Poor Man's CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

ZeppelinBaked

New Member
Ok so after reading many, many different threads and journals i have finally found the time to start my own. I love the reading and taking in the information, just not as much as putting it out lol. Anyways any advice or feedback would be awesome as this is my first attempt at growing any kind of cannabis.

I started this plant (yes only one plant lol) with the intention of giving it to a friend to flower, but now it's stuck with me as it's too big to transport anywhere and they didn't have their setup ready in time to take it. I wasn't about to kill the beautiful girl, so i figured i'd see what i could do to try and make her produce some smoke-worthy buds. After reading through wayy to many helpful threads on this site and amassing enough information to come to the conclusion that this is way out of my budget, here i am still trying to make it happen :tokin:

The Strain: Unknown, from a friend which originally mixed up seeds received from Vancouver Seedbank.

Age/Stage: 82 Days old; 27 days flowering

Light Regimen: Veg 18-20/6 - Flowering 11/13

Ferts (Chemical): Veg - Shultz Liquid, 10-15-10; Flowering - Plant Prod, 15-30-15

Lights: Veg stage - Four 23w cool white cfl's, Two 13w soft white cfl's. Flowering stage - Two 45w(150w) Soft white cfl's, Two 23w cfls, one cool one soft, Two 13w soft white cfls. Total of 9200 Lumens during current flowering.

Temps/Humidity: No idea lol, didn't invest in anything but cfl's and a digital timer for this, although i figure the temps are usually around 75-82f.

Soil: Alltreat Farms Premium Tropical Soil

Water: Watered normally, filtered and distilled tap water up until flowering, then switched to Fernbrook bottled water.

Ok so for the grow space I have a walk-in closet, about 3 ft wide, 5ft deep, with the plant in one of the corners. The corner is lined with tinfoil as a reflector lol and a car windsheild sun blocker. As the title says, this is a poor mans grow, and i still have much to learn :smokin: :reading420magazine:

The Closet and corner setup
100_5647.jpg

100_5650.jpg


I don't have much for ventilation, except for a small square fan
100_5651.jpg


And a intake/exhaust fan that allows me to control the intake air temp. and can be switched back and forth. I crop this up near the door during the day, but unfortunately i have no exhaust or intake into the room during the dark cycle.
100_5652.jpg



So as of right now my girl is finishing week 4 of her bloom, which is coming along nicely..:) Pics of her as of now

Top cola
100_5645.jpg

Lowest branch cola
100_5641.jpg

nice middle bud sites
100_5639.jpg

100_5638.jpg

100_5637.jpg

fav pic :)
100_5633.jpg


Once I track down the pics of her as a seedling and in veg, i will update and post them. For now this is all. :roorrip::peace:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Well I'm far from an expert but your plant is looking pretty good. They say not to use tin foil and if I'm not mistaken digital timers can diminish the brightness of CFLs over time. But what you are doing looks like it's working. My girls seemed to do pretty decent even though I didn't get any of the extra gizmos and doo dads, I use CFLs and Miracle Grow soil and nutes. But mabe in both our cases, don't change anything and just let her grow.
Good luck from here on out. I'm suscribed for the rest of your grow.
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Tin foil will create hot spots.... but with that said it is not AS big deal when using CFL. Using HPS or somethin as such then it is a NO NO. I think for cfl you'd be alright for the most part, but like Obliviconsent said, tin foil isn't the best option.

White painted walls would be great, better than foil actually. Not as blingy an no cool factor, but it works just as good!
Nice plants btw! + reps zep and +reps to you as well Oblivi.
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Thanks you guys, I know tinfoil is one of the worst possible options, but I originally had nothing up, and I stood there one day noticing all this light that could be used and redirected. I didn't have anything else at the time besides tinfoil and the windsheild sun reflector, so i used what i had...i really didn't want to invest anything in this grow considering it's only one plant lol. Also i was reading in a thread before that there isnt enough concentrated lumens reflected in one spot on the tinfoil to create a "laser" just from cfls..:scratchinghead:i have no idea though, that's just what i've read..i'm gonna try and find the thread. Thanks for stopping by guys, +reps to both if i can :bong::peace:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

:welcome: to 420!

Hanshisan is correct about the tin foil and CFLs. :thumb:

You can read more about CFLs Here - CFL Tutorial

Your plant looks GREAT! Keep up the good work, I'm in :popcorn:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

hey zeppelin looking good man loving the stealth!! as for tin foil i have read on here that its not to be used when using HID lighting else it def will breate hot spots and burn your plants but i think with cfls you should be fine man i think it was on rosemans thread so check it out to be sure but i think im right, again looking good keep it up and good luck man :peace:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Thanks Green and SB, great thread! :nicethread: and thanks for stopping by :welcome:

Had the time tonight to dig up some pics of my girl along her journey ;)
Sorry about the bad pics, alot of them were taken on a shitty motorola phone.

