Ok, I know I need warm white to flower and cool to grow (in general) but I'm just confused, like how many watts should I be using or should I be measuring by lumens? Do watts have any weight as to the power of your bulb? Any other info reguarding indoor growing with cfls will be helpfull. Oh and I'm gonna use a ebb and flow system
new cfl grower, need help from pros
- Thread starter BloodWeed
- Start date
Vindicated
Well-Known Member
Since there's no pros around, you'll have to get your answer from a smart ass with a god complex.
For your first time, just stick with soil. You don't yet know anything about lights, so why would you jump into hydro? It doesn't make sense to me unless your one of them "smart people" that know how to figure out shit. But let's assume you ain't. You need something so easy, that a border line retard can do while high, right? Okay.
Get some soil, any fucking soil that mentions seed starting on the package will work. Put the soil into a three or five gallon container. Mix with Perlite and Worm Castings - get everything at Target, Home Depot, or even WalMart. My favorite ratio is 50% soil, 30% perlite, 20% worm casting. Cover the pot of soil with glade seal n' wrap (borrow from your mom or wife you have to), and wait a week and uncover. When it pops it's little head up, don't fucking touch it.
Instead, grab some CFL lights, read the package so you know how many watts your using. Aim to get 100 watts of light directed toward the plant. Put the lights on a timer for 18 hours on 6 hours off. When its as tall as you like it, switch to 12/12. When the plant looks like the shit you get at the medical store, harvest it. There your done.
Once all that shit is smoked up and your ready for grow #2, use the same method as above, but slowly began to start fucking with it. Push it around, shake it, be an ass. Maybe even shove some extra plant food down it's roots. Or pour bat shit on it. Whatever. But by then you know your plant and you got your green thumb going. Hell by your third grow you'll be a pro if you decide to step up to hydro.
f you don't know what your doing, you're just going to spend a lot of money and be back here asking everyone, why is my shit yellow with brown spots and has green slime all over it. Is that normal? No. It ain't normal. It's not normal on fucking roses, it aint normal for your lawn, it aint ever fucking normal.
/ end of rant from smart ass with god complex.
For your first time, just stick with soil. You don't yet know anything about lights, so why would you jump into hydro? It doesn't make sense to me unless your one of them "smart people" that know how to figure out shit. But let's assume you ain't. You need something so easy, that a border line retard can do while high, right? Okay.
Get some soil, any fucking soil that mentions seed starting on the package will work. Put the soil into a three or five gallon container. Mix with Perlite and Worm Castings - get everything at Target, Home Depot, or even WalMart. My favorite ratio is 50% soil, 30% perlite, 20% worm casting. Cover the pot of soil with glade seal n' wrap (borrow from your mom or wife you have to), and wait a week and uncover. When it pops it's little head up, don't fucking touch it.
Instead, grab some CFL lights, read the package so you know how many watts your using. Aim to get 100 watts of light directed toward the plant. Put the lights on a timer for 18 hours on 6 hours off. When its as tall as you like it, switch to 12/12. When the plant looks like the shit you get at the medical store, harvest it. There your done.
Once all that shit is smoked up and your ready for grow #2, use the same method as above, but slowly began to start fucking with it. Push it around, shake it, be an ass. Maybe even shove some extra plant food down it's roots. Or pour bat shit on it. Whatever. But by then you know your plant and you got your green thumb going. Hell by your third grow you'll be a pro if you decide to step up to hydro.
f you don't know what your doing, you're just going to spend a lot of money and be back here asking everyone, why is my shit yellow with brown spots and has green slime all over it. Is that normal? No. It ain't normal. It's not normal on fucking roses, it aint normal for your lawn, it aint ever fucking normal.
/ end of rant from smart ass with god complex.
tmaster2
Active Member
well said , as obviously it was clearly a rant that isnt helping anyone.
on the other end , few gems could be extracted from this rant .
a) if this is your first grow , dont spend alot of money . it would be a waste , get familiar with the plant, its problems , the method of grow . and then after a few successful grow u should upgrade , and do what ever u want.
b) when using cfl's u should keep in mind that the light isnt as dense as HPS bulb - meaning , that the light positioned 2-3 inches from the top of the plant , would reach only the top-middle part of the plant . so also bulbs should be positioned at the side of the plant as well as on top.
c) nutes - start without nutes on your first grow , see how well ur doing , and after your first grow start researching on which nutes to use .
d) key ingridient - do your own research. theres a whole lot of info at this forum , and on the internet . so try searching before posting . (prolly this is what Vindicated is ranting about)
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
Watts means actual not equivalent. In early veg with small plants, less than 100w per plant is fine. As they grow, you want cfls in very close. That means one cannot cover very much foliage. As plants get larger you want cfls all around. In flower it becomes even more important. You want 75% or so 2700k (red). And you should have more light than in veg, you can't get too much. I would say a typical 3 ft indoor plant in peak flower should have at least 150w on it. More plants together share light to some extent. I currently have 4 plants in week 6 of flower with a total of 425w and 200 of that is in T5 HO which is more intense than cfl.
oregon024
Active Member
everone has to start somewere.I was told use a 65 watt cfl.I read the lumens and a 24 watt had alot more lumens.
Yea so would u wanna use the one with more watts and less lumens or more lumens and less watts ( my guess is the second one) . Oh and a back step to my hydro system,I used it before to grow peppers in my moms house, but that was my ghetto rigged one. So should I still start in soil or goto a soiless mix? I know what nuts to use
for my money the 23 and 26 watts are more worth it but i was going cheap as possible. it cost the same for 20 bulbs as it would of for 3 42w bulbs so it was pretty obvious which one to get for me. alot of people say the 42w are the best but not in my case price wise. if you can afford em go for it.
if you know how to use the hydro have at it. but if your not familiar with testing your water and all that bs that comes along with hydro your better off with soil. get enough 6500k/daylight bulbs to cover the area for veg and 2700k/soft white for flowering.
if you know how to use the hydro have at it. but if your not familiar with testing your water and all that bs that comes along with hydro your better off with soil. get enough 6500k/daylight bulbs to cover the area for veg and 2700k/soft white for flowering.
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
All cfls produce around 60-65 lumens per watt, that's actual watt. So you can figure watts per dollar to see which are more cost effective, and also consider which are easier to position around plants since you want them in close. I like 42w in large clamp reflectors.
tmaster2
Active Member
watts dont mean anything for the plants.
so u want more lumens , and in the right spectrum , 6500k , 2700k .. etc.
watts does give u a prespective on how much lumens the bulb has . by a rough calculation to CFL u get 50 lumens per watt (again , for the smaller watts number on the bulb)