First time grower, experimenting with CFL and Sterilite Box
- Thread starter Lady.J
- Start date
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
bahahaha....yea I just came into some funds
. Been studying hydro a lot so was eager to get this ish started! Soon as I got my check, went straight to the hydro store for some nutes, hydroton and nettie pots. Also picked up some Fox Farm big bloom. Just mixed a cap full of it with a cap of Big Grow and a gallon of rainwater, then fertilized my lil mama's before their nap. I hope it is flowering time soon! Am 12/12 for 9 days now, no signs of sex but I think I might have found a calyx developing on the skunk. Will take a pic next update in a couple days.
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
Thanks bud! This is my first grow, did tons of homework. Read about MJ in all of my free time.
They know they're sexy.
Added a 40watt 2700k CFL and took out a 32 watt 5500k. Now have two 42watt 6500k CFLs, 3 26watt 2700ks and 1 42watt 2700k. I feel like this is pretty good for the box...not too hot, not burning my plants, and they have vigorous growth.
I gave up on cloning in a water cup. It's taking forever. Maybe I am impatient but have been wanting to experiment with Hydro anyway....so made a system after picking some stuff up from wal-mart. Also decided...I'm starting a DWC CFL grow in my closet. Using bagseed first to make sure I understand the concepts well enough, and then will either put in a clone (if one survives) or try to plant this Ceres Skunk seed I'm sitting on. Bagseed is germinating as we speak.
Nice!!! the ladies are lovely
Cloudz2600
Well-Known Member
Hey Lady mind taking some pics of your lights? Since we more or less have the same type of bin I was wondering where you put em and how you added them in.
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
Hey, they still are set up exactly the same way, all I did was switch out bulbs. I'll take some pics later on!
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
why not? Because not in the lower 48? I'll do another in a couple days and will try to use a song that youtube doesn't recognize as protected content.
Cloudz2600
Well-Known Member
Yea weird, I can't watch it either. What's UMG?
dabumps
Well-Known Member
Are there any light leaks in your box? They might not be blooming because you have some serious light leak. If light is getting in there for even a few minutes then they won't bud. They need it to be at least as dark as a full moon. I aim for ZERO light during the dark period.
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
My lights are off during the night and there isn't a light in the room it's kept in (except for the tv). Keep in mind that because the plant is so far down in the box, it is harder for the light to reach down there. When I have the tv on and look into the box, it's pitch black. I believe the sun reflectors are also helping bounce the light back out...maybe I am mistaken. But just noticed some white hairs on the main colas after changing from mostly 6500k to 2700k. Heard something about not switching the spectrum more in favor of 2700k can delay flowering. We'll see if I'm light proofed enough!
Lady.J
Well-Known Member
I did some research on flowering just to make sure that things are going as they should be and decided to share this (grabbed it from another forum):
"Early flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look for 2 white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or bushiness. 3-6 weeks after turning back the lights, your plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every growtip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant. Some plants will do this indefinitely until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to see the existing flowers become ripe ( you feel the plant has enough flowers), turn the lights back to 8-10 hours. Now the plant will start to ripen quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks.
The alternative, is to allow the plant to ripen with whatever natural day length is available outside, or keep the plants on a constant 12 hour regimen for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer. Plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur. Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to be flowered."
-It's only been 11 days since going 12/12 so is perfectly fine not to to be seeing buds yet. I admit I kept expecting them to suddenly appear...but I have noticed white hairs extending out of the main colas and and few of the other tips as well. Had no idea that you could cut the lights back even more to speed up flowering. I'm going to keep things 12/12 though because want as much yield as possible!
"Early flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look for 2 white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or bushiness. 3-6 weeks after turning back the lights, your plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every growtip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant. Some plants will do this indefinitely until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to see the existing flowers become ripe ( you feel the plant has enough flowers), turn the lights back to 8-10 hours. Now the plant will start to ripen quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks.
The alternative, is to allow the plant to ripen with whatever natural day length is available outside, or keep the plants on a constant 12 hour regimen for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer. Plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur. Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to be flowered."
-It's only been 11 days since going 12/12 so is perfectly fine not to to be seeing buds yet. I admit I kept expecting them to suddenly appear...but I have noticed white hairs extending out of the main colas and and few of the other tips as well. Had no idea that you could cut the lights back even more to speed up flowering. I'm going to keep things 12/12 though because want as much yield as possible!
Psychonaughtical
Active Member
That's some interesting information Lady, might have to try it sometime.
