My girlfriend, a friend and I are trying our luck at our first closet grow room. It's 4.5'x5.5'x8'. We bought a lamp and a 120w blue plant light. We currently have 9 plants on the windowsill, and one under the 120w light. This weekend we plan to Mylar the closet, as well as disinfect it. I'll have pics later today, and lots more as they come up. These seeds are from an ounce of very high end regs. Any advice or criticism would be apprectiated. I am in Tallahassee, Fl if anyone knows of any points of interest around here.
The first plant we tried under the light got burnt out in less than one day. The 120w fluorescent light was approx. 6 inches above the plant. We are now trying aother plat with it at 25 inches. Is there a magic temperature or height for the light? Is there any other type of cheap-ish light I can change this with? Is there any advice anyone can give to a rookie? Any advice is appreciated.
25 inches is too far for CFLs, even though it is pretty high wattage(for a CFL). You should maybe start at 25, and move it a few inches closer each day. If you have a fan blowing between the bulb and plant, and fresh air coming into the closet you shouldn't have a temperature problem at all in that space with only one CFL. How is your ventilation right now? You should also maybe consider building a simple reflector for your CFL out of an aluminum baking tray(probably cheapest option) or something.
Don't bother with the so-called "grow lights", they aren't worth a damn. Go with T-5 floros or CFLs. You can use a surge protector strip (like for a computer or TV), add Y sockets to each plug and put 8-10 CFL bulbs in each one. Its not enough for 9 plants, but it will work for 2-3 plants. CFLs can be put about 6" away from the plants with no heat/burn issues. Check out Kamel's CFL thread in this section for more tips. You can also PM me if you have other questions or need advice. I have done many successful CFL grows over the years....
With a space as large as you have a HID would be ideal provided you have good ventilation. I am growing in about the same area as you right now in a tent. I have a 400w hps and supplemental CFLs within 3-4 inches of the plants, but if I had the cash for it I would put in a 600w at least in that area. Check out my journal for pics.
Hey everyone, I have pics of my 8 remaining plants, and temporary grow space. the top light is the one from the boxes that I have posted pics of, the bottom is a fluorescent (I think!?!?!?), with a 26w bulb, with a max capacity of 100w . This is just a temp space untilI have better lighting, and a cleaned out closet. Based on what everyone can tell from pics, how is everyhting looking/what would be my next step? I will tryto post pics of progress in 2-4days. Any feedback would be appreciated, as this is my first attempt at growing. Any tips about lighting/feeding would be especially great. The soil is just miracle grow. Im trying to do this as cheap as possible, in order to finish with a decent, smokable product. Thanks everyone . PS The top light is 20.5in from the base of the plants, the lower one is about 9-12inches, as it is not flat.
Your plants look stretched. Put your light about an inch or half inch away from the plants. And get more lights for sure.
which light should be closerr? Or should both of them be? The "Plant light" ( the blue one, that is higher up) generates a considerable amount of heat, the other (the lower, with the CFL bulb) gives off minimal heat. Any other advice from anyone??? Please help???
Both should be close, but I only see 1 light in the picture. Why is one CFL hotter than the other? I know for a fact that with 26w daylight CFLs you can put the back of your hand 1/4 in from the bulb and it will not burn you or become uncomfortably hot, so your plants should be ok if you are using CFLs.
I think the top lamp is incandescent. Thats why its so hot. Ill slowly be adding more 26w cfls.What do youthink my next major step would be in the growing process based on pics. I can ad more if needed
Incandescents are worthless for growing. Get some more CFLs. You should have 100 actual watts of CFLs for the first plant then 50watts for every plant after that.
Is that the wattage for adult plants, or for the stage mine are in now, Im running to Lowes now to grab at least one more CFL. As I get more money I canslowly add more lights. Does anyone have recomendations for lights, and how long before these need to be replanted.
I understand the more light the better, but i am just worried that at this point in my plants' growth, are they not receiving a proper amount of light? I just went to Lowes today, so now I have 3 CFLs with wattages of 21/26/21, respectively, (From left to right in the below uploaded pics.) Also worth noting is that the two outer lights are "3-way", but the lamp is only "1-way", meaning they only run at 21w. Should this all be sufficient for now? I know that fairly soon I will need more lamps. Also, should they be in a certain formation, or is the line that I have ok? ANY advice would be appreciated
The setup you have now is sufficient to grow those plants but not efficient. Your current space does not maximize the lights you have. Adding Mylar (not aluminum foil) or white construction paper will help a lot. Also later in the flowering stage you need to get 2700k clfs. I believe you current have the daylight CFL 6500k or something. Mixing the the 2 different kinds is one way to do it so your plants get full spectrum of light. You might try making it so your CFL bulbs are rotated so the flat side is perpendicular to the plant( more surface area casting light) especially without reflective material, however you do have the reflectors from the 3 way lamp. Also that lamp stand is looks fairly adjustable fool around with getting the lights closer. Best of luck, its a long undertaking but stick with it!
I have a bunch of new pics to upload, the plants are looking a lot bigger and better. Cup 6 is very crooked, but still appears alive and healthy. The pics you see here now will probably be the last not in the closet. I will be buying reflective wrapping paper, similar to Mylar (which is impossible to find in Tallahassee), I also plan on replanting these into industrial type buckets. I assume the dollar store or walmart is the best place to get these. Based on the pics is it time to replant these??? They have been in the cups for about 3.5 weeks. When should i be switching to 2700k bulbs? Any advice/answers are very appreciated. Thanks.
I dont know what kind of seeds they are. I got them from a bag of mids, that was just dro that accidentally was pollinated outside.