MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
What kind of light bulb should I use? I'm going to be using a clamp lamp. Also is Co2 needed?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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What light bulb?
- Thread starter MathewGrows
- Start date
Final Phase
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you're just starting out... A 23 - 27 watt CFL will get a plant going - You will need a lot more light than just a ffew
CFL's. Stay away from mercury vapor bulbs. Some growers use tons of these to get them all the way to harvest.
Personally, I've used CFL's to vegetate plants for up to 6 months prior to switching to HSP lighting.
Have a good time learning!
CFL's. Stay away from mercury vapor bulbs. Some growers use tons of these to get them all the way to harvest.
Personally, I've used CFL's to vegetate plants for up to 6 months prior to switching to HSP lighting.
Have a good time learning!
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Hey thanks! So I can use 23-27 watt cfl bulb through the whole process? Or will I need a different lighting through different phases of the grow?
Final Phase
Well-Known Member
Read up on the CFL threads here. I've seen some seriously good herb grown with a lot of CFL's. Some like to grow with LED's. The most common lighting (I think) is using HID bulbs (High Pressure Sodium and Metal Hylide)
CFL is a cheap way to start experimenting and learning how much you want to invest time and money wise.
CFL is a cheap way to start experimenting and learning how much you want to invest time and money wise.
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Awesome thanks
Jimdamick
Well-Known Member
You should either buy a good book like one from George Cervantes, or spend a lot of time on this site before you buy anything. I guess you are here trying to learn, so that is a very good start. I would say no to both ideas. CO2 is an overrated myth for a plant that lives 3 months, seeing as the primary reason is a earlier finish. Like what, a week? Then you have to spend the money for the equipment. If you run a fucking greenhouse that is operational 24/7/365, then it makes sense. You lighting idea, unless you times it by 4, will not work effectively. Also, I wouldn't touch a seed at your level ( u got one?) for another 6 months, unless you read about it for about an hour every day. It is an expensive, time consuming hobby/business, so do not jump the mark. Good luck.
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Alright good I don't wanna waste money on Co2. I actually bought Indoor Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor Bible. I'm also just thinking of doing basic hydroponic dwc with veggies to test it out before anything
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Awesome I don't want to waste time with Co2. I have actually bought Indoor Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor Bible. I'm also going to start out basic with hydroponics dwc with just veggies.
bicit
Well-Known Member
If you have the space, a 4', 2 bulb, T5HO lamp can be purchased from home depot for about $25. I think that's about the best value for your money until you're ready to get into HID land.
The other option worthy of exploring is the CREE led light bulbs from homedepot.
If I may make a suggestion, rather than a DWC look into using cocofiber and fabric pots. Or a hempy bucket in pure perlite. Once you get past 2 or 3 buckets, swapping out DWC nutrient solutions becomes very much a chore and dealing with airstones/airpumps also gets annoying.
My first indoor grow ever I used 16 individual DWC sites, once the canopy started to fill out I needed two people to swap out the bucket. One to hold the plant and one to swap the bucket. So many branches got broken, roots chopped off, buds bruised.... never again..... Moving to UCDWC or RDWC is nice, but still has the same hassle of changing out reservoirs.
Passive, drain to waste hydro is the best place for a newbie to start IMHO. Water it once/twice/thrice a day with nutrient solution and call it good.
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Bicit, thanks for the suggestion Im seriously considering the Ebb and flow. But I have some questions:
So far I have a 18 Gallon toute, I think a 10-12 (Not sure) toute, and a 3 gallon. All of them have tops. I'm thinking i can use the 10-12 gallon toute for the RES and the 18 gallon toute for the plants (or the other way around). I have a air pump with air stone for the RES but I would need the water pump plus the line and over flow. I'm a little unsure about the nutrients and if I should get anything else. Im also considering getting a Mars Tent and Apollo Grow Light. I will be doing regular veggies to test out before moving on to bigger and better projects
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bicit
Well-Known Member
Honestly, a recirculating ebb and flow is going to be subject to many of the same hassles as a regular DWC. But with the added drawback of possible timer failures. You can run timerless and use a loop or bell siphon to run the pump continuously but that has it's own failure points as well.
If you're dead set on an ebb&flow. Use the smaller of the two containers as your rez so that you can't overflow the plant chamber in the even a timer fails on or the siphon fails. If you can get a second reservoir, I'd recommend going drain to waste style. Then you can just top off your nutrient res and drain the waste res. No need to monitor pH or PPM swings quite as much.
Danner mag drive pumps are great for this application, I think the 190 or 250gph model would be more than sufficient for your setup.
