My First Grow

[eagles1090]

Alright well here's my first grow. Its in progress right now. I wanted to start this thread a while ago but I couldnt find the time. Let me know what you think, or what I could change with what I've got. I know this is a really rough looking set-up, but its worked so far, so we will see. I know that the clamp light could be a little closer, but I dont know what to do really, because thats the best way for it to hang that Ive found so far. I plan on getting either 1 or 2 400 watt HPS lights for when I change the lighting for the flowering phase, but right now Ive got 2 150 watt CFL's and Ive been running the lights 24/0. I think I might switch to 18/6 in the next couple weeks, to give my plants and lights a bit of a break, but Im not sure when I'll do that for sure. Here's some pics from the start till present. I'll post more pics as the plant progresses. Oh, and I started to water this plant on 9/22 so its been 11 days at this point.
Here's the link for the HPS light I was thinking about getting(is this good?). Im open for all advice, just please dont be too harsh, I know this grow is mostly just a learning process, thanks.

[URL]http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=11620-3-67449&lpage=none[/URL]

 

[lonleysmoka]

Alright well here's my first grow. Its in progress right now. I wanted to start this thread a while ago but I couldnt find the time. Let me know what you think, or what I could change with what I've got. I know this is a really rough looking set-up, but its worked so far, so we will see. I know that the clamp light could be a little closer, but I dont know what to do really, because thats the best way for it to hang that Ive found so far. I plan on getting either 1 or 2 400 watt HPS lights for when I change the lighting for the flowering phase, but right now Ive got 2 150 watt CFL's and Ive been running the lights 24/0. I think I might switch to 18/6 in the next couple weeks, to give my plants and lights a bit of a break, but Im not sure when I'll do that for sure. Here's some pics from the start till present. I'll post more pics as the plant progresses. Oh, and I started to water this plant on 9/22 so its been 11 days at this point.
Here's the link for the HPS light I was thinking about getting(is this good?). Im open for all advice, just please dont be too harsh, I know this grow is mostly just a learning process, thanks.

[URL]http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=11620-3-67449&lpage=none[/URL]

1st off you are going to need the complete setup if you are going with a HID light. I would suggest this----> http://www.htgsupply.com/growlights.asp?categoryID=1&subcategoryID=155&typeID=55

The one for 169 is the same one i just got. I would recommend that one so you can use a mh for veg which give off more of a blue spectrum of light and the hps will be for the flowering stage of life. This lamp will give off more of a orange redish spectrum. After about 3-4 weeks of life I would put them on some sort of nutrients. Start off at a 1/4 strength for the first week and then up it to about 1/2 strength. With watering and feeding I would get on a water,water, feed schedule thats after the 3-4 week.

Now nutrients is more of a personal preference thing with me. Most growers use the Fox Farm trio pack- grow big, big bloom, & tiger bloom. I myself have just order the Blue Mountain Organics full line.-----> http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Blue-Mountain-Organics__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Like I said do some research and find what works best for you and your wallet. I too am on my first grow and am just passing advice on to you that I have been given from so really experienced growers. Hope this is some good advice for you. I will give one more piece of advice DO YOUR RESEARCH! Know what you are doing not just what everyone says to do. Im pulling up a cahir and watching this thread. Ill help where I can, like I said Im on my first grow too and about 5 weeks ahead of you. check it out sometime the link is in my sig at the bottom of my post.




Happy Growings

 

[cbtwohundread]

coming along wonderfully.,.,i would suggest u tryn use more surface area of the cfl by placing it horizontly over plants.,.,but great start

 

[eagles1090]

