CFL Closet Grow For Me And Wifey

ZipDriveX

Active Member
I'm meaning 100 equilivant watts, not actual. When it comes to the plants "seeing" the wattage, do they "see" the actual or the equalivent?
 

nomaninsf

Well-Known Member
It's not so much about actual or equivalent. It's about how much lumens your light is putting out. You would have to get a light meter to measure the foot candels of a 100 watt incandescent and compare the amount to your 26 watt equivalent CFL to know for sure how they compare. That would tell you what puts off more light. I guess you could use a foot candles to lumen conversion equation to figure out the lumens. One thing that's for sure is that you get more lumens per watt with a CFL or HID light over an incandescent any day. HID (HPS over MH) lighting is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck though.
 

ZipDriveX

Active Member
Well something is helping these little guys out cause I can already see Tiana peeking out :)

Temps at the soil surface is reading 105 with all the light being focused so close together. Gonna make some minor adjustments before bed :)

Thoughts?
 

nomaninsf

Well-Known Member
Well something is helping these little guys out cause I can already see Tiana peeking out :)

Temps at the soil surface is reading 105 with all the light being focused so close together. Gonna make some minor adjustments before bed :)

Thoughts?
Just ad a small fan to the mix. Those 4 CFL's can't be producing that much heat. The reason it's getting so hot is because the heat that is there is focused to such a small spot. How far away are the actual bulbs? With bulbs of such low wattage you should be able to have them 3-6" above the plants without any heat problems as long as you have some air blowing on them.
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
you pre germinated them seeds didnt you, like with a paper towel?

if so you dont need them to be extremely warm and wet, you really want these conditions if you are sowing right in the soil. if the seed has already sprouted you want to be carefull with how much water you use because too much can cause damping off.

your light rig looks great but remember they dont need any light untill you can see some green, no green = no chlorophyll = no photosynthesis wich means the light is just keeping the soil warm, wich is what i would do as well
seeds.jpg
when i germinate using paper towel method this is how i put them into the pots after the tap root shows, i have had really good sucess this way. by keeping the seed part above soil the seedling has to expend much less energy to reach up and break free of the shell, opposed to planting it under the soil the the plant has to push itself through the soil

just fig i would throw that out there.

also the seedling's tap root is now growing down in search for water so you want to have moist soil but not saturated soil at this point (your soil looks just fine not even sure why im mentioning this lol)
 

ZipDriveX

Active Member
you pre germinated them seeds didnt you, like with a paper towel?

if so you dont need them to be extremely warm and wet, you really want these conditions if you are sowing right in the soil. if the seed has already sprouted you want to be carefull with how much water you use because too much can cause damping off.

your light rig looks great but remember they dont need any light untill you can see some green, no green = no chlorophyll = no photosynthesis wich means the light is just keeping the soil warm, wich is what i would do as well

when i germinate using paper towel method this is how i put them into the pots after the tap root shows, i have had really good sucess this way. by keeping the seed part above soil the seedling has to expend much less energy to reach up and break free of the shell, opposed to planting it under the soil the the plant has to push itself through the soil

just fig i would throw that out there.

also the seedling's tap root is now growing down in search for water so you want to have moist soil but not saturated soil at this point (your soil looks just fine not even sure why im mentioning this lol)
Thanks for all the good tips as always Matt, glad to have someone like you following my grow J

I used the paper towel method to pre germinate the seeds for a couple days and I only put a very light amount of soil on the tops of the seeds (just sprinkled some on top).

Also ya, I was pretty much just using the lights last night for warmth, it gets a little chilly without the lights on (down to 65 at night) in the closet.

And I made sure the soil was damp enough a couple hours before I planted the seeds that I shouldn’t have to water them for about another week, once they’ve all poked up and are all verticle.

As for a small update, Tiana is above soil and starting to straighten up, Alice is peeking threw the soil, and I’m still waiting on the other two to show me their faces lol.
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
you should have 100% sucess if they were all showing a taproot.

what was your light schedule with the last plant, it seems like it was really small to be able to tell it was a male. and they are only going to show signs of sex under 12/12 light unless they are autos.

yeah i just checked out the pics you put up, with the flower's starting to develop. from the looks of the thread i guess im not the only one that is surprised it showed signs so early.
 

ZipDriveX

Active Member
what was your light schedule with the last plant, it seems like it was really small to be able to tell it was a male. and they are only going to show signs of sex under 12/12 light unless they are autos.

yeah i just checked out the pics you put up, with the flower's starting to develop. from the looks of the thread i guess im not the only one that is surprised it showed signs so early.
The lighting I had before was WRONG I figured out and is probably why he showed signs so early. I had done my math wrong (damn stoners!) and accidently had it going 16 on/8 off. This time I've got it set for 18/6 which from my research is what I should be doing. I am kinda glad Tom showed so early though so i didn't waste a couple more weeks.....
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
The lighting I had before was WRONG I figured out and is probably why he showed signs so early. I had done my math wrong (damn stoners!) and accidently had it going 16 on/8 off. This time I've got it set for 18/6 which from my research is what I should be doing. I am kinda glad Tom showed so early though so i didn't waste a couple more weeks.....
a blessing in disguise
did you throw Tom away or you gonna dry him up and make some hash? :)
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
male plants have a really low THC content but you can still extract some from the plant by either making hash or oil. fig you would want to give your first MJ plant a propper cremation :bigjoint:
 

ZipDriveX

Active Member
a blessing in disguise
did you throw Tom away or you gonna dry him up and make some hash? :)
I chopped him down and just saved a couple of the leaves, wasn't aware that you could make hash from a male, not sure there was enough of HIM to make enough hash for ME lol!!

On a side note, I do plan to make hash from my trimmings further down the line
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
i made some using the cold water/ice method, it wasnt great but wasnt bad either. i like to smoke my hash using the paperclip and cup method and it didnt work well for that
 

lime73

Weed Modifier
Well something is helping these little guys out cause I can already see Tiana peeking out


Temps at the soil surface is reading 105 with all the light being focused so close together. Gonna make some minor adjustments before bed


Thoughts?
back lights off a bit or adjust and get a few small fans blowing across the canopy...will help keep temps down
 

ZipDriveX

Active Member
back lights off a bit or adjust and get a few small fans blowing across the canopy...will help keep temps down
I seperated all the girls last night moving them all out from the center enough so that each plant has the one light over it. Temps are around 83 now which is where I want them.

Also just checked at lunch and all 4 seeds are now poking threw the soil. Now just gotta wait a couple days for them to really sprout up :)
 

lime73

Weed Modifier
I seperated all the girls last night moving them all out from the center enough so that each plant has the one light over it. Temps are around 83 now which is where I want them.

Also just checked at lunch and all 4 seeds are now poking threw the soil. Now just gotta wait a couple days for them to really sprout up :)
Perfect...+rep
 
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