New to growing and need a little advise...

Hi everyone, I've been reading alot about what lights to use, ventilation systems, and everything else I need to know. But nothing fully answers my questions so I decided to join the site.

1. I have a small grown closet that's about 6 square feet, and about 4 foot tall.

2. I'm using just regular seeds out of my last high quality shwag bag. (didn't want to use good seeds on a first time grow)

3. I'm on a budget, so i'm using 3 26watt cfl's. 2 are warm colored, and one is the blue colored.)

4. my plants started in my dads normal plant pot...i threw seeds in there and 8 popped up. (I kept 2 they are in a 1 gallon ceremic pot, and about 2-5 inches tall)

Basically I have the 1 blue colored in a aluminum reflector hanging above the plants about 2 inches away, and the 2 warm colored cfl's plugged into a strip on the side of the pot...the other side is the door which i covered with aluminum foil (door was brown) rest of the closet is white. I also have a little solid white plastic desk fan to keep air circulating

Will the 3 lights be enough? Whats the best times to keep them on 24/7--18/6? What other tips should I need to know? I'm just trying to use my first grow as a test, to learn, and perfect the way to grow, before I go and spend money on good seeds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Post some pics

I only have cell phone quality... but alright. gimme a few mins. por favor

I am guessing you have a lot of shwag seeds, this is a good thing. You should save your $ for equipment. 1st a question, is this a stealth grow? You mentioned your Dad in your post do you live at home and if so are you of age and do you have your parents permission?

yeahhh... $599.99 doubtskies on that one dude. i'm on a serious budget

bkbbudz said:

I am guessing you have a lot of shwag seeds, this is a good thing. You should save your $ for equipment. 1st a question, is this a stealth grow? You mentioned your Dad in your post do you live at home and if so are you of age and do you have your parents permission?

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Hahahaha forgive me laughing, it's not at you. Most people would ask that question, but no, not stealth. My dad is a 68 yr old veitnam veteran. i'm 22 in college living at home. i've been smoking since 3rd grade so he's all cool about it.

Kewl, I just wanna make sure I ain't about to help corrupt a yungin'!

Ok then did you say you have 2 seedlings in the same 1 gal pot? If so, how big are they? I ask because you are gonna want to seperate them ASAP. If not the roots will grow together and you will have a major cluster fuck on your hands if you wait too long. Especially sine the pot is short rather than deep. The roots will grow sideways so the will intertwine pretty quickly.

What kiind of soil are you using and did you give nutes yet?

You mentioned you are on a tight budget, how tight? If you can swing about $250.00 or so you can do some pretty kewl things in that space. I would think 4 regular growing plants, big and bushy. Or a shit load of SoG plants (Sea of Green). This would be my suggestion. Especially since you are using shwag seeds. SoG will allow you to keep them short and you'll have more chance of growing females.

bkbbudz said:

Kewl, I just wanna make sure I ain't about to help corrupt a yungin'!

Ok then did you say you have 2 seedlings in the same 1 gal pot? If so, how big are they? I ask because you are gonna want to seperate them ASAP. If not the roots will grow together and you will have a major cluster fuck on your hands if you wait too long. Especially sine the pot is short rather than deep. The roots will grow sideways so the will intertwine pretty quickly.

What kiind of soil are you using and did you give nutes yet?

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That's the thing, I had them in my dads pot with his plant (like I said there were and so I took them out about 5 days after sprouted, put them in the little card board containers for seedlings, but then tonight I decided which 2 i wanted to keep and put them into a 1 gallon pot. The pot is deep and wide. Can I move the other one out of it if I just put them into it tonight? Here is my setup after tonight.


I'm using EXPERT GARDENER soil. Says it's 3 nutes are N,P,K which I read before those are the 3 main needed for mary. I have not put any extra in.
Also keep in mind the door on the inside has aluminum foil, and there are 3 cfl's all 26 watt. 2 on the strip standing are warm colored, the one hanging above the seedlings is the blue colored.

bkbbudz said:

You mentioned you are on a tight budget, how tight? If you can swing about $250.00 or so you can do some pretty kewl things in that space. I would think 4 regular growing plants, big and bushy. Or a shit load of SoG plants (Sea of Green). This would be my suggestion. Especially since you are using shwag seeds. SoG will allow you to keep them short and you'll have more chance of growing females.

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My budget is tighter than the virgin mary hahahaha
I understand what you mean, but i'm also not trying to grow too many right now. I'm in test mode, find the best method, then i'm gonna order seeds and grow multiples of the good stuff.

Those three bulbs will be enough to get them started vegging (check my thread), but it won't get them flowering like you want them to and they'll just spend their whole time craving light and producing shit buds.
Answer is a much larger bulb. I have two 125w CFL's and my ladies are still craving more lol.

Dude is right... inject money and you'll have better bud!

I've done a lot of DIY and cab building this past few months and most is documented in my threads. I learned a shit loads during my first grow and hope you can learn it too. The trick (I've been told) to growing awesome bud, is to just keep growing

Good luck buddy

onlycucumbershere said:

Those three bulbs will be enough to get them started vegging (check my thread), but it won't get them flowering like you want them to and they'll just spend their whole time craving light and producing shit buds.
Answer is a much larger bulb. I have two 125w CFL's and my ladies are still craving more lol.

Dude is right... inject money and you'll have better bud!

I've done a lot of DIY and cab building this past few months and most is documented in my threads. I learned a shit loads during my first grow and hope you can learn it too. The trick (I've been told) to growing awesome bud, is to just keep growing

Good luck buddy

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Cool, I was hoping that would be enough, I get my income tax and my school check by the end of Feb. that's all i'm waiting for! then ill be able to invest a little more money but i'm still only wanting to grow with cfl's. They're more energy efficient, and they don't get hot at all. As you can see my closet has no ventelation system, only the little fan with the door that has cracks hahaha

Thanks for the advice though man! and ill check your threads out.

I used cfls on 2nd grow now about to flower. Finally can order me a hps or Mh. Or I see I can get one that uses both w/ mogul. I think I've understood correctly. How much heat should I expect? what is a good distance between hps or MH and plant? I have almost 20,000 Lumins with cfls, will these MH & hps make that much difference in grow time & bud production? Just trying to figure out if its worth it as I know very little about lights and found one for $172, 400 watt. Can this run on reg. wall outlet? Many questions and have read alot but hard to search for just the right info.

Also, the best I can tell cfls are running me $25-$30 on light bill. Will hps or mh be any less expensive to run?

For your space I would say to stick with the CFLs...

My grow space is a section of large closet. 3 wide, 7 foot ceiling and can section off 3 foot to 6 foot long. Planning for about 6 plants at a time.