Rubbermaid and CFLs? Think this will work?

Ok so about a week or so ago I got a couple bag seeds and out of curiosity I tried germinating the seeds. It worked, and I succesfully sprouted 2 of them from some regular potting soil I picked up from the store. After a couple days of healthy growing they leafs started to turn yellow and brown. I don't really know what went wrong but I just built a new small rubbermaid grow box (20"x30"x20") that will hopefully fit 2 small plants (under 2 ft.). If more room is needed later on I think I can add another container on the top to make room for another foot. As for now I'm trying to keep it small though. As for lights I am kind of limited at the moment. Right now I have 4 23 watt cfls and one 15 watt 18" fluorescent strip. I also have a small fan inside to circulate the air flow. I am planning on installing the computer fans soon so I can get some of that heat out of there. I dont have a themometer indisde it as of yet but it seems to be a reasonable temperature. The inside looks pretty ghetto right now. Will tinfoil burn the plants or make them too hot even if it is lit with cfl bulbs? Or should I get mylar instead?

The container lighting up the room (looks pretty cool at night):


The interior (and my sad revitalization attempt at my first two plants)


I have about 7-10 bagseeds that should be sprouting soon (some already breaking soil) that I have placed in a black seedling starter type box. I put 1 18" 15 watt fluorescent light and a smaller 11 watt strip that I had laying around on top of the plastic cover, making it about and inch and a half to two from the soil surface. For today I kept them with the lights on and in the windowsill to get a whole bunch of light and I'm giving them 6 hours of darkness right now. With these seedlings that are sprouting and the 10 or so other seeds I have germinating I need to know where to go from the sprouting stage. After how long until I should repot them into something larger and move them into the rubbermaid? I am going to be using a 50% potting soil, 20% perlite, 20% peat moss, and 10% sand. My current plan is to grow what I can from the seeds, some of which come from some good bud, pick out the best two and grow those. I have two things but I haven't used them and not sure if I should. I have some fertilizer called "SUPERthrive" and Terracycle herb plant food that comes in a spray bottle (.06 - .002 - .02). How long until I add this to the water and how much would you recommend adding? I plan on keeping everyone updated on my closet operation. Thanks for reading! Any comments and criticism is much appreciated. I'll post more pictures of the sprouts tomorrow night.
Update: As of right now there are 5 sprouts with the seed shell still attached poking about a quarter to half inch out of the soil. How moist should I keep them and I was wonderingif I should maybe put a few drops of the Herb plant food since it has a good amount of nitrogen? Thanks!

I like that first photo.

good luck!

idl said:

I like that first photo.

good luck!

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Looks like a good start but you might want to start thinking about adding another rubbermaid tub. I am also doing a rubbermaid grow and my plants are only 5 weeks in to flowering and they have filled one tub. I have 3 plants that I have lst'ed and they still fill the bottom tub. Check it out. My grow log is in my signature. Good luck with your grow!

Thanks IDl! That is really polished looking on the inside ragincajun, were those lighting fixtures easy to assemble? I know it's pretty early but my seedlings dont seem like they've changed much, just a quarter inch stem with the seed at the tip still clinging on. Do you think I may not have buried them down in the soil enough? Thanks

you need to cover the inside of your tub with some sort of reflective material that is what makes these designs work ideally you shouldnt be able to tell the lights are on inside the tub from the outside... keep all the light contained on on the plants... good luck

u really have to move those lights closer, your strecthing them and they look like they are turning yellow from not enough light

Yeah the plants in the picture were from my first attempt and I'm just trying to see if they even go anywhere. The lights are actually closer, about 2 inches away from the plants, they are farther away in the picture because I had to move the lid a little to get a good shot. When I started I was just being a noob and using a desk lamp. My new seedlings are using cfl bulbs and the sprouting box has two fluorescents, one 15w and a smaller 11w sitting behind it. The light in the first picture seems dim but it's actually pretty bright. Right now the lights are about 2 inches away from the plants and seedlings. Here's a couple pictures, one of my setup and two of the seedlings so far (have been sprouted about 15 hours):



Not sure if they are supposed to this tall with no leaves yet? Any suggestions? Maybe give them with more soil so they are shorter? I wasn't sure how far down to put the seeds and so they were probably only about 1/8" under the soil. Is this too shallow? Thanks!

nice start, my first grow was a rubbermaid and bagseed grow under 9 CFLs.

