2x3 Homemade Cab Grow - 1st CFL - Advice Welcomed

KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,

KJ here, with my very first CFL grow, and first grow in almost 10 years!

I am sort of putting this all together as I go along, budget permitting, so advice as to what should be next is welcome.

I planted these beans on New Years Day in peat pellets with just plain ol' tap water.

The strain is unknown, although they came from some high grade stuff, very piney, and very green with lots of crystals.

Planted 5 beans to start, only 4 popped.

My cabinet is made from waterproof siding stuff I had lying around in the garage, I then painted it all white, stuck it together, and declared it my New Years Resolution. I'm going to grow weed again.

Plus I have a basement nowadays and this makes things tremendously easier on so many levels.

Temperatures are steady 77 degrees farenheit and 30% humidity. I can't remember what the humidity should be, but I know that 77 degrees is pretty good. It is ventilated, you just can't see it, it's at the top, behind the TV.

I am currently running a 24 hour light cycle until the 7th of January, then I'm gonna go ahead and hit it with 12/12. Unless you guys have better ideas...

Looking for thoughts on nutes with soil, soil (currently using regular ass gardening miracle gro) and any thing else really.

Thanks for all you guys do, I've been lurking for a long time, trying to learn, and I have learned a lot from here.

Thanks for having me in the community.

PS: I have a small gnat problem...?? No worms in the dirt though.






 
P

P10p

Well-Known Member
You should run something like 18/6 for a month or two before switching to 12/12, other then that, everything seems great! Best of luck to you!

-P10p
 
WeekendToker

WeekendToker

Member
you can run 12/12 this early if you want to have small plants.

i had mine under 12/12 for 3 weeks then it started to flower on its own. she stayed small and to this day is very small.
 
GodSlave

GodSlave

Active Member
Actually, I would suggest staying small. CFL's have very little penetration, and IMO, the best way to grow with CFL is SOG or SCROG. I would suggest putting them into flower after the 4th or 5th node. Then, you will have one large bud (SOG), with no branching, and no worries about light penetration. If you try and grow a large plant with small CFL's, you will have spindly plants that produce mostly popcorn. The other option is SCROG, which requires a screen of chicken wire or the likes. It's the same concept of SOG, except that you veg longer to fill the screen. You train the plants, and eventually you will let the shoots grow through the holes on the screen. You end up with one bud per hole, and a result that mimics SOG, just with a larger yield, and less plants.
I can point you to some links about SCROG if your interested...

About soil...I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest, it's the bomb in my opinion. I also use FoxFarm nutes, Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom. I absolutely love them. I would stay away from any soil that has nutes mixed in, I like to control what goes in.
Just my 2 cents.
GS:leaf:
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
GodSlave said:
Actually, I would suggest staying small. CFL's have very little penetration, and IMO, the best way to grow with CFL is SOG or SCROG. I would suggest putting them into flower after the 4th or 5th node. Then, you will have one large bud (SOG), with no branching, and no worries about light penetration. If you try and grow a large plant with small CFL's, you will have spindly plants that produce mostly popcorn. The other option is SCROG, which requires a screen of chicken wire or the likes. It's the same concept of SOG, except that you veg longer to fill the screen. You train the plants, and eventually you will let the shoots grow through the holes on the screen. You end up with one bud per hole, and a result that mimics SOG, just with a larger yield, and less plants.
I can point you to some links about SCROG if your interested...


About soil...I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest, it's the bomb in my opinion. I also use FoxFarm nutes, Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom. I absolutely love them. I would stay away from any soil that has nutes mixed in, I like to control what goes in.
Just my 2 cents.
GS:leaf:
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, yeah I am aware of scrog and sog, and for the record I have a shit load of lights. Currently I am only using 4 23watt 6500k, but I have a bunch of 43 watt 2500k for the flowering. I might order some big ones, but we'll see.

I do want to keep them small for now, until I get back into the swing of growing again. I just want to use this time to refine my system and learn more. Hence the bagseed.

I will prolly just go for the sea of green, although, I have some chicken wire... Chickens too.....

I ordered some ocean forest today, should be here soon.

Any suggestions on good nutes for soil?? I was looking at fox farm but they seem a little pricey. Perhaps I will use the search feature! lol

Thanks guys.
 
F

Future Farmer of America

Active Member
Seems like a good setup, the only advice I would give is to drop those cfl's as close as you can.. They tend to lose most of there usage beyond 2" away!

Also if they get too tall too fast and you're planning on transplanting to a bigger pot, you can damn near cover it up close to the bottom leaves. I thought this technique would smother it but it wont, just helps you keep it lower. Good Luck!
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Future Farmer of America said:
Seems like a good setup, the only advice I would give is to drop those cfl's as close as you can.. They tend to lose most of there usage beyond 2" away!

Also if they get too tall too fast and you're planning on transplanting to a bigger pot, you can damn near cover it up close to the bottom leaves. I thought this technique would smother it but it wont, just helps you keep it lower. Good Luck!
Click to expand...
The lights are only an or inch or so away from them, I had to raise the lights to get the pictures.

Good idea on the transplant though, hadn't thought of that.

The plan is to grow them out to about the 3rd or 4th node and then flower them. CFL's don't have much penetration, so the smaller the better. I'm working on a new light set up that should be pretty sweet, I'll put some pics up when I'm finished.
 
GodSlave

GodSlave

Active Member
KingJalopy said:
The plan is to grow them out to about the 3rd or 4th node and then flower them. CFL's don't have much penetration, so the smaller the better.
Click to expand...
There 'ya go! THE best way to grow with CFL, IMO. Well actually, IMO, SCROG is the best way to get the most quantity, but it's just a variation of SOG, which is what your doing. Rock On!
GS:leaf:
 
F

Future Farmer of America

Active Member
KingJalopy said:
The lights are only an or inch or so away from them, I had to raise the lights to get the pictures.

Good idea on the transplant though, hadn't thought of that.

The plan is to grow them out to about the 3rd or 4th node and then flower them. CFL's don't have much penetration, so the smaller the better. I'm working on a new light set up that should be pretty sweet, I'll put some pics up when I'm finished.
Click to expand...
I figured you had probably moved them. It seems to be a never ending battle of cfl setup, try adding one more bulb and drop it right in between them and rotate the babies once a light period.

My advice is based on extensive research not experience, much love and good luck!
 
P

P10p

Well-Known Member
If you have enough lights you don't have to worry about light penetration. Its easy to position your lights around the plant to ensure light touches everywhere. I have 15 lights on two plants and its working wonders.

-P10p
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
P10p said:
If you have enough lights you don't have to worry about light penetration. Its easy to position your lights around the plant to ensure light touches everywhere. I have 15 lights on two plants and its working wonders.

-P10p
Click to expand...
This is what I've figured, and I have at least 12 right now, and I'm sure I will get more. The way I see it, it can't hurt to overdo it on the lights.
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Today marks the 7th day from seed. The girls were just put to sleep for the first time since their birth. I've set them to 18/6.

A new set of leaves are coming in, and I noticed they are looking a little droopy. I haven't watered them today, but I don't think they need it.




Notice the discoloration on the plant in the top of this pic, any ideas what that could be?


Overall look at how they are spending most of their time.


While a little droopy, the girls appear to be doing fine so far. They will be receiving some decent soil soon, it should help.


And for anyone wondering, I have enclosed the babies as much as possible with a reflective sun visor taped to cardboard. I can adjust it as needed for size, until such a time that they can fill the box I built for them. Just a way to utilize what would be wasted light.
 

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