newbie here;i've read FAQ's but could use experienced advice

Hi! this is my first grow ever! I'm so excited that i check on them like a hundred times a day! My x bf is a grower and gave me 22 seeds in 2 bags, i mixed them together before he told me that it was 2 different strains. any way, total, i hve 6 seeds of skunk#13 and 16 dutch passion blueberrys. i only germed 8 and they are now 7-10 days old(2 one day, 2 the next, etc. so now i have 7 plants that look identicle except for stage of growth, and one odd ball. odd ball has traditional pot shped leaves(kinda skinny, looks like a hand) and the others' side leaves sorta curl under the main fan leaf. logically, i have 7 bb's and 1 skunk.
wish i had a camera. can any one confirm this based on my innitial description?
which is best for yeild, lst or tpping? my light setup is 2 48" daylight bulbs and two mecury vapor HID's. fl's are 40w 3000lumen, mercs are175 w a piece, and i don't know about lumens, it didn't say on the box. i really wanted to buy hps instead of mercs, but the mercs were 19.99 ea. and the 175 hps fixtures were 80 bucks. i know i know, go cheap, grow cheap i couldn't help it, I'm a waitress and don't make a whole lot. ive read here that cfls and flo's can be used for the whole grow. can anybody help me configure lighting for 3'x6'x5'tall?

any advice on anything at all is super appreciated! i've done my homework but nothing teaches like experience. please help me get some killer buds!

thanx guys! i'll be in touch!:p :o

i haven't tried topping....but LST is what i've done and its great...keeps the plant real short and increases light to the lower branches....

i just tied one down about an hour ago.didn't want to say cuz i did'n know if i was fucking up. one thing i noticed from pics is that m babies are taller than normal. could this be from a light defficiency prob? babies are being fed and watered every other day. 24, 8, 16 on the nutes. other than that, i got pretty red stems with almost a wht widdow green hue and at only 10 days!:thumbsup:

Sorry Mamm, but those MV hid's wont help except to bring n unwanted heat. Do you have a Lowes, Home Depot or a Wally Mart? If so, you can get some CFL lighting from them for fairly cheep. How much can you spend on lighting? With that grow area you will need a fare amount of light to cover it IMO, but I am sure you will get some ideas from hear.
Adieu

hi bear. i can only spend about 20 bucks a week and still pay bills. (cut out on food, but the bud is more important lol) ummm, do they make a 2700 spec cfl?
do they make 48" flo's in 2700? if so, how much do you think it will cost?

ps plants are growing well under mv, but you are right. heat is my prob with these two uglys. i'll have to take them back to lowe's(only 10 days old after all. Sorry they were the cheapest and at the time i thought HID was HID and didn't matter what kind.) oops!

i know they'll take the fixtures, but do you think they will :p take the bulbs back too? propably not since they've been used, but it would be nice to use the cash on some cfls or flo's

ok, day 11 and fl's are deffinitely better than the mv's( plants are growing under mv but deffinitely not as vigorous as those under fl's.

advice on brand name, type of fl's or cfls?

hello brookerose bud do you have a hydro shop near you or are you in the positoin to order online.(just trying to find out your finacial position and then we will try get you on your way.the postman.

Hi Brookerosebud - after considering all the options and watching everyones experience here on the various threads, I have also decided to start with CFL at least for vegging. My space is 3' x 2' x 6' and I have three reflectors each with one 125w 6500K CFL. I also have a light bar with three 26w CFL's that I will use as fill once the plants are large enough that the light penetration isnt reaching the lower branches. I have seen some amazing results from people here with just 3 or 4 42w CFL's though so you really don't need to spend all the $$$ I did on fixtures etc.

For flowering I am going to wait and see how the CFL's did for vegging - If I am satisfied then, I will put in three 200w 2700K CFLs to replace the 125's. If Im not happy with the progress to that point, I'll use my 400w HPS but I have heat concerns so I really want to be able to use CFL.

Thats gonna be my setup anyway. Lights, mylar, nutes, timers, etc are just trickling in via mail so it should be up in the next week or so and when it is, Ill start a grow log to share my experiences.

If you breeze through the threads here you'll find some great grows with CFL - just remember: for vegging you want 6500K daylight (cool white) temperature spectrum and for flowering use 2700K (warm white). Anything 26w and above should do ok but at a minimum, I would start with a few 42w. Hope that helps some!

I grew high-quality smoke for almost 40 years, using only fluorescent tubes ... every now and then, I added more tubes ... when I got up to 12 tubes (480 watts), I finally switched to HPS lamp ... the pot will have more yield with the HPS, but the quality will be the same ... on a budget, go to WalMart, etc., use the GE 'Cool White' lamps, like you have now, for vegging, and switch to the GE 'Kitchen and Bath' tubes for flower (they are the warm spectrum) ... you will have good results with them :smokin: