911 my plants are stretching

Mrfootball420

Well-Known Member
You dont have to chop her. Just grab her and tie her down like a big rainbow. Use a stick or a nail in the wall. Weave it in and out but keep her low. With those lights you have to leave them as close as humanly possible. You should have to raise your light everyday because they start to touch it. You only keep the lights away with hid`s because it will literally burn the plant. In your case you wont burn your plants so you should be right on top of them to maximize the lumens.
 

drsmokey

Member
You dont have to chop her. Just grab her and tie her down like a big rainbow. Use a stick or a nail in the wall. Weave it in and out but keep her low. With those lights you have to leave them as close as humanly possible. You should have to raise your light everyday because they start to touch it. You only keep the lights away with hid`s because it will literally burn the plant. In your case you wont burn your plants so you should be right on top of them to maximize the lumens.
thanks.. soo since im using cfls i can put them pretty damn close.. soo where should i focuse my light?? at the top or middle??
 

superskunkd

Active Member
the link is there now sorry i had to go find it.! haha and i spent about 20 dollars on bulbs (not counting the 2 40w 5000k's but there not expensive either 10 dolls or something) so far maybe need another 10-15 dollars and then all you need is fixtures which i use reg lamps and put the cfl's in a socket adapter cause that allows for two bulbs in one lamp.(the socket adapter costs about 3 dollars at menards or walmart) then i have a fan on top blowing about 15 inches from the plants that blows the hot air off the top and i also have a small fan that blows on low to the bottom to cool the air down(the small fan is pushin air from outside the room in). ALSO I WOULD NOT CUT THE PLANT NOW I WOULD LET HER GROW FOR SURE YOU WILL GET BETTER RESULTS. PLUS IT IS NOT THAT WISE TO CUT IN FLOWERING IN MY OPINION.
 

Mrfootball420

Well-Known Member
thanks.. soo since im using cfls i can put them pretty damn close.. soo where should i focuse my light?? at the top or middle??
On top in the middle :P with flos the key is to keep them as low and tight as possible. The lumen output is very low compared to an hid lamp. So the higher you go with the light the more space you have that wont get nearly enough lumens towards the bottom. Id say start tying down all of your branches which will do two things. It will strengthen your branchs/plant and it will keep her low to absorb more lumens. No reason to stretch them out and waste a bunch of open space down low. Keep it low and fill out your grow space by tying them down.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
the top needs a lot of light but i would try to focus on getting light from all angles all around your plants like this(and remember i intend on getting about 6 more lights as well... and after i get those extra light i am going to get all of the lights as close to the plants as possible and i will be set for flowering..)
 

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Mrfootball420

Well-Known Member
the top needs a lot of light but i would try to focus on getting light from all angles all around your plants like this(and remember i intend on getting about 6 more lights as well... and after i get those extra light i am going to get all of the lights as close to the plants as possible and i will be set for flowering..)
The payoff is in the tops. Thats where the lumens should be IMO. For vegging you could do that if you wanted to. But come flowering the weight is upstairs.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
i very much agree that the top needs a ton of light i will have about 4-6 26W 2700k about 2-3 inches from the top of my plant once i get them here but i also want to stress that you dont want to neglect the rest of your plant either. my lumens i have described in my grow room is in the 20 thousand range(for 3 plants) and more than half will be at the very top. but thats where i throw in a couple 3500k's from the bottom pointing up on each plant and as many others all around because as you want your top lumens on the very top you will want all your extras all around for better buds everywhere not just the top. ( the only reason i say all of this is because most people feed the top of there plant all the lumens and end up with only one great bud. this way you will be happy with the entire thing..)
 

