Hi everyone. Trying out my first micro grow. I'm seven days into it and I figured I'd try and get some advice. I've been reading a lot of posts here and I could really use some...expertise! So here's what we have so far. This is my first girl (hopefully). She's a week old. Here's her sibling. She's five days old. Here's their grow space. Started with Miracle-Gro seed starter soil, and moved to their standard potting mix. Nutrient content (NPK) is 0.5%, 0.5%, 0.5% and 0.27%, 0.07% and 0.14% respectively. I've been watering every two to three days, depending on how dry the soil is. The lights are CFL, 13w. They're on an 18 on, 6 off schedule for now. Am I doing this right so far?
Can't really give you advise since I haven't started growing yet but I was just wondering on the strains. Random bag seeds or not?
It looks to be a decent set up, though a little small. What's the height of the grow box? What spectrum cfl's are you using? 6500k bulbs are best for vegging, while 2700k is best for flowering. More lights/lumens will help make your ladies grow faster and bigger, thus providing you with more bud. It's a good start, subbed.
I suggest you turn the lights to 20/4, this will speed up growth quite a bit, are these auto's or photoperiod? So far everything looks good, uberbuddah made a good point, spectrum of light during veg should stay in the 5000-6600k, and then when you flower you should have a mixed spectrum, but should mostly consist of the 2700-3300k spectrum. I would also suggest more powerful lighting, 13w cfl's won't be enough light for two plants, from the looks of it you only have two cfl's for both of your plants? I like to measure lumens when I grow, for instance each plant should have at least 2500 lumens but preferably 4000+. One 13w 5000k cfl at 57lumens per watt only gets you 741 lumens, only 1,482 lumens between both plants. I highly recommend some more lights in there, just my two cents though, every growers situation is different. Haha, I'm growing bud in a cabinet no taller than 3ft, and I have 1 150hps light with a ton of pc fans keeping it cool...I have like no fucking space, I'm miserable, tent soon though...got my gf's approval! But so far everything looks pretty healthy, I feel bad throwing all this at you at once since you're just starting, but fuck I wish someone did that during my first autoflower grow, it was a pitiful yield and I did everthing wrong, almost. Now my bud doesn't even compare to my first grow so sticky and dense now, I also dabbled in lst (definitely check it out, very simple, and does help control height in such a short space), now more recently I'm doing a scrog grow (screen of green), yield is much better, even with the lack of space.
@RooRgle (continuing his point) It's good that he came here for advice, when I started, I used an old, small non reflective trunk with high heat and incandescent bulbs. Inspiration went ahead of planning. Guess how that turned @Shadow, Growing your own is a fantasticly rewarding experience. If you are willing to put more money in now, I promise it will reward you in the future. if you got any specific questions, ask away
Before posting this i just have to specify that i have no experience with CFL growing except a 35W CFL 6400K for mothers that i broke pretty quickly The guys posting above pretty much covered most, and i suspect them of being a lot more experienced then me growing wise. Please correct any ill information for me uber and roo. Btw im growing 250W hps in 2.5ft tall cab. Hellz yeah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What kind of ventilation do you have? You should check that out before adding to much light straight of the bat if the room temp of the grow box is not already to low. Positioning of the ventilation is key in cooling. CFM also makes a difference ^^ having the lights vertical above and not on the sides of the plants will reduce lumen output with at least 4-6%. Vertical bulbs will cut height on the plants once they grow above the bulb tho, but with your space that is not a option really. Turn them sideways and save yourself some lumen. You should also position the plants a bit closer to the light.. maybe? Hard to tell distance with the angels of the picture 2-4 inches works well. You can force vertical growth by having them far away, or make them shorter by having them really close. Adjusting lights is pretty important with cfls i think.. Seeing you got little space hangers etc will just consume space, hard mounting them and move plants up and down works well. If you want even more out of your bulbs you can build some reflectors. Soda can reflectors are really cheap and easy to make atleast. If you got the reflective material all you need is a beer and a game on the TV(the game is optional but highly recommended) Example DIY. The mixed spectrum effects the bud taste etc. so smart to follow the advise given by RooRgle. Some label with kelvin, some do not. If they do not, bulbs ranging in the 2700K-3000K spectrum are usually labeled Warm White or Soft White, bulbs ranging in the 3500K – 4000K spectrum are bright white or cool white, 5000K is labeled Full Spectrum, and finally 6400K – 6500K is labeled Daylight.
I'm not sure. I don't think they're autoflowering. The bag I got the seeds from was from some pretty good stuff, it had a very mellow high (mellow, but strong if that makes sense) so it's more of an Indica strain I guess. And I'm not exactly sure what spectrum the lights are. I think they're bright white. I have a third bulb, but where the case is so small (14"x14"x6") adding it to the powerstrip will be tough. I'm thinking of cleaning out my closet and putting them in there and doing some LST. But my closet is a dark wood color, and I don't want to paint it or go through several square meters of reflective material to cover it all. Would I be able to get by without doing that stuff? Love, peace, and chicken grease!
Nah you should not have to cover it all. Its not like CFL's reach a long distance anyways. Make some cheap reflectors and put some reflective material on the walls where you will be doing the scrogging or lst'ing. If the walls are far away from the plant you can just make some fake low walls of cardboard or something. Would be easier if you had a picture and some measurements of the closet. If they are bag seeds and not from a friendly micro grower friend of yours i doubt that its auto flowering, as they do not have the yield to support a cash crop in most cases. But i have no idea what you guys smoke over in the states Just know i will have a hard time finding auto flower weed on the streets where i live
Moving them or making a new grow box is a good idea. You won't get much yield, and you are going to have trouble fitting the plants during flower. You can purchase grow tents, which vary in size. The outside is black, while the inside is full of reflective material.
I use CFLs / Not the best / But they work just fine & will get the job done http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/986198-himalaya-blue-diesel-x-critical-auto.html But I agree with RooRgle Go with higher watts than 23w CFLs
Okay guys, back again! It's been a little over two weeks since I started my mini-garden. I repositioned the power bar and put some stronger, higher spectrum lights in the box. I also added two fans for air exchange and have been on a 20/4 light schedule for around a week and watering every two to three days. How's it looking? I'm planning on moving my garden to a much bigger space very soon.
Anyone? I started watering my girls with nutes today. 20/20/20, one teaspoon per gallon. Still on a 20/4 schedule. Pics soon.
[quote name='"anon4life"']Before posting this i just have to specify that i have no experience with CFL growing except a 35W CFL 6400K for mothers that i broke pretty quickly The guys posting above pretty much covered most, and i suspect them of being a lot more experienced then me growing wise. Please correct any ill information for me uber and roo. Btw im growing 250W hps in 2.5ft tall cab. Hellz yeah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What kind of ventilation do you have? You should check that out before adding to much light straight of the bat if the room temp of the grow box is not already to low. Positioning of the ventilation is key in cooling. CFM also makes a difference ^^ having the lights vertical above and not on the sides of the plants will reduce lumen output with at least 4-6%. Vertical bulbs will cut height on the plants once they grow above the bulb tho, but with your space that is not a option really. Turn them sideways and save yourself some lumen. You should also position the plants a bit closer to the light.. maybe? Hard to tell distance with the angels of the picture 2-4 inches works well. You can force vertical growth by having them far away, or make them shorter by having them really close. Adjusting lights is pretty important with cfls i think.. Seeing you got little space hangers etc will just consume space, hard mounting them and move plants up and down works well. If you want even more out of your bulbs you can build some reflectors. Soda can reflectors are really cheap and easy to make atleast. If you got the reflective material all you need is a beer and a game on the TV(the game is optional but highly recommended) Example DIY. The mixed spectrum effects the bud taste etc. so smart to follow the advise given by RooRgle. Some label with kelvin, some do not. If they do not, bulbs ranging in the 2700K-3000K spectrum are usually labeled Warm White or Soft White, bulbs ranging in the 3500K – 4000K spectrum are bright white or cool white, 5000K is labeled Full Spectrum, and finally 6400K – 6500K is labeled Daylight.[/quote] May the Good Lord bless you for helping us noobs. SG1 has helped me as well. Bless you all. That reflector is beyond ingenious and believe me, I'll be busy making them this weekend. Thanks for all your help. Bless you and yours.
What An F'ed Up Week Just got my puter back up & running So I'll post some updated pics in a few The cab is done & looks good & I had two seeds poke their heads out of the ground yesterday {6-9-12} Going to give them a few days / Have then on a windowsill / Till the steams thicken up Then put the in the cab under 12/12
Looks Good To Me... Good Luck PS~ How's the heat? That's one thing that I forgot to do & have to Is run it & check the temp