It all started with a seed.....by my window sill LOL :cool:

05/05/10
May_5.jpg


05/12/10
May_12.jpg


05/14/10
May_141.jpg


unknown dates, before transplant
0514101231b.jpg

0510101838a.jpg


After transplant, yea i know i only did one...
0518101558b.jpg


May 22nd - May 23rd - May30th
0527101920a.jpg

May_22.jpg

May_30.jpg


getting my shit going
0602102335b.jpg

0606101313b.jpg


lol cell phone pic
0605101559a.jpg


06/08/10 June 8th
June_8th.jpg


06/10/10 June 9th - 10th
June_9-10.jpg


somehwere between june 10th and 30th
0619101555a.jpg

0619101554a.jpg

0620102308d.jpg

0620102308b.jpg

0620102308a.jpg


the start of my ph imbalance, or cal/mag def.. lasted about 4 to 6 days before i fixed it
100_5480.jpg
100_54701.jpg

000b0861.jpg

000_0872.jpg


After fixing the ph problem, start of flowering..and the huge growth spert
100_5483.jpg

100_5485.jpg

100_5489.jpg

100_5484.jpg


around day 19 flowering
100_55131.jpg

100_55121.jpg

100_55151.jpg

100_55171.jpg

day 20 11/13
100_55181.jpg

100_55191.jpg


day 26 flowering
11044.jpg

100_5633.jpg

100_5638.jpg


and finally tonight, before lights out
07/28/10 day 29 flowering
100_5663.jpg

100_5664.jpg

6711.jpg


thats all for now, especially after i typed pretty much all that out twice..stupid backspace button fucked me up :tokin: LOL anyways take care eeveryone!
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

nice job man. you did a fuckin rockin job with what ur using bro. think about the sucess youd have with a 600 watt hps..
you should get a 70wt hps for that spot. they are tiny and give off jack shit for heat, but the difference that light would make on one plant would blow your mind. those 70s go for like 60 bucks at lowes or homedepot or someplace like that.
im watchin this one bro
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

if you vegged that long with the 70 youd have had a bush in there. great job though. . think about it though dont cfls cost like 6 to 8 bucks a peice, and if your using 6 of em you practically bought yourself a hps. its so worth it cant stress that enough.
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Wow! That is one beautiful lady you have there Zeppelin.

A good cheap alternative to the tin foil if your looking for one is cardboard. You can go down to your local art supply and get cardboard sheets and spray them down with flat white spray paint. This will give you a better return than the foil with out risk of the the hot spots. Its also much, much cheaper than mylar. Other than that your doing a great job with the space you have! Keep up the great work!

Also wanted to add, thats some mighty fine camera work.
100_5633.jpg

I love this shot
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

if you vegged that long with the 70 youd have had a bush in there. great job though. . think about it though dont cfls cost like 6 to 8 bucks a peice, and if your using 6 of em you practically bought yourself a hps. its so worth it cant stress that enough.

I might look into a 70 watt if I go indo this winter...

But I believe you can go to your local dollar tree and get 23w cfls. Cfls rock cuz they are cheap :)
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

I like your CFL grow... its nice to see just the bare basics producing kind buds.

Someone say dollar store? Over in "GrowingGirls" thread she talked about buying silver reflective car window shades at the dollar store instead of using foil. CFL's and foil is not a big concern IMO with a one plant grow.

Keep it up and stay green :peace:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Update on the name of my girl, i have decided to call her Madison...LOL inside joke really, not going to explain but yea that's what my bitch is named ;)
Lebowskii, thanks for the kind words :thanks: i dont know the exact wattage atm sitting here but last time i checked it was 162w all together with one fan

GIS - thanks for the advice, i will definitely consider that on my next grow. with this one i wasn't even expecting to turn into a full out grow lol but i scrounged up what i had, only bought 2 $10 45w soft white cfls for flowering and 2 23w for vegging that were $10. all together it i spent maybe $35-40 on plant food and all. already had the soil :grinjoint:

Chrome you don't know how many pics it took me to get that nice one :lot-o-toke: haha thanks for the advice lol, if i had the money to spend, i would..but it's definitely a consideration for next time :tokin:

Search thanks for idea, i actually have a thing similar the silver reflectant, but i should buy some more of it.

Thanks for stopping by everyone, it's a pleasure to have you guys along for the ride. :cool: :welcome:
 
Re: Poor Mans CFL Closet Grow - First Plant

Wow. the feedback you got is what I like about this site. Very Informative. The $ I spent on all my veg. and flower CFLs would have been enough to get a MH and HPS setup but you can't beat the absence of heat and the work they do without shooting your light bill up. Madison is looking yummy.
 
Back
Top Bottom