First Time Grower, Have Pics

Hey guys, i've never done this before so be gentle :D
I dont know anybody who does this so i dont have anyone to give me advice.
If you guys could give me some advice I would very grateful.

I currently have 5 plants. They sprouted roughly 2 weeks ago.
I am running 6 45w CFL bulbs and a 21/3 timer. ( haha )
I have a normal household fan for ventilation, and i have some sugar water and yeast for some extra Co2.

The plants are sitting in a fairly large box that has tin foil for reflection.
I water them roughly once per day. I only do it when the soil is dry.
I stick my finger quite far down to check the soil lower down.


Are they growing too slowly??? I must be honest I thought that the growth would have been much much quicker than this.

Any ideas or tips?


Oh and sorry if the pics are too big, i wasnt sure whether i should crop them or not. Let me know. I have many more if you want to see.

kk, please post ur opinions.

Please
Thanks guys
acorn

sorry i had a prob uploading some images, here are some more.
acorn

First grow. Glad to have you join all of us. Its fun and challenging at the same time. Yes post your pictures. Your first grow will determin if you will continue to to grow or stop grwoing all together. You are new to growing so I will say this you will run into problems and all but dont give up. You learn something new from every grow and we will help you as well.

Read everything you can get your hands on. Some people say one thing and others say differntly. Find a good source here on the net or even here at cannabis. You will learn more and more and become a good grower but you have to learn and stick to it. Its like a hobby (is a hobby) some people enjoy it like me and many others here. Plus you get to smoke what YOU grew not what someone else that you dont know grew. Its really benificial.

Anyways,

I will say a few things about what you have going on.

First off. The aluminum foil is not a good thing to use for growing. The light isn't bounced off the way at should be. It also creates hot spots and could burn your plants. Go to Walmart or where ever and buy some thermal blankets. You can find them in the sporting good section or buy a car travel emergency kit. If you buy them buy them selves there like $2. They are made out of a material called Mylar and reflect well. It is what almost everyone uses for growing. Some use flat white paint.

Another thing. The plants will grow to the lights. Do you have something else you plan on putting them in after they hit a certain height. You will have to move your lights higher to adjust to the plant height. For now keep them as close as possible. I wold say with thoes light at least 3 - 4 inches from them. MJ plants need all the light that they can get. The more the better.

Are you using cool and warm white CFLs? MJ requires red and blue spectrums of light. SO make sure you have them when they need it. Blue spec is for veg and red spectrum is for flowering.

Hope none of this confused you. For now I have to go. Do you have a place to grow that is bigger then the box say a closet or something of that nature? Just curious. Your set up will work but you will need something bigger for when they get bigger.

Ill be on later to answer some questions you may have. Ask specific questions and post pics. Easier to help you when we know what we are dealing with exactly.

peace till later

Hey i am another first time grower without knowing anyone else and they look about right for two week old plants. They really grow alot faster in the third and fourth week. Currently in 4 1/2 week.

Here are my plants

Pic 1: 3weeks
Pic 2: 4.5 weeks

Pudish-

thanks a lot man for the encouragement.
It really means a lot to me.
I wasnt expecting such a quick response.
haha

Um, im not too sure about the colour spectrum.
I've been told that these CFL bulbs should be fine.
Do you know if that is true?
How would i go about checking the colour spectrum?

Im also not too sure about the whether they are cool white or warm white.
To be honest i didn't know that there was a difference.
i do know, however, that they get quite hot.
They become too hot to touch after they have been on for long periods of time. Im assuming warm white.
Is that good or bad?

I managed to get my hands on several wooden blocks so i can raise the entire structure when the plants grow high enough.
They are currently 2-3 inches from the light.
Should be fine for now.

I am also keeping the top of the box open for better ventilation.
Do you know if they are growing on par with other plants with a similar set-up? I am still worried that they are growing slowly.

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Schweed -


lol are those grown indoors or outdoors?
I'd love for mine to show that kind of growth.
:D


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Thanks again guys.
acorn

cool, here are some more pics!

