Noob on the Cheap

[daihashi]

So I have my plants taking up about 4 1/2 square feet of space on top of a table. I have 6 26w (100w equiv) cfls on top of them with no mylar or any reflective material around them. Do you guys think I have enough light?

I believe it was Hudson that said I needed 50w per square foot. Is that assuming a highly reflective environment or will I be okay for now?

I've never liked the 50w per square foot rule. I always preferred to go by lumens.

When I first started I was taught thaat you want to try to get 5000 lumens per SqFt. This ideal and anything on top of that is gravy.

[Cede2Weed]

Well, I have 6 x 1600 lumens or (my buzz is making this difficult) 9600 lumens. Otherwise, woefully inadequate for a 4.5 sq ft plot.

He probably meant 50w of cfl not equivalent.

So for 4.5 sq ft I would need 22500 lumens? Or 2.5 times what I have. wow. I assume that would be good through harvest. Is that correct?

Thanks.,

[daihashi]

Well, I have 6 x 1600 lumens or (my buzz is making this difficult) 9600 lumens. Otherwise, woefully inadequate for a 4.5 sq ft plot.

He probably meant 50w of cfl not equivalent.

So for 4.5 sq ft I would need 22500 lumens? Or 2.5 times what I have. wow. I assume that would be good through harvest. Is that correct?

Thanks.,

You can grow under less light. It's just not ideal. Again this is just what I Was taught but your yields drastically reduce at anything below 5k lumen per SqFt. I've never bothered to verify or understand why this was the magic number. It just sounded like a good *minimum* amount of light to build your grow around. I went beyond this but it really helped me find a good starting point in terms of lighting.

You can flower with what you have. Just know your yields won't be as great as if you had a 250 watt hps. You're already running about 140 actual watts in CFL's right? Wouldn't hurt to run another 110 watts to get better quality/quantity of buds would it? :thumbsup:

[hudson88]

Hey, I agree with diahashi, if you can double your lights you'll get far better results. I do use the 50 watt per sq ft rule so it was probably me who told you about it. (you're right, it is the actual watt consumption not the equivalent) I just find it easier to multipy by 50 than 5000 when stoned lol, but the lumen rule is more accurate.

[Cede2Weed]

I should have bought some more batteries for my camera while at Walmart, but I didn't so no new pictures today.

The plants seem to be liking their new soil. The dropping has not stopped, but growth is continuing. Starting to see the third set of leaves on several of them. All remain very green.

I watered them lightly during the transplant but I am trying to not water until I can see that the need it. Hoping the drooping was due to over watering and will perk up shortly.

Another thing that may have caused it, we have had a few very cold nights lately. I turned the fan off the past few days due to the lower temps. Either way, I am counting on this being a temporary thing.

My wife says I have a problem. I have moved a chair and a radio in the closet with my babies and sometimes I just sit there and stare at them, all the while doing my best to refrain from watering/over loving them.

Hope for pics tomorrow :smokin:

[Cede2Weed]

sorry for the poor quality, battery low and I was hurrying.

Please let me know if I should be worried. I have propped a couple of leaves up with broken toothpicks. They really seem to like their new soil.

[Cede2Weed]

last 2 pics

[hudson88]

Hey cede, I wouldn't be worried they're looking nice and green and yeah it looks like overwatering to me too, mine have that same look but they're getting over it now, just slowed growth for a couple of days. Keep the updates coming and good luck!

[Cede2Weed]

I still haven't gotten batteries for pics, but the plants are looking great. I let'em dry out for about 2 days, then gave a thorough watering and put an oscillating fan in with them. They have responding with a real growth spurt.

I hope to get pics posted tomorrow.

[Cede2Weed]

I have a couple of issues, one has some brown spots on leaf, I think it was from water drops. The other is a very yellow cotyledon. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks!