Spring's 4 Separate Auto Strains - Soil - T8s - CFL - Closet Grow

[spring2012]

Maybe get a fan going in there? Keep an eye on them at least. The soil will dry out pretty quick, but you don't want to water them unless you have to. I'd try to get it to drop @ 10 degrees if possible. Rh is good though. If you can't drop the temp, just lightly mist them every now and again if it's dry on top down an inch. Take em out from under the light when you do, but just a tiny bit. You don't want the roots to damp off from too moisture. Hope this helps! :$

I am gonna get a bigger fan! Maybe two! Here are some general pics. Hard to see the seedlings because I just wanted to give an impression of how close the CFL's are. each seedling is about an inch tall. 6 hours ago made it day two for the seedlings from soil break out.

This gives an idea of how close the CFL's are. Roughly 2' from tops

Same idea other two plants

This pic shows how far I have opened the closet door to help control temps. hard to see the other 6
' fan at bottom pulling in air. The top is pushing air.

Just a DIY tip for raising lights. I had a hat rack around the house. i cut it up and use like a boat dock cleat. Makes light adjustment easy for cheap!

 

[Korloin]

I am gonna get a bigger fan! Maybe two! Here are some general pics. Hard to see the seedlings because I just wanted to give an impression of how close the CFL's are. each seedling is about an inch tall. 6 hours ago made it day two for the seedlings from soil break out.

NICE! I always keep the cfl's as close as possible

My seedlings @ 4-5 days.

 

[spring2012]

NICE! I always keep the cfl's as close as possible

My seedlings @ 4-5 days.

What is the medium? Lots of white there! Seedlings look good. I like your fixture set up!!

 

[iSmokes]

sub'd! good luck with your grow man, everything is looking good.. i just started an auto grow as well ! we're sharing one strain (trans siberian)
best of luck, cheers

 

[spring2012]

sub'd! good luck with your grow man, everything is looking good.. i just started an auto grow as well ! we're sharing one strain (trans siberian)
best of luck, cheers

Great!! Thanks for stopping by! Do you have a journal? It is great to see more Auto grows! In my short time here I am seeing more every day!

 

[Smokemupm8]

Hey mate, Hows things??
Hope your girls coming along well Ive jut flipped 12/12 on Cindy, hoping she s not roorbound. It maybe just due to moisture, ill have to monitor her over the next week. Take it easy mate, SMOKEM..

 

[spring2012]

Hey mate, Hows things??
Hope your girls coming along well Ive jut flipped 12/12 on Cindy, hoping she s not roorbound. It maybe just due to moisture, ill have to monitor her over the next week. Take it easy mate, SMOKEM..

Cant wait to watch more of Cindy's progress. My babies are doing ok. I am fighting Temps like a beast. I know 83 is ok but my soil is drying fast. seems to be dry about three inches down. The rest of the pot is moist but not soaked. I am resisting the urge to over water. I will mist the base of the seedlings when I go lights off for 4 hours.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Korloin]

What is the medium? Lots of white there! Seedlings look good. I like your fixture set up!!

Thanks! Made the fixture out of an old upright halogen lamp reflector and a dual socket I picked up at the restore for 50cents!

I had some lil' critters running around in the soil, so I topped with @ 1/2 - 1" of sand. Did the trick for the most part. Found out later they were really nothing to worry about and actually a sign of a decent soil composition.

 

[iSmokes]

I know man, I get so excited when I see auto journals haha .. emm.. I'm new here, I'm trying to edit my signature to include my journal I don't know if it worked.. but here's my link:
First Time Grower - 3 Auto Strains
I should be adding 2 or 3 more auto seeds to my setup this week as well, cheers!

 

[iSmokes]

btw, the only way I was able to keep temps at 78 was to keep my whole apartment at 72 lol! the heat issue seemed impossible to manage without blasting the AC in the whole apartment

 

[donpaul.p]

looking good mate, nice set up, i used cfls for a while and they got me well into flower, and i still use cfls now for the first few weeks, when i put plants under the dual spec hps from seed they stretch like crazy, but when i give them a week or 2 under cfls then put them under the hps they dont stretch at all, so i still use cfls the 6400k cfls, and they do me perfect for starting my plants, but cfls do produce great results, they got me well into flower and i only switched to hps due to the amount of cfls i was using, i was using over 400watts with cfls, all low watts like 23 and 30 but it soon adds up, so i switched to hps.
the only problem with hps is the plant needs about 1 foot away from the light, so this tends to make them stretch, but ive got a dual spec bulb and this is suppose to stop this happening, but it dont.
i also use glr lighting schedule now as it works better than the others ive tried, they seem to grow a lot quicker and when you flip the lights to 12-12 they go strait into flower,

 

[Smokemupm8]

