How Many/What Kind of Lights Should I Use to Grow 5 Plants

[Ambition]

Hello, I am currently growing my first ever marijuana plant she's ( I hope it's a she ) 44 days old, here she is:

I have 5 CFL's on her, haven't seen any preflowers yet, is it a decent plant? Any feedback would be appreciated, as it is my only plant growing atm I am really hoping it will be female. Anyways I have about 20 seeds, and I would really like to have 5 plants going at a time, but like I said I am using 5 CFL's on this one plant, so that seems like it would be a lot of lights. I am looking for a relatively cheap, very big, grow light, something that would work for 5 plants all next to eachother. Any advice about my current plant, and what type of light I should be getting for 4-5 plants, would, again, be much appreciated. Like how likely is this plant going to be female, I've Fimmed her and supercropped the top and three branches, but only started watering her correctly for the past 2-3 weeks. I was at first only using a spray bottle to wet the leaves and dampen the soil, I didn't understand that I needed to wait for water to leak out etc. Anyways thanks for any help. One more thing, should I start flowering this one? It looks to be a foot to a foot and a half or so. But I only have 5000k CFL bulbs, would it be ok to start the 12/12 cycle and get the 2700k a few days after?

 

[trichomes]

yes go to 12/12, are u sure it's a girl? looks good!

 

[Ambition]

Thanks! And no I don't know wether it's a girl or not, it's my first plant, but I know what preflowers look like, haven't seen any yet. I was going to do 16/8 for 7 days, 14/10 for 7 days, then 12/12 so I can ensure it be female, because it's my only plant so far and I don't want it to stress out and become a male.

 

[Ambition]

Anyone got an answer to my question? Would be much appreciated.

 

[Alkhemist]

hey there!!

your plant is looking very nice and healthy! turning your plant over to 12/12, imho, depends on what kind of grow space you have available. if you have alot of space to grow into then you can leave 'her' to veg more.. it is up to you to determine available grow area/space. ideally, you would use a MH(metal halide) light for your vegetative stage and move to an HPS(high pressure sodium) light when you turn over to flowering stage, MH accommodates the blue end of the spectrum- which is best for vegetating plants.. and the HPS accommodates the red end of the spectrum which is better for flowering plants, you can see this in the colouring of the light itself, the MH will be a cooler shade where the HPS will burn more yellowish, when next to each other the difference is quite obvious.
if you wanted to use just one light for the whole cycle i would go with the HPS to do the WHOLE cycle... out of the two(MH and HPS) it is the best to cater for the full cycle from rooted cutting/seedling right through to harvest time.
there are so many things that can cause stress to your plants.. humidity too high, temp too hot, topping/cropping and tying down at same time, etc etc.. personally if i have a number of seeds going at any one time i ALWAYS get one that turns male- seems to be a self preservation thing.
if you wanted to grow 5 plants at one time, depending on HOW BIG you wanted to grow them(depending on what space you have available) will determine what type of wattage light you need, personally i think a 600 HPS would be good enough for your 5 plants, i currently have 12 (4-5 foot- first week of flowering) under 3 600 HPS lights. check out my soil grow journal to get an idea of of space and lighting(albeit a larger grow u can see what 2-3 lights can cover, if you were growing smaller plants 1x600 W hPS would be super fine): Alkhemist - Soil - Big Budxsuper Skunk #1 First Grow Journal
using a foliar spray is fine with such soft lights as cfl but generally you will want to feed into soil only, plus spraying when lights on can burn the leaves, better to spray just as the lights are ready to go off. purchase a ph test kit(liquid or digital depending on how much you wanna spend) to keep track of your soil ph, ph that is out of balance will lock out any nutrient uptake and your plant will suffer as a result. i dont knwo what you have in your soil but if its packed with goodness and slow release fert you wont really need to worry abotu feeding during your veg stage.. not until your plants start to really flower will you need to start to give her more of the P and K(phosphorus=promotes root and shoot growth and potassium=promotes flowering, fruiting and general hardiness).. there are many things to consider with growing(temp, humidity, soil ph, pests/bugs control, watering and feeding schedule etc) but keeping things simple is always preferable.

i hope this helps a little??! it is by no means comprehensive but im hoping it covers a little of what you were asking... and wish you and your lovely plant all the best in the weeks to come!

peace

 

[Ambition]

I actually have a HPS light, but the only fixtures I could find were at Home Depot, and they were like huge lawn light fixtures that were 100$+. I will look at some metal halides and a 600 watt HPS. What wattage should the metal halide be? So far, from what I understand, I should be getting two 600 watt HPS lights for five plants, but what about the MH? Thanks for the help!

