First Grow - 2600 + watt CFL!!!!

Greetings Everyone, and especially myself.

I'm using this as a true grow log, a step by step to my successes and failures using a CFL Cabinet. Before I get too in depth, I'd like to point out that the main reason I decided to use CFL's was heat - It was not cost. Originally I thought CFL's would be 30-40 degrees cooler in a cabinet, and my heat issues would be null and void. Where I'm growing, I have no need for carbon filters, no matter how bad the stink is, I'm covered.

That being said, my germ/clone box is in top of the cabinet (of course, for the additional heat). I'm germinating 12 strains for personal use, the main ones are Chocolope, GrandDaddy Purple, Amnesia, AK 47, Super Haze, Lemon Express, Pineapple Express - If you consider the values of some of these strains, you can see that I'm ultimately creating my own strain using different variables of these. All my seeds are feminized, I do however have a male GrandDaddy Purple and a male AK that I will be using as my pollinators when I'm ready to start my first generations of my own strain. For now, lets get to the grow box.

Expense has been no object here. I was actually considering purchasing a coliseum grow-box, however current living space requirements put me in the range of a box or utility closet. I opted for the utility closet, and since my original intentions were to grow no more than 6 plants, I got a rather small and cheap closet, 27" wide, 15" deep, 68" tall. This would have actually been perfect for 6 plants, however, I've already outgrown it, and my first seeds haven't finished germinating yet! (Doesn't that figure?)

Future plans are already being made, this will be turned into my veg cabinet :) - So, for now, lets continue once again, I purchased a plastic cabinet that was on sale for about 50% off, there was a much nicer wood cabinet (white interior) for about $70 more, I didn't buy it originally because I didn't think I had the room. The plastic cabinet I'm using now ran me $49 at Home Depot. The wooden cabinet was $130, and I will be purchasing it on my next trip. (Don't worry, I'll show pics of that as well)

Originally for my germination/clone box I wanted to use daylight T5's, however, none of the hardware or lighting stores around here had anything over 5k for T5's, I also couldn't find a T8 frame I liked, so I went with the T12 frame, and put in GE 610 nm daylights in. The top part of this cabinet is adjustable, and the light currently sits 4" from my clone box (perfect for clones, a little high for seeds, but I will set the box on a harry potter book when I sow). I would adjust the shelf for the seedlings, however, it takes roughly 15 minutes, and since its setup for clones, I'd rather not mess with it.

My veg box is powered by 6 syvania 100 watt 6500's, these are micro CFL's and I'm not too happy with the current lighting arrangement, however for this first grow, we'll see how it goes. this cabinet is adjustable, and is current setup to let the plants get about 9" high, which is when most of them will be going into flower, I do have some strains that will need 12-14" before flower.

For the flower box, I have 12 150 Watt Syvania 2700's on top, as well as 1 150 watt Syvania 6500 for full spectrum while flowering, I originally wired in series (doesn't work, do not wire your CFL bulbs in series!!!) which took about an hour, and another 3 hours to fix! Reading through other grow logs, I've noticed that one of the biggest complaints is undergrowth lighting. Since my original plan was to only flower 6 ladies at a time, I fixed this problem with 2 100 watt 2700 flood lights wired into the base of the cabinet to shine up into the undergrowth. I know... killer idea, and yes, you should use it!

Problem - Since I'm germinating about 12 strains right now, my plan is to get the bigger grow box before flower and use this setup only for veg - I'm planning on using a new technique using a 5" deep storage tub, and letting all my roots inter-tangle. I recently read on another thread that using a small growing space, and this technique, helps get rid of the need for 5 gallon buckets, so I'm very interested in trying it out, and my results will be posted here.

As far as yields, honestly, I'm hoping for a lot. I'm looking forward to at least 8 ounces per plant, now this is my first grow, so I know the possibility of that is slim to none, but I will work on it.

Cooling/Ventilation:
The box with all the lights on gets to about 100 degrees, There is a window conditioner right next to the box, and if the door is cracked with the air and all the lights on, its right around 80 degrees - I haven't put fans in yet, I am planning on putting in 3 120mm quite fans, and 1 for exhaust - This hasn't happened yet because I was under the impression that the CFL's would be much easier on heat (I'm still looking into my fan options at the moment)

Germination:
As you can see from my pictures, I'm germinating most of my seeds in the bags they originally came in. I'm doing this because I don't want to clutter my shelves with tons of shot glasses filled with seeds. My GrandDaddyPurple strain is being germinated in the same fashion, only using sandwich baggies. These are put into a glass jar, and covered with a beer cup.

Rooting:
After germination (all my seeds have cracked at 18 hours, some showing a 1mm tail, I plan on rooting at 5mm) I will be placing them into a seedling box which is designed to hold 72 seedlings (this is for cloning, and has a humidity dome for the clones). Since the box currently holds decent temps for seedlings, I'm not using a heating pad.

The seedlings will be put into MG potting mix inside the trays until they are about 2" and showing good leaves

Veg:
As stated above, I am going to be placing my seedlings into veg at about 2" and will start to top them ASAP, I'm looking for 8 main branches on each lady before we go into flower. I will be giving tomato nutes when the soil is dryer on top until the plants go into veg, I'm using MG organic choice, diluted by 50% for the feeding. Most of my strains will be put into flower with 8 tops and around 9" tall.

Flower:
At the flower stage I'm currently not sure if I'm going to use a screen for scrog, depending on how the arrangement looks in veg, I might just do that - I'm hoping however that my under-lights will help keep everything well lit - I have considered doing 3 smaller boxes with 4 plants each arrange around the under lights instead of just 1 big tub, depending on my schedule the next few weeks, we'll see which route I take! I am using MG Bloom Booster for flower feeding.

I am aware that many growers shy away from MG - However in my experience, MG is a wonderful product as long as you use it correctly for your precious ladies. Never use it as directed, always water it down by at least 40%, and if your paying special attention to your girls, you should be able to make any corrections you need to.

I realize this is my first grow, but I also realize first and foremost that this is a weed. Too much attention, and you'll kill it, honestly, its best to sit back and do nothing than to over do it.

As for the pictures, sorry the cabinet is mostly empty at this time, but I will be updating this on an constant basis up until harvest time. I can tell you, I'm totally looking forward to this first trimjob I have coming up!

PS - some of these strains are clone to harvest in 45 days, seed to harvest in 60, so some will be going into flower much quicker than others. I also realize there maybe a few questions of lighting schedules. the veg stage will be 24/7 and flower will be 12/12. I know many people like 18/6 for veg stage, and I may switch if I need to, perhaps a veteran grower can give me some advice here, I would appreciate it.

Now for the Pictures!

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3627736d.jpg
This is Super Haze, you can see the root at about 1mm right now

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7ba3461d.jpg
This is Amnesia, you can see the root just coming out

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8c9a0190.jpg
This is my germ station - Just two glasses with bags of seeds + distilled water

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Clone Tray without lid for seedlings

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Veg box - About 12" tall total. You'll notice I wired my flower box in a much better fashion,
I will be duplicating the process on my veg box when I upgrade soon (hopefully a month)

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...psdd8219a7.jpg
Flower box shot, notice the under lighting. 13 150w lights above, 2 100w floodlights below

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As I said, this is a cheap cabinet

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Do NOT wire your CFL's in series

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These are my flower lights - 150 watts, 2700k 2600 lumens, that means my flower stage
is 2150 watts, and 39k Lumens!!!!

