About to start my first grow!

Hey everyone, first thread with many general questions.

I plan on growing one plant under CFL's. (Practice run till I become attuned to this stuff)

-I have two PC fans, and one adapter. Can I wire both fans to the same adapter? The fans are 12v DC and the adapter is 120v AC.

-I bought Happy Frog Acid Loving Plants (6-4-4) and plan to use this because of the unbalanced pH city tap water. This was recommended by an employee at a near gardening supplier. Is this a good idea? If so, should I use it throughout the entirety of the grow, or should I stop once I start adding nutrients?

-I bought a space blanket from Dick's Sporting Goods, will this work for my reflective material?

-For vegetative growth, do I use higher K rating or lower? i.e. 2700K vs. 5500K

-Will two 27W CFL bulbs be sufficient to use throughout the entirety of vegetative growth?

-When does the plant start to give off an aroma?

-What do I need to have and do to wire a timer and bulbs?

I suppose that's all for now, will update this thread if I have anymore questions.
Fire away!

-knowmad

My plants struggled and stretched severely under just two CFL's. My recommendation is to put them in a box or enclosed area so that the light can reflect back onto the plants more efficiently. Mine were pathetic until i got mine in a box, you could see a massive difference in growth in just a week after putting them in the box.

For your PC fans, it depends on the miliamps provided. Volts dont matter, you can try to draw more volts it'll just turn slower. Its the amps you need to watch, and dont draw more amps then the adapter provides

5500 or higher for veg, and then switch out to the 2700k's for flowering. Go with the 20+ watt CFL's. The super energy efficient 9w bulbs etc are just not bright enough. It'll grow the plant but not very well. I started with random 9w's from around the house and when i switched to the 20w's it made a noticeable difference.

I've done mine with 4 CFL's and thye turned out really surprisingly good, however i can clearly see some underdeveloped buds that didnt get enough light.

My plants started smelling obvious about 3 weeks into flowering. They kinda smell faintly during veg but only very localized smell. They really reek after the flowering takes off.

You can buy powerbars with builtin timers for 15-20 bucks, you definatly need one for flowering, but you can leave it 24/0 for veg.


My very first grow is just about finished,i've been sampling them and !!! i cant believe these turned out so good, thy're the first things i've ever grown! lol My biggest suggestion is watch the watering. underwatering is better then overwatering. And as for the ferts/foods, use quarter recommended to start. I've used miracle gro and 'plant prod' both were very strong even at half dosages... one got nitrogen toxicity and the other strains didnt... and then plant prod P-burned half of one of the plants as well. If you're growing different strains they will need to be fed differently. I was growing bag seed so it was hard

Grats on a successful first grow! Thanks for the advice.

Is one 125 watt CFL bulb enough for one plant?

knowmad said:

Is one 125 watt CFL bulb enough for one plant?

Click to expand...

Yes but don't expect shit for yield. The best thing about CFL's is their ability for full light coverage. If you look on some CFL grows here most growers have the CFL's hanging on all sides of the plant including above. This allows for more compact buds throughout the plant rather than just dense top cola "headies". A single giant 125w CFL hovering over the plant will not allow the main beneficial production asset to growing with these bulbs to be utilized; granted your still saving money so there's that.. Honestly though with a single plant setup like that i'd quicker grab a 150w HPS...

Okay, I've decided to go with multiple smaller watt cfl's

knowmad said:

Hey everyone, first thread with many general questions.

I plan on growing one plant under CFL's. (Practice run till I become attuned to this stuff)

-I have two PC fans, and one adapter. Can I wire both fans to the same adapter? The fans are 12v DC and the adapter is 120v AC.

-I bought Happy Frog Acid Loving Plants (6-4-4) and plan to use this because of the unbalanced pH city tap water. This was recommended by an employee at a near gardening supplier. Is this a good idea? If so, should I use it throughout the entirety of the grow, or should I stop once I start adding nutrients?

-I bought a space blanket from Dick's Sporting Goods, will this work for my reflective material?

-For vegetative growth, do I use higher K rating or lower? i.e. 2700K vs. 5500K

-Will two 27W CFL bulbs be sufficient to use throughout the entirety of vegetative growth?

-When does the plant start to give off an aroma?

-What do I need to have and do to wire a timer and bulbs?

I suppose that's all for now, will update this thread if I have anymore questions.
Fire away!

-knowmad

Click to expand...

Oy.

YOu need some research time before you grow, I think.

Thanks, but I've brushed up thoroughly since this thread was started haha. I've actually already started growing, and it looks pretty good so far. Only three days in so we'll see.