Starting..... again

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Bogart

Active Member
Had one plant going, very healthy looking, but a week into flowering i noticed he had some balls. So i hacked him down and beat the shit out of him. lol

I was give some more bag seed two days ago. I put the seeds in paper towel... 30 hours later, all sprouted. I just put em in soil. I have 11 going this time, instead of just one, so my odds r better.

I have 1 question. last time for my new seedling i used a small 15 watt flouro. Worked good. I also have a 400w Hps and a 250w Mh.
The 1 flouro wont provide enough coverage for all 11 seedlings, so im thinking about using the MH to start. How far away should i keep it??? i dont want the plants to stretch, but i dont want to cook the seedlings either.

If I half to I'll go buy a few more cfl's i will, but id rather not since im kinda broke till next month.

Please advise, thanks.

btw gnome iloveu too, in a heterosexual way ofcourse. lol. learned alot from your posts over the past few months, smart grower. Do you really love everyone?lol
 
B

Bogart

Active Member
Also, if i can get ahold of a camera this time im going to start a grow journal... i dont think theres any point if i cant post pics.
 
F

FallenHero

Guest
I Would start mine out 2 feet away from the MH and slowly move it closer.
 
babygro

babygro

Well-Known Member
Bogart said:
The 1 flouro wont provide enough coverage for all 11 seedlings, so im thinking about using the MH to start. How far away should i keep it??? i dont want the plants to stretch, but i dont want to cook the seedlings either.
Click to expand...
Bad luck on on the first male, good luck on the 11 seedlings.

I'd use the 250w MH, but keep it about 5 foot above the plants, little seedlings are very delicate and don't like too much light or extreme high temperatures. At 5-6 ft a 250w MH should be kicking out about 600-1000 lumens per sq foot which is plenty for little seedlings that only need about 500 lumens per sq foot. For the first week, keep it on 24 hours then as they grow and get bigger switch to 18/6. As they grow bigger and stronger you can lower the light gradually till after about 2-3 weeks you can have it at about 3 foot above the plants. That should give them about 2,500 lumens per sq foot. Keep it at about that level for vegetative growth, and it should cover 9 sq feet with 2,500 lumens per sq foot.
 
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Bogart

Active Member
thanks for the quick responses.

Just to clarify...
1. Will the light, bieng 3-6 feet away from the plant, cause it to stretch? (This scares me, ive seen too many pitures of 6" weak looking sprouts)Usually by the time i switch to powerful lighting the plant is strong enough to handle bieng placed 1 foot away, give or take.
2. You say switch to 18 hours after going 24 for a while, whats the reason for this?I dont have heat or power consumption issues... so im thinking keep it 24 hours. could be wrong, dunno.

thanks!
 
scooby doo

scooby doo

Active Member
Bogart said:
Had one plant going, very healthy looking, but a week into flowering i noticed he had some balls. So i hacked him down and beat the shit out of him. lol

I was give some more bag seed two days ago. I put the seeds in paper towel... 30 hours later, all sprouted. I just put em in soil. I have 11 going this time, instead of just one, so my odds r better.

I have 1 question. last time for my new seedling i used a small 15 watt flouro. Worked good. I also have a 400w Hps and a 250w Mh.
The 1 flouro wont provide enough coverage for all 11 seedlings, so im thinking about using the MH to start. How far away should i keep it??? i dont want the plants to stretch, but i dont want to cook the seedlings either.

If I half to I'll go buy a few more cfl's i will, but id rather not since im kinda broke till next month.

Please advise, thanks.

btw gnome iloveu too, in a heterosexual way ofcourse. lol. learned alot from your posts over the past few months, smart grower. Do you really love everyone?lol
Click to expand...
alright dont know if you thought of this alreadys just on the look out for peeps. but if your gonna use the mh/hps remember the power bill diffrence from the 15w floro :peace:
 
babygro

babygro

Well-Known Member
Bogart said:
1. Will the light, bieng 3-6 feet away from the plant, cause it to stretch? (This scares me, ive seen too many pitures of 6" weak looking sprouts)Usually by the time i switch to powerful lighting the plant is strong enough to handle bieng placed 1 foot away, give or take.
2. You say switch to 18 hours after going 24 for a while, whats the reason for this?I dont have heat or power consumption issues... so im thinking keep it 24 hours. could be wrong, dunno
Click to expand...
1) I've given you the correct lighting levels for a 250w MH for seedlings, 5 feet above the plant. Do you understand the difference in lumen and heat output between a 250w MH and a 15w fluoro? The 15w cfl probably outputs about 900 lumens at 1 foot away, the 250w MH about 25,000 lumens at 1 foot away and a lot more heat. I do not advise you to have the MH any closer than 5 feet from the seedlings in the first week, they will not grow leggy. 25,000 lumens at 5 foot outputs about 1,000 lumens per square foot - plenty for small seedlings.

2) Use 24 hour hour lighting in the first week to help get the seedling started, then switch to 18/6 once the plant starts to photosynthethise more rapidly. Plants cannot process more than 18 hours of light per day. If it makes you feel happier, leave the light on 24 hours a day and waste 6 hours of 312 watts which is - (312/1000=0.312x6=1.87x10c per kilowatt= 18.7c per day, $1.31 a week, $5.24 a month.
 
B

Bogart

Active Member
ok. never really bothered doing the math with lumens- i just make sure to know how much area i can effectively cover with given light. I figure i can grow 6 with the 400w hps when the time comes.
So your saying that as long as they are getting enough lumens, the distance of the light source is irrelevent... gotcha. Thank you. And i know Mh puts out a hundred times more heat than a cfl, i meant to say the room is well ventilated, so no heat issues.

btw, I dont pay for electricity, my landlord does. Although I do try to compensate by bieng extra energy efficient in the rest of my appt. (minus cfl lighting, which would come in real handy right now, lol)

Are you sure about 18 hours of light helping with photosynthesis vs. 24hours?
I read somewhere it doesnt really matter. But if your telling me that 18 hours will make my plants grow faster- then hell ya i'll do it.
 
ThE sAtIvA hIgH

ThE sAtIvA hIgH

Well-Known Member
it wont grow any faster on the 18 /6 or slower what baby grow said was that a plant can only use the light for about 18 hours so there is no point in the light being on for 24hrs
 
S

saltypimp

Well-Known Member
Seedlings maximum lumen output should be 4000 lumens... Cannabis is a special breed of plants that dont need dark time!!! They use dark time to focus on there roots, however good, whats the point... Do what you want...24/7 or 18/6 (less stress when flowering though)
 
AzGrOw-N-sMoKe

AzGrOw-N-sMoKe

New Member
first off a couple points here...growin at 24-0 does increase growth 25%more light time 25%more growth... you may not be recieving the xtra% because your lackin enough water nutes an/or co2....also since you have a hps an mh i would use both at the same time...it has been proven that it provides a wider light spec threw the whole opp....
 
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