188w CFL Day-by-Day First Grow

[Sassafrass]

Thanks for all the positive vibes!

I've been making efforts to refrain from watering too frequently, I did give them a tiny bit more food but haven't seen any problems.

Also picked up the last 2 26watt bulbs for a total of 6x26. The 42w weren't in the right K range for veg, so I'll work with what I have until it comes time to flip em.

Day 12

 

[LadyLargely]

Pimptacular bro! Look how fuckin' pretty they are.

Simpler can be better, especially if you're after a nice, stable, good-looking, steady-growing plant. Decent soil, strong enough light, don't over-do anything. You may find yourself watering often, but you are obviously really conscious of the fact that you shouldn't over-water. Because of this I'm sure that you are using small enough portions of water even if you do wet them frequently. Those little girls show no signs of stress, of ANY kind. No yellowing/wilting/clawing. Even though you aren't training them the plants are growing very short and squat, a sure sign of adequate lighting. Floro does a good job if you pack it in dense enough!

Sounds like you've found some higher-wattage CFLs in a warmer color temperature? 4400K-4200K is pretty common. They will work good and have better penetration than your 26w veg units. However the 4000-ish Kelvin range that "warm" CFLs tend to come in is actually a very "yellow" colored light. Flowering cannabis uses this light a lot less effectively then truly "red" light which would be more of a 3100-2600K color temperature.

Typically this really red light is associated with hot+expensive HPS lamps. CFL bulbs which are that warm don't exist at reasonable prices. However it is pretty easy to get your hands on Plant and Aquarium T12 or T8 florescent tubes in a nice and short 24 or 18 inch length. And I'm not talking about expensive tubes you'll only find in a pet store. These are generic grow-tubes with a phosphor coating on the inside that burns red. They are just a little more expensive than a crappy office tube and can be found at big box hardware stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, even Wal-Mart sometimes. A simple little lamp+digital ballast to run such a bulb is a cheap/easy buy as well. A little rig like this one below is a $40 investment on a bad day:

That is a pair of 24" T12 tubes and the top one is a General Electric Plant and Aquarium. These are prolly the most common "red" tubes. And they really do burn red, just look at how pink it looks next to the more conventional "warm" T12 tube on the bottom! Phillips also has a red T12 "Plant and Aquarium". They are rarer but supposedly burn even redder.

Best of all are red T8 tubes. These are harder to find outside of expensive aquarium stores, but Sylvania makes a generic T8 grow tube that burns nice and red. T8s are superior to T12s in efficiency/penetration and pretty much everything else so they are worth going after if you can dig some up.

CFLs can be packed tighter and offer better penetration than T8 or T12 tubes. I'm not saying you should ditch the warm 42w CFLs. Those things are great. But if you could throw one or two 18-24 inch plant and aquarium tubes into the mix it would really spice up your light spectrum and thus your bud quality.

Great diary either way though. Best of luck with it mate! I'll definitely grab a seat for this one. Your plants are so nice and your simple method has a good Chi about it, reminds me just a bit of my early days. Honestly mine didn't look as nice as yours back then. Good gardening!

 

[Guest 263194]

Thanks for the suggestion; just wondering what your reasoning is? Not trying to be rude, it's just that the plants seem to be doing well and everything I've read says with CFLs to get them as close as possible without burning the leaves? I'm certainly open to constructive criticism.

seems to me the plant grows better and I see your plant is curing upwards (heat problem)and no matter how much light you put in your cab the yield would be same. for example, 1.5sq, max light is 200w.. even if i put 400w the yield would be same. your choice tho. I was like that too i let my plant sat 5cm away from the light before and i realized this way is better. and my 2 seedling are 20cm under the lights, way better grow, fat leaves, healthy. best of luck dudeee

 

[Sassafrass]

Those little girls show no signs of stress, of ANY kind. No yellowing/wilting/clawing. Even though you aren't training them the plants are growing very short and squat, a sure sign of adequate lighting.

Thanks for the lovely compliment, unfortunately not quite so true today! Pictures below.

Sounds like you've found some higher-wattage CFLs in a warmer color temperature? 4400K-4200K is pretty common. They will work good and have better penetration than your 26w veg units. However the 4000-ish Kelvin range that "warm" CFLs tend to come in is actually a very "yellow" colored light. Flowering cannabis uses this light a lot less effectively then truly "red" light which would be more of a 3100-2600K color temperature.