Please guys, talk to me!!

I'm worried about my ventilation.

acorn

Whats up Acornmania. Welcome to the wonderful world of growing!

In terms of light spectrum.... It will sometimes say on the packaging what spectrum it is.
But they will actually look either blue or red(more orange-ish actually)
And the blues are usually more expensive

I usaully do about 80% BLUE and 20% RED for veg and vice versa for flower.
having a mixed spectrum is best, mimics nature better.

DEF. get the emergency blanket, more reflection the better, but al foil is nooooo bueno!

What are you going to do for feeding once they are bigger?

Good luck and keep posting updates and pictures.
I learned ALOT on my first grow....All from this site.
So pack up a big ol bowl, put some music on and get to reading

Good Luck!
Hanayama

Hanayama -

Im not too sure what colour my lights are.
Maybe you can tell me by looking at them?
They seem white to me haha.
I must be honest, i was planning on using CFL's the whole way through.
I can do that right?
What is feeding?
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Everybody -

Here are some more pics.
I'm a bit concerned about one of my plants.
The leaves have become a bit droopy.
Im guessing that that is a bad sign.
:D
Can anyone tell me what to do?
The first 2 pics are of the droppy leaves.
Its difficult to see it coz the plant is so damn small :D
The last 2 pics are of my best looking plant. Let me know if she's looking good.


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Thanks
acorn

It's been a couple of days now and my plants are showing little signs of growth.
They look practically the same as they did last week.
I am under the impression that growth should be significantly faster than this.
Can anybody give me some advice as to why?

Regards,
acorn

well ima super newb too, i got 2 plantys goin from about 4 or 5 weeks now maybe a bit more. thing is i had em groin by the window and they sprouted fine and all but they got to about your plants size and stopped growing, they have been in what i like to call suspended animation for about 3 weeks now. i placed em directly under a lamp with a CFL and they responded greatly. started growin again fine altho now of my two one has grown significantly lrger than the other.

cant put pics cuz i dont have a cam, but ya basicaly one is almost 3 or 4 times bigger than the other. (i duno what strain theyare as i used bag seeds) and there both right next to eachother under the same lamp (i going to put more planties and lamps next week so this is only temporary.) so im not exactly sure as to why one may grow faster than the other or not.

but ushually what i do to see if they are growin if anything a little bit is always look right at the middle of the plant and you should always see the liiiiittle tny sprout of a new set of leaves. just remember more or less the size of the newly sprouted leaves and compare them the next day. at firsti thought they werent growin but then i started comparing the new leaf sprouts and realized they are deff growin. maybe not as fast as id like but ya.

now for cfl's iv done alot of reading on this. basicaly what you need to check is the temprature of the light that is given off (keep in mind this is basicaly what color light they give off and has nthing to do with actual heat) most cfl's will have all the info listed on the box such as watts lumens and all that good stuff. what you want to check is one that says tempurature or frequency. it will give you a number followed by a K. (k for kelvin im guessing)

the cfl's you want are ones that says 6500K and 2700K. (two diffrent kind of cfl's there are none that give off both spectrums, at least not that i know of) 6500K is the blue ones and 2700 are the redish ones. basicaly what you want is a mix of 6500K and 2700K for vegging and then once you flower cut the 6500K and place all 2700K. so basicaly 6500K and 2700K for vegging and then just 2700K for flowing.

obviusly there are lots of cfl's that lie between those frequencys like 4000K for example. from what i heard if they are any other frequency besides 6500K or 2700K they are basicaly useless. (again ima super newb so im just goin by the info iv found online) so i recomend you check what frequency the lights are in. is they are 6500K and/or 2700K you should be ok for vegging (apperantly you can veg with just 6500K but i heard a mix of 6500K and 2700K is better for veg than just 6500K they should grow a bit faster. but remember once you flower only 2700K)

also keep in mind that for some reason companies that make cfl's can be stupid and not put any info on the box it will simply say somthing like 100 watt warm light............ firstof all it means its the equvalent of a 100 watt incandesent light so in reality it uses like 20 somthing watts and warm light.....well wtf is that. god i hate the corporate world. so basicaly check to see the actual watts, keep in mind cfls ushual are in the 20 or 30 watt range and make sure it dosnet say incandesent equivalent and also look for the temp of the light or frequency which again should be a number followed by a K, and remember you only want ones that are 6500K and 2700K any other range is not good or will be ineffecient.

