Elcheapo's First Indoor Grow.

I initially started out with the idea of using a CFL or 2, wanting to avoid hydro shops and HID lighting. After researching it a little I found one of BobBongs threads and was stunned to see his amazing results.
Although money isn't a factor, my goal was to spend what it costs to buy an ounce, on equipment. Also trying to keep everything really simple.
Lighting I purchased was :-
3 x Natural CFLs (48watt/240watt equiv. 5000k) Energy Saving
3 x Warm White CFLs (48watt/240watt equiv. 3000k) Energy Saving
They are about $18 US each.
I whipped up a grow box that is approx. 3ft x 2ft x 3ft. (l, w, h)
Although the seeds are bagseed, they are from killer bags where I'd only find a few in an ounce. I've kept buds from these so I know what I'm growing. Really hoping that they produce a few male pods cause my seed stocks are many years old and I was lucky that anything germinated. Due to these germination issues plant maturity is staggered.
They don't have names at the moment but #3 is nicknamed 'Bitch on Roids'.
This pic of her is at about 20 days from germination.

I trimmed some older fan leaves about a week ago to try and stunt her a little so the others could catch up. Showing female preflowers on the last few nodes of the main stem. The following pic is of her at 34 days after LST 2 days ago. And 1 pic of the dodgy setup.
Any suggestions, feed back or questions would be greatly appreciated.

soil ph to high and or wrong watering,been there to many times,many yeas ago....

Thanks for your response buthead. As far as watering goes.. The soil is fairly free draining so I water till its pissing out the bottom. Then let it dry out to the point where the pot is really light again and the plants start to look a little sad.
I don't have a soil ph meter so I can't tell what it is. How did you come to that conclusion? because of the lighter green tips? I think the flash from the camera made it look a little worse than it is. I'll post a pic without the flash.
Can someone please confirm that this is a problem? Thanks.

Not a long time indoor grower myself, but She looks healthy to me, Buthead seems to make note that he has had some years experience behind him so I wouldn't discount his observation, just not sure how he came to that conclusion as it would be a valuable bit of knowledge to know how to see from your plants photo that the ph is too high or your watering wrong.

cool setup ( got a kick out of your light sockets , looks like something I might do )

People learn from your grow keep it going, like to see your progress

Peace
Bill

see the white stripes starting,between leafs ,and how big are ur grow shoots another indacator...

Thanks Bill. I'm glad I'm not the only one having a giggle at my lighting setup. :)
I was able to get the lamps much cheaper than just the sockets alone so I thought why not. This way I can always reuse them if I decide not to grow anymore. I'll post some new pics soon on how I have been able to vary them also which is a bonus.
The following is a pic of the number one plant taken at the same time the last ones were. Its had a hard life so far but is really starting to take off now. Its either male or has more sativa traits than number 3 plant.

It's been another week. #1 Plant seems to be going really well. #3 Plant seems sick. #3 last week took a turn for the worse possibly due to too much nutes, ph or stress. The leaves and tips have turned a darker green and have a cardboard sort of feel to them. I don't think I over fed or watered her but time will tell. It has been through a rigorous LST and pruning process. I've flushed her tonight because she was looking under watered as well. Seems to have perked up a little more. At least she's giving the others a chance to catch up.
I've commenced the LST process on the #1 plant also. Itâ??s such a hardy specimen. Overnight it was already facing up and booming again. So I've tied it down a little more.
Also fitted out the whole grow area with a more reflective material than the foil. You will notice the reflection in one of the pics.
Temperature is sitting at a good level I think. Itâ??s approaching summer here and some days are getting quite hot. The grow area has varied from 25c to 32c but mainly stays around 27c.
The following pics are from last night and tonight, before and after LST of #1 plant, before and after reflective material change over.
Any suggestions on what the problem might be with #3 plant would be helpful.
Thanks.

as for the reflective material dull white reflects alot better then that tin foil..other then that very nice grow look forward to watching them come into bloom..p.s. check out my thread and leave any advice if any..happy growing

Don't expect a large yield using fluro lights.

keep growin brother ;^)

Update - #3 Plant is now thriving after the flush. It was looking much better after a few hours and nearly 24hrs on it's looking better than ever. :) I'm using a totally organic liquid fertilizer and I think it's building up in the soil between feedings. So I'm going to cut the dose in half and semi flush before every feeding.
I'm starting to worry about pot size and overall height after I switch to 12/12. Just wishing the little #2 and #4 plants would get a bit bigger first. I was hoping to take a clone from each plant. :(

