Old guy does first grow.

Camo Hat said:

Yipes ! Mogul bases, ballasts, HPS, ferts, Indica, Sativa, fans, carbon filters. Dudes, in 1969 I simply told my buddy I wanted some pot. I handed him $20 and he handed me an ounce.

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And I bet it was some good grass. Ahh... you're luck in a way "pops" because you got to experience the 1960's like Willie Nelson. Anyone else jealous? Don't worry, just go on amazon, and look at their HPS/MH systems. It is all the lighting you will need.

Glad you decided to get back in the trenches ! There's lots of good info to be found on this site and some very intelligent folks with a wealth of knowledge about growing.But as with most things you'll need to figure out what works best for YOU !
Good Luck to you my friend

Here you go Camo Hat : http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81CBTLyzI0L._SL1500_.jpg This is a nice beginners HID Lamp. With some knowledge, It will grow you a good personal stash.

Camo Hat said:

Yipes ! Mogul bases, ballasts, HPS, ferts, Indica, Sativa, fans, carbon filters. Dudes, in 1969 I simply told my buddy I wanted some pot. I handed him $20 and he handed me an ounce.

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you and me both brother. read up on stuff on the forums and K.I.S.S. on the first grow. you'll get there. you anywhere you can guerrilla grow outside?

another old guy (retired)

Thanks all.

Yeah, I smoked good stuff in the 60's and some crap too. It's seems everything was a "red" or a gold." Smoked some overseas too but that's a whole other thing.

I'm in New England and do intend to do some outside gardening in the f'ing snow ever melts.

I'm going to upgrade the lighting in my 2x3x3 box. Most of the plants (5 I think) are feminized (kind of like my brother-in-law.) The other three could be male or female.
I'll transplant any males outdoors just for fun. I'll keep them away from any ladies of course.

The process has been fun thus far and I hope to get a fair harvest of bud for myself and some other old bastards i know.

Camo Hat said:

Yes. I'll use the redder CFL's for flowering..

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CFLs are mini-heat factories. They typically run 65 lumens per watt. You can get Cree LED "lightbulbs" and PAR38 spots/floods at Home Depot. They're 30-40% more efficient. I just finished flowering a large plant under 5 spots, 2 floods and 7 9.5w "lightbulbs" as sidelighting. The total wattage was 20-22w/sq ft. That's remarkably low, but the plant produced *very* well.

You can get LED fixtures that are even more efficient. But, they are a sizable initial investment. These bulbs from Home Depot are more expensive than CFL, but at least they're scalable. You can buy 1 or 2 to see how they work for you without dropping $400.

CFLs are beneficial in the winter if you need to heat your grow space. Or, if you're really on a budget and can't afford $7 bulbs (compared to $3 CFLs).

Camo Hat said:

No fertilizing yet but plan on Fox Farm products. Your comments are sought.

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A lot of people use Fox Farms. There are a lot of cannabis-specific boutique "lineups." You don't need them. Nutrients are nutrients. A lot of people use inexpensive JR Peters Jack's Classic. I use Grow More Sea Grow, a similarly priced product. It has some organic sources, a hybrid between synthetic and organic.

I started with GH Flora 3-part. It worked well. But, the cost per plant (per grow) was about $20. Sea Grow is about $1. Just a 1/2 to 3/4 tsp/gal.

If you grow in soil, I'd suggest familiarizing yourself with the biology of soil and plants. Read Teaming With Microbes. You don't have to become a "true believer," composting soil, etc. But, it is worthwhile to consider the soil biology. You can do things to improve that environment. For example, that's why I like Sea Grow because it's not purely synthetic (which inhibits life in the soil). I'll supplement with fish emulsion, tiny amount of molasses, humic/fulvic acids (Liquid Karma, but anything like that helps). Eventually you might get into composting and "true living organic" soil. But, you can do beneficial things just keeping the soil's health in mind.

The only advice I have is more light. I too am retired and have been growing for 4 years, it's a great hobby and the benefits are excellent. I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil and their Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom and Grow Big.

I'm becoming educated here. Thanks guys.

Gorgeous plant az2000 !
http://www.imagebam.com/image/fa3a86396247675

People make a big deal out of sexing a plant. Ha ! I'm new to all this stuff but I can tell the sex of this week-old sprout pretty easily.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/826a3c396253117

welcome back to the fold! i'd agree with more light but one thing to consider is you only have 3' tall to grow in. if you do use a 250w HPS, you'll have to be careful to not let them get too close to the light.

could you make the growbox taller? if you could make room for a 400 watt in a cool tube reflector, it would be game on.

you want at least 50 watts/ sq foot for quality buds.

rkymtnman said:

welcome back to the fold! i'd agree with more light but one thing to consider is you only have 3' tall to grow in. if you do use a 250w HPS, you'll have to be careful to not let them get too close to the light.

could you make the growbox taller? if you could make room for a 400 watt in a cool tube reflector, it would be game on.

you want at least 50 watts/ sq foot for quality buds.

