new bubblehead/dwc
- Thread starter loolagigi
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Lt Shiny Sides
Well-Known Member
Very nice. You got a healthy looking plant there. Are you only growing 1? What strain is it? How old is it? I subscribed and will follow along as long as you keep us posted. Come check out my first grow if you get the chance. Good luck!
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
thanks LT. its 2 diff plants, 2 diff buckets. not sure on strain/bagseed. the bigger one is 3 weeks old but has been topped several times and supercropped. the smaller one is a week old, but was just placed in bucket today. they are revegged plants i took clones off of. using flora nova grow and tiger bloom for now. this is my first sucessful attemp. keeping a eye on them. the bigger one has 1200 ppm, and smaller has 850, set at 5.6 ph.
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
checked ph today. all seems well. res temp has been 70-75 and so far no problems yet. i clean my res out once a week to ensure i dont ruin my roots. better safe then sorry. i cant believe how fast dwc works. its like im a baby and see my weiner for the first time. feakin awesome.
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loolagigi
Well-Known Member
thanks roseman. i have been reading a lot lately due to the fact i am unemployed. i have enjoyed reading what ou have shared in this forum. all seems well right now. right now i have 2 air pumps, 1 for each bucket, with small airstones. i want to get a better single pump to run both buckets or more with disc airstones.
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
ok i have a question for you guys. i am growing in a cabinet as you can see. right now its summer where i am and i am using cfl's instead of my hps due to heat issues. i have good ventilation, i just am trying to keep my res temp in a certain range. my q is, can i get away with using just my cfl's through budding too? mu cabinet is 24" by 29" and i have 16 bulbs..8- 2700k and 8- 5500k. how would this compare to my 400 hps eye hortilux? my hood had a galss lense on it so some of the light is deflected and not used. will there be a huge diff between the two? and will it be worth it to use the hps even though temps will surely climb some? get back to me thanks. ps, whats the diff in lumens? not sure how to figure that out.
Lt Shiny Sides
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what the exact comparison on lumens is, but you can surely use CFLs throughout the entire grow. Roseman does exactly that, he never uses HID lamps. Most people say that your buds will lack the weight and density that could be achieved with the HPS but it will still give you good results.
Roseman
Elite Rolling Society
4 sq ft of grow space but I need to know what watt CFLs you have.
Look at a lumen/watt ration of various CFL's. The higher the wattage of CFLs, the lower the lumen/watt ratio. This chart was submitted by Jerry Garcia, of RIU and edited for typos.
For example...
the 200w listed at 9250 lumens for a lumens/watt ratio of 9250/200=46.25
the 150w is listed at 7500 lumens for a l/w ratio of 7500/150=50
the 125w is listed at 6500 lumens for a l/w ratio of 6500/125=52
the 42w are listed for 2700 lumens, l/w ratio of 2700/42=64.28
I have some 26w that give off 1700 lumens for a l/w ratio of 1700/26=65.38
GE lists some 13w that give off 825 lumens for a l/w ratio of 825/13=63.46
So, according to these numbers the most efficient bulbs for growing are the 26w that emit 1700 lumens. If you used 8 26w bulbs (208 watts total) you'd be getting 13,600 lumens...4,350 more lumens than a single 200 watt cfl.
How much light is needed for growing?
Depends on the size of plant you are trying to grow. I'll try to answer this "in general" instead of being specific to one size plant. Light seen and perceived with the human eye is measured in Lumens. There is an ideal amount of lumens for growing and a minimum amount of required lumens. The very minimum amount of light required for smaller sized plants grown is around 3000 lumens per square foot. Let me put emphasis on "minimum amount" of light. However, that's not 100% exactly accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and the reflectivity of the grow area. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens per square foot for average sized plants. As long as the plants do not show burn, as much light can be used as you want to use. (Note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens per square foot, on a sunny mid summer day). Contracy to "talk" you CAN have too much light.
Determining lumens for your grow area:
First determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet, 2 by 2 feet is 4 Sq ft. ) If you have a 1000 Watt High Pressure Sodium Light Bulb, that produces approximately 107,000 lumens. Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 divided by 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot. So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of square feet, and that's your lumens per square foot.
thats my bro he taught me everything i know.
