Stealth CFL Grow! With Pics! Starting 3/25/13.

Hey everyone!


Welcome to my first ever post on RIU.org!


I have started my first ever stealth grow.


I will only be growing one plant for this grow as a test for future stealth grows...


Specs:


Grow Area: Skinny shelving unit with removed shelves: 1 foot squared platform base x 5 foot tall, painted flat white and some aluminum foil covered areas. Has a 1 & a 1/2 foot tall metal stand on base holding lights, (for now), with criss cross 1" openings at top, (later used for LST).


Lights: VEG- 4 x 14W, (actual wattage), 5000k CFLs & 2 x 100W, (actual wattage), 4500K CFLs. (20/4 schedule)
FLOWER- 4 x 24W, (actual wattage), 2700k CFLs & 2 x 14W, (actual wattage), 2400k CFLs. (12/12 schedule)
I plan to probably mix the spectrum in flower, just not sure as to what lights I actually want to use...


Soil: MiracleGro Moisture Control Potting Mix.


Nutes: N/A; Haven't purchased any nutes yet...


Strain: Unknown, got it from an assorted pack of 10 from my friend who works at a dispensary.


The germinated seed was planted on March 20th 2013 & with some unfortunate events, (me changing lights around), it shriveled up and almost died, yet I revived it back from death, (took a few days off of its growth), and it now seems to be loving life... I believe the revived plant started growing around March 25th or so...

Attached pictures go from March 31st (1pic) / April 1st (1pic) / April 7th (2pics)

Pictures will be uploaded every week to track growth / deficiencies.

Please comment on anything you would like, all help will be greatly appreciated!

So pull up a chair, hit the bong, sub in & comment all you want!

Plan to go 12/12 early and grow small plants-- a shelving unit is too narrow to grow anything much... and since you do not know what kind you are growing- that COULD be an issue-- some strains grow single-cola.. which would be great- but many more are branchy and get wide.... a problem....

What kind of lights?

Make sure the planters have plenty of drainage-- and IMO- go get a bag of Miracle Grow Organic choice and CAREFULLY replant.. you have used a soil that can/will over-fertilize your babies and burn the heck out of them... if you aren't up-to replanting now-- bets bet is to make sure you use different soil when you replant into their large planters... NEVER use ANYTHING pre-fertilized with MG or time-released nutes unless it is all organic! It is uncontrollable and not formulated for Cannabis... it is do-able-- but almost always runs into trouble!!!

Thanks Zandra for your post! Much appreciated!

I am planning on changing the soil when I transplant, I just planted in this current soil because I had it laying around...

I'm waiting to see how this baby decides to grow, (especially with LST), to change over to 12/12. like I said, I'm only doing one plant now to see how these lights will fair, I will be upgrading next grow to a much larger stealth space, but as for now, I'm just testing lights, I'm usually an outdoor grower...

Thanks for the post though, much appreciated!

Nice bro I'm also a cfl grower. I was using the 26watt 1750lumen 3cool 1 warm for veggie and opposite for flower. Menards had a sale on the 250watt energy saving bulbs and I run all those now. They DO penertrate. That Mg soil you bought is the exact I use. If your going to use it, I never have to add nutrition for at least 6weeks easy, depending on how heavy you water and how much drains out. I mixed it with a simple seed starter mix. It consits of all natural fibers,micro nutrition, and 60% perlite. Best way with this dirt is literally wait till its dry, not a lil moist but dry. The soil retains a lot of water and the plants love it. Normally I never have to add any nutrition until flower and that's basically a bloom booster once a week
Even when I transplant to bigger pots I use the exact same mix, my plants harpy EVER yellow. Just be careful w/ watering and feed in smaller amounts when using that mg soil. Good luck bro

Hey-- CFL's are fine & dandy.. I really don't think you'll have any problems as long as you use enough of them at the right wattage!!

CFL growing
http://www.marijuanagrowing.eu/how-to-use-cfl-s-to-grow-mj-t23291.html

Quick update...

Growth is still taking off, stem is getting pretty damn thick, third set of leaves, (second not including sprout leaves), are growing quite rapidly, this set of leaves do have a slight dark purple accent as well to them around the vein and tips of leaves, not sure if this is from early growth / deficiencies / or genetics but without knowing what strain it is, im unsure until later growth... This little baby just went into sleep at 6pm and will wake up at 10pm, i'll shoot some high deff pics after 10pm.

Hey Everyone!

Here are the updated pictures as of April 9th, (today), at 10:30pm EST

Take a look at the purple on the inner new, growing leaves and let me know what you think, (early growth abnormality / deficiencies / genetics), all comments are greatly appreciated, thanks!

Hey everyone!

Quick update for all of you!

Plant is still doing pretty well, some leaves starting to sag a little, possibly because of the size of the leaves themselves, idk, hard to say, the plant is looking pretty healthy.

IDK exactly what to say about this plant yet, from what i see as of now, it looks like its doing well, only time will tell. Take a look!

CaliforniaDream said:

Hey everyone!

Quick update for all of you!

Plant is still doing pretty well, some leaves starting to sag a little, possibly because of the size of the leaves themselves, idk, hard to say, the plant is looking pretty healthy.

IDK exactly what to say about this plant yet, from what i see as of now, it looks like its doing well, only time will tell. Take a look!

View attachment 2615690View attachment 2615691View attachment 2615692View attachment 2615693

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do you have some ventilation in there? something to suck out some heat and get fresh air in?

I do have an oscillating fan. However, there isn't actually too much heat, it's already in a somewhat cool area...

Looks good and with the space your using I would look into some autos. and how often do you water? In every picture i noticed the dirt looking parched lol

Haha, the pictures are usually taken before they go into a dark cycle, (which is when I water), so I never get pictures of post watering lol, and watering is usually every 2 or 3 days.

I have 10 pineapple express autos, one auto jack, and one auto somango That just popped the soil top. Starting indoors than moving to my gg cant wait. BTW I water once aday i try to keep the soil damp not soaking. and I use superthrive when every watering.

Yeah, on my last grow, I used to water everyday, minimally though, and I still had multiple occasions of over-watering symptoms. I found letting the soil go dry actually helps, the roots stretch out looking for water, giving the plant a strong root system. So I try to water just the right amount to be moist for two - three full light cycles.

looks good. How much of the areas are you using aluminum foil? Covering the walls with aluminum foil causes hot spots.

lovely looking plant

CrazyMan- Only two sides have aluminum foil covering roughly 1 x 1 foot of wall area, there really isn't that much...
Cloud- Thank you!! I'm going to go take pictures now and post them for a new look at the plant

Here are the pictures as I promised Check em out!

These pictures are as of 5 minutes ago, April 18th, Day 24 or so...

Crazy bud site growth + thick ass stem growth + a lil bit of deficiency on a leaf in picture 3, very minimal though. Check it out! Let me know what you think!

Thanks for the post, I'm getting ready to start a similar indoor. I fear my space may be too small. I have a space of 11 3/4" deep x 19 1/2" tall x 24 1/4 " wide. In theory if I do two plants and switch them to 12/12 early (keeping the plant size small). With proper vent, lighting, and care is this a viable space?

What sort of plant height given my 19" height should I try and flower?