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Yes. I could stretch the box vertically. My plants are Jackberry x Shack, Candy Kush and Cheeseberry Haze. How tall should I let them get before coaxing them to flower ?

Thanks.

when you switch to 12/12, they will generally stretch 2 to 3 times what they were before you flipped.

to give an example, i flipped mine when they were only 4 to 6inches tall and they are now about 1.5 to 2 ft tall.

kinda depends on strains: i think sativas stretch more than indicas.

rkymtnman said:

give an example, i flipped mine when they were only 4 to 6inches tall and they are now about 1.5 to 2 ft tall. .

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That's more like "12/12 from seed." I've had that experience too. But, if the OP grows in a 1-2gal container (probably the right size for a 3' tall space), he'd probably let them veg 4 weeks and expect 30% stretch when changing to 12/12.

When I let mine veg 6 weeks (in #3 containers which are 2.5 gal) I get about 20-25% stretch.

I hadn't thought of stretch in terms of a percentage until now. I agree, 12/12 from seed (or 2 weeks of veg) stretches exponentially more.

EDIT: OP should also familiarize himself with "mainlining" (on growweedeasy.com) and LST (low stress training).

EDIT: OP should also familiarize himself with "mainlining" (on growweedeasy.com) and LST (low stress training).[/QUOTE]

Uh huh. I've familiarized myself with those training techniques, thanks.
My sprouts are pretty small right now. My first seed plant was ten days ago. The rest are about eight days old.

I think I'm going to move them to an unused closet. The grow box is getting cramped with all that lighting and stuff. More to come too.

It's hard to imagine having to train the things. I guess I felt that way about my kids too.

Thanks all.

az2000 said:

That's more like "12/12 from seed." I've had that experience too. But, if the OP grows in a 1-2gal container (probably the right size for a 3' tall space), he'd probably let them veg 4 weeks and expect 30% stretch when changing to 12/12.

When I let mine veg 6 weeks (in #3 containers which are 2.5 gal) I get about 20-25% stretch.

I hadn't thought of stretch in terms of a percentage until now. I agree, 12/12 from seed (or 2 weeks of veg) stretches exponentially more.

EDIT: OP should also familiarize himself with "mainlining" (on growweedeasy.com) and LST (low stress training).

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az2k, here's what I think is going on: somehow the plant "knows" that it is either small and kicks in and says " i need to grow really fast to produce the most flowers/seeds I can" or it is at a level of big veg growth that it just says " i'm good. time to flower/seed" .

hmmm?

Hey man. If you're thinking about upgrading the light look no further. Internet savvy RIU user here, and this is the best deal in the continental United States on HPS bulbs (this will be the best for flowering, (2100K)) but will still outgrow 180w of CFLs if you're using a 250w or higher. If you go the magnetic ballast kit route you'll save yourself about 75% of what people who get ripped off and buy pre-assembled kits pay. I built my whole 400w lighting assembly for $48, plus a few extra dollars if you don't have a 120v power cord lying around, or wire strippers, and shipping of course.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/60062/PLT-991437.html $7 250w HPS lamp. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/89503/PLUSRITE-7257.html - $33.33 250w HPS ballast.

All the wattages are there from 100 to 1000.

So much to consider. All I wanted was to get stoned.

And eventually, I will.

Continued thanks.

The reason everyone is badgering you about lighting is because you have 10 plants and 180w of CFLs. Now let's assume that you get 50% males, you'll have five plants, and you need to give plants at least a gallon of pot size per month of lifespan. So if you have a 10 week flowering and a one month veg you need about a 3 gallon pot minimum, and 5 would produce a larger plant. So say you can fit each pot into a square foot, that's five square feet. Some people say you want 50w per square foot, but with CFLs you actually need more than that because they produce less lumens per watt. You want around 5000 lumens per square foot during flowering optimally. You don't NEED that much, but that's how much you want. 60w CFLs put out about 900 lumens, and they only penetrate a few inches. During flowering you will 100% need new lighting, and if you want to get a substantial yield you're also going to need more light during veg so they put on the weight they need for you to get a good harvest. Sorry for the rant, but there's a lot of things I wish someone had told me when I was starting.

Camo Hat said:

Yes. I'll use the redder CFL's for flowering.

Thanks.

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Hey man just a quick word of advice, i recently started this fine hobby myself and trust me you will eventually go for bigger lights.. i started with cfls and even before i finished my first gorw i got a 150 hps, now on my second grow and i started with the 150 now im on 400 trust me you WILL want more, running 8 cfls produced as much heat as my 400 man i actually use them now to raise heat if it gets a little low