First Time

Alright I just spontainiously decided to start growing, Ive been spending too much money lately. So I just read for a few days and then tested some stuff out, I germinated 7 seeds in paper towels in 2 days using tap water and 1 day old evaporated tap water, and put it ontop of the cabel box (pretty warm)

Today I took the bottom of a 2-Liter and put some soil from the back yard, I have no time to sterlize it and I cant get any supplies what I have here is what I have. So I got it planted 4 of the seeds (I just want to get 1 to survive and any other living I might try to salvage but theyre not important to me) I planted root down. The soil was already moist from water but I sprinkled a bit more. Only drops.

I put a 1560 lumen incandecent(? I think) light bulb above it 2", its in a lamp fixture and I put it on the side so its right over it. I also am leaving my closet light on as well. So there will be heat and a little less than desired amount of light.

Its been 4 hours so far, how long should I expect it to be until I see something above the soil (theyre not far down at all).

-I checked on it earlier and the lightbulb was in the soil and the soil was pretty warm, I dont know how long it was like that but could that have killed all 4 seeds?

you'll need a different type of light bulb. incandescents won't grow anything. Try reading through some of these: https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/1326-101-already-asked-questions.html

Yeah I read that. But from the majority of the articles I read, the concensus seemed to be that they emit some colors of light that is needed to grow but other lights emit more, and incandecent emits more heat than light [10% light]. But I read 2000 lumens is the minimum, less means slower growing, so I thought 1500 would do alright... I also read that if you absoulutely have to use incandescent lights, use a lot.

so flourescent is my only other option... could I find a flourescent light fixture [lamp?] and bulb at say CVS? or Osco or something? And how much would it cost me approxamately?

I don't know that those places will. but most hardware stores sell them. an ace hardware, wal-mart, target, lowes, home despot, etc. you can get them as cheap as $12 or so, with bulbs for about $4 more.

Will one CFL [most likely with the average to max lumens I can find for a bulb that will fit an existing fixture] be enough to light 1 plant throughout its lifetime? Or should I get more?

CVS does sell light bulbs I just dont recall if they sell CFLs.

Sorry for the double post but:

I would like to say I am going to continue this "batch" under the incandescent light bulb (1530 lumens, about 500 less than advised), just to see how it turns out. The soil is dry on top and moist right under. Its fairly warm too. Im just trying to get something.

Do you think I will get anything up out of the soil if I water it when needed and keep it in the light over a weeks period?

Brokenhope420 said:

Sorry for the double post but:

I would like to say I am going to continue this "batch" under the incandescent light bulb (1530 lumens, about 500 less than advised), just to see how it turns out. The soil is dry on top and moist right under. Its fairly warm too. Im just trying to get something.

Do you think I will get anything up out of the soil if I water it when needed and keep it in the light over a weeks period?

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No. Incandescent lights will not work. You are better off with HID lights.

For me thats not an option. I have very very little money. The best I could do is get some CFL's, which I will do the next time I skate up to somewhere I can buy em.

Brokenhope420 said:

For me thats not an option. I have very very little money. The best I could do is get some CFL's, which I will do the next time I skate up to somewhere I can buy em.

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I just read about a dude who bought a 150 watt HID light for $10.00 at Home Depot. That is cheap.

Chinga_2_Madre said:

I just read about a dude who bought a 150 watt HID light for $10.00 at Home Depot. That is cheap.

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He only bought the bulb not the whole fixture

Are you serious? I was looking on the internet and didnt see anything less than $100... but then again I wasnt exactly sure what I was looking at... there were so many sections and types.

But anyways, I can only get to places I can get on my skateboard, thats pretty much a few fast food places, CVS, and a hen house. Even that is a bit of a distance from my house, any other places are hours away on a board... so im stuck with this.

I have no access to the preferred supplies at this time, right now is just figuring out the process, then once I can drive I can pick up everything I need and get a good start. Right now is just dabbling maybe I will get some extra bud outa it.

I just read some more on incandescents and supposedly it will work but the red light emitted will encourage stem growth, so it will be stemy and will fall over...

I hate asking the obvious. How old are you? If those plants come up, and right now that is a big if, the incandescent light will kill them if you get it close enough to light them. I gave some seedling to a friend of mine. He grew them under and incadescents. That was last September and it hasn't flowered yet. You may be old enough to drive by the time you get anything off these plants using the incandescent bulb.

I can already drive just havent gotten my license yet -_-. But alright, how about this, theyve been under an incandescent for about 16 hours. Later on today I will try to get some CFL's, I only have room for 2, one in the closet socket and one in the lamp socket right above the pot. I will try to get them today, with the most lumens possible. If I do that how long will it take until I see something?

Im just not sure if I already killed the seeds or not lol. I mean the lamp fell into the soil and the bulb was touching the soil and warming it up for i dont know how long... and the top of the soil is always very warm from the lamp... kinda makes a weird smell when I put water on it.

But this is all just experimenting seeing what I can get to work. Germinating was supposed to kill the seeds if I used tap water, I did and they germinated just fine in 2 days some in 3. In one day one sprouted out almost an inch.

I don't know who told you that tap water would kill seeds but they were wrong. What I can tell you is that an incandescent won't grow anything. the plant might survive a few months but no bud.

for your budget you need CFLs and check out Major Toke's grow journal. He's got a fucking awesome grow with a few plants and CFLs.

And if you've got a local hen house, talk to the manager and tell them that you want some CFL bulbs. they'll bring some in on special order or what not and you'll be set.

If you r short on cash, when you goto get teh light get a socket splitter, it allows you to put 2 bulbs in 1 socket. Then get 2 daylight 6500k 100 watt cfl's. When you are ready for flowering switch the daylight bulbs for the soft white cfl's they are 2700k

Yeah sadly the places around here dont have a socket spliter. But I did get some CFLs, thats the best I can do, 1 right above the plant and 1 in the closet socket, each 1600 lumens, 26 watt. Mini single spiral things. If this turns out semi-successful, I will definitly get some better lights for next time.

seeds sow better when soil is warmer than air i always use a heet mat and hum. dome when i start

yeah the soil could be a little bit warmer than the air because of the light heat from the bulb... but if I had a heat source I would use it. Do you know where I could buy a heat mat? and how much it costs?

I think you'll get something with the CFL. just keep it close. 1" or less.

Yeah I noticed some growth. I did have 2 leafs forming within the shell, right before it was gonna come off by itself, well I accidently ripped it off so there were 2 undeveloped leafs with about 1/2" of sprout growth [since after germination]. I thought it dried up and died because I didnt see it change at all in a 12 hour period... just me being impacient, so I pulled it and it felt like it was dry so I just set it down. Turns out it was still alive and I looked at it later and saw what it actually looks like dry. Damn I had something too.

I replanted another seed and im hoping it was still alive.