First grow w/ CFL

robert planter

Active Member
Well I am starting my first marijuana growing experience and I am very excited with the results so far. My setup consists of:
1x Purple Kush 1x White widow
1x 105 watt CFL 7,600 lumens
2x sunblaze 24 inch strip light 4,000 lumens
11,600 Lumens Total
Oreck Air Purifier
6" Fan circulator
1x Liquid Karma by bonticare
1x Ocean Forest by foxfarm
1x Bio Vega by biocanna

Right now I am using the air purifier that I am not sure what effect it is having on my plants but I don't think is bad. Also I am looking to include a couple more lights just to solitify my setup.

But any suggestions or advice on lights or anything would be greatly appreciated.

PiCs:
Purple Kush Week 4
2
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White Widow Week 2
 

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
In my humble opinion, if those were my plants, I would snip the very top 1/2 inch of new growth out of them today.
 

robert planter

Active Member
so Roseman I considered your thoughts and went ahead and cut off a few leafs I felt were in the way of good healthy growing branches but when you say the (tops of new growth) where exactly do you mean. I am going to post a pic of a good angle and any description of where to cut would be helpful. I also would like to know more about this bubbleponics you are supporting. Looks easy and extremely effective on growing marijuana
 

robert planter

Active Member
So far I have added one more 26 watt spiral CFL I got at my local hardware store to surround my baby with more love but I have recently been noticing these little whitish, gray spots on some of my leafs (pictured below), I am guessing it is not good but I am currently not too worried about it. I would trust any experienced grower if I should do something advice will be appreciated.


 

jimmy44

Well-Known Member
Why would you prune that plant at all?!! It has great secondary development Don't fuck with it
 

robert planter

Active Member
I don't think you understand how bushy this thing was.. It looked too hectic for some leafs and branches.. if all those leafs were good then lesson learned but arent their cases where their are too many leafs and if so then I had to have done the right thing
 

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
so Roseman I considered your thoughts and went ahead and cut off a few leafs I felt were in the way of good healthy growing branches but when you say the (tops of new growth) where exactly do you mean. I am going to post a pic of a good angle and any description of where to cut would be helpful. I also would like to know more about this bubbleponics you are supporting. Looks easy and extremely effective on growing marijuana

at the very tip top, the new growth that is just miniture baby leaves. SNIP that very tip top of new growth off and it will come back with TWO, and double. Cut the tops but not anyother healthy leaves.
Se my pic at my signature of all of those stalks that made lots of tops. I got that by snipping the top off, three or 4 times.
 

robert planter

Active Member
So right now I am coming up on my 5th week of Vegging and I plan on starting the flowering cycle on the 7th week and I am trying to figure out what light that is going to be somewhat cheap. I dunno whether to get the 125 watt CFL from hydrofarm with their reflector or to get a 150 watt hps. Will a 150 watt hps really make that much of a difference because if it will help make my buds denser then I think I could pull it off but how far away does the plant need to be from the light because thats the only real problem I am having. Well need to make my decision pretty soon and anything that produces too much heat is out of the question so any advice will be appreciated.
 

jimmy44

Well-Known Member
With a 150 hps your plant will probably need to be about ten inches away. I would go with the hps because it will widen the spectrum that your plants are recieving in conjunction with the cfls that you already have. They also produce a lot more lumens per watt
 

robert planter

Active Member
Thanks for the advice so at the point I am 99% sure I am going to get the 150w hps system. I have read up on the 150w light setups and the only dilemma I face is whether to get the external ballast or to get the self-ballasted (the built in one) reflector. So what produces most of the heat? the light or the ballast ? I would be able to put the external ballast outside of the box..... Or does the self-ballasted reflector dissipate heat well??? https://www.rollitup.org/members/robert-planter-albums-first-grow-w-cfl.html

Heres a link of my setup it measuures a total of 6ft 5 inches

My flowering chamber is going to be on the top and my clones are going to be on the bottom vegging.

The top chamber measures 4 ft while the bottom is 2ft 5 inches

Will be able to hang HPs from ceiling which is 15 inches above the box..

I am going to grow the purple kush for as long as I can but space may become an issue so whats the average height increase during flowering?

Any advice on any of these questions will be apreciated!
 

robert planter

Active Member
Right now I am either going to get one of these two Reflector setups that look efficient but different because one has an external ballast while the other one is built on... The first light setup I have looked at is Hydrofarms 150 watt Sunburst which has the external ballast... The other is the Sun system 4 ... If anybody has had any personal experience with these systems I would love to hear any advice.. And if you have taken the time to look at these setups I will definentely consider your opinion. Also I will be uploading some new pics of my babys pretty soon.. :peace:
 

robert planter

Active Member
Make sure you can handle and vent the HEAT of the HID lights.
Yes I know about the heat issue and I am sure it can handle the heat once i install my exhaust fan leading outside but I don't want my neighbors to notice the electricity bill going up (because I rent the bak of a house) so i need smaller watts like an 150 watter... maybe a 250. Dunno how much better would a 250 watter do about 10 inches away from plant in a 2' by 2' space and only 2 plants.. I also increased the light of Cfl's by getting one more 26w daylight bulb and I another 20w Soft White bulb and these bulbs were like $5 bucks each so im stoked... Also i am getting $350 a week from thursday and i want to make the best decision in that time. NEED to start flowering as soon as possible so anybody think starting flowering with my cfl's for a couple days a bad idea? Or should i just wait for my hps to make sure my bud is dank? SO ANY advice will be appreciated. bongsmilie
 

jimmy44

Well-Known Member
I just bought the sunsystem 2 with an internal ballast because I liked how everything was contained in the one unit but the setback is that the ballasts are ery heavy so It makes it difficult to move the light up and down, granted I could probably come up with a good pully system or something but I haven't gotten around to it. I would almost recomend getting a external ballast just for the weight reasons. Also, you could flower now but if you only have two plants I would wait and go for a good yield, you can always tie the plants down if height becomes an issue
 

robert planter

Active Member
Well here are some new pics and a list of my improved setup:
First grow w/ CFL
1x Purple Kush 1x White widow
1x 105 watt CFL 7,600 lumens
2x 26 watt CFL 3,400 lumens
1x 20 watt soft white 1,200 lumens
2x sunblaze 24 inch strip light 4,000 lumens
16,200 Lumens Total
Oreck Air Purifier
6" Fan circulator


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robert planter

Active Member
Decided to pick up a 600w hps light for flowering. So what would my yield be if my plant is over a foot tall after vegging for like 8 weeks. It is also really bushy now with lots of leafs. Also what would be a sufficient cfm amount to fan out, and exhaust the heat out of my light through about 6 ft. of ducting. Should I be looking for something in the 100's do the trick with fans blowing around the reflector which has cooling units on the side. :blsmoke:
 

jimmy44

Well-Known Member
It looks like the plant has a lot of nodes, so I would think the harvest would be about an ounce.
 
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