hope this helps you, unfortunaly iv made some posts here befor and i didnt really get the answered i needed (almost no answers at all actualy) so dont expect people here to really provide all the answers for you (im not baggin on n e one guys but iv had my post up for almost 3 weks now and still no body gave me an answer :mad: ) research makes best. but ill drop by now and again to see whats up and any info you get will likely help me and if i learn more ill let you know cuz it wil probably help you. i plan on using cfl's all the way through as well so were more or less on the same page.

Happy growing! :thumbsup:

fantastic stuff man.
thank you so much.
I had gathered as much already.
Unfortunately, i dont have the light temp.
The box didnt say, nor does the actual bulb.
I am 100% sure that they are 45W CFL. ( Not the equivalent )
I'm begining to think that these bulbs are not within the correct temp range.
I am very curious to see how that will affect my plants.
they seem healthy.
Slow growth yea, but healthy.
Does anybody have any info on this sort of thing?
I am also very curious as to how to check what temp they are?
Thanks for all the input guys.
Regards,
acorn

koool man,

If you look on the side of the bulb it should have a figure either saying 2700k or 6400k. You use 6400k for the vegatitive period of growth and the 2700k for the flowering stage. 6400k will be visibly a white light, just puree white with no hint of a colour. 2700k will be visibly more yellow/orange. Your plants do seem a bit slow as mine are 12 days old and pretty big, although they arent bagseed !! check out my pictures on my page i have growth from 2-12 days - 4 pics.

Hope this helps.

Charbud:thumbsup:

My bulbs dont have a figure on the side.
They are produce a very white light though. ( Its actually quite blinding )
im not sure if these are working properly.
I took a look at your plants, charbud, and my plants are the same size as yours when they were 2 days old. Despite mine being older!!!
sigh, i must be doing something wrong.


I really think that it may have been over-watering.
How much are u supposed to water?
I used to water every 2 days with a large quantity of water.
Then i started checking the soil, and found that even after 3 days the soil half way down in the pot was still damp. So it got me thinking that maybe i use to much water when i water them. I've cut it down now. Maybe we will see an improvement. Can everybody who is reading this cross their fingers for me.
I'd really like to some growth.
Still waiting for that damn long awaited 3rd Tier.

Regards,
acorn

i managed to find some 6400K bulbs
They are only 11 watts tho :/
Still im going to add these to my existing setup and see what happens.
hopefully it'l make some difference.
Then everybody reading this can see for themselves what happens when low wattage 6400K CFL's are used.
Il post more pics when i get the new bulbs and install them.

Regards,
acorn

Well ye if its a very white light you probably have blue spectrum which is great. I used to water mine everyday but then they started slowing down a bit, so ive stopped watering so often as apparently over watering can stunt their growth. At the moment havent watered them for two days, going to dry up the soil a bit them hit them with some miracle grow as the bottom fan leaves are going a bit of a pale yellow, nitrogen fix !!

hope alls well
Charbud :thumbsup:

I think a little less water will do some good. The leaves wilting is a sign that the plant has been overwatered. Maybe also look at getting reflectors for the lights, your plants aren't using half the light those bulbs put out without the reflector bouncing it back down and that foil on the box top isn't doing much good that far away. Fluoros don't have much light penetration, the closer the better. Move your plants to around 2" from the bulbs and have a fan blowing across the soil under the lights to help keep temps down at the bulb, strengthen the stems, and dry the soil out a bit more to help with the overwatering.