Mrfootball420

Well-Known Member
i very much agree that the top needs a ton of light i will have about 4-6 26W 2700k about 2-3 inches from the top of my plant once i get them here but i also want to stress that you dont want to neglect the rest of your plant either. my lumens i have described in my grow room is in the 20 thousand range(for 3 plants) and more than half will be at the very top. but thats where i throw in a couple 3500k's from the bottom pointing up on each plant and as many others all around because as you want your top lumens on the very top you will want all your extras all around for better buds everywhere not just the top. ( the only reason i say all of this is because most people feed the top of there plant all the lumens and end up with only one great bud. this way you will be happy with the entire thing..)
If you are going to use that many flos then why not just go with a 600w or 1000w hid? With the amount of power you will be using you might as well go with an hid and get heavier thicker buds. Cost wise its going to be about the same but your yield is whats going to take the hit. CFLs can flower plants but they will be airy and thin. An Hps lamp would probably triple your yield at least.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
because for one ballast its over a hundred dolls unless you bargain shop and i am unemployed at the time being... i spent a total of about 30 dollars and this was an experiment with cfl's... i have been researching and while the energy bill may go up i save money on trying to keep my closet under 95 degrees and my electric bill went up about 5 dollars! also the dense buds i can agree with but the cfls will produce very nice bud too.. i have seen some killer bud from these things.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
i am doing an experiment on the light spectrum and this is why-



"As you mentioned, you have several lighting systems to choose from, including compact fluorescents and high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Among HPS lamps you have a choice between a single 100-watt lamp which uses a total of about 120-watts and emits about 8,800 lumens(73 lumens per watt) or a 150-watt lamp, which uses about 180 watts and emits almost double that-15,800 lumens (87 lumens per watt).

A 42-watt compact fluorescent (CFL) emits about 2700 lumens(64 lumens per watt). Four 42 watt CFLs use 168 watts and emit 10,800 lumens. Other size CFLs have a similar efficiency.

However, that is only part of the story. Plants use mostly red and blue light. Yellow and green light is of little use to them, so light that is emitted in these spectrums is wasted energy. Most of the light emitted by HPS lamps is in the yellow spectrum. Only a small amount of the emitted light is in the orange or red spectrums, which plants use efficiently. Warm white fluorescents (2700 Kelvin) emit a greater portion in the red and orange sectors.
Although fluorescents produce only about 75% of the light per watt that the HPS does, the amount of light usable by the plant is equal or probably higher with the fluorescents. You may wish to experiment to see if adding a single cool white CFL to replace one warm white results in shorter, stouter stems and more vigorous growth. The reasoning is that warm whites don't emit much blue light, which the plants use for photosynthesis and to regulate their growth. The cool white bulb supplies the blue light.

My call for your unit would be to use several (three to five) CFLs with a total input of between 120-160 watts. Although the 150 watt HPS is a bit more efficient that the CFLs in total output, watt for watt the fluorescents provide as much useful light as the HPS lamp. Heat is another consideration. The HPS runs much hotter and emits more heat than the flourescents. "

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/plant-bud-photos/107756-final-product-grown-cfls-only.html here is some bud grown with cfl's i was surprised...i think the movement of cfls is on a quick rising. look at all the groups that are dedicated solely to cfls. im just giving advice to those who ARE using cfls.
 

incognito5320

Active Member
Please dont give advice like that. Please? 1st never bombard a fresh cutting with to much light! Second never take your main top in flower as a clone. odds number 1 are near certain death for the clone anyway and number 2 if your going to take the main cola of a budding plant you might aswell cut some of the roots off while your at it!.
DrtyBngWtr, you're absolutely right. I wrote this in haste, and when I review what I wrote, I see that I wasn't clear at all. I didn't mean to take clones and bombard them with light. I meant that once the plant is established (via cloning or even starting over from seed), if there isn't more light available to the plant, the writer would continue to have the same problem. That's why I was quoting d6520 when he wrote, "u can clone that sucker but ur gon have the same problem if dont lower the light". Also, I wasn't insinuating that he should top the plant in flower, obviously that is not when topping is done, but that is basically what this guy is thinking of doing at this point to reduce stretch. That's why I wrote, "I don't equate an intentional chopping in half as a "topping" to the 2nd or 3rd node.". Again, I should have been much clearer. Thanks for pointing this out. Cheers!
 

Mrfootball420

Well-Known Member
i am doing an experiment on the light spectrum and this is why-



"As you mentioned, you have several lighting systems to choose from, including compact fluorescents and high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Among HPS lamps you have a choice between a single 100-watt lamp which uses a total of about 120-watts and emits about 8,800 lumens(73 lumens per watt) or a 150-watt lamp, which uses about 180 watts and emits almost double that-15,800 lumens (87 lumens per watt).