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
ok ROSEMAN. thanks for the great info. tell me if my maths right. i have 16 26 watt bulbs, so 16 x 26 = 27,200 lumens. my grow room is 4 sq'. so i take 27,200/4 = 6800. does that mean i have 6800 lumens per sq'? and if i am right that is double of what is needed to grow meduim sized plants? my plants are only going to be 3' tall max. so if my math is right i can use my cfl's instead of my 400 hps, and be just fine when it comes to good, dense bud production? thanks
Roseman
Elite Rolling Society
No, sorry, watts and lumens are not the same thing but the math is right.
a 26 watt bulb gives 60 to 70 lumens per watt average.
one chart I have says
26w that give off 1700 lumens
so 16 X 1700 lumens is 27,200 lumens. (hey you are right)
so you have 6800 lumens per sq ft, right!
Very ample!
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
sweet brother. thanks again. i have another q. right now i have mixed cfl's 5500k, and 2700k for veg. whats best for flowering?
Lt Shiny Sides
Well-Known Member
Looks like you got some mighty healthy roots and a good lookin plant too. Keep up the good work.
Roseman
Elite Rolling Society
DUAL SPECTRUM
With CFLs, you need the DUAL SPECTRUM, red and blue spectrums. That does not refer to the color of the bulb that you see. It refers to the kind of rays, like UVA or UVB, or the color temp of the bulb, called kelvins.
CFLS come in 2700 kevins, 3000, 4100, 5100, and 6500.
Low Kelvin bulbs, like the 2700k is for BLOOM OR FLOWERING, 6500k is for the VEG Spectrum. The others are "MID" spectrums or in between.
IF you use the MID-range bulbs (4100) then also use the 6500 and 2700s for a balanced spectrum.
In outdoors, the sun produces different rays in the spring (VEG Rays called Blue) and late summer rays for the Bloom spectrum, the RED spectrum. The sun also produces green, and orange rays, but plants do not use them.
Color rating - Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum for Vegging or GROWING, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum and is best for BLOOMING or FLOWERING.
There is NOT one CFL bulb for both spectrums, two different kelvin bulbs are needed.
The Importance Of Mixed Lighting (Dual Spectrum)
It is common knowledge that plants absorb warm and cool spectrum of light throughout its life. But I find that the importance of mixed lighting is understressed throughout the growing community.
During the flowering phase of a plants life, Warm light is better utilized to increase the size of a plant's buds. As CFL growers we tend to pile up on 2700k bulbs to increase our yield. In most cases, growers assume that warm light not only grants us larger buds, but insures that those buds are of connoisseur quality as well. This is not to say that one can not achieve a very successful crop off of pure warm spectrum 2700k lighting. We see it all the time as members of the Grow Forum Internet community. But as CFL growers, almost all of us demand a higher efficiency for our dollar.
So what does this mean? Clearly I'm trying to emphasize the necessity of cool lighting during the flowering phase of a plants life. But why? Well thats simple. As many of you may have heard or read before, Cool lighting (6500k) introduces a UVB spectrum that benefits the potency of the buds our plants are producing.
" The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream(a), or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level(b), the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC(c).
Now it would be completely unreasonable to ask a grower using a 1000watt HPS to switch out for MH lighting even though it produces quality of the weed. Sticking with blue spectrum lighting in a plants flowering phase would greatly decrease the size of the buds and the yield of the plant. People using high wattage systems tend to grow for cash crop. No single person really needs a pound of buds.
" Metal halide produce the best potent buds with less lumens for the money but better smoke. After years of testing with some friends who did want to keep THEIR recipe (more hps) I found their buds to be harsh, full of CBD, make me eat and sleep. The blue spectrum will give you a final product that have everything included:taste without curing, potency and yield.
For lower wattage growers who grow for self use, and are not on a low budget, it would be beneficial to replace their HPS with an MH for the last week or two of budding. This is because the last weeks of a plants life before harvesting is dedicated to the ripening of the buds, and not the growth of the bud itself. It would not greatly impact the yield of the plant, but have a great effect on the quality. Interesting, but this only applies to a few amount of growers that fit this category.
As CFL growers, we would be fools to ignore such information. It is astonishing that so many fantastic growers to not utilize cool lighting even to a small supplemental degree. We owe it to our selves to scrounge up a few bucks in change and take a drive to Home Depot. Buy a pack of 6500k bulbs (26watts tend to be popular, 42s are better) and set them somewhere not far off from your buds. Don't let your hard work return with unsatisfaction. Added quality with increased quantity(more light). Mixed lighting should be standard knowledge, not found in the advanced cultivation section.
Side Note: Reptile lighting found at pet stores is not ideal for UVB lighting. Yes they do emit a high % of UVB than regular CFLs but they output less light and emit over 12x more UVA light than UVB light which can harm your plant.