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...pse5ad558d.jpg
Flowering lights - 600 watts total, 8700 lumens total - I plan to up this to 2k watts and
29k lumens when I upgrade cabinets.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...psfe9dd7da.jpg
This was the bottle we got to celebrate the box and seed order! (Not really, we got it for
my promotion, but it was about the same time!!!!)

Wanted to give a few shots of what I came home to after dinner tonight.

29 hours germ I found all but 1 of my seeds are cracked and doing very well. Here are shots of the two I started you off with, I think we'll follow these two strains until the end, with other shots of the rest of the girls of course! Can anyone help me name these two girls? One strain is Amnesia, the other is Super Haze - So help me name them!!!


Here is Amnesia, honestly it looks like the root tip is coming out with a leaf on it... It doesn't just appear that way in the photo, it looks that way up close as well! As you can see though, she isn't just cracking that seed, she's ready to pop - If you could tell a yield by the way a seed popped, this would be a winner right here!
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7c95545c.jpg

Here we have the Super Haze seedling - You can tell from the previous post that the root tip is quite a bit thicker and a touch longer, I'm sure that by hour 45 super haze will have met my standard for planting. Hopefully the rest will catch up over night! Both of these seeds have popped really well for me using this method, its easy, done with tap water, and I couldn't see anyone screwing it up.
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7eb5140c.jpg

After further investigation - Of my 12 strains I wanted to grow, only 5 are currently germinated.

I also tried another germination method which was soil - Unfortunately the soil germination has yielded no results, and the seeds may no longer be viable (I started this process 2 weeks ago). I have put these strains into distilled water, and I'm hoping for the best, but the cynic in me knows they are gone. I also have one freebie that has not germinated in the above method (yet). The Strain is Holy Grail 69, and the seed looks healthy, hearty, and has sank, however it hasn't cracked.

In an effort to help fill up some of these slots, I've started germinating two more strains, Liberty Haze, and Haze Special. Both of these strains are being germinated in a 12% diluted MG Organic stimulant. I'll post pictures in the morning if they actually crack and show a tail by then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this simple solution will help catch the seedlings up by 30 hours, we'll see! (Again, the cynic in me knows it won't work, however, if the stress of the nutes doesn't kill the seedlings, it should show a healthier growth throughout the process, these are two more strains we might want to follow closely in this grow. In the end, it might make the difference, we'll see!

Some of the strains that didn't germinate properly are some of the key strains in my quest to develop one just for me, these strains are chocolope, white widow, and AK 47, I'm also missing pineapple express as well as lemon juice express. I've written the-attitude seed bank, however I'm not really expecting replacements, but I can promise if replacements are made, I won't be trying sensei on my next order :)

Update Time!

Checking on Liberty Haze and Haze Special, while the rest of the seeds are on hour 45, Liberty and Special have both cracked, while they haven't caught up yet, I don't think I'll be planting just yet anyway, so they'll have about another 15 hours. the Holy Grail strain I mentioned earlier still has not cracked, looks like its a dud. I will keep my fingers crossed and we'll see what happens there.

I contacted the Attitude, and surprisingly I received a response, and was told my new order was processing - I can't give a total review until the package arrives, but what I can say is :thumbsup: Awesome customer support so far, and i'll let you know how that process turns out (last order took almost 2 weeks, so this one might take the same).

Update on the girls with photos!!!

Amnesia is looking great, this is actually a horrible photo
I couldn't get her to lay just right, but not only can you
see the root is nice and strong, there is foilage on the
plant, these are seedling leaves, however there seems
to be a jagged edge to them, not the normal smooth
seedling leaves - This is going to be a promising mother
I think (As long as I don't screw it up)
Attachment 287048


Super Haze is looking very strong, just shy of the 5mm I figured we'd
see at hour 45, again, you can see the seeding leaves, and she's ready
to be put into soil. I'm going to give her a few more hours, and I'm hoping
that more strains will be ready, most are sitting at 3mm right now.

Attachment 287049


I will take single photos of the seedlings as they're going down, as well as a group shot so we can progress the first few weeks together.

keep checking back

Okay - It looks like I picked two excellent strains to follow! While all the seeds of this batch have germinated, these are the ONLY TWO strains that have come up through the soil, remember when I said amnesia was explosive? Well, she didn't just come up, she blew up! I checked on them this morning to see a touch of green. By lunch, she had shed her shell and was laying out for a nice photo op.

Super Haze is doing fantastic, she hasn't shed her shell yet, but she's broke the soil.

Pics of both of them below.

Royal Kush has crowned the soil - Liberty Haze, Holy Grail, and Haze Special haven't broke ground yet.

They are in MG potting soil which is 21-7-14

They aren't getting nutes yet, but will be receiving 15-0-0 for veg every other feeding.

Attachment 287130
This is Amnesia (We need to name her still)




Attachment 287131
This is Super Haze - Also needs a name!

All the strains ur growing sound like they are gonna be some super plants. Just the name of them makes me interested to watch and see how they grow. Your set up is awesome dude I like how you got the cfl flood lamps on the bottom for side lighting, very smart move, where did you get the Rubbermaid cupboard I was thinking of a set up like that for myself. Although electricity is not my specialty so maybe the lighting wouldn't be so extravagant, but its a nice stealthy grow box. Thanks for the feedback and I will def be watching ur journal. Get them pics up

I got the cabinet for $79 at home depot. Do yourself a favor and get a wooden one about the same size, I was going to but figured this one would work, and it will, but it has light leak issues as well as being plastic doesn't really help with silencing fans - So if you try to put a proper exaust system on it, the entire thing will hum - Stick with a wooden cabinet, this is good for veg, but like I said, light leak issues for flowering :(

I picked my strains based on effect and flowering times. Most of my strains are seed to harvest in 60 days.

As far as electricity, if you want to do something like this, I can actually give you step by step pics as I'm about to repeat the process with a wooden box. If you want me to do a DIY wooden cabinet log, with complete setup and a seed to harvest log following that cabinet so we can see the end result, I'll gladly do it. Just say the word :)

Thanks for the compliments, means a lot as this is my first box!

When you say you'll be doing 24/7 in the veg stage, do you mean 24 hours constant, or 24 hour days then 7 hour nights? Obviously I assume you mean 24 hours 7 days a week, but I've wondered if the veg stage could benefit by having longer than 24 hour cycles, because on the few days that I couldn't make it to turn my lights off for my 18/6, and it ran for 24 straight, then a 6 hour night, I would always notice a lot of growth in the night period.

Looks like you've got your shit together here, though. Looking forward to following your massive success. 8oz/plant is a lot to hope for, for such a compact grow, but I can see it happening. At least 2 pounds. :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by low_rdr

I got the cabinet for $79 at home depot. Do yourself a favor and get a wooden one about the same size, I was going to but figured this one would work, and it will, but it has light leak issues as well as being plastic doesn't really help with silencing fans - So if you try to put a proper exaust system on it, the entire thing will hum - Stick with a wooden cabinet, this is good for veg, but like I said, light leak issues for flowering :(

I picked my strains based on effect and flowering times. Most of my strains are seed to harvest in 60 days.

