Okay, Im just plain frustrated at this point with my grow skills (or lack there of). To date I have had three harvests. One was outdoor with one plant and it turned out really good! My two indoor harvests have been less than impressive to say the least. Both were in a box that I made and both harvests were with loose, airy buds. Since I dont smoke, I have to rely on the feedback that I get from friends. There were no real complaints but hey, it was free weed so of course there was no complaining! I really, really need to know why my plants are not looking like everyone else's that i see here so PLEASE share some knowledge with me. Here is how my box is set up: -Box is constructed from heavy wood, painted flat wihite inside. -Demensions are 2ft wide x 2ft deep x 3 ft tall. -I have two 4" intake fans (one on a side wall near bottom of wall and the other on the back wall near bottom also). -I have one 4" exhaust fan (side wall near the top of box). -I also have two passive exhaust vent holes (4" and 3"). -My lights are two 150watt CFL (its all I can with for now). I had two other 100watt lights in there also but they were causing too much heat so I took them out. -My lights are attached a in a home made reflector that I learned how to make from a youtube video. -Plants are all clones. -My temps in the box are 82 degrees maximum with 40-60% humidity. -Soil is a debate that has been kicking my ass! I started out with Super Soil and also MG potting mix. I was getting burns and I was told that this was a bad idea so I switched over to Kellog's premium and I am not having much luck here either...Im thinking of going with MG organic next to see how this goes...if I have to, I can drive an hour to the nearest place where Fox Farms is sold...I just dont know if that is practical for me. Right now, my plants are going brown just the same as they did with my last grow. I notice that this started when I began using the kellog premium. I dont grow my own smoke but rather just want to prove to myself that I can do it and evetually get dialed in but I feel like I am getting no where. Please teach me to grow better! Thanks.
The CFL lights you are talking about -- are those actual watts, or are those the "equivalent" or "replacement" watts? I'm betting the latter, which is meaningless for growing MJ. I bet if you look on the base of the bulbs you think are 150w you will see that it says around 42w, and the ones you think are 100w you will see on the base that it says around 23w. Those lower numbers are the actual watts and the only ones you should pay attention to. If that's the case then you are underlit and that would explain airy buds. High temps is another common cause of fluffy buds, 82F isn't terrible but try to keep max in the 70s. And not that it is causing your harvest issues, but you need to have more exhaust and not so much intake.
Checked my light and yeah...Im only running 40 watts per light...$h!t! Do I have to order CFLs with actual wattage or can I find suitable ones in any store?
Can I buy them at Lowes, walmart, home depot? I thought that I was reading the information correctly when I purchased the ones I got...guess not...
Idk, I'm not American. But you need strong lights. I know for a fact that 4 x 45w should do the trick. They cost about 10$ each. Remember to have 1 set for vegging, 1 set for flowering.
You can get more CFLs, which are available (at least in the USA) in 2700k and 6500k color temps, or you can step up to HID (MH and HPS).
Thanks! Please everyone keep the advice coming! Anything else wrong with my set up? Im really worried about my soil. Has anyone else had problems with Kellog's soil? Im thinking of going with MG organic. It looks like it has less detremental affects on plants?
When I started I had great results using just Miracle Grow Organic + pertlite + a bit of Dolomite Lime and straight distilled water until flowering. I finally added nutes for a few weeks prior to flushing before harvest. Ended up pulling just under 3 ounces (dry) off of 4 plants and 550 actual watts cfl placed well (in a closet). 1 month veg/2 month flower Then for some reason I switched to: KELLOGG PATIO PLUS® All Natural Outdoor Potting Soil because I read the label and saw that it had MANY of the same nutrients as the Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil that so many people love. My experience with Kellogg soil (2 large bags) is that it does not work well for cannabis at least. I never had bug problems before this and I NEVER had mushrooms randomly popping up out of my soil before this brand. Most of all...I never had plants that just stop growing a few weeks into veg or so many seedlings that wouldn't even break through the soil. Maybe I bought two bad batches at two separate times but I doubt it! Their soil gets hard as a rock and the roots cant breathe or spread out. I'm back to Miracle Grow and distilled water and my plants are healthy as can be. **I'm not a pro by any means but I grow well and I only do it for myself so I don't give a shit about how I should be buying all Fox Farm products etc. I am getting interested in Coco Coir however. You should be fine with Miracle Grow Organic but don't give it nutrients until flower.
