my first grow, 200w cfl/400w hps

So I am new to the city and have been lurkin the forums for info and ideas for my own personal garden for a while now. I ordered some White Widow seeds from the greenhouse as well as some Easy Ryder from the attitude. Rather than jump right into things I figured I would do an experimental garden with some bagseed just to get some experience under my belt before I make an attempt at beginning my quality seeds I payed hard-earned cash for.

Like many others, I decided to go with a stealth rubbermaid/closet grow. For lighting I will be using 8x26w 6500k cfl's for veg and then switch to my 400w hps for flowering as well as 2x65w 2600k cfl's I picked up at Lowe's for the lower branching and nodes. I wish I could find daylight color at this size as they are rated at 5,000 lumens a piece!!! not too bad for a cheap cfl. FFOF is the soil that I am using as well as Fox Farm Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom for nutes.. Anyways, here are some pics that were taken from yesterday and today. They have been in 18/6 for 20 days now

 

As you can see, a couple have a lil bit of yellowing on the tips of the lower branches and slight curling but nothing too major i.m.o. I was hospitalized for a week and my g/f was tending to the garden. I believe it was a combo of heat and under watering while I was gone but they're almost back to the norm again. I feel like theyre very short and bushy for they're age. Does anyone else think this is abnormal or something I should be worried about? Any questions and comments are welcome as I could use all the help I can get right now. It's my first go-round so I worry and stay nervous constantly

 

thanks indy, hopefully everything will go well and finish with a nice product

 

mmmkay so I've looked around at some other ppls grows and noticed that as far as overall height and size, my plants are far behind alot of everyone else that are using far less light and also placing their cfl's much closer to the plants. I actually moved mine farther away to try to stretch them a bit. as of right now my bulbs are approx. 10 to 12 inches away from the tops. I realize this is too far away but they're just so damn short lol. But they have been healthy from the start, other than when I was in the hospital. I guess it's possible they may have just stunted and are takin a lil bit of time to get back on track, or it could just be that it's a very indica dominant strain. Like I said they are extremely bushy with branch nodes sprouting out everywhere. I've been thinkin of firin up the 400w hps on them for some 18/6 for 2-3 weeks but not sure if i should. plz some opinions and comments would help. Im new to everything and very inexperienced

 

now I'm at a crossroads of what to do with this grow. I have a much larger rubbermaid tub to use and i think its a better setup with an active/passive where my plants now only get new fresh air from a small opening on the side of the cab but i dont know if i wanna continue with the cfl's in the tub or move them under the 400watt b/c I know they will explode under it but at the same time heat and cost factors come more into play with it

 

More high-res pics coming tonight or tomorrow. I've been building another cab to fit more plants and more lighting. Hopefully when I get to the grow house my ak47 x lowryder2 and g13 Quicksilver will be sprouted outta the dirt and ready to explode. I intend on those bein under my 400watt hps throughout the entire cycle on a 20/4 schedule

 

thanks master. my lights are mounted from the top of the cab through two 3 socket vanity's i picked up at lowes for $9. The foil is just covered 1 layer thick but tonight I will be changing cabs and going to a larger tub and using two 4 socket vanitys(same price at Lowe's) so I can run a couple extra bulbs. I will also be mountin two power strips on the sides and using y-adapters to add about 6 or 8 more 26watt cfl's to help with the bottom branches. I Already cut a 2 inch hole in the bottom and placed a 2"pvc elbow in the bottom of the nedw tub and will be mounting a hgih velocity 4" fan in the top to remove the heat

 

thnx deadhead. I have alot to do in the garden today so should be puttin some new pics up this evening. I actually have changed the setup quite substantially as heat was/is an issue at the moment. Im now using a 35 gallon rubbermaid tub for veg. and my 4x2x5 closet with 400watt for flowering. Also now have 1 ak47xLR2 seedling going as well as 1 g13 Quicksilver autoflower seedling. But I'm off to the grow house to do a lil gardening and tend to the babies

 

Almost forgot, this is my first experience with a h.i.d and I knew the put out heat but I dont think I was prepared for this. Can anyone give me an estimation on what it would take to cool 4x2x5 closet that's runnin a 400watt h.p.s?

 

thanx chi-town. I'm tryin my best. Shit is so stressful at times tho. I get wound up easily. Luckily, I still have a dank ass 1/2 left to keep my mind right

 

mojoman thanks for the input. I saw these blowers at wal-mart the other day when I was pickin up some lights and thought hmmm...... those look awfully cheap made for a blower fan. But damn if they move air like that I might get one of these fuckers for sure lol. I checked my closet temps a lil bit ago and they have been rangin between 84-90 F with the lights on so thats not good at all. It's not my place so I can't start hackin the place up but I need to come up with a simple solution quickly. Oddly enough I have not encountered any odor probs since i picked up this cheap air purifier made by Febreeze. It uses a carbon filter and can pull odors from an area up to 6 feet away it claims. The last two days it has eliminated the odor from the entire bedroom, but I already know it will not handle the flowering period. But its a cheap fix for now. I'm about to put up some pics of the closet. Can you guys help me come up with a solid ventilation setup that will drop my temps down into the 75-80 range without having to cut up anything or make any holes or openings. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

 

Here's the new pics. That's the closet I'm usin aka the fuckin easy bake oven. The rest are pics of the bagseed i started. these are at about 23 days old I believe. The pic of the seedling is the g13 quicksilver autoflower i got for free from the Attitude. its at day 3 now

 

thanx chitown. I cant wait either! I also have some ak47 xLR2 that are germinating. Hopefully my oven of a closet doesn't kill out everything I have up to this point. 90 degrees isnt exactly ideal lol. uggghhhh if only I could fix this heat issue I would feel much more confident and relaxed