As far as electricity, if you want to do something like this, I can actually give you step by step pics as I'm about to repeat the process with a wooden box. If you want me to do a DIY wooden cabinet log, with complete setup and a seed to harvest log following that cabinet so we can see the end result, I'll gladly do it. Just say the word :)

Thanks for the compliments, means a lot as this is my first box!

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Yea I am debating on getting a box like yours, but Im wondering if it will be enough room for the present plants i have growing they are already in 5 gallon pots, and there is six of them. I know it would not fit, I see you have 6 smaller ones. Im very interested to see how your plants end up i will be watching from start to finish I have always been interested in the seed to harvest 60 days. I just worry about yield when I think harvest in 60 days it just doesn't seem to be enough time to me, this is my first grow well second actually, but this is my first official grow investing money into it. My problem is one of my plants is already extremely wide,about 6 inches each side of the stem, and every alternating node is proving to grow the same,idk why its growing so wide I can tell it's going to be a long lanky plant the rest are short and bushy,but still in the 5 gallon pots space is an issue,im going to keep my eyes open for a cabinet like yours. My girlfriend is bitching about having to share a closet now, but I am def interested in running electricity like you have, I presently have a max lume 200 watt cfl putting out just about 18000 lumens so I would only need lights and wiring for the flowering box. How much money for all the materials excluding the cabinet. As far as the diagram goes I would very much appreciate that, Im not ready to do it now, but very soon so it's up to you if you wanna make a diagram now or later, just keep me posted. Thank you

by 24/7 I meant All the time :) Realizing the format, yeah, i shoulda put 24/0. I'm leaving them like that because what I'm planning on doing is having a constant cycle, and until I move and actually get my 'room' I get 2 cabinets, one for flower, and one for veg, each cabinet unfortunately has to be sectioned off, as I'm having my ruderalis strains flowering as soon as they veg 7" and the rest will grow out more, and I still haven't set my mothers yet, so from there I've gotta start my clones for my scrog for when I move.

So I've got alot going on as far as growing is concerned, but I'm sure you can tell by the work put into the cabinet, that I'm going to have a phatass growroom (and my veg cabinets/clone station will be in my boxes, unless I get a killer closet in the house)

I've actually got enough lighting that if I squeeze enough plants in there, I really can produce 2lbs - heat would be a major problem in that grow box though, so I've gotta get that taken care of first before I consider an overload of light.

subscribe to the thread, I should be putting up new pics of the two strains we're following tomorrow :)

Oh, btw, if your reading this, that means I want you to help pitch in and name my two girls!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by low_rdr

by 24/7 I meant All the time :) Realizing the format, yeah, i shoulda put 24/0. I'm leaving them like that because what I'm planning on doing is having a constant cycle, and until I move and actually get my 'room' I get 2 cabinets, one for flower, and one for veg, each cabinet unfortunately has to be sectioned off, as I'm having my ruderalis strains flowering as soon as they veg 7" and the rest will grow out more, and I still haven't set my mothers yet, so from there I've gotta start my clones for my scrog for when I move.

So I've got alot going on as far as growing is concerned, but I'm sure you can tell by the work put into the cabinet, that I'm going to have a phatass growroom (and my veg cabinets/clone station will be in my boxes, unless I get a killer closet in the house)

I've actually got enough lighting that if I squeeze enough plants in there, I really can produce 2lbs - heat would be a major problem in that grow box though, so I've gotta get that taken care of first before I consider an overload of light.

subscribe to the thread, I should be putting up new pics of the two strains we're following tomorrow :)

Oh, btw, if your reading this, that means I want you to help pitch in and name my two girls!

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You could name super haze HAZEL keep it simple so no one gets confused

Quote:

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Originally Posted by billydakid6812

Yea I am debating on getting a box like yours, but Im wondering if it will be enough room for the present plants i have growing they are already in 5 gallon pots, and there is six of them. I know it would not fit, I see you have 6 smaller ones. Im very interested to see how your plants end up i will be watching from start to finish I have always been interested in the seed to harvest 60 days. I just worry about yield when I think harvest in 60 days it just doesn't seem to be enough time to me, this is my first grow well second actually, but this is my first official grow investing money into it. My problem is one of my plants is already extremely wide,about 6 inches each side of the stem, and every alternating node is proving to grow the same,idk why its growing so wide I can tell it's going to be a long lanky plant the rest are short and bushy,but still in the 5 gallon pots space is an issue,im going to keep my eyes open for a cabinet like yours. My girlfriend is bitching about having to share a closet now, but I am def interested in running electricity like you have, I presently have a max lume 200 watt cfl putting out just about 18000 lumens so I would only need lights and wiring for the flowering box. How much money for all the materials excluding the cabinet. As far as the diagram goes I would very much appreciate that, Im not ready to do it now, but very soon so it's up to you if you wanna make a diagram now or later, just keep me posted. Thank you

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Okay, total cost on this was between 300 and 450 - the reason for the variable in price difference is the amount of bulbs I purchased. I purchased everything I could find in the spectrum(s) and style I was looking for, because its hard to find decent quality lights and be able to get them in large amounts, I actually wiped 3 hardware stores out of certain kinds of lights, as well as ceramic light sockets.

I was wrong on the price of the cabinet, I looked at the receipt, I got it on sale for $49 - but for $130 there is a wooden one with about 6x more space. If you re-read my thread, you'll notice that I said I saw another technique I was going to use for flower - the 3 6 smaller pots will not be there, I'm going to incorporate a solid mass grow box that is about 5.5-6" deep, that encompasses the underlighting, and allows me more space for rooting overall. Basically what this means, is that all the roots from all the plants will entangle - If you read the 3 pound per light grow log, you'll understand more clearly - thats one reason I'm not concerned about my small footprint, it might be a tiny cabinet, but with FIM, proper tiedowns, and my underlighting, I can actually have a very good yield per plant!

talk to your girlfriend - I'm sure after she realizes that you can potentially save 1k per plant (or more depending on prices in your area) she'll be more cool with it. My wife and I are both young, while she doesn't really like to hear me talk about my plants and ideas for them all the time, she fully supports me. Although this is one reason I'm using cabinets instead of a closet!

My flowering stage is just under 40k lumens. Now, if I switched to different style CFL bulbs, I can get about 50k lumens with the same setup, HOWEVER - I'm going for watts+lumen because i know on a decent grow you can yeild 1 gram per watt. I'd like to do about .35 grams per watt giving me a 752 gram harvest, or about 1.7 pounds. Relay that to your girlfriend - Street value where I live, that's almost 10k (and I buy by the ounce).

I do want to make a special notation... I do not share with my friends, I do not sell, I do not supply, and I have no intentions of doing anything of the sort (I'll gladly get my friends high as a kite if they come over, but I don't give my crap away) All this being said... protect yourself. If 10 people know your growing, consider yourself caught.

If its just you, and your girl - Keep it that way :) Always stay safe.

