First grow, CFLs, closet

Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
OK, this is my first real grow. During my first one a couple of years ago, I didn't know anything about growing, so I just threw the seed in some soil and put it on my window. It was actually doing quite well, but then I threw it away because I was paranoid.

My second grow was a month ago, but it failed miserably because I didn't have electricity for 2 weeks, so the plants got extremely stretched, and I threw them out.

Now, I finally have the conditions for a decent grow.

I'm planning on growing 2 plants in my closet, which is about 2x2 feet. One will receive LST, while the other one will grow regularly. I'm using 2 25W 6500K CFLs for vegetative growth, and have 2 23W 2700K CFLs for flowering. CFLs will be used for the entire grow. I don't know what strain it is, It's from some good bagseed though.

I'm using soil for my growth medium(some random home-found soil), and the plants are about a week old and on a 24/0 light schedule.

I'm currently pretty much broke, so I have a poor setup. When I get some money, I'm planning on doing the following:

-some decent soil with nutes in it
-more CFLs, I want at least 4 for each stage of growth
-a timer, which I'll obviously need for flowering
-some nice reflectors and nice fixtures for my lights
-a fan
-a digital temperature/moisture meter
-a pH tester

I plan on updating this journal at least once a week, there's currently no need for more regular updates since there's nothing spectacular happening at the moment.

All suggestions and comments are welcome. And finally, here are some pics:
 

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cheddarchops

cheddarchops

Well-Known Member
you planing to grow these entirely with cfls? what wattage you aiming for? make sure you keep the lumen count to about 5000 lumens per plant and your good, although im getting an envirolite at the minute, its a 250 watt vegetating beast :), good luck man
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Yes, the entire grow will be done with CFLs. I want to use 4 25W CFLs for each growth stage, so 4 6500Ks for vegging and 4 2700Ks for flowering. Although I'm thinking about combining them, though, so I'd use 8 CFLs during the entire grow. That will have to wait until I get some money for more bulbs and a decent fixture, though...

Thanks for the nice wishes :)
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Day 8:
The first seedling just started growing it's second set of leaves, and the second one just popped from the ground. Everything is going fine for now.
 

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Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Nope, can't afford anything right now, I'm broke :( But it's too early to use nutes anyway...
 
cheddarchops

cheddarchops

Well-Known Member
hows the growing going buddy? i was supposed to get my envirolite today but the courier delivered it somewhere random and wont get it till tomorrow.....gutted.....what strain you growing by the way?
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Yeah, the light cycle is still 24/0. I have to buy a timer sometime soon, I think it's time for 16/8.

There's not much going on, the new leaves are steadily growing, so I'll post some pictures in a day or two when there are some bigger changes. Today I made some crappy DIY reflectors(basically, I just took 3 white A4 papers, and glued them together in a tube shape. I then placed the tube so it's around my pot, and the light is hanging in the middle of the tube), so that should get me some more light until i get new bulbs. It also helps with stealth, as a nice portion of the light is being reflected instead of leaking out of my closet. To additionally help with light suppression, I put a large wooden panel in the closet, and that's blocking a lot of the light. I still have some minor leaks, but that will get fixed when I get some cash, I'm simply going to buy a custom size wood panel which will fit exactly in my closet. Basically, It'll be like a fake bottom.

I'll post some pics of my setup changes later today.
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
OK, got rid of the "reflectors" and the wood panel, it's terribly irritating to move them when I have to tend to the plants, and besides, stealth is really not that much of a issue for me. So, I'm giving you some new pictures of day 11. The last one is the other seedling which started about a week later. I really have to think of some names for my plants, it confusing to refer to them as "the other one", "the first one" and so on...
 

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Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Yesterday I finally bought a digital timer. The plants are now on a 18/6 light cycle and will stay that way for another 2 weeks, and then they'll go into flowering. I decided to give really uncreative names to my plants for future reference - the bigger one, the one which was planted a week earlier, will be called Plant 1, and the one that started a week later will be called Plant 2. Here are some pictures for you folks, the first 4 are Plant 1, and the last one is Plant 2.

EDIT: I just transplanted Plant 1 to a bigger pot and focused both lights on her(optimism), and Plant 2 is just standing in the back now, far from the lights. I don't want to kill it, but I decided to focus on just one plant, and since Plant 1 is bigger, she(optimism again) gets to live. I'll get some pictures tonight or tomorrow.
 

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Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
It's day 14, I found 2 light sockets so I did some wiring and am currently running the plants on a 12/12 light cycle with 3 6500K and 1 2700K CFLs. I need to get some money for 3 more 2700K bulbs... The plant seems to be doing fine for now, not much new growth though, probably because of the transplant shock and the change to 12/12. Hoping to see some progress these days. Pictures coming tomorrow since the plant is sleeping right now.
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Currently at day 21. Got my lights the other day, so now I'm using 4 25W 2700K CFL bulbs. The heat was really building up and I couldn't drill holes in my closet, so I moved the entire grow to a PC case I got from a friend. Gutting it took some time, but everything is fine now. Got two 80 millimeter fans, one for intake and one for outtake. Temperatures hover around 25 degrees Celsius. Also fimmed the other day, started LST yesterday and trimmed some of the lower leaves that were yellowed from the heat stress and planted my last seed which is going to recieve 12/12 from the start. Here are some pics for you folks:
 

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Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Well, it's day 27, and I have a confirmed female :D I was so happy when I saw those beautiful pistils ^^ On a side note, I gave her some 6-8-8 nutes yesterday(those were the best I could find) and she grew about 2 inches overnight, that was amazing. Anyways, here's a pic for you guys, hope you can see the pistils.
 

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I

Illicht

Active Member
dont know if u have said this but, what kind of soil are you using or recommend for a PC grow???(im completely new to all this)
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
I stopped updating this regularly because of general lack of interest, but here's a pic from yesterday for those who care, it's currently day 36:
 

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dopewear

dopewear

Well-Known Member
octa looken good dude and dont worry you still got me interested! have you moved it out of the pc case now or what? cheers DW
 
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