Hey OT,
Sounds like you have a little helper gardener in that Rat. If he were a pet, clean bill of health and a vegan eater I'd compost his droppings as a contribution to my garden!
You may want to try a combination of CFLs with mixed spectrums.
While vegging use 2/3 of your CFL lights should come from 6500k spectrum bulbs with 1/3 from 2700k. Then reverse mix for flowering 2/3 of bulbs are 2700k with 1/3 6500k. This should give you proper balance during both states of growth and provide both ranges the entire grow with an emphasis on the 6500k spectrum for veg and 2700k bulbs for flowering.
CFL is low wattage for sure, not sure of you finances but if you could acquire a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) which has batteries to maintain power normally to home PC during a power shortage. If possible I would incorporate one into your grow to assure you can maintain light period.
The only requirement pertaining to the 12 hours of darkness is to remain uninterrupted meaning no light what so ever during the dark period, so losing power to lights isn't a big deal expect for loss of photosythis (growth production) when you lose lights. So this means you can to make up for lost light is extend the light period as long as you keep 12 hours of complete darkness between light periods. So you could set light schedule (on/off) to 18/12 or 24/12 as far as that goes. Obviously this will extend the flowering period in the amount of total days it will take to complete.
Like to see some of those outdoor girls from your oct post. If you have any.
Keep us posted my friend.
DankSwag
Thank you very very much for that information DS
It gives me great pleasure to see that you posted on my thread. I won't be focusing on Indoor grow because of lack of funds as well as secrecy. But when I do, the info you just shed will be my Guidelines for CFLs.
My outdoor grow wasnt a success when in terms of yield. But I was able to go to the full extent in spite of harsh growing conditions, wild life and pests. Till veg stage they grew near my house, and then when I realized I was doing things wrong( like pruning and light at night) I shifted the suspected females to a remote location. The transplant wasn't a success though.
My first lady
Till now I have been germing seeds and planting them out in locations where it would grow just like a normal weed. Some survive and I or somebody else get the fruits of my labor. I am a newbie when it comes to growing and I have made many mistakes. But I am learning from everything, the grows have improves(atleast that's what I feel). 2 years back I couldn't get them grow past seedling stage and now I have flowered three of them with proper care minus the stress part. I am not sure how to explain my situation. I was dumb, now am little bit less- describes it all.
I had two Guinea pigs who were giving me their awesome poop for my garden, may they R.I.P. Now it's upto the rat
Treating it like any other plant in my vegetable garden has given me an improvement. Like
Uncle Ben said, when people shower it with nutes and what not, we are just complicating shit.
I hope my words make sense. Lot more to learn, my experiments will continue.
Much love and respect from Toker.