Questions about Laughing Buddha and Blue OG clones. CFL lighting

[pellpell4]

This is my very first grow, I'm currently working with a Laughing Buddha and Blue OG that I'm ready to flower ASAP,
2 Laughing buddha and 2 Blue OG clones that I just snipped about 3 days ago,
and 2 sprouts of Wonder Woman that are about 2-3 inches tall. (all are shown in pics that I uploaded that I apparently can't attach to this post yet?)

My closet is 2ft x 4ft x 8ft.

First question: I only have the one closet so far. I have a 2700k bulb over the small clones and sprouts. For my 2 main plants I have 2 5500K and 2 3400K CFLs. I need to know if this is going to be enough light to flower my 2 main plants. and is the single 2700k good enough for the smaller plants for now?

Second question: I'm ready to flower the 2 main plants, but am only holding off because of the clones and sprouts. Can I move the 2700k light to another closet or should I just flower it all at the same time in say, 2 weeks or so?

I have tons more questions, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'm currently running around 75-80 degrees F in there and about 40% Humidity. I'm trying to get those to stick around 75 degrees and 50% humidity, but am having a bit of trouble with that too. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[PeytonManning]

You need a lot more light to flower. You want at least 50 watts per square foot. Cfl has to be placed within inches of plants, and their penetration isn't great. Good for rooting clones, but not great for flowering. I would look into some led or hps. They are priced decently now.

 

[Antics]

You didn't mention the wattage of each of the bulbs. That's extremely important, and even more important that you use the CFL ACTUAL wattage number, not the incandescent equivalent.

Peyton is right, about 50 watts per square foot minimum for Veg.. for flower, at least 60-65 watts per square foot.

In a small closet area, you can also think about watts per plant. I suggest a minimum of 100 watts per plant in veg, and 125+ for flowering.

And if I counted correctly, you have 6 plants growing. So you should be aiming for 400 watts minimum in Veg by the 50w/ sq ft rule. Or 600 watts by the 100w/plant rule. And this is only for veg. Flowering requires even more light.

Being smaller, you can get by with 23 watts per sprout, but will need to double up in a week or so, and even more as the plant gets taller. All of the additional bulbs will also increase heat, requiring some sort of ventilation system.

As for Veg/Flower, I personally would veg clones a bit longer, but to each their own. Flowering them all at the same time would be easiest, but you're a few weeks out from flower if you just have sprouts. It might be best to consider waiting and see how their growth progresses between the clones and the sprouts and see if flowering together is feasible, or if you'll need to flower them separately.

 

[pellpell4]

You didn't mention the wattage of each of the bulbs. That's extremely important, and even more important that you use the CFL ACTUAL wattage number, not the incandescent equivalent.

Peyton is right, about 50 watts per square foot minimum for Veg.. for flower, at least 60-65 watts per square foot.

In a small closet area, you can also think about watts per plant. I suggest a minimum of 100 watts per plant in veg, and 125+ for flowering.

And if I counted correctly, you have 6 plants growing. So you should be aiming for 400 watts minimum in Veg by the 50w/ sq ft rule. Or 600 watts by the 100w/plant rule. And this is only for veg. Flowering requires even more light.

Being smaller, you can get by with 23 watts per sprout, but will need to double up in a week or so, and even more as the plant gets taller. All of the additional bulbs will also increase heat, requiring some sort of ventilation system.

As for Veg/Flower, I personally would veg clones a bit longer, but to each their own. Flowering them all at the same time would be easiest, but you're a few weeks out from flower if you just have sprouts. It might be best to consider waiting and see how their growth progresses between the clones and the sprouts and see if flowering together is feasible, or if you'll need to flower them separately.

Sorry, you're right! All of my bulbs are around 60 watt, my 5500k are for sure, the 3400k may be 55. I just bought a 190CFM fan with carbon filter for my closet that I'll be running out a roof vent, so I'm hoping that solves any heat issues.

As far as a light to add, I was doing the CFL's to cut down on cost. Is there anything semi cheap I could use to add the rest of the light to make it sufficient? I'm willing to spend more if I need to, just trying to keep it cool and on the cheap side in the closet. Basically I guess I just need to know, do I need to go HPS/LED/MH to get quality results or will a 125w CFL or lower wattage HPS/MH be the way to go? Thanks again!

 

[Antics]

The 60 and 55 watt rating, is that the actual CFL wattage, or is that the Incandescent equivalent? "Equivalent to 60 watt Incandescent" would usually be on the packaging, website, etc.. The pictures just don't appear extremely bright, so I'm concerned about the actual wattage (Or maybe your camera is much better than mine). 60 and 55 are also not sizes I'm familiar with in CFLs.

You also mentioned a 125w CFL, and once you upgrade to that size CFL, it's a completely different fixture, and will not screw into a standard bulb fixture. I forgot the exact name for it, but it's 1.5-2x bigger.

As for HPS and MH, they give amazing results, but produce a lot of heat, and in a closet, you'd need an INSANE exhaust fan to keep that small area cool.

If you're growing with HPS/MH for the two mature plants, 250 would work, 400w would be even better. You'll also need to to separate the plants I see there. Those sprouts are wayyyyy too young IMO to put into flower. The other 2, sure no problem, I can see flowering those.

Basically, you're looking at using about the same wattage for each bulb type. CFL, HPS/MH or LED. The only difference between them is efficiency. HPS/MH and LED have much better penetration than CFL, but you need to run exhaust fans to keep the area cool.
CFL and LED both produce heat as well, but it's much easier to manage. The CFL will work, and CAN produce amazing results, but the LED will work much better, and has better light penetration and intensity.

