1st Grow/Drawer grow box

[Maffchew]

Yeah, so this is my first grow, not really 100% this is going to work, was wondering anyone had some advice, comments or anything for me would be awesome. Bulbs are CFL 40watts each.


Note-Where the towel is was were my intake fan was but it recently blew up, prob get one tomorrow.

Bout 8-9 days old

 

[standupman]

Yeah, so this is my first grow, not really 100% this is going to work, was wondering anyone had some advice, comments or anything for me would be awesome. Bulbs are CFL 40watts each.


Note-Where the towel is was were my intake fan was but it recently blew up, prob get one tomorrow.

Bout 8-9 days old

Whats your square footage?? you have 40w cfls probally 2000 lumes..I have the 26w 1'600 lume and the 300W=68w 4'200 lume bulb..Get the big ones..Now the SUN gives off 10'000 lumes per sqf..You need 3000 lumes per sqf to grow decent bud..Now get to home depot an buy spot lamps..Or go cheaper buy {conneceors plug ins} that plug into a walloutlet and they hold a light SOCKET..But you plug them all into some Good Surge protcters 3-5 bulbs in a row.. Now buy 10-20 connectors or how ever big you wannna bee..

 

[Jacob Bell]

First thing I noticed, and I am a noob grower too, is that your plants have way too much stretch. Your lights are too far away. With CFL, you want your lights no more than 2" away from the top of the plants. I stacked my plant on books lol, but I have it within 2" of the lights, and it's working much much better than my first grow attempt. Also, one thing I have noticed is that when you have lights far away, your plant spends too much energy on growing it's stem to reach light, rather than using that energy to grow it's leaves. I am going to post a pic of my plant in a few mins, it's on day 6. You can see the difference. I have 6 26 W CFL's. 4 of them are the daylight spectrum, 6500K, and 2 are 2700K. This helps to create a more rounded out light source, and will give you better growth and denser buds ( I read that in another post, not my personal knowledge). I am adding 4 more 6500K lights tomorrow. I can't wait. It's gonna grow grow grow! lol.

 

[Maffchew]

Whats your square footage?? you have 40w cfls probally 2000 lumes..I have the 26w 1'600 lume and the 300W=68w 4'200 lume bulb..Get the big ones..Now the SUN gives off 10'000 lumes per sqf..You need 3000 lumes per sqf to grow decent bud..Now get to home depot an buy spot lamps..Or go cheaper buy {conneceors plug ins} that plug into a walloutlet and they hold a light SOCKET..But you plug them all into some Good Surge protcters 3-5 bulbs in a row.. Now buy 10-20 connectors or how ever big you wannna bee..

My drawers are 1.130 ft².
Moneys is an issue for me, (obviously by the picture lol) so i couldnt get spot lights, so i went hunting for these connectors that plug into a walloutlet i went to the major stores in my area,Australia. Becon, Bunnings, kmart, myer all that shit, at the last store i listened to this old guy i asked for advice on this for literally 40minutes and it still didnt help...

Should i add more lights?

Thanks for the tips

 

[Maffchew]

First thing I noticed, and I am a noob grower too, is that your plants have way too much stretch. Your lights are too far away. With CFL, you want your lights no more than 2" away from the top of the plants. I stacked my plant on books lol, but I have it within 2" of the lights, and it's working much much better than my first grow attempt. Also, one thing I have noticed is that when you have lights far away, your plant spends too much energy on growing it's stem to reach light, rather than using that energy to grow it's leaves. I am going to post a pic of my plant in a few mins, it's on day 6. You can see the difference. I have 6 26 W CFL's. 4 of them are the daylight spectrum, 6500K, and 2 are 2700K. This helps to create a more rounded out light source, and will give you better growth and denser buds ( I read that in another post, not my personal knowledge). I am adding 4 more 6500K lights tomorrow. I can't wait. It's gonna grow grow grow! lol.

They were already on top of stacked books, obviously not enough, so now the plants come within 2",3"ish of the lights, and thats fine?