Anyway, back to my grow and your space issue - Check out the box method, its really good, 6" deep with a 18x24" footprint actually gives my plants TONS of room to grow, granted they will all be 4-5 inches apart, but thats where the strings and tiedowns come into place.

There are several educational videos to watch, if you've seen most of them, you'll have seen multiple levels of scrog for different lighting types, where each scrog produces a smaller amount of bud than the last (kinda like making hash, some is really high quality, but there isn't alot of it, then you've got alot of hash, that smokes great, but it's not super high quality) Same basic concept with the lighting (reason for the underlights) I'm going to have a bottom canopy and a top canopy - That's the only way I can yield so much out of a cabinet like this.

Just think, my popcorn nuggest will be about the size of my thumb (god... I can't wait)

So, cost breakdown for my cabinet:

Cabinet: $49
Paint: $7 (the inside of the cabinet was originally beige) I just used cheap flat white to coat the interior well enough to reflect better.
Cedar 2x4: $12 (cut into 24" sections, this holds my lighting) Why cedar? It is a natural bug repellant.
13 Ceramic Light Fixtures: $30 (they are about 2.29 each, I'm just estimating the total cost)
14 gauge wiring: $14 (black and white)
wiring terminals: $5 (don't use electric tape, do it right, get the orange or yellow terminals, if your using 14 gauge wire, get 10 gauge terminals (your wires are doubled up)
6 plastic light fixtures: $7 *(only for simple CFL lighting, and not alot of heat, so make sure these CFL's are at least 2" apart, use ceramic if they're closer)
2 Full Light Fixtures: $8 (for the underlighting)
24" T12 fixture: $14
24" T12 daylights: $8 (two GE's they're 610nm, not sure on wattage, low watt just for seedlings/clones)
6 Micro CFL 100 watt 6500's: $21 (Brand is up top) the non micros will give you more lumens, the micros are better for heat and still have a great lumen/watt efficiency
13 Full CFL 150 watt 2700's: $150 (they are right around 11 each, plus tax)
2 CFL Floodlamps 100 watt 2700's: $15? (I can't remember how much they were, I know they were a decent deal, I would have bought more, but they didn't have the 150's I wanted)

Germination Box: $8 (its a burke or whatever they're called)
then of course my nutes and perlite and soil ran me about $20 including some peatmoss and some cocoanut fiber.

I took all my plugs from old appliances and reused them, so saved cost right there, my flowering lights are grounded, but my veg are not.
Seed Order for this grow: $107 (includes shipping and nice tshirt)

Total: $475 including seeds - Not including seeds $368

Keep in mind, those 150 watt bulbs, I could not buy in bulk - I've got 40 of them
The 100 watts, i did buy in bulk, I have 4 boxes of 10 - It was roughly $50 per box but the individual price works out to about $7 each
The flood lights, I didn't wanna buy in bulk

Same with the T12's, I wanna put a T5 up top.

remember, this doesn't include any heat pads, or cooling whatsoever. (but, a passive cooling system might work with this....)

I did the same as you i cleared out wal-marts 2700 k cfls, i also bought 5 225 watt 75 watt equiv larger cfls so I am set for flowering as far as lighting goes. Maybe just pick up a few more for side lighting like you.I gotta get my flower room under control soon I have not figured that out as i want to have a constant veg and flowering cycle growing,as soon as i get that cabinet I will let you know, I will def need help with the wiring, thanks for the info dude. By the way only me and my girl know I'm growing she is just as interested in them as me, I did time in jail before. So i know better.

Okay - then I have to give you my BEST advice on all of this.

Don't get the plastic cabinet, spend extra for the larger wood - i love my cabinet, but the fact that its plastic, really sucks ass. If i could have taken it back after I put it together (I had already painted, dammit) I would have. The reason I'm doing constant cycles, is because... well, we smoke a Z a week, easily, I'll quite often stick two blunts together and roll up 8 grams - So yea, we burn through it like its fuel.

I also like to have a nice variety depending on the mood we are in. I have always kept three constants on hand (AK, Grand Daddy Purple, and Haze), haze isn't my favorite strain (lemon drop, aka cat piss is) - but I do love a good haze. Basically what I'm doing, is just insuring we always have a flavor of the day, kinda like icecream, you can try 30 different flavors a month, but you'll always have that one constant you go back to :) Mine is mint chocolate chip :)

speaking of which, wait until my new chocolope kush gets here :D Oh, and look up royal kush, if your anything like me, you'll love the flavor profile.

As far as help on the wiring, when I do start my next one, I'll take pictures, but I'll also do a short private video for you and put it up on youtube.

k cool thanks

Seems like everyone is using cfls these days. Is that just for smaller spaces?

Is CFL only for smaller spaces? No, not at all, there are several ways to set your lighting up - Let me just give you an idea, if your familiar with a coliseum setup, using CFL's instead of MH or HPS enables you to control your temps better and penetrate your canopy better. Utilizing some of the ideas you'll see me create DIY guides and logs to, you'll see how we can use CFL to increase yield in almost any type of grow.

True believers of HPS or MH (or both) will always testify that its all they use, its what they're comfortable with - Well, I'm not a commercial grower. I'm out for the best product, and best yield possible. I firmly believe that I can produce better yields with CFL, more or less giving about 3x more light than we NEED without hurting the plants and keeping cooling under control. Will it work? Guess you'll have to stay tuned in :)

Think of it this way though, a 600 watt HPS can flower a 4x4 area, and even a little larger with proper setup, with a decent yield. This 600 watt bulb produces about 90,000 lumens (thats the measure of light, more or less, the amount of light the bulb gives off) - One of the biggest problems with HPS is the heat they put out, so your losing a good percentage of your lumens in distance alone, unless your wrapping all your HPS bulbs in glass with an AC duct system, but most of you aren't.

Now, utilizing 480 watts of power, I'm generating 2150 watts of light (thats 3.5x of your 600w, cheaper and with less heat), producing just under 40k lumens. So if we do some math, and i get my grows down to a science and start producing 1 gram per natural watt of light, I'll be producing 2150 grams (if not better because of the grow methods) while the guy with the 600 watt HPS is still only pulling down 600 grams. While the light penetration isn't as bright with a CFL compared to a HPS,the CFL can be SOOOO much closer, that the light penetration won't make a difference.

Imagine a coliseum backlit with CFL's, I'm not sure what my entire plan is yet until I get it on paper, but I'm already imagining a multi layer scrog (top, bottom, inside, outside). If I can successfully scrog all 4 sides and FIM trim instead of prune, I might be able to add a good percentage to the yield. It looks as though I'm going to have a 3.5 x 10 closet for veg, and a 14x9 room for flower - Thats alot of room when you put an engineer to work on ways to produce the most yield out of the least amount of space.

My biggest problem is construction noise, I want to make sure I keep it to a minimum when I first move.... We'll take a look at the circumstances when I get situated.

I will be forever grateful for all yalls hard work in keeping the notes. My favorite place on the internet is right here

Thanks for your comments stillnawe! I appreciate that!

