Need help with CFL closet build

[BeardedGrower]

So last year I did my first ever indoor grow under a 70w HPS (micro grow). I have made a lot of mistakes and ended up putting the girls on my balcony where they actually finished quite nicely. In other words I have completely abandoned the micro grow concept. Now I have finally ran out of last years smokage, so I'd love to start a new grow , except the electricity bill last year wasn't nice at all, so I'd love to refurbish my little grow closet to CFL instead to save moneyzz and since I'm still quite a noob of indoor growing I need all the help I can get !



What Strain is it? Special Queen or Special Kush from Royal Queen Seeds
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Hybrid fifty-fifty
How Many Plants? 1 or 2 for my dinky ass grow tent, not sure, need help
Indoor or Outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If Soil... What is in your Mix? Most Likely Biobizz all mix, got some left from last year. Or just gonna get something at a local garden store. Again need help
If Soil... What Size Pot? 4L pots or similar
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? Need help here. So far I have one CFL from panasonik 1500 lumens, 2700K
Is it Air Cooled? pasive intake, 12 cm pc fan exhaust
Temperature of Room/Cabinet?
RH of Room/Cabinet?
PH of Medium or Reservoir?
Any Pests? Had some spider mites last year
How Often are you Watering? Usually watered when the dirt felt dry, every 3-4 days or so
Type and Strength of Fertilizers used? Biobizz grow and Biobizz bloom, also still have a little sample of that Product-X what ever that shit is , never used it
Size or Square Footage of Room? 40cmx40cmx100cm 0.16 m² / 1.3ftx1.3ftx3.2ft 1.72 ft²

Alright guys, hope I got everything you guys need to help me out, gonna look forward to some serious advice

 

[millertm]

Good luck, I'm subbed.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[GreenMachinee]

I find its most efficient to just grow one plant and scrog for an even canopy. I keep the door to my grow open in the day and it has a fan at the top right corner blowing right on the lights because they get a little hot running all day(not too hot but this allows me to get my lights closer). I hope this helps.

 

[GreenMachinee]

Super cheap and ghetto i know... but im limited in space and money. heres that same plant today on day 50

 

[millertm]

My CFL's hang low.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[millertm]

Super cheap and ghetto i know... but im limited in space and money. heres that same plant today on day 50

Looks great for day 50. Time to start H2O only for next 14 to 21 says to pull all the green out of her leaves.

Day 55

I keep trimming my dried yellow leaves to open up lower sites.

Lower sites will grow dense as well in those last few weeks, I add 2 to 3 weeks to breeder times.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[GreenMachinee]

You think i should start flush now and do a long one?/ i like that advice. Thank you. I was going to wait a week then flush for 7 days. But my leaves have so much color haha i think a 14-20 day flush will be really good for her. Your plant looks great. Ill start flush first thing tomorrow

 

[BeardedGrower]

Amazing stuff guys, I'm really intrigued to see how I'm gonna do on my first CFL , thanks for all the help. I'll be starting withing the next 2 weeks or so as I am currently limited by money and time, but I'll surely keep ya'll posted. Cheers !

Edit: One question though, how many lights do you guys reckon I should use ? I was thinking 4 23W CFLs should be enough for the grow space I have and one plant ? Like I said I only have 1 cfl bulb atm, it's a 23w(150w) 2700K, should I just get 3 more like that ? .. Again cheers for all the help, it's much appreciated.

 

[millertm]

Amazing stuff guys, I'm really intrigued to see how I'm gonna do on my first CFL , thanks for all the help. I'll be starting withing the next 2 weeks or so as I am currently limited by money and time, but I'll surely keep ya'll posted. Cheers !

Edit: One question though, how many lights do you guys reckon I should use ? I was thinking 4 23W CFLs should be enough for the grow space I have and one plant ? Like I said I only have 1 cfl bulb atm, it's a 23w(150w) 2700K, should I just get 3 more like that ? .. Again cheers for all the help, it's much appreciated.

