Ikea 5-Drawer Dresser CFL/HPS Stealth 1st Grow

Foolet said:

That is WAY too little. I'd have at least 100 watts.

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also to put things into perspective for you when growing with cfls its always good to have atleast 10k lumins per plant your growing or per square foot of your grow box for mine i use for vegging for 2 plants i have 5 lights a peace 4 26 watt 6500 daylight speck lights and 2 32 watt 3500 warm white for vedg and when flowering i just swap my 65k's for 27k and keep my 32 watters in there for the mixed light witch is very good for your plants but you can grow with what you have now you just wont be getting as much as you would with using the correct spec lights also when flowering id use a bit of molasses in your water to thicken up your buds but i would ask around first sents your useing a hps light for flower but i would use some cfls aswell for flowering for more overall light if your hps isnt over 250w

Thanks for the complement Feelingreen. I guess when it comes to Bonsai, you gotta keep em bent!

So I guess I should step up to 23w bulbs? 23x4= 92 watts

yeah those tiny IKEA blubs might not cut the mustard...well they will but you'd wanna get some of those 20W bulbs from there...

The Dresser is Ikea, the bulbs are Walmart. But 23watters on the way, maybe today!

I got some Vermiculite mixed in with the Pro-Mix and it seems to be much easier to water. Not so dense.

And the all too common Yellowing of the lower part of the plant. N Deficiency?

Week 7 of Vegging and I think it's pretty obvious they should be bigger by now, especially from 4" clones. More power is a must!

I got a little more power!

26w x 2 6500k

13w x 4 5500k

= 104 watts total in Veg Chamber.

Oh man the dresser grow I need to convert mine into one I was thinking about it but I have way too much junk.

I'm not going to read all your posts, so here's what I have to say, hope it helps;

First of ALL. Never ever ever cut off a healthy leaf.

If you want to encourage stimulated growth, or direct hormones to particular branches, the most efficient way is to cut lower branches as soon as they appear.

At each node, first a Leaf emerges, then a Branch, and finally a Flower.
When the Branch appears as two little baby leaves, just pull the whole thing off or chop it off.
But leave all the leaves, these are the solar panels of your plant.

If a leaf dies, or it's almost dead, remove it at the trunk.
This means completely removing the petiole (leaf stem) so it can't rot away and colonize bacteria that will invade your plant.

I noticed in the first picture I clicked on, that there's two FAT petioles sticking out, chop those bastards off, it will stop the plant from feeding the "leaves" that died.

They look really really good, but very very skinny. I'm assuming you chopped off the large fan leaves? Don't do that next time. Even if they block light to lower nodes, they will feed those nodes by collecting light.

If you need to encourage the branches to reach the canopy, provide them with adequate light, and care.

Good job though, they don't look like the haircut affected them too badly.

Good luck!


Oh in those last pictures, I noticed a seedling to the right, give him his own bulb.
One little 13w is plenty for the first week or two.

If you are doing LST, you can use lighting angles to encourage the plant to follow the path of your lst. Will cut down some tying time if you know how to do it.
Again, good luck, looking good, and you clearly know where to find answers to your questions.

Most of all: ENJOY!

Thanks for the tips.

I didn't want to remove so many, but a lot of the lower fan leaves were quite yellow, and I figured there was no sense in the plant trying to feed a dead leaf.

I will remove the stem all the way from now on.

Since I switched to the Pro-mix Vermiculite mix they seem to be "breathing" much better.

It should be noted since I added the two 6500k 26w bulbs, my Veg room Temp went from 72 (Ambient Room temp) to 76-78.

Hopefully when I add a small HPS down low it wont heat the box too much more.

Oh, be careful man.
HPS get hot.

Also, I always make sure my plants dont have any foliage above 85*F ever.
I hear it virtually stops growth.
Most of the time the canopy temps are about 65-83 in a day.

Yellow leaves if they are extremely pale and have that nasty feeling to the touch are basically dead.
If they are just slightly pale then they still have a chance.
Sounds like you did what I would have done.
But I usually let it happen naturally when plants are that small.
I don't prune until they are bushes that really need it.

My one lonely gal right now is like 20" tall and about 17" wide in all directions.
I don't plan on lighting the undergrowth, so I prune some of the tiny branches as they appear on the super low branches.

I'll sub bro, keep up the good work!

The yellowing continues.

Temps are in the 70-77 degree range at about 50% humidity.

I added some 12-0-0 Bloodmeal to the Promix. Hopefully that perks them back up!

I am not sure what to use for nutrients. I have to use them because there are none in the Promix.

Possible fertilizer burn.
Just feed them pure water for a week or two. At that age, and if that's fresh dirt, they have plenty of naturally occuring food.

My water has been an issue as well, so I am juggling a few things at the moment.

1.Spider mites. I just discovered them. Not crazy, but they are in there. I need to find a good way to remove them.

2.Nitrogen Def has been getting better, but I lost a bit to dead leaves, etc.

3.These plants have been stunted. I hate dealing with mites, etc. Should I switch to DWC Hydro? Boiling soil and mixing soil doesn't sound too fun. I like having control of my variables.

Please help! I have been vegging these clones for 2 months and they are the same size, yellow, and covered in spider mites...

1. neem oil will help with the spider mites.. it can get quite labour intensive depending on how many plants you have though..
2. if you have fixed the N problem the affected leaves will not correct themselves - however you should notice that it has stopped spreading to the newer growth
3. you can move to other systems - its down to personal preference - or alternatively just look at getting yourself better quality soil.... i use biobizz soil - never had any issues with bugs etc..

Thanks for the tips.

I might want to, I just gave a thorough look over and there are quite a few mites and eggs. Even If I switched soils, they will still be on the plant.

I need to get rid of the mites! AAHHH!

i meant some soils have bugs in them which can cause issues early on or later in the grow.. not suggesting swapping the soil mid grow lolz meant for the future bear it in mind..

the neem oil DEFINITELY works - just do a search there's plenty of guides..

any idea how the mites got in?

I just read up, and it seems that 6ml of Neem oil to a Liter of water, and spray the underneath of the leaves real well.

No pest strips and 100% first press Neem oil seem to do the job in about two weeks.

I think it was when I switched from MG potting soil to Pro-mix All Purpose.

I got the Promix from a large outside rack at Home Depot and it was soaked.

This was probably where they came from, although a lot of people swear by Promix. Exception to every rule I suppose.

I might switch the Veg room to a rubbermaid DWC and run a few buckets downstairs.

Soil is proving to be a real pain in the ass.

StrawberryKough said:

The yellowing continues.

Temps are in the 70-77 degree range at about 50% humidity.

I added some 12-0-0 Bloodmeal to the Promix. Hopefully that perks them back up!

I am not sure what to use for nutrients. I have to use them because there are none in the Promix.

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How much blood meal did you add? and did you put it right on top or dig it under a bit? I have some of this and would love to add it in!

A little of both.

The bag calls for 1 table spoon for every 1' x 1' area.

It sure has helped, the new growth is green and coming in much faster.

StrawberryKough said:

A little of both.

The bag calls for 1 table spoon for every 1' x 1' area.

It sure has helped, the new growth is green and coming in much faster.

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Did you mean 1 foot by 1 foot or did you mean 1 inch by 1 inch... (Sorry this is ma first grow I'm not sure of the regular lengths)

Would have to be 1 foot x 1 foot. 1 table spoon for every 1" by 1" area would an insane amount