CFL predicament

[Armadillo Slim]

I know what you mean, I took about 5 hours of looking at strains before I could make my mind up on a single one, but i've only got room for 4 plants. I might try big bud for my second grow. I'm going to try and make some hoods out of tin foil, but I'm not that bothered about the hood because it' a small grow area so I thought the light would get to the plants anyway without one. Which strain do you think is the best you've grown?

 

[Anotheroldephart]

So far I like PPP and Durban poison I had another but I lost the label as i was growing 5 strains. How about mylar on the walls?

 

[Anotheroldephart]

How big is your area? I think you can do more than 2-3 plants.

 

[Armadillo Slim]

It's a wardrobe, 20'' deep, 38'' wide and 6' high. I think I'm going to use four 3 gallon pots. The mylar idea sounds good, I'm going to use tin foil though because it keeps it's shape better, there both more or less the same reflectivity-wise though. How was the white widow? I've found a site that sells cheap feminized ww seeds so I'm going to use that.

 

[Anotheroldephart]

Yes tin foil is cheaper though mylar isn't that expensive and it gives more uniform reflectivity. With your space you could grow , in sog, about 48 plants in a double decker grow.
WW was ok, but it'll be better. I had a psychotic timer that skewed the grow. I just harvested 6 DP and got 7oz. The plants were only 18in tall.
Try plastic totes 18wx36lx14d. Cut it down to 10 in. Use clones, it's fairly easy. I take my cuttings and put them in rootone then into 9oz colored solo cups in a tall enough tub to allow for a plastic cover, under 40w cfl. Keep them under cover for 5-7 days..uncover increase light to 80w, keep there another week then move to 2700K lighting. Now there will be a bit more veg growth, about 2 more weeks or so. By doing this the plants will stay short. That way 2 layers are possible. Of course you'll need a small mother room.

 

[Armadillo Slim]

First off I would like to express my confusion and horror at the new rollitup.org look, I HATE IT! IT MESSES WITH MY MIND! I might try SOG, I need to do a normal grow first to get the clones but once I have them I might do waht you suggested, I'll see how much money I have at the time. Do you think I could harvest about just under an ounce per plant and I could fit 24 plants in each level? And they would be in veg for less time too?

 

[llLOU]

Yeah, that was my original plan, 6 24w t5's that I could use cool white tubes in for veg and red tubes in for flower plus a 125w red cfl on each side in flower. But that would be £35 more then just 3 cfl's and I wouldn't get much more light. I thought about getting a HPS but the ballasts are ridiculously expensive and I heard they were quite noisy so I decided to go for flourescents.

I have seen some pretty decent grows with just the T-5s . I was concerned with the heat issues with the HID system,but I have to tell you ,there is none ! My grow area is in a corner of my shop,about 8'x15' so I am pretty open, and maybe in a cabinet or closet they would produce more heat, I don't know your situation, so I can't say for 100% sure.;..420 time kicking in here ,gotta go. My ballast ?, LUMATEK 400.
No noise, Low heat ! GREAT !

 

[Anotheroldephart]

Morning Slim..
wiyj all the talk about about excessive heat with CFL's I checked it out..I put my hand between the plant and the light..which means about.5 in away. I found that there was no more heat there, then any where else in my room, which is 85.which is fine. So, all you others check yours..So ends the heat debate....at least for me.

 

[llLOU]

It's a wardrobe, 20'' deep, 38'' wide and 6' high. I think I'm going to use four 3 gallon pots. The mylar idea sounds good, I'm going to use tin foil though because it keeps it's shape better, there both more or less the same reflectivity-wise though. How was the white widow? I've found a site that sells cheap feminized ww seeds so I'm going to use that.

You do not want to use tin foil, it is not a good material, something about "hot spots" ??Mylar or flat white paint is better.

 

[Armadillo Slim]

Good thing about the heat, my ventilation should be enough then. If tin foil is bad I might try cardboard wrapped in mylar instead then. Or beer cans, I heard that if you cut them open they make really good reflectors. I really wanted a HPS light but the ballasts are a joke and I heard some of them brake in the first few weeks.

 

[Anotheroldephart]

Mylar can be found at craft shops or online, not too expensive, I did some measuring last night, and I've figured out that 80 in are need for a double layer..ain't it nice I've got 80.5...just*s* That's 2in for rack(for me, to keep it off the frigid floor) 10in for the container, no more is needed 12-14 for plants and the rest for the lights. With the big CFL's they must be turned parallel to the floor..easily done.

