Boss Inspired 12/12 CFL Setup, First Grow

[curbsquirrel]

ok , so went ito my cargivership, asked if they had any seeds layin around, the gave gave me a bag o 40 or so seeds, he said there was a bunch of whte widow, but it was mostly all indica strains....hmmmm, well picked the biggest ones with the nicest "tortise shell" lines and all that....germinated, the tall plant (speedy) had 1.5" root after 3 days of germ, the other seedlings took another 4 days to get to that point, wanted to make sure the root had a really good start... planted in this stuff with 2/3 reg potting and 1/3 seedling starter all 1.5 qt pots for now, only had three at the time of planting, will disperse 3 into other plants when they are bigger.......ive been watering about evey 2 days so far about a cup of water, from my Dupont tap wter purifier, then letting it sit for 4 days or so to distill before i use it to water, no added nutes yet...so when should i start nutes?
the light cycle is 13/11 right now, temps range from ^) at night all the way to the mid 80's during the hottest parts of the day, have a vicks humidifier in there that will up the humidity from the 20 percientile to 55% or less, the warmer the air temp, the less humidity i can achieve with the vicks humidifier, it will raise humidity to 70% or so when the temp is around 65...better venting system needed other than opening the door? setup is in my balcony closet, there is also a 7in blade honeywell personal fan in there that moves the air pretty well, and also a heater that is auto set at 65 just incase it gets a little cold during the night... so whadda u people think? oh almost forgot a pic of the lights which are 4 2700k 42w 150w replacement 2700 lumen
...................................3 2700k 23w 100w replacement 1600 lumen
...................................2 bright light 23w 1100 lumen
...................................1 daylight not sure about....
...................................1 2700k 68w 300w replacement 4200 lumens
...................................1 led panel, i dont think it does shit but look cool. got it off ebeay, said to be equiv to a 250w hps..........
main soil - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
main soil nutes - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
seed starting soil - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
seed starting nutes - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
beginning - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
speedy and 2 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
3 and 4 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
5 and 6 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
speedy - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

 

[ItsChrome]

hey! welcome to the club and good luck on the grow, set up looks nice. You might want to reinvest in some new bulbs. Your gonna want more blue and less red. My advice is if you got a lowes in town take a trip down and pick up a a couple 4 pack of 23w CFLs in the 6500k range, same goes for the 68w. Just set them aside you'll need 'em later. The cost about $10 a pack. your plants will thanks you. Also drop the lights down. Don't be afraid to get them close. If you keep them where they are your plants will stretch and stretch to get enough light. You can not burn your plants with CFls, in fact when I got home from work I had to remove a leaf from mine and then raise it. You might also want to give them more than 1 hour of light. I'm lazy so i run 24 hours but the 18\6 is a good ratio for veg. AT 13\11 your gonna have slow growth. Also you have a long ways to grow yet before you worry about nutes, esp since you used MG soil. Its got plenty for them for the next few weeks. Other than that every thing looks like its off the a great start! I wish you luck and invite you to follow the links in my sig to check out my grow and pop into the club house and say hello to other CFL growers!

 

[curbsquirrel]

ok so i replaced all the lights with 26w 6500k cfls, and lowered them too. this light setup gives 11,500 lumens and the 2700k suite gives 12,00 lumens, im sure im gonna need more and more as the plants mature..what would be an ideal hudity range? its gettin to low 50s at night and 20-35 during the day..i was thinkin 50-70 would be good.

 

[ItsChrome]

low 50's is good. 40 to 70 is a good range.

 

[curbsquirrel]

update on progress

humidity gettin too low during the day, ive got to open the door to outside air or itll get too hot in there..then i lose humidity...hmmm bigger humidifier? and how much/often did u water ur ladies itschrome? also set the lights timer to 18/6. thanks for all ur input btw!

and a close up on speedy

 

[ItsChrome]

Looking good, not to be pest but I'm bring them lights closer yet. 6" minimum is a good height ref for CFLs

 

[curbsquirrel]

ok just went ahead and lowered em more to hopefully give those seedlings a boost..

sorry dark pic but u can use the side of the rubbermaid as reference

 

[ItsChrome]

Oh yeah they will love you for that!

 

[curbsquirrel]

so they are lovin the lights bein lower
and i got a pleasant surprise too.....before i started to germinate any seeds, i just planted a few in the ground to see if they'd start that way, well one did! i think every post ive seen there is always a girl they call "runt" i think this late bloomer might have to take that on....
so here are the updted pics

closer

surprise

speedy

 

[curbsquirrel]

5/8/10 update
do these plants seem to be growing at an average rate? seems slow to me...have a good room humidifier thatll be here monday, should help keep it in the 50-70% range...watering every 3 days, no nutes. im thinkin i should make some kind of reflector

 

[ItsChrome]

Looking good man! the one in the middle of top row Is a monster!!! do you move the pots around so every one gets a shot at the middle lighting?

 

[curbsquirrel]

ok so found a big ass piece of sheet metal, bent the sides, and made a bunch of holes for the light connection to stick thru, so now im running all the lights, and i picked up 4 more (3500k).....so now its just gettin a little warmer now, luckily itll be cooler around 60's next few days so gives me time to figure somethin out..maybe ill just get a larger box fan or something.....speedy is fun to watch.. humidifier helps to keep it at more of a constant 30 during the day, gets to 70 when it cools down...temp got to 104 after i put the reflector in, no bueno, that was with the door closed tho...cools down fast when its open..there isnt really a way i could exaust the hot air and draw cool in since i live in apartment cant really make holes in the wall...or door....
and yes, i rotate the plants everytime i water if not more...the big 2700k is in the middle now, i think i also need to get a long piece of wood to lay across the little nitestand thingy so i can distribute the plants farther away from eachother, and using more of the lights on the ends of the reflector..
damn with all the money ive spent on this cfl setup i shouldve just bought a 400w hps from the start..

sorry its sideways...

 

[curbsquirrel]

ok here is the 5/26 update, speedy is tall and skinny, champ is, well, a fuckin champ, and the others seem like they'll be like speedy, they're just alot slower...
and the pics

im wondering if champ is the only indica....she loves the heat and doesnt mind low humidity..

 

[obliviconsent]

WOW, awesome CFL setup. I was thinking the same with all the $ I spent on my CFL's but I love the twisted lights. And it freed up more $ to buy pots, nutes, fans and end less supplies needed after your get addicted to growing. Or is that just me? Oh well, I'm definately suscribed to your thread.

 

[The Butcher]

Is this grow still alive?
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