Shit, learning alot from this already thanks guys keep them coming

 

[Maffchew]

Oh and, is there such thing as the lights being too close? could it be costly?
And is Aluminum foil a plus?

 

[Jacob Bell]

There is such a thing as lights being too close. If you can put your hand between the lights and the plants, and not get burned, you are ok. But 1" to 2" away from plant is a good rule of thumb. If they get too close, it will burn the plant. Too far away, you get stretchy. Aluminum foil is not the best, because it creates heat spots from it's reflection. If you have it available, use either mylar or panda film. If not, then you want walls around the plants that are flat white, as white is much better than A. foil. I just checked your pics again, and your walls are already white, so you are good to go. Don't spend money on mylar or film, just use what you have, it's great.
As far as lights, you do need more than 2 lights if you want decent growth. If you go to a hardware store, you can buy Y sockets and also socket extensions, and like standupman said, plug them into surge protectors, and set them up, 1 surge protector on each side of the walls, left and right. If you wanted you could even do them on 3 sides. It's fairly cheap. It's what I did. There is a thread on here, a few of them, about clf grow lights, here is the link, it's great reading and very informative.
CFL Light Tutorial

 

[Jacob Bell]

Here are a few other links for cfl reflector ideas:
DIY CFL Reflector - How To (Simple, Cheap & Effective)
DIY veg CFL reflector

You can read those, and get ideas from them, that's what I did. It helped me out a lot. I am not very good mechanically or with electricity, but those posts helped me out. Hope that helps! I swear, there is no one more creative and inventive than cannibus users lol.

 

[Maffchew]

Shit, i think you jynxed it lool :S

Its still green on the top but the bottom looks kinda bad, only this plant copped it after 8 hours of the lights being a bit too close i think.
So i should get 2 Y sockets that plug into my walloutlet, and a couple of surge protectors
And do you reckon theres a way to get the plants to grow horizontally more than vertically? cus i dont think im gonna be able to fit all of em in there haha ;D

Sorry bout all the questions
EDIT- Reflector looks mean , idk how im gonna get the vent tho, any alternatives?

 

[Jacob Bell]

I'm not sure what you mean by " this plant copped it after 8 hrs", but looks like it's starting to grow towards light. Yes, you can grow them horizontally, it's called LST. Do the research, there is a great post on this site for that. Ask all the questions you want, but also, don't be afraid to do your research. All the info I know, I got from this site. And mine is looking good. Check out my grow journal and see what I mean. And check other's grow journals, most of those are much more experienced than me. I want to help you, because I am a noob as well, but I research alot, the internet is great for that.

 

[Maffchew]

I'm not sure what you mean by " this plant copped it after 8 hrs", but looks like it's starting to grow towards light. Yes, you can grow them horizontally, it's called LST. Do the research, there is a great post on this site for that. Ask all the questions you want, but also, don't be afraid to do your research. All the info I know, I got from this site. And mine is looking good. Check out my grow journal and see what I mean. And check other's grow journals, most of those are much more experienced than me. I want to help you, because I am a noob as well, but I research alot, the internet is great for that.

i meant the plant was too close too the lights for 8 hours, copped is slang sorry haha
yeah i know this sites good for research, before i registered here i was completly dumbfounded, i didnt even know u could grow plants in a little box lool. Im researching more everyday mostly on here. Learning heaps .
I'll research this LST thing, latley ive been reading on "topping", reckon thats suitable for my situation?
I'll check out your journal now

 

[Jacob Bell]

yes, lst and topping would work. I am not sure if people top and lst together, but I think they do, i will have to research that myself, but I don't see how it would hurt. Basicly I would top my plant and produce extra grow sites, and then when it's big enough, but not too big lol, start the lst. The lst is great for small spaces, as well as giving the middle to bottom of the plant more light to produce better buds down there. At least I think so, from what I have read lol.

