Thats with a 300 watt LED panel. Also if you're blind then checking pH meters and stuff will be hard... I recommend a great big no till. ...mix it all up once at the beginning of the grow, with a set list of amendments... and then let it become living soil. Even put live worms in it etc. 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
Living soil you can feel with your hands and see the plasticity and moisture content... if I had to grow by feel I would definitely do like a 25 gallon no till 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
I have 2 questions about lighting (1.) What is the safe distance for CFL bulbs? (2.) What is the safe distance for LED's?