Hello everyone, This is my first shot at a microgrow setup. Large rubbermaid bin lined with the reflective windshield stuff (mylar?) + some of the foil tape to cover blank spots. Standard computer exhaust fan on the one side and an intake pipe w/ filter on the other. The top is lined with the tape, double coated for heat protection. All six bulbs are 5600k (both home depot and lowes did not have 6500). 3 out of the 4 are bagseed and 1 is seed from some homegrown surfergirl in montana. today is the 7th day since they went in the soil so i figured i'd ask a few questions and get a progress check to see how i'm doing. This is my best one This is the worst They're all in soil from this bag I have only been watering and have not used any fertilizer yet, but i do have this from my fiance's vegetable garden. I'm currently running 24/0 and was going to wait until they're a bit more establish to start 1. lst and 2. a 20/4 light cycle. so, how am i looking? i have one more extra bulb (5600k) and i'm thinking i should somehow incorporate it in there. they're all fairly close to the lights as you can see the stacks of books. Should i try that fertilizer? also, i feel like 7 days after they went in the soil, they should be a good bit bigger by this point.
Im also on day 7 and thats what mine look like. Mine are about 3 1/2 - 4 inches tall. How tall are they? Everyone ive talked to on here say that mirical grow is a big NO. But as long as they are growing and staying healthy...
they're about 2" or so, but i am keeping them very close to the lights so they stay shorter. i've heard the same thing and i'm not sure why. the bag said for seeds, which i had, so why not.. also, i added one more bulb in there since that pic was taken. it's standing between 3 of them so they get some more from different angles. i think it will make a differnce
Im an electrician and I myself had a little problem at first looking for the right bulbs. Lowes has a better selection of bulbs. You need to find the ones that have "daylight" printed on the front of the package. Then you need to look at the back of it and there is where you will most likely find the Kelvin rating. At most you will only find 26watt 6500K lamps. So you have to get quite a few of them. I myself used 2 26watt 6500K bulbs on each side of them during veg using a y-splitter for the screw base. I myself have used the 18/6 lighting schedule which seems to work best because it gives them a bit of rest full of vigor the next day ready for those lights to come on (which many will agree on). As for the growth rate, all I can say is patience is key. Do not allow your excitement to get the best of you. I myself was so exicted like you that I almost killed them by adding too much nutes wondering why they were not bigger. As for the MiracleGrow soil and nutes, from what I have read they are very bad becuase it has a time release agent and so you never really know what is going into them and at what time which will cause nute burn or deficiency. You should look more into foxfarm perilite mix or something similiar. I do not use soil in my grows, but I hope I helped out some. Overall they look good, you just need to make the changes. Good luck.
you definitely did help, thanks! i had spoken to people in the store trying to find the bulbs at both places and 5600 was the highest they had. i suppose it will work for now. is it safe to switch from 24/0 to 20/4 or 18/6 for veg? i don't want to disrupt them - i hear it raises risk of them becoming hermaphrodites?
You can always have them order them for you or you can simply go online and buy packages of 4,6, or 8 count for a cheaper price on Amazon. As for the light schedule I did the same thing I had them on a 24 hour light schedule for 2 days and then I did a quick change to the 18/6 light schedule, so you should be fine as well. The 24/0 schedule is more for aoutoflowering seeds from what I've read. If you are not consistent with your light schedule then yes they can hermi. To avoid that you should get the $10 timer available at home depot or lowes.
Hey man, would you mind including the pictures in the posts? You can either use the quick reply box's image link option, or go advanced and upload an attachment. I'd like to help, i'm on my player right now though so i cant click the links easily. Also, yes it is safe. Go like a week of each, and stay at 18/6 for all of veg, thats what i do at least and mine look great. I bought my cfl's at walmart and meijer, ge brand usually i believe. I've done a stealth grow but now i have a large set up.
Very cool, everything looks good so far. Just curious on a couple things. Why the filter on the intake, and not the exhaust? And how big can they get in there, are you going to train them somehow? Don't feed anything yet, and don't worry about changing the light schedule. You won't hermie them.
I'm not into micro grows but I too am using cfl's and Miracle-Gro soil. I'm using 55w (2700k) x2, and 42w (or the 150w equivalent)(2700k) x2 and they have been on an 18-6 light cycle from the start. My soil is Miracle-gro moisture control. I have done nothing to these plants but give then water (that has had a fish pump put in it for 24 hours before I use it). So far my plant are nice and bushy and they look great. Once the plant has been fed for three months (which is what the soil is designed to do) then I plan to start feeding it nutes. I will definitely be following your thread.
I would wait until 2 weeks after transplant to hit with any nutrients, maybe 1 week at the minimum. (Not counting a really small dose to get an idea of the plants reactions.) The soil is okay, I used it with Ocean Forest by Fox Farms, but I transplanted into Happy Frog, Jiffy Organic Seed Starter, and more Ocean Forest (I also added more perlite). I would not use that Miracle Grow fertilizer. I would avoid it at all costs to be honest, I bought some Fox Farms Grow Big for $19, there are plenty of other good brands too, from dyna-gro to Advanced Nutrients there are tons of options. Or for supreme quality make your own AACT's (organic section of forum has a tutorial on this).
Thanks for all of the responses. i've decided starting tomorrow to bring it down to 18/6. hopefully save me a few dollars on the electric bill plus i think they've just been getting hit really hard with light now for a week and can use some time to recover. the way the filter is set up is that a small pvc has some screen aroudn the outside to protect from bugs/large amts of dust/etc from coming in. there is no fan for intake, only exhausted which is red and in the back. dissec- i'm sorry i deleted the pics and i'm not able to take more at the moment. i'll post an update in a week or so. in terms of nutes, i think i'm going to look into the soil's specifications to determine when was included in the soil will be broken down. we actually have a compost heap in the yard so i can use some of that, possibly? i'll have to look into it more. the lid is plastic with a lot of the reflective tape on it. the box is starting to smell a little like chemicals, probably due to the proximity of the lid to the lights, so i'll have to think of a new liner material. will update the same time next week!