About to start my first grow, looking for quick advice.

So Im about to start my first grow. I dont have absolutely everything I need, because I dont exactly expect to succeed this time around.

Within the next couple weeks I will probably grab a lot more stuff (ph testers, fans, more lighting, better soil, better seeds)

Basically I am just curious how my setup looks thus far. My space is pretty limited, as you can see in the pictures, was hard to take because I couldnt stand any further back.

Im going to move some stuff out of the closet in a couple weeks also when I add fans and such.

Anywho, Ive got 2 Soft White 120watt (2000 Lumens per) CFL's, and seeds will go into some decent soil in the 4inch clay pots.

Put up a temp gage right to the left on the wall, and have foil on 3 sides of where plants will be.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

Get some more reflection goin on top and the 4th wall, and dont go in with a negative attiude you can do it,

Skoad said:

So Im about to start my first grow. I dont have absolutely everything I need, because I dont exactly expect to succeed this time around.

Within the next couple weeks I will probably grab a lot more stuff (ph testers, fans, more lighting, better soil, better seeds)

Basically I am just curious how my setup looks thus far. My space is pretty limited, as you can see in the pictures, was hard to take because I couldnt stand any further back.

Im going to move some stuff out of the closet in a couple weeks also when I add fans and such.

Anywho, Ive got 2 Soft White 120watt (2000 Lumens per) CFL's, and seeds will go into some decent soil in the 4inch clay pots.

Put up a temp gage right to the left on the wall, and have foil on 3 sides of where plants will be.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

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ya they will b ok to veg but u will need a 400watt hps light to flower them to plant this is the set up i jus got for £300



i am using 100watt cfl lights to veg one a plant

If memory serves you should go with a daylight-esqué (64k~65k) bulb instead of Soft White for the vegetation period. Soft white would be more helpful during the flowering period. Don't know if you already have this, but timer would help shit loads. Personally think you should start out with the BEST soil you can get. If you're going to get nutrients I suggest Blue Mountain Organic brand, but you need a credit card or something to buy it from the online store. That's all I got... btw, never grown before just saying what I learned from this forum.

Thanks a lot for the fast replies. So would 2-3 foot higher foil be good? Or Should I try to get the foil going right across the top? Will do the 4th wall now.

As for the Lights, I definitely plan to get bigger lights for flowering, just got these ones to start, as I saw most other threads people had around 100watt CFLs for the veg. Surprisingly, Soft White were the only CFL lights I saw at Lowes.

Going to leave it open or is there ventilation? I'm about to do the same thing with you with a little less height (4ft high cabinet, so maybe 3ft plants if im lucky)...If you DONT have a height restriction get bigger pots unless you plan on changing pots later, the more room the roots have, the bigger the plants get. Not enough light if you plan to flower in the same space..there needs to be complete darkness for the 'night' period. Maybe not even enough light just for flowering...I have the same lighting as you, so I would recommend buying the splitter (1 fixture into 2)...get 3 of those, and two more lights...then just screw em in and youll have 4 lights on that 1 extension cord.

Ged rid of the foil man, all I hear is bad things about it, it actually absorbs more light than it reflects. Mylar is what you want, you can find that stuff in most hydro shops or online. If you don't have anything else, use something flat white, but definitely get rid of the foil.

Good luck, I'm on my first grow too.

There is no ventilation at the moment. I plan to cut out above the door later down the road and have a fan blowing in and one out. Going to have a small fan in there now blowing just to circulate air, or should I just leave the closet door open? I know the veg stage is 24hrs light, so dont have to worry about blackout yet. As for the light splitter, thats a good idea. As you can see I already have one of those, but didnt even think of putting a splitter in a splitter. Will grab some more splitters when I head to Lowes next week, same with better lights(which I shouldnt need for a few weeks at least right?)



About the foil, Ive read some bad things also, but still see everyone using it, so it must be doing at least something right. I plan to grab some Mylar also, but until then Ill keep foil, or I may pick up some big white poster boards tomorrow and throw them up.

Hey bud, I have a few suggestions

first of all start with larger containers, you won't regret it. The roots of a seedling will become restricted in pots that small before they can even begin to veg, at least use 1gal containers or you'll be wasting your time constantly watering every day and having small, constricted roots.

tin foil isn't that great but it ok since ur on CFLs it won't do too much damage, but it doesn't reflect very well and is generally not great for this sort of thing. get white polywrap or mylar (emergency blankets are available everywhere).

CFLs put out a low amount of light, for better yields you need better lights.

lastly - medium is very important, do not use thick muddy soil or stuff from your back yard. ocean forest is very popular, I would suggest getting that or some other organic soil and mixing in some aerating mediums like vermiculite, perlite, diatomite, or even puttin a inch of gravel at the bottom of the pot for improved drainage and aeration.

dbo24242 said:

Hey bud, I have a few suggestions

first of all start with larger containers, you won't regret it. The roots of a seedling will become restricted in pots that small before they can even begin to veg, at least use 1gal containers or you'll be wasting your time constantly watering every day and having small, constricted roots.

tin foil isn't that great but it ok since ur on CFLs it won't do too much damage, but it doesn't reflect very well and is generally not great for this sort of thing. get white polywrap or mylar (emergency blankets are available everywhere).

CFLs put out a low amount of light, for better yields you need better lights.

lastly - medium is very important, do not use thick muddy soil or stuff from your back yard. ocean forest is very popular, I would suggest getting that or some other organic soil and mixing in some aerating mediums like vermiculite, perlite, diatomite, or even puttin a inch of gravel at the bottom of the pot for improved drainage and aeration.

