Is it time for flowering???

Stealthy Sativa said:

ok so this seems to be turning out be be just an arguement over wattage...so as far as my bulbs go im running (3) 26 watt cfl's which are producing a total of 300 watts....my baby seems to be growing pretty quick... so back to the original question....when is the perfect time to start flowering? i have read that when the plant gets its 6th set or so of leaves, that would be a good time to switch over? correct?

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You only have the equivalent of 300 Watts of incandesent light.
What is a "lumen" and why do I need them?
Growing plants indoors requires a lot of light. Lumens are a scientific term for measuring the visible output of a lamp (or "light bulb" or "bulb"). A standard 60 watt incandescent lamp is rated at an output of 900 lumens. A 400 watt Metal Halide lamp produces 36,000 lumens and a 400 watt High Pressure Sodium lamp produces 50,000 lumens. Generally High Pressure Sodium lamps are more efficient light producers (more lumens per watt), these lamps produce a range of 100-140 lumens per watt, while Metal Halide lamps produce a range of 70-110 lumens per watt.

Stealthy Sativa said:

ok so this seems to be turning out be be just an arguement over wattage...so as far as my bulbs go im running (3) 26 watt cfl's which are producing a total of 300 watts....my baby seems to be growing pretty quick... so back to the original question....when is the perfect time to start flowering? i have read that when the plant gets its 6th set or so of leaves, that would be a good time to switch over? correct?

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No argument, just me pointing out that the "incandescant equivalent" thing is meaningless. It is spin by the manufacturers, and it simply means that your 26 watt bulb puts out the same amount of light as a 100 watt INCANDESCENT bulb.

Incandescent bulbs are useless for growing, and have an output of around 17 lumens per watt. They are extremely inefficient, and 90% of the energy used for them is emitted as heat rather than light. CFL bulbs are around 4x more efficient, and put out around 65 lumens per watt.

Your bulbs are not producing 300 watts, they are using 78 watts of power, and outputting around 65 lumens for every watt used.

In my earlier post I mentioned that you should aim for around 80 watts of actual CFL wattage per square foot of grow space. Since there seems to be confusion about this, i will instead state that you should aim for around 5000 lumens per square foot. Growing and flowering with less is possible, but this is the minimum recommended for the plant to properly flower to it's full potential. Any less, and your yield will be negatively affected, with regards to gpw.

Your total lumens is around 5000, which is fine for around 1 square foot of grow space.

excuse my ignorance about lumens and wattage...im new to the growing scene...right now im just trying to get 1 plant to grow to see what the outcome is...if it turns out that my plant is female then i will most likely clone it and then purchase some good seeds and expand my grow potential. basically my set up consists of 3 cfl's and 1 plant. once i need more space i will upgrade my system and probably put in a few grow light tubes. once i get the good seeds i will probably grow those with hps or something else...i just dont want to kill my electric bill or throw up a red flag considering i live in an apartment building.

Stealthy Sativa said:

excuse my ignorance about lumens and wattage...im new to the growing scene...right now im just trying to get 1 plant to grow to see what the outcome is...if it turns out that my plant is female then i will most likely clone it and then purchase some good seeds and expand my grow potential. basically my set up consists of 3 cfl's and 1 plant. once i need more space i will upgrade my system and probably put in a few grow light tubes. once i get the good seeds i will probably grow those with hps or something else...i just dont want to kill my electric bill or throw up a red flag considering i live in an apartment building.

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First of all, a 400 watt HPS uses less electricity than an average desktop computer, the whole red flag/electric bill is mostly an urban myth, unless you are using over 10,000 watts of electricity there is absolutely zero chance of getting red flagged.

Secondly, it is my opinion that if you are just trying to get your feet wet, a few CFL's are perfectly fine and will yield you a modest amount of quality bud as long as the genetics and nutes are good. Just make sure you can keep those bulbs as close to the plant as possible without burning it and keep your temperatures under control.

Happy growing.

donkeyote said:

First of all, a 400 watt HPS uses less electricity than an average desktop computer, the whole red flag/electric bill is mostly an urban myth, unless you are using over 10,000 watts of electricity there is absolutely zero chance of getting red flagged.

Secondly, it is my opinion that if you are just trying to get your feet wet, a few CFL's are perfectly fine and will yield you a modest amount of quality bud as long as the genetics and nutes are good. Just make sure you can keep those bulbs as close to the plant as possible without burning it and keep your temperatures under control.

Happy growing.