Thanks buddy
Yeah temps can be a prob sometimes, ive got all 3 10" desk fans going now my 600w HPS is on, as my plant is sweating..
Before i had my soil moisture meter, i used to water once the top few inches were dry, as long as its dry on top a few inches you should have no probs with over water, just water once fairly heavily - until the soil is soaked and the excess is running off, then give it a feed say every 48 hrs from then on.. Thats all i do, even if my meter tells me the soils slightly moist still, there are parts in the pot which are drier than the rest due to shading from Cindy, so every 48 hrs or so, i give her 10 litres of water/nutes.. And from this, i get minimal run off, which tells me the soil was dry enough to absorb like 9 litres of water.. If you can get some Humus soil- 100% organic with an active N,P,K nutrient solution, put this on top of your soil if you have the room to top it up. This holds water well, also, ive pushed a pen down into my soil, and added some water crystals in the hole. Dont need heaps as it expands like CRAZY!! This will help retain moisture for bit longer..
Hope some of this may help you?? GOOD LUCK BUDDY!!!! Smokemupm8

 

[Korloin]

looking good mate, nice set up, i used cfls for a while and they got me well into flower, and i still use cfls now for the first few weeks, when i put plants under the dual spec hps from seed they stretch like crazy, but when i give them a week or 2 under cfls then put them under the hps they dont stretch at all, so i still use cfls the 6400k cfls, and they do me perfect for starting my plants, but cfls do produce great results, they got me well into flower and i only switched to hps due to the amount of cfls i was using, i was using over 400watts with cfls, all low watts like 23 and 30 but it soon adds up, so i switched to hps.
the only problem with hps is the plant needs about 1 foot away from the light, so this tends to make them stretch, but ive got a dual spec bulb and this is suppose to stop this happening, but it dont.
i also use glr lighting schedule now as it works better than the others ive tried, they seem to grow a lot quicker and when you flip the lights to 12-12 they go strait into flower,

Hey there donpaul!

< hijack alert >
Do you put your girls to flower right after veg w/ the cfl's? Or do you veg a bit longer under the HPS?
I ask because I'm pretty much mimicking exactly what you wrote here.
Mine have been in veg 19days now. 12 under GLR all with cfls and they're growing really nice. I just finished getting the box all together and am only waiting on an adapter to fire up the 400w hps. I was thinking of vegging another week under hps since the kids are about big enough to start some LST. But I wonder if I should veg more or just throw them into flower?
< end hijack >

 

[spring2012]

Thanks buddy
Yeah temps can be a prob sometimes, ive got all 3 10" desk fans going now my 600w HPS is on, as my plant is sweating..
Before i had my soil moisture meter, i used to water once the top few inches were dry, as long as its dry on top a few inches you should have no probs with over water, just water once fairly heavily - until the soil is soaked and the excess is running off, then give it a feed say every 48 hrs from then on.. Thats all i do, even if my meter tells me the soils slightly moist still, there are parts in the pot which are drier than the rest due to shading from Cindy, so every 48 hrs or so, i give her 10 litres of water/nutes.. And from this, i get minimal run off, which tells me the soil was dry enough to absorb like 9 litres of water.. If you can get some Humus soil- 100% organic with an active N,P,K nutrient solution, put this on top of your soil if you have the room to top it up. This holds water well, also, ive pushed a pen down into my soil, and added some water crystals in the hole. Dont need heaps as it expands like CRAZY!! This will help retain moisture for bit longer..
Hope some of this may help you?? GOOD LUCK BUDDY!!!! Smokemupm8

Thanks Smokeum your reply helps. I picked up a 10" fan today. Im gonna set it up shortly. I have some room for a top off. Sounds like a good idea. Gotta hit the local grow shop! Again thanks for the advice.

 

[spring2012]

looking good mate, nice set up, i used cfls for a while and they got me well into flower, and i still use cfls now for the first few weeks, when i put plants under the dual spec hps from seed they stretch like crazy, but when i give them a week or 2 under cfls then put them under the hps they dont stretch at all, so i still use cfls the 6400k cfls, and they do me perfect for starting my plants, but cfls do produce great results, they got me well into flower and i only switched to hps due to the amount of cfls i was using, i was using over 400watts with cfls, all low watts like 23 and 30 but it soon adds up, so i switched to hps.
the only problem with hps is the plant needs about 1 foot away from the light, so this tends to make them stretch, but ive got a dual spec bulb and this is suppose to stop this happening, but it dont.
i also use glr lighting schedule now as it works better than the others ive tried, they seem to grow a lot quicker and when you flip the lights to 12-12 they go strait into flower,

Thank you for the advice! I have learned so much in the little time I have been a part of this! My wife caught me on E-BAY looking at HPS and MH set ups for my next grow!! I may be moving next month which sucks because if all goes well I will be transporting autos in full flower! Its only 5 miles away! But I will have a bigger room to do different setups in. Bigger lights! The CFL's are working great so far. I moved them around a bit to get better exposure.

