how long can i keep a plant in veg under a 23w cfl?

smartsoverambition

smartsoverambition

Well-Known Member
basically i would love to start a inside but i cant use any of the HID's i have (electric bill) so i want to use a 23w CFL inside to start with to kinda harden it off,

so basically i'm asking how long can i keep a plant under 1 CFL before the light does not penetrate deep enough and is ineffective or how tall can the plant get before the CFL is ineffective and when can i start LST or bending the plant so it grows bushier instead of taller

sorry for all the questions

thnx 4 any advice yall can give me

peace:blsmoke:
 
R

richjames

Well-Known Member
One 23w cfl could get ur plant a foot or more high, but it will only have like three leaves, and the stem will probably be about the size of a toothpick and eventually would probably fall over, so there's ur lst... heh, heh, jk, kinda. Not bashin or nothin, that's just how it is, from personal experience.
 
Smokey.Mc.Pot

Smokey.Mc.Pot

Well-Known Member
get atleast 2 23watters to start off, then add another too when its about 4" or 5"
that should be enough for 1 plant for a small veg of about 8"
 
J

Jtoth3ustin

Well-Known Member
yea it gettin fuckin nippy out..get two CFL's red and bue 23W. later on add 1 more of each. and so on untill u produce buds u think is good eough for u...... you can awlays use mre CFL's. but keep um real close... wont burn leaves at all really. just make sure they dont touch
 
norcalkronic

norcalkronic

Well-Known Member
theoretically you could veg forever. lol you may have to hoist it up but there is no limit. with the amount of light you have described your plant will be in constant stretch mode. You will never gain any new bud sites. the nodes will be a huge distance between each other and the final product would be minimal. It would probably not make sense to veg longer than a month. Consider putting more light all around the sides of the plant. or train it to grow more bud sites. one cfl will not produce results thatll justify that amount of time you will put into it.
 
LolipopCrop

LolipopCrop

Well-Known Member
smartsoverambition said:
wow seems like i'd just be better off putting it straight outside?
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its good to start them out under a small light in a stable environment. it can be a rough start for a little seedling out in the hot sun. if u can give it a weeek or two inside under a cfl that will be good, 2 cfls would be a little better. .
 
M4A1

M4A1

Well-Known Member
smartsoverambition said:
basically i would love to start a inside but i cant use any of the HID's i have (electric bill) so i want to use a 23w CFL inside to start with to kinda harden it off,
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Running a couple of CFL's will not add much to your electric bill. I had 10 running at one time. All differnt watts ranging from 25-75 actual watts. Total probably over 250 watts. Never added it up, but just guessing thats what it was about, maybe more. I didn't even notice it in my bill. I actually switched out every light bulb in the house with a CFL and my bill dropped by $40 that month and has stayed about $30-$40 less each month sence I did it. I have a 175 watt MH I am about to use sence it will be less watts then all those CFLs and better brighter light. So running 2 or 3-23watt CFL's won't add up to much on your bill. There's a way to find out exactly how much it would cost, but I have no idea what the formula is. You would also need to know what they change you per watt for your electric.


Also I spent about $35 to switch out all my bulbs in my house to CFLs. There was a local store running a special on them. They were $1.29 a piece. I bought a case of them. So they made up for the cost of them in 1 month of use. I'm glad I did it.
 
panta

panta

Well-Known Member
i hade 5 plants under 5 cfls for 3 months they got to tall and to thin and eventualy couldnt support itself ,they were about 2.5ft
 
Smokey.Mc.Pot

Smokey.Mc.Pot

Well-Known Member
yea so as long as you have like 2 or 3 on the 1 plant u should be pretty sweet until u find out if u want to add more cfls or put it outside.
 
smartsoverambition

smartsoverambition

Well-Known Member
ok so what i should do is keep itunder 2 or 3 cfl's till thetwo little seedling leaves fall off? (i heard when that happens u can start adding some nutes) i think hat would suggest it's ready for the outside so basically i'll veg it inside for 2-4 weeks, then i'll move it outside and watch it closely for a month and i should be ok?
 
Smokey.Mc.Pot

Smokey.Mc.Pot

Well-Known Member
the seedling leaves wont always fall off, they pretty much only fall off if they dont get much light, take it out side whenever u want, id transplant it outside when its about 5-6 inches.

edit. and u can add nutes straight away, but makesure u start them off at 1/4 strength
 
smartsoverambition

smartsoverambition

Well-Known Member
Smokey.Mc.Pot said:
the seedling leaves wont always fall off, they pretty much only fall off if they dont get much light, take it out side whenever u want, id transplant it outside when its about 5-6 inches.

edit. and u can add nutes straight away, but makesure u start them off at 1/4 strength
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k thnx 4 staightening that fact out
 
R

richjames

Well-Known Member
just so eveyone here knows, the first round leaves ALWAYS fall off after the plant has used up all the goodies they have to offer. And no nutes for at least the first two weeks, til those first leaves fall off. I know it's tempting, u wanna hurry things up, but the soil alone has plenty of nutes that the plant needs in the early stages, and it's super easy to over-do it when they're young. u'll find that as the plants get taller, u'll need more and more light, to get to those lower branches. u want the plant surrounded with lights. 4cfl's on each plant with the propper placement can produce a nice bushy plant, with mulitple tops.
 
smartsoverambition

smartsoverambition

Well-Known Member
richjames said:
just so eveyone here knows, the first round leaves ALWAYS fall off after the plant has used up all the goodies they have to offer. And no nutes for at least the first two weeks, til those first leaves fall off. I know it's tempting, u wanna hurry things up, but the soil alone has plenty of nutes that the plant needs in the early stages, and it's super easy to over-do it when they're young. u'll find that as the plants get taller, u'll need more and more light, to get to those lower branches. u want the plant surrounded with lights. 4cfl's on each plant with the propper placement can produce a nice bushy plant, with mulitple tops.
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fuck now i'm confused one guy is saying they wont fall off one is saying they are but i have witnessed a two week old plant i was growing outside b4 it was ripped no longer had those little leaves, i hear that they contain enough nutes to keep the plant going for just about twoo weeks, was planning on not nuting till then anyway
 
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