cfl AND sunlight questions!

Hey everybody!
Another newbie over here...
I've been experimenting growing for the last few weeks with random seeds I found.
I have some high quality seeds waiting for me to be ready to grow them.
I've made a lot of mistakes, and still making.. some that I'm aware of and some that I'm hoping you'll help me be aware of.
I know I need to replant in different pots.
I know stem is way way too long and I'll cover it when I replant.
Some evil ants ate some of my leaves and I've taken care of that (cleaning the balcony from ants and flooding water arround the pots so ants have to swim or fly to get to them.)
They're about 2 weeks old.. Grew to different sizes probably because different exposure to light (I was away for 10 days and didn't mention the light exposure to the person I asked to water them..)
I'm growing on a balcony that gets not so many hours of direct sunlight.. Maybe 5 or 6.
I was thinking of adding some hours of cfl. I have a cfl available as of right now but I'm not sure about the spectrum.. It's written cool daylight, I assume it's somewhere around the 5000k but I couldn't find the exact number.. I will look for something with a higher rate but I just want to know that it's not damaging the plants for now..
Is the combination of cfl and real sun even usefull? Might it confuse the plants and fuck up their cycle?

*pics in a sec... hold on*

Hi.
I use a 3:1 mix of 6500K and 3000K, 23W CFL's for veg, and the other way around for flower. As a suppliment, whatever you add is fine, but I'd recomend at least 100W (real) for 1 plant and an additional 50w for every extra plant.

Good luck.

You really need to replant those! They are stretching way too much. bury them so just the tops are out and lower your light. Also, get more lights.

that cfl is ok for veg. and yes you can use the combination of cfl/sun light as long as they are getting 18 hrs of light a day your good!
but thats the downfall of bringing them from outside to inside is...you can get an infestation of bugs.

i would transplant each of those plants into there own container asap...cuz if you wait ....it will be allot harder to do once the roots are all tangled together, plus you can bury the stems of the taller ones as well, just be careful not to damage the roots when you transplant them, as they are small and fragile so you dont want to stress them too much.

Hi DocMister, what the other Guys posted is pretty much it...

A 20w(real)CFL will be giving you somewhere between 900-1500 Lumen which is not really enough..IMO
Like Hugo Phurst said "need at least 100w Real" all depends on whether you want 1 Good Bulb or Lots of OK-ish Bulbs - Remember more Light(Lumens) Bigger/Faster Growth and Less stretch(Though other factors come into play) Is that some sort of Reflector in the First photo?

What kind of Grow Room(Cupboard) setup have you got? Space and height wise??

You can Mix Spectrums(lot of Growers using CFL do this) Like Hugo Phurst said 3:1 Ratio Mix works well Plant use both Spectrums, Though 6500K is the one preferred by most for Vegetative Stage and 2000-2700K for Flower.

If you going to transplant/separate your Lil Ladies need to be careful and don't replant them 2 deep, just about half for the real lanky one...Do you add perlite to your Soil Mix?

The 2700K bulbs can be picked up from Morrisons or Asda - 30w(real) = 1800 - 2000 Lumen for between £3.15 - £3.75..I've not managed to track down any 64000-6500K bulbs in Supermarkets but they cheap enough on Fleabay.

Good Luck

Peace

So... first of all thanks for all the answers!
I have a little update and some more info to provide...
I'm not using any reflector (yet) and I don't have a growroom...
plants are currently by my bed transplanted to 3 different smaller metal containers in which i drilled holes at the bottom. (is there a problem with the fact its metal? besides the difficulty in transplanting next time?)
the idea is taking the plants every night to my room, with this light, or any other simple CFL, and earning few more light hours until the sun is out and then putting them at my window to get natural direct sun light.
by the way there's a fan in the room and the temperature is 22○c
i want to keep it small, simple and discreet, but i want to make the most out of it.
for now I care more of the learning process than the actual result. (keeping the good seeds for later on)
thanks again,
DocMister

You got the right idea Docmister, tis all about the learning..me I'm still learning everyday..

