First Grow: Week 5 into Flowering How's she looking?

imo you dont need to buy 42 watters, they only put out 2600 lumens and the 26 watters put out 1750 lumens. 3 26watters=2 42 watters, you save money and electric, and you get more bulbs. When growing with cfl more bulbs are always better.

well it really depends on the grow setup. if you have a smaller confined space. for example i have 4 42 watters in my veg box and they put out 2800 lumens each. thats 11500 lumens. i have tried to use more lower wattage lamps. i can fit about 5 23 watt bulbs in ther and thats only 8750 lumens at 1750 lumens per bulb. also with the 42 watt bulbs my veg chamber stays withing the temp range of 75-80. i agree that more bulbs is better but i also thing more higher wattage bulbs. for example if you have 8 23 watts for flower, why not just have 8 42 watt instead, might cost more, produce more heat, but other than that your getting more light if you can control the heat.

I agree the added power of a 42 watt seems to sometimes give the plant a little something extra. The Sun is fuckn' hot and really bright, I imagine the suns light penetrates into the surface of the leaf much more CFL ever could. So in the end the penetration power of 42 watts could be very desirable. This extra power could be even more important during flowering if you think how dense some buds are.

I know a million 20 - 26 watt growers want to jump me right now, but I also use mostly all 20 - 26 six watters, although I did stick one 42 watt right above my most promising shrub. Also I use one of those 130 watt bulbs, If you can get one do it.

...yes there are many impressive grows using only 20 watt bulbs and such.

tom__420 said:

So you really think that stretchy plants yield more? You are wrong dude, you want your plants to grow short and stout so that you can get buds like that. With an attitude like that you are never going to grow big buds. CFL's can work great and produce big buds also

Click to expand...

Sorry if I offended you with my "attitude" Tom_420. But honestly what do you expect? This is a CFL forum. Everyone knows who get way more light power with MH or HPS, over CFL. I just thought your point was totally lost by the fact you were comparing apples n' oranges.

I don't think strectchy plants get more than tight buds. I was just saying that when a plant stretches, this may provide the opertunity for a CFL grower to add some side lighting in order to light some bud that might not otherwise get much light. In this case a bit more bud could perhaps be produced than otherwise would have. But as Tom_420 nicely pointed out, you could just go buy a new Metal Halid light system and save yourself the trouble.

I know I'm really sarcastic. I'm just having fun Tom. If you think my attitude will keep me from growing big bud, i invite you to check my posts every once in a while, I should be done flowering in just over a month.

I completely agree with you northwest. 23w are definately successful but the more the merrier. the sun puts out 10,000 lumens per square foot on average and i think 42 are better in my opinion just hotter. and we all do know that mh or hps are way better. i have a hydrofarm 250w mh and grew my 1st 3 crops with it. now cfl's because of location. id use it if i could.

if you think about it tho.... 10 bucks isnt a big deal at all. your going to want a couple of your bulbs to be high lumens anyway. put your brightest bulbs above your plants, then shroud the plant with the rest

Just turned the lights on again...as of right now one 26W is above the plant very very close, another 26W on the side and a 13W on the side. The 13W is barely putting out light compared to the 2 26's. I'm off to Wal-Mart to purchase a bigger bulb. Hopefully it will pay off!

It will def pay off man, let us know what you purchase once you get back. Remember 6500°K (daylight) for veg and 2700°K (soft white) for flower

tom__420 said:

It will def pay off man, let us know what you purchase once you get back. Remember 6500°K (daylight) for veg and 2700°K (soft white) for flower

Click to expand...

Only one Wal-Mart had from the 42W bulbs were the GE General Purpose...2700 lumens. The light is definitely soft white, same as the other 2 26W bulbs I got going with it.

So yeah now I got 2 26's & 1 42W. Some of the white hairs are starting to turn reddish...is this an indication that flowering is getting to its end?

Yeah that means that the plant is getting closer to maturity. I would pick up the 12 dollar microscope from RadioShack so that you can view the trichomes. It works great, I have it. Here is a link: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2179604
Also here is a trichome chart that shows you what they should look like when the plant is ready for harvest:

that's usually an indication of increasing maturity - how far off is strain dependent

Nice man thanks for that link & the chart. Will be picking that up soon.

It is one of the best purchases you can make man, it is so nice being able to harvest and know what type of high you will be getting

tom__420 said:

It is one of the best purchases you can make man, it is so nice being able to harvest and know what type of high you will be getting

Click to expand...

For sure man, will def. get one of these. I just found another reflector and put the 13W in it. So now I've got 107W of CFL power, my plant must be going blind!

Just took these a minute ago. The 42W is currently on the side of the top nug. One 26W on top of the plant, another 26W on the lower side, and one 13W on the lower side. Is it normal to have so many leaves coming from the top nug??

Dr.RR said:

Just took these a minute ago. The 42W is currently on the side of the top nug. One 26W on top of the plant, another 26W on the lower side, and one 13W on the lower side. Is it normal to have so many leaves coming from the top nug??

Click to expand...

yup, that's just what you should be seing

looks awesome. Maybe consider doing this, move the one bulb directly over top over so it's more opposite the large 42 watt you just put in. It seems the one side of the plant is still kinda dark. Seeing all those leaves, I recommend sliding that top bulb over about 6 inches , and angling it to light the plant directly opposite from where the 42 watt bulb is placed. There should be an angle which still lights the top but also casts more light down that darker side of the top bud. It's a really slight adjustment, so I hope I'm explaining it right. Basically you have an abundance of light right in between the top bulb and the 42 watt bulb. And then one side of the bud is still slightly shadowed. By slightly angling that top bulb you might find more complete light coverage.

Or pick up some mylar. That could be enough to be the equivalent to adding another light on that side without even having to.

LOL that's gotta be the best explained suggestion ever!! I totally understand and I've been thinking exactly the same thing. The top light only casts light on the top surface...look down an inch and its dark. So yeah I'm adjusting the light in a sec.

Any idea on what the possible yield could be?

Here's the new setup...I'm gonna either get another 26W or 42W tomorrow... the light output on the 13W is really not noticeable anymore compared to the bigger bulbs lol.

I was a bit off with the weeks haha...July 10th is 2 months flowering for this plant. Am I coming pretty close to the end?