I have a LIght question,,Please someone help

[floydfanx6]

Hi i am growing 2 plants with cfls 2 150 watt cflls. How far away from the budd should the lamps be. I have read 2 inches,,to a foot... Ive been told during vegetation use 1 150 cfl bulb,,then when im ready for budding stage,i add another bulb and go from 18 hours of light,,to 12 hours of light,,but stronger light. PLLLLease someone help me i really need it,

 

[ORECAL]

you got the right idea....
keep the cfls as close to the buds as possible without touching them, it's burn them if they are touching. but you got the lighting times right, I would keep both cfls on the plant all the way through, and even consider getting a few more

 

[floydfanx6]

So,,during the budding stage,,,i shouldnt add more lights,,,just use the same concentration of lights all the way through? thanx
Latly how will i know when the plant is ready for the budding stage? to swtich to the 12 hour shift?? i know i do it when i think there the right size,,,but at there are sighns i should look for,,and apoximaltly how long will it take to get to the budding stage with my set up with the 2 cfls 150 watt

 

[ORECAL]

if you can add more lights when you start budding, then do it. i meant that you should not purposly withhold light during vegging. when to put them in is totally up to you, some say that if your starting with seeds, you have to wait a lil longer, but generally you can decide to put them into flowering whenever you feel like it, it all depends on your room constriction. as for how long, I;m not sure, I use HPS, but right now I got a bunch of clones under some fishtank cfls, they seem to be doing the job.

 

[User24]

usually from seed, there is a 2-3 week period where they are technically seedlings, then a 3-4 week veg phase, followed by a 8-10 week bloom phase.

with clones you can skip the seedling weeks, especially if they are already rooted well.

as a new grower if you really want to maximize your yield, it is best to let them veg until they begin to develop pre-flowers, basically tiny little budsites. this is when they are naturally ready to bloom.

you can of course force-flower them early, many people do with good results.

 

[floydfanx6]

while you are both helping me,,,,gernemation,,is it better to use the paper towel method,,or to just dunk it in water in a cup. Its been about 30 hours and no crack yet

 

[ORECAL]

which way are you doing it? i put all my seeds directly into rockwool cubes that were soaked. but I was trying like 50 seeds that were all at least like 3 years old and never cared for. just laying around. but from what I've heard the most popular method is the paper towel method.

 

[floydfanx6]

dude 50 seeds? im growing fine marijuana its rare u find seeds of kind budd or hydro. I have though id say 10,,over the past 2 years maybe,,,and im germentating 2 of them,,to see how it goes,, im growing this in a closet that is maybe 5 ft, by 10 ft ,,im worried my seeds havent split yet,,they might not be good seeds? but i also read it can take a few days up to a week for it to split i spend so much money on hydro,,,thousands a year thousands,,so this has to work for me just 2 plants for personal usage :*

 

[floydfanx6]

im using paper towl method

 

[ORECAL]

yeah 50 seeds, but like I said, they were all bagseed collected over 10 years time. I've always saved any seed I found, knowing that one day I would try to grow, then when the time came, I took half of them and tried to germ them (knowing that a lot of them wouldn't) all the seeds I took out of bags were from bud that I liked, the ones that I didn't like I kept seperate and am still looking for a good spot to throw them outside and see what I get. but just because the regs weren't good, doesn't mean the genetics aren't good. you may not have good seeds, that's why you should germinate all of them, you'll get males and hermies in the mix, hopefully a female or two. that's why I did so many. and all but ONE either didn't germ or was hermie or male. out of the 50 seeds, i had i all out female, 2 hermies, and 2 males. thats it. but they were all really old seeds, I'm in the process of gettin rid of the hermies and slowly going to the full female for a perpetual harvest of 2 plants every 2 weeks, still only enough for personal use, i smoke a shitload.

 

[floydfanx6]

so do i bro,,,,u think the 2 cfls 150 watt will be enough,,i mean il add more i guess during blooming,,im only trying to grow 2 plants dont forget Also the cfl;s,,wont make my plant grow high weak and fall over like i read about full spectrum lights?,,,,,,when will i know if im my seeds are bad or not?? a week?? people seem to have quite intricate systems hydroponic with tubes and filtration,,i plan to water them using filtered water,and have a fan blowing in the closet,,i think this will sufice for 2 plants,,im not making a growing box,,just in my closet,,with aluminom foil wrapped everywhere!!!! help me

 

[WoldofWeedcraft]

Floyd, if you're planning to do a full CFL grow, you'll want a mixture of blue and orange spectrum bulbs (or full spectrum if that's what you have). The blue is for veg and the orange is supposed to help flowering. I used 4 x 42 Watt orange spectrum bulbs and 4 x 26 Watt blue spectrum bulbs, and 2 x 27 Watt full spectrum bulbs (total of 10 CFLs). With CFLs it's important that you cover the whole area of the plant as it flowers, b/c some will get fat when they are near the light, while the ones further from the light will be significantly smaller. I would personally recommend using HPS for flowering after my experience with CFLs, but if that's not an option, just find some good orange spectrum or even full spectrum bulbs and arranging them on all sides of the plant as it grows. Keep them only a few inches away.

