Hi everyone! I have been lurking for a few weeks now, waiting for my seeds to arrive from Attitude. Finally finished setting up my grow room. I plan on using 2 68W 2700K CFL and 2 40W 2700K CFL, and planting in soil. This is going to be my first grow. My grow room has a typical CFL setup. The closet is a small walk-in, and I plan on using one end of it for 1-2 plants. The space is 35" by 22" and 5' tall (about 5sqft). I have the two bigger CFLs attached to a clamp reflector and the other two connected to a Y socket. They are dangling from a shelf, about 5' from the floor. This gives me about 2280 lumens/sqft. I will be using Miracle Grow organic potting soil and watering with distilled water. As you can probably already tell, I am doing this on the cheap (and simple) but I still want to get the biggest yield possible. Money is the main issue preventing me from just using an HPS, as well as the heating problems I would probably run into. I don't really have ventilation, but I will be putting my "Vornado" fan in the room, which pushes air in a very narrow and direct way. I am starting off with my freebie from Attitude, Dinafem Moby Dick. Has anyone had experience with this strain? I plan to LST the shit out of it. Also, any thoughts on the CFL's? HD only had 2700K, but I figured since people use HPS for an entire grow, 2700Ks for an entire grow should also be fine. Pictures will be posted as soon as the seeds have sprouted.
Hey banana, I am also a new member to gc, miracle grow organic does pretty good I have always mixed in a little perlite when i use it, you might want to add a few more cfls if you want a bigger yield, and from what i have heard around the forums if you use distilled water your suppose to use something called cal-mag, but since your on the cheap this is probably not an option, i've the spring water is gallon jugs are better because distilled doesnt have any of the needed smaller minerials.......anywayz that just my thoughts
Hey USBlues, thanks for the reply. Yeah I was confused about whether or not to use distilled water. I read that someone else (forgot who) used it and had good results, and I'm worried that my water (Poland Spring) might have some chlorine or something in it. Anyone have any experience watering with poland spring? It would actually be very cheap because I get jugs of it for a cooler. I plan on getting some more CFLs if i clone and plant another one, which is very likely. I know doing an LST on a mainly sativa plant is probably not a great idea for a first time grower, but... well, wish me luck, lol.
Hey Banana Good luck with the grow. They will grow with 2700k but try to chuck a 6400k in at least if its an option, it will help with the veg. You in the UK ? I have probs trying to get 6400k's aswell, as I want to add a veg room to my closet. Have a good one and good luck
wasup B im growing moby too. if youve only just started im about a week in front, im deff LST the moby, but ide say LST the shit out of all your plants! yeah i agree with walshy if you can get the daylight bulb (6400 - 6500 kelvins) it will def help. !
Hi easygrow, I'll subscribe to your thread. Looking forward to seeing how our plants turn out. What is the danger of not using any 6500K? Will the plant stretch a lot?
there is a couple stickys on this that you could read but, basically the plant in the vegging stage utilises more light from the blue spectrum (6500k) than the red (2700), so it will grow better under the 6500 light because it can use more of that light for root, leaf and stalk development than it could if it was just under a 2700 k light. i grew my Blue widow under a 40 watt T 12 thats close to red part of the colour spectrum and when i transplanted it, there was very little root growth. Then i got my moby and the new lights at the same time, and by the time i transplanted that the roots were growing out of the bottom of the cup, you could put it down the genetics but i think its deff because i have the 6400 k lights now. under the T12 i had a fair bit of stretching in my seedlings but that could also have been down to light placement. but also yes, i also have read jornals in which people grow all the way under hps, its all down to personal preferance and situation in the end i guess. any1else feel free to comment add or correct me lol. im only a newb but i did a fair bit of research.
Some pictures of my grow room: How is that light setup? The middle is the two 42W and the side ones are the large 68W. I figured the larger ones should go on the side so that they are (eventually) horizontal to the plant. Still waiting for the seed to sprout (~24 hours). Thanks for all of the replies everyone.
Those lights should do good. The only thing I would consider is finding some daylight cfl's for your veg phase. I know for certain, that walmart has them, and the Home Depot's near me have them as well, just not the big ones, the biggest I could find of the daylight were 26w. My grow is very similar in setup to yours. I also used MG organic, plus 1/3 perlite, and about 20 percent worm castings, and she has grown very robustly so far. No problems really. I will be watching how things go for you
Ill be watching this thread as I will be growing this free seed "dinafem moby dick" that I got from attitude as well.
oh yeah by the way, i have heard bad things about MG soil everytime ive read abouty it here. i think is because it slow release nutes in it, which is bad for small plants as they can get nute burn and... die lol. but it depends how hardy the strains are i guess, also if your on the cheap just get the water from ur taps dude and let it sit out 4 24 hours to let the chlorine dissipate and you have yourself good water. thats what ive been doing and my plants (including my moby which is working on its 3rd set of leafs) are all very healthy.
I did some reading and the MG organic potting mix is actually pretty good - no harsh chemical ferts at all, it's all natural stuff and only 0.1/0.05/0.05 NPK. I am just going to use poland spring for all waterings because I get it pretty cheap, and my water is very hard.
The Moby Dick didn't germ, so I had to germ one of my feminized Afghan Kush seeds instead. Planted about 1/2" into a soil cup with holes at the bottom, and watered with about 1 tablespoon of water all over the soil. I purchased a pair of 5100K 30W bulbs and they are sitting right over the cup, with the other fluoros sitting about 6" away. Should I move them closer and try to get the maximum light right from the start? Is 20/4 OK for a seedling? Thanks in advance for all the help - couldn't do this shit without everyones help!
I will be subscribing to this thread as well. It's very similar to mine so I'm anxious to see how it plays out.
You don't need much light while waiting for the sprout to pop up. Actually the lights will dry out the soil and make it harder to get the seedling started, in my opinion. I would leave it in the shade until the cotyledons pop out, then put it under lights if it was me.
When they sprout you can give them 24/0 lighting and they will use as much as you can give them. Make sure you keep your lights close but watch out for burns. Looks good though man, I'm tuned in.
I learned that the hard way I guess. I kept them under 20/4 even when they didn't sprout, thinking the warmth would speed it up. The cup ended up drying out very fast and I had to water a lot every day (water by checking weight). Another thing I learned is to water COMPLETELY, do not just add a little water at a time, because the water will not penetrate fully that way. I kept adding water each time until it came out the bottom holes. Finally, the seed sprouted! Well, kinda. The seed was sitting on top of the sprout, so I removed it carefully with tweezers. Here is a pictures, it looks kind of weird but it's green, so is it OK? Theres also a weird white growth on the bottom, and some dirt is stuck on the plant.