superdude714
Member
this is a clone wondering if i could start it on its flowering cycle... let me know what will works and what i should do to help the set up... temp is a little high at 85 and hum. 39%
new and growing with cfls
- Thread starter superdude714
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DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Yes, you can throw a plant into flowering at just about any stage. Just put a timer on the lights on a 12/12 schedule.
Optimum temp for photosynthesis is 72 to 80 degrees, so you should try to lower the temp a little if you can, it may help faster growth. One thing you can try is moving the fan to the top of the box (heat rises), that should make the fan more effective. Or is that the intake? Which way is that fan pointing, in or out?
The exhaust (outbound air) should be located at the top of your box, the intake (air coming in) should be located at the bottom of your box. If this does't lower the temp enough you can just try adding a second fan, 1 for intake & 1 for exhaust.
You may also want to make those lights adjustable. It looks like you plant may be a bit stretched because it was reaching for the overhead light. Those CFLs should be as close to the plant as you can get them without touching it. And a 3rd light would help too. There are plenty of ideas on making adjustable lights in the CFL & DIY threads.
Your lights also look like they're 2 different spectrums. If you're only using 2 lights you'll want to stick with 6,000 to 6,500k (daylight) for veg and 2,700 to 3,000k (soft white) for flower. If you add another light or two (something I would suggest) you can mix them. 2 or 3 daylight and 1 soft white for veg & 2 or 3 soft white & 1 daylight for flower. If you mix them with only 2 total bulbs then the plant isn't getting enough of the spectrum it wants most for the stage that it's in.
Another thing to help get it bushier is FIMing. Just do a search on FIM and some how to threads should come up. It makes the plant grow branches like crazy, you actually get branches coming off of branches, craziest thing I ever saw. Another way to go is topping it to get 4 main colas, Uncle Ben has a great how to thread for that.
The leaf damage looks like it may be nute burn, you may want to lower the fertilizer a little bit, or use a soil with less nutes the next time around. The damage doesn't look too bad though so it's probably not a major concern.
That's everything I could think of, hope it helps.
Optimum temp for photosynthesis is 72 to 80 degrees, so you should try to lower the temp a little if you can, it may help faster growth. One thing you can try is moving the fan to the top of the box (heat rises), that should make the fan more effective. Or is that the intake? Which way is that fan pointing, in or out?
The exhaust (outbound air) should be located at the top of your box, the intake (air coming in) should be located at the bottom of your box. If this does't lower the temp enough you can just try adding a second fan, 1 for intake & 1 for exhaust.
You may also want to make those lights adjustable. It looks like you plant may be a bit stretched because it was reaching for the overhead light. Those CFLs should be as close to the plant as you can get them without touching it. And a 3rd light would help too. There are plenty of ideas on making adjustable lights in the CFL & DIY threads.
Your lights also look like they're 2 different spectrums. If you're only using 2 lights you'll want to stick with 6,000 to 6,500k (daylight) for veg and 2,700 to 3,000k (soft white) for flower. If you add another light or two (something I would suggest) you can mix them. 2 or 3 daylight and 1 soft white for veg & 2 or 3 soft white & 1 daylight for flower. If you mix them with only 2 total bulbs then the plant isn't getting enough of the spectrum it wants most for the stage that it's in.
Another thing to help get it bushier is FIMing. Just do a search on FIM and some how to threads should come up. It makes the plant grow branches like crazy, you actually get branches coming off of branches, craziest thing I ever saw. Another way to go is topping it to get 4 main colas, Uncle Ben has a great how to thread for that.
The leaf damage looks like it may be nute burn, you may want to lower the fertilizer a little bit, or use a soil with less nutes the next time around. The damage doesn't look too bad though so it's probably not a major concern.