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yeah i have the bulbs about 3-4 inches from the top of the plant and check on it every day and water every other or every 3 days depending on the dryness of the top soil...the plant is in a 2'D x 4'W x 7'H..the temp seems to be staying right around 70...i only open the door once a day and i have a little fan circulating air around

Wait what plants flowers in 4weeks??? Even if its sativa thats not long enuff to flower give it 4 more weeks....

ok it here u go stelthy

1. in your pictures, you dont have 8 branches, you have 8 leaves. not even the five fingered fan leaves you should have.
the branches are those tiny things where the leaf stem meets the stalk. leaves produce no bud.

2. calculate how much total flowering hieght you have. when you switch from veg to flower, expect them to double, or triple in height before their ready to be harvested. how tall do you want it, flower when its half that tall. most plants dont like being flowed at less than 6 weeks of age, and most prefer longer

3. you wont be flowering for 4 weeks. youll be flowering for 6-8 weeks.

4.heres a crappy rule of thumb, no less than 3000 lumens per sq foot. anything less is almost pointless. its still not really enough, but the buld you started with was like 750 lumens (maybe) in an area that looks a few foot square. so youve been growing on about 170 lumen per sq foot. give or take a hundred.

5. your plants do look....... tall. but your plants should have had that many leaves when it was less than 4 inches tall. much less.

6. have fun

I now have 2 25 watt cfls, which is 2800 lumens and my grow space is about 1 square foot because i have 1 plant....when i went to the home depot i saw alot of different bulbs but picked up the brightest one....should i get the brightest or the one tht gives off the most wattage??

mrvexx said:

I now have 2 25 watt cfls, which is 2800 lumens and my grow space is about 1 square foot because i have 1 plant....when i went to the home depot i saw alot of different bulbs but picked up the brightest one....should i get the brightest or the one tht gives off the most wattage??

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Not tryin to rain on your parade but its a lost cause with that set up . You need to do more research and definitely upgrade your whole system . There is alot more to indoor growing than throwin a light on them and callin it good. Its like your taking a BB gun to war

mrvexx said:

Aright so what cfl bulbs do u recommend?? because ive been growing with that bulb nd it seems to be working fine....take a look at the pics and lemme kno what u think...

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Sure, the plant looks ok now.... seeing as its only a foot or so tall from what I can see.... Also, you don't have 8 branches... you have 8 Fan leaves... Big difference.

That light can be used for starting seeds off but that's about it.

I had 35 of those 14W CFL's for 4 plants.... that seemed sufficient... plus I have 670W of HPS for flowering....

Don't even bother trying to flower that thing with the CFL you have... Like someone else suggested put it in a window or something.

Unless you're the typical kid on here who's scared of his parnets finding it...

In that case.... Wait a couple years, save some cash and get your own place with some good lights...

When I was 16 I rented a bachelor apt for 400 a month to grow in. Still lived with mom and she never knew I had my own place....

Something to consider...

Peace and Love

you will yield at most 3 grams, you will need at least 3 more 26watt CFL's than you can actually get a yield... also your thinking when you say daylingt of spectrums... a 3000K spectrum is good for flower maybe a lil less, 6500K or more is good for veg...
Even if you improved all that stuff you wouldnt get as much of a yield if you stared over with more lights...
you coukd chalk the last month up to learning from your mistakes, thats what i would do if i were you
good luck

staticbudz said:

Sure, the plant looks ok now.... seeing as its only a foot or so tall from what I can see.... Also, you don't have 8 branches... you have 8 Fan leaves... Big difference.

That light can be used for starting seeds off but that's about it.

I had 35 of those 14W CFL's for 4 plants.... that seemed sufficient... plus I have 670W of HPS for flowering....

Don't even bother trying to flower that thing with the CFL you have... Like someone else suggested put it in a window or something.

Unless you're the typical kid on here who's scared of his parnets finding it...

In that case.... Wait a couple years, save some cash and get your own place with some good lights...

When I was 16 I rented a bachelor apt for 400 a month to grow in. Still lived with mom and she never knew I had my own place....

Something to consider...

Peace and Love

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ok so i ended up getting myself a 6500k fluorescent hanging grow light along with some other lovely stuff so im throwing my cfl bulbs in the junk drawer and stepping up to the plate and hopefully produce some gorgeous girls

Your kidding right ?? Well the best time to start is when the branches alternate, I mean they dont grow out right next to each other. The plant you got in the pic has not got enough light and is strectched out. Needs to be twice that size to be worthwhile for a harvest. The best lights Ive found are the grow lights Walmart seells. Get a bunch of those. They are like 10 bucks a piece and your palants will be short and bushy with lots of branches.