McToker's 1st Grow with CFL

[McToker]

Anbesol ~ I did a search on that title and found quite a few sections of the book and related material on-line. Made for some interesting reading. My wife is convinced that the more I learn about this the more new toys I need to buy.

That brings me to the reason for this post. The little woman gave the go-ahead to get an HPS light. I know, this was supposed to be a CFL grow. Well, it was a CFL veg......

We'll keep the CFL set-up for vegging but we are looking forward to more production from flowering with an HPS.

I'm looking at a 400 watt HPS/Cooltube Combo at HTG Supply. One question is: Is it worth the extra $40 for a digital ballast?

I figure I may need another fan to cool this light considering the problems I had with bends in the duct tubing.

http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...-up-night.html

As you can see, getting rid of the duct tubing with it's bends took care of my cooling issues. Right now I'm running a 500 CFM 8 inch in-line "booster" fan. I have another 4 inch booster fan out in the shop. I'm wondering if I were to set it up like this if I could spare myself the expense of another fan.

Carbon filter - 4 inch fan - flex duct - cooltube - flex duct - 8 inch fan

On another note; I crunched the numbers using Miss Stinkyattic's formula from one of her stickies and found that running the HPS is actually about $5 a month cheaper on the electric bill than my current set-up.

[McToker]

I figure I may need another fan to cool this light considering the problems I had with bends in the duct tubing.

http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...-up-night.html

As you can see, getting rid of the duct tubing with it's bends took care of my cooling issues. Right now I'm running a 500 CFM 8 inch in-line "booster" fan. I have another 4 inch booster fan out in the shop. I'm wondering if I were to set it up like this if I could spare myself the expense of another fan.

Carbon filter - 4 inch fan - flex duct - cooltube - flex duct - 8 inch fan

You can disregard this part. I just went back and re-read Rhizome's stickie on grow room set-up. I'll just bite the bullit and order a proper fan.

[McToker]

The pic is of the hermie that we culled out and banished to the back yard. Sorry about the photo quality. Like most children, it just wouldn't sit still.

Beautiful pistels busting out all over! Looks like we'll get some bud and hopefully some seeds out of this venture after all.

The indoor plants are on Day 6 of flowering. Still no more signs of sex yet.

Tied down even more branches of the freak today.

We could use a bit of input on new lighting. We know a 250 watt HPS would be adequate for our area, just over 2 1/2 feet by 2 1/2 feet, with about 4000 to 4700 lumens per square foot depending on the bulb. But, would a 400 watter with about 7200 lumens work better for us.

For either we would be using an air-cooled hood or cooltube. Our biggest concerns with the 400 watt light is the distance we would be able to keep it from the plants and the extra heat. Our Homebox is only 63 inches tall.

[McToker]

Here's a little better pic of the hermie out in the yard.

Wish the ones indoors were showing flowers like that.

[McToker]

We woke up to a lot more preflowering activity on the indoor plants this morning. The one we knew was a female is showing even more pistels. WooHoo!!!

Three others show lots of preflower activity but for the life of me I just can't pin it down to male or female yet. Even with a 20x jeweler's loupe, I just can't tell. Guess we'll have to wait another day or two and see if the pistels show up.

I tried to snap a couple pics, up close, but the macro on my camera sucks.

On another note, after countless hours of reading through the forum, researching on-line and much cussing and discussing, we've put any plans for an HPS light on indefinite hold. By the time we get the setup we want and then upgrade the ventilation, it just doesn't seem all that enticing. At least we narrowed it down for the future. We only found one air cooled hood that would fit in our Homebox S. That's the Sunleaves Arctic sun. Even then, by the time we add 6 inch flex tubing off each end, it's a tight squeeze.

That all may just have to wait until I can figure out how to add a stealth grow room in my shop. I can't remember which forum member said it but this growing part is certainly addictive. Perhaps even more so than partaking.

[Weezard]

We woke up to a lot more preflowering activity on the indoor plants this morning. The one we knew was a female is showing even more pistels. WooHoo!!!

Three others show lots of preflower activity but for the life of me I just can't pin it down to male or female yet. Even with a 20x jeweler's loupe, I just can't tell. Guess we'll have to wait another day or two and see if the pistels show up.

I tried to snap a couple pics, up close, but the macro on my camera sucks.

On another note, after countless hours of reading through the forum, researching on-line and much cussing and discussing, we've put any plans for an HPS light on indefinite hold. By the time we get the setup we want and then upgrade the ventilation, it just doesn't seem all that enticing. At least we narrowed it down for the future. We only found one air cooled hood that would fit in our Homebox S. That's the Sunleaves Arctic sun. Even then, by the time we add 6 inch flex tubing off each end, it's a tight squeeze.

