Bag seed closet grow, need recomendations!

With a grow box the size of ... 4.5' wide x 2' deep x 7' high ... I would recommend getting the 400watt HPS/MH along with a cool tube OR keep a fan on them plants 24/7. The light comes prewired with the ballast and you simply plug it into a standard outlet and after a minute of it chargeing up it will start to flicker on. NO WIREING NEEDED! HTG SUPPLY is VERY reputable around this community. I will be buying this same light although i might go with the 400 HPS and not the HPS/MH one.

greenearth5 said:

With a grow box the size of ... 4.5' wide x 2' deep x 7' high ... I would recommend getting the 400watt HPS/MH along with a cool tube OR keep a fan on them plants 24/7. The light comes prewired with the ballast and you simply plug it into a standard outlet and after a minute of it chargeing up it will start to flicker on. NO WIREING NEEDED! HTG SUPPLY is VERY reputable around this community. I will be buying this same light although i might go with the 400 HPS and not the HPS/MH one.

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Cool. I saw them mentioned often anyways. Do you think I could get away with just a fan? Also...what about when it comes to using a timer? I thought I read you need some sort of adapter 'contact' or something.

Regards

You can get a cheap 10dollar timer at walmart or HTG also has them. Make sure you get a 24hour timer and not a 7day timer made for xmas lights. I got the 7 day timer and its timming was off and hard to work with. I dont have a 400 HPS yet so i dont know if you can get away with it but it your plants are in an airconditioned room and you have a big box fan blowing on them 24/7 with the lights 1 foot high then i dont see why you cant get away with it. When you get the light put your hand above the plant and if the light burns your hand after holding it there for a minute then ur too close.

The room isnt air conditioned. but it is in the basement so it stays decently cool (monitoring with the CFLs i got is reading 75 max)

Have you decided which setup you are going with? Are you doing dirt or hydro?

greenearth5 said:

Have you decided which setup you are going with? Are you doing dirt or hydro?

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dirt for now. i am not familiar with hydro, just went with dirt cause i went path of least resistance lol. I just picked up a book and i am going to return it and get the buds for less book. and I am going to go CFL all the way on 2 or 3 max plants. I am not comfortable with the 400w MHs, and I have seen some impressive results with cfl grows.

Cheers! I am planning to add more lights! so please help me determine what to buy!

Currently: 6 x 27 watt CFL (5500K). They are in 5.5" clamp lights. I have 6 seedlings, unsure of sex/what i might get for females. so i will probably end up with 2 or 3. so to grow 3 plants, I can give them all 2 of the 27 watts. but I should buy like 3 more higher wattage CFLs to run over the main COLAs. So what wattage should I get these at?

That would then bring my lighting rig to about 387 if I get 3 75 watters (6000K).

Or I might check out the buds for less approach with 42 watters. I dont mind tryign something else. These lights arent too expensive, and it is a decently stealthy setup. no heat issues, easy to keep circulated with a fan.

Wow!

I gave up on this journal and used my time to attend to my plants!

it is about day 26 in soil now, I got 12 lights, 6 42w 6500k and 6 42w 2700k. I changed the set up, and recently transplanted my 6 root bound plants to bigger pots. They was some withering/browning as I left for a week for an emergency and they didnt get any water!

I am considering to Veg for another 2 weeks then flower. I am also considering LSTing all of the plants. What do you think about this? When should I start, and can I do it into/during flower?

Also..how much water should these guys be getting? I am currently giving them each 2 quarts of PH adjusted water. The disks they are on hold a fair amount of water, but it seems to just sit so I usually end up dumping it an hour after I water the plants. Any advice??

I will be posting pics shortly!

Regards

August 7th!

Day 26. I left for a family emergency and was gone a week. Plants were not watered for the week. I got back to brown/yellow lower fan leaves. Oh well, have to do what you have to do eh? Anyways, the plants have surly become root bound in their small containers, so I transplanted to the new larger containers. Each got 2qts of water (question at the end)

Attached are pics of the space, a comparison of the old and new containers, and photos of the plants.

Now the questions:

How much water should these be getting a day? I have been using PH adjusted water (2 quarts each). However their saucers seem to just hold the water, without draining so I pour out the collected water after each watering.

How long should I let them veg for? They have been in soil for 26 days, and were just transplanted. I am considering LST too. When should I start this/do I continue to do it into flower? When should I force flowering? As you can see the tallest/healthiest looking plant is about 6.5 inches tall with 6 nodes.

Thanks!

Bump!! I need some help guys!!

Looks like i'm about one the same schedule as you. My plants look similar and I just started giving them nutes. Have you started that yet?

Nole said:

Looks like i'm about one the same schedule as you. My plants look similar and I just started giving them nutes. Have you started that yet?

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The soil they are in has time released nutes. I am not going to add any aside from some molasses during flower.

I am going to start LST tomorrow, assuming they dont look like they are in shock from the transplant (they actually look much healthier now after a good drink/the new larger containers).

I am thinking of vegging another 2 or 3 weeks.

Lst is awesome, my plant is already showing me 5 new tops!

Nuno, since you were scared about nosy neighbors, I decided to let you know about my personal experience. Me and my friend are growing at his house in his closet. Right now we have 2 plants with 4 23 watt CFL's and even having that little lights (creates a lot of heat) it forces us to always have the closet open (left it closed one night with a fan going and within an hour our temps went from 74 to 87). Because the door is always open the minute you walk in (even if its really fucking sunny), you notice the lights from the closet shining really brightly. The reason im telling you this story is that a 400w hps light creates a shit ton of heat (so you better have really good air ventilation) forcing you to always have the closet open. So if you think the cfls are bright, people are gonna notice the hps the second they walk in.

Just remember to think about these before you spend hundreds of dollars on a hps system

I have a three gallon pot and I water every Monday that's it. I never get root bounded or dead leaves. you don't want to water everyday or your plants will look droopy and sad. Mine is on day 17 doesn't grow fast but its fucking healthy.

happyface said:

In a perfect world both metal halide (mh) and high pressure sodium (hps) would be used during both the vegetative and flowering stages of growth.
For example, a garden with 15 plants or less could use a 250 watt hps and a 250 watt mh lighting fixture. A garden with 20 plants or less could use a 400 watt hps and a 250 watt mh lighting fixture (or 250 watt hps and a 400 watt mh).
This is not always possible because the cost of two light fixtures will be more that of a single fixture. Two lights will also take up more space and might produce more heat than a single unit.

If you can only afford a single fixture, get a high pressure sodium fixture with a high pressure sodium bulb and a metal halide bulb (both bulbs rated for the same wattage as your light fixture). Use the metal halide bulb for vegetative growth and the high pressure sodium for flowering. When you have enough money, get a proper metal halide fixture.

• A 250 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 2.5 foot by 2.5 foot grow area. (6 plants or less)
• A 400 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area. (12 plants or less)
• A 600 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 5 foot by 5 foot grow area. (18 plants or less)
• A 1000 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 6.5 foot by 6.5 foot grow area. (30 plants or less)

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Thats all fine and dandy, but Im pretty sure this a CFL forum.

aww damn im sorry i didnt even realise it it CFL GROWING.........MYBAD