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Doesn't Ocean Forest already have some perlite and worm castings in it?

I planned to upgrade to a 1gal container once it was ready for a move, thought it wasnt that great to start them in big containers.

The soil I grabbed from Lowes is alright, its got some nutes in it, not the greatest stuff, but not the worst either. So guess ill grab some better next week.

Skoad said:

So guess ill grab some better next week.

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well what you got is fine, just pick up perlite and mix it at least 1/3rd perlite by volume to achieve ideal conditions.

Its got some Perlite in it now, but not nearly 1/3. Ill be sure to grab a bag and mix it in. Thanks!

Have some Snow White fem seeds heading my way, so figured I will go by Lowes today and pick up some more needed things.

Im curious if anyone has any experience with this ph meter, and if its any good. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=251966-83666-1240&lpage=none

Also I see Lowes has some ph up & downs, but appear to be for pools. Is it the same stuff I would need for the plants or no?

Also please let me know other things I could use/need! Thanks!

Why do you love Lowes so much??? I shop there too, but there are better places. Find your local Hydroponics shop. I use Pro-Mix BX. There is almost no nutrients in it, so be prepared to play god. I like it because I'm in control it drains really well and is a lot more forgiving then a full hydro set up. I also use DNF (Dutch Nutrient Formula) nutrients. I just use the 2 part Veg and Bloom stuff. $24 CDN gets me through the veg cycle right through flowering. The 500ml bottles last long enough and I also use only distilled water. I'm on well water so I can't use it...okay I know I should install a revese osmosis filter but I have way to may other things that are a priority first. I started off in one of the 12 plant Jiffy green houses from there in to 4 inch pots and then into 5 gallon pails where they remain. I've never had problems. The PH meter I use I got at my local hydoponics shop is like one of the pool testers. It comes with a little container you put your water into and a chemical you add and shake and look at the colour and compare. It was $14 canadian. Cheap and works good. Don't worry about getting mylar or black and white. I use black and white it's $1 per foot for 1 foot by 10 feet. cheap but you can use a flat white paint and just paint the sides flat white too. Lowes is a good place to pick up your timer though. I veg and flower everything under T5 high out put lights. I don't see the need to go to the biggers stuff. I'm not a dealer it's my own personal stash so if I yield a little less who cares. Find the day light or cool white bulbs for vegging. So far your set up looks good. You don't need to go crazy just start small and go from there. I would rather use 2 X 2foot T5H.O. over the CFLs but that's me. I use 4 X 2 footers for vegging and 8 4footers with 2700K bulbs during flowering. I was a little creative when using the 8 and space them out to penetrate the plants more. It works for me.

Anyways, Good luck.

Aluminum foil reflects 97% of solar radiance(around 90% average of PAR). Reflective Mylar is highly reflective solely because of aluminum vacuum deposited onto it (polyester/PET fiber). Reflective Mylar will reflect light more intensely than foil due to a more specular and finer(microscopically smoother) surface. Aluminum foil is still about 50% diffuse. Reflective Mylar is around 25% diffuse. Meaning Reflective Mylar has a greater ability to create 'hot spots'. However, the reflectance(sum of all reflected radiance for all angles off a surface) of both materials is nearly identical.

Mylar® is the PET fiber. Reflective Mylar is, again, when aluminum or other metals(more rarely) are vacuum deposited onto PET fiber.

Mylar (reflective or not) is easily damaged by heat, and it also supports flame. Just try it, put a lighter to some Reflective Mylar for a second or two, it'll start burning(the fumes are hazardous, do it outside). Aluminum foils do not support flame and are resilient to fairly high temperatures.

Please stop with the "he said...", "she said..." bullshit.

I enjoy Lowes because its about my only option, that or Home Depot. There is no Hydro store where I live that I know of.

I just ordered some Mylar, but will keep the foil up if Mylar can burn. I may just use a little in the higher areas.

Things Im going to pick up today are
Timer
Ph Tester (the colored water testing)
Some more lights (T5's if I can find them)
Nutes
Hygrometer
1gal Pots

Skoad said:

I enjoy Lowes because its about my only option, that or Home Depot. There is no Hydro store where I live that I know of.

I just ordered some Mylar, but will keep the foil up if Mylar can burn. I may just use a little in the higher areas.

Things Im going to pick up today are
Timer
Ph Tester (the colored water testing)
Some more lights (T5's if I can find them)
Nutes
Hygrometer
1gal Pots

Click to expand...

Nice. Good luck with the grow. Keep us posted on how it goes.

I grabbed most of those items, and a couple other things, which I posted in another thread because wasnt sure if I got the right things.
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/203951-just-picked-up-some-items.html

Probably just gunna try to get a full setup going within the next week and start a grow thread. Still trying to figure out other things I need and how to do all of this haha

Skoad said:

I grabbed most of those items, and a couple other things, which I posted in another thread because wasnt sure if I got the right things.
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/203951-just-picked-up-some-items.html

Probably just gunna try to get a full setup going within the next week and start a grow thread. Still trying to figure out other things I need and how to do all of this haha

Click to expand...

Cool, expensive but cool. If you want just PM me with what you have and what you are thinking of getting. I can try and fill in the gaps for you and if possible give you suggestions on different things you can do with Pro's and Con's of each way. It can be as easy or complex as you want it to be.