That all may just have to wait until I can figure out how to add a stealth grow room in my shop. I can't remember which forum member said it but this growing part is certainly addictive. Perhaps even more so than partaking.

Aloha fellow codgers

Got :twocents::twocents:,for you. (inflation),
For bulk, heat, size, and results you might want to look at LEDs. for flowering.
The Procyon, for example, uses 125W and it works as well, if not better than a 400W HPS
Lots of info under "indoor-lighting.
Snstealth has three threads in the grow logs that show what LEDs can do.
They are still a bit pricey but will amortize in time depending on what you pay per KWH.
The initial retail cost is the only reason I don't own several of them.
The excellent results, lack of heat and safety was so irresistable that I opted to build my own.
If you "speak solder", take a look at "the perfect growlight thread" started by Physicsnole.

Been enjoying your posts.
Mahalo,
Weezard

[McToker]

Thanks Weezard.

Trust me; I read all of Snstealth's logs and the perfect grow light thread. Took me the better part of two days with all the side links.

I came to the same conclusion. The Procyon seems to be the way to go. I even bounced the argument off my better half, telling her that by the time we get a good digital ballast, an air cooled hood, a good bulb and then spend about that same amount to upgrade our ventilation system to accomodate the extra heat, we'd be darn close to the price of the Procyon.

Then, she had to go and spoil it by asking the price of the Procyon. The side of my head still hurts.

I initially thought going to an HPS would be fairly cheap when I saw some of the enticing prices on several vendor's websites. But, the more I looked into it, those "bargain priced" units didn't seem so hot. At least they were not what I was after for my situation.

[Weezard]

Thanks Weezard.

Trust me; I read all of Snstealth's logs and the perfect grow light thread. Took me the better part of two days with all the side links.

I came to the same conclusion. The Procyon seems to be the way to go. I even bounced the argument off my better half, telling her that by the time we get a good digital ballast, an air cooled hood, a good bulb and then spend about that same amount to upgrade our ventilation system to accomodate the extra heat, we'd be darn close to the price of the Procyon.

Then, she had to go and spoil it by asking the price of the Procyon. The side of my head still hurts.

I initially thought going to an HPS would be fairly cheap when I saw some of the enticing prices on several vendor's websites. But, the more I looked into it, those "bargain priced" units didn't seem so hot. At least they were not what I was after for my situation.

From the rest of your thread that you've done plenty of homework

My wife wouldn't bat an eye. She loves to buy stuff.
It was the folks from Anti-social In-security that yanked my chain.

And you've seen the builds.
Wish I could say "just DIY".:thumbsup:

I did.
The concept was just too not to play with.
Well, that might generate odd pains in the other side of your head.
Because, when the dust settled, it cost me almost $400 to DIY!:upsidedow

Not too unhappy about that though.
Here on the Island the electricity is mostly generated by burning oil. We pay one of the highest rates in the country and I don't see that getting any better in the future.
So, between that, and the cost of replacing HPS/MH/ bulbs every season, or the CFLs every 2 seasons...
Like you quoted, the growng can get to be more elevating than the smoking. So, god willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be way ahead of the money part in less than 3 years.
Also, getting better results than the Procyon grows, for less wattage was the deal maker for me.

Sexing happened in 2 days of 12/12.
Got bigger, tighter buds, sooner than Snstealths grow, etc.

BUT, (and that's a big but.), I also switched to hydro for my second grow under LEDs and Whiskey Tango/ Dough Boy still grow in dirt.
When they switch to Hydro, or GITC, we'll have a grow-off.

65 is the new 70
Weezard

[McToker]

I'm just about to go dive into the DIY thread. Perhaps, if I'm lucky and if I bob and weave, she might not notice so much if I nickel and dime it. But anyway, I'll do some more reading and, yes, I do "speak solder".

Oh....... and Aloha. Our youngest is at Pearl. He's constantly griping about the prices of just about everything over there.

[McToker]

It's a sad day in McTokerville. We had to pull three males out of the Homebox tonight. The real heartbreaker is that one of them was the freak. I guess I was just in denial. I've been checking them all day long going back and forth from the illustrations in Cervantes' book to "What sex is it?" posts on the forum looking for any sign that I could be wrong.

But, there is some good news! The last to show any signs....... IS A GIRL!!! That still leaves us two girls indoors. There is also the bloomin' hermie outside along with three more unknowns.

Well, it does open up space in the Homebox so the girls don't have to compete for light.

Yup, you guessed it........ my glass is always half full.