first time grower has a couple questions

Hi everyone, like the title says, I'm a first time grower. I have a couple of quick questions. First one, instead of using the 3 quart flowering pots ( i think they are) could I use sterilized tobacco cans instead? right now I have them growing in halved 2 liter pop bottles with holes cut in the bottom for draining. I was just wondering if them being in clear pop bottles, the roots would be over exposed to light.
Another thing I was wondering about, I originally started my plants with just 2 13w 2700k cfl bulbs which I have figured out the past few days that was probably not the best idea since my plant are stretching and not growing many leaves. My question is, if I were to transplant them again like I read in one of the sticky threads, would they possibly take off and start bushing out?

At this time I haven't added any nutes of any type( due to some financial reasons) and I'm not sure f the pH levels of the soil i'm using but from what the bag says, the soil is potting soil with sheep and cow manure already mixed in.

I have some pics of my plants to attach so help answer some questions if there are any. ( these plants are Bag seed also if that helps)

I also wanted to say that I plan on this being a cfl grow completely just because of the lack of space i'm working with right now, as well as the fact I have no way of affording a HPS or MH setup at this time.

Yeah, you don't want roots in soil exposed to light. Plus, you'll promote alge growth inside the plastic which can affect ph. Duct tape them for an easy solution.

A transplant wont do any good when what they want is a LOT more light.

Good luck have fun

Yeah, they want more light.

And I feel like I see some sort of fan, but the stem is really thin, you probably need to get more air moving around in there.

well like i said before, right now the are just sitting in there with just 2 13w 2700k bulbs.. later on this week i plan on going to wallyworld and getting some of the 23w 6500k bulbs. they got them in 3packs right now for like 7 bucks. when I get those rigged up, should they take off and actually start showing some signs of improvement? and thanks for the duct tape idea.. should they be ok in the " pots" they are in now if i tape them up?

For awhile. Then they will want more light.

I am going to keep adding light to them as I can afford to. will the containers the plants are in now be good enough to keep them going as long as I keep adding lights for them?

Eventually I am going to build a larger box to house my plants.

You'll only know by sliding one plant out of it's pot and have a look at the roots. The rootball should hold together when you remove it from the pot. If there are roots gone wild you'll know. Do a little root pruning and up pot. If the rootball looks like it could use more roots then let it grow another two weeks and recheck. Ppl think once roots poke out the bottom of the pot it is then time to up pot. This isn't the case. Up potting is for plants nearing pot bound. Best to get them before they become pot bound and don't be afraid to score the root system or even cut away girdling massive roots encircling the bottom of the pot when you're up potting.

sounds like a plan to me. from what I could tell just by looking through the sides of the containers, I could see root action heading all the way down to the drainage holes but I can't tell how large the actual root ball is. I just see random roots at different areas of the containers. I think for now I'll just hold of on the transplanting for now until the new lights are hooked up and running for a while.

I would also like to say thank you very much for all of the advice that has been handed out so far in the aiding of this adventure I'm on.. I will post more pics as I either see some improvements or problems. Thanks everyone.

Well here is an update for you guys. Got my lights changed,( got 2 * 26w cfl's in there now) they seemed to perk right up. they also have their first dose of nutes. ( light dose of MG)


the first pic and the last pic are the same plant. And the middle 2 pics are other plant.

a buddy of mine said that the one looks like it is ready to "top" what do u guys think? any advise would be greatly taken.

well it's April 14 and here is the progress on my baby's

i just built the new box last weekend. Got a full size dual window fan in there now to keep it cool, and it's got 3 26w 6500k cfl's and more adding to it.

Oh out of curiosity, can anyone give me a rough idea of what kind of strain I might have? all I know is that it is a bag seed. think it might stay on the short side?

well here is a pic update. been roughly two weeks since my last post.


Since my last post, I have added a survival blanket lining to the box and they seemed to perk right up. I keep saying that I am going to switch them into flowering but then something comes up and then the funds seem to disappear. lol. So I think that I will wait till my next paycheck so I can pick up a timer and my new bulbs.