My First Grow!!! check it out...

ok soo this is my first grow....i intend on using an ebb and flow hydropnic system....i havnt decided if i want to flower under cfl or hps...but eather way i think it will all work out...tell me wat u think.......ive got the seedlings under 18/7 i have 6 26 watt cfls and 2 23 but i dont intend on using the 23s in my reflecter i built....i will use them for the under canapany....i will flower 5 of the 7 i have....i had 8 but i droped a light on it and well you know the out come...soo what do u think soo far??? heres some pics

You need to get the lights to within 2" of the top of the seedlings.. they're stretching like crazy to get that light.

get those lights right down on top of em about 2 inch away like homefriie is saying, they are stretching like mad

after looking at how you have constructed your grow box, it would prob be best to put something under the tray to raise it 2" below the lights

i have dropped those lights since the pics have been taken....the actual grow box is my closet...lol...i have the lights about 2.5" over them now......the reason they stretched is i had them under a humidy dome and i couldnt get the light down on them...noob mistake...but this is my first grow soo i will make those... any other suggestions???

Have got got a ocilating fan in there to move the air arround and thicken the stems up? also what is that your using on the walls? im not 100% but that stuff looks like it may act like tinfoil, and cause hotspots, im not 100% tho wait for other peoples input, but appart from that it looks good, if it turns out that stuff on the walls is bad, you wanna remove it and paint the walls in a flat white paint, as that will work good in a small inclosed space like yours
goodluck

i do have a fan but its not oscillating but it will do till i get one.....on my walls i have mylar. there still stretching even know i lowered the lights...soo i added 2 more and moved the girls in between them....is there any other ideas???i really could use some input on this stretching problem though...heres some pics

Advice on the stretchin, ditch the cfl's and get a small MH/HPS on the go. Cheap floodlights 70/150w are awesome for small spaces and can be picked up real cheap from hardware stores. As long as you don't go above 150w you shouldn't have any heat issues as long as u have a fan runnin and some kind of opening in the grow box to let a bit of air out.

nah, keep the cfl's they are not to blame for the stretching, give a little time if those cfl's are as close as they are they should stop stretching, to be tottaly honest i would ditch that potting tray, and get some normal pots and whilst you are transplanting plant them a lot lower in the soil, so there is about half the stem showing or those babys are gonna prob end up topling over
goodluck

problem is i am goin to put them in an ebb and flow system..when i put them in there couldnt i just put the rocks feather up the plant???and is an 18/7 lights better than 24??because i have my plants on a timer and there on the 18/7 scedual...

yea just raise the rocks if your doing it like that, and by 18/7 i think you prob mean 18/6 thats totaly up to you ive used the 18/6 but if you wanna do 24/0 thats fine
good luck

downhiller6325 said:

problem is i am goin to put them in an ebb and flow system..when i put them in there couldnt i just put the rocks feather up the plant???and is an 18/7 lights better than 24??because i have my plants on a timer and there on the 18/7 scedual...

Click to expand...

Well 18/7 = 25 only 24 hrs in a day! 18/6 is fine.

too slow Baz beat me to it.

lol yea thats what i mean...haha...anyway so as long as i keep my rocks high i and my lights low i shouldnt have any more streching problems...when can i actally transplant them into my hydroponic system...i always read to wait till they get a good root system...but since they streched should i still wait???

What type of seeds you have planted? Nice start by the way. If you go HPS, its going to make that small space really hot! My 18/6 room is all flouros and stays cool with just a fan.

yea i was going to just keep cfls but next months my local hydro store is 20%off soo im not sure yet but i think im goin to get an hps and a carbon filter....but idk yet well see how my money is around that time...

hey it looks like you put some time into what you have going at the moment, and if this is your first grow, you have gone on the right route with the cfl's, dont let anyone try sway you otherwise, this is a learnig curve afterall, and the chepaer the better. I hate it when people tell you.... change ur lighting system... you have obviously got time and money in it. I belive you change stuff like that when your on your next grow, learn with what you have got, and what you have got is a great start.
good luck

yea all i did was read for the past 6 months before i even decided to start...i made one post on here like idk at the first of my research and a guy told me that i needed to do more research soo i did...lol...and well the fact that i was goin to grow hydroponic tomatos for my senior project...helped motovate alittle lol....but that ideas out of here....thanks for tha good vibes...

best way to learn is jump out of the theory side and jump in to the practicle side, and it looks like you already done that, just stick with this site (the best resorce i have found) and carry on with what you have got and goodluck with it

even when i was goin to grow tomatoes all i used was this site for learning...and well i got tired of lookin for decent weed... im stickin with it.

i havnt read much about this but i heard that green guy say to spray carbonated water on them instead of using c02...but idk if i do do this when should i start if i even should???