convict156326
Active Member
rotate your cups too, that will help them bending twords the light like they are. even if you just set the cups on books gt em closer to the bulb.
Hell yeah, I'm on a pretty tight budget too, so I feel the need to keep grow costs down. Pretty much everything in my setup is stuff just found around the house. I think I spent a total of maybe $50 buying things I didn't have and couldn't make. Soil pH meter, roughly $20 for a decent one, pH test kit to test your water and chemicals to adjust it, $10, keeping track of your pH can be vital, socket adapters and Y connectors x 3, $10, another $10 for 2 42w warm white CFL's for flowering (when the time comes). I made a reflector housing for the lights using a 5 plug power bar I had, a 24" x 36" piece of black foam board, a hot glue gun, and some aluminum tape gotten from a friend that does HVAC contracting, which is hung by 2 pieces of chain and some "S" hooks. You can get the materials for this at pretty much any Home Depot/Walmart type store for around another $20 if you don't have stuff you can use at home. Again, if you're looking to save money, you can go with CFL for flower too, just make sure you're using equal or more warm white light (2700k) than coolwhite/daylight (6500k) as it helps simulate the seasonal lighting a plant would be getting in nature. I know a couple people that had perfectly good yields using only CFL lighting.keep cfl bulbs about 1 inch from the girls, they wont burn unless the bulb is pretty much resting on leaves. and its super good for seedlings. o and theyir hella cheap too lols
I'll post pics of the reflector I made later, works like a charm, my ladies love it. My older plant is about 5 weeks, and its lush and bushy with lots and lots of side growth. You can use the flouros you have now horizontally along either side of your grow space as well as a CFL, MH, HPS, etc. fixture hanging above to promote shorter, bushier plants, also increasing side growth with possible future bud sites. I do highly advise that you don't use flouro only for much longer as the best light comes from the center of the bulbs, and the wavelengths diminsh within about 6 inches, which means the plants furthest from the lightsource will either stretch severely or just not get the right amount of light they need to flourish.Thanks for the advice guys, I found another 12 inch flor bulb with fixture and will be adding that to the setup today. I have an idea of how to do the three lights but sense the lights come out of the corner not the middle I'm going to have to rig some kind of reflector I still need 2 more for 360 light
I understand all too well, I'll try to pass along any cost saving tips I come across.So far I have spent 3$ on foil, 5$ on mg soil, 1$ on tacks, and that's it lol. Everything else I already had. I'm poor lol
Hey I use foil too, keeps light in and helps reflect. A poor mans mylar lol. Anyway if your just using the carboard box shelling I would recommend Insulating with a thin (1/2 inch) layer of styrofoam, helps keep it a good temp, with tin foil over that as the reflector. Thats what I'm currently using in my 15gallon Rubbermaid tub setup. Course if your outside air thats circulating is 75 is so degrees than you dont need to worry about it as much. Mine is in teh upper 60s so the insulation factor helps alot, especially during the night cycle.I know most people are against using foil but I'm poor so get over it lol. But seriously I added a foil barrier to reflect the light. I used the dull side and am working on building a grow box about 2 feet high out of a cardboard box cover the inside with foil and making it smooth, and am cutting another piece of cardboard to fit inside and am going to attach my 2 12in flor lights to the "lid" so I can raise and lower the lights.
Dang, 10x3x3... ya could get some monstahs in thar man. lol.The height of my grow room is 10 feet tall 3 wide and deep
One easy thing to do is get a rack of some sort and train your plant to almost grow sideways, it encourages branching and the colas on the sides will get much more light, more light = bigger buds bro. sneaky alliteration... hehehe..I plan on lst. But Donno yet.