Good Luck and Welcome

CaTz

Am not 100% sure bud i wouldn't personally use metal containers, i think you will find yourself in trouble if anything toxic leaks or rust starts to form.... i know you don't have much light or heat but you might possibly in the near future.... anyway my point is that metal heats up and tends to store heat

this could all just be random guess work but thought id put it across

DocMister said:

So... first of all thanks for all the answers!
I have a little update and some more info to provide...
I'm not using any reflector (yet) and I don't have a growroom...
plants are currently by my bed transplanted to 3 different smaller metal containers in which i drilled holes at the bottom. (is there a problem with the fact its metal? besides the difficulty in transplanting next time?)
the idea is taking the plants every night to my room, with this light, or any other simple CFL, and earning few more light hours until the sun is out and then putting them at my window to get natural direct sun light.
by the way there's a fan in the room and the temperature is 22○c
i want to keep it small, simple and discreet, but i want to make the most out of it.
for now I care more of the learning process than the actual result. (keeping the good seeds for later on)
thanks again,
DocMisterView attachment 2850715

Click to expand...

check out Home Depot's wed page for 42watt (200w) Daylight twist CFL 2800L / 6500K .... and .... they carry in store on self - 68watt (300w) Soft White twist CFL 4200L / 2700K . Good luck

hello again..!
got few more questions, thought ill just ask in this thread...
sooooo... sun is shining at 6 am, my plants can get direct sunlight only at arround 9am and they stop getting it at 1pm. meaning 4 hours of direct powerful sun.
i have that baby lamp i uploaded a pic of on the earlier post... what i thought of doing is this:
9am-1pm - outside direct sunlight
1pm-5pm - outside indirect sunlight +direct light from lamp (clips on the window)
5pm-midnight - outside in the dark
midnight-9am - inside with the small lamp+fan ventilating

what i was wondering is if the fact im confusing so many different incomplete spectrums wont fuck up the plants
does it even worth all the bother? will it improve the growth and eventually the yield?
it requires lots of moving in-out, which doesnt really bother me, but every now and then ill probably wont be home to move the plants or place the cfl out at the window and just leave them outside with natural light hours...
will it confuse in some way the plants? or they just take what they can when they can?

i think thats it for now... i know there aren't facts for answers, but i'd love to hear opinions and advices...
thanks alot!
Doc

seems like a lot of work to be honest, why not just do a small stealth grow

DocMister said:

hello again..!
got few more questions, thought ill just ask in this thread...
sooooo... sun is shining at 6 am, my plants can get direct sunlight only at arround 9am and they stop getting it at 1pm. meaning 4 hours of direct powerful sun.
i have that baby lamp i uploaded a pic of on the earlier post... what i thought of doing is this:
9am-1pm - outside direct sunlight
1pm-5pm - outside indirect sunlight +direct light from lamp (clips on the window)
5pm-midnight - outside in the dark
midnight-9am - inside with the small lamp+fan ventilating

what i was wondering is if the fact im confusing so many different incomplete spectrums wont fuck up the plants
does it even worth all the bother? will it improve the growth and eventually the yield?
it requires lots of moving in-out, which doesnt really bother me, but every now and then ill probably wont be home to move the plants or place the cfl out at the window and just leave them outside with natural light hours...
will it confuse in some way the plants? or they just take what they can when they can?

i think thats it for now... i know there aren't facts for answers, but i'd love to hear opinions and advices...
thanks alot!
Doc

Click to expand...

different spectrum of light is good for plants.... long as the plants get 18-24 hrs of light a day, for veg, your good.

its when light cycle goes to 12 hrs light /12 hrs dark they will start the flowering stage.

when you know your not going to be around for the day to move em....simply bring them inside under a light for 24 hrs.

DocMister, not to mention you will need a grow tent, carbon filter, ducting, inline fan to pull smelly air into the filter and through a hood if you use an HID bulb and then out throught the insulated ducting. First, I would get something for the bugs or they will eat roots, etc. I used AzaMax available on Amazon and drenched the soil to kill the larvae and sprayed some on the leaves of larger plants and other plants in the area. I wouldn't use it on these little things yet. Gnats don't like the smell of Mosquito Magic so sprinkling a little somewhere close but not in the pot might keep fungus gnats away. Get used to living for your plants. They are not your average plant. When they die you lose time and money. They sell CFL bulbs that are 6500K (kelvin) on Amazon. Cheap aluminum hoods with clamp are available at Lowe's. Stay away from Mogul (E39 - Mogul Screw) based bulbs unless you have a ballast or fixture that can power it or hold it. Anyone - correct me if I'm wrong about anything.