First Attempt Indoor CFL Planted 6-3-2012

[Scottybm]

What strain is it? Unknown. Just some seeds that were given to me
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Unknown
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Just changed to flowering after 4 weeks
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Perlite and
If soil... What size pot? 8 inch pots
Size of light? 3 26w CLF
Is it aircooled? yes
Temp of Room/cab? 74 and inside growing area around 80
RH of Room/cab? Unknown
PH of media or res? Unknown
Any Pests? No
How often are you watering? every other day. Every second watering I am adding fert.
Type and strength of ferts used? Miracle-Gro Plant Food Still

This is my first attempt. Still learning and Plants are currently 4.5 weeks old. Not sure if I am too early in starting the flowering as just started 2 days ago. The reason I switched was for room. I read that they will still be growing.

Here are some photos of the process and setting.
After about 4 days 6/6/2012

6/7/2012

6/9/2012

6/10/2012

6/11/2012
Replanted in new pots

6/12/2012

6/12/2012
Showing 3 26w clf's. Have since added more foil to cover the black areas.

6/13/2012

6/14/2012

6/15/2012

6/17/2012

6/18/2012

6/24/2012

6/26/2012 ** Started Flowering.*** I know they look a little saggy but just sprayed them with some water.

6/28/2012

 

[Smokemupm8]

Hi mate theyre lookin ok. But you flowering already? Are you after small plants? They may grow well but add another 1 or 2 lights IMO.. Goodluk and Happy Harvesting

 

[Filo420]

Hey scottyhm! how are yah mate? are you using the same cfl bulbs for veg and flowering?
How is it goin for yah?

 

[Amsterdam28]

Hi Scottyhm, I am really interested to see how these do when flowering so early on. I am also working with limited space so am planning to start early, but mine are still in veg at the moment. Keep the pics coming.

 

[Filo420]

I'm keen on this one too, I want to start a similar
setup with cfls.. space in closet is roughly
2ft W x 4.5ft H, anybody think 10 24w cfls would
be enough for 1 plant?

 

[Scottybm]

Smokemup8, Yes started to flower. Now remember that I am new at this and these seem to be growing larger then I thought and don't' have too much room. May have to build a grow box for them. Do you think I should take them out of Flowering. They have been there now for 3 days. And as far as the lights I have doubled the lights.

 

[Scottybm]

Filo420 yes using the same bulbs but just doubled the bulbs to 6 now. Should I change them to different ones?
So far it is going ok for my first attempt at this. "I THINK" What do I know..

 

[Scottybm]

6/30/2012
I can see with each photo as they seem to keep growing.
And these pots are 6 inches not 8 inches. Maybe it's time to change them in to larger pots?

Here you can see where I have doubled the lights to 6 cfl. Hopefully this will be ok

 

[Scottybm]

Here are a couple more photos using better camera. Is it normal for some of the leaves on the back right one to be hanging down some?

If anyone has any recommendations please feel free. Would hate for me to do something wrong and kill off the plants.

 

[sfw88]

hey man your plants are lookin real good ..cfl is a great way to grow , ,,my only advice at this time is to fill those pots up with soil ,,but only if you can lift the plant out first,,your losing a lot of much needed root space ,with the pots not full of soil..

 

[Scottybm]

sfw88, Sounds great. I will try to check them tomorrow to see if I can pull them out. Will just try to pull out and add more to the bottom. Will post more photos after.
Thanks

 

[Filo420]

there looking really good bro, please keep us updated.

 

[sfw88]

one more thing you could do is ,,if ya can get the light reflected on the plants, they'd love it ,any light shining up, or out is basicly lost and un useable ,you can make a reflector out of lots of different things , even a large can, or even lay a mirror on top of your fixture.. just try not to use anything that might burn, I have plants right now that are almost 5 feet tall ,growing with cfl's ,but with good, but cheap reflectors..I'm not tryin to hyjack ur thread, but want to show ya a couple different 1's I use ...and the outcome

 

[Scottybm]

From sfw88 suggestion to add more root room. I pulled them out today and added more soil to the pots. Remember these are 6 inch pots. I am wondering if I need larger pots at this point.
Here are some photos showing the roots as I pulled them out to add more soil.

7/1/2012

7/1/2012

7/1/2012
After adding soil

 

[Scottybm]

sfw88 you have a nice setup. I may have to build a grow box to accommodate these. I was thinking of a 3wide by 4 tall. May have to hit the store today. And no worries about hyjacking I appreciate the help.