 

[AeroKing]

Mylar can be found at craft shops or online, not too expensive

Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for discounted mylar xmas wrapping paper as well.

 

[Anotheroldephart]

That's right. I got a 100ftx5ft roll for I think $40, but then again it might be less...I forgot..

 

[needhelp]

truthfully... you don't have to get 125's if their is a heat issue.... just settle for the 100's... you can actually grab the bulbs while they are on (don't recommend it though)..

also, i use GE bulbs... namebrands are better and most likely won't give heat... cheap brands are the CFL's that malfunctions, don't last long and give off way more heat than they are suppose to

also..... for a growbox/ grow cabinet... you can't beat CFL's due to price, meaning.. if you use a box, the most bulbs you will use is 10 (and many people don't even go that high for a box)... if you get 100w at $5 a piece, well you will have spent $50 (more because of tax and different prices due to location)... so most likely you will spend from $25 to $50... just know the larger the area, the more bulbs you will need... but as far as a small growbox, CFL's seems logical...

 

[needhelp]

and as for wiring.... it depends on what kind of person you are when it comes to wiring.... i noticed someone saying its a hassle... but if you plan it out, and learn to wire multiple sockets to one plug... it will help... for instance i have a 3 socket fixture that i got for like $2 or more, right next to the Y-adapter.... so since it has 3 sockets i put in 3 y adapters and now have 6 bulbs from one plug.... if i want to.. i can screw in Y-adapters into more Y-adapters and end up with 12 bulbs on one plug.... and the lights won't blow because the total amount of wattage being used won't be more then the sockets can handle just because you are using CFL's... since CFL's use fraction of the power

 

[Anotheroldephart]

truthfully... you don't have to get 125's if their is a heat issue.... just settle for the 100's... you can actually grab the bulbs while they are on (don't recommend it though)..

also, i use GE bulbs... namebrands are better and most likely won't give heat... cheap brands are the CFL's that malfunctions, don't last long and give off way more heat than they are suppose to

also..... for a growbox/ grow cabinet... you can't beat CFL's due to price, meaning.. if you use a box, the most bulbs you will use is 10 (and many people don't even go that high for a box)... if you get 100w at $5 a piece, well you will have spent $50 (more because of tax and different prices due to location)... so most likely you will spend from $25 to $50... just know the larger the area, the more bulbs you will need... but as far as a small growbox, CFL's seems logical...

Where did you fing 100w CFL's? Are they true 100w , or just the equivalent?

 

[needhelp]

sorry...i meant to say 25w/26w... are those what you were referring to originally?

 

[Armadillo Slim]

We were talking about actual 125w grow lights, there massive, i've found some for £15 each and I think 3 will be plenty for 4 plants.

 

[jbrain420]

So, I want to try a cfl grow and have been checking the internet for some good lights, I have two different routes I could go down, which do you think would be the best. I could go for some compact cfl's, buy 3 red spectrum 125w's and 2 blue 125w's and 3 sockets so I can run both blus and a red for veg then switch to all red for flower. The 125w cfls are £15 each and the sockets are £2.50 each so it would cost me about £90 including postage. Or I could get 2 red 125w cfls and a 144w t5 tube set up from this site http://www.nlites.co.uk/growgood/eco-light.htm the whole thing including the hanger for the set up, the 125w cfls and the sockets would cost about £125. My growspace is 20'' deep, 36'' wide and 6' high. What do you think?

I would look for the 65 watt floodlights they have at home de'pot. they are 6500k spectrum, great for vegging and have a reflector and a cover. They are easy to install, just cut an extension cord and connect to the black & white wires.

I have 2 of these running in my wardrobe cabinet, and my two baby girls. I have a Nirvana Wonder Woman fem thats 10 days old and a Dutch Passion Puple #1 fem thats been in the soil for 5 days! This is so exciting!! temps are 78-85 and humidity is about 35%. Hopefully these are all in good range. The older is showing 2 or 3 leaf sets, hard to tell because its so compacted. No stretching at all prob only 2'' tall.

 

[Armadillo Slim]

Good luck with your grow jbrain, is this your first? I live in england and it's quite hard to find decent lights over here, we don't have walmart or home depot. It might help if you get a few more red spectrum lights for flowering, I don't know but I would of thought a few more would improve your yield.