K.c 36 - first grow - poor man closet grow

[17west416]

Hello,

I never ever thought I would grow marijuana but after reading how easy members on the forum have had success, I had to. So here we go, I've read a bit and even watched a few vids. I hope everything goes to plan. I also wanna thank anyone who posts and reads my journal, without 420mag and its forum members, this dream of mine would have never even take place.

Here we go....

Seeds: K.C. 36 by KC Brains from Amsterdam
Soil: Seasoil Original
Nutes: Fox Farms Big Bloom and Grow Big
Lighting: (2) four foot T8's with 2 bulbs per fixture. 24 hours of light for veg, 12 for flowering
Germination start date: 9/04/09

I bought 10 seeds and i used 5 seeds for germination. I placed the seeds in a cup with warm water and placed a larger cup over the first cup to provide darkness. Its been 24 hours since i added the seeds to water. I noticed that they haven't sunk to the bottom, is that suppose to happen? Also, even though they float to the top, 3 of the seeds are cracking and little nodes are beginning to show. Well, that's it for now, Thank you for reading.

germination pics to follow.

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

High and welcome! Cant wait to see your grow take off!

 

[fluroman]

i cant wait to see this one he has germinated them in a time machine this will be fricking awesome............lol
im just pulling ur chain welcome to the happy home

 

[tricome]

Good luck and welcome!
Interested to see how the KC 36 turns out.

 

[17west416]

12/04/09

I had a hard time trying to find the soil that i needed. A shop in the east end of the city exists but is closed on the weekends. The problem is the seeds already cracked and the roots ranged from 0.5 to 1 cm in length. I read that you can over hydrate the seed so I went out and purchased a bag of the PREMIER PRO-MIX FOR POTTING AND SEEDING and 16oz plastic cups. I wanted to use my original choice of soil but I was afraid of losing the seeds. Can anyone advise me if this is a decent soil to continue with? I wanted to switch to my original choice but i heard that transferring might shock the roots. Anyone??

Germination - Day 2 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

Here are some pics of the seeds in soil

Seeds in soil 2 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

Seeds in soil 1 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

and here is the closet

Grow closet - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

closet base floor - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery

I have an issue with the closet. If you notice, i was planning on using 4 foot T8's but since my space is smaller than i thought, im thinking of going with the CFL method. So far, this is my updated grow specs

-seeds: kc 36
-soil: premier promix for potting and seedings
-nutes: as before
-lighting: (6) 42W CFL's amounting to 16,200 lumens for veg. I'm not sure when i should place the cups under the lighting. Can anyone recommend when? I plan on buying 2 clamp lamps and adding Y adapters to each and placing them over the plants, 2-4 inches off. GE Soft White Spiral Bulb, 42W # 47452 by GE Electric

-2 small fans
-mylar on the walls


Lastly, am i using too many lumens for early vegging? and how many lumens should i use for flowering??

I know its alot of questions, but i'm also doing my fair bit of research. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[fluroman]

you'll be ok with the soil as you can switch when you transplant them later on,as for vegging you want all the light you can get on them 18/6,when you go to flower the same rule applies the more light the better.
hope this helps

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

Photo Gallery Guide - How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

17west416 if you want you can follow the link and you can post your pics directly on to your journal only if you want just a suggestion.

And i would wait till i see the lil babies sprout then put light on them and if you want you can use all those lumens for veg but that only means that you might have to add more later so i would use 3 of those 42 watt for veg and then add the other 3 when ready for flowering

 

[17west416]

Hey again, I found out the 42w are in the 2700k range, which means they're better for flowering. Hopefully, this is the light setup. I read that a sq ft should be covered with 3000 lumens. My closet is 3.2 ft in length and 1.5 in width. i worked out that in length my space would need:

3000 x 3.2 = 9600 lumens

therefore

veg: (6) 26w cfl in the 6500k range(daylight) about 1800 lumens with 24/0 or 18/6. I'm not sure, i heard 24/0 can cause herma.


flowering: (4) 42w cfl in the 2700k range (warm white) about 2700 lumens with 12/12

AVG 3375 lumens per sq ft.

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

Sounds good!

 

[17west416]

I just finish adding one socket with a y adopter and (2) 26 w cfls (daylight bulbs)

the seeds are in cups and i tried to find mylar but once again i couldnt, so i bought a shower curtain that was white and lined the inside closet. Also added a cheap temp for now. Here are some pics, let me know what you think 420mag

I know the set up needs improvement, but i'm just trying to keep the light from escaping. I plan to add the other CFL's when the seedlings start to sprout and become larger.

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

I like how you improvised

 

[rc51sport]

just if youre interested, not sure if you are but for 60$ at HD u can pick up a 100w CFL (fluorex) flood light in the electrical section. burns 6500k for veg and the box says something about 10,050 photopic lumens 6,700 but either way its atleast 6500 lumens for 66% or the electrical your cfls are using now so maybe u could use 2 of them for a bigger veg.

like i said i just saw those and thought it might work for you if that interests you

 

[dollabill1]

good luck hope they sprout soon

 

[rc51sport]

or even if u want to help you deceide or atleast an experiment, i have a bean waiting to sprout and hopfully a few more bagseeds later tonight, ill veg them under that cfl i was talking about and we can compare (not acurate but for the hell of it) just to see if the bigger cfl's are really worth it, this is my first time trying it out... but i can tell you it doesnt get that hot atleast

 

[17west416]

I was planning to add another set of lights, same set up as today but since you mentioned the 100's, im gonna get 1 bulb for the clamp lamp instead of the 2 26w. The kelvin range is the same and the extra lumen is even better. RC let me know how it goes, im also going to try and use the 100s.

 

[17west416]

btw: what brand are those bulbs?

 

[17west416]

14/04/09

I went to HD looking for the 100W and I couldn't find it. SO, After making a few numbers, I figured i might at well buy a 150W HPS and use the 2 CFL's I have now. Im also going to purchase a MH bulb for the HPS as its compatible at the same wattage of the HPS bulbs only. I also got a PH test kit, I never had one and I tested the water and its PH level is at 8.0 so I'm gonna buy something to level it out tomorrow. Other than that, the seedlings are begining to show. 4 of them seem strong, the runt is lagging but it might make it. The runt is my fault. I was fixing the light and it dropped on the cup, and everything fell out, i tried to resow the seed and and placed the root back in the soil. Anyways, here's a few pics. I've also been spraying water from a bottle on them in the morning, not soaking them but just enough. Let me know what you think ya'll.

PS: im using an iphone cam, sorry !

 

[Ms.Fox]

Looking great so far. The runt may surprise you. ;-) Roots hate light. The clear cups need something wrapped around them so that light doesn't penetrate the side. This isn't a problem atm, but it will be once the roots reach the sides of the cups.

 

[17west416]

Thanks for the tip Ms.Fox and everyone else so far. I think the green bug bit me hard!

 

[rc51sport]

brand is "Lights of America"
but its funny, i cannot find it on the HD website anymore, i know i saw it on there, ask l8night he saw it too

they also had 85w and 65w versions