That's everything I could think of, hope it helps.
superdude714
Member
im using to spcs... 2 27w 6500k and 2 13w 2700k and i will raise the plant... thanks with those lights do you think that should need to change them to flower should i go get the 27w 2700k let me know the bottom fan is 120mm and the exhust is 80mm and let me know
smallclosetgrowr
Well-Known Member
the thing i dont get is why do people start 12/12 , 2 save power ? your plant is only going to flower when its mature enuff , u might aswell go 18/6 to speed growth then when the plant is mature enuff switch to 12/12
blacklac50
Active Member
i had the nute bure one and all i did was trasn plant it in fox farm ! i never use anything else unless it is intended for the purpose ! fox farm has everything you need for the first 30 days ! exlant for the begannier the pic i see is small but looks like u have potting soil i never cough the start of this thread so sorry if this is a repeat but some potting soils have a nute release that will fry thoes little girls i learned the hard way
superdude714
Member
decided to open the box and run a bigger fan now running 4 cfls 27w 6500k and 80 f and hum. 35% let me know how that is
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Your results should be a bit better if you used three 6,500k bulbs for veg and three 2,700k for flower. Plus you'll have a bit of money since you'll only need 2 more bulbs total. When mixing lights you always want to try to go a little heavier on the spectrum that it needs the most.
Fans sound good, the only improvement I can see is upgrading to a 120mm for exhaust, but it's not major.
Another way to lower the temp more is to lower the temp where the intake is. Sometimes you can do this by simply moving your box to a cooler spot, or you can just turn down your thermostat a little. But 80 is a good temp, just mentioning it incase you get mites or something and need to lower the temp to help get rid of them.
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
You can force your plants into flower by changing the light cycle. Your plants simply think it fall and will go into flower as a result.
Some strains will resist and it may take a week for them to go into flower. To remedy this you start with a 24hr period of dark, then for the first week go to a 11/13 light scedule switching to 12/12 on the second week.
This is how "sea of green" is accomplished. With sea of green you put your plants into flower as soon as they root.
Dude, not trying to be a dick or anything, but when you don't know your stuff, silence is golden.
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Yeah I made that mistake already, adding bone meal & blood meal to foxfarm. Ended up with minor nute burns similar to the ones in the pic. Wasn't too bad though so I didn't need to flush. I just learned a valuable lesson.
If by nute release you're talking about Miracle Grow, then you said a mouth full. I never used it myself but everyone I talk to that has said that they had nothing but problems. For dirt, my opinion is Foxfarm Ocean Forrest Potting is the best soil for our purposes.
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Sounds good. I read a book that said optimum humidity is 80% for veg & 40% for flower. But where I am there is just no way to get it much over 50%, I'm usually happy if it hits 40%. And I've had no problems.
Also I've heard from others in states with higher humidity (80%+) that they have mold problems all the time and would kill to have my humidity levels. Personally I try to keep it as close to 40% as I can for the whole grow.
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Your humidity is fine for the whole grow. Getting it up to 80% from what I've heard will give you way too many problems to be worth it.
DannyGreenEyes
Well-Known Member
Oh, the most important thing though is getting those lights closer, getting some better side coverage, and putting some reflectors on them.
Building a home made harness is the best way. This is a thread run by a guy that wrote a book called buds for less. In the book he shows how to make a cheap harness and he has some pages from his book posted on his thread. You should be able to get enough views of the harness to make one yourself https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/40884-buds-less-cfl-book.html If you just can afford to make a harness then try putting a small phone book or something under the plant to raise it up. The closer you get the bulbs the better.
The harness will also help you with side coverage.
And you can make your own "cone" reclectors if you have a little bit of Mylar left. It's pretty easy to make, but mylar's strong so if you use them try to keep the bulb at least an inch from your plants and keep your eye on them so they don't get scorched. If you buy reflectors you can keep the bulb a fraction of an inch from the plants, mylar's better though because you can back the light up a little and get a larger coverage area.
Building a home made harness is the best way. This is a thread run by a guy that wrote a book called buds for less. In the book he shows how to make a cheap harness and he has some pages from his book posted on his thread. You should be able to get enough views of the harness to make one yourself https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/40884-buds-less-cfl-book.html If you just can afford to make a harness then try putting a small phone book or something under the plant to raise it up. The closer you get the bulbs the better.
The harness will also help you with side coverage.
And you can make your own "cone" reclectors if you have a little bit of Mylar left. It's pretty easy to make, but mylar's strong so if you use them try to keep the bulb at least an inch from your plants and keep your eye on them so they don't get scorched. If you buy reflectors you can keep the bulb a fraction of an inch from the plants, mylar's better though because you can back the light up a little and get a larger coverage area.