thank you both. ive got some nutes i just picked up a couple days ago. its liquid miracle grow african violet with 7-7-7 NPK so i figured that would be a pretty level/neutral nute to give the plant throughout growing. i did some research last week, a lot of it actually lol, and saw that you should have a higher Nitrogen rating when starting, but i thought id just try this one out first. as far as the lights go, i looked and looked and looked at the stores near me and didnt really find much outside of the cfls, but i think ill prob go to lowes and get a HPS. the light you gave me the link to was real nice, but thats out of my price range right now, hopefully soon though. i think ill just stick with the cfls for now, and like i said get the HPS light soon for flowering. my friend is giving me a good cfl he's got soon, thats got a real high K(kelvin?) number, its at something like 6500, so that ought to be good for early growth cause thats blue light. im going to try to find another box so i can raise the plant up higher closer to the clamp light so it would be more horizontal, so that'll be good. any opinions on reflective material or set-up? i was thinking of making some kind of ring around the container with the plant to reflect any light thats going down and away from the plant, and this way the plant would get light at all different angles. i know mylar is some good stuff, and same with some white paint, so i dont know what ill do. ive got some paint already as you can see in the pic haha, so i might just do that. thanks for the help both of you +rep given, good luck with your grow lonelysmoka.

 

[lonleysmoka]

Thanks guy, Like I said hope the grow is productive for you. It so much fun watching the little babies grow. The only other thing I know ur working on it but get those lights as close as possible any where from2-6 inches would best. A CFL grow is cheap and when done right is a great economic grow. good luck and thanks for the rep.

 

[cbtwohundread]

Thanks guy, Like I said hope the grow is productive for you. It so much fun watching the little babies grow. The only other thing I know ur working on it but get those lights as close as possible any where from2-6 inches would best. A CFL grow is cheap and when done right is a great economic grow. good luck and thanks for the rep.

nicely said.,.,get those lites close

 

[Night Claptoman]

are thoes 150w or 150w equevalent? they look like 42W (and 150w equevalent).
what color are they?

anyhow, don't buy a 400w HPS for one plant, thats plain stupid. unless you want to grow a tree. surely not 2.

for one plant I'd just use a few CFLs.

You should read the SeeMoreBuds book regarding budget growing. Its a grow journal for CFL growing of one Mango plant.

 

[lonleysmoka]

are thoes 150w or 150w equevalent? they look like 42W (and 150w equevalent).
what color are they?

anyhow, don't buy a 400w HPS for one plant, thats plain stupid. unless you want to grow a tree. surely not 2.

for one plant I'd just use a few CFLs.

You should read the SeeMoreBuds book regarding budget growing. Its a grow journal for CFL growing of one Mango plant.

Im glad some one brought up the CFLs I wasn't sure about this either since I myself am on my first grow. I totally agree with with about a 400w with just one plant at minimum 4 plants for a 400w I would think. I have 7 under my 400 and seems that they are all doing fine.

 

[eagles1090]

theyre 150 watt equivalent, and i think more towards the middle of the color spectrum. a friend of mine is giving me his 27watt 5700K CFL in a day or so, so i think i might get another clamp light, and put that light up as well. so that would two 45watt 4000K lights and one 27watt 5700K light. would that be enough light? wasnt sure if that would be enough power for the plant when it got bigger. what i was planning on for my grow set up is find a plastic table that can rise up and go down so i can adjust for the light and growth, and hang a clamp light from the bar you hang clothes on so the clamp lights could be giving off good light, especially if i have the bulb sideways. theres a shelf on top of the bar, so i thought i would hang some garbarge bags or some black plastic from the hardware store, staple it to the shelf, and then staple it to the table so no light could hit the plant during its dark periods. id make some kind of opening too haha.
and what kind of growth would a 400watt HPS light really do? it would grow like crazy or what? i understand its not a good idea, but just curious.

 

[Night Claptoman]

first of all, we usualy say the actual wattage, not the equievalent. people will understand you better.
you have a 42\45W cfl right now. thats good for a plant up to, i'd say, 7 inches. a CFL penetrats to only about 6 inches. further away its pretty much useless.
growing a 15 inch plant with a 45W CFL will only get light to the upper part.

CFLs are great as they are cheap and efficient (gives off less heat) but they are way harder to manage as they need to be kept at 1-3 inches away from the plant at all time.
a HPS gives off twice the light per watt as CFLs does, so using a 400w HPS is like using a 800w CFLs worth. also it created a lot of heat and that needs attending.

an HPS had a penetration of around 30 inches, so it needs much less manuvering.

HPS costs more.

CFLs are usualy used in bulk when needed. 6 CFLs per plant is pretty normal. that gives you the ability to use side lightning and help even growth which gives better lower parts than upper-lightning.



