Help me make the most of this room and supplies photos included

[sonar]

Ok here's the deal. To make a long story short, I toasted 3 of my bagseed babies when I moved them under three 23w CFL (one per light). Had them in a grow box with a shitty 15w 18" fluoro and they were growing nice for about a week until I bought the cfls. I removed the tube and replaced it with the cfl. From what I read, they say keep them an inch from the plants, which I did, but I guess it was too much for them to handle so young. Guess the one inch rule is more for older plants since it honestly didn't feel that hot 1" away.

Luckily, they were my trial run bagseeds. I have my good attitude seeds germinating now and don't want to make the same mistake twice. I'm pretty good with electrical, but not really the carpentry type so I'm having trouble making a rig/set up. For the 3 cfl's that toasted the seedlings, I basically just had them dangling from the cord.

I was thinking about using a power strip for the cfl and mounting it above, but at this point I really don't wanna put too much more money into this if I don't really have to.

Here are the pics of my room and supplies. Like I said, they were growing good with that fluoro tube so I was thinking about maybe just buying another one so I don't toast my good seeds this time.

BTW-This is NOT an indoor grow. I'm doing an outdoor this year but want to start them inside for a few weeks before I move them out. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[BongKong420]

Stick with the flouros they arent as harsh the little ones.........is this your first outdoor grow??

 

[sonar]

Stick with the flouros they arent as harsh the little ones.........is this your first outdoor grow??

Pretty much. I dabbled here and there when I was younger but this is the first time I'm doing it for real with online seeds. I prob should just buy another one of those fluoro's. Think I only paid like $8 for it. I kinda wanted to try to make something work with those cfl's since I don't want them to go to waste.

Also, the fluoro assembly came with one of those covers over the bulb. I guess to spread the light out. Think I should keep it on or take it off? Good thing about having it on is that if they hit a growth spurt on me I don't have to worry about them touching the bulb.

 

[sonar]

Pretty much. I dabbled here and there when I was younger but this is the first time I'm doing it for real with online seeds. I prob should just buy another one of those fluoro's. Think I only paid like $8 for it. I kinda wanted to try to make something work with those cfl's since I don't want them to go to waste.

Also, the fluoro assembly came with one of those covers over the bulb. I guess to spread the light out. Think I should keep it on or take it off? Good thing about having it on is that if they hit a growth spurt on me I don't have to worry about them touching the bulb.

Just checked the box the cfl's came in. Even though they are bright as hell, says they are only 2700K, which isn't good for veg anyway, right? The tubes I'm using are 4200K.

 

[xENVIOUSx]

keep the lights further than that. I've ran my hand between the space of my CFL's and plants an if its too warm for my hands its too warm for my babies.

 

[northeastern lights]

I don't like to go by "the hand" method. What I need to know is your high and low temps. What's the RH? For 8 dollars you can get a digital temp/RH gauge that will record the highs and lows of the day. So while your not there you can stil see what went on as far as temp/RH. I start my seeds under my 600 HPS, I don't recommend this for beginers though.


What you want to do is put the temp gauge right unde rthe lights to get an accurate reading. I have some T12's for cloning and have run out of space so I have some bigger plants under them. I have them right on the bulbs, no damage what so ever. I've never been a fan of CFLs and have never used them.

 

[sonar]

I don't like to go by "the hand" method. What I need to know is your high and low temps. What's the RH? For 8 dollars you can get a digital temp/RH gauge that will record the highs and lows of the day. So while your not there you can stil see what went on as far as temp/RH. I start my seeds under my 600 HPS, I don't recommend this for beginers though.


What you want to do is put the temp gauge right unde rthe lights to get an accurate reading. I have some T12's for cloning and have run out of space so I have some bigger plants under them. I have them right on the bulbs, no damage what so ever. I've never been a fan of CFLs and have never used them.

I'll have to look into getting one of those temp/rh meters. Where you get them wal mart or where ever? The thing is I had them in a closed rubbermaid with that fluoro you see in the pic. The humidity was pretty high but they were growing good. Then I bought those cfl and moved them into that closet where it toasted them. If I would guess I'd say the humidity in that closet is pretty low compared to the rubbermaid I had them in at first. Since I'm not doing a 100% indoor, just starting them out, I think im gonna head down and buy another one of those little fluoros. It sucks I don't have any specialty stores around here I'm stuck with whatever I can get at wal mart. Being on a tight budget doesn't help either, haha.

 

[northeastern lights]

I got mine at Wal-Mart. Sounds like you had no airflow and just baked them to death in the rubbermaid. The CFL's aren't the problem it's the SEALED container your putting them in.

 

[sonar]

I got mine at Wal-Mart. Sounds like you had no airflow and just baked them to death in the rubbermaid. The CFL's aren't the problem it's the SEALED container your putting them in.

No think ya misunderstood me. Sorry if I was being unclear. They were growing good in the rubbermaid with the fluoro tube. When I moved them into the closet that is when I started with the cfl's and had the problems. Even though it didn't seem too hot I only had them like an inch from the cfl and I guess it was too intense and killed them within a day. I took the cfl out now and put the tube (the one I had from the rubbermaid) into the closet now.