A 42-watt compact fluorescent (CFL) emits about 2700 lumens(64 lumens per watt). Four 42 watt CFLs use 168 watts and emit 10,800 lumens. Other size CFLs have a similar efficiency.

However, that is only part of the story. Plants use mostly red and blue light. Yellow and green light is of little use to them, so light that is emitted in these spectrums is wasted energy. Most of the light emitted by HPS lamps is in the yellow spectrum. Only a small amount of the emitted light is in the orange or red spectrums, which plants use efficiently. Warm white fluorescents (2700 Kelvin) emit a greater portion in the red and orange sectors.
Although fluorescents produce only about 75% of the light per watt that the HPS does, the amount of light usable by the plant is equal or probably higher with the fluorescents. You may wish to experiment to see if adding a single cool white CFL to replace one warm white results in shorter, stouter stems and more vigorous growth. The reasoning is that warm whites don't emit much blue light, which the plants use for photosynthesis and to regulate their growth. The cool white bulb supplies the blue light.

My call for your unit would be to use several (three to five) CFLs with a total input of between 120-160 watts. Although the 150 watt HPS is a bit more efficient that the CFLs in total output, watt for watt the fluorescents provide as much useful light as the HPS lamp. Heat is another consideration. The HPS runs much hotter and emits more heat than the flourescents. "

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/plant-bud-photos/107756-final-product-grown-cfls-only.html here is some bud grown with cfl's i was surprised...i think the movement of cfls is on a quick rising. look at all the groups that are dedicated solely to cfls. im just giving advice to those who ARE using cfls.
I was just pointing out that with that many Cfls you might as well just go with an hid lamp.

With cfls you have to play the spectrum game if you want to to maximize yield potential. There has already been extensive research done on this and which bulbs to use during which stages of growth mostly, just blue and red. Go check out uvb lights and how it effects marijuana growth. You might want to add that to your experiment.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
haha yeah i might try that too...lol but yes in your defense if i had funds and was able to i wouldnt have started with the cfls but since i did i just figured i would continue and mess with the lighting a bit and see what happened. happy growing to everyone though and im interested in to see where this grow goes now.
 

DrtyBngWtr

Active Member
DrtyBngWtr, you're absolutely right. I wrote this in haste, and when I review what I wrote, I see that I wasn't clear at all. I didn't mean to take clones and bombard them with light. I meant that once the plant is established (via cloning or even starting over from seed), if there isn't more light available to the plant, the writer would continue to have the same problem. That's why I was quoting d6520 when he wrote, "u can clone that sucker but ur gon have the same problem if dont lower the light". Also, I wasn't insinuating that he should top the plant in flower, obviously that is not when topping is done, but that is basically what this guy is thinking of doing at this point to reduce stretch. That's why I wrote, "I don't equate an intentional chopping in half as a "topping" to the 2nd or 3rd node.". Again, I should have been much clearer. Thanks for pointing this out. Cheers!
Much Much better!
 

drsmokey

Member
idk if its me or its really working .. but i moved my cfls closer and the tops are looking pretty good.. im pretty sure my leaf problem was nute burn .. the lady at hydroshop said to give it what the direction say but ive seen some where on here where ppl say do half of that..... i will post pics later today ... let me know if you can see the improvement
 

superskunkd

Active Member
whatever the lady told you to do as far as nutes you really need to dillute it because your plants need to be weined on there food first before giving reccomended doses..like 1to4 to start with.
 

drsmokey

Member
whatever the lady told you to do as far as nutes you really need to dillute it because your plants need to be weined on there food first before giving reccomended doses..like 1to4 to start with.

so if im using 14tsp of part a and 14 of part b then how much should i put?.
 

superskunkd

Active Member
1 to 4 would be 3.5tsp both a and b now this might depend on the nute but 1-4 is what i have heard is the best to start with and only do it every other watering or so...not 100% because i dont use a lot of nutes myself yet but then after a few times you would add like 7tsp and then like 10.5 then like 14. hope this helps.again this is my opinion from what ive read here in riu!
 
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