from floro to Cfl's new grow

[Greengoof]

Ok ive been growing 2 lr2 lately under a 48w t5 blue spectrum sunblaze. one is stretching kinda bit i had to support it with a stake and the other one is growing like a true female. im almost done with rebuilding my cfl box. im still in the process of trying to get an inline fan for ventilation. because it gets reall hot in there.

my question is will the cfl's burn the plant? im using garden knowm's bud for less grow setup with the 3 pieces of wood, sockets, etc.. except mine is in an enclosed environment. so i have the issue of heat and ventilation... will a 4" inline fan be plenty air exhaust for a 2ft by 1.5 by 3ft tall. will mylar be ok or will it make it hotter....

 

[bongrippinbob]

Mylar will make it hotter simply because it is "metal". You can use black/white poly instead.
Depending on how many watts you are using, you probably don't need an inline fan with the CFLs. I used to exhaust my 250watt CFL veg cab with (2) 130cfm computer fans. So I had about 250cfm going through there without any problems. The fans were only like $7 each shipped from ebay.
They will burn your plants if they touch them or there is not enough ventilation. But they run way cooler than hid.

 

[Greengoof]

how will my yield be you think if i put like 4 cfl 100w to start with veg? inline fan in there just to keep it at good temp.and i want mylar in there so no light ecscapes. im spongetaping the seals of the box for light leaks. also probably going to need rubber i think for the fan so it doesnt raddle. but if i throw like LR2 in there you think it would be a problem?

 

[Greengoof]

ventilation would be good tho to keep it at ideal temp for flowering. thanks .. i wont put the cfl to close to them i was thinking on the lines of 100w cfl's like 4 of them to start out . and mylar we will stay with cuz it reflects light and i need to spongetape some of the boxes leaks. thanks bro. what do you think the yield would be. ? ok for short little box with cfl's? 1oz u think?

 

[bongrippinbob]

Are you actually talking about 100watt CFLs or equivelent to 100watts? If it is equivelent, then you are only running like 100 true watts which is not much at all. It would be better to get more T5s and use those. They put out way more lumens than the CFLs do. Or could get a 250watt hps ballast kit and bulb for under $100 and use that. Just make sure you ahve the ventilation to cool it.
Mylar is not light proof. If you hold it up to light, you can see through it like sunglasses. If you want a reflective material that is light proof, go with the black/white poly.
You should be able to yeild an oz no problem if you are using the 250watt light. But if you are only using 4 26watt CFLs, which are 100watt equilvelent, you will probably have trouble. I usually only use those lights for veg. I usually use about 8-10 of them at a time for a total of about 250watts. I just use the computer fans to cool them.

 

[Greengoof]

Yea that sounds great and all but heres the issue. i live in florida, police here are cutting back on grow operations. i had a 400 w hps but it made my first harvest burn to the ground. Ventilation was the problem because i had 55,000 lumens in a room never the less in a the box i have. CFL's produce sufficient amount of buds if the proper strains are grown i was told and have seen with my own eyes. im more or less growing LR2, Lowberry, Diesel ryder, all the auto flowers with a bit of an sog feel in the small environment. i just want to make it obsolite so it works and they dont burn.
all i have to grow with is cfl equivelant 100w. so there like 32w i believe. i also heard of LED panel lights? very low heat, good yields. whats your take on those. ?


so i should probably take the mylar out because it is white already in the box. [old dressor] like bought back in 1997.] tell me how i can perfect my box so im running a small stealthy money income a month using these auto flowering strains growing under cfls preferebly and using the floro for clones of other strains.

 

[bongrippinbob]

LEDs suck, stay away.
Those 100watt equiv are only like 26watts. I was running a 400watt HPS in 2'x2' area with no problems. Just have to get a quality fan. Mine space was 2' taller, but Im sure you could figure something out.
3 or 4 of those lights will be enough to grow like 1 or 2 plants, maybe. If you are going to use flouros, get some more T5s. The little 2ft ones would work great. Much better than CFLs. But if you must use CFLs, I would suggest at least 8-10 of those 26watt lights. And you can use computer fans to cool them. YOu can get 130cfm fans on ebaby for like $7 shipped. Just hook them up to a 12v adapter.
You will not be able to make income from such a small grown. If you are trying to make money from this, you need to spend a lot more money, or not smoke any of your harvest. With female seeds being like $20 each of the strains you are growing, and the fact that you can't clone them, and they don't yield too much, you won't be making much off of each plant. I would suggest a larger area, a better fan, and non auto flower strains that you can clone.