**BKSkillz - Thanks for the heads up. I am aware that flat white is supposed to be better than foil and mylar etc. I have upgraded from the foil to the mylar because it was easier and cheaper to get, looks much better and I'm not worried about hot spots as I'm only using CFLs. It seems to be reflecting a lot better than the foil was thatâ??s for sure. I will use the mylar for the rest of this grow and consider going white for the next if I decide to do it again. I'll keep an eye on your grow too and give you some feedback.
**Trichome Creator - I'm also aware that I won't get a huge yield from flouros. I've done some research before hand and if I get half as much as BobBong has from his CFL grows I'll be very happy. I don't smoke a lot anymore and this grow will last me for a long long time. I also wanted to try and produce some more seeds as my seed stock is at the end of its shelf life.
**RUKind - I will :)

Another week on and I'm preparing to take a clone from #3 plant. Moved it away from the lights to begin some stretching. 12/12 will take place within the week. Also just gave her further LST since these pics. #1 plant is continuing nicely and is now showing a few female preflowers. I've given up on #2 and #4. They are pathetic and although I won't chuck them out I will reveg them if they turn out to be a potent strain.
You may notice a secondary branch on the far left of #3 plant seems to be popping 4 leaves instead of 2. :)

Hello elcheapo :) I like those plants nice, bushy and healthy ;)

You mentioned a bit back about the tips of the leaves being a bit lighter, I wouldn't worry about that at all, it happened on my summer grow and the cause then was the heat in the growroom.
I wouldn't describe it has a problem at all because they are coming along very nicely, I just wondered if it was the same thing ;)


love mand xxx :)

Another week on.. plants seem to be doing ok. I had switched to 14/10 for a few days and have now just switched to 12/12. Also taken a clone from the number 3 plant so hopefully it takes. I'm finding growing in soil indoors is more difficult than I'd hoped. Itâ??s a little too labor intensive trying to maintain the correct environment. So I've been brainstorming a few ideas for a simple and very low maintenance hydro grow after these have finished. I will start a thread with details of the setup and the progress when the time comes.

Week one down of 12/12. Number 1 plant is really stretching now. The main tip has breached the lights. I will tie it down again within the next couple of days. Number 3 plant is still very compact. It just won't stretch between the nodes at all. There are pistils evident over both plants as you can see in the pics. Number 2 and 4 seem to have really picked up since I moved the lights away from them. Also one of my warm white 48w 2700k globes died so until I can replace it I've dropped in a spare spiral 23w 6500K globe. I may even replace the warm white with another natural 48w 5000k globe. The plants seem to always face their leaves towards them and ignore the warm whites.

Don't be scared of the hydro shops. They are your friend. :)

Just finishing week 2 of 12/12. I know some people don't like pruning but I took the scissors to both plants :o . With weak CFL globes I need all the light penetration I can get. Anyway, the girls are starting to show some potential now. There are obvious signs of trichomes especially on the #1 Sativa type plant. I've also replaced the faulty globe with another warm white. As the bag seed I've grown from was most likely hermie, I've noticed a couple of male pods. Most would be disappointed but I'm excited. I started this grow hoping to produce a few seeds too. #1 Sativa plant has just the one male pod, #2 and #4 have a couple each. #3 Plant has none. The pods are growing where preflowers would be and there are none actually throughout the main flowers. I will attempt to pick them just before they open so I can crossbreed amongst the different strains. #4 Plant seems like it might be a dynamite smoke as it smells fantastic. Pollinating #4 with itself, #1 and #3 will be the main priority.
Surprisingly, the one and only clone I took from the #3 plant that I gave no light, ignored and abused has actually rooted. At one point I actually kicked it over and it came out of the medium! This was 7 days after cutting and it seemed to have stem rot and no sign of roots. I gently jiggled it out of the perlite at 14 days and noticed strong fluffy white roots! So I've now transplanted it into a bigger pot and rigged up a dodgy low maintenance hydro setup for it. I think I will get that 23watt 6500K light onto it.
So I can safely say at this point (with tongue in cheek) that I've had 100% success rate with cloning ;)
The first pic is of #1 plant showing trichomes.
The next 3 are various shots of #3 plant.
The last pic is of both but you can't see the main tip of #1 plant.

lookin good mate and i have used flouros you want to get yourself a red spectrum bulb for flowering i have five blue spectrum and three blue and my yeild is lookin good and i am also going totry a hydro grow but want it cheep as possible so let me know how you get on

five blue threered sorry smashed

fuckin hell im off

Just past 3 weeks of flowering. #1 Plant is now my favourite. #3 Plant that I cloned doesn't seem as potent looking/smelling and not producing as much yeild compared to #1 Plant. But hopefully it will continue to fill out over the next 5+ weeks. I have taken pics of little #2 and #4 plants this time as well.
First pic is of #1 Plant.
Second pic is of #2 Plant.
Thrid pic is of #3 Plant.
Forth pic is of #4 Plant.
Fifth pic is of #1 Plant showing trichomes on a small bud.

nice trees mang :stoned:

Day 29 of 12/12. Oops! I accidentally let 1 of only 2 male flowers from #1 plant open when I wasn't around! Looks like I'm going to have a lot of seeds. Iâ??m feeling sort of happy and sad at the same time. Happy I will have a whole new batch of viable seeds and cross breeds of the #1 plant. Especially #1 crossed with #4. :) Sad I won't get as much yield or quality this time around. I'd have to say I'm already overly impressed with the performance of the CFL globes and the size of the buds for day 29 of 12/12. At least next time I can grow the best cross breed, not have to stress about a limited stock of non viable seeds and can remove any male flowers if they appear. Also thanks for your support Conky.
First and second pics are of #1 Plant.
Third pic is of #2 Plant.
Forth pic is of #3 Plant.
Fifth pic is of #4 Plant.