 

[ORECAL]

I left my seeds germinating for a 2 months, which is way longer than most people do. general rule is up to 2 weeks, but I wanted to make sure i wouldn't get any more. and I acually did get a couple after the 2 week period. i think that the 2 should be ok, just make sure they are VERY close to the plants, but don't let them touch as they will burn the plant. I've got that intricate system your talking about with the tubes and whatnot, i use a drip system that fwaters 3 times a day. you can acually see my room, it doesn't look the same right now because I needed more room to flower the fuckers that are hermie, but it will give you an idea of what I'm working with. it called My First Grow. I don't have very many pics or anything, got very paranoid about it after I put the pics up (which is why there aren't any new ones) you need to make sure you have good ventilation and air movement.

 

[ORECAL]

if you want info on the CFL side i hope someone else with that experience will answer your questions, but I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability and experience.

 

[floydfanx6]

DUDE!!! the lighting is confusing me as a mothe fucker!! yr talking about orange and blue lights,, I want to buy from home depot,,,and i want to buy CHEAP i was told cfls are the route to go,,,i was going to buy 2 42 watt cfls. With some cheap ass fixture or some way to mount them,,,,help,,,i dont know about colors,or anything,,and hopefully i can get it all at home depot :*

 

[ORECAL]

no worries buddy, chill.... the colors he speaks of are the light spectrum that the bulb is. when you go to HD or Lowes, they can tell you what the spectrums of the bulbs are, you'll want to get warm white and soft white (one is blue, the other red/orange) just ask them and they can help you out. just don't tell them what your using it for, they shouldn't ask anyway.

 

[floydfanx6]

OK here goes im going to buy 2 cfll's 42 watt bulbs one is blue and 1 is orange. for a max of 2 plants. I may choose to add 1 more bulb during flowring. These bulbs are the spiraly compact ones,,not the tubular ones right?? what is the cheapest way to mount these bulbs ( fixture,ballast) whatever first time man i wanna do this right,im broke from buying weed honesly,lol Also freinds i have 1 more thread about growing rooms,if yr stoned and bored check it out,,but i really appreciate all yr help,,ive been researching for days,,im finally there i think

 

[drgr33nthum8]

If you are having a hard time with CFL's and need an explanation I would recommend going to GrowFAQ link which is on top of the page. There is a whole write up about CFL's, I read this article before doing any cfl purchasing and found it very imformative. Just go GrowFAQ> 6.Lighting, lamps, reflectors and electricity> Bulbs> compact fluorescents.

Hope this helps, it did for me!

 

[WoldofWeedcraft]

DUDE!!! the lighting is confusing me as a mothe fucker!! yr talking about orange and blue lights,, I want to buy from home depot,,,and i want to buy CHEAP i was told cfls are the route to go,,,i was going to buy 2 42 watt cfls. With some cheap ass fixture or some way to mount them,,,,help,,,i dont know about colors,or anything,,and hopefully i can get it all at home depot :*

Yea home depot sells them in blue, orange, and a blended spectrum (mostly meant for household lighting). I would go with blue and orange, b/c orange is really what you want for flowering and blue for veg. Here's one of my home made fixtures.

 

[ORECAL]

OK here goes im going to buy 2 cfll's 42 watt bulbs one is blue and 1 is orange. for a max of 2 plants. I may choose to add 1 more bulb during flowring. These bulbs are the spiraly compact ones,,not the tubular ones right?? what is the cheapest way to mount these bulbs ( fixture,ballast) whatever first time man i wanna do this right,im broke from buying weed honesly,lol Also freinds i have 1 more thread about growing rooms,if yr stoned and bored check it out,,but i really appreciate all yr help,,ive been researching for days,,im finally there i think

when you ask for the lights in HD, you will not want to sat blue and orange, they may not know what your talking about, say warm white and soft white. and yes, they are the spiral ones. the bigger CFLs are somewhat tubular, but arn't just one long tube like floros. you can get Y connectors so that you can put 2 bulbs into one plug, or get a different base that only allows one bulb, that way you can place the bulbs all over. you do now want to center the bulbs together, spread them over the plant as much as possable. just days of research really isnt enough, I've given you some info, but there is really a shitload more that you need to know. I researched for over a year before I started putting my plan into action, and I personally don't think that I was really ready when I started( well i did before I started, but now after starting and being a wuite a bit on my way, i know I should have done a lot more planning first.)