CFL grow now flowering want some help!

[smokinthe719]

ok i have my plant "sadie" she is "Himalayan Gold"
i want to see what i can do to allow it to flower to its most yield anything will help
she has veg'd for 3 1/2 weeks
and has been in flower for 2 weeks now heres what she looks like as of today

i have tied her down in many ways to get light to the bottom buds and i have differnt lamps on her so she gets light all around
bottom hairs

the top hairs

thats the lady that i have still
i had a male show a little earlyer thaught i would show some pics just because it is a cfl grow
here pics of the male i cut a week ago

he was a heathly plant just to bad he turned out a male
just FYI
my soil is only "topsoil" with peet moss in it
my PH level of tap water is 7.2
my PH level of water/with food is 6.5
my Ph run off is 6.4
my temps stay aroun 75F to 86F
i am using 8 CFL bulbs
i have about 10000lumen in light
my grow box is 4ft tall 2ft wide all around made of plywood
my plants werent veged the full time but i am going to let them flower for 8-9 weeks
this is only my first grow next grow i will be more patient and let them veg for a while and get bigger i just wasnt sure how big theyed get so i rushed them into flower to avoid a tall plant
anything will help
so please feel free to add comments thanks

 

[McBudz]

Re: CFL grow now Flowering want some help!!!!!

get as much light as possible in there for flowering. That's the best way to maximize yield. 2700K or there abouts is best for light color.

 

[smokinthe719]

Re: CFL grow now Flowering want some help!!!!!

yeah i wish i had money for more light maybe this friday i can go get a bigger CLF

 

[alienbob]

Good for a first effort, it is definitely a learning experience!

If you are wanting to maximise yield from only a couple of plants then it could be worthwhile experimenting with LST or SCROG so that you get more bud sites and not just one big cola.

As BcBudz said you predominantly want 2700k lights for flower and also 6500k for veg. Rather than spending your cash on cfl's it could be worthwhile saving up for a ballast and MH / HPS lights. The increase in growing speed and yield will definitely be worth the effort.

 

[tronix]

agreed Alienbob, and if you are going to save your dough for a MH/HPS, do it right the first time, and get yourself a son-agro, it's a 80/20 blending of the proper spectrum, which means one light will do everything you need, so no need to change the light out when you switch..also operating temps are much, much lower than standard MH/HPS, allowing you to use a 430 watt light in a small contained area like you have..
I got mine off e-bay for $150, with hood, ballast, bulb, and even chains to hang it from...well worth the investment, and much more effective than CFL's

 

[smokinthe719]

i think if i buy anything for growing i will do so with cash at my local store i am not going to be traced by plastic and get into trouble
but i dont have the money to even save for a 200 dollar set up the 400watt HPS bulb i want is 50 and then 150 for the ballast
i dont have that nor will i soon id rather just stick with the CFLs for now they are cheap and i have alot already and i know that the redesh color is better for flower an i have 4 of those in there i just left the bluesh ones in there to so that they had more light
when i get the money to spend 200 on just a bulb set up i will but for now i dont have that so CFL is the only thing i can do for now and it seems that they are good enough
i am suppost to be sellin a car this weekend maybe i can buy a new light and ballast
maybe its not tolate to switch bulbs
i will veg next time for 8-9weeks and let flower for 8-9 weeks also my box smells good right now with the bd smell lol an its a small plant
i want to do the lst or a scrog but i wouldnt know where to start????
like always anything helps thanks

 

[crossjoint]

i think if i buy anything for growing i will do so with cash at my local store i am not going to be traced by plastic and get into trouble
but i dont have the money to even save for a 200 dollar set up the 400watt HPS bulb i want is 50 and then 150 for the ballast
i dont have that nor will i soon id rather just stick with the CFLs for now they are cheap and i have alot already and i know that the redesh color is better for flower an i have 4 of those in there i just left the bluesh ones in there to so that they had more light
when i get the money to spend 200 on just a bulb set up i will but for now i dont have that so CFL is the only thing i can do for now and it seems that they are good enough
i am suppost to be sellin a car this weekend maybe i can buy a new light and ballast
maybe its not tolate to switch bulbs
i will veg next time for 8-9weeks and let flower for 8-9 weeks also my box smells good right now with the bd smell lol an its a small plant
i want to do the lst or a scrog but i wouldnt know where to start????
like always anything helps thanks

Dude growing with CFL's isnt bad, isnt the best, but isnt bad. The thing is just takes longer than a MH/HPS to get good buds. The longer you let them flower the better buds you get with CFL's, bigger, more dense, more smell, etc.. And adding more light is always better. And you can add more light anytime.

 

[crossjoint]

And why are you wanting to veg for 8-9 weeks next time?

