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04-09-2010, 01:58 AM #3Senior Member
First Grow please comment
Looks like you're off to a good start, mon, tho I could offer a coupla suggestions, if I may...
First, get rid of the tinfoil as soon as you can. Find some pandafilm (black one side, white on the other, and line the box/reflector with that, or hit it with some basic flat white latex paint. Other options include cheapie 'survival space blankets' available at your local W4LL-M4RT or camping store (they use reflective mylar, which is nearly the best reflector you can get for cheap). If you must use the tinfoil (and many do!), make sure you're reflecting off the 'dull' side, not the shiny one, because it diffuses better.
Where did you get that massive 2700k CFL? Great light for its weight class, tho it's kind of the wrong colour for the stage you're at right now, but it will work. I'd supplement it with one or two 4100k (cool white) CFLs, at whatever max size you can find/afford. For the initial growth stage, I find that seedlings and clonelings /love/ the 4100k 'colour temperature', and I can get 3000 lumen 45w actual / 200w equiv at W4LL-M4RT for like 15bux. If you put a couple of those in there, or bigger ones if you can get 'em, they'll give your plants a way better spectrum for initial growth. When it comes time to flower, change the balance to mostly 2700k 'warm white', but I'd leave the cool white in there.
Perhaps the optimal might be to buy exactly two more bulbs, a 4100k cool white, and a 6500k 'daylight'/'bright white', preferably to match the nice-big-CFL ya got in there now. Their spectrae would overlap and give your plants as close as they can get to the flavour of the 'sun' without you breaking the bank. You could do the whole show with all three, just changing your photoperiod to 12/12 when ready for flowering. Also, keep your light(s) as close to the canopy as you can--CFLs run pretty cool, and your plants will love ya if you can almost snuggle 'em up right tight
For a cheapie way to test 'how close'... If you can keep your hand 'there' for the whole day without becoming more than a little warm, your plant will like being 'there'.
Other things you should really consider... make sure you have at least a cheapie 10buck PH test kit, and see about buying an inexpensive set of nutrients that will take you thru the veg stage. Test everything going into those plants, and make sure it's 5.5 to 6.2 in Ph. About every fourth watering, test what is coming out, too, just to be safe (note that your runoff water will have a colour to it that you'll have to 'adjust' for when reading the scale, unless you have a digital PH meter). Dirt grows are supposed to be way more forgiving, but as long as one is careful, one could use practically any method to deliver nice fresh nutrients to happy roots.
I should really mention as well that you should use /professional/ PH adjustment chemicals, instead of some of the 'home' remedies. I was using Vinegar for the first little bit as a 'PH down', until someone mentioned that it can feed some of the wrong kind of beasties in the soil. And NEVER use Baking Soda as a 'PH up'... it will KILL your plants in short order. The bottle of 85% Phosphoric Acid (super duper PH down) that I bought only cost 9 bux, and it should last me the next year at least.
And, use filtered/distilled water. Really. Unless you're out in the country with really really really good well water. Water from a Brita filter works just fine.
Also, temperature is pretty important. The little girls prefer it around 78f, but anything from 70-72 up to 85 is ok, tho at 90 you /will/ be starting to cook 'em. They can take a temp of 90-92 for a SHORT time, but any longer than that will stress the hell outta them. For their 'sleepy time', 60-68f is supposed to be optimal. As for humidity, talk to the experts around here and your local zone, but a cheapie hygrometer can be had at a cigar store...
Hope this helps!
(c)C :chainsaw:(c)C :chainsaw:
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