12/12 from seed closet grow

Ok, my first real attempt at growing, read alot from randy rocket and wanted to try this as my first time. I have 5 bagseed plants as of right now,and they are on day 10. 2 of them are absolutely huge, 2 of ok size and 1 that sprouted about 4 days later than the others. using mg organic blend (i know it's not the best, but its available) because im not so sure about using nutes yet. (Seen alot of ppl burn or even kill plants like that.) Distilled water, and this is a cfl grow. Have 5 26w 1750 lumen 2700k bulbs and 2 26w 1600 6500k bulbs in a homemade reflector. grow room is 2x3 and roughly 6 ft tall. Walls are mirrors (heard they are the best to use if you have them.)

Also, don't have a camera for now, but will try to get some pics of the plants and setup soon.

ok, borrowed a camera, here's what i got going.

Looks like your on your way. You have quite a few watts going. You should look at htg supply. They have 250w hps for pretty reasonable... It would really come in hand when you flower. I use t-5 to flower in one of my cabinets though and it turns out pretty good... so both work.

I would only be worried about the cardboard as a reflector. Lamps get hot and cardboard burns. The first time is always the most fun IMO

Thanks, the cardboard is only temporary, (i hope) but it only gets about 110F on the cardboard and my temp under the lights stays about 78 w/o the fans on (have 2 20in box fans for circulation and a desk fan to put on the plants)

yeah looks like it should work just fine, just keep an eye on your temps.
and put a fan on it to keep it cool

good luck

mirrors actually asorb light, paint a carboard box white, and use that instead lol.

MonstroniuM said:

mirrors actually asorb light, paint a carboard box white, and use that instead lol.

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will keep that in mind. at the moment it was either the mirrors or foil the entire thing

Cover those bottles with somethin, u dont want ur roots exposed to the light. Flat paint..

PS mirrors are like using magnifiers on ants.

Fditty00 said:

Cover those bottles with somethin, u dont want ur roots exposed to the light. Flat paint..

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bottoms of the bottles are covered with brown meat packing paper, it wont let
the light through.

Day 10 is gone and babies are lookin wonderful! cant wait to start seein those lil white hairs. any1 got some experience with 12/12 from seed and only cfl's wanna offer up any good tips?

little ones are awake now.
group

name: Mary

name: Dee-licious ( cause of the faygo bottle she's in

really? nobody?

Dude... looks good ... not sure I can offer any tips yet as I am new ... but I like the light set up ... I need to work mine that way ... my babies are getting big and I need to adjust my light ... anyway I'm on day 20 ... don't see any sign of sex on mine yet ... so if this is day 10 for you maybe it's to early to tell??

Mr5onit said:

Dude... looks good ... not sure I can offer any tips yet as I am new ... but I like the light set up ... I need to work mine that way ... my babies are getting big and I need to adjust my light ... anyway I'm on day 20 ... don't see any sign of sex on mine yet ... so if this is day 10 for you maybe it's to early to tell??

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my lights are definitely a ghetto setup. lol. and yes, it is to early to tell sex, but want to be optimistic. i could always use a few more girls in my life. lol

Fditty00 said:

PS mirrors are like using magnifiers on ants.

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^^^ what he said. Mirrors will eventually create burns in your plants when they get big. It directly reflects light as opposed to redistributing it like mylar, panda film or flat white paint.

The most simple, safest way IMO to reflect light is to paint the entire inside of your cab or closet with a flat white paint. Never use glossy as it creates hot spots like a mirror. The back side (dull side) of aluminum foil will work 10 times better than a mirror. If one of your little gals stays in a hot spot too long you can kiss her good bye.

With flat white paint, there is no mess like when you get water on mylar. There is no chance of heavy glass falling like with a mirror. Your mirror(s) fall & hit your lights or plants and that could spell disaster. Plus paint is cheap. I use flat white paint over mylar or panda (even though they give about 5-8% more reflectivity) for its ease of use and the fact that it doesnt add anything else to the grow that could fall or catch fire...or both

Other than the mirrors, things look good man. I like the implementation of soda bottles, and +rep for listening to people's advice and covering those roots. Algae on roots stunted my first grow and the plants never got taller than 7"

Good luck
KB

Oh also....

Wires + Cardboard + Heat = Potential (If not eventual) FIRE!!!

Do EVERYTHING you can to keep from creating a fire hazard. If money is tight, the amount of light lost by not having the cardboard reflector will be minuscule compared to coming home to the fire dept. putting your house out and a pair of cops waiting for you with handcuffs.

If its your first grow, dont try to perfect it. Just let em grow and learn from mistakes. You should just be happy if they all survive. I used all CFLs in my closet for my first grow with no reflectors and have done so since with no problems. The light emitted from a CFL degrades at an amzing rate. After it has hit the reflector and made it all the way back to the plants you are talking a loss of up to 70% of the lumens. Its just not worth the risk. Just keep them close to the plants at all times and you should be just fine.

Hope Im not coming off as negative, I just think a healthy paranoia about fire hazards is well...healthy


Keep em green and best of luck!!
KB

ok, so do think i should go ahead and lose the mirrors? ok, they will be out shortly, but the wallpaper is white, it just has some lil designs in it, so not gonna paint them. as for the reflector, not sure what to do about that yet... have NO money to spend at all so cant really even go buy the stuff to build 1. any1 got some plans for a homemade reflector w/ stuff i might have lying around the house? +rep