Four Strain CFL SCROG Grow

This is my second grow, and I hope it is my first harvest. First grow was a single plant that survived from 4 bagseeds I planted, it turned out to be male. I have kept a clone for later breeding. This time I have four plants growing a Sweet Island plant from a single seed I found in a bag. The other three are Aurora Indica, Blackberry, and Blue Mystic, all feminized seeds ordered from Nirvana.


Enviroment Stats:

Size -
Lighting -
Ventilation -
Odor Control -
Soil -
Nutrients -
What has happened so far:

6/10/10 - started SI germination
6/12/10 - SI sprouted
7/16/10 - started AI, BB, BM germination
7/19/10 - AI sprouted
7/20/10 - BB and BM sprouted
7/23/10 - started training SI along ground
8/3/10 - placed screen for SCROG on plants
8/16/10 - started Foxfarm nutrient feeding
9/13/10 - started flowering
9/19/10 - confirmed SI is female


Pictures:

I could not get all the pictures I wanted, the chamber is inside a closet and it is a tight fit to get to the far right side.


Chamber front -


Back of intake fans -


Exhaust fans -


Top of all four plants -


Bottom of all four plants -


Sweet Island -


Aurora Indica -


Blackberry -


Blue Mystic -



To Do List:

- Add lighting below the screen
- Add lighting above the screen in the center(horizontal)
- Add fans to handle added heat from lights


I hope to keep this thread updated twice a week with new pictures. Any thoughts, comments, or questions are always welcome.

how the fuck did you wire that up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rep for you dude !! fuck yea good job

RESPECT , good luck man

Looks like you are off to a great start man when are you gonna start flowering? Looks to me like you used that PVC pipe almost like electrical conduit. Interested to see how that Blackberry does. I don't think I've seen anyone on here grow that before.

Rtoke,

I wired it using light sockets I found at lowes, and ac cords I ordered at jameco. I found that 3/4 inch pvc pipe fittings have the same outer diameter as the light sockets. I used contact cement to attach the light sockets to the pvc fittings, and wraped in white electrical tape for light reflection. Next I soldered the ac cord to the light fixture and wraped solder points in electrical tape for sfety. After that I can use them like legos and make any style/shape of light I need. I have multiple lights running off of one cord on a few fixtures I have made, but most are one cord and one socket.

Light sockets I used - http://www.lowes.com/pd_75205-1071-22214U_0__?productId=1100097&Ntt=servalite&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dservalite
AC cords I used - https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&productId=124434&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&krypto=9x3mj8umRTossDzYlwQvLooLnI6IYjKoMJkPks/vgav07ryvfekV/lM3E4zBWlT3m8dhAWgN7IY2 nXSl9oaiI/MP2ZqNydlW&ddkey=https:ParametricXmlView


sonar,

The Blackberry I have is definitely sativa dominant, it was the first of the three Nirvana strains to reach the screen. I started flowering on 9/13/10, the blackberry was the first to show hairs, but the Sweet Island is ahead of them all now.

Wow. Great job man.

What's behind your technique with planting them so close to the edge of the bucket, vs. the center?

damn, you really did this with no experience? this looks like a good stealth grow

Awesome Idea thanks I am going to try it

This PVC light configuration is exactly what I have been looking for. You used one extension cord and are those 3 prong PVC pieces that snap together? Can you give a little more detail on this? Looks GOOD!

WOW now that is a serius CFL grow. And you only did it once before. I'm impressed lookig really good will keep tabs on how ya do. May the weed god smile down uopn you. Best of luck Fraiserblaze

shocknm,

I planted them close to the edge so that I could center them under the screen and keep watering them easy.

coreyhulick,

I did alot of research before starting anything. Once I decided on the basic setup I just went with the majorities opinion on each factor(light, soil, nutrients, etc.).

mrdank007,

I am actually going to be making some of the 'light fixtures' later and I will post a quick tutorial with pictures later today or tomorrow.

Awesome. Thanks!

I am not sure you need to worry about light below the screen but I do know that you need fans down there. Sweet set up man, +rep to ya!

good job most people just wing it with what ever they have laying around you did the smart thing

PVC Light Fixture Tutorial

This will be walk thru on how to build the "PVC Light Fixture". I hope it clears up any questions, if not let me know and I will try to clarify.


Tools - wire stripper, scissors, soldering iron, drill, 1/4" drill bit



Materials - 3/4" pvc fitting, light socket, ac cord, contact cement, white electrical tape, duct tape, solder


Step 1 - drill hole in pvc fitting



Step 2 - cut a piece of duct tape about 6" long and place to the side then dip fitting in contact cement



Step 3 - Hold tight and wrap with duct tape for added support, let dry for 10 to 15 minutes



Step 4 - strip ends of ac cord



Step 5 - twist ac cord and light socket wires together and solder, white is ground and connects to the small prong, black is positive and connects to the large prong



Step 6 - wrap light socket and solder points with white electrical tape


Final Product



I hope this helped and again if this dosn't clear things up let me know.

Got it. So one AC cord/ light socket? Also those PVC fittings just snap together? I was thinking of keeping all of the cords in the PVC pipe until they exited at the end...

akgrown,

I have gone ahead and decided against the lower lighting. I am going to add more to the top and hope it penetrates to the bottom of the Sweet Island. Im not as worried about the other plants they don have as much below the screen.

mrdank007,

You can connect the fittings together with 3/4" pvc however you want. If you want to keep the wiring inside the pvc you can and you will have a much cleaner looking setup. It is extra work that I did not find was needed, and just fyi the ac cord's plug will need to be sanded down to fit in the pipe.

dragonklutch,

I usually wire one socket to one cord so that I can come up with different configurations as the plant grows. I do have several fixtures that have two to four bulbs per cord. I dont want to put to many on one cord, but I would feel safe doing up to six per cord. I have it on 15 amp circuit, you can safely run about 60 23w bulbs(with nothing else plugged in) on a 15 amp circuit.

This is the screen material I used - http://www.lowes.com/pd_54820-13113-92079201_0__?productId=3160433&Ntt=white+fencing&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dwhite%2Bfencing

This is great stuff. How much of a yield are you expecting off of each plant per breed? I have a 400W HPS lamp with a Hortilux bulb, but I thinking of going CFL. Is there a big discrepancy in the yield if I decide to?

Picture Update

Just a quick update with some pictures I took while watering. Not much of a change on camera but I have hairs all over the Sweet Island, with a good amount on the Aurora Indica and Blackberry. Today while watering I noticed that the Blue Mystic's roots were growing into it water overflow dish, and is showing significantly less hairs then the other three.

Top of all four -


Sweet Island -


Aurora Indica -


Blackberry -


Blue Mystic -


freeheeling,

I'm not to sure what to expect off each individual plant but for a total yield i'd be happy with between 8 and 10 ounces. With the number of lights and size space I have, i've seen people(online) pull close to a pound but i'll be happy with half that considering it's my first harvest. When it comes to HPS vs CFL what made my decision was my grow space. From what I understand HPS generates alot more heat then CFL, and I can barely handle that heat. I may have to cut a hole in the top of my closet so I can vent outside thru my attic. What I saw as another down side was the distance you need to keep HPS away from your plants, and I dont have any verticle room. Since I am doing a SCROG grow, a lights penetration power isn't as important. So considering my personal grow space I felt that CFLs would yield me more then an HPS would. If you want to post some more info about your grow space I will be happy to give any advice I can.

very nice man, guna be some fire