Shall i use a fan yet or not

[TurtleTom100]

Hey all my new babies were germinated from the 27th august through till last monday then i planted them in 6cm peat pots, they all sprouted up within 36 hours and are now all a good inch n a half - 2 inches tall with the top 4 leafs i have currnetly got one cfl 100w but was wondering how long before i have to introduce the fan to help the stems thicken and also stick it in my cupboard where there is another 3 100w cfl and there is one red fire glow bulb (heard it was really good for the stems health having a red light in aswell (and it produces a bit of heat) so there would be 400w cfl one red fire glow bulb and i have a fan circulating air in there.

i am growing - Nirvana - bubblecious - auto flowering feminized
i will upload photos if needed

 

[EmptyWords]

i use a fan immediately after the seeds sprout on very low but thats just me. i see lots of people that say wait 2 or 3 weeks but i dont and my plants are just fine. i have an lsd plant that is almost 2 months old and i started using a fan since it sprouted and its about 2 inches thick at the base. just make sure your not causing a huge windstorm to your sprouts and you should be fine lol.

 

[TurtleTom100]

ok thought so i have waited until they are a wek old but they should be able to support themselfs now i have also filled the pots to the top to help support the stem a litle bit more ( i liek to leave like half inch gap up the top so when they get older i can put bit of soil around the bottom and help keep it. (u have an lsd plant) as in lsd or a type of bud? sorry if it sounds dumb to be asking that

 

[TurtleTom100]

and with regards to the lighting situation how long before i introduce the more light? i can raise all the lights or lower them as and when so could i stick all my plants straight in there but have the lights up high then as they mature bring them closer or will that cause the plant to stretch to much i dont want for there to be too much light for the lil babies, but i dont want to stress them either i wanted to just put them there and leave them there and just move the lights until i plant in bigger pots or would you reccomend putting straight into bigger pot now and let it do its thing?

 

[EmptyWords]

yes i have an lsd plant, it is a strain by barneys farm. i am not too sure because i dont use cfl's much. during the first couple weeks of veg i use a 105w t5 on seedlings or cuttings and then i will put them under a 400 or 1000w mh system. maybe someone will say something about this for you, if not just give you seeds a few days and put them in there and put the lights close enough that it doesnt burn the plants "put hand at plant top for 30 seconds and if no uncomfortableness then you are ok".

 

[TurtleTom100]

i said they are cfl i think they are they are the energy efficent things 100watt equivalent to 11w

 

[EmptyWords]

oh, well if they are 11w then go for it but if you only have 4 which would be 44w, that seems pretty low. i guess a good rule of thumb is 100w per plant during flower. not sure about veg. all i know is during veg i will use a 400 or 1000w mh.

 

[TurtleTom100]

cheers emptywords very helpful let the first grow work well then ill be looking on to spendidn more money and getting better lights but this is only 2nd grow

 

[TurtleTom100]

and they are the energy efficent ones so it uses 11watt of electric but gives out a 100w light and ill be looking at 4 of these then the red one on top for 4 bubblecious auto flowering (so the light patern dont matter too much i believe)

 

[EmptyWords]

well like i said i dont know much about cfl's but it sounds like you will be ok, especially because it seems you are using quite a small area "a cupboard i believe you said". good luck with it.

 

[TurtleTom100]

empty words i have got some pics View attachment 1141560

 

[tim g]

you need to get theme lights closer as there streching.

 

[surgedup]

damn those are stretched really bad man damn ........they might fall over soon ..... plant them deeper in the pot with the stem deep in the soil and you should be fine anything under the dirt will start to root .....

 

[TurtleTom100]

Guys 100% agree and i was thinking the same so i have now turned the fluoro tube on planted them in slightly bigger pots and put the soil up the stem to help one of them was very floppy i just hopee i rescued it ill take photos now and upload cheers for everything

 

[TurtleTom100]

as you can see they are now in bigger pots and also sunk abit of the stem so theyre not stretch also the tube is on the other light is off (it was only on for heat i have got a spotlight bulb like what you use in kitchens aswell if that better) the lights are closer and so far things are ok again i think

 

[Magua]

and they are the energy efficent ones so it uses 11watt of electric but gives out a 100w light

I hate to say it but the equivalent wattage that CFL bulb manufacturers put on the labels is completely bogus in terms of growing. When calculating CFL wattage you need to look at the actual wattage of the bulb, not what the manufacturer says the incandescant output is equivalent to. Check out this FAQ on CFL's: https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/107992-tutorial-growing-cfls.html

So in this case 11 watts = 11 watts. It does not magically give out more light than 11 watts, it is just more efficient in the sense that it doesn't waste as much energy on heat like incandescent bulbs do. As your seedlings mature you will need a lot more light than what you currently have.

You can get 23-46 or so watt bulbs at most major hardware stores for cheap. Get a couple a Y-splitters / adapters and you can at least double your bulb capacity for your fixtures and use some higher output CFL's. More light will help with your stretching issue and adding some air flow will help your stems grow stronger. Have fun and good luck on your project.

 

[TurtleTom100]

if thats the case i mayaswell use the light i had before (kitchen spotlight) cos they wer 65w each. or what have like 20 cfls in there this bv wont rape the electric because they are energy efficent ones

 

[xeningti]

hey man
im doing a cfl grow myself, 1st time. im using a 125 watt (300 odd watt equiv) grow light bought from my local grow shop. Its bloody powerful but i can still touch the bulb and plant is loving it. As for ventiliation i have a msall 6 inch diamte fan blowing on it just when the light is on. just to keep her dancing. Im thinkin its maybe too cold for her even when the lamps on but the temp sits nicely at 26 degrees all the time spot on! and usually goes down to 18 lowest when lamps off.
Hope all is goes well for you anyways

 

[TurtleTom100]

have you any photos of your grow setup pal? i just using a desk fan on the lowest setting i need to get a thermoter but my plants seem to be doing well 9 days in and i have 6 leaves on couple of them

 

[TurtleTom100]

personally i have been using it since monday (7 days old) and seem to be fine other than when they were in the samller pots one did bend downwards cos it was stretched so i have put in bigger plants and waiting to get more lights