Update: Pics are coming soon "Hazel" hasn't unfolded yet, so I'm kinda waiting until she unfolds to get a pic of her and amnesia, lets just call them Hazel and Amy :)

Amy is looking good, very strong root, as she was almost 1" above the soil line, and now she's even with it - This wasn't from watering, the root pulled her down - Pretty nice actually, I've got a feeling that for a sativa I'm going to have some luck with my LST on her to bush her out and FIM my clones before I put her over to flower.

I went shopping for my 2nd cabinet last night, and I didn't find one suitable, had a few ideas based on some designs I saw, but I'm actually planning a trip to walmart and back to home depot this afternoon to continue my search for a good flowering cabinet.


I'm looking forward to creating this new cabinet and the DIY guide for it. I have all the accessories including lights for the new cabinet - So hopefully within the next week or so I'll post pictures of the entire new setup in a new thread.

An additional update - While Amy and Hazel have broke ground, most of the others have not - I also germinated another pure AK strain, I'd like to get a good AK harvest in before christmas, as AK is a great way to bring in the new year :)

I'm going to try and find a cabinet with at least 96" in height, and I'd like to find a 1.5'x3' footprint, or possibly 2'x4' footprint - This will give me plenty of room for 6 bushy plants with good lighting. I'm going to be putting at least 1200 watts in the new flowering cabinet, and it will be full spectrum with mainly 2700's, but I'm throwing in a few 6500's just to ensure that my auto's get all the vegetative growth they need before they switch over. I was planning on a 24/0 grow with the new cabinet, and I'm going to do that, just for the autos, when I move my photoperiod plants over, I'll be switching the cabinet to 12/12.

Seed Order Update: When they processed my re-order they didn't include a new tracking number, just the original, my package has not arrived yet, and i have no way to track the new one - I will email them and ask for a new tracking # today.

I've also been looking into LED lighting, when I move i may just setup a cabinet dedicated to a 12/12 LED grow so we can compare yields - I am still unaware how the lighting conversion and powerconversion works, it took me awhile to figure out the math behind the cfl's so I will be further educating myself on the lighting properties of the LED's as well, and of course, when I create that cabinet, I'll also post my logs - If anyone knows how many LED's and the proper LED wattage to equal 2k watts, and can give an estimated lumen count, please let me know! I've seen some light panels with 290ish .06 watt LED's that claim to cover a 8x8 grow from 1-4' suspension. I'm skeptical that 17.4 watts put out by these 8x8 footprint LED's isn't actually equal to a 600w HPS... However, considering I'm putting out 2150 watts with a 480w power draw, I have to accept the fact that I need to educate myself more. If you have advice, please don't consider it thread jacking, as it's all relevant!

Also, if I'm using LED's and i use separate cabinets for vegging/flowering, would it benefit me to go with solid spectrums? Or should I stick with the mixed lighting? why do I ask? Well, I'm considering making my own light with the LED's, and i can get the 10 watt LEDs in either red or blue, I can get them in 1-3 watts as well, and since I like to get creative with my lighting, and LED's put off virtually ZERO heat, I might take the time to build a custom lighting structure (and the guide to do it as well, since I know virtually no one on this board knows how to create an LED lamp..... Fortunately, I do, just not sure of the wattage conversion yet)

"I am aware that many growers shy away from MG - However in my experience, MG is a wonderful product as long as you use it correctly for your precious ladies. Never use it as directed, always water it down by at least 40%, and if your paying special attention to your girls, you should be able to make any corrections you need to.

I realize this is my first grow, but I also realize first and foremost that this is a weed. Too much attention, and you'll kill it, honestly, its best to sit back and do nothing than to over do it."

If this is your first grow, how do you any experience using Miracle grow on marijuana? I think its cheap and lacks the proper nutrition for a cannabis plant. Over time the plants becomes deficient in micro nutrients that Miracle grow does not provide. It also contains too much Urea Nitrogen and makes plants foxtail during flowering, decreasing yield and quality. There are many products out there that will give you better results and will only cost about 30-40 bucks if you stay cheap.Botanicare, House and Garden, Advanced, Fox farms, the list goes on and on.

As for lighting schedules, I use 18-6 because i get better growth that way. Ive also used 24/0 and 18/6 for rooting cuttings with different results. Cuttings under the 24/0 lighting don't root as fast, and don't root as vigorously. 24 hours of sunlight is not natural for marijuana, under ANY circumstances. A good motto to follow for cannabis cultivation is this.................When in doubt, Imitate nature. Your trying to create the perfect environment for this plant to thrive. Temps, humidity, light schedule, CO2 levels all need to be controlled. This basically means that your trying to create a Southeast Asia or Humboldt County in your cabinet. Easier said than done lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drudown11

"I am aware that many growers shy away from MG - However in my experience, MG is a wonderful product as long as you use it correctly for your precious ladies. Never use it as directed, always water it down by at least 40%, and if your paying special attention to your girls, you should be able to make any corrections you need to.

I realize this is my first grow, but I also realize first and foremost that this is a weed. Too much attention, and you'll kill it, honestly, its best to sit back and do nothing than to over do it."

If this is your first grow, how do you any experience using Miracle grow on marijuana? I think its cheap and lacks the proper nutrition for a cannabis plant. Over time the plants becomes deficient in micro nutrients that Miracle grow does not provide. It also contains too much Urea Nitrogen and makes plants foxtail during flowering, decreasing yield and quality. There are many products out there that will give you better results and will only cost about 30-40 bucks if you stay cheap.Botanicare, House and Garden, Advanced, Fox farms, the list goes on and on.

As for lighting schedules, I use 18-6 because i get better growth that way. Ive also used 24/0 and 18/6 for rooting cuttings with different results. Cuttings under the 24/0 lighting don't root as fast, and don't root as vigorously. 24 hours of sunlight is not natural for marijuana, under ANY circumstances. A good motto to follow for cannabis cultivation is this.................When in doubt, Imitate nature. Your trying to create the perfect environment for this plant to thrive. Temps, humidity, light schedule, CO2 levels all need to be controlled. This basically means that your trying to create a Southeast Asia or Humboldt County in your cabinet. Easier said than done lol

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Drugdown,

Your advice is great, and I've been taking most of that into consideration - I put the grow log here for people to learn, as well as for myself to learn of my mistakes, to help safeguard future grows and increase overall yields.

Heating - I flatout said (scroll up) that the plastic cabinet is no good for ventilation - And it would not be used for anything besides veg (I have the temp at a steady 74 degrees now)

yield expectations - With proper LST and FIM I know what i'm capable of producing with the strains I've picked out, realizing that there is no need to invent the wheel, i plan on using techniques that you don't see outside of disney for trellis work. Can I produce that much? It would be nice, but we'll see - In the end, I will be pulling at least that much per plant, but for now, I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed and keep experimenting and learning.

Nutes - I've never said I haven't grown MJ, I said this is my first actual grow. I've never grown more than bagseed, and that was just in MG potting soil with a few standard bulbs on it (only yielded about 30 grams dry, but considering all I did was water it, turned out pretty good) My experience with MG extends to a full veg garden that produces peppers, tomatos, herbs, corn as well as beans. That being said, if I'm noticing issues while growing that are nute related, or the yields aren't where they should be I'm more than open to something else.

