1st grow on a slim budget

So was gonna try and do a free grow however I have had the good fortune that a buddy if mine is gonna fund it and will wait for payment till after the grow (im super broke) so far I havent spent a dime besides the electricity I have a home made hood tin foil for reflection and some bag seed babies.....
With that being said I have a few questions to throw out there as far a soil goes anyone use EcoScraps 1-cu. ft. Moisture Retaining Potting Mix before? Ffof not available im shopping at HD. Is a gal sugar/yeast setup for co2 worth my time? Is the tin foil needed? I ask this cause after 6" cfls about become useless so wouldn't reflected light just be useless? just curious.

Ps. Yes I have pics I can leave a link to them but CAN NOT POST THEM directly I have a pos phone and have spent hours trying to


Next the info im on day 7 since sprout they stretched a little due to using the sun for light the first 3 days I currently have 3 23 watt 1600lm 6400k light bulbs within an inch of every leaf. Monday I will be going and getting more lights,fan, pots and soil an ph tester that is all lol

http://s1304.photobucket.com/albums/s525/klozetgrow/?action=view&current=WP_000341_zps12e7d5b6.jpg

Here is the link to the pics feel free to browse

Reflected light will only help, no matter how little.
Not sure about the soil tbh.
Ive used similar lights for cheeeaaap setups, only to kick myself in the butt when all was done. With the amount of time you will have to put into this, its definitely worth investing the extra money to actually make it worth your while. Try getting the biggest CFLS you can, and as many as possible.
You can get a decent yeild, but not the dense ass buds we all love
Just my 2 cents

Check our sunnyjims ketema cfl grow I was almost turned then read his thread its pretty nice and honestly just dont have the money to spend 100$ just on a light im gonna spend under 50$ for about 45000 lumens output grant it I might upgrade after a couple grows I eventually want to have a perpetual grow going (2 plants at a time) but we shall see will probably go DWC also but you never know

The good thing about CFLs is you can add them as the plants get bigger, so there isn't a need to purchase all of your bulbs now. As far the soil you mentioned I've never used but should be ok. Dependant upon how you plan to grow should determine the size cfls you should use imo. Jim's grow was a scrog so 2 large cfls did a great job for him, but I didn't scrog so 23 watt bulbs worked best for me for bulb placement reasons. That being said Sunny did have an awesome grow that beat mines by 15g.

Also unlike Jim's grow my girl was in soil, which probably aided with his increased yield. So if your not scrog'ing I would stick with 23 watt bulbs for easy placement! Goodluck bro!

Thanks skinny yea gonna run 46 watt bulbs (6 2600k) 4 23w 6400k and my goal is to set up a scrog but being a newb we shall see lol and what about the sugar/yeast co2 setup goal is 3 2liter running into a gal then from there over the top of the canopy is it worth my time (will it provide enough co2 to actually matter) and thanks again guys love the feedback

This guy's got the fever!!!
First things first, good job! You got this, take your time and keep doing what your doing. I find that it is always better to grow alone no matter who it is, shit I tell my wife if she wants to fuck with some plants to grow her own. That soil is fine if those seeds are thriving in it then what's the problem? I used MG from home depot for years no problems. The only thing that I have noticed in difference between ffof and retail type soils is the fillers and added nutrients. I used a aluminum turkey pan for my hood w/cfl's. I saw your pics and it's working, no reason to rush to change it. The co2 is your call there is plenty of it in the air in your house but if you want to fuck around and play MacGyver do it. I would just save the $10.00 you'd spend playing around with tubes and bottles for more lights, pots, soil etc. You got about 4 more week's to get a plan together and some more cash. Good Luck!

klozetgrow said:

Thanks skinny yea gonna run 46 watt bulbs (6 2600k) 4 23w 6400k and my goal is to set up a scrog but being a newb we shall see lol and what about the sugar/yeast co2 setup goal is 3 2liter running into a gal then from there over the top of the canopy is it worth my time (will it provide enough co2 to actually matter) and thanks again guys love the feedback

Click to expand...

