McToker's 1st Grow with CFL

[McToker]

This is our, the wife and I, first serious attempt at growing. We started out by using some basic info we found on the net. After we had started and found this site, we realized that the info we were using was incomplete, very dated or a bit of both.

The first sprout showed up on July 8. This is the one that we call the freak of nature due to the huge leaves. The rest sprouted within 10 days of the first one. All are bagseed donated by an old freind.

The cabinet, if I can actually call it that, is just an angle iron frame and sheets of cardboard painted flat white.

We started off using two 4 foot flouros but switched to CFL's after finding this site.

The 4-lamp fixture is just a shop light with some "Y" adapters. The 8-lamp unit is a 4- light bath vanity fixture with "Y"'s.

Bulbs are 26/100 watt "Daylight" CFL's rated at 6500k. For flowering we'll switch to 26/100 CFL's rated at 2700k.

Soil is Miracle Grow. With the the exception of molasses being added to one plant, starting yesterday, no nutes have been used, yet.

We also topped the front center plant yesterday.

This grow is definitely a learning experience for us. I only wish we had found this site earlier.

Water runs first through a water softener and then an R/O machine.

We'll be moving everything into a Homebox S later today. The "Brown's" site says it will be here today. We can't wait. The aroma, while wonderful, is getting a bit strong. We already built a carbon scrubber for the new digs.

Well, I thought I was going to be able to add some photos but, I guess, not yet. I'll add them when I'm able to.

McT

McToker Reviewed by McToker on 08-08-2008. McToker's 1st Grow with CFL This is our, the wife and I, first serious attempt at growing. We started out by using some basic info we found on the net. After we had started and found this site, we realized that the info we were using was incomplete, very dated or a bit of both. The first sprout showed up on July 8. This is the one that we call the freak of nature due to the huge leaves. The rest sprouted within 10 days of the first one. All are bagseed donated by an old freind. The cabinet, if I can actually Rating: 5

[SunnyD]

Sounds like a nice first time grow to me!!!

The only thing I'm curious about is the miracle grow you're using for those babies...I've read in a couple threads here that miracle grow is just a bit strong for babies...have you had any problems??? If not then that should be a good sign that you can bump up the heavy nutes in flower!! YAAAAAY

I could be wrong though...wait til an expert stops by

Hope everything works out!
Stay Sunny

P.S. - I'm subscribing to this one :thumbsup:

[McToker]

I read the same thing about the MG............. after we started using it.

But, they are all looking good (knock wood).

They were all germinated using Jiffy Greenhouse pellets that were later transplanted into beer cups (the red plastic kind) with MG.

We're just hoping that the freak turns out to be female. We started LST on her (being optomistic) about a week ago.

[BeFree]

Sounds goood. =D

Are you using any perlite? Because I started 4 beans in MG seed starter and perlite and they did just fine until they outgrew the beer cups.

On to recycled 3 litre Dr. Pepper bottles! wooo

tip: try rounding up some pictures and making a photobucket log for us to check out until you hit that 50 post mark so you can attach images. I'm sure a few of us noobs on our first grow would like to check it out. *nudge nudge*


Be Safe:jointsmile:

[McToker]

I'd forgotten all about my photobucket account. Let's see if this works.

Group photo


The freak:

[McToker]

Here's a better shot of the lights. The 4 ft. flouro will disappear later today.



and a shot of the scrubber. It's an adaptation of Treetops' filter which was based on one by Bodom Children Of . I could only find 6 inch caps and such so........... I went with that. The filter material is an activated charcoal pre-filter for Honeywell air purifier ($9 at HD).

[McToker]

BeFree ~ No perlite. Just MG.

[SunnyD]

Nice keep pinch-bending them to keep them low if that's what you're going for, they look puuuurdy as of right now! Way to go!

[McToker]

Thanks Sunny D. We think they're purdy, too.

As for topping and LST, it's not so much that we're trying to keep them low as just experimenting and trying to learn a new craft. We're also playing with different heights for the lights, too.

The new tent will be 63 inches tall so I'm not sure how much height will be an issue.

Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen waiting for the tent to be delivered.

Nutes are on their way. Should be here in a couple days.

[McToker]

The Homebox showed up. YEAH!!!

We got it set up and the babies are tucked in.

They say that one person can set one of these up but, I'm sure glad the wife was here to help, especially when it came to working inside. She's only 5' tall and could stand up where I had to stoop.

It turned out that our DIY scrubber was too long to fit inside the tent by the time we connected to the ducting. So, we just cut it down, shorter. It is still 6 inch diameter but the canister was cut down from 16 inches long to 8 inches. With the large diameter, I think it will still leave plenty of surface area. And now, I've got enough filter material left over to replace it when needed. By tomorrow, I'll have a pretty good idea how well it is scrubbing.