1st grow egypt,help !

hi all

thanx for eveyones effort on this great forum, i am a newb grower from egypt and i could really use some help on my grow.

let me tell u about my situation,1st i am going to grow indoors in a closet of dimensions 170Hx150Lx50W (8 sqft), i covered the walls with sheets of white paper, hanged a piece of wood with 6 light fixtures (will use cfls) and the whole lighting could be lowered and raised. 2nd we dont have commercial topsoil like u guys have in the US, so i am not using any topsoil, i tried searching for good earth soil, but an agricult. engineer advised me today to not go for soil which could contain pollutants,fungi, pests and so on, so i came down to using a mix of peat moss and perlite.

now i have a few germinating seeds that are ready to be put in pots (which i did), should i turn on the lights even before they break open the soil ? i have 2 seeds in the soil already and they r not appearing ! 2nd the soil wont hold ANY water,whatever amount i put in there it all comes down from the holes, so i put 2 pots in a tray for the water to get collected and maybe sucked backk into the soil...

please i need pro help, advices comments anything, and just know that i am being very basic, i know the whole thing looks very messed up, but please bare with me

thanx in advance all

oh sorry for the cat pic..uploaded by mistake XD

I always recommend t5 for veg and hps for flower but what you've got going looks pretty good. If you are only growing your two plants then make a smaller enclosure using panda film to keep the light in/out. Make sure lights are within two inches of your seedlings. some sort of circulation is needed (oscilating/wall mount fan)

Aright fellow grower, u need a soil that'l hold on to water, u need balance, where the soil holds on 2 water, but not so much the roots don't get oxygen, wot cfl''s r u using 2700k or 6400k, u need 6400k for veggin then 2700k for flowering. Good luck!!!

If it isn't holding water at all, you're going to have a problem - especially with seedlings, which need to stay moist and warm, to germinate. If you don't have any soil there, you'll have to order online. Another option you could try - google Hempy Buckets. The lights you have will be fine to veg one or two plants. If you can change the bulbs around a bit, most of the light actually comes off the side of the bulb, not the end. You'll want to keep those within a couple inches of your plant/s. I would recommend more light for flowering, though.

thanx for ur quick replies guys

i'll think i wont upgrade till i get any results. i wont risk getting some outside soil,maybe i'll experiment with moss, press it more into the pot,use it without perlite, i dont know. it DOES feel pretty moist but still doesnt hold anywater.

i'll use 6x26w cool whites(6400) for veggin then switch to 6 warm whites(2700) when flowering. enough for 2-3 plants ? how far can i go with these lights ?

@doeyed how about i rotate the lights 90 degree upwards so the sides are toward the plants ? that will be one side facing the plant,enough ? any ideas from ur side ?

thanx again all for ur replies

Yep, that'll work. Try and make a relfector for them, as well - you'll lose a lot of light otherwise. There are a ton of ideas in the DIY section, for making your own CFL reflectors. For mine, I just wrapped a piece of cardboard in mylar, and set it above the lights. You can completely veg with the lights you have - but for flower, either save up for an HPS light, (roughly $150 USD shipped), or get at least twice the number of CFL's as you have. Don't let your girls get too tall!

cfl reflectors are a good idea, HPS lamps are pretty cheap in cairo, 100 egy pounds for a 250w and ballast, around 18$. but i dont plan on using them since i cant provide my closet with vent fan.

i also read online that peat moss holds water well,which doesnt seem true, here is the link
http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/149769-50-50-spagnum-peat-moss-vermiculite.html

ahmednegm said:

thanx for ur quick replies guys

i'll think i wont upgrade till i get any results. i wont risk getting some outside soil,maybe i'll experiment with moss, press it more into the pot,use it without perlite, i dont know. it DOES feel pretty moist but still doesnt hold anywater.

i'll use 6x26w cool whites(6400) for veggin then switch to 6 warm whites(2700) when flowering. enough for 2-3 plants ? how far can i go with these lights ?

@doeyed how about i rotate the lights 90 degree upwards so the sides are toward the plants ? that will be one side facing the plant,enough ? any ideas from ur side ?

thanx again all for ur replies

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Alright bud (grower), 6x 26w lights will b fine 4 veggin 2-3 plants,Wen it comes to flowering ,u will get bud but its gonna b sparce airy buds, wen wot u wont is thick dence buds, wit a bit ov weight 2 it. But if thats wot u got,go 4 it u will get bud but not a huge amount,still sum ov ur own bud ,that your've grown ,there no better feelin than that, your smokin a product that uv nutured from seed 2 fully budding plants once dryed n cured... is gonna get u buzzin,,!!!

why not try hempy buckets? all u need is perlite. theres a load of threads in here about them.

when you start flowering you can double your amount of lights with y-splitters heres a good link to an easy diy fixture
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/66787-setting-up-overhead-cfl-y.html

its also good to have a mixed spectrum, meaning mostly 2700 cfls, but also a few 6400

now if your using only moss and pearlite you have a soiless mix, which is technically a form of hydro growing

if you have some money to spend i would recommend buying some soil online. this soilless mix will get your plants through the seedling stage but unless you want to be managing nutrients all the time your going to need some soil.

if the soil in egypt is so bad there must be a supply of good soil somewhere. but if supply and demand are relevant than a bag of good soil will probably cost you more than that HPS light (which is a deal and a half by the way)

if buying soil is out of the question 1 option would be to sterilize you native soil by boiling it

i just took a look on the hempy bucket method, sounds great !! no fuss at all,i'll give this one a try, but lets see if i'll get any sprouts yet, thats my current mind consuming worry now lol. 3 days and non of the 3 germinated seeds popped out of the soil.
thanx dura72.
greeni u dont think 6x26w warm whites would get me heavy buds ? how about if i add another 6 when flowering, 12x26w, total of 314 wats and 32400 lumens, thats 10800 lumen per plant.

@kaleoxxx

thanx for the great info u provided.
i asked around today for this Y splitter, they dont seem to have ever heard of such here LOL. 3 world countries suck hehe. if u have any ideas about how to setup the lights most effeciently would be great.

buying stuff online is a bit hard here,plus if i make an order it'll probably take a month till i get it. now today i found some organic compst ( plant based i think) for little money,the guy told me it would work will with moss and perlite,but could be a little high in pH. u think this could be a sub for true soil ? should i go for it ?

ahmednegm said:

@kaleoxxx

thanx for the great info u provided.
i asked around today for this Y splitter, they dont seem to have ever heard of such here LOL. 3 world countries suck hehe. if u have any ideas about how to setup the lights most effeciently would be great.

buying stuff online is a bit hard here,plus if i make an order it'll probably take a month till i get it. now today i found some organic compst ( plant based i think) for little money,the guy told me it would work will with moss and perlite,but could be a little high in pH. u think this could be a sub for true soil ? should i go for it ?

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cant get y splitters in the uk either buddy, only the yanks use them, my dad said they used to sell them back in the 60's but stopped for sum reason.