If you go with CFLs prepare to get at least 2 more, 42w or more. a 27W (the 75w equiv.) is pretty much useless for this phase. you need 6500 kelvin (K) for vegitative state and 2700 for flowering.



A simple setup is a cab (cardboard box, closet, plastic closet, wooden rig, whatever) lined with reflective materials (myler or astro-foil is preffered but black\white poly is fine as well) to maximize lights efficiency. you need an exhaust fan rigged to take the heat from the lights and a lightproofed air intake. I recommand a small fan inside the cab just to move air around - it helps a lot. intake should be on the lower part of the box and the exhaust on the higher part.
easiest lights fixture it a piece of something, lets say wood, with the mogul fixed to the wood. 4 eyelets on the wood corners and 2 eyelets on the "roof" and with a string you can change the lights positioning.
Thats about it for the basics.

 

[eagles1090]

thanks man. i think im going to get some reflective stuff soon and probably a single HPS to go along with the CFLS on the sides. i think i will find a HPS light and hang that from the clothes bar with a clamp light, and hang the light the appropriate way based on whether it is meant to be hanged horizontally or vertically. as far as exaust, i have an oscillating fan pushing air onto the plant now, so i think ill stay with that, im really on a budget grow here haha. i figure like you said, the HPS light will be good from 30 inches so hanging that from the bar with the clamp light ought to produce a good amount of light, and with the CFLS around the lower parts and the reflective material i should be all set. thanks for the help. +rep Night Claptoman

 

[eagles1090]

Here's some new pics, but my question was how high should I keep the desk light that I have on the paint cans? You can see in the last two pics that I have that light at different levels. The last pic is on 3 paint cans like you can see, and the pic before that is on 2 paint cans. I have been changing the height because the biggest leaf on one the side of the plant kept stretching towards the light upwards if I had the light on 3 paint cans, so I would drop the light to 2 paint cans high so the leaf would stop stretching. But now the thing is, I've got the plant raised up with two different books, so now its closer to the clamp light(cant change that light's height). Keeping the lights horizontal, I can either have the desk light(on the paint cans) horizontal on top of the plant, or horizontal at the side of the plant. Which would be better? If a leaf is getting too stretched out, I'll just turn the plant around too. On the last picture(light on 3 paint cans), the lamp isn't that low to the plant, I can get it lower, I just took that picture kinda quick just to show yall what I was talking about with the different levels of that light. Last thing with the lights I was thinking about was, would it be more beneficial to have the lamps at different levels, because soon I'm going to get some reflective material and maybe make some kind of enclosure. This way the light would be reflecting at different angles. If I kept the lights at different levels, I would be rotating the plant every so often so that one side of the plant would not be growing differently than the other side, but what I fear is that if I do keep the lights at different levels the plant's leaves will grow so different that it could affect the stem's growth, which brings up another question. How does the stem look in the 2nd and 3rd pics(I know its kindve hard to see)? When I add the nutes in the coming weeks won't that strengthen the stem? I was told that a constant air flow will also strengthen the stem.

My last question is about watering. The plant seems to be taking up a lot of water now, so should I be watering it every two days or so in big amounts, or watering it little by little every day? I read somewhere that the plant likes to go through big changes in water levels(get it watered real thoroughly, and then stop until its pretty dry), but I also read that it can be beneficial to water it with a spray bottle repeatedly in smaller amounts, because that would be just like changing the water levels in much quicker intervals. Is this just a personal preference thing or is one better? My guess would be that watering it fewer times with more water would be better, that way all of the roots would be completely moist, and not just the top layer or roots. I'm probably going to keep watering it every other day or so in larger amounts, and check when I have to water it by sticking my finger in the soil in order to feel the moistness, cause I guess that would be the easiest way(its been working pretty good so far). Anyone have any personal preferences? And thanks for everyone's help, I really appreciate it. I'll be giving rep out everywhere if you can help me out. I'm just trying to make this first grow a success.

So the questions are:
1-Should I keep the desk light at the same level of the plant with the light horizontal or should I keep the desk light horizontal above the plant at the same level as the clamp light?
2-If I keep the lights at different levels, do I keep rotating the plant so it doesn't grow funny?
3-Do I water in large amounts fewer times, or do I water more times in fewer amounts?