Good luck and have fun!

There is still little sign of growth.
I have attached pics of the new 6500K 11Watt lights I bought.
I havnt had time to install them yet.
Il do that tomo.
These should make a little difference even though they have low wattage.
I bought myself some expensive Road Sign White Paint.
Apparently this is the best paint when it comes to light relfection.
I've also attached some pics of it.
Hopefully this should make the most out of the little light that i have.
I am running low on cash.

I am thinking of doing a Cabnet Stealth Grow in addition to my current grow.
I have also attached some pics of the cabnet i intend to use.

Regards,
acorn.

reflective mylar, great deals on Home Garden, mylar roll on eBay!

hey whats up man...heres a link to a guy on ebay who sales mylar in 4 by 10 foot sheets...its alot cheaper than whole roles....got to expresslightbulbs.com and check out their cfl grow lights...im using 16 23 watt cfls mix between veg and flower spectrums...check out my grow its white widow and L A woman feminised im always at the top of the forum because i update every two days....any questions ill do what i can to answer...good luck

Haha, yea i've already checked out your grow man.
Really awesome stuff.

Unfortunately, I'm in South Africa.
Resources on this side of the world are a lttle bit more difficult to come by.
But i'm trying my best and we'll see how well that works out.
Thanks for the input :D

Regards,
acorn.

Sorry it took me so long to reply back again. I see other have been givning you some info. Give me an update on what you got going on and ill message you back i am on here everyday so ill messgae you back.

Pudish

Haha, thanks Pudish.

Guys I managed to find a 160W 6500K CFL. ( It is Massive )
I bought it today, and i installed it.
I ddnt have time to take any pics, will do as soon as i can.
This should make all the difference!!
Im really excited to see some growth.
Il take some pics tomo.

Regards,
acorn

Hi,evryone out there,just started myself and wondered if i could get some info on where to take the temp from,in the middle of my closet or under my lights.Im using a PL4 lights 4 at 55 watts in blue producing 19300 lumens plus how close should the lights be from the plants , some say 8 inches and others as close a pos.please help many thanks.:)

hey i'mlookin for a good african strain .Whats the best out there?indica dom plz.

Alright guys,

I finally got my hands on a camera.
I've attached pics of my new setup.
And the new light.
The plants are very stressed from being under the wrong light for so long.
They've been under the new light for about 5 days now.
They havnt changed much, but they are starting to slowly grow again.
I figure that slow growth is better than slow death.
:D

Give me some advice.
Is that 1 light enough for now?
What do you think of my ghetto Reflecting shield.
I thinks its awesome.

Regards,
acorn

I would mount that hulkin thing sideways/horizontally. It does put out a lot of light, but on the sides. You'll probably be able to see the results within a day or 2.

haha, funny that u mention that.
the guy i bought it from recomended that i dont mount it sideways.
Now im super confused.
U reckon i should mount it sideways?

Oh, well then that is the bulb that can't be mounted sideways. Some can, some cant. I recommended it because it gives off more light from the sides rather than the end. But you could lower it to the height of the plants and have them all around it.

-C

Guys, my plants are dying and i dunno why.
I'm thinking that it may've been coz they were under the wrong lights for so long.
Or it could be coz i'm using normal tap water to water them.
I dont kno what the PH level is.

What do you guys think?
Regards,
acorn

In my humble opinion:

You need a reflector ON the light fixture. I am also in the aquarium hobby. I raise and sell salt water corals. I use Metal Halide, T5 and Compact Fluorescent lighting.

The biggest and most important concern is directing the light where you want it to go. That is done with reflectors ON the fixtures and very close to the bulbs. If you look at any high end aquarium light with T5 High Output bulbs, you will see it has individual reflectors on top of each light tube. Same with any compact fluorescent fixture. It has a reflector over each and every bulb. It will work if you just have one very large reflector over all the light tubes, but it is WAY more efficient if you put a reflector on each and every bulb.