The lights I've found are 2700K I believe and I'll pick some of those up for flowering Thanks for all the information about tubes and such, but unfortunately I live in a pretty remote area and even the relatively close big-box stores don't ever seem to have a varied stock. I went looking for fluorescent light ballasts for tube lights before, when I was keeping reptiles I needed some. But the stores only had like, 4 or 5 on the shelf. It's really sad. I'm just going to stick with what I've got, but your write-up is quite impressive and I appreciate it!

seems to me the plant grows better and I see your plant is curing upwards (heat problem)and no matter how much light you put in your cab the yield would be same. for example, 1.5sq, max light is 200w.. even if i put 400w the yield would be same. your choice tho. I was like that too i let my plant sat 5cm away from the light before and i realized this way is better. and my 2 seedling are 20cm under the lights, way better grow, fat leaves, healthy. best of luck dudeee

Thanks for explaining I may move them up a bit yet. Maybe the issue I'm now having is due to this?

Day 13

What's wrong with the leaves on plant #3? The first 2 leaves it grew that weren't the seed-leaves are now yellowed at the edges and have little brownish areas.

Also, group shot!

 

[budman678]

They loom droopy and over watered. Don't worry about that set of leaves unless it starts affecting the Rest of the plant

 

[LadyLargely]

Yea, they do look a little droopy today. Skip a day for watering. Now that your plants are bigger they have much more extensive root systems. They needn't be moistened nearly so often.

Like budman said, don't sweat a single pair of leaves going yellow like that. Fast-growing plants will frequently 'kill off' a pair of leaves to use their stored energy for something else. If those leaves turn brown, dry and curl up completely before falling off then it means the plant sucked them dry of all their nutrients. If the leaves fall off BEFORE they turn dry then you have yourself a problem. So make sure not to pluck the leaves off until the plant is ready to let go of them. Signs of stress always show on the whole plant all at once, at least when they are small; so I don't think you have a major problem. Just go easy on that H2O!

And hey, a 2700K CFL is really a nice warm color temperature! MUCH warmer than what is normal to find. Those bulbs won't be too yellow at all! You actually might want to keep just one or two bluer lights mixed in just to keep the foliage happy, especially during sexing and stretch.

Looking good my man!

 

[J.C.grower]

Pimptacular bro! Look how fuckin' pretty they are.

Simpler can be better, especially if you're after a nice, stable, good-looking, steady-growing plant. Decent soil, strong enough light, don't over-do anything. You may find yourself watering often, but you are obviously really conscious of the fact that you shouldn't over-water. Because of this I'm sure that you are using small enough portions of water even if you do wet them frequently. Those little girls show no signs of stress, of ANY kind. No yellowing/wilting/clawing. Even though you aren't training them the plants are growing very short and squat, a sure sign of adequate lighting. Floro does a good job if you pack it in dense enough!

Sounds like you've found some higher-wattage CFLs in a warmer color temperature? 4400K-4200K is pretty common. They will work good and have better penetration than your 26w veg units. However the 4000-ish Kelvin range that "warm" CFLs tend to come in is actually a very "yellow" colored light. Flowering cannabis uses this light a lot less effectively then truly "red" light which would be more of a 3100-2600K color temperature.

Typically this really red light is associated with hot+expensive HPS lamps. CFL bulbs which are that warm don't exist at reasonable prices. However it is pretty easy to get your hands on Plant and Aquarium T12 or T8 florescent tubes in a nice and short 24 or 18 inch length. And I'm not talking about expensive tubes you'll only find in a pet store. These are generic grow-tubes with a phosphor coating on the inside that burns red. They are just a little more expensive than a crappy office tube and can be found at big box hardware stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, even Wal-Mart sometimes. A simple little lamp+digital ballast to run such a bulb is a cheap/easy buy as well. A little rig like this one below is a $40 investment on a bad day:

That is a pair of 24" T12 tubes and the top one is a General Electric Plant and Aquarium. These are prolly the most common "red" tubes. And they really do burn red, just look at how pink it looks next to the more conventional "warm" T12 tube on the bottom! Phillips also has a red T12 "Plant and Aquarium". They are rarer but supposedly burn even redder.

