Ringlamp grow

Hi people, i thought I'd share my cheapo setup with you. Already shared in grower ch, but maybe english people could use it too

1 x critical jack autoflower
4 x 32w cfl ring lamps (1 x 865, 1 x 840, 2 x 830)
7l-pot (2 gallons maybe?)
carton, 70 x 40 x 40cm
black/white foil
glue
velcro
chains
2 pc fans
~65EUR total costs

anyway

it looks like this:



Day 25


Day 32


Day 39. The yellow leaves are actually the same green like the rest, but the lamp shines on it so it reflects.

pretty cool. what you gonna flower with?

How do you mean, flower? What wavelength? It's autoflower, so since I read that it doesn't matter with those, I thought I don't change anything. There are already more flower-friendly wavelengths than not, but if you say that autoflowers need a change in wavelength, I'll just switch off the 865 one, and be left with 2 830 and 1 840, which should suffice to induce flowering.

And when the flowers come, I'll use the flower nutritiens rather than the grow nutritients.

To be honest, I don't even know if it's a female. This will show in the next few days I hope. It didn't say feminized on the package, just autoflower. On others it said feminized, so I'm not sure. Would be strange though if they sold me a male seed for 7,5 EUR.

i figure when you start to flower you will out grow it. it being auto i'm not sure cause i don't grow autos. i wouldn't turn any of them off, i would add over head. some veg with cfl and flower under led or hid.

thanks for the compliment!

ok, I know this is not by the books, or could fail miserably. But until now the plant seems to grow pretty well, doesn't it? please don't ban me for posting a junky, yet efficient grow box.

yea, 1.8 or 2 gallons... a close enough estimate for me, who will never get how imperial system people handle their system. Isn't there even magnitudes or measures that are not factors of 10?! like one foot is 12 inches or something? who can work with that??

regarding the height, it's rated at 1 metric meter, and I count in the possibility that it will hit the the ceiling. In that case I shall get a bigger box. But since I had it without a real light cycle and no nutrients and nothing in the first 3 weeks it did pretty poorly til then, so I think it might not get so big after all.

I've just reckoned that I could get the smaller lights with 21 cm outer diameter, and alternate them so more light gets directly in the plant, and one on the top. Then no part of the plant would be away more than 7,5 cm from a light source.

it may come to the point that your lights will be on there sides around the plants. if it gets to that point then add a cfl on the middle of each ring and reflect all the light back to the plant. with the different lights you can turn it every one to two days. do like myself and use what you got.

I've always wondered what a grow would be like with those lights. Looks pretty cool! Too bad they don't have different size loops. If you had about four of those long fluorescent tubes vertically on the outside, I bet you'd get a decent weed.

My first grow journal here many years ago was 1 plant with a 65 watt cfl above a 32 watt T9 (circle lamp) for side lighting. She grew to like 22 inches tall and I harvested bout an oz and 1/2 off her

Great job so far

super cool man! I've been searching google images for many minutes, and not come across this kind of setup. Yea, that's what I'm aiming for, not more than 60 cm and with an ounce I would be already pretty flashed.

There are also these pretzel-shaped lamps http://www.amazon.de/Osram-Energiesparlampen-CFL-SQUARE-2-PIN/dp/B007K4Z71Q/ref=sr_1_4?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1421701906&sr=1-4 lamps, maybe you can't grow through that, but for the walls or the top it could be an alternative to those twist lamps http://www.amazon.de/Osram-948922-entspricht-Energiesparlampen-Spiralform/dp/B002IDB7CM/ref=sr_1_111?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1421702042&sr=1-111&keywords=osram+leuchtstofflampe

giggy I don't know what you mean. An extra twist cfl between two circles, and just one for every pair of circles? off center? and then place it at different parts of the ring? Wouldn't know what that would accomplish... I guess the plant will just grow in between the circles, and at some point there will not be much more than plant to be seen, which glows from the inside. Of course that's extreme, but it's starting to cover much of the lowest circle already. And since it's just 25 cm high and almost starting to flower and will probably not more than double, it should stop growing before it covers all the lights. You could of course take all small 22w lamps and then by now about 2 circles would already be covered.

Seeing your plant rm3 it seems that I really have too much light... in the beginning I had at least

Do you think that I can influence the start of the flowering by switching off the 865 lamp and doing it 12/12? then i would be left with 840 + 830 + 830... Because it's not obvious till now, and I don't want it to grow too tall...

Don't think you can have too much light usin T9's and isn't that an auto you're growing? If so 12/12 won't do anything to it

I gave that light setup to my nephew several years ago, I grow with T5's these days

yea, autoflower, thats why i ask...

you can never have to much light with cfl. what i was talking about is the plant getting to big to stay in the rings. it may come to the point that the rings will have it go from around the plant and be stood vertical around the outside of the plant, if it comes to that then add a cfl in the middle of each ring.

ah ok, i get it.

It will be interesting to see how much this thing grows outside of the lights, please keep posting pics as it fills out in flower.

i'll do that! starting to flower any minute...

I think I have been a little happy too early with the flowering. Maybe someone knows how long they will take... I bet a few days, because they're already about in their 7th week... and those little things between the leaves start growing since a week at least.

those lower branches keep making nodes all the time...

However, they now grow between the rings quite a bit. And I can't make good fotos from the inside, because its all full of leaves, but I tried anyway:

I'm pretty impatient now, because still no flowers... When will they come?? It's in its 9th week already!

Should I try 12/12 soon? don't know about this autoflower quality, and I've not found "Dr. Blaze" seeds reviewed anywhere...

One little update... it's flower time!