First Grow CFL in 3x3 Tent

chaospb99 · Jul 29, 2014

I have been reading a bunch of grow journals and info the past month or so and now I have all my supplies and I am ready to start my first grow.

I just stared germination 1 Ice feminized and 2 random freebie seeds from Nirvana. I am using a 30x18x36 grow tent and 3 homemade CFL fixtures. (Hopefully I can post pictures tomorrow when it is all setup). I am planning on running about 14 40w CFLs for the three plants.

For soil I am using Fox Farms Ocean Forest with about 10% coco coir added. For nutrients I am using General Hydroponics Flora Series.

I will try to add pictures and updates as I progress through my first grow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

chaospb99 · Jul 31, 2014

All three seeds were germinated in paper towel. I transferred all 3 into soil last night and put them into my tent. I will turn the lights on as soon as they break the soil. I am having trouble with heat as my temps are in the upper 80's but I have heard that warmer is better for seedlings. I am going out to get another fan this weekend.

kittybags · Aug 1, 2014

Are those squirrel cage fans your only means of exhaust? If so, you really should consider getting a proper inline fan. 560W CFL not only seems like an overkill for ~3.75 square feet, but will also be a bitch to keep cool without an inline fan. Good luck.

Meowlistenhere · Aug 1, 2014

https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/t5-reflectors-8-lamp/
17,600 Lumens

chaospb99 · Aug 1, 2014

First seedling broke the soil this morning. It was the Ice seed. The other two still have not broken the soil yet. I have had to change my setup a bit as I could not control temps with all of my lights in the tent. I have gone to just 4 40w CFLs for now and am able to keep the temp around 80F. I am hoping that I will be able to add a few more lights as soon as the outside temperature drops a bit. I also added a oscillating fan at the bottom of the tent. I am planning on starting the 18/6 light schedule as soon as my first seed has leaves.

giggywatts · Aug 3, 2014

look around and find a good carbon filter and inline fan. they are a must. when i was running just cfls i had 4-55w, 1-42w, and a bunch of 13's and 23's to total over 500 watts in a 2'z2'z4' box. i was using a bathroom exhaust fan and could only grow in it during the cooler months. a bigger fan would have helped. those oscillating fans just aint enough. amazon has a ventec inline fan filter combo to get you started that can always be upgraded as time goes by. for your setup i would go 4" and try to build a 4" in/out light hood to try to stay cool. them cfls need to be real close..

ILM · Aug 3, 2014

Not an insult just a ?
Why not go with hid lighting
You can pick up a low watt hps for pretty cheap cool tube filter inline fan
I think in the end that will make you more happy

giggywatts · Aug 3, 2014

i agree to a point. i run a little bit of everything, i have a 100 watt hps a bunch of cfls and leds just to make sure with bigger leds and hids coming.

chaospb99 · Aug 3, 2014

All three have broke soil. Ice and Random2 both have leaves showing. Random1 still has the seed shell on it. I moved my tent to the other room with air conditioning and temps have gone down a bit still in the high 80s with lights on though. Here are some pics of the progress.

chaospb99 · Aug 7, 2014

I have made some temporary changes to my lighting over the last few days. I have removed two of my bulbs so now each plant has one 40w CFL bulb sitting about an inch above each plant. I was still having trouble with the heat but it is more under control with only three bulbs. Temps are around 80F with lights on and 75 with lights off. I have ordered a 6" inline fan which should allow me to add more bulbs as the plants get bigger.

Ice is doing the best. It has 2 sets of leaves and looks like there are another set coming in. Random1 has just sprouted its second set of leaves and is looking fairly health. Random2 has sprouted its second set of leaves but is kind of looking dried out with the leaves curling. I am guessing it is from sitting closest to the fan. I have moved it away further now hopefully it will look healthier in a few days.

I gave them their first nutes today. 1/4 strength flora series.

chaospb99 · Aug 12, 2014

Its been a few days since my last post. Plants are doing good for the most part. Random2 still has curling leaves from what I can tell from heat stress but I have been keeping the heat down lately. Keeping it under 80 with lights on. New growth is not curling as much so hopefully it will rebound. The ice is the farthest along with 4 sets of leaves. I think it is a more indica pheno because of the broad leaves. Random1 has 3 full sets of leaves with a new set coming in. It looks like more of an sativa with the skinnier leaves. I am planning on transplanting into 2.5 gal pots this weekend.

