Kim's Experimental Growing Under Fluoros [pics]

BreatheSmoke

New Member
These are my plants from bag seed, 1 month old. I started out with only one set of 2 fluoros, but 2 weeks ago I bought another set and the plants actually seem to be doing pretty well, considering I haven't been using any ferts whatsoever. I have been on the flowering schedule for a week .. Being this is just experimental and they probably won't produce much to smoke anyways. .

I have a little set up in the closet of an unused spare bedroom. I took the doors off the closet and put 4 nails above the doorway to hang a shower curtain up. [not sure if this even makes a difference? I figured it would create a little greenhouse effect.] The inside was already white so I didn't worry about reflection. What would be the best ferts to use at this point? I actually did use Miracle Gro Bloom Booster a couple times, but the plants really didn't respond well to it and they seem to be healthier with just water. I am noticing little male flowers, but most are female. I wish I had a better camera so yall could see .. How can I cut the male flowers off without handling the plant too much? Could I maybe trim the leaves a little so I can get some room? How long can I leave the males until they start pollinating?










:peace: :blsmoke:
Kim
 

OB Cron Kenobi

Well-Known Member
They look really good for FL grow, but get rid of the males NOW! whats the point of leaving them! they aren't gonna bud, and cutting their male parts off is sadistic and more to the point doesn't do anything!

But your lucky to have such nice plants with only that limited lighting, and the shower curtian? what... Get some mylar in their to increase reflectivity- especially with your low light power it will be that additional boost you need.

You are gonna have a damn near impossible time getting those flowers to bud if you dont go buy a HPS bulb- even a low power HPS bulb would do... If you really wanna cheap out- spend some time looking around this site at CFL grows, I would recommend at the very least you buy CFLs.

Also make sure your lights are in the right spectrum for veg/flower... you wanna 5000+Kelvin bulbs for veg, and 2600+Kelvin for flowering. The right light is critical to inducing buds.

As far as fertilizer goes- ditch the miracle grow, and if you want the cheapest good nutrients go to your hydrostore- or order online, what i found was bloom terra from vancuver bc, and it is working well...

Your plants look good, your way lucky with such limited light, and from the sounds of it, inexperience...

Do some reading on getting new lights HID's (HPS, and MH [high pressure sodium, Metal Halide]) as well as CFL's if your gonna cheap out.

Your vegging plants look damn near ready to flower so figure out what your gonna do soon!
 

BreatheSmoke

New Member
Well you're certainly right about inexperience . . This is my first attempt at growing. But I actually did do some research before starting this .. Not much but enough to get the plants the way they are now. I would buy HPS or MH lights but I am seriously broke, and no stores around have proper lighting fixtures. .all they have is huge outdoor industrial fixtures, & I live alone and I don't have anyone to help me set up something like that. I don't have a credit card so I can't buy anything online, unfortunately. I don't know if you've ever seen this link .. But this guy is gettin some nice budding from just fluorescent lights. Growing Marijuana With Fluorescent Light Bulbs, Growing cannabis under TL light

Also, I just snipped off the tiny male flowers .. But I'm wondering, does handling the stems ruin the plant at all? I would have gotten rid of them as soon as I saw them but I was afraid to mess with the plant too much.
 

OB Cron Kenobi

Well-Known Member
no, i grab my plants by the stem and shake them gently- they like it- makes the stem stronger...

And even if you dont have a credit card, you can buy a pre-paid visa card and order with those, its safer and just as good as a Credit card... even if you only have 100 bux you can get a HPS light, ballast, bulb, everything you need including shipping... It would do wonders...

Thats a decent link- but it never shows his finished product, but he is growing decent bud under them.

If your going for low investment you may be set... but with just a bit of money you could have a set up that would last you lots of grows very successfully.
 

igrow08420

Active Member
I used the same kinda lighting as you did but i added a few more around my plants look at the link in my sig and you can get a idea of the buds your lookin at. cheers, but i also didn't use any added nutes during the grow. Get some reflective material around them babies, and if u have males get RID of them!
 

itsgrowinglikeaweed

Well-Known Member
Oh wow pretty good for just those tubes. I started with tubes, but then i went crazy cuz they were doin so good:) check out my gallery...tons of pics. My plants looked just like yours at one time. With a few CFL's around those you could get some real buds :) Good luck Happy Growing!
 

