First CFL Grow... EVER - Tips & Suggestions?

SurelyAcid

SurelyAcid

Member
Hello, hello everyone!

I am completely new to growing and also new to this forum site. I've never grown a single plant in my life, so hopefully, posting my setup will allow other CFL users to make suggestions or give advice that will help me as well as the entire growing community. I intend on keeping this post up-to-date w/ pictures and such of my grow so others may help along the way until harvest!​

So far I've accumulated:
  • 12 - 20W (75W equivalent) 6500k bulbs for the Vegetative stage (240W Total)
  • 12 - 23W (100W equivalent) 2700k bulbs for the Flowering stage (276W Total)
  • I acquired all the needed outlet-to-bulb adapters, and many Y-splitters
  • Grow Tent w/ Reflective Mylar - 32" x 32" x 63"
I am planning on getting many more CFLs to cover more of the grow area as I don't believe that what I have now will be enough light for a great yield for 2-3 plants. I'm hoping for at LEAST 4 ounces per plant. I know it may sound far fetched for some, but from what I've seen with this type of grow, if you do everything correctly & don't skimp out on anything, you'll be golden.
  • I'm also planning on using a soil-less medium like Coco Coir. The medium which I think should do the job right is a bale of Botanicare Cocogro Coir Fiber (if there are better mediums out there, please share)
  • Organic Perlite - for increased aeration, I was most-likely going to use a 30/70 ratio mix. But if there is a better apparent ratio, I'll gladly use it.
  • 3 Gallon RootMaker Containers - (I was wondering if I should buy a larger container than this, which may possibly result in better yields? BUT if the plant grows larger in general because of the bigger pots, it could also be more difficult to have a good amount of light around the entire plant. But then again, that's what LST training could be used for.)
  • For Nutrients, I settled on getting from Advanced Nutrients. They're 'pH Perfect® Connoisseur Coco Grow/Bloom A&B' seemed just about the perfect series for what I'm in need of. This cancels out many of the deficiency problems w/ Calcium, Magnesium, & Iron as every primary/secondary micronutrient are supplied in either fully or partially chelated form, allowing for nutrients to have more availability to the roots that would otherwise be bonded to soil particles in Coco Coir. (If there are other nutrient series that I should be aware of to use for higher yields/healthier plants in general, please share)
  • As for what seeds/strain I will be growing, I'm not exactly sure yet. Maybe some THC Bomb seeds. (Whichever strain is better for higher yields with my situation will probably be what I grow)
  • I will most-likely buy a digital pH & ppm meter, even though it's apparently NOT needed for the nutrient series I have, I'd like to be safe than sorry.
Any better suggestions to make this grow amazing? I'm willing to try anything as long as it is beneficial. I've put in over $350+ in my setup & I use A LOT of cannabis unfortunately. (Let's just say a lot more than most) And I'd be pretty disappointed by the fact that I can only harvest 1 - 2 or so ounces per plant off a setup which cost me just about a little over an ounce of bud, as well as the waiting time + work involved until harvest.

Should I be aware of important additives that I can use for my plants to extend the yields further? Is there other plant training techniques that work better than LST for CFL grows?



Thank you ALL very much for all of your time and consideration that was used for the help of others. It is highly appreciated.

PEACE
​
 
sixspeedv

sixspeedv

Well-Known Member
sounds like you got all the pieces in place for growing. One thing id really like to emphasize is to keep everything as simple as possible for your first grow (or 3). if this if your first time growing anything ever might look at just using some Fox Farms soil and add the perlite you talked about. That soil will buffer your pH and you wont need the pH pen to start. You could probably always use more CFLs as long as you can control your temps. Just strive to get a healthy plant from start to finish and don't let a small yield get you down. Its going to take a few grows to dial it all in and it will come over time.

Just my .02
 
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pizza boy

New Member
I'm in a very similar place, I've never grown anything worth smoking before. I did manage to bring a male to flower about 3 weeks ago. But I am one hell of a gardener.So take all this with the appropriate amount of salt grains. With that disclaimer out of the way, here we go. And this is just what I'd do.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Just keep doing your homework. The quantity will come, like Sixspeed said. I think you'd rather have an O of killer than 3 Os of meh. Don't be afraid to change things during your grow. If something needs to move around or you need more of this and less of that. I would keep a couple spare light bulbs hanging around for just in case. My last thought: good things take time. But bad things can happen very quickly.

I'll be following this closely.
 
qwizoking

qwizoking

Well-Known Member
Ive never got a gpw off cfl. They arent as efficient.
I love em though. But dont expect huge yields your first grow especially and keep in mind how many watts your running.
My set up was 24 23 watt bulbs and some 42s down low i believe, something like 750 watts and ive pulled a lb out of that with good yielding strains...
 
6ixclouds

6ixclouds

Well-Known Member
I'm new to growing too @SurelyAcid, about a month into my first so ill definitely be checking your thread out all the time! To compare and stuff and help out if theres any way i can! (doubt it though cause im a noob lol.) Glad to see theres others on here though :) I will say you sound much better prepared and equipped, and headed in a great direction. Going for the big yeild right away should be interesting i cant wait to see how it turns out! im only using 322w myself. Having that tent will be nice and make it easier to control the environment. In my (very noobish and unrieliable) opinion you should grab at least a small fan (even if you just have one around the house) because the cfls get decently hot. You can touch em and not burn yourself, hold hand under etc. but they heat up the space quite a bit especially if doors always closed. And you want to have em pretty close to your plants so they can get lots of light without them getting stressed from heat. Definitely get a thermometer hygrometer from like the pet store or something so you can know the temp of your room, theyre like 5 bucks or so maybe 10 tops and itll help alot to controle those temps. Just some things I ended up spacing on and having to get last minute so thought id suggest it :) Good luck man, all the best, i'm gonna watch this thread so ill be in here on the regular!
Ceck out my 2 lil girls in my sig if you want!:peace:
 
SurelyAcid

SurelyAcid

Member
Okay so I decided to go with a 600W Air Cooled HPS/MH grow light instead of the CFLs. I've been doing a lot more research and noticed the CFLs aren't going to do me any good with what I'm wanting to accomplish, which is a great yield. I got a 6" 440CFM inline exhaust fan as well as a 6" carbon filter for ventilation.