 

[Fluffy Haze]

First of all, may I just say what a lovely set up you've got, well done!

It's really hard work when you try and do it properly (which you are). I'm going to need to pick your brains later about the way you set up the CFL thingummy, I need one for my next grow.

Secondly, I feel your pain Given the fact so many people have trouble with their temperatures (especially in very/small indoor grows it seems) I'm starting to think it's always going to be somewhat a "firefighting" process of varying degrees depending on how much money you have at the time. For example, I know that I need to buy a couple of small fans to put on the walls of the cupboard but it isn't an option right now, I need to remember this is a weed. I am more likely to kill it trying too hard than benign neglect, and soil just seems so much more forgiving than hydro. As long as it's not a totally rubbish smoke (which we all know we get sold sometimes!) I will be happy. I sound like a right raving hippy, but I just don't feel that a plant I have given exactly what it needs to flourish and then fulfil its purpose will let me down.

One thing that I've found helps is an upward pointing fan. I think Smokem suggested it or something like it to me waaaaaaay back when but there just didn't seem anything on the market that quite worked. So at the moment I've got a small (6" or 8", can't remember) desk fan lying down blowing straight up (there is airflow behind). When I get round to it I'm going to actually screw it to the wall. That's helped me with overall airflow but has also taken about 1 degree Celsius out of the environment.

I also thought that two of the small clip on type fans would be good, one for each side of the light which is obviously the point of most heat.

I'm not meaning to sound like I am talking about myself here, it's just I have no actual answers, I'm making it up as I go along .

I get the feeling the key is getting the ventilation right for your particular grow space and only you can find the answer for that as every one is different. I underestimated how small my grow space is so eventually want to replace the bulky tower fan and desk fan that's too big for a number of smaller ones. But your space might need one bigger fan and all would be controllable.

I hope my pretty senseless ramble was of some help, it was meant to be!

 

[spring2012]

First of all, may I just say what a lovely set up you've got, well done!

It's really hard work when you try and do it properly (which you are). I'm going to need to pick your brains later about the way you set up the CFL thingummy, I need one for my next grow.

Secondly, I feel your pain Given the fact so many people have trouble with their temperatures (especially in very/small indoor grows it seems) I'm starting to think it's always going to be somewhat a "firefighting" process of varying degrees depending on how much money you have at the time. For example, I know that I need to buy a couple of small fans to put on the walls of the cupboard but it isn't an option right now, I need to remember this is a weed. I am more likely to kill it trying too hard than benign neglect, and soil just seems so much more forgiving than hydro. As long as it's not a totally rubbish smoke (which we all know we get sold sometimes!) I will be happy. I sound like a right raving hippy, but I just don't feel that a plant I have given exactly what it needs to flourish and then fulfil its purpose will let me down.

One thing that I've found helps is an upward pointing fan. I think Smokem suggested it or something like it to me waaaaaaay back when but there just didn't seem anything on the market that quite worked. So at the moment I've got a small (6" or 8", can't remember) desk fan lying down blowing straight up (there is airflow behind). When I get round to it I'm going to actually screw it to the wall. That's helped me with overall airflow but has also taken about 1 degree Celsius out of the environment.

I also thought that two of the small clip on type fans would be good, one for each side of the light which is obviously the point of most heat.

I'm not meaning to sound like I am talking about myself here, it's just I have no actual answers, I'm making it up as I go along .

I get the feeling the key is getting the ventilation right for your particular grow space and only you can find the answer for that as every one is different. I underestimated how small my grow space is so eventually want to replace the bulky tower fan and desk fan that's too big for a number of smaller ones. But your space might need one bigger fan and all would be controllable.

I hope my pretty senseless ramble was of some help, it was meant to be!

Thanks for the reply! You are right on track with your points. My budget is low until next grow. I need to do more R and D before the wife releases more funds! ( I have a secret stash now ). I am gonna try the fan idea now. I have really started to realize how much trial and error goes into set ups. I have switched out my set up more than once this week! Again thanks for the post. Also its fine to discuss your set up. Thats how I learn!