As far as nutrients go. Start off simple and use the lucas formula. It's cheap and effective. I don't recommend playing with additives/bloom boosters/snake oil until after you've gotten a few good runs in with lucas in order to establish a reliable baseline.
Drysalts are tempting, but require a bit more precision. Down the road this is a good cost saving measure but can be a headache for a newbie.
Midwest Weedist
Well-Known Member
If you're asking questions about cfls and just starting out, hydro probably isn't for you. Go buy a bag of Fox farm or roots organic and a few more cfls to get an idea of how the plant will actually grow. Soil grows are a lot more forgiving, especially if you go all organic. That's just my opinion though.
Imo if you really want to buy a better light without spending a lot, look at buying like a 150 watt cmh, it has the spectrum to get you through seedling stage to harvest with less heat output that a mh or hps of equivalent wattage.
Do you have experience growing anything besides cannabis?
Imo if you really want to buy a better light without spending a lot, look at buying like a 150 watt cmh, it has the spectrum to get you through seedling stage to harvest with less heat output that a mh or hps of equivalent wattage.
Do you have experience growing anything besides cannabis?
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
So Drain to waste, I think you said this but I could use the 10-12 gallon for a rez and then have a second 10-12gallon toute for the waste off of the plant toute which is 18?
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
I don't have any experience, but I think I can do the Hydroponics Im going to be starting with Herbs before moving onto marijuana
Midwest Weedist
Well-Known Member
If you think you can handle it then by all means, go for it! You can pull a lot of weight if you figure out what your strain wants nutrient wise. Personally I'd rather build my own soil for better tasting herb and lower costs, but that's a lot of time reading. If youre set with hydro you should check out Nectar of the Gods, I've never personally used their line, but everyone loves it and it's organic.
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Nectar of the Gods.That's a different brand of nutrients right?
bicit
Well-Known Member
Yup, but in all honesty. Skipp ebb and flow for now. Getting bulk heads setup isn't difficult, but is typically a major point of failure for newbies.
Take your 10-12 gallon tote and fill that up with perlite. Drill a good sized hole about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. Use jiffy pucks to plant your herbs in and plant them in the perlite. Water until you see runoff from the hole. You'll get the same results that you would have had from the ebb and flow without the need for air or water pumps.
Keep it simple bud.
bicit
Well-Known Member
Yeah I don't recommend running anything like that until you've got a few runs in with good old petro ferts. 'Organic hydroponics' is a marketing gimick and very expensive. It can also be very problematic if you don't fully understand all the concepts involved with organic feeding.
KISS, Lucas formula ftw.
If you're wanting to go 'organic', the ROLLS recycled organic living soil thread is worthwhile to investigate. I think some of the best results come from people using those methods.
MathewGrows
Well-Known Member
Ok I was thinking this would be my setup.
- I would cut holes to fit larger mesh net pots in larger of the three tote which would have the my herbs in for the Drain to Waste. I would have the in line start near the top of the tote and the out line start towards the bottom to run off to the third tote aka the waste tote.
- Start to sprout the speedlings in rapid rooters.
- Then go to a small DWC , in the 3 gallon tote, with just water, with 2inch mesh net pots, with expanded clay.
- Once they are down with the germination phase, I would move them to the Drain to Waste.
- Once they out grow the 2inch mesh pots I would transplant them into larger mesh pots still with the expanded clay.
That's what I've thought up so far.
bicit
Well-Known Member
seems needlessly complicated and messy to me. Personally I'm learning that less is more. If I can get the same result with less parts and components, why complicate it? Ebb and flow systems are very bulky.
1: Skip clay pebbles. They're useful in things like aquaponics where their large surface area allows the micro herd to thrive. However it's pretty much useless in a synthetic hydro setup. I actually don't use any media in my netcups anymore. I just hold the plant in place with neoprene inserts until it's large enough to fit into a trellis or tomato cage. I still get the same results without the dust and cleaning.
2: Why all the messy transplanting? If all you're going to grow is common herbs why not just start them in the unit you plan to grow them in? A big complication with no clear gain.
3: Why the several different sizes of mesh pots? Transplanting from a small one too a large one offers no advantage to the plant. It only occupies more space and spends more money. I get the same results from 2" netcups that I did from 10" mesh pots. But I get 100 2" netcups for what 2 ten inch mesh pots cost.
Comb through this thread. GG707 is a very well respected grower and contributor to the LED section. His most recent run with GG#4 was very well done and the results were fantastic. Using fabric pots, coco fiber, blumats, and a basic hydroponic formula. Start to finish in the same pot with very good labresults.
ETA: I guess a link would be helpful.... derp
http://rollitup.org/t/greengenes-garden.839682/page-40