Hi. I'm on week 5 1/2 from seed and I've been growing a single plant in a 6x6x2 closet. I was wondering if I have the lights 4-6 inches from the plants, do the dimensions of the rest of the space matter with 12800 lumens? I'm going to flower this Thursday and am very much considering tossing in 4 1600 lumen 23w 5000K bulbs for the grow. I currently have 8 bulbs each emitting 1600 lumens.... 6 6500K, 2 2700K, each of them 23 watts. Attached are some pics. The plant is 8 or 9 inches. It's been a very slow 5 1/2 weeks and I feel I'm wising up to what has been wrong. I've had a couple pH issues and started my nutes a little late, but I from what I've read, I doubt the small issues I've had are the problem. I expected a few mistakes as this is my first grow. Everything else has been mostly fine and I feel these lights are my only issue now. It's taken this long, because I've spent alot of time considering the possibility that I have bad genetics and I was warned of a lemon skunk(my strain) phenotype that grows very slowly. Thanks for any help.
I mean, the plants look healthy. They look great in all aspects except size, to me. I'm not stressing too much, though. I know if lighting is my problem and I fix it soon, I have until Thursday and the early-flower growth spurt for the plant to somewhat catch up to where I would like it to be. And if not, the plant isn't as small as it could be and at least I'm not running out of room. I'm actually quite proud of my first grow. I was warned that my first grow would be a disaster, especially since I'm doing hydro. So, things could be worse.
Lets re- evaluate? ..shit lights, shit seeds, shit nutes, grower has no previous experience, rather than annoy the membership with banal postings, better for you to spend 10 minutes reading a good grow book....? but "we" see that ain't gonna happen...? Ensure you have lots of holes in that thing you grow in, paint it black to reduce light to roots How many cfl's are you gonna use, there is a break even point even with cfl's, consider .. http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-Dimmable-Detachable-Reflector/dp/B00547I5I8/ref=pd_sbs_lg_6 the issue with your plants can be solved by training you in Kelvin ...however very little can be done with your attitude to your plants and fellow man, ....that will come with age thank you "V"
With cfls it doesn't matter the amount of lumens it matters the amount of wattage. The 23 watt bulbs don't put out enough penetration for the plant to start the chemical process of converting the light into sugar (photosynthesis). You need to invest in larger bulbs or a whole new light set up. Sent from my LG-P870 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I know wattage is important, but I wasn't aware that 23W didn't work. From the reading I've been doing, all I've seen mentioned is lumens per square foot and needing 100 watts for the first plant, and so many more watts for each additional plant. Thanks for the knowledge. I guess this means I need to improve my lighting.
Wattage is a huge deal with cfls due to them being the weaker lights, this is also the reason you need them so close to the plants, the 23 works but not very well hence why the plants smaller than average. Its good that you did research on the subject tho but read the beginning of my thread I started with cfls now I use hid you can see how many lights I was using for my plants (389 watts for two plants). When you start getting into lumens per sqft that's when your using better light sources like hid or flouros lol Sent from my LG-P870 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
For your first time the plant looks good , maybe a little small ?? but not bad ; you aren't being real clear on what your questions are ?? if you are ready to start flower you have eight bulbs now in two fixtures what I would do is put three 23watt 2700k bulbs & 1 23watt 6500k bulb in each fixture giving you a total of 6 2700k bulbs & 2 6500k bulbs (I prefer to mix the lights) with a total 184 watts, enough for your current needs keep your lights as close as possible to plant ; you did not say what you are using for nutes & I don't do hydro so all I can say is find a feeding chart for your brand of nutes & follow it . Start reading on this site as there is a lot of good information here (use some common sense while reading as there is a lot of bullshit here also, but if think about while researching you can distinguish between the good & bad) & overlook the negative comments you get there are always a few anywhere you go Good luck in your endeavor & learn from your mistakes as everybody makes some The only time mistakes turn into true fuckups is when someone is to stupid to learn from them
Oh, I thought about mentioning the nutes, but I'm pretty sure my nutes are okay. I've been using FoxFarm's 3 main products and following their feeding schedule. Sorry if I was unclear, but it seems like Marliedog answered my question perfectly. Basically, I was wondering if lumen output mattered with CFLs seeing as they're so close to the plants anyway. That was pretty much answered. Thanks for the advice on lighting and what you said is what I was planning to do. I have 8 bulbs in there now, 6 daylight/2 soft white and plan on twisting that this Thursday. In the meantime, I think I'll save up for better lighting and look into results from good LEDs. I don't think I can run HPS, it would be too hard to control the temperatures given my budget and space. But I'm definitely considering better lighting once my ability to grow a plant is stable enough to justify the investment. I expected alot more difficulty in catching on and that's why my space looks like a stack of random objects in a shed. Thanks for the help, guys.
There is nothing wrong with using cfl's (especially if they fit your budget) they do have have some advantages also like growng in small areas look around you will find some threads showing very nice cfl grows,I think it was mentioned already they do come to point of being not as efficient power wise (watts used compared to output) provided you can control the heat output from HID lights . Start looking through in the beginners forum & you will find what you need, here is a good one to start with http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/122824-kamels-cfl-guide.html?hl=guide+cfl also look at some cfl grows & copy what works & you will be fine as for LED's they are expensive, & at the present time really are just a waste of money when you consider the cost vs. results for small growers ; just my opinion
Considering some of the negative posts I have seen, calling them Nazi's would be a little to polite, but there are always some dipshits who want to try & impress people with knowledge they don't have, about anywhere you go on any subject & seem to forget they had to start somewhere also But on the other side of the issue there are some people that do ask some stupid questions because they don't want to spend a little time & effort to research simple things