MY first CFL grow :D

TohToh

Member
Okay guys, well here is my first grow, its TrainWreck :D, basically I've had it under an 18w 4000k Fluorescent tube for 6 days, I know I picked the wrong tube for starting the plant, but I figure its going to benefit me as I'm probably going to LST the plant soon, so a nice long stem is a good thing :D, anyway, switched it to a 125w 6400k CFL now, and its been on for about 40 minutes, so this picture is of the plant as she enters into her life of CFLs! Going to use 375w (3x125) for Veg, then going to go with 750w (3x250) for flowering, I'll keep you all updated! Heres a picture of her for now.

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Let me know what you think guys! appreciate any feedback from the CFL masters!
 

john pickle

Active Member
Okay guys, well here is my first grow, its TrainWreck :D, basically I've had it under an 18w 4000k Fluorescent tube for 6 days, I know I picked the wrong tube for starting the plant, but I figure its going to benefit me as I'm probably going to LST the plant soon, so a nice long stem is a good thing :D, anyway, switched it to a 125w 6400k CFL now, and its been on for about 40 minutes, so this picture is of the plant as she enters into her life of CFLs! Going to use 375w (3x125) for Veg, then going to go with 750w (3x250) for flowering, I'll keep you all updated! Heres a picture of her for now.
she ought to be a behemoth.

very nice.
 

TohToh

Member
Cheers dude, I've heard you have to really pump it with red light during flowering, and I don't want to use hps, so I thought I'll just blast it with cfls! I will probably add more to the veggin lights too as I just got a pack of 6400k T8 tubes, got to keep my baby fed! Does anyone know if it will be okay to do it for 24/0, then 12/12? Cheers guys!
 

Pyro Peaches

Well-Known Member
Sounds/looks good so far. And you shouldn't have any problems going straight to 12/12 from 24/0. I'm also tryin to do a LST grow, well, more of a crop circle grow but same general idea. Can't wait to watch em grow up! =]
 

TohToh

Member
Yeh its exciting! I've started a journal of this grow to share all the knowledge I learn with other new CFL growers, also, I'm thinking about just turning Vegi Spectrum into 500w and flowering 1000w, just to really get this ball rolling, how long until i can expect to see any significant growth? she's just started her life of 24/0 and she's been under for about 12 hours so far. Would three weeks be a bit hopeful do you think? Cheers guys!
 

john pickle

Active Member
you should go with the original planned wattages. Save yourself the electricity cuz you could honestly grow a extremely healthy single plant with just 100-150 watts..

but if you can afford it... do it.. take pics :P
 

TohToh

Member
Okay guys heres a bit of an update! Had her under a 125watt CFL (6400k), 18w Flo (4000k), and 20watt CFL (2700k) for just under 24 hours now, and her leaves have doubled in size and she's about to start growing the next set! I will switch her to 375watts as soon as my bloody bulbs arive! Ordered them last tuesday for next day delivery, and they still havnt turned up! Stupid city link couldnt find a blade of grass in a field! Nevermind! Here's a picture of my lady :D

image.jpg

that foam is there purely for support, its light, and its airy, my lady was starting to bend over a little bit, and i think she's too young to LST right now, so a bit of support was needed I felt! :D
 

Pyro Peaches

Well-Known Member
She's lookin good so far and I think 3 weeks is pretty realistic. You should see some decent growth in that amount of time especially if you're gonna be givin her some more light soon! =]
 
that will be a lot of CFL wattage... i am jealous lol...

I vegged for 6 weeks at 24/0 before going to 12/12 running around 150w of CFL mixed and they were almost 2 feet tall when I switched... I think next time I will wait until sex shows then switch them... they show sex around a month or so if I recall correctly.

I also recommend that you put lights on the side/around the plant because CFL's dont penetrate deep like the real sun or HPS does.
 

TohToh

Member
Yeh, I'm going to run 8 20w fluorescents down the sides of my tent to get side canopy, then I have 4 lamps with bendy necks which will be on the floor shining up at her with 4 40wCFLs. I've just put an extra fan in there too, just to make sure she has plenty of fooood! :D. I woke up this morning and the 2nd set of leaves are well on their way and the first set are getting bigger and bigger by the hour, she seems to like 24/0 and she's showing some awesome growth! I topped up her soil last night too, just to give the stem a bit more support as she was a bit shallow and leaning over =[. My ph is at 6.5-6.7, water is spot on, and temperature at a cushty 25 celcius. Ill keep you guys updated, I'm thinking of putting her into flowering in about 3 weeks, when I get my next pay check to get her all the lights she needs :D.

Cheers guys!
 

TohToh

Member
UPDATE! : Got hold of 3 18w 6400k Flo tubes! £9 for all three! Gonna mount these up the side of my tent. In total, thats 429watts of blue light for her, although my next two 125w CFLs still havnt turned up =[. So for now thats, 179watts of blue, and 20w of red. Not as much as I wanted at this stage, but enough for now.
 

TohToh

Member
that will be a lot of CFL wattage... i am jealous lol...

I vegged for 6 weeks at 24/0 before going to 12/12 running around 150w of CFL mixed and they were almost 2 feet tall when I switched... I think next time I will wait until sex shows then switch them... they show sex around a month or so if I recall correctly.

I also recommend that you put lights on the side/around the plant because CFL's dont penetrate deep like the real sun or HPS does.
dude, did you use CFLs for flowering? how much wattage if ya did, and what was the yield like?
 

TohToh

Member
wao, very nice light setup seems u gona hav. I mean, light on the floor... nice SUB'd
cheers dude! only thing I'm gonna have trouble with is temps I think, but I think 8 12v (4 intake, 4 outake) fans should do the trick, with a 12 inch oscilating fan in there to push it around!

I'll upload pics of my set up once my bulbs turn up! Fingers crossed for 2moro!
 

TohToh

Member
Quick update guys, here she is 48 hours under 18w Flo, 20w CFL and 125w CFL without reflector (Because it hasnt arrived in the post yet!). You can see the 2nd set of leaves coming through now. I guess the extreme curving of the leaves is wilting because of the heat, so I've moved the bulb up another 2cm (20mm) anyway, here she is!

IMG_0449.jpgView attachment 1315906

my lady, and my light set up (for now)
 

TohToh

Member
IMG_0461.jpg

here is a picture of the start of my new set up! Some of the items I ordered turned up today, but still only some! So far I have 250w of 6400k CFL and 20w of 2700k CFL, I repotted my lady today, and *touch wood* she hasnt turned her nose up to it, infact she seems to have put on a bit of a spurt! but that could have been the fact I started her Nutes today :D. I diluttion ratio is 1ml:1ltr I'm using BioBizz Bio Grow and BioBizz All-Mix soil, which is 20% sphagnum peat moss, 35% garden peat, 10% high quality organic Worm-Humus , 30% perlite and 5% Pre-Mix. Aswel is using clay balls in the bottom for drainage, throughout the soil for root space and on top of the soil to hold in moisture. I think she seems to like the new set up, and she deffinatly like the nutes, I only gave her the tiniest amount for now tho, just to keep her strong! Will keep you all updated.

EDIT: The top CFL light with the reflector isnt usualy that high above the plant, I just hightened it for the picture! =]
 
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