 

[WizHigh]

Hey I'm also on my firs grow but I'm testing out all types of ways to grow. For instance I have one in soil, I have one in a hydro system with coco coir and the third is growing in coco coir but in a flower pot. I'm using 11 CFL's 23 = 100w. Each bulb gives off 1600 lumens which means that's around 17600 lumens all together. There only abou 5 inches above the canopy. There no burns or signs of burning. I also have 2 huge size aluminum cook wear pans, you know the ones you make baked mac and cheese in? The deep huge pans. Cut wholes in the top d slip your lights right threw. Works very well. My room temp is 90 and humidity 50. So if you want to go with the CFL's homedepot has a deal right now on 12 box of CFL bulbs for $9 great

 

[Alkhemist]

I actually have a HPS light, but the only fixtures I could find were at Home Depot, and they were like huge lawn light fixtures that were 100$+. I will look at some metal halides and a 600 watt HPS. What wattage should the metal halide be? So far, from what I understand, I should be getting two 600 watt HPS lights for five plants, but what about the MH? Thanks for the help!

a 400W MH should be fine in the early veg stages but thats not to say you cant go with brighter!! .. and depending on how big you wanna grow your plants will determine how many lights you will need, the bigger the plants the more lights you will need as they will take up more space... the smaller you grow them one should be fine as they wont be taking up so much space.

all the best!

 

[Alkhemist]

Hey I'm also on my firs grow but I'm testing out all types of ways to grow. For instance I have one in soil, I have one in a hydro system with coco coir and the third is growing in coco coir but in a flower pot. I'm using 11 CFL's 23 = 100w. Each bulb gives off 1600 lumens which means that's around 17600 lumens all together. There only abou 5 inches above the canopy. There no burns or signs of burning. I also have 2 huge size aluminum cook wear pans, you know the ones you make baked mac and cheese in? The deep huge pans. Cut wholes in the top d slip your lights right threw. Works very well. My room temp is 90 and humidity 50. So if you want to go with the CFL's homedepot has a deal right now on 12 box of CFL bulbs for $9 great

thats a great deal indeed! ya cant go wrong with 9$ spent!

 

[WizHigh]

Yea I bumped into them today when I was in there shopping, I couldn't pass that up. I have enough light bulbs to give out an idea lol. I bought a couple box's. I need to switch my oldest plant into a smaller pot,the one its in now is ceramic and hug and heavy for no reason. You think it will hurt the plant or the roots? It really ways my shelf down. I would like to switch and put it in coco coir, whatss your input on that alkhemist?

 

[Ambition]

thanks alkhemist and wiz, I guess I'll have to save up for a 400watt mh and 2 600 watt hps. Do you know where I could find a fixture for both of these? Because the ones they sell at Home Depot are wall mounted and shit, I was looking for a hanging one?

 

[trichomes]

ebay should have anything you want for your lights.

 

[Ambition]

Yea I bumped into them today when I was in there shopping, I couldn't pass that up. I have enough light bulbs to give out an idea lol. I bought a couple box's. I need to switch my oldest plant into a smaller pot,the one its in now is ceramic and hug and heavy for no reason. You think it will hurt the plant or the roots? It really ways my shelf down. I would like to switch and put it in coco coir, whatss your input on that alkhemist?

Wiz, if it's flowering, or about to flower don't transplant it. It will stress it out too much. You don't want to transplant that far into its lifecycle. If it's jsut vegetating it will be fine.