Basic stuff - not answered in sticky

[BroedOut]

Thanks man, and I now have two 40w tubes, plus my crappy energy saver bulbs.

Now i just hope my seeds fucking take.

BroedOut Reviewed by BroedOut on 12-08-2007. Basic stuff - not answered in sticky I recently got some seeds (5) and have decided to start growing my own shit, for my own use. I've read just about everything there is to about growing, and I'm still feeling a little in the dark. So, I have two of my seeds germinating in a paper towel thing, and that seems to be alright. But my seeds... 3 of 5 are kind of whitish, and 2 are blackish. They're all really small, like only 4 mm across at most. Is that normal? I honestly know nothing about growing, only how to do a large scale Rating: 5

[PharmaCan]

again...the "100w" energy savers give off the same amount of light AS A 100W BULB, and use 20-26w each.

23w bulb gives 1600lums
40w tube gives 3000lums
NOT 100w bulb gives 1600 lums, cuz that would be discraceful for a floro bulb.

you need at least 2 bulbs per plant, no compromise. otherwise your gonna do one shitty yield. you can set up 10 bulbs easily for 50-80$ covering bulbs wires, plugs, sockets, chains, hooks, etc.

Hey Klondike - Why don't you post some pics of your plants so that BroedOut can see what a successful grower you are?

Oh, wait, you've never grown a single gram of smokable weed, have you?

PC :smokin:

[EXP13]

Good, you got more light. That's always a plus.

Don't be too hasty though.

You are aware that you're going to have to change the light spectrum when you decide to flower your plants, correct?

Are you even sure you're using the right light spectrum for vegetative state?

[BroedOut]

Yea EXP13, my light spectrum is good, for both vegetative and flowering. I got warm and cool fluorescent lights.

Two of the seeds are now planted by the way, and i'm hoping in the next five days or so they sprout.

But one more question: Is 63 degrees too cold for good growing? Because that's the temperature of my space. I can't really heat it up (not a very big budget), so i wanna know, will it be enough?

[stinkyattic]

Thanks man, and I now have two 40w tubes, plus my crappy energy saver bulbs..

I did all my vegging under a pair of 40w T12 shop light tubes happily for years. You can grow some very nice plants, and a PAIR of shop lights totalling 4 tubes (cool white, daylight, or kitchen and bath- I use cool white personally) is even better.
Keep them 2" from the plant tops at the most. The nice thing about the T12 cool white tubes is that they give off so little heat that your plnats can grow right up into the fixture and not get burned instantly like hotter lights. I'm a HUGE fan.

62 degrees is too low; when you get your lights up and running if you can keep temps at 68-80, you are fine. If you can't do that with just your grow lights, consider adding a seedling heat mat under the pots, that's a $25 investment that will keep the plants VERY happy. A heat lamp is also a possibility, especially if you can mount it under a shelf or something so it heats from below. If the soil temperature is correct, the plant itself can thrive under slightly lower temps than normal. Soil chemistry starts to suck royal ass in the low 60s and the roots can't function properly.

Don't listen to Klondike Bar; he's full of it. He's been banned before for posting piss-poor grow advice.

[BroedOut]

Thanks man, but how much does a heat mat charge in electrical bills?

[stinkyattic]

Thanks man, but how much does a heat mat charge in electrical bills?

You literally won't even notice. Check the wattage on the back of the package, but it's minimal. Much less than an electric blanket, lol. Comparable to a fish tank heater.

[Roughrider]

Think of light in terms of the size of the area you're growing in. 12" x 12" (one sq. ft.) needs at least 3,000 lumens to grow; 4,000 to 5,000 is much better. Seedlings and early veg plants are small, so uyou can get away with a little less in veg.

My veg lights for the first 2 weeks have been the same for a couple of years now. Go to Wal-Mart, and get a 10.5" clamp light from Wal-Mart for $10, a Y-adaptor (that lets you screw two bulbs into a single bulb socket) for $1.50, and a pair of GE 100 watt (26 watt actual) 6500k bulbs for $7. It's under $20, and you get a rig that looks like this

http://www.frontiernet.net/~mycomput...t/compact1.jpg

That's from ebay, where a guy is selling the whole thing for about $60 delivered. 300% markup for about 30 seconds of work! Man, am I in the wrong business!

Anyway, a couple of those can get 6-8 plants through the first couple of weeks. That's about 3200 to 3500 lumens...keep them a few inches (like 2-3") from the tops of the plants, and you'll do fine.

But once plants start getting bigger, it's a different story. I figure on a decent plant taking up 1 sq. ft. minimum...1.25 is more like it. That's about 6,000 lumens per plant for a good grow. To flower a plant, that's 4 of those 23 watt CFLs. HPS is much more efficient, and you get better light under the canopy to develop lower stems and buds. You'll do better with an HPS. Still, you can drop $80 and get 4 of those two light reflector rigs, and put out about 13,000 lumens...enough for two plants.

btw, don't worry too much on energy costs. Running either 125 watts of CFLs 24 hours a day, or 250 watts of HPS in a 12/12 uses about about 90 kilowatts of energy a month. Find out what you normal charge is per kilowatt (or kWh) per hour. It's about as the same as using a clothes dryer for about 18 hours a month...at .10 a kWh (which is the average in the United States), it's about $9 a month. IMO, you have to have a pretty good sized grow operation (600w or over) to really affect your energy use...and even then, there are ways around it. When I grow, I use laundromats...and it almost completely cancels everything out.

[stinkyattic]

When I grow, I use laundromats...and it almost completely cancels everything out.

Me too. Laundry sucks a lot of juice.

[BroedOut]

I really appreciate it. In the meanwhile, i got a space heater keeping my stock warm.

Stinkyattic, I'm actually going out right now to get a heat mat.