Thanks! I know exactly what you mean about the Kellogg soil. I am dealing with all of this stuff right now except for the mushrooms. My plants have continued to go brown...so I have some clones that I have been preparing and I will give the MG organic a try. Thanks for tips on nutrients also!
So should I make my second intake an exhaust? I was trying to make a second intake in order to bring in cooler air and lower the temps inside my box. I dont know why but I cant get my box temp lower than 79-80 degrees at the coolest. It generally stays at 82 though. This is with two 4" intakes and one 4" exhaust with two more passive exhausts.
you would be better with active exhaust and passive intake the exhaust will remove the heat and allow more lights the intake should be lower than exhaust because heat rises for soil most experts suggest using soil with no nutes at all i think fox farm ocean forest doesnt have nutes almost every grower who has used pre nuted soil has had burned plants you can make your own soil if you want most ppl just add perlite to potting soil lol very easy 100 actual watts for the first plant 50 for each extra works very well cfls do work for veg and flower keep light as close as possible without burning plants home depot/lowes/walmart lights will work just need multiple lights
Thank youfor ths input! What does adding perlite do for my soil? this is the second time that someone has suggested this. Will it improve the Kellogg that I am using now?
if u tired of messin arround, get used to it cause u gotta do lots of messin arround. First off i suggest getting an HPS light. Use cheap box fans from walmart for air movement in the tent. But you need to spend 200$ on a decent ductfan+scrubber, if you are worried about the smell. If not just use duct fans u have. I use foxfarms soil, its great. If you live east coast dont buy fox farms(i heard they have lower standards). Go for a homemade mix, or just ask the hydro store guy which organic soil they have is the best. . Btw fox farms has nutes in it. Just not max potential, you can grow with just fox farms if you use a larg enough pot. Ive spent money on CFL grows in the past, and really it almost costs more to buy cfls if you want to grow a decent plant. CFLs dont have a good footprint of light, you can only grow really small plants with them, or the plants stretch. However you can grow a really small amount of weed with CFL. But the bulbs themselfes are kinda expensive and once you buy all the sockets and things to hang them it adds up. You can get an hps off the net for under 100$. The most common mistakes among new growers are overfeeding, over/underwatering.heat stresss. So just keep the HPS high enough to where it doesnt feel hot on the plants. And one thing i recomend is, USE BIG POTS! Do not use a 1 gallon pot and try to grow a 3 foot plant. I like to use oversized pots so that i dont have to rely so much on adding my own nutrients, so this way i know i will never burn them and they will always have enough nutrients. Also, use distilled or water filtered by reverse osmosis.
Thanks! I have been thinking about the whole HPS vs. CFL thing. One thing that I worry about with HPS is heat control in the box. Dont they emitt more heat than CFLs? I am having problem getting my heat down inside the box. I took the advice of one of the above posters and made on of my intakes an exhaust so I am hopng that this will help. I will check back in a while to see if my temp goes down.
perlite adds oxygen to your soil and plant roots the more oxygen the better thats why hydroponics are so popular hid lights produce alot more heat than cfls you can get some very powerful cfls around 125w that you can place very close to the plants just add good reflection i make reflectors out of thin cardboard and printer paper makes the light twice as intense (wasted light reflects back down on to plants) you can also get hids with cool tubes which produce very little heat but they are more expensive and require lots of setup time/space etc
Yeah, thats my main worry with the lighting. With my CFLs I am getting around 84-86 degrees in my box today! This heat situation is really kicking my ass...I turned one of my intakes around to make it an exhaust and nothing has changed...I wonder if I just have to much light and plants in the box that I made? (2x2x3ft tall)...6 CFLs at 23 watts(actual) each. I changed my lights yesterday since the ones I was vegging with were 2700k and not 6500k. Now my box is hotter. What the heck are other box makers doing to get heat down so low? Shit, I gotta get this dialed in eventually...
check out ''let's get cheap'' thread in the organics section. It has a lot of organic solutions for nutrients and more, which you might find useful, unless you're intent on going to the hydro store and paying top dollar for designer products. The perlite will definitely help, but pumice or lava rocks (hydroton) are cheaper and better. (more porous and absorbant).
6 cfls will produce lots of heat i use three 23w cfls and computer fans and house a/c and temp will stay around 78-82f more cfls will cause plants to grow faster and bud will be bigger how many plants are you growing? simply spraying water on plants will cool them down (just like sweat) i wouldn't add pumice rocks or hydroton to a soil grow kinda defeats the purpose those two mediums are used for hydro mainly
