CFL Grow Box (Opinons/First Grow & Questions)

Hey everyone I'm new to the scene, and growing! This is actually my first attempt. I just wanted to see everyone's opinion on my custom grow box. I had no need to make stealthy. There are 12 soft white 23 watt cfls generating about 19,200 lumes. (Over doing it?) (Do they need to be closer, or is it okay because its reflective?) The frame is a plastic shelve that I took the shelves out of. I then bought reflective house insulation and stapled it / tapped with aluminium. Next I made my custom ballast out of wood to hold my lights. Also there are two metal fans mounted blowing on top of the plant. (Are they big enough, keep in mind the box is NOT closed off.) The box is roughly 4ft tall 2 ft wide (But I plan to make it another foot tall to compensate for the big ballast.) The strain is pineapple chunk feminised and I'm using fox farm ocean soil. I don't currently keep a reflective door because of heat issues (Killed other plants like a noob because of burn and don't want to again.) Currently doing a 18/6 light cycle for veg, and only using ph balanced water. (Is it safe to use fox farm grow big yet?) The plant is about 4 days old after germination. (Can I grow more then one in here if I keep them small and use chicken wire as a Any suggestions feel free to comment below! Thanks again for taking the time to view my thread.

(Ballast) Lights & Fans On Plant


Lights & Fans On Top View


The Plant


The old box before I made it better (The one I burnt the plants with..) (Just for a height look.)

Hey mate, the more light you can give your plant the better. How many plants are you planning on growing? They say a minimum of 2000 lumens per plant (=3 CFLs). You need 6500k spectrum for VEG and 2700K spectrum for flower. They need to be kept fairly close to your plants though and they can easily burn them. I would invest in a 150-200w HPS if I were using 12 CFLS... better penetration for a similar power consumption. You wouldn't have to worry about adjusting the lights all the time either, because you are using a box it could be mounted on the roof the whole time with those dimensions. Keep using plain water for at least 2 weeks or until you are on your 3rd set of leaves, the sprouts can't handle the nutes. There is nutes in the soil already and they usually last a couple of weeks. Good luck and happy growing.

Peace.

Thanks a lot for your reply! I was actually going to ask if the power consumption of the 12 cfls was practical. I called my local hydro shop and its around $350.00 for a 600 watt hps bulb compete setup, but it just didn't seem quite in my budget. How many plants do you suggest I grow in it? Will the fans keep the plants from getting burned this time? I think for my next grow I will try going hps. Thanks for your help!

I would say 2 plants in that space with those size pots. Light penetration for CFLs is pretty average and the way your lights are set up the tops are going to block the light reaching the bottom eventually. Personally I would do a SoG in smaller pots, it would utilize your space and light setup better. Nice little setup btw I didn't see the attachments the first time. It may not be the lights burning your plants at all but your walls. They look wrinkled as anything and they say when using reflective material that those wrinkles create "hot spots" which concentrate light on certain parts of the plant thus burning them. I would just paint those walls white. Also just watch how close your plants are getting to the lights, to check the heat just put your hand under the light and if it starts getting hot move the lights further away. For the future, 250watt hps MAX for that size grow space, those lights get very hot and you will need ventillation. Otherwise you will need a bigger space for a bigger light.

Peace.

Thanks! & Okay, that's what I figured ill go with two plants. Doesn't a reflective surface counteract the thought of having the light intensity not reach the bottom of the box? I've heard of sog grows but I'm not quit sure what they are and how they work. It stands for sea of green right? Could you please provide me some info on the topic, I can't find much online unless its really unaccurate. I plan on upgrading to an HPS hydroponic setup for my next grow. I might have bought the wrong lights though I know they generate around 19400 lumes there 23 watts but I believe there soft white. (people said use them for flowering) do I need to buy new lights or will they work for veg to?

Never mind I found a nice artical about the sog grows. How many do you think I can get away with in this box and what size pots? Should I build a second box same size for flowering?

Just go on ebay you can get a 600 watt digital setup with both hps and mh bulb timer and reflector for under $190 delivered

Online shopping is the way to go. So much cheaper. Anyway @CFLnoob you can get away with as many pots as you can fit. Buy square pots to utilize the space better. Yes "soft white" CFLS are rated at 2700K which is used for flowering. Daylight CFLs 6500K are used for vegging. You can get away with using the flower lights as long as you have 18/6 light cycle during veg, but your better to use 6500K during veg so your plants grow stronger to support some bigger buds. Having both a vegging room and flower room means that you can keep harvesting every month.

Peace.

Noob plz get those lights closer to her, cfl light penetration weakens after about 4 inches. Other than that the box looks greats, i do prefer flat white paint but work with wat u have. And as far as a SOG grow, its jus a grow of many plants trained under a screen to keep the canopy even all the way across. For a box like urs i would jus LST and see what works for u best.

Thanks for the help everyone! and thanks cheeba! The box didnt take that long to build maybe 2 hours. I plan on buying a nice system off ebay after my first grow when I become more experienced. Just a note also this was originally an outdoor grow, but the weather around here isnt perking up for how late we are into spring. I decided to build the box until they were big enough to transplant outside. Cheeba I'm afraid because I killed 4 other of my plants from heat. Probably because I had no ventilation and left the door closed on the box LOL . At least now I got two fans and leave it open. It seems to be doing fine now, so I'll go head and move them down. I currently will have my veg cycle on a 18/6 timer, but when its nice out I put the plant outside and when it moves closer to evening I'll put it back in the box until I wake up the next day. I think I might just end up doing a sog and building two nice boxes then get an HPS setup in one. Possibly might go LST if I learn more about it.

Never heard that about the reflective material. It's all around my generic grow room. My budget won't allow nothing to extravicant right now. Been out of work since July 2011. Had a tractor trailor accident. But, I will have to check in to the reflective mats. Thank you so much for the info. Peace Bros....

Like ur avatar!!! One of the coolest I've seen.

Reefer73 said:

Never heard that about the reflective material. It's all around my generic grow room. My budget won't allow nothing to extravicant right now. Been out of work since July 2011. Had a tractor trailor accident. But, I will have to check in to the reflective mats. Thank you so much for the info. Peace Bros....

Click to expand...

Yeah I've never heard of that either, but it makes sense. Lot's of good information/friendly members on this forum, I'm glad I decided to register! I understand that CFL lights only are efficient at 2-6 inches from the plant, but wouldn't 98% reflective material make the distance unimportant? No one can seem to answer this question. Also, I've heard mixing 2500k and 6500k CFLS' are a better way to go then simply having one or the other is this correct?

Hey everyone! Here's a quick update on my plants! I have one pineapple chunk feminized and 3 skunk #1's. For some reason the pineapple chunk has a ton of yellowish/white dots on the bottom leaves. Any clue whats causing this? I haven't given it any nutes yet because the medium is Fox Farm Ocean soil.