my first bag seed rubbermaid cfl grow

Ok so here goes, this is my first official grow and I've chose to go with the classic rubbermaid grow. So here is what I have

2 30gal Rubbermaid tubs,
6 26W 1750 lumen GE cfl's,
2- 3 light strips, a 8" fan on top(pulling air out) and 2 pc fans on the sides ( one pulling air in across the light, the other pulling air out on the opposite side), 2 4" pvc elbow joints on the bottom for passive intake.
I've decided to paint the inside white instead of using mylar.

I germinated my seeds for about a week by soaking a paper towel and putting it between 2 plates, I had about 8 seeds pop.

While they were germinating I did some research and read a lot of good things about Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil so I picked up a bag of that and perlite. At this point they have been in the soil for 4 days and I have 5 that are above soil with leaves. I have them about 4" from the lights. Any tips at this point would be super helpful.

looks similar to my grow, its my first too but maybe you can pick up on some things i learned in the process

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/190494-first-grow-cfls.html

good stuff man.. hope all goes well.. ill be watchin....

Thanks no big changes today, they are a little bigger and the leaves are getting longer. It's holding at about 72 degrees in the box and the plants are about 3" from the lights. I'll probably water tomorrow since the top soil is getting dry and post some new pics.

Ok just got done watering the babies. They are all looking strong and are about 1.5" for the shortest and about 2" for the tallest. I noticed after my last watering a lot of excess water run off in the case so I put plates under the cups to catch that water.. Now my questions is will that cause issues if my plants suck that water up from the bottom? Other than that I think I'm on track thanks for all the great posters. Loving this forum.

pic1: Just a shot from above to see the leave growth.

pic2: Group shot from the side to show height growth.

pic3: And back to the cab for some "sun".

pic4: This one is looking the best.. Have some high hopes here.

Just checked in on the babies, and they are looking strong I think. I noticed a little leaf growth and some height. I'm starting to wonder if I need some more light on them or if I need to move them to bigger pots. Here are some pics so any ideas.

GhostGrower said:

Just checked in on the babies, and they are looking strong I think. I noticed a little leaf growth and some height. I'm starting to wonder if I need some more light on them or if I need to move them to bigger pots. Here are some pics so any ideas.

Click to expand...

looks good r those daylight bulbs cus u need 5500k-6500k bulbs for veg state and 2700k bulbs for flowering.
but deff looking good man lemme know if u have ne questions

Just checked the rating on the bulbs I'm using and you were correct they were at 2700k I thought I picked up the Natural light ones. Looks like I'm headed to Lowes to get the right lights. Hope this hasn't hurt the plants. They have been on 24/0 light with the wrong type. Thanks for catching that and probably saving me a headache.

update: Just got back from Lowes, this was a good catch on SyNiK4L for seeing I had the wrong light. Due to them only having 4 packs I am now up 2 lights. So now I have 8 Bright Effects Day Light bulbs. Lets see what this change does. Thanks a ton

I'm starting to wonder about my grow space, got about 34" H x 39" W x 64" D , I have 5 plants in cups, but I'm thinking I need to get them to bigger pots. any suggestions on sizes?

NP glad i could help on the light situation....thats 1 thing i really focused on learnin about cus it deff makes a difference....dont worry tho light is light....so even if u had those wrong bulbs for awhile it prob didnt hurt them...i did the same thing...i had 2700k bulbs for like a week or 2 and didnt know the difference and then i changed them out....u can deff tell a difference in the color and the brightness of those daylight bulbs...make sure u keep those 2700k bulbs for flowering. And on the pot question. i just went to home depot and got all different sizes of pots...ranging from the size of ur cups to huge planter ones.. i basically have transplanted my biggest plant 3 times to end up at the size im at now....check my sig and look at my newest pix I basically have 1 plant that is about 5 or 6 weeks old which u will see and then i have 3 plants that are about 3 weeks old. 2 of them i transplanted yesterday into my medium sized pots and i need 2 go get another pot to transplant the last 1. so look at my pics and u should b able to get the idea of when u need to move them to bigger pots.....basically when u think u need to move them u do....cus i waited around thinkin i should wait longer....but then i pulled them out and they had the hugest root system ever lol....the roots grow fast and u need plenty of room for them. My newest pix are HERE

on a side note...ur setup is a really good idea...but ur plants will grow outa it pretty damn quickly. and u deff want to be able to move those lights up and down....cus when ur plants are young...like the first 3 weeks or so...u want the lights pretty close 2 the plant...but within the first month u kinda wanna move the lights up a good bit that way the plant will stretch and reach for the light...cus i made the mistake of trying to keep the bulbs within a couple inches of my plants for to long and they were growing out instead of up....so when ur plants start to get alil bigger u might want to think about a way to make a different setup where u can raise and lower ur lights at any given time...its basically a daily battle to keep my lights in the right spot, not to close and not to far. And itll make a difference on how ur plants grow within days. Pm me or write back on here if u need anymore help with anything ill be checkin up on ya

Thanks yeah I'm one step ahead right now there is a lid on top of the other 30 gal rubbermaid that they are sitting on now. (see pic 3) the other one is completely flat white as well. so when I need to move the plants away I can take that lid off and have another ft or so to grow up in, I plan on lst and topping, and I'm a realist I have 5 plants but I'm sure they aren't all going to make it to the final stages lol.

On a up note, just checked them and I think its about time to move to bigger pots. the bottom leaves are getting so big they are twisting in the cups. I noticed a HUGE amount of growth from yesterday to today with the new lights. I'm really just amazed.

well good man sounds great...get those plants moved and letm go...sounds like they are doing really well. u should notice a big difference...specially if u get the lights in the right places. like i said i had mine to close and they were never growing up they were just growing fatter....now my plants are taking off..keep up the good work man ill check back on u...lemme know if u have anymore questions about anything. Glad i could help

SyNiK4L said:

well good man sounds great...get those plants moved and letm go...sounds like they are doing really well. u should notice a big difference...specially if u get the lights in the right places. like i said i had mine to close and they were never growing up they were just growing fatter....now my plants are taking off..keep up the good work man ill check back on u...lemme know if u have anymore questions about anything. Glad i could help

Click to expand...

OK great, I was not able to make it to the store before they closed earlier, so I just made a few quick changes to the cups and lowered them a tad. They were growing out instead of up.

ya exactly...its not a bad thing if they grow out alil bit...some people like to keep them short and grow them fat...but i dont like this method i think ur better off finding that medium in between stretching to much and growing fat. jus play with them and see how it goes. keep me updated

Actually you can leave your plants in a cup for a pretty good while. I transplanted my first grow too early and they all died. I found that if you leave them in the cup a little longer the roots kind of form a little shell and it makes it easier to transplant. Just my opinion though. Here is a pic of my current rubbermaid grow.

ya thats deff true....if u wait alil bit the roots will end up rootbound...and then u can just poke a hold in the bottom and push the whole rootball with dirt and everything out...making it very easy to transplant. but all i was saying is dont wait to long...cus they need room to grow. and ull kill them if u wait to long

Cool thanks for all the info. I'm gonna give them another week in the cups they are in and at the new light height and do a transplant on like monday. Plus it gives me the weekend to make sure I can fit like 5 3 gal. pots into the box. But again thanks for all the help.

np man lemme know if u have nemore questions. post more pix when theres more to upd8 on

So in prep of switching to 18/6 at the end of week 2 I made these covers to put over them and cut vents in the bottoms. I'm pretty stoked they worked out how they did. Any who just a pic of that.