ghetto closet cfl setup. good/bad?

Okay, first off... I know some people have totally different opinions on pruning .. This is my 9th harvest.. over a 3 year span.. I have done everything from cross breeding my plants to cloning them.. I have ended up with the strains I have now growing.. 4 different strains.. one of each of the strains I have )produced over the years.. I started prunning most of the old fan leaves and growth that is not budding out in the flowering stage.. I don't beleive that the more fan leaves the more light intake.. it all has to do with the lumens and them reaching as far down into your plants as possible.. the whole plant takes in light... its what the plant uses that light for.. do you want your plant using its energy on trying to keep the older growth alive or would you want your energy focused on that new bud growth.. its a combination of good soil, good nutes, and the knowledge of good plant energy distribution to produce large dense buds.. and (of cource your strain type?) anyway, I hope I could clear up the pruning issue.. I would definatly lollipop the plants.. cut the bottom growth off that will not receive light first... while in veg.. then go on to cut any growth that is old away through the middle and top.. that is my opinion and philosophy...

Hope I could help..

C DUB

damn.. that makes alot of sence, you deffinatly have a reasonable philosophy. so with that said, im thinking of maybe changing how my lights are hanging because there getting pretty cramped under that cardboard reflector thing, should i focus my lights directly above the plants, or will putting a couple around the sides get more light penetrating the foliage?
thanks c dub

I am going off your pictures of the setup you had .. I don't know if you have changed anything.. you want most of the energy focused to the top of the plant in flowering.. honestly the more watts the better.. When I say most of the energy to the top of the plant I am strictly talking about the plant focusing its energy more toward the top of the plant... Your lighting situation is actually not to bad... resembles a stripped down version of my setup... Get on my album collection at look at my current grow.. 2 weeks into flowering.. check out my setup.. I have a current thread in indoor cfl grows.. Is your top reflector on chains and able to move up and down... you will need that because you will hit a stretch phase in the first stage of flowering and grow vertically by 35% or so.. it's something to think about..

Update me on any other questions you might have.. I have 4 plants under 546 watts above and then 160 watts on the sides... to be honest... I would add more light.. try to get it where you have at least 200 watts per plant to be safe.. what really matters is the lumens but since I don't know how many lumens each of your lights produce I can be as specific on how much u need.. but roughly 7,500 to 15,000 lumens per plant will be completly sufficient..

yea if your talking about the white hairs theyre female pistols. Congrats! well your plants look excellent but theyre going to be big. like 2.5-3.5 feet atleast and fat. go 12/12 now and be ready to bust out some space conserving methods like lst, supercropping, or extreme trimming. congrats!
plus rep to you

heres some pics of my closet

damn c dub those are beautiful! and i think im roughly 105 watts per plant. and i believe im some where around 11,000 lumens. i have 13 bulbs that put out 1,300 lumens each and with some disapating out the sides n stuff i estimate about 11,000. i could b very wrong tho lol i think all ill do with the lights is jus spread em out a bit so the plants dont cast shadows on each other, and hang the tubes somehow to encourage em to grow taller

luminens dont add like many on this site believe (i take advanced physics at a respected technical intitute in the south) but yes you have plenty of ligh for plants of those size

Okay... much better pics swisher... I can tell now tell you that you definatly have enough lights.. just go with the 2700k like we talked about and you are gonna be rollin in style.. I thought I'd let you know also that you totally should re-pot those plants.. I have used this method all the way through... your soil will sink and compress.. wait till your plants are completly dried out and just waiting for that drink of water... after you have lollipopped like I had explained earlier you are gonna wanna grab that nice heavy main stem and wiggle them back and forth untill you get your entire root ball free... put more soil at the bottom of your pot and put the plants up higher... the roots will have more room to expand .. leads to a bigger, nicer, healthier plant..


I'm glad we are getting you all straightened out ... I will be with ya for the rest of your grow to make sure all is well.. Keep me informed..

okay ill go get bigger pots and some more soil on tuesday when i get payed. would it b a bad idea to get like fox farm happy frog soil or should i stick with the black gold? im not sure if it will stress them out. i just built a new light reflector. its exactly the same but quite a bit bigger so they dont cast shadown on each other. it seems to get the light alot more thoroughly through the plants. ill post a pic ina bit when my camera charges. and thanks alot for all support and advice =D sure wish i hooked up wit someone like u 2 months ago hahaha ill deffinatly keep you informed. im kinda tha hermit crab type so im usually on RIU quite a bit lol

heres my closet as of a about 30 mins ago. i think this setup will get more light to them, and alow them to get alot bigger

okay so i just topped one of them a few mins ago. almost for just the experience, and iv heard it will increase your yeild. is this true? will it really pop 2 main colas off the top? and if so, how long will it take for this to happen?