few pointers:

U need more reflective material inside the box, either spray/paint it down with a non-see thru white, or align it with reflective material.
&
U need to think about ventilation and exhaust, they love fresh air.


besides that Id recommend takin the shell off of those seedlings that are above ground and doing well. if they wont drop them on their own then they may need some *careful* assistance.

good luck

oh and the stretching is fine, I always let my seedlings stretch *a lil* at first, once U have enough light on them they wont stretch nearly as much
eacE:

Ok so I planted some more soil around them about 4 hours ago and misted them. When I came back after lunch two of them had sprouted open, and a few more are almost there. Here are a couple pictures:





When they start to grow more leaves should I stop misting them like with the seedlings? How long would you recommend to keep the plants in the box until I move them into some bigger pots and into the rubbermaid? Thanks.

nice...
but that wont stop the stretching.

oh and superthrive isnt a fertilizer. U could mix a *cpl drops* of that with water and spray it on ur plants. I keep spraying up till 2 weeks before harvest.
Id give em about 2 more weeks in the seedling dome, or until they become root bound.

good luck

Ok so a couple days ago I took the plastic lid off the seedlings and transferred them into the rubbermaid container and are growing a little faster now with more light (23w CFL x 4, will be adding more light soon). I have been watering about a waterbottle cap or so every day and misting them to keep moist. In some of the pictures the cotyledons are quite droopy. Is this from overwatering? Also, some of the seedlings have the seeds still attached and are giving the seedling a hard time opening up. I tried getting the seed off a couple but they were kind of stubborn and I didn't want to ruin the seedling. Should I let nature take it's course or remove them myself? Overall though, how do they look? At the most they have been planted about 4-5 days, however I just planted a couple more germinated seeds. Thanks!

Also was wondering if they look a bit small for 3 or 4 days? They definitely seem that way compared to some of the other plants on these forums. Thanks for your help!

No they are doing fine, they wont start growing faster till the first set of leafs come in, those collect the neccesary energy for required growth, and from then on its just a snowball effect, if you do it correctly

Ok sounds good. I just removed the seed casings from the plants and most of them popped right open.

and the cotyl's are rarely if ever perky, they will always curl under like that, then turn yellow when its time to feed (always start at 1/4 strength nutes when its time to feed), and then eventually peel right off the plant like a bananna.

Ok so it's only been about 5 days or so now and I just bought some 5-1-1 fish fertilizer. When do you guys think I should add some to the water?

Ok so just an update...I don't have my camera right now but the plants are all doing extremely well. I just I replaced two of the 23w with 40w CFLs I got at a hydroponics shop , bringing that to a current total of 3 23w and 2 40w. That makes it about 9,725 lumens in 6.4 cubic feet (20x30x20 rubbermaid). Does this sound good for veg growth? All of the serrated leafs look really healthy and green and the second set of leafs are starting to grow on some. It's right about 86-89 F for a good portion of the day, maybe cooling down a little a night. I've also got a small fan blowing inside to move the air around and strengthen the stems. When I was at the hydro shop I also got some Foxfarm ocean forest potting soil. When I got home I added some perlite and peat moss and repotted all of the small plants from the seedling tray into some medium sized jiffy pots. I have been carefully misting about every two hours or so. So how to you guys think this sounds? I also replaced the tinfoil with white paper because the foil was making the inside too hot. I was also thinking about getting another y adapter for one of my light socets and adding one more 40w. Would this benefit me much or would the heat increase be more harmful than good? Thanks a lot! You guys have been really helpful with everything.

Anyone? Do you think that another 40w CFL would make much of a difference? Also, are there any other things that might help a little bit in terms of veg growth and yeild? Thanks!

Spittn4cash said:

and the cotyl's are rarely if ever perky, they will always curl under like that, then turn yellow when its time to feed (always start at 1/4 strength nutes when its time to feed), and then eventually peel right off the plant like a bananna.

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jdub3916 said:

Ok so it's only been about 5 days or so now and I just bought some 5-1-1 fish fertilizer. When do you guys think I should add some to the water?

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and NO tin foil.

mylar will work the besy. U could go to home depot and get some duct insulation. thats what i got inside my box

I heard jiffy pots suck, but good luck with that.
the 40w lights will help but itll also bring more heat. U gotta think ventilation. u need a fan blowing in, and one pulling out.

im gonna be a spectator from now on.

good luck