If you go with LED, you'll probably want about the same size again, 200-400 watt LED, which means it will still use a similar amount of power.

The real differences between them all are light penetration (which translates to efficiency), type of maintenance (replacing bulbs, ballasts, diodes, controllers), and heat produced.

You can shop around and find LED and HPS/MH systems for about what it'll cost to start up a grow with CFLs.

I'm doing a CFL grow now, and after all was said and done, and I bought all the bulbs, and keep in mind I didn't even have to buy the fixtures since I had them, I could have bought a 250w HPS/MH system all day long. If I shopped around, I could have had a 400w HPS/MH.

Shop around some more, you could find a great LED. Just look at some of our sponsors LED grow lights.

 

[jamthe3]

I think you may be quoting lumen output instead of kelvin; a 60w would actually put out about 5500 lumens. either way, you ought to just get a 440w or 600w hid as eventually as you add the cfl's as needed you'll end up using as much electricity, spend as much at the counter (for the size you're quoting at least) and have the same if not more heat to dissipate, let alone the pain in the arse they are to use...jmho.

 

[pellpell4]

Thanks guys, ended up installing a new 400w ballast with a hps. Got the MH for veg too. Now if I could only find out why my clones won't root...

 

[pellpell4]

The 60 and 55 watt rating, is that the actual CFL wattage, or is that the Incandescent equivalent? "Equivalent to 60 watt Incandescent" would usually be on the packaging, website, etc.. The pictures just don't appear extremely bright, so I'm concerned about the actual wattage (Or maybe your camera is much better than mine). 60 and 55 are also not sizes I'm familiar with in CFLs.

You also mentioned a 125w CFL, and once you upgrade to that size CFL, it's a completely different fixture, and will not screw into a standard bulb fixture. I forgot the exact name for it, but it's 1.5-2x bigger.

As for HPS and MH, they give amazing results, but produce a lot of heat, and in a closet, you'd need an INSANE exhaust fan to keep that small area cool.

If you're growing with HPS/MH for the two mature plants, 250 would work, 400w would be even better. You'll also need to to separate the plants I see there. Those sprouts are wayyyyy too young IMO to put into flower. The other 2, sure no problem, I can see flowering those.

Basically, you're looking at using about the same wattage for each bulb type. CFL, HPS/MH or LED. The only difference between them is efficiency. HPS/MH and LED have much better penetration than CFL, but you need to run exhaust fans to keep the area cool.
CFL and LED both produce heat as well, but it's much easier to manage. The CFL will work, and CAN produce amazing results, but the LED will work much better, and has better light penetration and intensity.

If you go with LED, you'll probably want about the same size again, 200-400 watt LED, which means it will still use a similar amount of power.

The real differences between them all are light penetration (which translates to efficiency), type of maintenance (replacing bulbs, ballasts, diodes, controllers), and heat produced.

You can shop around and find LED and HPS/MH systems for about what it'll cost to start up a grow with CFLs.

I'm doing a CFL grow now, and after all was said and done, and I bought all the bulbs, and keep in mind I didn't even have to buy the fixtures since I had them, I could have bought a 250w HPS/MH system all day long. If I shopped around, I could have had a 400w HPS/MH.

Shop around some more, you could find a great LED. Just look at some of our sponsors LED grow lights.

Here's the CFLs I was using so no one thinks I made the wattage and kelvins up lol. Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60

Walmart had the other 2 cfls that I indtalled that were either 3200 or 2700 kelvin, can't remember. Got the hps now tho so they'll be sittin under branches and bein used for seedlings/veg

 

[jamthe3]

Thanks guys, ended up installing a new 400w ballast with a hps. Got the MH for veg too. Now if I could only find out why my clones won't root...

looks like you put them straight inot your soil and its only been right at two weeks so give it a little more time

 

[pellpell4]

My Blue OG is looking great right now guys and I'm very excited about it, however, my Laughing Buddha plant seems to be suffering a bit and I'm not sure what the issue is. I originally thought I was having heat issues, but I've since got an AC unit and the heat stays within 75-85 range. I water and use Fox Farm nutrients, again, my Blue OG is looking amazing and yet this Laughing Buddha seems to have a lot of dried up leaves. One thing I'm sure didn't help is that I snipped some clones right before flowering (first grow), but I also did that with the Blue OG. Any thoughts? Nutrient deficiency or nutrient burn? Anything? Thanks.

PS. sorry for the sideways photos

 

[pellpell4]

Bump, hopin someone can spot what's wrong. I have the plants on the same watering schedule, maybe I need to water the Sativa more?

 

[labexperiment]

Only water when the medium is mostly dry, if they end up getting watered on different days; so be it.

 

[Antics]

If it was under watering, you'd likely see wilting, and the leaves seem a little crispy, they might curl, and/or turn a little yellow.
If it was over watering, you'll see the same wilting, but the leaves usually stay soft, and growth can be stunted also.

In either case, taking a good look at your soil will confirm either one.

Now when you look at your pictures, I can see several tips of leaves that appear burnt. Is this the case on most of the leaves? The start of nutrient burn will usually look almost like if you held a lighter just on the tip of the leaf, minus the actual consumption of the leaf. the tips will turn brown and die. As nutrient burn progresses, you'll see the burned tip extend inward, and will often see some lobes of the leaf start looking burned, and also extending inward.

What FF nutes are you using, and how strong are you mixing them? Are you feeding both plants the same strength and same amount?