Cabinet Space - Once again I had already addressed this, and i just returned from my shopping trip - is an 8 foot 2'x4' cabinet good enough for you? :P I've picked up my supplies as well as my ducting, and I'm just waiting for a free day to construct. I have also choosen my intake/exhaust fans, and I've picked up my meters :P

As far as a good yield with CFL's - That point I'll actually go toe to toe with you on. Why don't more people use halogens more for MJ? because most hologens are 5k clear, not because they aren't a good value, but there are 2700 and 6500 halogens out there that can be used (why, when it puts off almost as much heat as an HPS?) I'm sure there are people that are using halogens to produce, and getting good yields from it. Are they wrong? Nope... its their choice. As for myself, I'm using 75% power draw of a 600w HPS, and getting 2150 watts. Are my overall lumens lower? Yes indeed, but my lights are 90% closer than yours are. Every inch of my plants will be covered in light, and when I move, if its deemed I do indeed need to turn an entire room into a flowering room, I will - I'm more than dedicated to the process and have the funds to do what is best. However, there is more than 1 way to skin a cat -

So please, feel free to give extra advice, but please, respect my efforts if you haven't noticed I'm including lots of pictures and responding to questions as soon as I can, I'm here to help overall, not just take.

OH- Forgot to mention, I said earlier in the thread that I won't be using those small containers (I have no intentions of being rootbound) I have 3 containers 18"L 6"W 6"D that I'll be putting them in while they're still in this cabinet, the roots will intertangle, however they'll have more room to streatch, helping the overall end yeild. In the 2x4x8 cabinet I'm getting ready to build, I will be using the same technique with larger boxes - As far as Co2 - I will eventually be getting there, for now I want to work on everything else.

Thanks for the lighting advice on the schedule btw, I can actually see how the plant needs that darkness to work on the roots.

Thanks Again!

we planted around the same time. I would love to see u continue to post so I can see how my progress is going. You seem like you know what ur doing. If you dont mind.

Your enthusiasm is great low, and I wish you the best. Trial and error is a lot of the fun. MG, though, sacrifices your nutrient control from start to finish. MG is like feeding your newborn baby cream-filled doughnuts six meals a day. Your baby will live, but it's easy as hell to feed her the right thing. I would give girls their first sip of bat guano tea around two weeks after they're above ground because they don't need or want it until then. That tap root needs plenty of exercise. Also, hit a MH and/or HPS with a good fan and buds can be inches away. It's never better to flower with CFL, but with a confined plastic cabinet it's understandable. But you're looking at popcorn buds versus big sticky tomatoes.

I suggest 10-2-1 bat guano for veg, and cactus juice (mine is 2-7-7) for flower.

Good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 9ski9

Your enthusiasm is great low, and I wish you the best. Trial and error is a lot of the fun. MG, though, sacrifices your nutrient control from start to finish. MG is like feeding your newborn baby cream-filled doughnuts six meals a day. Your baby will live, but it's easy as hell to feed her the right thing. I would give girls their first sip of bat guano tea around two weeks after they're above ground because they don't need or want it until then. That tap root needs plenty of exercise. Also, hit a MH and/or HPS with a good fan and buds can be inches away. It's never better to flower with CFL, but with a confined plastic cabinet it's understandable. But you're looking at popcorn buds versus big sticky tomatoes.

I suggest 10-2-1 bat guano for veg, and cactus juice (mine is 2-7-7) for flower.

Good luck!

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Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm going to flower this first crop on cfl, and then if its determined I can do better with HPS, I will switch. I just didn't really want to mess with it honestly. the idea of the cooling system and ventilation really didn't appeal to me. However, its something I'm struggling with CFL anyway, so I might as well, and if its determined that I would have yielded better from HPS from the beginning, well, then I'll have learned a very valuable lesson. At any case, the grow log will still be here for others to learn from :)

As far as vegging nutes, the soil is 21-7-14 and I have my organic stuff which is 7-0-0 I think. My bloom booster is alright, but I might actually go get some tiger bloom. I wouldn't mind buying proper nutes in all honesty, but I haven't found a place near here yet to buy anything. That was one of my major issues with lighting, I didn't really have someone I could talk to face to face. I would have saved myself quite a bit of $ on seeds as well. I should have actually started with bagseed.

At any rate, I'm hooked, and i'm trying to make this the best possible grow i actually can. Will most garden supply stores carry these nutes? If not, whom should I order from that will both ship discretely as well as to a PO box?

P.S. For Ghost - Yeah, I'm going to keep posting pictures. still waiting for Hazel to unfold some more.

Thanks!

Personally I can't stand when someone clicks on someone's grow journal reads it, and immediately starts hating. This is your shit and people come on here to try to get you caught up in your own words and make it look like you don't know what your talking about or lying. When if they opened their damn eyes and actually read like adults instead of looking at the pictures like a child they would see you addressed and made it known of your issues. Listen man your journal is very educating and you have always responded to my problems as quickly as possible unlike half of the people on this site will look at your thread and breeze by, although when they see an opportunity to try and make someone look stupid or wrong they hop on it. Unbelievable. Hey check out the journal tomorrow my phone broke so i can't post pics today so I will post pics tomorrow. The kids are moving right along and would like to know what you think. Awaiting patiently for some pics of the super plants, let's get those up a.s.a.p

AWESOME AWESOME GROW LOG!!! Will be keeping up daily. I absolutely love your attention to all the details, it is incredibly insightful and a great layout i hope to copy my next grow. I hope everything goes well for you and the best of luck!

still no pics dude!!! come on ik those babies have punched through and opened up they should be very camera ready by now,let's see them.

I'm sad to report that it looks like Hazel might just be leaving us. I'm not going to post a picture of her because its not pretty, it seems that the little part of the shell thats kinda gooey when they first pop was somewhat grown onto the new stem, so the leaves never popped, I removed the shell and I've got her mostly covered trying to bring her up, but I'm not going to give up hope.

Here is a picture of our sweet Amy - As you'll notice, unlike some other 'professional' grows I've seen on here (my thread, I can say it if I like) This amateur has successfully avoided any stretching issues. Look at the size of that stem! I called it like a pro when I said she was gonna be a good one to follow! Problem is that if we lost hazel, I'm going to have to get a 60 day bloomer to catch up to Amy (doable)

Here are two shots of Amy - I do have home made soil standing by (coffee grounds, cocoanut fiber, perm and verm) and I'll probably be hatching in that from now on as well, it's very light and fluffy! Enjoy the pics!

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You guys will also be VERY happy to hear that I just got the greenlight when we move to take one of the spare bedrooms and fill it with CFL's, HPS's, OR and here is my favorite part LED's. I've got permission to fill at least a 10x12 room with whatever I want. If I can find LED systems that will do 6x6 areas for less than 3k a piece that are of great quality, they're mine! And you guys get to watch (and smoke if your close enough)

Anyway, if I can't find great LED's at that price, I also have full permission to go with a fully automated hydro Co2 system with the iphone app from SG (Thank god for high times mag and me having a wife that kicks ass!!!) So, with all this news, guess who can't wait to move now?

BTW - Been super busy at work, haven't been able to start on the new closet yet.