Best of all are red T8 tubes. These are harder to find outside of expensive aquarium stores, but Sylvania makes a generic T8 grow tube that burns nice and red. T8s are superior to T12s in efficiency/penetration and pretty much everything else so they are worth going after if you can dig some up.

CFLs can be packed tighter and offer better penetration than T8 or T12 tubes. I'm not saying you should ditch the warm 42w CFLs. Those things are great. But if you could throw one or two 18-24 inch plant and aquarium tubes into the mix it would really spice up your light spectrum and thus your bud quality.

Great diary either way though. Best of luck with it mate! I'll definitely grab a seat for this one. Your plants are so nice and your simple method has a good Chi about it, reminds me just a bit of my early days. Honestly mine didn't look as nice as yours back then. Good gardening!

Im wondering if this also goes for using a T8 with an 150 Watt HPS?

 

[LadyLargely]

Im wondering if this also goes for using a T8 with an 150 Watt HPS?

Throwing in some T8s could absolutely help even out your color spectrum when using small HID lamps like a 150w HPS. However HPS lamps tend to have the opposite problem as floros do when it comes to color temperature. HPS lamps are very red, too red in some cases. Err, not that they are too red, just that they don't have enough blue to go with it.

Where I suggested that Sassafrass might want to employ some Plant & Aquarium tubes, you would be much better off with some dark blue 6500k tubes mixed in with a small 150w HPS. The blue will help even out the mean-ass red you get with an HPS lamp. It'll keep the leaves and foliage of the plant happier and more productive while the red of the HPS encourages the bud to swell up.

 

[Sassafrass]

They loom droopy and over watered. Don't worry about that set of leaves unless it starts affecting the Rest of the plant

Yea, they do look a little droopy today. Skip a day for watering. Now that your plants are bigger they have much more extensive root systems. They needn't be moistened nearly so often.

Like budman said, don't sweat a single pair of leaves going yellow like that. Fast-growing plants will frequently 'kill off' a pair of leaves to use their stored energy for something else. If those leaves turn brown, dry and curl up completely before falling off then it means the plant sucked them dry of all their nutrients. If the leaves fall off BEFORE they turn dry then you have yourself a problem. So make sure not to pluck the leaves off until the plant is ready to let go of them. Signs of stress always show on the whole plant all at once, at least when they are small; so I don't think you have a major problem. Just go easy on that H2O!

And hey, a 2700K CFL is really a nice warm color temperature! MUCH warmer than what is normal to find. Those bulbs won't be too yellow at all! You actually might want to keep just one or two bluer lights mixed in just to keep the foliage happy, especially during sexing and stretch.

Looking good my man!

Alright, so I took your advice and did not water Day 14, but plant #3 is looking sadder than yesterday. The other two have perked up again though. Damn, things change so fast! Haha. Thanks for the advice on when to worry, big help to scared plant parent

Oh, and not just correcting for the sake of correcting, but I'm a lady grower

Day 14

Got busy in the city today, I was gonna do some size comparison shots with like lighters or something, but yeah. Tomorrow maybe :3

 

[Lumière]

Nice plants...Good luck!!!

 

[Guest 263194]

nice dudeee

 

[Sassafrass]

Day 15

Okay so these guys seem frustratingly sensitive to watering! I did not water #3 today, sadder than yesterday again. All of them were dry this morning so I gave:

- Plant 1 a quarter-cup of half-strength nutes
- Plant 2 a half-cup of half-strength nutes
- Plant 3 nothing

So here are the pictures about 12-13 hours after giving these guys the nutes:

Should I be looking at transplanting already? I don't know the rule for when to transplant.

Thanks for all the compliments and looking!

 

[Sassafrass]

Day 16

So plant #2 and #3 I repotted today. #3 was looking REALLY bad this morning so the below picture is actually a slight improvement! I read that droopiness that didn't go away and yellow leaves meant the plant needs repotting?

I'd repot #1 but I was only originally counting on 2 plants and haven't bought another pot yet.

Trying to decide whether to try a good dose of nutes on #3 to see if it helps? I'm going to let it dry out another day before I give water and/or food.

 

[DeoXy]

Are you letting the soil dry out a bit in between waterings? also IF you are feeding veg nut.'s you shouldn't be going past 1/4 strength at this point until they need/require more at later stages.. feeding at every 2nd or 3rd watering is a good way to prevent over fert. issues and reduce salt build ups in your medium...

deff. looks over watered/over fed to me.. try letting the medium dry out a little.. a plain ph'd water flush soon wouldn't be a bad idea either they look very stressed in the pictures.. good luck.. hopefully they bounce back!

 

[Sassafrass]

Are you letting the soil dry out a bit in between waterings? also IF you are feeding veg nut.'s you shouldn't be going past 1/4 strength at this point until they need/require more at later stages.. feeding at every 2nd or 3rd watering is a good way to prevent over fert. issues and reduce salt build ups in your medium...

deff. looks over watered/over fed to me.. try letting the medium dry out a little.. a plain ph'd water flush soon wouldn't be a bad idea either they look very stressed in the pictures.. good luck.. hopefully they bounce back!

Thanks for the helpful answer Since plant 3 started showing the yellowing several days ago, I stopped watering as per the suggestions in this thread. Pot was fully dry for like, 2 days with no sign of improvement. That's when I repotted yesterday, and just put enough water in the pot for it to juust leak out the bottom of the new pot. I haven't fed plant 3 in about a week.

I'll let the pot dry out again and continue with just water for #3 then? How can I tell the difference between overfeeding and underfeeding when they both seem to result in yellow leaves?

 

[SeaMaiden]

Overfeeding veg nutes won't result in yellowing, overfeeding veg nutes will result in plants that are too dark green, and once the tips of the leaves begin to burn is when you know you've pushed them to their limit.

The plants don't just look overwatered, they look cold as well. Since you're new, do you know anything about vapor pressure deficit (aka VPD)? If VPD is off (too dry + too cold) then the plants may pull the leaves down and inward, in an attempt to preserve moisture. If they're too cold the leaves may droop, but will still have turgor (stiffness). If the leaves are LIMP, then you're looking at over- or underwatering.

http://www.hydro.co.nz/1_information/1_vpd/info_vpd.html

 

[Connoisseur300]

Welcome Sassafrass, to the wonderful world of growing the best shit you ever smoked.

If you just transplanted them they were probably root bound which would make them droop and yellow on the first set of leaves. Once transplanted and watered it would look like there def. and water logged, but there not. Just let the soil dry out 3/4 of the way and when you water again you should see them shooting for the sun again. Simple problem simple solution. If Its cold in your room that wont help either as SeaMaiden had said. It does look like you have enough ferts in them to go a for a little longer. Just my two cents.

 

[Sassafrass]

Overfeeding veg nutes won't result in yellowing, overfeeding veg nutes will result in plants that are too dark green, and once the tips of the leaves begin to burn is when you know you've pushed them to their limit.

The plants don't just look overwatered, they look cold as well. Since you're new, do you know anything about vapor pressure deficit (aka VPD)? If VPD is off (too dry + too cold) then the plants may pull the leaves down and inward, in an attempt to preserve moisture. If they're too cold the leaves may droop, but will still have turgor (stiffness). If the leaves are LIMP, then you're looking at over- or underwatering.[/url]

Thank you for this I didn't know there was such a thing as this VPD, but to answer; temps in the box drop to their coldest at 70.9 at night when the lights are off. Daytime temps since I've repotted average 78-81. Humidity however has only been 35ish the entire time until I put those bigger pots in there, now it's around 45.

If you just transplanted them they were probably root bound which would make them droop and yellow on the first set of leaves. Once transplanted and watered it would look like there def. and water logged, but there not. Just let the soil dry out 3/4 of the way and when you water again you should see them shooting for the sun again. Simple problem simple solution. If Its cold in your room that wont help either as SeaMaiden had said. It does look like you have enough ferts in them to go a for a little longer. Just my two cents.

Thanks to you as well! I didn't post yesterday's pictures, but here they are now, and since these #3 has perked up even more. It's growing some new leaves and such, so I think I may be okay now. But I can always use more advice and such! I love this site, so many helpful people

Day 17

 

[Connoisseur300]

Nice. I can see the difference already! They're starting to heal themselves. You should see some new growth in the next couple of days. Just make sure you let them dry out 1/2 way before you water again. Looking good.

 

[Sassafrass]

Day 18

Yes, they are getting better! Unfortunately, poor #1 is going to need to wait still for a new pot; I've got nothing to put it in.