My 2' X 2' CFL Grow

[ruva]

On 7/25 I bought and transplanted 9 rooted clones from 16oz party cups to 6' square pots under a 125W 2700K CFL. I decided to run the light for 24hrs a day for a few days to let the roots take hold before I switched to 12/12. (In hindsight I should have just switched to 12/12 right away)





On the 29th I made two light fixtures that hold 4 23W 2700K bulbs each and added them to the box. (There is another fixture with 4 bulbs in the rear)



On 8/1 I trimmed all the lower branches and I switched the light cycle to 12/12.


View attachment 524307


By 8/13 they have been budding for a few days. And stretching.









8/16







And the latest pics taken on the 24th










This is my first CFL micro grow. Any comments questions or suggestions are welcome.

 

[darkdestruction420]

more light. i'd use like 12 42w 2800 lumen 2700k for flowering for 4 sq ft. gives you 12,600 lumens a square foot, which is kinda low imo but it'll work if need be.

 

[darkdestruction420]

i used 20 42w for flowering myself with my one scrog plant in the same area size as yours btw

 

[ow.douglas]

This looks a great deal like what I am planning so I find this very interesting. There is a single 150W CFL + 8 23W in there right now, correct? Please keep this updated I am interested in the final results. Did you consider T5's at any time? It looks like everything is going well...good luck with the rest of the grow.

 

[Illegal Smile]

more light. i'd use like 12 42w 2800 lumen 2700k for flowering for 4 sq ft. gives you 12,600 lumens a square foot, which is kinda low imo but it'll work if need be.

Wouldn't that be 8400 per sq ft? That's quite a bit of light if it's all directed at 4 sq ft. The sun provides 10k sq ft on a sunny summer day. Anyway, more light is almost always better and I agree the op needs more. OP - Get those 23s up to 42s and you'd be fine.

 

[TheLastJuror]

listen to smile he knows his cfls

 

[darkdestruction420]

errrrrr, i must of hit a wrong number on the calculater, my bad.

 

[ruva]

This looks a great deal like what I am planning so I find this very interesting. There is a single 150W CFL + 8 23W in there right now, correct? Please keep this updated I am interested in the final results. Did you consider T5's at any time? It looks like everything is going well...good luck with the rest of the grow.

No O.W. I never really considered T5s. The fact is I did this kinda spontaneously and didnt really stop to put alot of thought into it in the beginning. I had some left-over lumber after building my growroom(Which I will utilize after my outdoor grow is harvested) and some spare time so I decided to do this little experiment.

My initial plan was to just use the 125W fixture that I wasted $140 on. And see what I could get from that. But the box ended up a little bigger than what I thought(I had bigger plywood sheets than I thought) so I made the front and rear light bars. I wish I would have just made four light bars instead of two and never bought that 125W light fixture. I could have made four of those for less than half what I paid for that fixture and got more light. I still may.

Ill try to keep updated. I may take some good advice though and switch my 23W with 43W next week when I get back from vacation.

 

[ruva]

Darkdestruction and Illegal Smile, Thanks for the comments.

If I had put more thought into this I would have done a couple things differently. Like I would have scrapped the idea of buying this 125W light fixture and just made a couple more light bars. The second thing is I would have used a 6" fan instead of a 4". Third I would have built a screen and put two plants in there.

Thanks for the advice on the lights. I am running some errands this afternoon and will look for some 42W bulbs and if not TOO expensive I will pick some up. I will probably buy some materials to make a couple more light bars and scrap that fixture also.


One thing Im worried about though. Do you guys think it will bring temps up much if I switch from 23W to 42W?

 

[ruva]

A couple quick pics​

​

​

​

​

 

[notoriousb]

A couple quick pics​

View attachment 524759​

View attachment 524760​

View attachment 524761​

View attachment 524762​

looking good man. when you started putting them out in the sun, did you ease them into it by an hour at a time at first then additional hours once they got more used to it? I'm still vegging mine and I do the same thing to save electricity, but I have a tinted piece of glass that I filter the light through cuz I was worried about them getting sun burnt since cfl and sun lights a little different haha

 

[ruva]

looking good man. when you started putting them out in the sun, did you ease them into it by an hour at a time at first then additional hours once they got more used to it? I'm still vegging mine and I do the same thing to save electricity, but I have a tinted piece of glass that I filter the light through cuz I was worried about them getting sun burnt since cfl and sun lights a little different haha

Actually I just brought a couple out for a little phot-op.

 

[woolypudding69]

Looks good, just up the light!

 

[venom3]

hey how did u hang the lights like that

 

[darkdestruction420]

Wouldn't that be 8400 per sq ft? That's quite a bit of light if it's all directed at 4 sq ft. The sun provides 10k sq ft on a sunny summer day. Anyway, more light is almost always better and I agree the op needs more. OP - Get those 23s up to 42s and you'd be fine.

um, the sun is like up to 115,000 lumens per square foot on sunny days is what i have always seen people say on this and other mj forums...

 

[livelife8345]

10,000 lumens per square foot is what the sun produces just an FYI!! =) its deff coming along upage in lights good suggestion by everyone else i will be growing under a similaiar setup space wise 1.5 grow in sig feel free to take a look =) well cheers man from one cfler to another happy grows it!!

SMOKE =ONE =)

 

[darkdestruction420]

your right, i just noticed it said lux which is the amount of light a square meter gets not a square foot.

 

[ruva]

hey how did u hang the lights like that

Its 1/4 inch steel rod that I cut to fit in the box. The fixtures are just light bulb receptacles with hooks, hooked on the rod. the ends of the rod are stuck through the links in the chain. The chain is held up by screw in hooks at the top of the box. Everything held in place with foil tape. Real simple to make.


Estimate cost:

1 - 3' steel rod $4.00
4 - light bulb receptacles $11.00
2 - 3' lengths of chain $1.75
1 - ac plug $1.50
6' of wire $.75

Hope that answers your question

 

[ruva]

OK. So I gotta confess I did notmake it to Home Depot yet to pick up some 42W bulbs. Im leaving on a cruise tomorrow and its gonna have to wait til I get back.

 

[bikeskill]

it will bring your temps up some but if it was me i would put the 42 watters in there, you should have veged them a little longer and not cut off the lower branches since they are so small. but it is an experment so as long as you learn something, otherwise it looks good