DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

subd.

lets look at this lighting,

ok ive used cfls from start to finish, i used lots of 23 watt and 30 watt light, i used 2 to 1 ratio of 6400k for veg and the opposite for flower, now i know your not using cfls your using them long t5 strip lights, you say you got 8000lumin, well if you are going to go with the fl and cfls then you will need some side lighting, the t5's will be perfect above the plants, they will give you short node spacing and a nice even canopy, now thats the problem, a nice even canopy, anything below the canopy will be getting no light what so ever,

so the top bud site will be fine and the 2 branches below it and anything poking out the sides of the plant, but anything inside the plant and lower down will be getting no light and this will drastically reduce yield,
plus you need to consider that some plants grow quicker than others, say you grow an auto and a regular plant, the auto will be 1ft high when the regular plant is half that, so thats another problem, the t5s would be then to high to benefit the smaller plant,

plus if you start plants at different times you will also have problems, say the auto is finished in 6 to 8 weeks, well the regular plant will only be ready to go 12-12 by then, so once you harvest the auto you may like to grow another plant from seed, this means the regular plant will be much closer to the light than the seedling.

when i started growing i had no cash so i used cfls, lots of them, i kept buying a couple each week until i had about 8 to 10 above the plants then i had 3 or 4 cfls down the sides of the plants just hanging to get light to side growth and lower growth on the plant, this worked well and produced plenty of decent bud,

but one day i counted my lights then looked at the watts i was using, then i checked out a hps light and found a 400 watt hps puts out 55,000 to 65,000 lumins, i was using around 400 watts in cfls so switched to hps, now others say cfls and fls produce more heat than hps, welll id have to say their wrong, when i was using just cfls i could get away with small 12v computer fans in my room and could have the grow door shut, im now using 400 watt dual spec hps and i have to use big fans and cant have the door shut as i dont have a decent vent set up, i cant as its a brick built drying cupboard and dont have an outside wall.

so you really have a couple of options, the t5's will work really well for seedlings and small plants, when they get to roughly a foot high you would then need some side lighting to make sure the plant is getting the most light giving you the most growth, so id add say 2 x 23 watt cfls at either side of the plants, a better option would be another 8 23 watt cfls and have them hanging around all the sides of each plant, that will give you a decent yield and light coverage would then be ok,

my dual spectrum 400watt hps cost me £65 and £12 for delivery, it came with digital ballast and a dual spectrum hps bulb, now because its dual spectrum it means i can use the same bulb for veg and flower, no need to mess about with mh for veg or hps for flower, plus if i did want to change to mh for veg then the ballast works with both types of bulb but i find the dual spectrum does its job well as long as temps are kept in check

ive not used t5's so cant comment on light penetration with them, but the best way to test would be to switch the light on and wait a few minutes till they get to their brightest, then hold the back of your hand against the bulb and slowly move your hand away, you will find that after just a few inches the light drops off pretty drastically, the same happens with hps, even though a cfl or hps will light up a whole room, the actual light brightness drastically drops off pretty quick after more than a few inches, i know with the cfls i use that after about 2 inches the light drastically drops, id say more than half after more than a few inches,

so not sure how that goes with the t5's you have got but their fl lights so i guess their pretty similar with light penetration,

it also depends how big you want your plants, just remember some double in size and even triple in size when you flip the lights to 12-12.
with the auto you will find that when it starts flowering you will need to add more of the 2700k spectrum or as near to that as you can get with your lights, i cant remember what you said yours where but when the auto is in 2nd week of showing flowering you will need to switch to flowering lights until the auto has finished so if you got an auto and none auto growing then you need to work out the lighting to keep both plants growing at their best,

a lot of growers knock cfls and fls, but i still use them for seedlings and clones as i find the node spacing is a whole lot better than when i start plants under the dual spec hps, maybe its because we can get cfls much closer but i like the spacing so i use cfls still to this day and will continue to do so, when i used cfls from start to finish i think i ended up with about 2oz off one plant and between an oz and 2oz on average but i was using around 400watts with cfls and a mixture of 23 and 30watt cfls,