I planted a random unknown bagseed for a test run. She's been growing for about 3 weeks now, and already transplanted into the final 5 gallon pot. Here's how it'should looking so far:

20150717_142035.jpg
I FIMmed her 3 or 4 days ago, I tried the pinching method instead of cutting so that's why it's looking a little messy up top, but the growth has been pretty good. I had some trouble in the beginning with a little nute burn, but it seems I got that all situated and dialed in because the new growth is looking even better.
 
T

Thomas Stevenson

Member
"I'm hoping for at LEAST 4 ounces per plant."

From what I've been reading that is extremely hard to do with CFLs. Maybe if you get 300 watt equivalent CFLs but not with the bulbs you bought. With HID your goal is more likely to happen. Best of luck!
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
Thomas Stevenson said:
"I'm hoping for at LEAST 4 ounces per plant."

From what I've been reading that is extremely hard to do with CFLs. Maybe if you get 300 watt equivalent CFLs but not with the bulbs you bought. With HID your goal is more likely to happen. Best of luck!
Click to expand...
250w hps per plant or about 500 real watts of 23w 2700k cfl's or 650+ real watts of 40/67w cfl's per plant.
Not only is the 250 hps much cheaper than 500watts of cfl's, the monthly electricity bill is also cheaper with the same results. My opinion? 600w hps for 2/3 plants 1000w hps for 4-6 plants. It is expensive as fuck to get a pound from cfl's, you minus well build you a CXA/CXB LED setup at that price, btw 300 "real" watts of CXA's will yield around the same give or take as 1000 "real" watts of spiral cfl's.
You can buy light, you can buy high yielding strains (which is what you want if you choose cfl's),you can buy the best nutes ect, but you cant buy experience. Sorry,but yield just doesnt come by first time around.I hope you hit your yield quota though and a happy fun healthy grow! 5-7 gallon pots and synthetic nutes should do you well. And dont cheap out on the lights!
 
T

Thomas Stevenson

Member
SPLFreak808 said:
250w hps per plant or about 500 real watts of 23w 2700k cfl's or 650+ real watts of 40/67w cfl's per plant.
Not only is the 250 hps much cheaper than 500watts of cfl's, the monthly electricity bill is also cheaper with the same results. My opinion? 600w hps for 2/3 plants 1000w hps for 4-6 plants. It is expensive as fuck to get a pound from cfl's, you minus well build you a CXA/CXB LED setup at that price, btw 300 "real" watts of CXA's will yield around the same give or take as 1000 "real" watts of spiral cfl's.
You can buy light, you can buy high yielding strains (which is what you want if you choose cfl's),you can buy the best nutes ect, but you cant buy experience. Sorry,but yield just doesnt come by first time around.I hope you hit your yield quota though and a happy fun healthy grow! 5-7 gallon pots and synthetic nutes should do you well. And dont cheap out on the lights!
Click to expand...
Yea I'm thinking of getting a 600w hps myself. What about a Pro Grow 400 (LED)?
 
CObeastmode

CObeastmode

Member
SPLFreak808 said:
250w hps per plant or about 500 real watts of 23w 2700k cfl's or 650+ real watts of 40/67w cfl's per plant.
Not only is the 250 hps much cheaper than 500watts of cfl's, the monthly electricity bill is also cheaper with the same results. My opinion? 600w hps for 2/3 plants 1000w hps for 4-6 plants. It is expensive as fuck to get a pound from cfl's, you minus well build you a CXA/CXB LED setup at that price, btw 300 "real" watts of CXA's will yield around the same give or take as 1000 "real" watts of spiral cfl's.
You can buy light, you can buy high yielding strains (which is what you want if you choose cfl's),you can buy the best nutes ect, but you cant buy experience. Sorry,but yield just doesnt come by first time around.I hope you hit your yield quota though and a happy fun healthy grow! 5-7 gallon pots and synthetic nutes should do you well. And dont cheap out on the lights!
Click to expand...
I agree cfls for flower will get expensive if you already spent 350on cfls. I would get an hps for flower and use those CFL 2700k around sides. Don't listen to this guy saying you can't buy experience though and then saying don't cheap out on lights, more expensive lighting is not going to give you a higher yeild. Using your lighting properly will. Think what he means is a 400watt hps produces like 50k lumens which is more important than watts remember that...that and color spectrum. It will take like 25-30 cfls to equal that, and don't kill your babies with those expensive nutes everyone thinks are required for a 4-5 weeks veg in already hot soil that has feed for about that long normally(smh). Remember they are babies. I went cheap on lights and got a 600 watt light system for $65 (used) and I came across a 125w hydra farm CFL for $20(like $70-$80 new) Go cheap if you can and I mean finding the deals...not using low quality product. I have spent like $200 on mine and I will buy a 1000 watt bulb now because I have saved so much. I smoke like you so let's hope for those ounces huh I'm going into flower next week 10 weeks veg. Patience. I haven't topped or trained either my plant are 3'x3'w 2.5'h like 20 tops each so ya it how you use your lighting imo anyway. Experiment yourself. You plants are different than everyone elses.
 
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