 

[smokinthe719]

bigger plant more buds at the end

 

[smokinthe719]

And why are you wanting to veg for 8-9 weeks next time?

i was told the less you veg the smaller the plant so i will veg for 8-9weeks so my plant is bigger then same with flowering
unless i am wrong correct me

 

[Lil Neutrino]

You will get a good size plant with only 5-6 weeks of flowering...you can do longer depending how much vertical space you have (unless you're LST'ing or something). I vegged the female in the latter part of my journal for 2 weeks before putting her on a 12/12...she was around 5-6" tall at the time and is now just over 12". You are correct, the shorter your veg time (within reason, there is a point of diminishing returns) the shorter your plant and generally the lower your yield. However, you don't need a huge plant to get a nice return...next time I'd like to veg mine until they're around 10-12" tall and then flower. A 24" plant with proper lighting can produce a pretty nice amount of bud with proper lighting

Here's the problem with lumens...they are merely a measure of the light emitted from a source that is visible to the human eye, has zero to do with what the plant sees and uses for photosynthesis. PAR is what we should be focusing on (I'm running a CFL grow as well with a single plant...12" tall with 312W *12 26W's, roughly 15,000 lumen*, aiming for 1/2oz dried) as it is a measurement of the weighted light output that plants can use for photosynthesis. Unfortunately you won't find this rating on most CFL's, especially the ones you buy at the local hardware/retail stores like Target, HD, Lowe's, Wal-mart, etc. So with that in mind lumens are a better rating than nothing but they really don't tell you what your plant(s) are getting.

 

[crossjoint]

i was told the less you veg the smaller the plant so i will veg for 8-9weeks so my plant is bigger then same with flowering
unless i am wrong correct me

Yea I guess that'd work. Never really thought of it like that. Growing with CFL's, I dont think it'd really be worth it to veg for that long. With CFL's you have to keep them so close to the plant; that the plant never really gets the chance to stretch. Therefore, the plant wont get much bigger than if you were to veg for 4 to 5 weeks. 2/3 of the plants growth is during flowering anyways; so I think if you were gonna extend a growth cycle, extend the flowering cycle not vegging. But try what your doing and do an experimental run or something, if you have more than one plant, keep one or two in veg for 8 to 9 weeks and put one or two in flower after 4 or 5 weeks veg. See if it makes a significant difference.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

You will get a good size plant with only 5-6 weeks of flowering...

Doh...meant 5-6 weeks of vegging!

Crossjoint, CFL's work great for LST due to the reason you stated (close proximity of light/less stretch)...smokin, you don't need a tall plant just a long main stem for the secondary branches to grow off of (ala my first three plants in my journal, I think you say them). Vegging them for 8-9 weeks under CFL and LST'ing them would be awesome

 

[crossjoint]

Doh...meant 5-6 weeks of vegging!

Crossjoint, CFL's work great for LST due to the reason you stated (close proximity of light/less stretch)...smokin, you don't need a tall plant just a long main stem for the secondary branches to grow off of (ala my first three plants in my journal, I think you say them). Vegging them for 8-9 weeks under CFL and LST'ing them would be awesome

Haha thats funny, cause after I posted that quote, I got offline and went to thinking and thought of the same thing as you Lil Neutrino CFL's and LST'ing!!! Never really thought of it that way until today. Might have to start an experiment of my own...

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Check these out, couple of my LST'd plants that turned out to be male...but they stayed short, squat, and bushy:

 

[smokinthe719]

Doh...meant 5-6 weeks of vegging!

Crossjoint, CFL's work great for LST due to the reason you stated (close proximity of light/less stretch)...smokin, you don't need a tall plant just a long main stem for the secondary branches to grow off of (ala my first three plants in my journal, I think you say them). Vegging them for 8-9 weeks under CFL and LST'ing them would be awesome

ok LST how do you do that??? and whats the cheapest way to do that>?
i am up for anything
i wanted to post pictures today but the lights went out before i got a chance to look at them at all i was very busy working on my computer so i can get on here lol
well any help is great

 

[crossjoint]

ok LST how do you do that??? and whats the cheapest way to do that>?
i am up for anything
i wanted to post pictures today but the lights went out before i got a chance to look at them at all i was very busy working on my computer so i can get on here lol
well any help is great

LST is just training the stem, to make it bend so that more of the lower bud sites get more light. Instead of having one main cola, if done right, you will have multiple cola buds. You can use yarn or thread or twisty ties to train your plant. Look at Lil Neutrino's grow journal for references.

 

[Flurple]

there are a ton of journals on scrog and lst, everyone has their own style but the purpose is to expose bud sights evenly to the light. instead of the normal single top cola with a bunch of jr colas the energy from the plant as well as the light is spread evenly creating a bunch of jr colas in a small area

 

[smokinthe719]

LST is just training the stem, to make it bend so that more of the lower bud sites get more light. Instead of having one main cola, if done right, you will have multiple cola buds. You can use yarn or thread or twisty ties to train your plant. Look at Lil Neutrino's grow journal for references.

Damn i did that just the other day lol so here some pictures

i used speaker wire that has the ruber still on it

top collen

so as you can see shes doing good showing alot of hairs and i guess i started LSTing with out even know lol i was just tryin to get some light down there lol
well anything else really does help

 

[crossjoint]

Hell ya bro!!! Looks great!! Just keep an eye on the spot that where the speaker wire is to make sure it doesnt injury your girl. How old is she now?