Buddy_Williams

Well-Known Member
Well you're certainly right about inexperience . . This is my first attempt at growing. But I actually did do some research before starting this .. Not much but enough to get the plants the way they are now. I would buy HPS or MH lights but I am seriously broke, and no stores around have proper lighting fixtures. .all they have is huge outdoor industrial fixtures, & I live alone and I don't have anyone to help me set up something like that. I don't have a credit card so I can't buy anything online, unfortunately. I don't know if you've ever seen this link .. But this guy is gettin some nice budding from just fluorescent lights. Growing Marijuana With Fluorescent Light Bulbs, Growing cannabis under TL light

Also, I just snipped off the tiny male flowers .. But I'm wondering, does handling the stems ruin the plant at all? I would have gotten rid of them as soon as I saw them but I was afraid to mess with the plant too much.
Sorry BreatheSmoke, but the the above poster is correct. In no way shape or form will removing the male pre-flowers (pollen sacks) actually help.....

Considering this, any/all plants are living things (hence the green/light green stems/leaves).....and as you may or may not of known....chlorophyll is responsible for giving life to plants...hence...why all plants need light, water and air to grow correctly.....it (chlorophyll) allows the plant to attempt to recover...(if in fact the plant has good genes)

I am more than likely way off.....but I hope you understand what I meant,

BW
 

MrFishy

Well-Known Member
100% shoplight w/2-40w cool white per, X's 3 per rack.
Never have had any issues getting plants to flower under regular old fluros. At least 25 years worth growing this way. Granted, one can get much fuller flowers with today's lights, and thus, bigger harvests, probably faster.
These better, much costlier, lights weren't around when I started (that I knew of, anyway) so I didn't really know any better.
My objective has always been to grow the closest-to-truly-free weed, and this, I've done. I might have $300 invested over my indoor growing life, and most of that I spent recently on scales, a trich viewing scope, little things. It works fine, contrary to many, MANY RIU folks sworn opinions that it can't be done.
I just harvested the upper half of this plant. Was 12"tall w/32" canopy . . . some kind of citrus I saved thru cloning. Oh, and this plants a re-veg.
Top half came in at 96.7gms wet. Looks to be 2/3rds of that again still on the plant, getting REALLY white w/glands.
:blsmoke:
 

Attachments

BreatheSmoke

New Member
Sorry BreatheSmoke, but the the above poster is correct. In no way shape or form will removing the male pre-flowers (pollen sacks) actually help.....

Considering this, any/all plants are living things (hence the green/light green stems/leaves).....and as you may or may not of known....chlorophyll is responsible for giving life to plants...hence...why all plants need light, water and air to grow correctly.....it (chlorophyll) allows the plant to attempt to recover...(if in fact the plant has good genes)

I am more than likely way off.....but I hope you understand what I meant,

BW

I do, in fact, think you are slightly off with that statement about it being pointless to remove the males. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the males have to be ridded of to prevent them from 'contaminating' the female flowers with seeds or something. I'm pretty sure the female flowers bud no matter what, it's just a matter of keeping the males from doing what they would do in nature to keep the plant reproducing.

I could also be wrong though!! Someone feel free to correct me if I am.
 

BreatheSmoke

New Member
You are absolutly correct!!:blsmoke:

Wait...are your plants hermies?

I guess so? I see both male and female flowers on two of the plants but on one there's just all female flowers. It might be too early to determine whether that one is hermie or not.. It was a slower grower than the other 2 for some reason.
 

homegrownboy

Well-Known Member
Best to wait it out for a few days in order to tell...some preflowers look male-like...but soon develop into pistals.

Those pictures...are they the most recent ones?...cause there looks to be no preflwers at all...you might be confusing new growth for flowers. Take a look in my gallery...i have a picture of a female preflower.
 

BreatheSmoke

New Member
Best to wait it out for a few days in order to tell...some preflowers look male-like...but soon develop into pistals.

Those pictures...are they the most recent ones?...cause there looks to be no preflwers at all...you might be confusing new growth for flowers. Take a look in my gallery...i have a picture of a female preflower.

This is a possibility, I thought the same thing when the flowers first started emerging. I can actually tell that they are female flowers because right next to them were obvious male flowers. I just looked at your gallery and my flowers look exactly like that. I'll try to take more distinguishable pictures and post them.
 
Top