DarthBlazeAnthony · Aug 15, 2014

chaospb99 said:
I have made some temporary changes to my lighting over the last few days. I have removed two of my bulbs so now each plant has one 40w CFL bulb sitting about an inch above each plant. I was still having trouble with the heat but it is more under control with only three bulbs. Temps are around 80F with lights on and 75 with lights off. I have ordered a 6" inline fan which should allow me to add more bulbs as the plants get bigger.

Ice is doing the best. It has 2 sets of leaves and looks like there are another set coming in. Random1 has just sprouted its second set of leaves and is looking fairly health. Random2 has sprouted its second set of leaves but is kind of looking dried out with the leaves curling. I am guessing it is from sitting closest to the fan. I have moved it away further now hopefully it will look healthier in a few days.

I gave them their first nutes today. 1/4 strength flora series.
View attachment 3223743 View attachment 3223744 View attachment 3223745 View attachment 3223746

My temps are pretty high in my tent right now. It is at 85 with lights on and 75 with lights off. Have you heard of a way to cool the tent without using an ac unit?

chaospb99 · Aug 15, 2014

Anthony, the only way I have found to keep my temps down is to blast my AC. I did get an inline fan which helped a little but I still need to keep the ambient room temperature in the low 70s to keep temps in the tent manageable.

chaospb99 · Aug 17, 2014

So its been a few days since my last update. I have transplanted them all to larger pots as well as done some trimming. I am going to be mainlining these plants and I did some initial trimming to get that started. On Random2 I trimmed everything but the third node from the roots to start the manifold for the mainline. I left the third and fourth nodes on both ice and random1 just to give them a little extra energy to grow those nodes out. I had some yellowing on the lower leaves of ice but I think it was just a lack of nutrients after the transplant. I have since given them all a full strength feeding. I have also removed the yellow leaves with the trimming I did.

Here are some pictures from the last few days as well as before and after the trim.

chaospb99 · Aug 17, 2014

velcro trichs · Aug 19, 2014

U should lighten up ur watering hand, let it dry out, wait till the pot obviously weighs nothin. . .wait on the nutes till she's not an infant, let it adapt first.

Big Perm · Aug 19, 2014

chaospb99 said:
View attachment 3231574 View attachment 3231575 View attachment 3231576

Check your ph

chaospb99 · Aug 19, 2014

Thanks for the help. I am going to let it completely dry out before giving it another watering. Right now my dirt ph is about 6.1 I think it might need to come up a little from what I have read between 6 and 7 is ideal. I am going to let it dry out and give it a plain watering and then check the ph again.

dluck · Aug 19, 2014

chaospb99 said:
I have made some temporary changes to my lighting over the last few days. I have removed two of my bulbs so now each plant has one 40w CFL bulb sitting about an inch above each plant. I was still having trouble with the heat but it is more under control with only three bulbs. Temps are around 80F with lights on and 75 with lights off. I have ordered a 6" inline fan which should allow me to add more bulbs as the plants get bigger.

Ice is doing the best. It has 2 sets of leaves and looks like there are another set coming in. Random1 has just sprouted its second set of leaves and is looking fairly health. Random2 has sprouted its second set of leaves but is kind of looking dried out with the leaves curling. I am guessing it is from sitting closest to the fan. I have moved it away further now hopefully it will look healthier in a few days.

I gave them their first nutes today. 1/4 strength flora series.
View attachment 3223743 View attachment 3223744 View attachment 3223745 View attachment 3223746

No need for nutes till week 3

chaospb99 · Aug 22, 2014

I have done a lot since my last post. I have gone ahead with fully mainlining all three plants and have tied the two mains down. I have topped the two mains and am now waiting for the 4 mains to grow in. I also believe I have fixed my over watering problem, I let the pots dry out for 4 days and then gave each plan 1 liter of plain 6.5 ph water. I am aiming for 8 mains so there should be one more top needed sometime next week. I am hoping to put them into flower in about 2 weeks but will have to see how they fill out. Want them to be about 1 foot tall when going into flower.

First Grow CFL in 3x3 Tent

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