convict156326
Active Member
rotate your cups too, that will help them bending twords the light like they are. even if you just set the cups on books gt em closer to the bulb.
my first grow
- Thread starter dtack
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convict156326
Active Member
rotate your cups too, that will help them bending twords the light like they are. make em bend back and forth kinda like a wiggle, is better than all your tops being laid over like a sunflower. even if you just set the cups on books gt em closer to the bulb! and get some lamps, bust them. take the cords out and use them for bulbs thats what i did, then i would tie fishing line to them and the wall so i could hang the bulbs wherever i wanted. worked out great, you can tell a definite difference in the plants under the cfl's and the plants that didn't get any. it was cheap and effective. trying to upload a pic of the simple ass setup but having issues...... got it, not the greatest pics but i hope it helps get my point accross. good luck bro, we're watchin lqtm
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Thanks for the advice guys, I found another 12 inch flor bulb with fixture and will be adding that to the setup today. I have an idea of how to do the three lights but sense the lights come out of the corner not the middle I'm going to have to rig some kind of reflector I still need 2 more for 360 light
watchxyouxburn
Active Member
Convict, I started my grow around the same time as you, have you had any problems so far? I'm fighting a pH related nute deficiency right now in one of my plants, but it should be okay. I'm going to check out your journal when I'm done posting here.
Hell yeah, I'm on a pretty tight budget too, so I feel the need to keep grow costs down. Pretty much everything in my setup is stuff just found around the house. I think I spent a total of maybe $50 buying things I didn't have and couldn't make. Soil pH meter, roughly $20 for a decent one, pH test kit to test your water and chemicals to adjust it, $10, keeping track of your pH can be vital, socket adapters and Y connectors x 3, $10, another $10 for 2 42w warm white CFL's for flowering (when the time comes). I made a reflector housing for the lights using a 5 plug power bar I had, a 24" x 36" piece of black foam board, a hot glue gun, and some aluminum tape gotten from a friend that does HVAC contracting, which is hung by 2 pieces of chain and some "S" hooks. You can get the materials for this at pretty much any Home Depot/Walmart type store for around another $20 if you don't have stuff you can use at home. Again, if you're looking to save money, you can go with CFL for flower too, just make sure you're using equal or more warm white light (2700k) than coolwhite/daylight (6500k) as it helps simulate the seasonal lighting a plant would be getting in nature. I know a couple people that had perfectly good yields using only CFL lighting.
Hell yeah, I'm on a pretty tight budget too, so I feel the need to keep grow costs down. Pretty much everything in my setup is stuff just found around the house. I think I spent a total of maybe $50 buying things I didn't have and couldn't make. Soil pH meter, roughly $20 for a decent one, pH test kit to test your water and chemicals to adjust it, $10, keeping track of your pH can be vital, socket adapters and Y connectors x 3, $10, another $10 for 2 42w warm white CFL's for flowering (when the time comes). I made a reflector housing for the lights using a 5 plug power bar I had, a 24" x 36" piece of black foam board, a hot glue gun, and some aluminum tape gotten from a friend that does HVAC contracting, which is hung by 2 pieces of chain and some "S" hooks. You can get the materials for this at pretty much any Home Depot/Walmart type store for around another $20 if you don't have stuff you can use at home. Again, if you're looking to save money, you can go with CFL for flower too, just make sure you're using equal or more warm white light (2700k) than coolwhite/daylight (6500k) as it helps simulate the seasonal lighting a plant would be getting in nature. I know a couple people that had perfectly good yields using only CFL lighting.
watchxyouxburn
Active Member
I'll post pics of the reflector I made later, works like a charm, my ladies love it. My older plant is about 5 weeks, and its lush and bushy with lots and lots of side growth. You can use the flouros you have now horizontally along either side of your grow space as well as a CFL, MH, HPS, etc. fixture hanging above to promote shorter, bushier plants, also increasing side growth with possible future bud sites. I do highly advise that you don't use flouro only for much longer as the best light comes from the center of the bulbs, and the wavelengths diminsh within about 6 inches, which means the plants furthest from the lightsource will either stretch severely or just not get the right amount of light they need to flourish.
watchxyouxburn
Active Member
I understand all too well, I'll try to pass along any cost saving tips I come across.
watchxyouxburn
Active Member
This is my lighting setup as described before, except my zip ties were too restrictive, I'm now using a piece of nylon rope to tie down my lights, this gives me freedom to twist and turn them to get better light. The plant to the left (Indica) is almost 5 weeks old since breaking soil, and the one on the right (Snow White: Indica 65%, Sativa 35%) is almost 3.
I just mixed mg moisture control and some cheap potting mix and transplanted my ladies, they were starting to yellow near the center, at 2 weeks my lady was only about 2-3 inches tall, had its 2nd set of true leaves and had barely started on 3rd. I just managed to build a braket for my lights now I can freely raise and lower them. Now there's light about 2 inches away from the plant on front top and back. Heat is fine so they should get better.
MVNuggets
Member
Hey I use foil too, keeps light in and helps reflect. A poor mans mylar lol. Anyway if your just using the carboard box shelling I would recommend Insulating with a thin (1/2 inch) layer of styrofoam, helps keep it a good temp, with tin foil over that as the reflector. Thats what I'm currently using in my 15gallon Rubbermaid tub setup. Course if your outside air thats circulating is 75 is so degrees than you dont need to worry about it as much. Mine is in teh upper 60s so the insulation factor helps alot, especially during the night cycle.
MVNugs
Btw subbed, cant wait to see these babes grow up, im about a similar stage of life as you, so this will be cool and helpful to watch. I would look for a way to LST them though (like shelving used in PC Growcases @ pcgrowcases.com or w/e, maybe a scrog if you wanna tackle it. 2 feet isnt alot of room to mature ya know? Specially when plants double in size during flowering..)
MVNuggets
Member
Dang, 10x3x3... ya could get some monstahs in thar man. lol.
dont disregard LSTing though, you can double or 1.5x your harvest with some effective training.
This is gonna be an interesting grow!
MVNugs
MVNuggets
Member
One easy thing to do is get a rack of some sort and train your plant to almost grow sideways, it encourages branching and the colas on the sides will get much more light, more light = bigger buds bro. sneaky alliteration... hehehe..
sorry bout that.
MVNugs
las fingerez
Well-Known Member
hey bro subbed in 
good luck
good luck
convict156326
Active Member
neither were mine, i burned the shit out of one had to cut off half the leaves while she was just a seedling ( i let the cfl rest directly on it, big no no) that came back. youd be surprised how hardy they are. youre doin great as far as i can tell.
