Lowryder diesel

Im going to attempt to grow 6 of these plants in my closet using CFL's. how many watts do you recommend I use, also which soil mix, and nutrition type? ( i live in New York, black gold doesn't ship here )

Well 6 plants is a lot to grow with CFLs in a closet. I wouldnt grow that many plants but if you are I recommend at least 200w at thats like the bare min if you want 6 plants. I mean even 200w is not really going to cut it but honestly you can grow weed under most any lighting condition just wont grow good bud is all. I would recommend sticking to two plants if you are grow for personal consumption. You can grow two decent plants with 200w.

robbzilla said:

Well 6 plants is a lot to grow with CFLs in a closet. I wouldnt grow that many plants but if you are I recommend at least 200w at thats like the bare min if you want 6 plants. I mean even 200w is not really going to cut it but honestly you can grow weed under most any lighting condition just wont grow good bud is all. I would recommend sticking to two plants if you are grow for personal consumption. You can grow two decent plants with 200w.

Click to expand...

They make FCL grow lights... i was thinking maybe 400 watts (ish) and to switch from 6500k to 2700k once flowering starts.

With the risk of sounding ignorant....what is a FCL? I've never heard of this....

CFL* sorry... its a compact flourescent light. that was bad spelling on my part

I've never seen a 400w CFL tho....I've seen a 200w but not 400w. Link?

First let me say that there is not one right way to grow. Second, the possibilities are endless. Everyone has different methods and techniques. My advice to you is to browse around more and look at other people's grows and then make a blueprint for yours. That's what I did when I got into this hobby not too long ago. With that being said, fork out the money for a HPS light if you have it. MH/HPS is what growers typically use. There is a reason for this....I'm not saying you can't grow with CFL's because you can. Hell, they are good for seedlings. But if you want dense buds and big mcnuggets, then go with a HPS.

robbzilla said:

I've never seen a 400w CFL tho....I've seen a 200w but not 400w. Link?

Click to expand...

separate lighting, 250 from overhead, 85 from 2 sides facing in to hit the lower flowers, and make sure those buds develop.

bongmarley2009 said:

First let me say that there is not one right way to grow. Second, the possibilities are endless. Everyone has different methods and techniques. My advice to you is to browse around more and look at other people's grows and then make a blueprint for yours. That's what I did when I got into this hobby not too long ago. With that being said, fork out the money for a HPS light if you have it. MH/HPS is what growers typically use. There is a reason for this....I'm not saying you can't grow with CFL's because you can. Hell, they are good for seedlings. But if you want dense buds and big mcnuggets, then go with a HPS.

Click to expand...

I appreciate this comment alot, i was originally planning on MH/ HPS but i honestly don't have the cash, and living with my parents this might cause a pretty big spike in electric bills. My budget is pretty much 450$ so im planning on growing three plants my first time, selling a good chunk of the harvest, repeat that one more time and then use the money to make a cheap aeroponic model i found that will cost about 120$, buy some new seeds, and hopefully get some better quality lights.

I feel ya. I'm going to be running a 150w HPS and I expect my electricity to be at about $15 per month running it on an 18/6 light schedule. (Got a catalog from my local hydroponic store that had all the conversions for lights as low as 96w all the way to 1,000w.) And if your parents are nit-picky chances are they will probably see the $15 jump on the electric bill. Therefore, you either have to get a lot of CFL's for 6 plants or you can try looking at investing in some T5 Flourescents. You can get them in 2ft or 4ft fixtures. Personally, that's what I would buy rather than hanging a bunch of CFL's from my closet.

bongmarley2009 said:

I feel ya. I'm going to be running a 150w HPS and I expect my electricity to be at about $15 per month running it on an 18/6 light schedule. (Got a catalog from my local hydroponic store that had all the conversions for lights as low as 96w all the way to 1,000w.) And if your parents are nit-picky chances are they will probably see the $15 jump on the electric bill. Therefore, you either have to get a lot of CFL's for 6 plants or you can try looking at investing in some T5 Flourescents. You can get them in 2ft or 4ft fixtures. Personally, that's what I would buy rather than hanging a bunch of CFL's from my closet.

Click to expand...

haha you're pretty much my hero right now. i've seen the T-5's but i was thinking i want it to be the best i can get it, and its mostly for personal consumption, so i think i want to get a fe feminized Barneys farm utopia seeds, and grow a single one. it says it grows to be 3 feet tall, but an optimum harvest is 550grams :O im thinking, i can afford some good soil/ nutrients for it, an 85 watt light to hang over it, with a reflective cover, and on top of that get a desk top light, with a 40 watt bulb which i will rotate around the plant during flowering to make sure the lower flowers produce good bud too. (i will buy both HPS, and MH bulbs for each light that i will switch once flowering starts) You think that will be enough light? and a 15-20 dollar increase won't be too much since its going into summer i can say it's the A/C, but im also going to look up energy saving tips (everyday, not like weed growing) to try to make it a little less noticeable.

i defiantly want the densest buds and biggest nugs i can get, you think a 125w for 1 plant total would do good? The New York weed that most people i know can get is sour D at the best, and probably shitty sour D at that. I'm hoping to get like 300grams off a harvest of utopia, and for it to be as dank as i can make it. im going to look into specs for that strain, and see how people who did well with it did it. another good thing about it is its photoperiod... that means i can clone it cheap

You won't get 300 grams off of 1 plant. The breeders typically exaggerate when it comes to their yields. You don't know what type of lighting they use to come up with those numbers either. I'll give you an example though. I am going to be growing some CH9 Jack and on their website their yield says up to 80grams indoor with 35-45 days of veg using a 600w HPS. This is by far more accurate than the 550grams Barney's gives you. The website is below. Also, I think the general rule is that experienced growers can produce 1 gram per 1 watt of high density light. Of course as a beginner, this number can vary and you can end up with a varied yield. You have to take height into consideration among lots of other factors. If I had the opportunity to use my 400w MH/HPS, I would veg to no more than 2 feet before throwing into flower. You want as much light penetration as you can get so with low wattages, you want to either top, fim, low stress train, or scrog. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's all a learning experience.

http://www.ch9femaleseeds.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18&zenid=5bdfff0f955aeb36fdab47eb5d516fd9

mhh, i gotcha. its gonna be a long wait for this sativa. But im hoping i can make it turn out pretty good. and you're saying flower early to make sure the flowers get more penetration, and grow better?

It depends on what light you decide to use and what your closet grow dimensions are. For lower wattage lights (250w or less), in my opinion, it's better to keep the plants below 4 feet when all is said and done. You may want to consider having 2-4 plants and keeping them shorter instead of just 1 larger one. I just know that I am going to low stress train my plants when I use my 150w HPS. This will create more bud sites and keep the plant short allowing the light to evenly penetrate the budsites because they will all be around the same height. At least that's my goal.

Low stress train? and i was thinking about changing that to a 200 watt, and an 80 watt bulb, that shouldn't effect my phone bill too much, alothough electric is 18 cents/ kilowatt in New York im pretty sure.

and are you saying that if i was using 280 watts, i could grow multiple short plants, and the bud would still be good? because i want to try to grow some really like dank headies, and maybe sell some to friends, ya know?

You can grow decent bud with 280 watts of CFL. A HPS penetrates deeper than CFL's, so based on that I have to assume that you don't want to grow tall plants with CFL's. I would use the advanced search function. It helps a ton and I always use it when I need questions answered. I only have 2 grows under my belt and everything I've learned is either from trial and error or research. Who knew growing would require so much decision making. I sure as hell didn't.

im not doing CFL im doing high pressure sodium, and maybe Metal halide... would i need metal halide, to make like the best bud i can? if not, i'd prefer to go without it to save some cash.