Nervous about first grow!

Bo21

Bo21

New Member
Hey guys. This is my first Grow and I'm nervous that I didn't do something right. My buds are kind of small and not a lot of resin production. I might just be driving myself crazy, especially because it's my first Grow and I have an unusual attachment to my plant lol.
Day 35 of flower
Strain: Tropical OG
Breeder: 710 Genetics
Light: 550 watts CFL
Soil: organic soil from Lowe's
Nutrients: Veg: organic from lowes
Flower: organic from garden shop
Temp: Between 65 and 80. usually about 70-75
Humidity: between 40 and 65
 

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mattman998

mattman998

Active Member
With CFL you aren't going to have as gigantic buds, at least without a lot of experience. Also on your first grow you aren't going to have the best outcome generally because you haven't had time to dial everything in. Regardless of what it looks like you'll probably get some good bud to smoke and you'll be a little more experienced for the next one. It's all about learning as you go and building up skills.
 
Kcbscrogger

Kcbscrogger

Well-Known Member
IMG_0814.JPG IMG_0810.JPG
Bo21 said:
Hey guys. This is my first Grow and I'm nervous that I didn't do something right. My buds are kind of small and not a lot of resin production. I might just be driving myself crazy, especially because it's my first Grow and I have an unusual attachment to my plant lol.
Day 35 of flower
Strain: Tropical OG
Breeder: 710 Genetics
Light: 550 watts CFL
Soil: organic soil from Lowe's
Nutrients: Veg: organic from lowes
Flower: organic from garden shop
Temp: Between 65 and 80. usually about 70-75
Humidity: between 40 and 65
Click to expand...
It looks ok, you won't get big dense buds using those lights. Hps will get you a better yield. This is mine at 39 days of flower under a 600w hps. Good luck
 
Bo21

Bo21

New Member
Kcbscrogger said:
View attachment 3826623 View attachment 3826622
It looks ok, you won't get big dense buds using those lights. Hps will get you a better yield. This is mine at 39 days of flower under a 600w hps. Good luck
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That's awesome! I appreciate it man! It's always nice to hear from and see pictures from people who know what they are doing. Before my plant, I had never seen a plant in person lol! Could you post a pic of your light setup?

I have been looking at running HPS, but have no idea how. Did you use metal halide lamps for veg or did you use HPS the entire time?

Is it absolutely necessary to use an exhaust fan, if so how big?

Any other tips you can give me are much appreciated!
 
Bo21

Bo21

New Member
mattman998 said:
With CFL you aren't going to have as gigantic buds, at least without a lot of experience. Also on your first grow you aren't going to have the best outcome generally because you haven't had time to dial everything in. Regardless of what it looks like you'll probably get some good bud to smoke and you'll be a little more experienced for the next one. It's all about learning as you go and building up skills.
Click to expand...
That's my goal is to just learn! Now that I've found this place I can get help from you guys! I didn't figure I'd get a ton of yield with these lights, but I have no idea how to run other light yet lol. So any tips you can give me are much appreciated!
 
Final Phase

Final Phase

Well-Known Member
Each time you make a change like adding light the grow environment changes. With added light you will get more heat... Adding fresh air to circulate and blow out the hot air. An exhaust system will be needed if you expand your experience.
Years ago I was running 50 cfl bulbs in addition to HPS/MH lighting... You can add CFL's - Read up on it in the forums as there is a lot to learn - You may also decide to skip the CFL route and go straight to LED or HPS/MH... Tons to learn...

14 years in this and still learning quite a bit every day!
 
K

kermit2692

Well-Known Member
Make the jump to hps.. Before you know the lights it's almost a scary thought but do proper light proofing so nobody can see an odd glow from outside and then temp/environmental control and they are pretty plug and play. Just lights.
 
Bo21

Bo21

New Member
kermit2692 said:
Make the jump to hps.. Before you know the lights it's almost a scary thought but do proper light proofing so nobody can see an odd glow from outside and then temp/environmental control and they are pretty plug and play. Just lights.
Click to expand...
What are ballasts?

Can I use HPS from veg to flower?
 
Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend

Well-Known Member
You can get decent sized dense nugs from CFL, however it's a pain in the ass compared to HID and LED lamps because you have to keep the bulbs pretty close to the plants. Until the plant stops stretching and is at the the point where buds a just fattening up you're going to need to do daily light adjustments.

Looking at this picture I see a few things to point out.

It doesn't appear that you have done any training to this plant. When growing with CFL IMO it's critical that you train the plant to grow as horizontal as possible meaning you've got to tie branches over to keep the lights as close to all the bud sights as possible. Search LST (low stress training).

How many bulbs are you using? Are you sure you're actually using 550 watts, or is that the "equivalent" wattage? The packaging on CFL bulbs usually have the equivalent wattage printed big on the packaging but if you look you'll see the actual wattage is much lower. So say you think you have a 60 watt bulb, it's actually a 13 watt bulb that is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent bulb. Check the side if those CFLs and see how many watts you're growing with.

This was done with 148 watts of CFL using the training I talked about with random bulbs placed as close to the plant as possible, (about 3 inches).
 

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Bo21

Bo21

New Member
Pete Townshend said:
You can get decent sized dense nugs from CFL, however it's a pain in the ass compared to HID and LED lamps because you have to keep the bulbs pretty close to the plants. Until the plant stops stretching and is at the the point where buds a just fattening up you're going to need to do daily light adjustments.

Looking at this picture I see a few things to point out.

It doesn't appear that you have done any training to this plant. When growing with CFL IMO it's critical that you train the plant to grow as horizontal as possible meaning you've got to tie branches over to keep the lights as close to all the bud sights as possible. Search LST (low stress training).

How many bulbs are you using? Are you sure you're actually using 550 watts, or is that the "equivalent" wattage? The packaging on CFL bulbs usually have the equivalent wattage printed big on the packaging but if you look you'll see the actual wattage is much lower. So say you think you have a 60 watt bulb, it's actually a 13 watt bulb that is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent bulb. Check the side if those CFLs and see how many watts you're growing with.

This was done with 148 watts of CFL using the training I talked about with random bulbs placed as close to the plant as possible, (about 3 inches).
Click to expand...
I didn't learn about LST until it was to late I think! By the time I tried my stems were to thick to bend! I will definitely train my plants from now on!

I have 16 23w CFLs equivalent to 100w each. 1 60 watt CFL equivalent to 300w and a 1 125w CFL not sure the equivalent but it's one of those big cfl grow lights.

Did I let my plant get to tall for my grow space? I have been adjusting my lights every single day. It seems as if my plant hasn't stopped stretching! When does the usually happen?
 

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K

kermit2692

Well-Known Member
Bo21 said:
What are ballasts?

Can I use HPS from veg to flower?
Click to expand...
You can but it isn't cost efficient. All you need in veg is flouros.. a ballast is a small half PlayStation sized metal rectangle with a fan in it that regulates voltage and sends electricity to your light.
 
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