Low-tech CFL Grow

I am currently building a 18" wide, 24" deep, and 36" tall cabinet for up to 4 plants. The 36" height allows 24" of vertical growth between the top of the pots and the bottom of the light. I am trying to go 100% organic with my grow as well. I am undecided on potting soil type thus far.

Here's the current item list.

10 bagseeds
1-125 watt 6500K CFL with a reflector for vegging
4-8" plastic flower pots
Fish emulsion (5-1-1)
Bat guano (.5-12-.2)
Unlimited supply of compost
Digital thermometer/humidity meter
1-4" fan
1-timer for lighting schedule

Items on order

1-125 watt CFL 2700K for flowering
1-bag of organic potting soil (type?)


I am adept at growing vegetables outside and had a successfull indoor MJ grow several years ago, so I don't consider myself a newbie, but can use any constructive advice on how to get the most "bang for my buck" with what I have. I don't envision a huge harvest, and I would be happy with 1/4 oz dried per plant.

Looking forward to it, when do you think you will be able to start?

Due to a vacation soon I won't germinate the seeds untill the beginning of March. I still need to do a few test runs with temperature before I commit to the planting as well. Luckily, the ambient temperature that the cabinet will be in stays 65 degrees year-round, so high temps should not be a problem at all.

I will be doing 24/0 lighting for 30 days before changing to 12/12. My first grow was 24/0 for only 21 days (plants were 8" tall when I changed the light cycle) and the plants maxed out at 16" in height with some subtle training.

Right on, well I got you sub'd for the future show! sound like you'll be starting about the time i'm well into flower if not harvesting depending on how many times I change my mind by then!
Czech me out if you get the chance!lol

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/400561-first-cfl-grow-no-cash.html

I was VERY impatient with my first grow, I should've let the plants flower for atleast another week or so. I harvested when the plants had about 1/2 cloudy trichomes with barely any amber. Since my old jewelers loupe is missing, I will go off of when the pistils start to change color this time (pistils were still white at harvest the first time). Live and learn I guess!

Until joining this forum I had no idea how to judge harvest time, the few outdoor grows i've witnessed would have had great potential but they were always impatient and harvested to soon and dried but never cured properly! Thanks to the guys around here I'm confident that I wont make the same mistakes. Patients is definitely a virtue, luckily my babies have been moving faster than I can keep up with!

Any suggestions on decent, yet inexpensive organic potting soil? I can "doctor" it up with some of my good compost.

I ask about the soil since I have heard so many bad things about Hyponex, but that's what I used for my first grow with very few problems except for a small fungus gnat infestation (which I quickly took care of). I used crappy MG liquid houseplant food as well. But hey, it worked well enough for my first time.
Perhaps I will attempt to make my own organic soil this time.

By the way FFA, your girls look great!

Bean porn.

Thanks man, these are definitely some strong little plants! I know I have stressed them a couple of times and they just keep on truckin like I wasn't even there. I wish I could get a hold of that many good seeds, I lucked out and got those four out of a bag a few months ago and they all took really well.

do you know the strain?

I am not sure of the strain, but I definately got a "stoned" feeling and a good pain relieving effect from the bag it came from. So I am assuming a mostly indica strain. The seeds are very rubust and strong, and by far some of the best I have seen!

Czechmate78 said:

I am not sure of the strain, but I definately got a "stoned" feeling and a good pain relieving effect from the bag it came from. So I am assuming a mostly indica strain. The seeds are very rubust and strong, and by far some of the best I have seen!

Click to expand...

How many you going to start with?

I will germinate 8-10 at first, being as though my luck seems to be about 25% female when growing from bagseed. Then hopefully I can get a few clones from the best females and make a cloning cabinet so I never have to worry about seeds again

Hey Nice grow! here's a link to my last cfl grow - similar in many respects to what you got. I pulled out 43g.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/399652-two-23w-cfls-43g-yield.html

Found just over 4 quarts of extremely generic potting soil in my basement. It's listed as 45-55% aged pine bark, topsoil, sand, and perlite. I mixed in 1 quart of my finished compost and baked it at 160 for about 30 minutes. When I re-wetted it, it had a nice crumbly texture. Unforunately 5 quarts isn't enough to fill 4-8" pots.

I am thinking of vegging for 21 days in 16oz party cups, then transplanting them into the final 8" pot for 7 days before going 12/12.

Here's my lighting, I will probably add 2-23 watt cfl's at the end of the hood since there is so much space.

I am also making my cab a little smaller at 12"x24"x36" so I will be getting about 85 watts per square foot. I'd really like to put 18" flouro tubes vertically on each corner pointed towards the middle, but I haven't found cheap enough fixtures.