I bought one of those gauges at wal-mart. Currently with the single fluoro tube the temp is 72 degrees and 41% humidity. When I was there I bought another fluoro tube like the one I'm currently using. I'm guessing it will go up a little when I start running the other fluoro. I'm done with those cfl's. I actually took the bulbs and the fixtures back to wal mart.

But yeah they got toasted in the closet with the cfl. Not with the fluoro.

I'm also going to look into getting a small fan. Even though those fluoro tube don't produce that much heat, the plants tend to stretch towards it and I heard a light breeze from a fan will help strengthen the stem.

Thanks for being patient with me Nel.

 

[northeastern lights]

No think ya misunderstood me. Sorry if I was being unclear. They were growing good in the rubbermaid with the fluoro tube. When I moved them into the closet that is when I started with the cfl's and had the problems. Even though it didn't seem too hot I only had them like an inch from the cfl and I guess it was too intense and killed them within a day. I took the cfl out now and put the tube (the one I had from the rubbermaid) into the closet now.

I bought one of those gauges at wal-mart. Currently with the single fluoro tube the temp is 72 degrees and 41% humidity. When I was there I bought another fluoro tube like the one I'm currently using. I'm guessing it will go up a little when I start running the other fluoro. I'm done with those cfl's. I actually took the bulbs and the fixtures back to wal mart.

But yeah they got toasted in the closet with the cfl. Not with the fluoro.

I'm also going to look into getting a small fan. Even though those fluoro tube don't produce that much heat, the plants tend to stretch towards it and I heard a light breeze from a fan will help strengthen the stem.

Thanks for being patient with me Nel.

No problem bro, yeah a breeze will strengthen those stems right up. Your temps and RH are ideal.

 

[sonar]

Well I bought that 250w hps off my friend. He only wanted $50 for it so I figured I'd jump on it. If I can't make use of it now I'm sure I will be able to at some point. Do you think this room is big enough for it? The room is a good 4 feet high so there is plenty of room for heat to rise, but it is only about 2 feet wide and 18 inches deep. Will a fan be enough to keep things cool? I can't really be cutting holes in the wall for exhaust or anything like that.

 

[northeastern lights]

Even if you had a air cooled reflector HID's radiat alot of heat, I say hang it, turn it on and then check temps afterhours of it being on. Alot of people make the mistake of not doing a dry run of their grow rooms and run into problems. Take it from me, changing things mid grow blows.

 

[sonar]

Even if you had a air cooled reflector HID's radiat alot of heat, I say hang it, turn it on and then check temps afterhours of it being on. Alot of people make the mistake of not doing a dry run of their grow rooms and run into problems. Take it from me, changing things mid grow blows.

Yeah thats a good idea. Someone made a good point in another thread that since my closet is only about 4 feet high (maybe a little more) that you figure a foot for the light, a foot for the pot, plus he said you wanna keep close to a foot between the plant and the light. So if thats all true then that doesn't leave too much for the plant.

 

[northeastern lights]

Yeah thats a good idea. Someone made a good point in another thread that since my closet is only about 4 feet high (maybe a little more) that you figure a foot for the light, a foot for the pot, plus he said you wanna keep close to a foot between the plant and the light. So if thats all true then that doesn't leave too much for the plant.

Yep that's right. Might want to think of using a screen to really have good control over vertical growth.

 

[dew-b]

Pretty much. I dabbled here and there when I was younger but this is the first time I'm doing it for real with online seeds. I prob should just buy another one of those fluoro's. Think I only paid like $8 for it. I kinda wanted to try to make something work with those cfl's since I don't want them to go to waste.

Also, the fluoro assembly came with one of those covers over the bulb. I guess to spread the light out. Think I should keep it on or take it off? Good thing about having it on is that if they hit a growth spurt on me I don't have to worry about them touching the bulb.

thake the cover off for sure lots britter

 

[sonar]

Yep that's right. Might want to think of using a screen to really have good control over vertical growth.

Well do you think it is even worth it for me to set it up for now? I have 7 plants going that are about a week old under those fluoros right now. I think I'm going to take your advice and not put them out until the first week of may, so that gives me about 3 more weeks inside. Naturally, I want them as big and as healthy as possible before I put them out the bush, but if the hps isn't really going to make THAT much of a difference I might as well not even set it up for now. They are actually growing pretty decent under those little 18" bulbs and like you said why bother changing something when I'm already started and have so many more unknowns. The only bad thing is they are growing at drastically different rates so it is kind of a pain in the ass trying to line them up from shortest to tallest then lift the one side of the tubes up higher so they are all about the same difference. I guess that is what you get when you order a mix pack.

 

[Essex]

Hi Sonar,

I wouldent put a 250w hid in a box the size your talking about unless you have a extractor running outside the box. if 3x cfl gets hot, 250w will cook your dinner!