When you keep adding cfl's to your set up by the time you get to where you want to be you could have got a cheap HID light. Same goes with odor control, I spent way more masking it then the cost of the fan and filter. I have boxes of old cfl's Im waiting to use in my house but those son of a bitch's don't burn out for years.

Good luck
Polo

malicifice said:

When you keep adding cfl's to your set up by the time you get to where you want to be you could have got a cheap HID light. Same goes with odor control, I spent way more masking it then the cost of the fan and filter. I have boxes of old cfl's Im waiting to use in my house but those son of a bitch's don't burn out for years.

Click to expand...

I agree malicifice to a certain degree. If you keep the bulbs and wattage limited then you save a little more. Jim mentioned in 1 of his threads that over 300 watts of cfls it starts not to be as cost effective. I ran 305 watts noob style lol, Jim ran a 250 scrog that beat my yield. That being said HID is hard for me in my space, if I had a closet would've been setup HID. I have seen smaller cabs with HID and I do plan to uprade at some point in time, but not ready at this point in time. I'm still a noob just 3rd harvest so somethings I try to keep simply.

klozetgrow said:

Thanks skinny yea gonna run 46 watt bulbs (6 2600k) 4 23w 6400k and my goal is to set up a scrog but being a newb we shall see lol and what about the sugar/yeast co2 setup goal is 3 2liter running into a gal then from there over the top of the canopy is it worth my time (will it provide enough co2 to actually matter) and thanks again guys love the feedback

Click to expand...

Never ran any co2 klozet, this was my 1st indoor harvest, other 2 were from outdoor plants. So I would have no clue on a setup.

Besides not having the upfront money I too am a newb and want to use cfls in a couple months my financial situation will be better and will invest in an hid but till then im gonna do the best I can with what I got


And thanks again peeps all info and opinions are appreciated

What you are doing will work and you will get some herb out of it!

So finally got some smoke (been out two months and havent had the money to get any) and a nice tip$ from a customer aannndddd off work early time to go on a stoned adventure to WalMart and home depot

pics of what I get an money spent when im done

Finally figured out gravatar now if I could figure out how to post directly to threads

klozetgrow said:

So finally got some smoke (been out two months and havent had the money to get any) and a nice tip$ from a customer aannndddd off work early time to go on a stoned adventure to WalMart and home depot

Click to expand...

Plenty of trips to HD stoned. Sometimes too stoned lol!

k now have a 55 watt 2700k a 35 watt 6400k bulb (+ the 3 26watt 6400k) have also transplanted two of the four into 2gal pots they were definitely root bound I feel bad for my two other babies still stuck in the starter cups but mon that will be fixed also got a ph and moisture meter so 90 more watts of bulb and two pots plus tester and potting soil total spent well.... 10$ however ummm yea we will keep it at that lol but mission success lol

Here's the pics feel free to browse

http://s1304.photobucket.com/albums/s525/klozetgrow/?action=view&current=WP_000370_zps5a06ecdf.jpg

http://s1304.photobucket.com/albums/s525/klozetgrow/?action=view&current=WP_000371_zps1e366bc5.jpg

Be careful with those fuckers so close, they can and will burn the fuck out of the plant if it gets hot enough. OR is touching the fan leaf / etc.

Scrap the tin foil, your better off spray painting the foil a gloss white. That tin likes to retain heat.

If its moister RETAINING soil, you should have got the kind that protects against "OVER" watering, you don't want that soil to stay wet, any longer than necessary. Think (saturate / bone dry / repeat), you may want to add some peralite to it, to prevent it staying saturated too long and drowning the plant.

For ease your first go, I would use something with slow release nutes... (will say feeds 1+ months, 3+ months, 3-6 months, etc) on bag. My fav is miracle grow moisture control (prevents over and under watering) plus it feeds 3-6 months, which is long enough for start to finish. So with that being said, all you have to do is try to prevent pests, ph your water, and try not to over water the crap out of it like most newbs do. No need to fuck with nutes, no real need to PPM anything, no reliance on pumps, and hoses, shit like that. Makes it so fucking easy a stoner could do it... hahaha