WB's grow

Hi everyone,

This is my first grow journal. The reason I am doing it is to track my progress and hopefully get input from others. I planted 4 seedlings tonight from the really good bag weed. I dont know the strain. I've spent a month or so lurking and gathering info. I actually started a couple of seedlings before I knew what I needed to do and they didnt make it. I think that I have all the necessary supplies to have a successful small grow (2-4 plants). Here are some pics of my light setup, nutes, medium and the reflector hood I made. I will be updating my journal at least once a week. Any and all feedback is appreciated as this is my first serious attempt. Wish me luck!!

I have twelve 26 watt (6500k) 1600 lumen CFL's under my reflector hood. This provides 19,200 lumens for vegging. I'll switch the bulbs to twelve 42 watt (2700k) 2700 lumen CFL's which will give me 32,400 lumens for flowering.





My hood is made from cardboard with the inside painted flat white. I have attached a power strip to the top of it and attached the whole hood to a pulley so it can be raised/lowered very easily. Heat from the bulbs is not an issue whatsoever.




The temps in my closet stay steadily between 70-80* with 50-55% humidity. I have a fan blowing on my bulbs and hood and I live alone so I can leave the doors open to generate a constant flow of fresh air.




Here are my medium and nute pics. I wont start nutes until much later down the road. I'm sure to use natural spring water and I've checked the ph of both my water and my grow medium




This grow will be 100% CFL for both veg and flower. I hope to get some input and share ideas with other CFL growers as well as those who use HPS,HID,Tubes, etc. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully I'll have some great results to share as we go along.

Looks like you're well off to a good start, however I wouldn't recommend using cardboard for your hood, I'm thinking by lifting and lowering it will eventually weaken the cardboard specially with all that weight hooked up to it.

12 26w WOW, I'm using 14 26w for veg and am flowering with them, I'm thinking that's plenty, check out my journal.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/29010-humboldts-growing-adventures-up-away.html


You plan on adding 12 40w during flowering, this will be fun to watch.

Peace!

believe it or not, the cardboard is quite sturdy, I have no fear that it will buckle. It's sturdiness even surprised me. Thanks for the feedback though. Do I have enough lighting to grow 2 plants successfully? I'm pretty sure I do.

wow. man I'm impressed with both of you. You certainly are committed to providing enough power to light these closets up. VV

hey guys/girls,

My friend and I just got BAKED on some great hydro, I just wanted to post and say how much I hope that this works out! It will be SO nice to be able to smoke my own shit, and not have to worry about getting ahold of my source, waiting, etc. I can only imagine how some of you guys must have felt on your first successful grows. I'll be leaning on you guys for support throughout! Good growing!

Here's a pic of my 4 babies planted last night. 19,200 lumens of CFL's are waiting for them to sprout. I'm super excited.

The box you built looks nice. It shows you have done a lot of work. You don't need any help to do what you are planning. You will have some ventilation to work on. Your plants will need 'fresh' air. Your lighting will be producing enough lumens for 2 plants, more like 12 to 16.
After this first grow you may want to take a look at some t-5's. The 4'-8 tube fixture will put out 38,000 lumens and use 440 watts of power. Your twelve cfl's will use 504 watts and produce 32,000. Just a thought VV

yeah I commented in your journal thread, excellent job man. I hope my plants turn out like yours! Yes, I'll be switching to 12-42 watt 2700k - 2700 lumen CFL's for flowering. That's when they will be under 32,400 lumens.

Victor, thanks for the advice. I dont know if I'll ever go to 4 or 8 foot lights. I like it in a small area. My hood/reflector is ony 18 x 22. For my next grow I've actually thought about building a small hydro system and trying it. I hear nothing but good things about hydro buds and the hydro I get on occasion is a little more harsh but it BAKES me. As for ventilation, I live alone and my bedroom has 2 windows which I try to keep open a lot. I also have a big ceiling fan in the room along which circulates air constantly along with a fan blowing directly onto the lights and over the plants. I keep the closet doors open when the lights are on and close them during the 6 hrs of darkness. I'm not worried about the smell as I dont think 2-4 plants will stink that much as I plan on flowering them after they reach 12-14 inches in Veg. If they do smell a little it wont matter as I'm the only one here anyway. Hopefully this will take care of my 02 needs. Should I look into making a small unit for producing c02?

You could. There is a post of homemade co2. I think videoman40 posted it the first time I saw it here. Use a milk jug, a few fittings with 1/4" air line, sugar and yeast. If you can't locate it let me know. I took pictures when I made one but they are on one of my other computers.
I believe you have the ventilation under control and I'm not suprized that you do. Both of you need to make sure GK gets your harvest numbers. VV

you dont know what to say? Wish me luck!! That will do.

I just gave the babies a good misting, 2 of them have already sprouted. After all 4 of them have sprouted I'll ad some updated pictures.

i don't know what to say.

Click to expand...

Then why even bother typing? as you can see he's looking for help!


wbinwv, seriously you should reconsider you're hood, you could make a more sturdy box just like that by using one sheet of plywood, tape measure, skill saw and some screws.

Congrats on the sprouts!

those pots arent going to be big enough for a flowering plant u will want to flower in at least a 3 liter ot or bigger the buds will tip those over oh yea and good luck

where did you get those things to plug
the Cfl's into????

You can buy power strips anywhere. Its the job he did of taping everything in place that is impressive. Trust me he will do this as he progresses with anything he makes himself and that is what FDD meant. He could have critisized it, the job he has done says he will get bigger and better, no other comment was necessary. When he asks a question because he needs help he will be glad FDD has been paying attention to his grow. VV

I have many more pots to transplant my plants into when it's time but thx for the advice.

I may build a better hood/reflector in the future ( after this grow ) . Thanks for the feedback though.

I dont want to beat a dead horse or anything and I wish you luck. But that light set up is the scariest thing I've seen in a long time, that is way to many wires for those lights and IMO a huge fire risk that needs to be fixed ASAP!!!

I'm not trying to tell you how to grow your plants or anything like that, I'm just throwing out some constructive criticism once again good luck

i doubt he has to worry about fire with 12 26w cfls. hes not overloading the circuit with only ~300 watts, and they don't get too hot, maybe the 46w ones will be a bit crazy, idk if they will all fit in that hood

where did you get those things you plug the lights in?
Home depot?

Wal Mart actually.