4x26 watt will flower one plant but it will be small. Do not use IC equivalent watts. 3 x 65 watt CFL'S would work better. 2 at 5500K and 1 at 2700K to start. Your 26 watt bulbs will get you through veg but look online for a few 65 watters.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[BeardedGrower]

4x26 watt will flower one plant but it will be small. Do not use IC equivalent watts. 3 x 65 watt CFL'S would work better. 2 at 5500K and 1 at 2700K to start. Your 26 watt bulbs will get you through veg but look online for a few 65 watters.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

Hello millertm, thank you for the answer. My grow room is actually really small, so I'm not expecting a huge plant, did you mean the buds are gonna be small ? I'm limited by money atm, but I checked online for some 65w bulbs and found a 65W 5500K 3120Lumen bulb for photo studios I think, does that sound allright ? I also found growlights with the exact same specifications, except they say they got full spectrum, but are more expensive than that photo lamp. Also I need to keep electricity bill in mind, I'm affraid 2x 65W are gonna be a bit too much. Exploring my options here hehe. Maybe 1 65w 5500K and 2x 23w 2700K would be enough ? As allways thank you very much for your input, I'm learning stuff about CFL growing allready.

 

[millertm]

Yes, I have 2, 65 watt 5500k bulbs. Yes, your buds will be small, your plant will be small too. It's all about the light for size. These bulbs get hot so have some fans moving air around your plant. 2 x 65 watt and 1 x 26 watt or 156 watts is not much for a plant. It should work though. If that's a strain on your power buget you might have issues with extraction fans.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[welshpony]

I ran CFL on my first grow and now re using them in my veg area. Ive got 3 35 watt bulbs for vegging, on the whole CFL grow I had 6 bulbs, was a respectable first grow nice flavor but buds were light and airy. Im a bit worried the a 75w HPS was expensive to run for you cause with the amount of CFL's youll need I think price wise itll be similar.

I got my bulbs on ebay pretty cheap, they were under horticulture section

 

[BeardedGrower]

Hello again, alright so I've found some well priced CFL's online, 55w 2700K 3000Lm as a main light + 2x 26W 2700k 1600Lm and 2x 26W 4000K 1600Lm. Now about those 4000K, is that gonna be fine for veg ? Description says it's a daylight white colour. But I've read everywhere that for veg best you can go with is a 6500K. Thank you all again

PS: I'm a bit confused coz the page states the spectrum colour is "Daylight White" 4000K .. but everywhere else daylight white seems to be 6500K .. I dunno guys

 

[millertm]

Photo bulbs are great. Try and stay at 5000 K and higher 4000k is IC type light and is meh for plants.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[BeardedGrower]

Thanks for the quick reply miller, I'm trying find a 5000K-6500K bulb. But they don't have that light spectrum in usual electro-e-shops here in my country, or at least I'm having a hard time finding one .. Also I've done a lot of research today, and seen some inspiring CFL grows. So most likely I will be using 2x(or 3x) 26W 2700K 1x 55W 2700K, so I gotta finish this up with some 5000k-6500k lights, question is how many tho.. considering my grow space is only 40cmx40cmx100cm 0.16 m² / 1.3ftx1.3ftx3.2ft 1.72 ft² .. I'd be satisfied with anything between 1-3oz (28-85 grams) yields since im only growing for personal use. What you think ?

 

[DeanB]

I use all 23w 6500k in veg and a mix of 6500k and 2700k in flower. Cool in veg. and warm in flower. You could do 1 gallon pots with some LST to bring the tops up to the lights.
My old setup, I now have the lights and fan hanging in a 2'x2'x3' closet.

 

[BeardedGrower]

So I have managed to find these available on an eshop in my country. Now im thinking about putting 2 of each or 3 of each for the whole grow, or should I do only 6500k for veg and then switch to 2700K for flower ? I srsly need help with this, don't wanna buy something im not gonna utilize, or just plain bs .. thanks !

 

[DeanB]

Yes those will work. I like to have mine under 6500k during veg because they look better. It doesn't really matter, you can mix and match if you want. Change them around and see what works for you. You could run all 8 of them using the splitters like my setup. I have 10 going and my temps get up to 85 degrees at the most.

 

[BeardedGrower]

Thanks for the quick reply Dean, I've got couple of those E27 splitters already, for my dinky grow space I will most likely use 4 or 6 bulbs in total, not sure yet, I have seen some great results from ppl only using 4 bulbs for mini setups, but as I am currently limited by money I might even just start with 4 lights, and eventually add 2 more. In any case, my seed are currently happily germinating and I'll be putting them in dirt soon ). So I guess i'll be making a new thread in the journal section. Cheers for all the help

 

[DeanB]

That's how I started. A few cfl's in the beginning and by the time they went into flower i bought more. I think I bought one pack of each color. So in case I didn't have the money for the 2700K when flower began.