The males are bummers..!:p lol..!

Looking good though!:D

Hope to see you harvest!:D:D

yeah man I hope everything is workin out for you

cheapo ,,,, you rock!!!

nice thread!!!

Thanks for your support guys. I was a little disappointed my ladies got so heavily impregnated. But its better I get some seeds than none this time around. I'm just waiting for these seeds to mature so I can harvest and start the next round. It serves me right for dealing with possible hermaphrodite bag seeds to begin with. Hopefully next time I end up with no seeds from my new crossbreeds. Otherwise I can revert back to using my 100% female #3 plant that I took a clone of.
I've gone hydro with this clone using perlite as the medium. Itâ??s on a 24/0 light cycle using a 23w 6500K energy saving globe. At the start of the week I made up a little enclosure as it hasn't really had much light. Its growing very strongly now and showing preflowers. So far I'm finding hydro is much easier, cleaner and the plant seems happy and healthy.

Looking good!:) To bad about the pregnancy though.. Why no condom??:p:)

Harvest Part 1 - #1 and #3 Plants

#1 and #3 plants have been chopped down at around 60 days of 12/12. Although I'm quite impressed by the performance of the CFL globes, I know I could've still done a lot better. Apart from the fact they were partly pollinated, they also developed some problems with yellowing/browning and leaf death around 30 days of 12/12. For at least 2 or 3 weeks, other than more yellowing, almost no further growth/fattening was evident. Excess heat from days ranging between 35c to 43c+ over a period of 4 weeks, lack of fresh air to the grow space, lack of root space and various other problems were probably to blame. Iâ??m looking forward to harvesting the smaller #2 and #4 plants as they seem to be the most potent strains and contain the seeds for my next grow. The size and density of the main bud on the #2 plant is impressive. Itâ??s tipping over from its own weight. Pics of #2 and #4 will be posted next week sometime. For now the following pics are from part 1 of the harvest.
First 4 pics are of #3 Plant.
Fifth pic is of both #3 and #1 Plants.

Bro........

Those plants look really good.......

Plenty of HIGH QUALITY Floros...........

My friend is a floro grower as well.......

I think your yeilds will be fine with those floros.........

The kind you are using are about in the 2900-3200K temp range (plenty of reds)...........

You have done everything right...........

Just watch for the males next time.............

Oh man they look swell!:D

I want some!:)

Can I be you're crop tester??:D

I saw a 150 watt cfl at HD for 9.99.Runs off a 40 watt fixture.
Do you think one of those would be enough for a bunch of clone I want to mother in my closet.About the same size as your area.

yeah man niice they look pretty good... So did you get any seeds?
I wouldnt have a problem :smokin: that stuff:thumbsup:

Harvest Part 2 - #2 and #4 Plants

#2 and #4 Plants have been chopped down at around 65 days of 12/12. Drying and Curing of #1 and #3 has already taken place. #2 and #4 are now dry but still curing. Total harvest weight is approximately 3.5 ounces. Well beyond my expectations. All plants have completely different exotic odors and highs. Seeding of the plants was fairly minimal. Although I now have plenty of large, dark, plump seeds from #1 plant crossed with #2, #3 and #4. The #1 crossed with #2 will be the main focus of my next grow. Itâ??s a combination of high yielding, extremely potent, trichome rich, and pungent strains.
Buds from: -
#1 Plant has a sharp piney, hash odor.
#2 Plant has an eye watering, deep skunk odor.
#3 Plant has a sweet, fruity, fresh orange peel like odor.
#4 Plant has a chocolaty, hash odor.
Also #2 has dried to brilliant deep, dark green color with many fluffy, bright orange hairs.
Although all different, highs from these strains are a combination of heady & couch lock. Leaving you with a feeling of not knowing if you are coming or going.
Thanks again for your support guys.
First pic is of #2 and #4 Plants. (#2 on the left and #4 on the right)
Second pic is of the dried & compressed harvest, numbered accordingly.

Looks awesome, I must find those types of bulbs.

Do you think they are a better choice for price and heat conservation and yield, over the regular spiral CFL's?

And do you need a special type of socket for them? Thanks, nice grow.