 

[Greengoof]

Yea they are only like 26w the cfl's i have. 400w in a 2'x2' really that sounds like a fire hazard waiting to happen. Did you tie your plants down? i have a 400w hps but it makes the area so hot that my fans can cool it. but those small computer fans you say do the trick for $7 shipped ill check into it.....i chose to go with cfl's only bc i heard good things about them and that they were good for small grows. im looking to make money but i also dont want to spend that much more. i dont want to expand it because then that leaves more variables to take care of . the smaller , the more obsolite i think would be good since im just starting to learn. I also have other strains that arent auto flowering. im not growing them only bc i want to make this operation as close to perfect as i can get it. Cfl's have been shown to produce good buds. the yield is a little smaller , but thats kinda why i wanted to go with the auto flowering bc they can produce significant amount of yield per plant at that height. Sorta like an SOG but a small cfl one lol...


im actually hoping to get a male so i can have some seeds since i have to setups atm. stick the males inside the other setup. now quick ? male plants produce seeds , but these seeds they produce are male and female seeds correct?

LEDs suck, stay away.
Those 100watt equiv are only like 26watts. I was running a 400watt HPS in 2'x2' area with no problems. Just have to get a quality fan. Mine space was 2' taller, but Im sure you could figure something out.
3 or 4 of those lights will be enough to grow like 1 or 2 plants, maybe. If you are going to use flouros, get some more T5s. The little 2ft ones would work great. Much better than CFLs. But if you must use CFLs, I would suggest at least 8-10 of those 26watt lights. And you can use computer fans to cool them. YOu can get 130cfm fans on ebaby for like $7 shipped. Just hook them up to a 12v adapter.
You will not be able to make income from such a small grown. If you are trying to make money from this, you need to spend a lot more money, or not smoke any of your harvest. With female seeds being like $20 each of the strains you are growing, and the fact that you can't clone them, and they don't yield too much, you won't be making much off of each plant. I would suggest a larger area, a better fan, and non auto flower strains that you can clone.

 

[bongrippinbob]

No males don't produce seeds. The males produce pollen sacks. You have to put that pollen on a female that is budding. When the pollen is caught by the pistil of the female plant, a seed is formed there.

If you are breeding for seeds, the buds that you pollinate will be full of seeds and not much will be there to smoke.

If this is your first grow, I highly doubt you will get enough to make any money. It takes years to get this growing thing down. I went to school for 2yrs to get a horticulture degree in order to help. You will build this cab, use it for a couple of months, then decide you want a 400watt setup. You'll use that for like a yr, then you'll want a 600watt, etc, etc. Its never ending. And one or two grows will not make your space perfect. It is going to take a lot longer than that. It takes experience and lots and lots of reading. When I first started growing, I would spend literally, 3hrs a night just reading. Not asking questions, just reading. And it helped tons.

With my 400watt in a 2'x2'x5 1/2' area I was using a 465cfm blower for exhaust to keep it cool and another circulating fan inside. I didn't tie my plants down. I just had them finish at about 18" tall.

Those computer fans will cool your cab as long as you are using CFLs. They wont work with the HID lights. Just make sure they are the most powerful ones you can get. The 130cfm ones work well.

The autoflower strains will yeild way less at the same height as a clone that is finishing at the same height. The autoflower ones mainly just yeild one big cola, where the clones will branch out. I don't want you to get your hopes up and think you are going to have a huge yeild. Expect maybe a 1/4 gram per watt you are using if its your first time. Give it some time, and you'll be up at like 1/2 gram per watt. So you figure you are using 4 of those lights, which will put you at about an OZ for total yield.

Until you get a HID light, or are running 400 actual watts of CFLs, don't expect a whole lot. But if you are running 400 actual watts of CFLs, you may as well run a HID light which will cost the same, but will produce WAY more. With my 400watt light I was getting about 7oz every 60days in a 2'x2' area.

 

[DankMan!!!]

Ya i agree with what most people are saying on here stay with the 2 ft t5s Imo i have been growing on only 2 4ft floros with the GE plant and aquarium bulbs and i have been getting about 2oz a plant dried off 1 1/2 foot plants