Compact Fluorescent Light Discussion

[BobBong]

Day 51 and she's been in 12/12 now for a week, growing has slowed while she's beginning to stretch for the light. i also moved one of the lights down to the bottom of the grow box to provide some underlight....

after my inspection (which has yet to come) i'll probably be doubling the size of my grow box to include 6 150w CFL's... making it a nice 900w but only pulling 270w

heat isn't a big issue if a fan is going... but the size is alright for 2 plants..

enjoy..

[HARDDON]

On a more serrious note BobBong...

I see the sheet metal whatever you call it covering the base of the plant...

This is not good. A GREAT idea, but not good.

#1. It is going to encourage mold growth on the soil surface. Mold prefers darkness almost all the time and I am afraid your contraption might just create the perfect environment....no light...no wind....no circulation....low oxygen...

#2. You will only reflect light that hits the sheet metal. All the other light will continue to be trapped....lost....eaten.....

#3. Once flowering kicks in good, you;re gonna lose all the bottom leaves anyhow. You need to get light UP into the density of the grow and I dont think reflecting around the base of the soil is enuff.

Make the whole bottom of the grow base reflective.

Ingenious indeed, but, for $2.00, Home Depot sells those styrofoam sheets that are easily cut to fit any situaton.

I know you and I don't get along....

But, I speak for the sake of your plants....

Here, on day 24, notice how the base of the grow chamber is all white and the light bounces off of every square inch of floor bottom......

[BobBong]

thanks for the advice harddon, the book i've read and use as a referance is the "Marijuana Grower's Guide" by Mel Frank & Ed Rosenthal...great for all kinds of information on indoor and outdoor growing.

as for the piece of reflective board i've got on the pot of the one plant, i'm removing it at night to ensure no mold is going to grow... i've already lost a good portion of the lower branches and first fan leaves.. probably due to lack of light through the canopy...not a big deal though...

growing is like having kids (if you have kids you'll know what i mean) the first one you're panicing if the leaves begin to yellow, or some fan leaves fall off.. but by the 4th or 5th grow.. you know what is a plant threatening problem and what isn't...

Remember, this plant wants to live alot more then you want it to live...it takes alot to kill an MJ plant.

Preflowering is in full swing, it's been about 8 days on 12/12 and the growth has begun to slow considerably.
I know there's alot of light being lost from the setup i have and frankly, there's nothing i can or am going to do about it right now.... this grow box was designed as a beginning grow box... a shelving unit with light fixtures screwed in.. crude you might say.. but it did the job...

In the near future i plant on hingeing two 6x2ft book cases together and having them on castor wheels... fully loaded and done very professionally...

money...time...and freedom is preventing me from doing this right now.. but hopefully soon... you'll see my masterpiece

[BobBong]

so from these pictures you can see a few things. plant #1 is 17". plant #2 is 13"

that's the total height of the plant and not the length of the main stem...you can also see some classic branch development for the bud spots. notice the zig-zag pattern..

also shown is the amount of foilage i've lost at the bottom of plant #1

[Zandor]

Hey bob why not add sidelights? One light in the front part if your room between the 2 plants. One in the back between the 2 plants. Lower the light to cover the bottom branches and keep it there. You will still need air movement in the underside of the foliage but your yield and quality will increase if you add 2 more bulbs.

[BobBong]

that's a great suggestion zandor, and i've already considered it. 2 more bulbs would put me to a nice 900watts of CFL.. this is true... i have one more bulb and enough fixtures. I more than likely will add the last bulb i have.

I think though, i'll invest in some red spectrum CFL's for flowering, last round i flowered with the same lights as i vegged with, only adding a 60watt incandescent for the red when i started 12/12...

things to consider..

[HARDDON]

You know I tried the whole side / bottom light thing and I ditched it.

For the CFL to work they really gotta be CLOSE to the foilage.

I got way too much leaf burn than what I had anticipated.

It seems a lot easier to flood them on top with a fan blowing across than it is to side light and keep the leaves from touching them.

The fans at that point just blow the leaves into the light and every morning I had new fresh burns.

Once I removed the lights, yea, I began to lose a lot of undergrowth but that was gonna happen anyhow.

I suppose if the space is not a problem, it might work ok, but the added heat the CFL will bring requires more fan and then they just blew the leaves right on the bulbs.

OUCH!

Of course I am doing all that I am doing with a 3.75 SQ. FT. space.....

Too small for even two flowering ferns....

I need more room and less kids...

Anyhow, now that I have lost all the bottom foilage and leaf burn isn't an issue, I added the lights BACK to the setup.

I'll take and post pics tonight of how it all panned out.

HAPPY GROWING BOBBONG

[BobBong]

Letter in my door this morning. Inspection in 2 days

[PartypokerPlayer]

let us know the out come of that...!!!! u live in an apt or what bong ?

[BobBong]

let us know the out come of that...!!!! u live in an apt or what bong ?

yea an apt.

It shouldn't be to bad though, he was here a week ago to fix a faulty circuit...talk about a heart ache, all he had to do was open one door and it'd been all over....i don't think my heart even beat once the whole time...

oh no.. wait.. it was the other way around.. it was beating so fast, i passed out after he left

..i'll keep ya posted