The ideal behind a reflector is to well.... REFLECT that light down and away from the bulb end and down, onto the corals...... or plants in this situation.

Most good light fixtures will have polished aluminum reflectors. These are usually made in Germany and are polished to a "mirror finish" meaning they look as bright as the chrome fenders and pipes on your average Harley motorcycle.

You can buy polished aluminum reflector material from aquarium supply stores - probably not locally - you'll have to order it over the internet.

Look at these reflectors:
http://www.reefgeek.com/product/Reef...unlight_Supply

This is for a metal halide bulb. See how the reflector is shaped like a parabola? It's called a parabolic reflector. Letting light escape to light the TOP of your grow closet does nothing for plant growth. You want to direct the light DOWN and onto the plants.

Here is a reflector for a T5 High Output fluorescent tube:
http://www.reefgeek.com/product/Tek_...unlight_Supply

Again, arch shaped or parabolic shaped reflector. Directs the light where you want it to go.

Anybody can make one of these reflectors themselves. All you need is the polished aluminum and a sheet metal brake. Cut to length. Mark it up and put it in the brake. Kink and bend it into a parabolic shape.

Or just buy them.

Direct your light guys. It's CRUCIAL. We're not trying to light the top of the closet or cabinet. We want the light on the plants.

Now get out there and build/buy some proper reflectors!! :stoned:

:thumbsup:

Another thing about lights:

The light spectrum is measured in KELVIN.

In the saltwater aquarium hobby we use lights that give a blue color. Think about it..... where are coral reefs? Under water. How many of you have ever been diving or snorkeling? Have you ever dove down 30 feet and looked up? What color is it? It's blue.

So we use lights with a Kelvin (K) number closer to the blue end.

For example a 10,000k (10k) bulb looks like bright white light to our eyes. This is used to simulate mid day bright sunlight on the corals - when the sun is high in the sky.

A 12,000k (12k) bulb is leaning more towards the blue end. It is still very bright white, but our eyes can detect the faintest amount of blue showing through. This would simulate morning sun.

A 14,000K (14k) bulb is starting to look sky blue. This would simulate very early morning sun low in the horizon, but coming up higher.

A 20,000k (20k) bulb is looking really blue and almost purple. This would simulate very deep water where all the light waves have been twisted and turned by the water depths to a very dark blueish purple.

So now let's thing about what kind of spectrum our plants need. They aren't under water, so the blue colors are out. Our plants are genetically wired to grow in the summer months when the sun is highest in the sky and brightest. Our plants are also genetically wired to grow about 6-7 months from seedling to finished buds. Think about how the light changes during that 6 month time from April through October. That is the typical growing season in North America. Weather you're growing roses, hay, wheat, beans, corn or MariJ.


We want to simulate direct sunlight. We're looking for a 6,500k bulb for vegging because that simulates the early and mid summer sun through the longest days of the summer. It's going to simulate those months from late April through late August.

Then as the sun drops into the southern sky in late August and into September, the light waves are going to change color because the sun is coming through our atmosphere at a much different angle relative to the Earth. The light waves must travel through more atmosphere and at a different angle than straight up overhead.

This change in lighting intensity, color spectrum and angle is what makes our plants trigger into the flowering stage.

This is when we want to use a bulb around 2,300k --- 2,700k, Those colors simulate the reds better. The same reds our plants would see if they were outside in September and early October. This is when the sun is very low in the southern sky. The light is traveling more sideways through the Earths atmosphere to reach our plants -- instead of directly down on them like back in mid June.

Think about the kind of light your plants need early on in their development, through the growth cycle 2-5 months in and again in the last few months of the cycle when they are flowering. The plants are genetically designed to grow between 5 - 7 months. In that time they are genetically wired to "seek" certain light colors.

We can't change the genetic make-up of our plants. They are wired for a certain light spectrum and they are wired for a certain time period. Give them the kind of light they need for as long as they need it --- you should end up with gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and buckets and buckets of tasty buds to smoke. :stoned:

:thumbsup: