First Grow: Lights

you should be ok. the lights can get very close to the plant ~2" away, but you need a fan blowing on them

for one plant i would get 2-3 bulbs. 2 6500 and 1 2700 then during flower 1 more 2700

or you can buy 4 4000-5000k bulbs

 

18/6. plants are a form of life. life needs adequate rest.

no, they drink less water when theyre small.

cannabis likes soil thats dry, so it roots can expand and search for water.

a big pot will hold enough water for 3-4 weeks after the first watering, thats why we start with smaller containers.

 

Hello, I also have a light question I have a small 2 x 3 ft grow space what size lights should I use, I am intending on growing some auto fems and i have a 600w hps light but I have been told repeatedly that is to much but no one will tell what would be the right light size, I am ok with less than 600w smaller electro bill

any help would be awesome
droski

 

like 250 watts? 600 watt bulb is also pretty hot. my plants smell when its hot, so heat is my issue

 

You can have a 600w bulb like 4" from a mess of plants. Air cooled hoods.

 

You can never have too much light. Too much heat sure.

 

I'm using a closet that's 3x5 but I have an energy efficient small ceramic heater and fan which take up some of the room so I'm only really using like 2x2 or 2x3 of it and I have four plants and 6 18watt 6500K bulbs on them and 2 cheap led panels on each side that make up the spectrums the bulbs don't cover(they actually made a good difference, one of the plants likes curving to the led's when it has the cfl right above it. I plan to use 8 2700K bulbs for flowering, 6 in my fixture and one on each side as well as the leds on the sides. Here's a picture of my set-up to give you some ideas, I have had no lack of light issues with this at all.

 

Use a hps, cooling space heating your house and using all availabe space.

 

fixer i like the rig, whats that thing in the back?

 

Ceramic heater with green mode that has a programmable thermostat, got it at job lot for $45. It's real energy efficient and barely runs, I just need it to bump the room a little during the light period because my house is only 68 degrees it's winter and cold where I live. I can't use an HPS because it would overheat my closet, I borrowed one for a couple days and tested it and I would spend way to much money trying to expel the heat. I may go to an LED set-up from Apollo but I am waiting for them to contact me back. This is just a small set-up for personal use and it's my first time so we'll se how it goes. I'm having trouble with the bagseeds I have but the 2 seeds that were from the batch I bought are doing great. I'm using fox farms happy frog and ocean forest and some extra perlite for soil and fox farm for nutes when they need them.

 

go with four 23w cfls about 100w and will veg multiple plants

the more the merrier

cant beat the sun

 

I couldn't find the 6500K bulbs in 23watt or 26watt for some reason just 18watt at a reasonable price. The 8 2700K bulbs I got were 23watt though. Make sure you make a good reflector OP because you want as much of that light as you can from the bulb focused at the plant since they aren't that strong being the spirals. If you haven't bought anything yet I would suggest looking into T5's if you stay with CFL's they are much more powerful and have nice reflector housings premade and you can get up to 8 bulbs in one fixture.

 

I'd recommend the 46w 2700s for flower. one is enough but two will increase your yield plenty.. and after its two weeks if the budgets tight, order a 9$ bag of peruvian seabird guano for veg, and mexican bat guano for flower. Plants need light, during the 6 hour off time, they look for light cause there isnt any. It's called 'Stretching'. so adding in the dark time will cause rapid growth.

If you can a PH meter allows you to do alot more too. idk if you have one but a safe way to control ph is. Distilled water jugs PH is ALWAYS 7.0. you want 6.5. so adding a few drops of lemon juice to distilled water until it reads 6.5 is THE BEST way to water your plant. moisture meters are handy too. you need proper drainage so the roots can breathe you dont want root rot.

Idk what you already know or need to know but im here to help so let me know fellow smoker @_@


Hope I Helped

 

be careful with heaters. Plants need humidity, space heaters dry the air. number of things work, cookie sheets with water underneath your light raise the spaces humidity. humidifiers work but it can also get it TOO humid and cause mold so be careful.. let me know if ya got some questions

 

The 18/6 requirement has been proven wrong. They don't need rest at all. Cannabis is a type of plant that benefits from 24/0 light during vegetative growth. They grow faster and with less stretch under 24/0 in veg. Check Cervantes book or many others. The ONLY reason to use 18/6 for veg is if there are security concerns or power usage concerns. Otherwise, leave the lights ON during veg!!!!

Cannabis does like airy soil and letting the top few inches dry out between waterings seems to be good practice.

 

Proven wrong? nothing is proven definitively my friend. 18/6 isnt only done for security or power usage concerns. it also depends on the strain, what dom it is or will be.

The plant cannot be in constant cycle with chlorophyl production & A cell reproduction. It Will stress the plant and it will hermaphrodite. 24/0 is ok for the first week when they are saplings as long as it isnt HID light and its a lower lumen rating like CFLs. I would NEVER recommend 24/0 on HID Lights, even in the first few days. It will not only stress them but too many lumens all at once will cause stress as well.

too many bad things can result from 24/0 as I've done it in closet grows, dresser grows, camper trailer grows, tree fort grows & mobile box truck grows.

dont get me wrong its ok to do. but the 6 hours of night time stretching is usually good for sativa dom plants.

 

18/6 and i think the lights should be warm enough