Way over my head

[plantnoobie]

so i started growing just as a experiment i didn't realize how expensive and how much effort goes into it. right now i just planted my seedlings and im using a 13 watt light for 8 seedlings. yes bad i know... i think my main problems are the lighting and money. i just want a small harvest with as little money involved since this is a experiment cuz surely after this i rather go to the bodega. i am proud of my seedlings since it took four days for them to germ. to be honest i should of only tried one plant at a time but now i got 8 and i need help to try to follow thru as if i have money for only 1-2 plants. thank you

 

[Shiner]

Buy a t5 fluro light fixture off eBay you can get a 4' fixture shipped to your door for 100$ then your gonna spend about another 40$ on getting bloom bulbs for your flowering process

 

[buddie42]

man! go to local hardware store and get u some 100 watyty cfl blue spectrum it will be a cheap way to veg works for me

 

[buddie42]

sorry about y i meant watt

 

[420 Girl]

Check out this journal for some good tips on growing cheap: Boss's Poor Mans Grow

Good luck!

 

[plantnoobie]

the more and more i read the more and more i get crazy ideas... i think i finally settled for a solution. i have 100w bulbs i just need the fixtures now so im thinking about getting the adapter plug in and get like 4 and plug them b's in a extension cord for veg then for flowering get 2 more 100w and plug ins and finish my crop. what u think sounds kosher???

 

[GigaGrew]

another cheap light array =)

What's the best way to set up CFL's for 2 plants?

 

[NickNasty]

You might want to consider going 12/12 from seed to keep them small so they don't get too big for the wattage you have.

 

[GigaGrew]

You might want to consider going 12/12 from seed to keep them small so they don't get too big for the wattage you have.

meaning to cause early flowering. 12/12 doesnt specifically give you shorter plants per sa...MORE light decreases the distance between nodes.

a plant done 12/12 from seed will try to flower as soon as it can, but this can directly reduce yields unless you dont have strong lights.

with weak lights you can end up with MORE bud from a small plant than a large one.

 

[plantnoobie]

meaning to cause early flowering. 12/12 doesnt specifically give you shorter plants per sa...MORE light decreases the distance between nodes.

a plant done 12/12 from seed will try to flower as soon as it can, but this can directly reduce yields unless you dont have strong lights.

with weak lights you can end up with MORE bud from a small plant than a large one.

Im not trying to get a big crop it was experiment to see if i can grow now i know i can just witu the right exquip ima have to invest. So for these seedlings i need them to flower asap. Right now they are barely with thier little leaves and from soil to the top measures 1" sooo will the 12/12 work or should i wait till they look more leafy to encourage bloom?

 

[GigaGrew]

yeah 12/12 if your in a rush to get them finished. they wont start to flower anyway for half a dozen nodes as they are too immature.

stay on blue lights untill you really start to see full on flowering to keep them as short as possible.

 

[GigaGrew]

also, just before you switch from 6500k lights to 2700k lights, you could rip of all the big leaves. this gets far more light to places that make flowers to get a much bigger yield when using ultra low power lights.

cfls are only effective to a couple of inches.
its all to do with inverse square law =(

 

[plantnoobie]

ok so now that im switching should i use the nutes for flowering? cuz i have nutes thats 4-12-4 MG

 

[GigaGrew]

ok so now that im switching should i use the nutes for flowering? cuz i have nutes thats 4-12-4 MG

nope, you may flip a switch at a different time, but the plants are on their own schedule...dont do flower nutes untel they are actually in flower...stick with veg nutes till its past crazy growth and producing clusters of calyx

 

[WizHigh]

Yea I agree with Gigs

 

[plantnoobie]

ok thx. im excited now....

 

[buddie42]

i have 4 cheap lamps with 2 dollor adapter for 2 bulbs thats it .works great. just uploaded newer pics of master kush day20 veg with cfls
had just topped all potential bud sites. good luck!!! if flowering with cfl buds wont be as dense, i have 150 watt hps with 6 100 watt cfls to supplement light.

 

[gairbud]

gig and wiz are giving ya great advice no need to ask anyone else. especially with the flower nutes too early can kill, nute loc and or stunt them . if your growing in soil and flowering early i wouldnt even bother with adding nutes at all. learn the plant cycle first in soil then graduate to more advanced fert/nutes. but your getting great advice from really good growers i have read alot of their stuff and you cant go wrong following what they say. over time you will find your niche . just ask before buying anything new. ask in this forum. the stores will sell you everything. and most of it ya wont need.
also when at your local hydro store get your self a free national garden wholesale catalog. by sunlight supply. it has all the charts and everything right in the front.and ask these guys how to read it if ya need help. all the faq ect on this and many web sites takes hrs to find what your looking for . in the catalog it has all the referance guides and even pics of common bugs ect. and all the feeding schedules of all the manufacturers in it. it is free. every good hydro store has them. if they dont. dont shop there.

 

[mountaingoat]

plant noobie there are as they have both wiz and giga have suggested many ways of getting a cheap grow. Lights and ventilation system can be the expensive once however if you look through some journals there are plenty of DIY solutions to many of them. Also keep an eye on ebay as you can find some really good deals for lights. Generally if you go to a hydro store it will be a bit more expensive but usually you would only need a normal hardware-store for most of the items needed.

 

[GigaGrew]

i would just like to add that in the uk, setting up a blue cfl array ended up being more expensive than buying a 600w HPS starter kit! which i got for £55 from a hydro store selling through ebay.