From Window Sill to Basement Operation: My First Grow (Micro / LED / CFL)

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Originally Posted by pph4ntom

Here's a picture of the yungins.

A) Kinda blurry, but you can see that nothing almost nothing happened since the last pic. Kind of a mystery actually as to what's stunting growth here. Thinking it might be the stake...

B) This was the disaster transplant of today. Droopy as hell.

C) The best plant so far, third set of leaves coming in nicely, but here also you can see some droopiness and curling of the leaves... what do you guys think, definitely overwatering right?

D) Hanging in there, also some droopiness and a bit stunted growth, we'll see what happens here.

E) Little seedling in pure MG which is pretty acidic it turns out (no lime)... this was also the little plant that my cat yanked out. While it has retaken root and is alive, it's a bit lopsided as you can see and hasn't done much at all over the past week.

pe@ce,
pph4ntom

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mine looked like that when i overwatered em, if it is just dnt give them any water and they will sort themselves out, but there looking better now man:thumbsup::jointsmile:

For a single plant, if kept short, you would've been okay with just the CFL and LED panel.

Bigsby - 680nm is too deep of a red and is not as efficient as 660 or 670. Also you really don't want white diodes unless you're absolutely sure the diode is peaking in the wavelengths you want - most white diodes are a blue or UV diode with a phosphor on them. They're pretty inefficient as-is and won't last as long as a true single-color diode.

Hey pph4ntom,

There are some great stickies and FAQs on this site. I've read through many of them and I try to highlight them for people when appropriate. I like this place. No flame wars, just people trying to learn from each other.

If you decide to investigate LEDs do your homework. First, the technology has advanced. There is a better understanding of what colors / diodes work for MJ. There are an awful lot of panels out there based around the lesser, cheaper technology. Second, they are becoming more powerful - 3w and 5w as opposed to 1w, although 1w is appropriate in some situations. A decent LED is going to cost you so if you see it listed for what seems to be an impossible price, that's because it is crap. That said, even some of the pricey models are crap. Again, more $$ upfront but considerably cheaper in the long run.

If you can wait, you will be able to watch me do my LED grow. I'll document with a decent grow log. You can also have a look at moody420. She's working through her first LED grow now using the same lights that I will be using.

Definitely worth investing in some proper pots. Make use you have adequate drainage in those soda bottles / cups.

@JS: Good to hear... I just checked on them again and I think I see signs of improvements.

@khyber: good to hear as well! Was only planning on doing a single plant at a time, so maybe the LED with some CFLs will do the trick.

And yes @bigsby, I'll definitely be doing my homework before I commit... thanks for the tip on moody420, I'll check her out.

And yes again, I'll definitely be investing in some proper pots after today's shenanigans.

Thanks all, very much appreciated,
- pph4ntom

glad to hear tthat there perking up abit matey...:thumbsup:

..., but the basic rule of excessiveness is "cram alla the shit in there that'cha can"...

pph4ntom: KUDOS for getting off to a good start! If I might offer a coupla recco's re: CFLs @ wallyworld, go get one or two of the 200w equiv / 45w actual 4100K cool white 'shop light' CFLs, and get 'em in there for a good basic initial growth spectrum (as well as 6000lumens in only two bulbs, with 90w of power consumption..)

Gonna keep'n Ai on thays...

Update time.

In the last episode I cut my hand, which has since healed nicely, as have the plants from the shock of being transplanted. A day after transplanting plant B, I transplanted the rest, because I figured why leave them in the coke bottles any longer, let's just get it over with.

Again, lesson learned: don't plant in coke bottles! The shape is not good for transplanting. The red cups I've used now are definitely superior.

Since I figured out that the MG seed starter soil is much too acidic at around 5.5 pH (since they don't add lime as pH stabilizer), I mixed it with some Compost & Humus I had laying around, which, being basic (is that normal btw, and if so, why?), I used to get the soil to about 6.4.

I also planted another seed that had popped, using the wet paper towel method (plant H), and have planted two more into pellets to give that method a go. Wonder if that'll work, putting the seeds in the pellet without first popping the seed.

I've also now for the first time given the plants B, C, and D, some nutes, specifically Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big, at diluted strength. Here's where I ran into a bit of trouble: running the solution (6.4ish pH) through plant C, the pH on the other side was coming out at like 7.4... wtf? So I flushed the hell out of the plant, and actually ended up mixing some water with some balsamic vinegar I had to get a solution at about 4 pH and kept flushing the plant until I hit 6.8... took a while though. Then fed the nutes again. Plant B and D I just gave the nutes without bothering checking pH, just to see what'll happen. Most of these plants will need to go anyway eventually.

Still clueless as to why the pH was at 7.4... I wonder if the Compost & Humus changed the pH of the soil since the transplant. Any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em.

Since I've planted, plant H has sprouted and is looking like a champ. Because of her (hopefully) I've also taken the light schedule back down to 18/6.

In all, the plants seem to be doing quite well actually since the transplant (because of the more balanced pH of soil I'd say), and plants A and E have actually started growing again after just chilling there for a week (see pic). They're all perked up since the overwatering as well. Pretty soon I'll have to build out the flowering box... can't wait.

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@CC: Thanks for that tip, as I'm short on space anyway those superbulbs might come in handy, been thinking about how to get more lights in there anway, but space is supertight at the moment... and thanks for the props! Gotta admit I've gotten kind of obsessed with this now hehe.

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That's it for now. Thanks for reading and happy growing!
-pph4ntom

Whats up??

Hopefully I dont cover some things other people did...

Agreed with all that they stretched a crazy amount! You got more CFLs which is always better... Next transplant you can bury the long stems all the way to the first set of leaves. Also to fix those thin spaghetti stems all you need is a small fan blowing on them 24hrs. It will thicken their stems and wont need support.

Another thing. I only saw the small fan in the middle of the box. Is that the intake?
Remember hot air rises so keep your exhaust high up on the box and the intake low. Have you read about negative pressure? It would be better if you flipped your intake fan around and put it up top with the other one and had them both exhaust. Leaving an open "passive" intake that draws air in without a fan.

One last thing! That pc psu has got to go. It is creating extra heat and drawing way too much power for only some pc fans. Plus you have all that extra wire taking up space. You would be much better off finding a 12VDC charger like for a cell phone or anything. Match up the mA rating on the charger to the pc fans rating and just splice the wires together and secure them.

You want the air in your cabinet to be replaced about every 5 minutes (correct me if im wrong). So calculate the CFM of your cabinet and find the fans that will do the job.

Ive also grown with MG potting mix. Works great so dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Its not the best but it works fine. Add about 25% perlite to that MG potting mix and it will be fine. My experience with MGpm was it was a tad bit acidic so when I would mix my nutes and water I would just PH the mix a little lower than I would. Think it has something to do with the pieces of pine bark in it.

This is such a fun and rewarding hobby and I hope you do great! Good luck.

...and apparently Sun Blaster now has a CFL that pulls a measly 26w, but puts out 2400 lumens!!! See Jeremy at Grown Hydro if you're anywhere in the Toronto or GTA.

They're a bit pricey at 20bux/ea, but the lumens-per-watt equation puts 'em near MH territory, and they're both small and very-low-power-consumption!

Aaaand, they're 'round the 6400k colour temp, but with a good showing across the whole band you need for, well, everything...

Mmmm... lightbulb porn... arahaghahgahahghargh...