1st Log, 1st Grow, pure CFL

[Paht_Hed]

Ok so about 6 weeks ago I am sitting on my couch smoking some ganja, like I normally dooooo. When it hits me! Why spend money on smoking green when I can grow green and smoke it laaater? So I kicked it into gear and hit the books. I read the Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green, Marijuana Horticulture The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible by the one and only Mr. Jorge Cervantes, and I also watched his Ultimate Grow DvD. I couldn't get my hands on some good genetics so I went ahead and germinated 4 seeds one of which survived, caught a case of stem rot and survived. It has a nice little belly button now :).

I am about week 3 1/2 - 4 on my pure CFL DWC bagseed grow.
I am using GH 3 part nutes.
The plant is on a 3 1/2-2-1 ratio grow-micro-bloom
My grow lights right now are 8 26 watt 6500k CFL's and 2 27 watt 6100k CFL's. I plan on adding about 8 more lights and then replacing them all with 42 watt 2700k CFL's that put out 2700 lumens ea. I figure 48600 lumens is plenty to flower a single plant.
I am running a whisper 100 and whisper 40 tetra pump connected to a single 5 in airstone.
I am growing in a standard 5 gallon bucket wrapped thoroughly in black duct tape.
I got the bulbs from Wal-Mart at $6 and some change for 2 and the black all-weather sockets from Home Depot for about $2 ea. and the Y's from Home Depot for about $1.75 ea. the aluminum was cheap for the hood. The top part of it actually came bent like I needed it.

I have a minimum temp/humidity of 69F and 48%
And a maximum of 76F and 60%

Thoughts on my grow?

I know I posted a log in hydroponics but I didn't know about this section of the forums at the time if ya know what I mean :stoned:

[Paht_Hed]

Pic 1 is a pic of the outlet vent, it is the same vent as my a/c so the air runs through a filter before it goes to the rest of the house and it also keeps fresh air in the room since it is a closet. You can also see the green light that I installed so I can work on my plant during the 6 hours of darkness if need be.
Pic 2 is a pic of my grow station as I call it. It is where I keep all my shit that I need for upkeep of my DWC.
Pic 3 is my inlet vent. It takes air from downstairs and brings it upstairs into my closet. It also has a filter on it though unlike the outlet it won't have a carbon filter on it eventually when I start to flower. If you look in the pictures above this replay you can see I have one of the sides of the hoob placed up. This is the vent that blows in that direction so every time the a/c is on I have a steady airflow over my plant.

[Skrappie]

This grow long looks really promising, it seems like you have either grown before and are just not telling us, or just a rather smart fellow, and did some actual learning when you did your research, which is saying a lot.

i'll keep my eye out on this one.

[Paht_Hed]

Nope bro, first grow ever, just read the fuck outta some books and made sure I knew my shit before I did anything. The law is 5 years minimum for 1 plant out here so I wanted to make sure I did this right if I was going to risk anything.

[Paht_Hed]

Just a little addition I made to the hood.

[Paht_Hed]

Update pics, getting bushier.

Anyone see any signs of sex in the first pic? I don't really know what to look for.

[OLDE ENGLISH '800]

looks good :thumbsup:

[Paht_Hed]

I added 4 more lights, 2 6100k and 2 6500k so I have 4 6100k at 1300 lumens ea. 10 6500k at 1600 lumens ea. for a total of about 350 watts.

Update pics, can anyone tell what sex this thing is? I took some close ups and I know what to roughly look for but still can't tell.

[EXP13]

Wow.

Looking gorgeous man. Nice setup. Clean n sweet.

[no1169nn]

Nice grow man!

I just bought some afghan seeds and their coming from holland. Planing on doing a set up like yours.

[killerweed420]

Thats a lot of cfl's for one plant. Nice grow!!

[wesley willis]

looks fantastic! i wish my first grows looked like yours.

[Paht_Hed]

More pics. That's a three inch net pot there in pic 1.

[whisky]

have you started flowering / how long has it been flowerng?

[whodey513]

looks good man ,wish you the best loveing ur setup
...? whats the things called that split to two bulbs Link to some so i can order them >>??? thanks

[Paht_Hed]

Just go to home depot on the electrical aisle for the socket splitters, Haven't started flowering, was thinking about starting this sunday.

[Paht_Hed]

More pics, boy this thing is gettin big!

First 2 pics are of the main stem, can anyone tell what sex it is yet?

It's still in veg and I was considering flowering tomorrow but might give it a week or so more.

[SantaClawz]

I would go ahead an start flowering now. That way you will find out the sex of your plant.

[Chronisseur]

That's quite a plant:thumbsup:

...To establish sex, (roses work too) you want to be looking for thin white 'hairs' or pistils to emerge. If your plant is male, you should see some nuts soon into flowering at which time you need to kill that fucker before you end up doing 5 over a ONE male weed!

Any plans for extra flower lighting? Perhaps changing a couple 26 watt 6500k to 42 watt 3000-3500k?
Also, I would tighten up that space around her a bit to maximize your light density.
...and one thing I'd like to advise in light of the mold spot I just found on my outdoor, keep an eye on humidity, where is it at now? Your plant, being so tight and bushy needs plenty of airflow through/around it, and avoid letting moisture in general penetrate your bush.
Maybe shoot for 25-40%.


Good work:jointsmile:

[systrex]

for flowering if possible try to get some 2300-2500k lights...

[Paht_Hed]

Well it is officially in flowering as of 2 PM Oct 14 and yes, I did upgrade the lights. I was running all 26 watters, now I am running all 47 2700k watters so I have 658 watts of CFL's going for a total of 37800 lumens :thumbsup:. Stick around :smokin:.

As for fresh air, every time my a/c is on my plant is getting loads of new air. The vent the my A/C pulls air from is on the ceiling of my closet... the inlet for that room is blowing directly on to my plant before it goes through a filter into the A/C so I have a filter on the inlet and the outlet for the room. The humidity is at a steady 45-50% with a steady temp of 70-75. I have the lights as close to the plant as I can get them right now without burning the plant. These new big lights put off a lot more heat than the smaller ones so I can't run them as close.

[Chronisseur]

Sounds good!
Can you guys maybe explain your reasoning behind such low spectrum? I've been under the impression that 3000-3500k is optimal in a CFL flower, but I've been wrong before.
I would personally try to expand your spectrum a bit. Sounds like you've got plenty of space to drop 2-4 daylight bulbs.

How big is that room again? You can maximize lumens by reducing square footage.

Keep it up bro, and you're gonna find yourself STUCK....on a couch, eatin cheetos watchin' info-mercials:thumbsup:

[Paht_Hed]

Update pics.

[Tendril.traY]

it looks to me you got ur hands on some good ones -s lol. no toppin or bending its jus growing like a fat ass cannon?? huh knar! so can you smell a taste yet/ keep it up noobie brother :cool: lol yeeee

[bron.y.aur babe]

Looking great!! That plant is bushy as hell.. hopefully it's a girl. Watching her flower and bulk up will be awesome.

That plant is real nice for a first grow. Keep up the good work!

[iriebowl]

wow very nice plant. i might have to try a DWC next since all these cfl grows are doing DWC and having insane results, plus im getting tired of soil. after a week or two of having 12/12 itll start showing sex. in the second and third pics its looking like a male but its still early so I hope im wrong.

stay irie

[zebulon]

Hi... nice setup ,but for me it is 90% that your plant is a male.... but i hope i am wrong...keep up the good work...:thumbsup:

[Comatose]

Thats a very nice fat, bushy plant you've got there. I've been reading more and more into DWC hydroponics, and it really looks like the way I'm going to move towards in the future. I love that you can start with an individual bucket and move up to a bigger system with a reservoir at a later point and time.

Very nice job.

[Paht_Hed]

More pics, taken 9/16/07 4:00 pm.

My thoughts are it is a male also but I have done some research and found that sometimes those little sacks start to develope pistils so I am going to wait it out and see I guess. If it is male I really want to order some white widow feminised from Green House Seed Company off of Rhinoseeds and do a 2 plant grow in dual dwc bubblers with a third 5 gallon bucket in the middle. I want to build a recirculating DWC system with UV sterilizers. I could run both 5 gallon buckets with a single 100 tetra whisper pump that I have and the extra 5 gallon with a 40 tetra whisper I also have.

[Paht_Hed]

Male?

[Paht_Hed]

Male for sure, going to get chopped this saturday and friday I am going to order some Arjan's Strawberry Haze feminized. I plan on starting 2 new plants for my next grow. Here are the last update pics. These pics are only 6 days into flowering.

[iriebowl]

wow thats a fat stem. too bad its a boy, that would have been a huge girl. good luck on your next grow.