I'm back to help.. Lets see.. first off... good job on the lighting situation.. looks to me like you have a little better of a setup.. I'm glad your taking my advise on the re-planting.. it's definatley worth it... to answer your question on the topping situation .. I'm just gonna say this... Topping isn't a bad idea especially if you are doing it just for the hands on knowledge.. there isn't anything like seeing the results yourself... anyway.. on my experience and knowledge with topping.. Topping will make your plants more bushy.. it is used mostly when you don't have alot of extra room above for verticle growth... If you have only topped one i suggest you top your other or they are going to be a huge difference in heighth.. once you topped the plant try to keep it under the same condition for at least 24 hours...(light cycle) don't want any added stress because this is actually damaging your plant... but don't worry it will bounce back...

To answer the question of main colas... yes you will actually see two main staulks come off your plant now.. it won't neccesarily make your yeild larger but it will produce larger buds.. when I say that I am again reminding you that this doesn't mean more yeild but more large buds instead of you know little pop corn nuggies..

Hope all goes well... keep me updated.. you can send me personal messages if you wanna just get ahold of me or keep post on the thread.. whichever..

Later bro

thanks bro, i wus actually considering re potting again because after i flushed them i started noticing roots about 2 inches under the soil. they seem to have grow back to the bottom but it had me worried. and yea i havent messed with the lighting schedule at all, they were off for probly 20 mins when i changed the setup, but i topped a couple hours after i got the lights back on so she shouldnt have any added stress. and thanks for the info on topping =) that helps alot, ill most likely top the lemon haze today. tho i wus kinda thinking of not topping it, so i can see the difference and decide weather ill top on my next grow or not. ill top it if this is a bad idea tho. c dub ill deffinatly hit you up ina message if i need any more help ura good dude thanks for helpn out a novice

Definatly wanna see how this grow goes Congrats dude they look super healthy

i had someone private message me and say that i should i put something in my pics for a size comparison, so i added a few pics to an album

okay so i wus checking em out and i noticed that on both plants the top 3 or 4 nodes have female pistols coming out of the pre flowers but the bottom ones are kinda looking like pollen sacks. i tried to get a pic with good enough quality, but i would appreciate it if ne one could let me know if they look hermi

bottom pre flowers (pollen saks???)




female pre flowers on top

i dont think so. do you have light leaks? wait a week and see itll show by then

yea i have all my lights hanging above the plants and no mylar around the sides. im kinda on a budget, and any thing i have around the house gets knocked down by my fan. alot of lights leaks out around them, but they get alot of direct light and seem to have plenty. but yea im planning on switching to 12/12 within a week so itll have to show within a few weeks lol

jumboSWISHER said:

yea i have all my lights hanging above the plants and no mylar around the sides. im kinda on a budget, and any thing i have around the house gets knocked down by my fan. alot of lights leaks out around them, but they get alot of direct light and seem to have plenty. but yea im planning on switching to 12/12 within a week so itll have to show within a few weeks lol

Click to expand...

Nah, what he meant was does any light leak in to your plants when their lights go out. That can cause Hermie.

I'm not an expert on telling sex, but the pistols in both pics look the same to me. Unless you mean the bud site at the top of the 2nd pic, in which case I can't really see it too well. Ane the stem's kinda in the way.

In regard to Colas, I've seen plants with 2, 4, and more colas that look puny, and I've then them look like monsters. It will give you more weight if you discover the trick to making them into monsters.

To get 4 Colas you wait till you see the 6th true node, then you top it all the way down to the 2nd true node. You'll get 4 main stems & colas which should also give you more bud sites.

The technique used to get the multiple colas like the monster in the pic is called FIM, I'm personally trying this on my plants now, and I'm making sure they get all nutes, minor as well as major. (notice the nute burns in the pic of the monster) I think this may be the trick, bigger plants need more nutes. And I know first hand that minor nutes are important for max growth, my girls are still thanking me for their last feeding.

Here's a good link for the 4 cola technique https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

Here's a good link for FIM
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/200413-fimming-m-blaze-complete-how.html

Hope this helps you.

look very healthy good job so far