all you can do is see how you get on, fls and cfls do work and their have been some amazing grows on this site done only with cfls so they clearly do work and clearly produce some very nice buds, only downside is light penetration, so as your plants grow id just add some side lighting, the regular househould cfls that you usually get free from energy companies are ideal for flowering, a lot of the £1 and $1 stores usually sell the 2700k cfls or super markets sell them in packs of 4 for next to nothing, the 6400k cfls are a bit harder to get and super markets dont stock them, i had to go to lighting shops and order off the rain forest sounding site to get the cfls for veg,

so im subbed and cant wait to see how you get on with these lights, do it right and you will have amazing results, use some basic lst to open the plant up to more light will really help loads, just use pipe cleaners or some sort of string to pull branches one way or another so their not blocking the branch below from the light, i pulled leaves out the way and branches and the more light you can get onto all the growth the better the yield will be,

im sure you will do ok, their is more help than you need on this site.

Thanks Don, I appreciate the sub and your insight on the lighting situation. I have given some initial thought and I probably will buy some CFLs I will give my self time by growing the White Widow Auto first, then grow the plants this journal is titled about. That time should allow me some financial reprieve to gather what I need.

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Hiyah Dharmabud,
Im in. Must be tricky to set up a grow in Alaska, well done and good luck.

Welcome Dutch, I'm honored to have you aboard!!!

 

[Graytail]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

ive hard lots of growers say cfls produce a lot more heat, but honestly i can 100% say i was using over 300 watts of 23 and 30watt cfls, and was not getting as much heat as im getting now

I had the same experience. I switched from 483 watts of 23w CFLs to 600 watt HID and gained about 5 degrees. I'm sure even 600 watts of CFL would have been cooler than the HID. The smallest CFLs are the most efficient. My 23w put out 1600/1700 lumens each - over 70 lumens per watt. It's the high watt CFLs that really put out some serious heat. My understanding is that T5s are even cooler?

 

[CrankyMaddog]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Never fear, CrankyMaddog is here....Wow, did I get a late start, your already 6 pages deep. Love the tent set-up and DharmaDog is a nice looking girl. I have a Shepard myself, named Bella, I call her Sheriff, everything and I mean everything must pass her inspection. Anyway, looking forward to the ride. And we need to get you some smoke ASAP, just not right. Glad to see all the support you are getting...very cool.

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Never fear, CrankyMaddog is here....Wow, did I get a late start, your already 6 pages deep. Love the tent set-up and DharmaDog is a nice looking girl. I have a Shepard myself, named Bella, I call her Sheriff, everything and I mean everything must pass her inspection. Anyway, looking forward to the ride. And we need to get you some smoke ASAP, just not right. Glad to see all the support you are getting...very cool.

Thanks Maddog, it's an honor to have you! Give Bella my regards!

 

[Medicatetoday]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

alo

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Okay Everyone, I have made a decision regarding what I am doing first as far as plants. I want to give myself some financial time to get some more lighting for the strains this journal was named for. I have decided in the interim I will grow something easy to get my feet wet. I will be getting one White Widow Auto and will plant that first. It will be the only plant in the tent at the time.

My question is what is the best lighting arrangement with the T-5's I have 4 6400k and 4 3000k to get this plant to give me the best quality yield? I know there is a brief veg state, then it goes to flower, so if you can advise me on the lighting throughout it's growth time and the lighting times throughout I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

[KingJohnC]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

for vegetative growth you want 18/6 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness to allow the plants and roots to grow. for flowering you want 12/12 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. 6500 kelvin is best for vegetative growth and 2700 kelvin is best for flowering. with High Intensity Discharge light a Metal Halide light bulb is used for vegetative growth and a High Pressure Sodium light bulb is used for flowering.

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

for vegetative growth you want 18/6 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness to allow the plants and roots to grow. for flowering you want 12/12 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. 6500 kelvin is best for vegetative growth and 2700 kelvin is best for flowering. with High Intensity Discharge light a Metal Halide light bulb is used for vegetative growth and a High Pressure Sodium light bulb is used for flowering.

John, I understand all that, I thought that it being auto it's lighting needs were different.

 

[Jaga]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

I think that would be right I live for a grow like I had with my first, an that has got me here now still trying and making misstakes BUT Learning all the time from the great 420 folks

This could be trouble. Make sure you have your mind right about harvesting PEAK quality bud. Not smoking it up before its done. You dont want to dissapoint yourself on your first grow. The last 2 weeks before harvest you gain about 20% in weight. Its imperative that the first grow go well so you dont say F it and throw in the towel.