 

[lonleysmoka]

Here's some new pics, but my question was how high should I keep the desk light that I have on the paint cans? You can see in the last two pics that I have that light at different levels. I have been changing the height because the biggest leaf on that side of the plant kept stretching to the light upwards if I had the light on 3 paint cans, so I would drop the light to 2 paint cans high so the leaf would stop stretching. But now the thing is, I've got the plant raised up with two different books, so now its closer to the clamp light(cant change that light's height). Keeping the lights horizontal, I can either have the desk light(on the paint cans) horizontal on top of the plant, or horizontal at the side of the plant. Which would be better? If a leaf is getting too stretched out, I'll just turn the plant around too. On the last picture(light on 3 paint cans), the lamp isn't that low to the plant, I can get it lower, I just took that picture kinda quick just to show yall what I was talking about with the different levels of that light. Last thing with the lights I was thinking about was, would it be more beneficial to have the lamps at different levels, because soon I'm going to get some reflective material and maybe make some kind of enclosure. This way the light would be reflecting at different angles. If I kept the lights at different levels, I would be rotating the plant every so often so that one side of the plant would not be growing differently than the other side.

My last question is about watering. The plant seems to be taking up a lot of water now, so should I be watering it every two days or so in big amounts, or watering it little by little every day? I read somewhere that the plant likes to go through big changes in water levels(get it watered real thoroughly, and then stop until its pretty dry), but I also read that it can be beneficial to water it with a spray bottle repeatedly in smaller amounts, because that would be just like changing the water levels in much quicker intervals. Is this just a personal preference thing or is one better? My guess would be that watering it fewer times with more water would be better, that way all of the roots would be completely moist, and not just the top layer or roots. I'm probably going to keep watering it every other day or so in larger amounts, and check when I have to water it by sticking my finger in the soil in order to feel the moistness, cause I guess that would be the easiest way(its been working pretty good so far). Anyone have any personal preferences? And thanks for everyone's help, I really appreciate it. I'll be giving rep out everywhere if you can help me out. I'm just trying to make this first grow a success.

So the questions are:
1-Should I keep the desk light at the same level of the plant with the light horizontal or should I keep the desk light horizontal above the plant at the same level as the clamp light?
2-If I keep the lights at different levels, do I keep rotating the plant so it doesn't grow funny?
3-Do I water in large amounts fewer times, or do I water more times in fewer amounts?

You have some interesting thoughts about light levels. If I were you I would get that plant a little closer to the clamp light. I dont think it is a necessity though. About the leaves stretching I dont really see that, but if you are worried about the plant growing kinda funny you are right to rotate the plant every so often.
1. Some one with a little more experience with clfs might say different but I think the lights will be fine where they are.
3. It seems that most people water in larger amounts every couple of days. Remember that you want those roots to stretch and search for moisture. Overwatering at this stage in the plants life is very common. Here is a pic of what it would look like----

Like I said i hope someone with more experience with cfls could give a better answer.

 

[eagles1090]

I've got to spread some rep around lonelysmoka, but i tried. im going to try to get the clamp light a little closer, its just hard to do that cause i have it clamped onto a step latter, and the base of the step latter sticks out a bunch so i cant push the boxes any closer and i dont want the box to fall over haha, but im going to try to figure something out. im really hoping to just get a height adjustable plastic table like the ones you see in the garden section of hardware stores. good to know that the leaves dont look funny. thanks for the help again.

 

[eagles1090]

recently ive been having to move my plant in and out of light because ive been having to hide it from the plumber who keeps coming by for a leak problem in my apartment. is that causing any damage to my plant? i know its probably causing some stress but i didnt know how much, or if it is really too destructive cause i cant do anything about the plumber coming or where he goes in my place. any insight?

 

[str8dropkid]

your set up is like mine............cant wait

 

[eagles1090]

your set up is like mine............cant wait

nice, what kind of lights are you using and how much?

 

[str8dropkid]

• one 42w with two 23w but of my 23w broke when i bought it in the house so one42w and 1 23w for right now cfl

 

[eagles1090]

oh ok, how far along are you?

 

[str8dropkid]

im on day 5 or 6