New CFL Grow - PICS UP!

So I've decided to grow some Afghani in a CFL box I made. First and foremost I want to say amsterdammarijuanaseedbank.com was a very reliable source for seeds. I ordered 10 (got 10 free) and they shipped overseas to Canada in 7 business days and the packaging was very discreet. Anyways since they arrived so fast I didn't have my box ready in time. It was about a 2 hour job setting up the box. It includes:


8 dual fixtures
1 hanging Grolux
1 12" oscillating fan (exterior still)
1 Heavy Duty Appliance Timer

CFL Bulbs -

Veggin
12 23 Watt 6500k
4 43 Watt 6500k
1 200 Watt 6500k


Flowerin
12 23 Watt 2700k
4 43 Watt 2700k
2 4' Flo Tubes 2700k and 3000k mix

Medium
Premixed soil from a horticulturist friend of mine. Its got just about everything in it and is light and airy as philly cream cheese!

Fertilizer
Plant-Prod 20-20-20 All Purpose Fertilizer.

Germination
Tried and true paper towels in a dish. 7/7 sprouted already gave 2 away to a friend. Planning on keeping 1-2 plants for flowering and hooking friends up with the rest.

Grow Method
I'm going to be doing a CFL LST FIM grow. Since thats a pain in the ass I'll be calling it the octopus from now on. The main idea is to FIM the plant after the 3rd leaf set and create 4 main stems. Then by LSTing those stems I'm hoping to yield around 12-16 colas.


PICTURES
I apologize I wasn't able to get any pictures of days 1-11 but all the uploaded ones here are of today day 12.



DAY 12
Well since I didn't get a chance to post any pics before I'll start the journal from today.

Today was LST day for my 5 ladies. I used paperclips folded them out into a U shape and then bent the tips upwards to avoid root damage when penetrating the soil. All 5 took to it very easily and seem to be eager to turn back towards the light already after only 4 hours. I've also FIMmed 1 plant right after the third leafset. I'm going to wait until tomorrow or possibly friday to FIM the rest since they are still working on leafset 3.

Anyways enjoy the pictures and any feedback would be appreciated. I'll be updating daily

I forgot to mention I took 10 bulbs out last night as it was generating alot of unneeded heat. I'll be replacing them once they get a lil taller. Also I'm hoping the low side lighting will help with keeping them short and bushy for now. O and don't mind the last pic thats my rabbit hehe

Plants.....closer.....to....light. You got a nice setup goin on, you read your material, just get those plants closer and you'll be in great shape. Also where did you find the 150w 6500k cfl???

wtfd00d said:

Plants.....closer.....to....light. You got a nice setup goin on, you read your material, just get those plants closer and you'll be in great shape. Also where did you find the 150w 6500k cfl???

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At a contractors electrical supply store in Oakville. I went there for my 23 and 43 watts and stumbled upon it.

Well its been 21 hours since I FIMmed number 1. 3 more hours till the lights come on and I'm so anxious to see how its recovered. Will post update with pics in a few hours Also last night I stacked some more of the white tiles to get the plants closer to the 150w.

Well the lights came on and I was happier than a pig in shit. They took the LST I did yesterday extremely well and all of them have already turned back towards the light. Not much growth yet out the 1 I FIMmed yesterday will post some pics of it as soon as it shows. Theres a pic of the timer I'm using I recommend this type to everyone! Also a pic of some of my CFLs 23 and 43 watts.

Heres some pics for day 13, check out the effort they are putting into turning back up towards the light already!

Any advice or comments are appreciated - Updates Daily

hey i got a question for ya... Did you FIM that one before you did LST? Or LST first then FIM? Because im planning on doing the same thing as you are! I just planted my germed seeds yesterday afternoon.

rockyy said:

hey i got a question for ya... Did you FIM that one before you did LST? Or LST first then FIM? Because im planning on doing the same thing as you are! I just planted my germed seeds yesterday afternoon.

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I LSTd first. I regret it now although it probably won't make much of a difference. It may take a bit longer to curl back up to the light without new leaves growing.

so your saying that you should have FIMed first?

How did you FIM that plant?

Your plants are going to stretch like crazy if you dont move them up closer to the lights. Other than that your setup looks, a bit of over kill though. Too many lights to be messing with. Would of been better to get a 250hps.

olivergroup said:

How did you FIM that plant?

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https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/13820-fimming-topping-101-a.html

Ya I should have FIMmed first but like I said I don't think its losing too much growth now. I didn't want to deal with the heat from an hps lamp and I really only want to flower 1 plant at a time so an hps woulda been huge overkill >.<

I love it when people moan and complain that we should use a HPS 'instead of this or that' in a CFL INDOOR GROW, forum!!

hey, yea i rekon, cfl's are mad. Anyway afghani is a great plant to grow. Its very tough
Peace

Transplanted last night. Lights came on this morning and no signs of shock so I'm pretty sure they'll all survive. Gonna get some pics up when the Mrs. gets outta bed. Stay tuned!

ghostsamurai25 said:

Your plants are going to stretch like crazy if you dont move them up closer to the lights. Other than that your setup looks, a bit of over kill though. Too many lights to be messing with. Would of been better to get a 250hps.

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Stretching plants are a good thing when you LST

Untold said:

Stretching plants are a good thing when you LST

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How is a good thing?

You want the main stem to stretch so that it produces more side nodes which in turn become colas.

Untold said:

You want the main stem to stretch so that it produces more side nodes which in turn become colas.

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Thanks, makes sense. I hope it goes well. Your cab is sweet, I would love to see it produce a large crop. My first cab grow was a disaster and a half. Heat, Caterpillars, Over Fert with way too many diff nutes. Always have on hand some kind of bug killer for plants. Ended getting a 1/2oz
off a plant that still had over a month to go. If i had bug killer she would of made it instead of having a premature death. Damn bugs made the plant so weak in know time. Damn things even got into the stems.

ghostsamurai25 said:

Thanks, makes sense. I hope it goes well. Your cab is sweet, I would love to see it produce a large crop. My first cab grow was a disaster and a half. Heat, Caterpillars, Over Fert with way too many diff nutes. Always have on hand some kind of bug killer for plants. Ended getting a 1/2oz
off a plant that still had over a month to go. If i had bug killer she would of made it instead of having a premature death. Damn bugs made the plant so weak in know time. Damn things even got into the stems.

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That sucks man. I'm in property management so I have pretty much everything I need minus nutes and soil at my disposal I'm making a Carbon Filter out of a bathroom exhaust fan, some pieces of my old car intake and Activated Carbon for an aquarium. I'll post some pics when its done