BTW, good weed sir. If it makes a difference, as soon as I can go HID Im going to. The difference in bud density seems to be dramatic. CFL or Flours can grow awesome smoke. HID's grow MORE awesome smoke.

 

[invi]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

I had the same experience. I switched from 483 watts of 23w CFLs to 600 watt HID and gained about 5 degrees. I'm sure even 600 watts of CFL would have been cooler than the HID. The smallest CFLs are the most efficient. My 23w put out 1600/1700 lumens each - over 70 lumens per watt. It's the high watt CFLs that really put out some serious heat. My understanding is that T5s are even cooler?

Dont compare same wattage CFL vs HID, but same lumen bulbs! Same wattage will produce much less lumen in CFLs, that is the problem.
Check your CFLs how much lumen they produce. And then the HID. 1/3rd the lumen is ofc less heat.
This is math, not much to say/prove

483 of your CFLs: 21 * 1700 = 39100 lm
600W HID: 90000 lm

You would need about 2.3*485 W CFLs to get the same lumen. That would produce lot of heat. Much more then the HID.
Think a bit about it please before saying its false

And read hosebomber's thread, it has all the info to get proper lights.
Dont want to convince anybody, just clear up misinformation for current/future readers of the thread.
And sorry for the hijack Dharma. I'll really try to stop now...

 

[Jaga]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

I still reckon that I had a harder time keeping the temps right with my hps , now we are in summer an my canopy temp is 77c wich makes me feel a whole lot better

 

[invi]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Oh yeah, one more thing can mislead you - temps need to be measured in shade, highest canopy level. If the gadget gets direct light the measurments will be off.

 

[Graytail]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

You would need about 2.3*485 W CFLs to get the same lumen. That would produce lot of heat. Much more then the HID.
Think a bit about it please before saying its false

I was talking about heat. The same wattage of HID was hotter than CFL.

Otherwise, you are correct. MUCH more lumens/watt in a HID.

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

for vegetative growth you want 18/6 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness to allow the plants and roots to grow. for flowering you want 12/12 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. 6500 kelvin is best for vegetative growth and 2700 kelvin is best for flowering. with High Intensity Discharge light a Metal Halide light bulb is used for vegetative growth and a High Pressure Sodium light bulb is used for flowering.

I Had originally asked if I do the autoflowering White Widow first what the lighting schedule would be for it. John gave me the lighting I might normally follow with a regular plant, but autoflowering is quicker, does it need any different lights or different schedule from a normal plant. If so what lighting does it need and at what hour intervals.

 

[fish cake]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Good Weed Jeff
you are right the light should stay at a 18/6 for the duration of the grow. Autos are on a set growth period and there is no reason to reduce light like you would need for a photoperiod strain.
as far as what Kelvin bulbs you use, if it were me I would run 3)6500 and 1)of the other untill you se preflowers the switch the bulbs the other way.
make sense?

John, I understand all that, I thought that it being auto it's lighting needs were different.

 

[DharmaBud]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Good Weed Jeff
you are right the light should stay at a 18/6 for the duration of the grow. Autos are on a set growth period and there is no reason to reduce light like you would need for a photoperiod strain.
as far as what Kelvin bulbs you use, if it were me I would run 3)6500 and 1)of the other untill you se preflowers the switch the bulbs the other way.
make sense?

Thank you fishcake, I thought it might be different, but there way more people out there who know more than I. I assume you can't clone autogrow because it just continues on the same timetable it was on while with the mother?

 

[Jaga]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Did you say if the gadget gets direct light it can be off?? Hey invi do you mean digi temp gage please do tell me ji cause mine might be right under line of light but at canopy hieght

Oh yeah, one more thing can mislead you - temps need to be measured in shade, highest canopy level. If the gadget gets direct light the measurments will be off.

 

[Jaga]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

High ya Dharma hope all is well

Thank you fishcake, I thought it might be different, but there way more people out there who know more than I. I assume you can't clone autogrow because it just continues on the same timetable it was on while with the mother?

 

[fish cake]

re: DharmaBud's First Grow Soil White Widow Auto & Silver LA-2013

Thank you fishcake, I thought it might be different, but there way more people out there who know more than I. I assume you can't clone autogrow because it just continues on the same timetable it was on while with the mother?

Right No Clone unless you want a itty bitty minnyme