New to growing-help please

[wildmanweed]

i made a 2x2 grow box and have 2800lumens/squarfoot. (6cfls and a halogen for warmth) is this enough? the box is in cold garage, and with the halogen it gets kinda warm, but dries the dirt FAST, like 3 waterings a day...will rocks on top of soil help with that?

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

We gotta get a few things straight...

Lumens is a measurement of light visable to the human eye only, do plants have eye balls ?

Halogen is not very good for growing...


On the bright side of things all bulbs create heat & give of some form of light spectrum whether that is optimal light spectrum for plant growth remains questionable intill further information is provided !


A large majority of growers would use blue spectrum CFL 6500 kelvin bulbs & may be refered to as cool white bulbs etc for the vegative stage of plant growth.

When the plants are ready for flowering we often switch to different light spectrum of 2700 kelvin also may be refered as warm white light & adjust lighting hours to trigger flowering.




We also have to cover temperature, believe or not this may effect plant growth... do we see cactus growing in the antartic ?

Night time temps should not drop below 16c prolonged periods below this temp may prove bad for the plants health !

Day time temps should go over 30c really prolong periods can be bad for plant health !


As you are growing in a shed i would suggest the following...

To off set the coldest part of the 24 hour day being night time, i would use this as your lights on period & use day time as your lights off period.

Oh ye get a thermometer


Watering ah !

Now as ya mention you are watering 3 times a day... thats tells me a few things !

1. Your pots are really small drying out to quickly, you may need to pot up to a large size ?

2. You might not be watering enough ?

3. As you are using garden dirt ! your native soil may be of a sandy loam compersition being of a free draining nature hence you are watering more, you may require a better compost which retains moisture tho.

Using a mulch may off set moisture loss a little aka pebbles, stones, wood chip etc

 

[wildmanweed]

it is in the garage (which goes below freezing) so i need the heat.. and yes it garden dirt and goes bone dry.im going to move the halogen from above the plant to side of grow box. (or maybe wrap x-mas lights around the walls for heat. im using 4 26watt cool whites and 2 26watt warm lights.. (and the halogen) is that enough light for 1 plant in a 2x2 box

 

[ProDope]

Im not to sure how much you can spend but I think the best route for you is to get a hps bulb. Maybe a 250w or a 400w tops. They produce a nice amount of heat. You might be able to use that heat well. You can pick up a whole system for 75-130 bucks on amazon brand new or buy used off ebay or somewhere.

 

[wildmanweed]

well the temp. with 6 23watt cfls and one halogen is 70degrees. and thats 10,850 lumans for 1 plant in a 2x2 grow box ....should be fine?