First grow setup- good enough?

Howdy all, I'm new here because I just got the ball rolling on a no-budget closet grow.

I currently have 4 germinated seeds in soil that went in yesterday, so I'm waiting to take the ziploc bags off the cups until I see the first two leaves.

What ive got for lights are two 26w 5000k cfls and two 26w 2700k cfls. I read that the higher kelvin rating was better for veg, but i could only find the 5000k that were cheap enough for me. I don't have temperature or humidity readings, and i have the lights on 24/0 because they are barely sprouting out of the ground.

Like I said, this is a real low budget thing so Im just trying it out to see how it goes, I'm really just hoping for one or two solid little plants. Let me know what I could do to improve my setup or speed things up. peace

more lights will always help. what kind of soil. do you know the strain. remove the special lens from your camera.. good luck on your first grow friend

GE Smart Saver daylights.......Walmart.....6500K

CaptainCarnival said:

more lights will always help. what kind of soil. do you know the strain. remove the special lens from your camera.. good luck on your first grow friend

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bagseed from some purple bud, regular miraclegrow potting soil. i want to have six lights but i need to get another fixture that i can hang. and yeah my bad for the fisheye lens its a piece of ish

".....my bad for the fisheye lens...."
i thought maybe you were growing in a fish bowl

sorry scrog no fishbowl. here are some more rectangular pics

light needs to be closer or they are gonna stretch

Ah... great..no more fish lens pictures.

More lights for sure...Gram some african violet plant food and mix it with your water so you can get a little more nitrogen in the soil it's cap full per quart (only use a 1/4 of that)

yes.....closer, and you will need more. 100W equivalent per plant......when they have more foliage to catch it

Is it 100w cfls perbplant for flower and veg or do you want more when flowering?

new pics.

i need to get a better lighting setup so i can get the bulbs closer to each plant

papagossnugs said:

new pics. View attachment 2052746View attachment 2052747View attachment 2052748

i need to get a better lighting setup so i can get the bulbs closer to each plant

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awww theyre so cute when theyre young...anyway yeah try to get the bulbs as close to them as you can if its not close enough to burn your hand its not close enough to burn your plant54632

new pics of the purp bagseed. day 3 in soil.

My plants are the same age. Im using 3 6500k cfl and 1 2700k cfl for veg. keep me posted how they do

word dude looks like we got a tandem grow going on. how many plants do you plan on ending up with? all 4? im debating on how many i should keep, since i have room for like three or four big pots, but not quite enough lights for three or four fully grown plants. i would just hate to only have two plants and get two males, ya know? i guess i shouldnt be upset if i was too cheap to buy feminized seeds...
got another outlet splitter so now i have 4 6500k and 1 2700k on the side. i should probably get a reflective hood type thing since i am losing a lot of light out the top

Hey Papa - i'm a real fan of small-scale, budget grows & nothing wrong with doing it cheap dude! From looking at ur pics i just thought i'd add a few pointers that might be of help - excuse me if u are already doing them; its just my eyes not seeing!

1. Have those plastic cups that the seedlings are in got drainage holes poked in the bottom of them? If not, poke about 4 or 5 holes the width of a pencil in the bottom.

2. I wouldn't recommend germinating ur seedlings in the grow room - they prefer to be in darkness & the emerging root tip is quite delicate & can be damaged by exposure to light. Put them in a warm-ish cupboard, etc and just check them every 12 hours. When u do transplant a rooting seed, again, dont do it under a bright light.

3. While they're still less than a week or 2 old, i'd also say dont have the fan blowing direct on them unless the lowest setting is just a gentle ripple. If they're being blown around too violently it won't help their growth. If needed, point the fan so the air stream bounces off the nearest wall & then hits the seedlings, so it just ripples them. After they reach 10 - 14 days old, then u can probably turn the fan back direct on them and instead of being damaged so badly, it will then have the desired stem strengthening effect.

Best of luck tho dude & overall i'd say just learn a few basics, use common sense, a keen pair of eyes & a good memory for remembering what ur plants have done over time. A little knowledge, especially plant biology, etc will help but dont get too bogged down by thinking u need to know loadsa high level growing techniques immediately. Good luck tho man!

thanks for the tips brother! i have poked drainage holes in the cups. thanks for the pointer about the seedlings not liking light, I will keep them in a darker place from now on. as far as the fan goes, the lowest setting is probably a little strong so maybe ill turn it in a different direction so it still provides air circulation, but doesnt blow the shit out of my little babies. thanks again and keep checkin back for updates! im gonna be putting pics up almost every day

Also, i hope u dont mind me adding a few more quick things i've just re-read!

U were saying ur losing light outta top, but i couldnt really see what sort of box u got them in? If possible, i'd say a cheap solution is to just make ur own lid - get a similar shaped bit of hard card or wood & cover in reflective material & cut a few vent holes in, and just place it over the top. For the size of the space ur covering & lights ur using, a reflector isn't gonna give back much more.

And with regards, choice of reflective material, i think it looks like ur using kitchen foil? (correct me if i'm wrong dude & u've actually spanked a fortune on real Mylar!) Without sounding rude, but tin foil is totally shit for light reflection - the best cheap method i found was to paint ur walls, floor & ceiling lid in Brilliant Matt White Emulsion (dirt cheap for a small tin from any hardware store) - this will honestly improve light reflection a helluva lot. (tho allow it all to dry & air for 1 or 2 days before putting plants back in)

And as for u wanting to do 4, well as u say CFL's wont let u do big bushes, but u could always just veg them for 3 or 4 weeks then bang them into flower - should stay approx. 2ft -ish high & get maybe 15g a plant - and maybe just add a few more cfl's as the weeks go on?!

reddwhitebluegreen all of what was said is definitely correct just a few additional notes if you want to get more light to your plants and cant lower your lights just raise your plants up to your lights