 

[Maffchew]

read up on lst, problem is the plants have stretched alot.. :/
lost one during transplant, dog knocked it over, tried to save it but didnt work, no matter if these ones fuck up im just going to concentrate on one plant xD

 

[Jacob Bell]

that's what I am doing, 1 plant for starters. I had 3, pulled them. Now to 1. And it's doing good. Will concentrate on 1 for now. Baking some gluten free bread tonight too lol. I am intolerant to wheat/gluten, it's where most of my pain in my joints comes from. Hence the need for mmj. I live in a state where mmj is not yet recognized, so I have to do it myself. Damn government. All they want is more power and greed. Assholes. Fuck them. I choose to live on my own, with my own counsel. I don't need a doc. to tell me what I need. Went that route, and they had no idea what was wrong with me, so I figured it out, with help from a friend. So if they want to take me, they will go down in the attempt. I live free or die. That's it. End of story. Anyhoo, my plant is doing good so far. How are your's doing? Let's see some updated pics. Tell me what has changed, and what you are doing for it.

 

[Maffchew]

I hear you man, got some hope down here in Australian for legalization

Well i pulled 2, left me with 4, then put in that extra fan they desperately needed.
Was going through my shed when i found these 2 60watt spotlights Just put em in there, see how they go through the night. I also stacked em all on a bunch of books
Growth wise theres not much happening, idk if it were the bulbs, or that i transplanted around yesterday morning but its defiantly stunned there growth.

Another thing, im planning to switch to 12/12 very soon since i don't want too much vertical growth, should i fertilize straight away? I'm going to use Fish fertilizer concentrate, its got 12% Nitrogen, 1.4 phosphorus, 7% Potassium, i chose fish fertilizer simply because i've heard its harder to over feed them with. Fuck it smells rank lmao.

 

[Jacob Bell]

Some people use ferts pretty quickly. Me, I am waiting for at least 2 to 4 wks. I would caution on nutes, if you do use them now, use very little. You don't want to burn the plants. My soil has natural ferts in it, bat guano, and stuff, it's great soil, I am loving it, and it says I don't need nutes for the first 30 days. So I am holding off, even though I would love to see what happens if I nute now lol. But I have to be patient. I would ask the nute question on the FAQ forum, see what people think.

 

[Jacob Bell]

Also with the spotlights, are U using regular incandescant bulbs or cfls? Reg. bulbs basicly have no light value for plants.

 

[Maffchew]

Im not sure i dont have the packet xD but it seems on 2 of the plants the spiked leafs have grown almost double since the new lights were installed, so im guessing there working?
Just checked out my soil and it also already has nuts in it, so i'll hold nutes off for a month.
EDIT-fuck one of the lights blew, i hate my luck D:

 

[Jacob Bell]

Don't feel bad, I have horrible luck, always have had. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all. Too true. I invested about 30 bucks in my light system, and now I think I am going to change it lol. I think I will (next payday), buy some light fixtures, and attach them to boards, and use 4 fixtures on each side. That way, the lighting is as horizontal as possible. I don't think I really NEED to change my lights, but since I want the best possible outcome, I will do it if I can do it fairly cheaply. CFL's can be bought fairly cheaply, if you do buy them, make sure to get as close to 10,000 lumens as possible, that's the output of the sun. Buy the Daylight spectrum lights, they should say 6500K on them. That's for veg. stage. I also am running 2 2700K lights, those are for flowering, but I am using 2 now as well, just for more well rounded lighting. I just posted a pic update of my plant on my journal if you are interested.

 

[Maffchew]

Had a look at ur new pics, well done man, but mine dont look anything like yours haha :S there still small and not showing much growth, i gave it some nuts and sure enough, burnt it. will it be alright? Is it a lighting issue perhaps?
Well i found a replacement bulb, exact same but no box, :S added another pc can for more circulation. Also i chucked a few plants since i only wanna concentrate on 2 plants for now.
Well he goes, picture time

Plant 1

Plant 2

Im worried there not going to grow at all, is there any signs these lights are working?