 

[Smokemupm8]

Yes sir, thats my passive intake/extraction setup..
If the room was air tight or sealed off well, having the fans blowing in the space will only do so much. But if you have some venting holes in your grow space, the fans running, setup similar to what Fluffy said, one blowing in an upwards direction from the base, another in the middle - i usually put mine btween the tops and my light, so it moves hot air from the tops of the plants helping them from avoiding burn or sweating much, but if leaves are contacting each other they still may sweat alittle. I try to move my leaves around every few hours, for that reson and also to let some light to other points rather than being filtered by the leaf above. The top fan i have also on an angle slightly pointing upwards too. I have air that can be drawn in from the bottom or side of my cupboard, and i leave the top 1ftx1.5ft vent open up top all day.. This will ensure some air is being drawn into the cupboards from down low or on the side and can be pushed up and expelled from the top. Having a vent up top is very handy thing to have IMO.. As the temps if i closed it up would reach 32-38*C easily in a few hours under my 600w. Without this vent, my space would need an induction/extraction fan and tubing, which would be easy as my space is right nxt to my window! Or could just stick my portable AC there + im set!! I run without this, and have over 8 grows in this space already..
And havent used C02 or any extra venting as yet.. Given the size of this grow, if i was fully prepared for how Cindy would have grown, i probably would have made alterations as i wasnt really expecting this!!
Anyways, yeah i just put a hole in the plastic base of the fan and screw that to my wall, they hang upside down in my room, plant has nearly engulfed 2 already Anyways mate, i hope you get it all sorted ay.. Later pal, SMOKEM>>..

 

[spring2012]

Yes sir, thats my passive intake/extraction setup..
If the room was air tight or sealed off well, having the fans blowing in the space will only do so much. But if you have some venting holes in your grow space, the fans running, setup similar to what Fluffy said, one blowing in an upwards direction from the base, another in the middle - i usually put mine btween the tops and my light, so it moves hot air from the tops of the plants helping them from avoiding burn or sweating much, but if leaves are contacting each other they still may sweat alittle. I try to move my leaves around every few hours, for that reson and also to let some light to other points rather than being filtered by the leaf above. The top fan i have also on an angle slightly pointing upwards too. I have air that can be drawn in from the bottom or side of my cupboard, and i leave the top 1ftx1.5ft vent open up top all day.. This will ensure some air is being drawn into the cupboards from down low or on the side and can be pushed up and expelled from the top. Having a vent up top is very handy thing to have IMO.. As the temps if i closed it up would reach 32-38*C easily in a few hours under my 600w. Without this vent, my space would need an induction/extraction fan and tubing, which would be easy as my space is right nxt to my window! Or could just stick my portable AC there + im set!! I run without this, and have over 8 grows in this space already..
And havent used C02 or any extra venting as yet.. Given the size of this grow, if i was fully prepared for how Cindy would have grown, i probably would have made alterations as i wasnt really expecting this!!
Anyways, yeah i just put a hole in the plastic base of the fan and screw that to my wall, they hang upside down in my room, plant has nearly engulfed 2 already Anyways mate, i hope you get it all sorted ay.. Later pal, SMOKEM>>..

Thanks for the help. My new fan wreaked havoc on my babies. Too powerful!! I am going to re-think its placement. I still have on angled up top pulling hot air out. I was getting nervous at possible signs of heat exposure to two of my babies. I moved the CFL's up 2" and placed a small fan at the end blowing air across the lights without too much directly on soil or plants.

Good news is I am able to keep the closet door wide open now for 90% of the light cycle. At times I can open the room door as well allowing fresh air in. This took my temps to 80/81. I feel close to having it dialed in.

A concern I have with the closet door opened all the way is light loss. Will that light just go into the main room? or should II place a DIY reflector running left to right in front of the pots? Any opinions are welcome! Thanks for the help!! Here a re a few pics.

This pic shows my 4" fan running across the raised CFL's.

This is the Trans Siberian showing Possible signs of heat Exposure. Hard to see edges curling upwards in pic

Auto#1 same scenario

 

[Smokemupm8]

Your walls should have some reflective material on them Mylar or similar. I prob wouldnt go leaving the door wide open as yes, if theres no reflective material to bounce light back to the plant it will be wasted to some extent.. So maybe just leave the door slightly ajar, so the Mylar will still reflect light back to them..I have to now as Cindy s hands are pushing the door open But she's in total dark when on 12/12, well theres some dull light, but not brighter than say a quarter moon..
Looking at your set up, do you have another small fan on the other end facing the other fan?? As if you did, i think that would definately help any heat issues, but, the CFL's shouldnt put out that much heat?? Ive had my HI output CFL's 2 inches from tops with 1 10" fan and i didnt have any probs?? Maybe your space just needs to breathe better, have a think about what you could do to increase the dissapation of het, ie; some small holes up top, a small section you can open up like a flap, and peg open for a while? Also you dont have to have ights on 24/7 for seedlings. 20/4 or 18/6 will be fine mate.. Just a thought, cant remenber what light cycle your using?LOl.. Anyways mate, you can make some cheap DIY reflectors for you CFL's, i used a tin foil baking dish to great effect before!!
Anyways take it easy and hope all goes well for you pal! Smokem..