[thex420]

Is 14 cfl's creating a lot of heat? Im going to try 6-8 40W 2700k's in a 1X2X3 box, was worried about heat.

[Paht_Hed]

I had no heat problems but then again I didn't grow in a box and I had almost constant air flow on it

[4osiris]

Nope bro, first grow ever, just read the fuck outta some books and made sure I knew my shit before I did anything. The law is 5 years minimum for 1 plant out here so I wanted to make sure I did this right if I was going to risk anything.

I can dig that. You gotta know what's on both sides of the coin.

[Paht_Hed]

I can dig that. You gotta know what's on both sides of the coin.

I know right? When the fuck is the U.S. going to legalize? If I ever get elected into the senate best believe I would vote for it! Paht_Hed for senate 2020!

[Tendril.traY]

sorry bout the male!!

hes got good genes did u get any pollen.
\
well keep it up.

[Hennessy1414]

Nope bro, first grow ever, just read the fuck outta some books and made sure I knew my shit before I did anything. The law is 5 years minimum for 1 plant out here so I wanted to make sure I did this right if I was going to risk anything.

what state does this happen in? :rasta:

[dnlfacundo]

you got a male.i can tell from those tiny ponits comeing out between the nodes.You should just grow some bags seeds and practice on those for 2 harvest and then buy some good seeds.

[Paht_Hed]

Ok new grow, didn't want to post DURING the grow, too risky SO, 3-part gh nutes with foxfarms organic big bloom for 2nd 1/2 of bloom. 9 weeks flowering 3-4 weeks veg, 5 gallon DWC bubble buckets. Strain: Opium, feminised, Paradise Seeds. 2 days from harvest, I can't wait! My first homegrown!

25-30k lumens of cfls 2700k for flower 1/2 that for veg in 6100k/6500k bulbs.

[dgsgandalf]

Ya know, for the same amount of energy you're using in CFL, you could use a 400 watt HP Sodium bulb and get a lot more light. You could probably grow 4-6 plants instead of 2.

I'm saying this after the fact of course, because you obviously had tremendous success with the CFL's. Congrats to a great grow

[thex420]

so how many bulbs was that total for 25k some lumens ? Great results btw. Im currently using 6 cfls, 2k lumens each in a scrog box. If I get anywhere near your buds im content.

[Paht_Hed]

four 26 watt bulbs and ten 47 watt bulbs all 2700k. I know a 400 watt HPS would give me way more lumens but at the time I couldn't get to a grow shop since the nearest one to me is 1 1/2 hours away and I was also concerned about the heat issue. I don't want any choppers flying over my house and seeing a large red spot in my closet, know what I mean? My CFLs ran so cool I could hold them to my cheek and not feel ANY discomfort. I had two small computer fans running air over them 24/7 to keep them way cool. I am going to upgrade to some 432 watt t5 setups that boast 97 lm/watt which is up there with MH and HPS (Not the 600w or 1000w hps tho, 120-140 lm/watt there.) I plan on doing four plants, two plants to a light in a DWC recirculating SCRoG setup. I am going to try and order 4 different strains so I don't get too smoked out on one.

[Paht_Hed]

Here is a preview to the harvest this grow :thumbsup:

[hydrocannabis]

that looks like a very fat heded bud there.

[Paht_Hed]

More pics, 3/4 done been trimming for a few hours.

[russ-bob]

looking good maby a closer trim is needed thou will see when dry nice clf grow ive got a t5 clf bonzi veg cab going atm but i dont haave a camera spending all my money on seeds... lol

~Russ

[grey1223]

Look great to me. I've never once had a problem vegging beautiful girls. When I have a problem with one of my grows it will manifest itself within about 10 days into flower.

When I've made it to 2 weeks without symptoms I know I'm home free.

The change from veg to flower puts the plant into overdrive and I believe is the most crucial time for them.

Looking good and Good Luck.

[stickyted]

looks dankaliciouse 2 me good work i am just starting to get my materials ready for my very first home growm does ne one have ne advice on what lights to use

[Big Haze]

i bet that fuckin closet smelt beautiful

[stkygrn]

Is that one plant?

[hatch]

Read through Your Thread:thumbsup:

Hat's Off!!!~~~Great Grow Of What For What:thumbsup:

Your effort's were rewarded well, Injoy My Brother:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::pimp: