My first indoor cfl grow. Looking for tips/suggestions.

I am currently growing (1) one week old seedling (bag seed from killa) under (2) 27w 5500k cfl bulbs. 18hrs light 6hrs dark. I am using a tv stand/cabinet (sorry no pics yet) about 16 in X 16 in X 16in. Using a little desktop fan for ventilation so it stays around mid eighties as far as temp. (I know its a little high ive been working on it.) I'm using some shitty miracle grow moisture control with maybe 15% perlite so it aint too bad. I'll try and stay updated but i'm looking for suggestions and tips i need to keep the box cooler and I might need a little more light my seedling is a little stretched. Open for suggestions and questionssmoke on.

You can add reflectors to your cfls.

just get the lights as close as you can, within an two inches of the plant. it will stay stocky. look at my grow. all lights are kept 2-4 inches off the plant. good luck man, can't wait to see the setup. I will sub this one.

when the first real leaves start, you can put more dirt in the pot and fill it up to just under the colly leaves. This will help with the stretch a little bit, and more improtant it will promote a much better root base for a better grow.

Thanks ill give it a shot

Thanks I found a carboard box and painted it white and put the plants on top to raise em. They about 4 inches under the bulbs now so lets hope it helps. I also noticed that I have 5500k bulbs and they go up to 6500k which most people use for veg. Do you know if my 5500k will work ight for veg and also do you think I have enough watts for 1-2 plants? I have two 27watt bulbs

Cant wait for pics

Steveofosho said:

I also noticed that I have 5500k bulbs and they go up to 6500k which most people use for veg. Do you know if my 5500k will work ight for veg and also do you think I have enough watts for 1-2 plants? I have two 27watt bulbs

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5500k will work fine, they just might not be as efficient as 6500k. Also two bulbs will work, esp for now when there seedlings, but you won't see as much growth in the same time vs with more bulbs and your plants may stretch when they get bigger as they keep reaching for the main light.

Cool I was worried I bought the wrong bulbs. I want to add another socket in my box but I already have quite a bit of heat in there, I only have 1 fan as an intake in there and two passive exhaust holes. Appreciate the help +rep

switch the fan to exhaust and use passive intakes

Thought about that but I need my intake to be at the bottom and exhaust at top and my fan is for desktops it'll be hard to hang on the top vents, also I would like for the fan to blow on the plants for stem strength. One exhaust ven is on the ceiling (unusable) I'll look in the garage and see if i can rig that fan to the wall exhaust. Ive also considered buying a pc fan to put in (theyre cheap) but I need the right adapter and shit to rig them to an outlet, or a pc power supply.

You can use a cell phone chrger to run the PC fans.

ive found that using a mix of 2700k (27 watt 1750 lumen) bulbs and 6500k (23watt 1600 lumen) works fine for veg as well as in flowering.the resin glands produced during flowering is amazing with a combination of these bulbs. 8 bulbs per 1 plant can easily yield 56g or better depending on growing tecnhique and room conditions.

Yeah i've read about doing that but didn't wanna mess with wires n shit so just today I ordered a 80mm comp fan with an ac adapter so I can just mount it and plug in.Thanks for the advice though. Once it comes in the mail I can maybe add another light if I have room because heat shouldn't be a problem anymore. I was also considering higher wattage bulbs like 42 watts cause idk if I can fit a third bulb in there. Any advice appreciated +rep

peace

hey here is a adapter to use,http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3807944.... if you go to radioshack they have different ones depending on what volt you need output wise.. all my fans will have use 12vdc and 1500ma is equal to 1.5amps so just make sure your fans stay under that and it works perfect.

yeah i used that one cause i have 2 x 140mm x 140mm exhaust fans and 2 x 80mm x 80mm intake fans w/ 1 passive intake. and that one adapter will hold all my fans could even add more and it would still work.

just thought I'd through that out there just as another option

MoNk0 said:

hey here is a adapter to use,http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3807944.... if you go to radioshack they have different ones depending on what volt you need output wise.. all my fans will have use 12vdc and 1500ma is equal to 1.5amps so just make sure your fans stay under that and it works perfect.

yeah i used that one cause i have 2 x 140mm x 140mm exhaust fans and 2 x 80mm x 80mm intake fans w/ 1 passive intake. and that one adapter will hold all my fans could even add more and it would still work.

just thought I'd through that out there just as another option

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Thanks ill give it a shot when I throw in some extra fans. I don't wanna buy another adapter i'll hit up radio shack soon. +rep