As far as Hazel dying, I'm sure I can confirm this in the next few days, for now, she's sickly, looks dehydrated, and tips are starting to yellow (kinda limp as well) No real point in posting a picture, but I am going to do some seedling research.

The big part of soil gardening is making sure you replant in bigger pots at certain times to reduce the chance of getting rootbound. The small 1 gallon pots you have there are only enough to support a half ounce to and ounce plant. If you really want to get 8 ounces per plant....... I can help you do that. Your cabinet isn't big enough to support 1 plant with 8 ounces on it. 8 ounces per plant would require You to scrap the cabinet, convert the whole god damn bed room, get some 10 gallons pots, and some 600 or 1000 watt HPS'. Probably 3 or 4 lights to support that much bud growth.
With LST and other types of training, its possible but still not easy. Try moving a plant that big too, LNI doesn't pay pot gardeners unfortunatly. Think about the total weight on those fuckers too when theyre fully flowered and the pots still wet! I have trouble moving plants of that size by myself lol Its hard for a plant to support the weight when it has grown up with the absence of wind and environmental stress. The stems are naturally weaker due to the environment of an indoor garden. Stakes, string,wire ties, zip ties, fishing line, whips, chains , and whistels ;) can all be used to help keep them upright and give them added strength.

I know this is your first time but it sounds like you wanna grow some pot.............. Those CFL's will keep you from yielding like the pros.

damn bro dropping some $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ I like your style.

If I may add.....

1st off, your watt output, in your flower room, is 646 watts; not 2150 watts. 2150 watts is totally irrelevant here. We're looking at the watts your bulbs are pulling. Your 150w "replacement bulbs" are using only 40 watts, 100w's are using 23w. SO, your using 646 watts to power you flower room. Not sure how you came with 480w? You lights are producing 36,700 lumens of light.(keep in mind lumens will diminish over bulb-life) Now, that's a very good lumen/sq. ft. ratio, pretty good overall. But, just know that 600w HPS HIGH OUTPUT bulb emits 95,000 lumens. So when you break it down a 600W HPS H.O. is bringing 158 lumens/watt to the table; your current set-up is only producing 57 lm/w.(rounded up) Ultimately, your producing 3x LESS the amount of lm/w with with 15 bulbs as opposed to 1 bulb while burning 46 more watts. Lumens are the amount of visible light emitted from a source. More lumens = more visible light = deeper penetration into your canopy.
A 600w, cooltube, HPS light will run ya about $200, with everything, digital ballast(uses actually less power), reflector, bulb, and cords and necessary fixtures, you 4-6 inch fan to cool it....$30 bucks. You would be able to have you plants closer with a cool-tube than CFL's and your temps would be a hell of lot cooler. FYI also, no one uses Halogens to grow, a 5 year old maybe.....maybe. HPS, MH, these are called H.I.D. lights (High Intensity Discharge) that's what they are made for, lighting up yards and buildings and shit. Closest thing to natural sunlight.

2ndly. Pretty much all the strains you list have an 8-12 week flower period. the Hazes will be on the longer side considering they are sativa dominant. Your looking at 2 weeks in the seedling stage alone.(A seedling does not shed it's cotyledons for about 2 weeks) So, there's 2 weeks in the seedling stage, then add another 2-4 weeks for vegetation, 2 weeks would be the bare minimum IMO. Plus your 8-12 weeks of flowering(every strain will finish at different times) I have heard of some heavy indicas that can finish in just over 6 weeks, i believe Blackberry is around 45-49 days, pure Blackberry. Your basically looking at 4 months from seed popping to trichs turning amber more or less.
Ruderalis is being used now crossed with some strains to shorten the flowering period. But basically its the stuff that grows wild in ditches and pastures. It's also the shit they were smoking in Reefer Madness back in the 30's. It's an auto-flowering strain, so it doesn't need a change in the light cycle to start flowering necessarily.

I'm just seeing too many discrepancies here. This may seem well thought out, but in reality its excessive overkill. Inefficient use of space and lighting and time. If you did plan to LST, it would actually make the process longer, FIM-ing too. Think of FIM-ing as....your basically cutting a person's foot off and telling them to run faster, as soon as you cut the top off of that plant it is going to go WTF happened??? It's going to slow down for a minute and try to figure out what to do now. It'll take back off in a week or 2, but the added stress will slow it down which you don't seem to have to time for. Patience is virtue.

MG is usable. In a case where it is the only thing available I can agree. But, it takes practice with MG to use it how it needs to be used for growing marijuana. I'm don't have time to get into it now.

Overall, good concept. Probably could have spent your money a little more wisely. I suggest reading up more before you jump into this. Know the tendencies of your strains. Focus on 2-3 strains first, pick your 2 favorites and try to make each cycle more productive than the last one. Pick one that clones easy, roots faster, flowers shorter and in less time. 5 AK-47 seeds are going to give you 5 different plants; the characteristics of each varying. 1 will ultimately best to pick of the litter, 1 will ultimately be the runt of the litter, the other 3 will suffice, but we don't want average here. We want the best of the best, the Top Dog.

I'd ditch your sandbox idea as well. Your plants will need to be about a foot apart to have adequate room for roots. I've read the 3lbs. per light growlog, a few times over the years, pretty awesome i know. On a big scale it'll work, small scale....no way. You may get to week 5 of flower and your plants may start to kill each other off with one plant basically winning this royal rumble. A good rule of thumb to remember is that these plants need about 1 gallon of pot space per foot of plant. So a 3 foot plant should be in a 3 gallon pot(before it reaches 3 feet). It should finish at 3 feet.

Im not trying to rag on ya or "hate" on you. You obviously have the drive to produce some top shelf buds. It seems to me you have been misinformed on some major details. Or you may just think that it might work. Stick to the basics and when you get that down you can start experimenting.

Can you fill me in on your germination methods btw? Just curious.

Peace.

My germination methods sucked - Still new - I tried 3 different methods, first was water in a cup covered for 24 hours at room temp - This barely cracked any seeds, from the cup to the soil (wasted seeds). Then I did from cup to toil, same result more or less, seeds didn't crack, or barely cracked, planted in soil, wasted seeds. What finally worked for me was a little bit of distilled tapwater in the breeder bags, put in a cup and covered until they not only cracked, but totally popped, which was 2-4 days. Then plant, and they took (although my AK 47 isn't coming up yet, no worries, more seeds on the way)

I wanted to thank both of you for your advice. I've done more reading, and looked into it more, I'm going to turn this into a cloning/rooting cabinet (veg on bottom) and yes, I'm going to start using bigger pots. I also like the idea that fimming and training are more or less a waste of time - I do have to disagree on the strains though, although I do agree that most ruddies (ruderalis) are ditchweed, there are some acceptable, and even decent (I will never say kind or dank) quick flowering strains that are ruderalis. Yes, I'm also aware that ruderalis is more or less hemp, not mj :) There are some smokable strains though (60 day wonder and sweet mango rdr are two of them)

I realized today after I shocked amy that I need to learn more. I've read alot, but nothing is going to replace hands on experience. I will say that your right, I've got the strive, dedication, determination, and assets to ensure a huge yeild, I've just got to get overmyself. The biggest problem I'm finding is that there isn't a solid guide, I think that's why its so important for me to document all of this.