 

[sfw88]

good deal,. build a grow box , but dont scimp on the height of it, if ya can , my box started out 4ft wide 2 ft deep and 5 ft tall,.. I just had to add 2 more ft to the top.here's the latest pic

...and yes you are root bound ,get your ladies in as big a pot as ya can , and watch em take off

 

[donpaul.p]

hi, id say you need at least 3 gallon pots, also it looks like the bulbs you are using is the 2700kelvin cfls, these are best to use in flower as they produce the orange light needed more for flower, using them in veg will cause slow growth, you would be better using 6500k bulbs for veg or a mixture of the 2, if you have any chance of getting the plants out into daylight sun then id do that as it will boost them loads for you.

you will also need nutrients, as the plants are root bound then this means all the nutes are used up, you will need nutrients for the veg cycle and nutrients for the flower cycle, cfls do work and they can work well, i used cfls for the start of my grow and my plants went to flower and roughly 1ft tall, when you flip the lights to 12-12 the plants will usually double in height so bare that in mine, some plants tripple in size.

using cfls id have the lights on 24-0 so the plants have got the best chance to grow, cfls give off little light after a small distance away from the bulb, you can check this with your hand and look how quick the light level drops off, so get the bulbs as close to the plants as you can, i had mine about 1inch away from the tops of the plants, and i kept raising them every few days, i got just over 1oz of each of my plants using cfls, in the end i was using 400watts with the cfls so i switched to hps and the results are amazing, i still use cfls to grow my clones and seedlings i just use less off them now.

but if you get it all right like the temps and get the lights close and use nutes then their is no reason why you cant get an amazing yield, the pictures provided above by others growers prove that, the temp needs to be around 78f any lower and it will stunt growth, so as long as your above 70f your ok, but the higher the better, i wouldnt go above 85 though, my plants seem to cope with the higher temps well so i dont mind it going higher, but each strain will decide what temps it likes, also humidity you need to get this around 55% for veg and 35 to 40% for flower, so a temp and humidity gauge will be needed,

im sure you will soon have everything set up and working the best it can, cfls tend to keep the plants small and bushy, i have seen big tall plants with cfls but mine stayed small and very bushy, but i did top and lst them to keep the canopy even as cfls dont penetrate very far, so if you have a tall plant then you will need to have some side lighting.

but if you have the chance of getting the plants near a sunny window or in the sun then this will boost them loads

 

[Smokemupm8]

Smokemup8, Yes started to flower. Now remember that I am new at this and these seem to be growing larger then I thought and don't' have too much room. May have to build a grow box for them. Do you think I should take them out of Flowering. They have been there now for 3 days. And as far as the lights I have doubled the lights.

Hi Scotty.. Im not having a go at ya mate! Sorry if it came across that way, i was just making a passing comment. Your girls are looking good, i was just saying IMO that they are still young, usually i Veg them til theyre about 4 ft tall but thats cos i have the room, if you need to keep it small thats fine, i prob wouldnt recommend changing them back to Veg now-they may be ok, or they could stress, you said its only been 3 days into flower so they may return to Veg ok? Ive had different lighting times before during Veg due to different reasons,and i noticed they slowed growth for a few days and also stretched abit more, but after couple days they were back to their old selves.. So its up to you really, you can flower now and theyll just be smaller plants.. Good you put some more light in there, i had to use a few when i first started using cfl's as i was just learning about their light spectrums etc compared to fluorescents, then i found about the hi output cfl's that are bigger and provide more light and are fairly cheap with a reflector and 2 globes for like $80.. So i use one of them for Veg, and also my MH.. I use the cfl when sprouting and for about 8 hrs of light during my 24/0 cycle, the MH lights up the for the rest of the time - tryin to save money and my equipment!! Just do what you feel like for this grow, maybe watch em, and let em mature that way you can see how ur girls react/grow to different things, and use this as a learning platform. You will have a kik ass 2nd grow once you get all you need and setup ur G/room, youll know how the plants Veg and different things to look out for.. Its the way i first learned, with sum good advice from friends and places such as here.. Goodluk and Happy Harvesting

 

[Smokemupm8]

good deal,. build a grow box , but dont scimp on the height of it, if ya can , my box started out 4ft wide 2 ft deep and 5 ft tall,.. I just had to add 2 more ft to the top.here's the latest pic

...and yes you are root bound ,get your ladies in as big a pot as ya can , and watch em take off

Hi Sfw, just quik question about ur grow space.. I have nearly the same - 5 1/2 ft wide, 2 1/2 deep and 9 ft high..Now how do you go with you girls bushing out in this 2ft wide space? Do you train your branches or just let em go? I have to manipulate my girls cos just the one girl nearly filled my whole space, had to tie branches etc.. I couldnt see anything from ur pics. Thanks

 

[Smokemupm8]

6/30/2012
I can see with each photo as they seem to keep growing.
And these pots are 6 inches not 8 inches. Maybe it's time to change them in to larger pots?

Here you can see where I have doubled the lights to 6 cfl. Hopefully this will be ok

Yeah they are lookin great here in these pics..Thats an ok setup mate.. just have say 4 6500k's and 2 2500k's.. Hope she buds up nice for ya!!