How much light? 16-8 or 24-0? new grow

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by pandahatch, Apr 21, 2010.

  1. Hi GC Im wondering how much light I should use on my plants, I had 4 outside for about a month and growth was quite minimal. the largest plant is probably 2.5" tall and wide. Last night I mixed together (in 3 gallon pots) some Miracle Grow soil w/ Sphagnum Moss, Bat Guano, and Seabird guano. I transplanted the four plants from the ground into the pots and placed them under 3 45watt 2700k CFLs. Im currently running 16 on and 8 off should I use 24-0 or what? any suggestions?
     
  2. Be prepared to face a hailstorm of posts telling you not to use MG soil haha.

    First off, your lights are the wrong spectrum for vegging. 2700K will be great for flowering but I would suggest getting 6500k or 5000k bulbs to veg with. This will stop stretching, especially if placed within 1 or 2 inches (which you should be doing already).

    Now, if you want, you can just go flower from seed and switch to 12/12 right now, but you would probably still get some stretching. Veg schedules are usually 18/6 or 24/0 and there are people on both sides who swear they're using the best schedule. Personally, I like 18/6 because it saves me power :)
     
  3. I do have the lights about 2 inches above the plants. should I start flowering so soon? I just realized about the 6500k bulbs but couldn't find them anywhere but online so I just went ahead with the 2700k I'm adding 2 more I just didn't have enough moguls.
     
  4. Are they in flower?

    EDIT: I see they aren't yet.

    Yikes you used 2700 for the whole veg state? Uh oh.
     
  5. You can use a HPS through out the whole grow. Same concept here. You will notice a difference if you compare your grow to those who use MH/6500K CFL's but it will still grow.

    Flipping the switch now would mean less of a yield, but it will flower faster.
     
  6. 24/0 or 20/4 is best imo, & studies have shown that 20/4 gives higher yields
     
  7. Im going to run 24-0 for a week or so to get these puppies in the air and spread out. Then I will do the flowering cycle in about 30 days from now (12-12) I guess we shall see what happens.
     
  8. I've always used 24 hour light at first, always seemed to give them a bit of an edge in vegging, but thats just my style and way of doing it.
     
  9. As a rule of thumb it's 100w cfl for the first plant, 50w for each additional plant in your grow space.
    MG is supposed to be bad for our plants because it has overly strong fertilizers that are to harsh for the young plants root structure.

    For me I go 24/0 for my vegging plants but thats because I don't want to buy another timer :)
     
  10. this was grown in same MG soil outdoor last year

    [​IMG]
     
  11. well the lights seem to be doing alright. I have plenty of new growth and since transplanting them they seem to have a stronger root system because they are firm when i slightly bend them.
     

Share This Page