How did I fry Amy? My soil mixture (which she shouldn't have been moved to yet) was overloaded with N - Completely overloaded.... I've got her sitting now, and soaking, hoping that I can bring her back, hazel, on the other hand, is still alive, not really kicking, but still alive.

I honestly don't care how I grow, hydroponically, soil, superponics, reverse hydroponics, hell, seriously, I don't care. For the most part I have the time (just the next few weeks is tight for me, busy time of year) I have the resources, its only the knowledge I'm lacking. If I can get away with it, I'd prefer to steer away from soil, for the simple fact that I don't like the idea of shipping soil... Honestly, I don't have the proper type of vehicle you would use to pick up a large amount of medium, especially something dirty, without being noticed. This was my main concern behind using smaller pots originally, the importance of people not knowing overtakes the thrill of the grow.

I can do just about anything - I guess what I really need is a local mentor, that I can actually talk things over with. You guys can surely see though the amount of work I'm willing to put into decent cabinets, I'm willing to do much more to entire rooms, houses, or ultimately, my underground grow (years away guys... years...)

The funny part is, I really don't want to produce, I want it all for myself. Not sure if that makes me greedy, or just means I like to smoke alot, but I am a high function smoker (unless I'm on the couch watching family guy, then you know I'm done!)

So yes, your comments are appreciated, your advice is appreciated, and no, this thread is not jacked, because this is information I really need to make this grow a success :)

I've read alot proving that the distance of the HPS negates the lumens put out, proving that CFL could be closer and yield better results, if this isn't the case I'm assuming thats only because we're using a decent cooling technique - Also, if we're using the longer horizontal bulbs, aren't we losing half of the lumens, or a decent portion off of them because it's reflected light? There were several reasons I went with CFL, and like I said, I don't mind switching (I guess I need to bring some seeds into veg first, haha) but I want to make sure I'm getting the most bang for my buck.

I've got about a 8k budget for a grow right now, I really wish there was someone in PA I could actually get clones from, tired of dealing with seed companies :( Still waiting on my last order and it's been 13 days (sigh)

All the help you can give me is appreciated, and if you've actually got a log that explains this, please point it out to me!

Try a damp paper towel in a Ziploc bag for germination. Keep them dark and warm, in the 80's, consistently. Should pop in less than 24 hrs.

Actually, you lose more light with your bulbs being vertical. Your setup is great, horizontal bulbs will give you more light. (It should say that on the CFL box cause that's where I read it, different brand tho) But, it said it right on the box. Distance does negate output, but when you output is 3x's more, I wouldn't be too concerned Honestly, your not going to lose 60,000 lumens with a reflector. You can buy a light meter to read light output if you desire. I agree CFL's are good, used em for a long time, but it's a head over heels difference with a HPS; plus more bang for your buck. Just depends on your situation.

And yeah, auto-flower strains will flower out in 60 days or so from seed, but you can't really clone them. Pretty much every strain you list is derived from Indica or Sativa. The purp, ak, the hazes, none of the those are auto-flowering strains. And over the years I've heard more bad than good things about auto flowers.

Search for the user Stinkyattic, read everything she's ever posted. I believe she was from Mass. but she retired from the site a few years ago. That women knew more about anything i could imagine. She's won awards for her strains, she knew her shit and laid it all out straight up. Plenty of great threads from her.

That's it. I'm off to bed. Peace.

Amazon.com

Lit Up....You are right about Stinky...I'm sure that there are alot of us that really miss her.:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lit Up

Try a damp paper towel in a Ziploc bag for germination. Keep them dark and warm, in the 80's, consistently. Should pop in less than 24 hrs.

Actually, you lose more light with your bulbs being vertical. Your setup is great, horizontal bulbs will give you more light. (It should say that on the CFL box cause that's where I read it, different brand tho) But, it said it right on the box. Distance does negate output, but when you output is 3x's more, I wouldn't be too concerned Honestly, your not going to lose 60,000 lumens with a reflector. You can buy a light meter to read light output if you desire. I agree CFL's are good, used em for a long time, but it's a head over heels difference with a HPS; plus more bang for your buck. Just depends on your situation.

And yeah, auto-flower strains will flower out in 60 days or so from seed, but you can't really clone them. Pretty much every strain you list is derived from Indica or Sativa. The purp, ak, the hazes, none of the those are auto-flowering strains. And over the years I've heard more bad than good things about auto flowers.

Search for the user Stinkyattic, read everything she's ever posted. I believe she was from Mass. but she retired from the site a few years ago. That women knew more about anything i could imagine. She's won awards for her strains, she knew her shit and laid it all out straight up. Plenty of great threads from her.

That's it. I'm off to bed. Peace.

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Thanks for saying that,easiest method dude seriously. All that other stuff your doing is overkill. Everyone hates on it because you supposedly aren't supposed to touch the plants but marijuana is a very strong plant pulls through almost everything it will be fine. I personally use the damp paper towel for all my plants and all my seeds popped no problem. Easiest and most straight forward method also the quickest. That's just my personal experience not speaking for anyone else. Sorry to hear about the mishap with the girls low, you will bounce back, and your feedback is always appreciated in my log so keep an eye on me let me know if I'm doing anything stupid

Just got the replacement seeds in. They're soaking now, will switch over to a papertowel in the morning and I'll keep everyone up to date, thank god this growlog isn't over yet!

Well any expert will help on it.

seems pretty over to me, whats going on give us a update

Okay - It took awhile to get to this point. Basically the other girls died, poor soil and PH balance.

Those of you who started off on this thread though can basically tell I'm pretty dedicated to growing
and becoming very successful at it. So here is the update:

When the new seeds came in, I immediately started to germinate my Pineapple Express - Now I germinated
her totally wrong, again in a bag, and then transplanted to soil, but at least this time it was PH negative soil,
so no MG nutes or anything like that, just basic soil with some moss. I'm going to put in some pictures of this
phase, but I found a local guru, and we talked alot.

I've put together a great soil mix using coco fiber, perlite, and fox farms soil. I'm also using the fox farm soil
nutes.

I've got 6 strains going right now, Pineapple Express was the first, a few weeks later, bubblelicious autoflowering.
I also have bubblelicious, white widow, Cinderella 99, PowerBud, and Durban Poison.

I enjoy naming my ladies, my wife likes Fiona Apple, and since we couldn't come up with a good pinapple name, we
went with Fiona - Here are some progression pictures of her:

Attachment 287953
This is a few days after Fiona came up. I was very happy my grow wasn't over.

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Here we are about a week later, put her in a new container with more moss and soil.

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This was the first shot of nutrients on Fiona, these were the fox farm nutes

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A very short 3 days later, here is Fiona, totally roided up on nutes, and rootbound in
a 2 gallon long tub - I was totally happy she flipped out, but it canclled my grow plans.

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So I switched her over to a 12x12 5 gallon bucket, yes its a hydro bucket, but I'm
switching soon - You'll see :D Anyway, I also germinated 2 bubblelicious auto's, which
still aren't named yet (you can help!)