Micro femseeds GrapeFruit grow - organic, 180W CFL

[cobo]

Lights

I have six 30 watt 6400K CFLs which I ordered from ebay for cheap. I will replace some of the bulbs with a more red spectrum, when flowering comes, but right now I think I'll do fine with a blue spectrum. I still have to make a reflector somehow, I'll figure that out soon enough.


Ventilation

Currently I have only one fan installed and I have to drill some intake holes, but I'll take care of that soon enough. I have one 12V computer fan attached to the outtake hole and it seems like I'll have to attach one fan to cool the bulbs (they do get pretty hot for CFLs) and I'll have another fan blowing air at the plants, for stronger stems, as I have read.

If your going cfl's you wud be much better getting a ECOLITE (Envirolite) i've got good results from them , they are low energy which helps keep the electric bills down and you will have " NO " Heat issuses to worry about freely available in the UK ... i got the eco lite instead of the envirolite as grow shops said too many enviros were coming back with faults ... have a look at what you can get with eco lite






Envirolites



My ECO lites at work

 

[riseup]

Cobo - I remember looking at those ecolites at ebay. At first I thought of purchasing them, but they're a bit too big for my cabinet, I wouldn't be able to fit it in, and if I would, it would be almost touching the sides of my cabinet. I already have bought the lamps and they are working fine, if I'll build a bigger cab next year, I'll switch to HPS for sure ! But thanks for the advice anyway


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Today I transplanted her to a bigger pot, hopefully she'll like it. Some roots were coming out at the bottom of the pot.

 

[cobo]

Cobo - I remember looking at those ecolites at ebay. At first I thought of purchasing them, but they're a bit too big for my cabinet, I wouldn't be able to fit it in, and if I would, it would be almost touching the sides of my cabinet. I already have bought the lamps and they are working fine, if I'll build a bigger cab next year, I'll switch to HPS for sure ! But thanks for the advice anyway


----

Today I transplanted her to a bigger pot, hopefully she'll like it. Some roots were coming out at the bottom of the pot.

THE 200w ones are BIT BIG (wide), but the 125w ones are 1 foot long and 3 inchs wide , so 1 or even 2 of them shouldn't be any problems for your grow

 

[riseup]

December 11 - day 22

It seems like she likes the bigger pot and the new watering schedule (once every 3 days). I don't see any yellowing on the new leaves, that's good. And she is growing fast now. I'll top her again tomorrow. That will leave me with 4 tops. Then, when she'll recover, I'll leave her to rest for 36 hours and then I'll switch to 12/12. That will probably be around this weekend.

 

[NG2k]

how big is the new pot?
once every 3 days is still quite frequent imho....

 

[riseup]

Some new pictures. Topped her again today. NG2K - I didn't measure the exact size, but it looks like it holds twice as much soil as the first one. If 3 days seems to frequent, then maybe once every 5 days will be good ?

 

[Mibri]

I think i'd go for the 5 days, but the best way is really to learn how light the pot can be without the plants wilting, but i definately think 5 will be way better. Don't think the soil will dry much in 3days. Just keep an eye.. As dry as possible. Maybe even wait until you see a slight wilt - then u know how long between waterings. Off course it will be more and more often as the plants get larger. Goodspeed

 

[NG2k]

riseup, dont water every 3 days nor every 5 days.... water when she needs it, and only when she needs it. you wouldnt force-feed or starve a child, why do it to a plant?
if you are using a pot which is much much bigger than the current rootball, dont soak the pot with water when you feed either. roots only grow when searching for water, if waters all around them, theres no need for them to bury further out in the soil in search of moisture, and if roots arent growin neither will your plant be.
best bet to get watering frequency right, is put some DRY soil in a pot exactly the same size, everyday if u feel the urge to water, pick up the dry pot and pick up the plant pot if they weight (more or less) the same its time to water. if your plant pot is heavier even if the top soil is dry, underneath it could be soaked and you wont get growing anywhere.
dont worry about those leaves youve had to trim, after a few more toppings they wont get light so you will have to remove them anyway.
keep learnin :wink:

 

[riseup]

Thanks Mibri and NG2k. Haha, guess I need to buy a houseplant that needs lots of water, so that I have something to water when I have the urge to water something. The only other plant I have is a huge aloe vera, which I water twice a month or something

 

[Mibri]

Hehe, i have difficulty in this also. Just learned now, that im really not helping my plant overwatering. They really only grow, when u don't, so stop it!!!
Here's a small guide for u;
1) Every time u feel like watering - go inside. Take good time to make a giant joint, sit down in your favourite chair, have some food ready on the side. Smoke the joint and forget about watering until next day
2) Repeat step 1 until plants are just about to wilt if u leave them like this one more day.
Hope this helps my friend.

 

[riseup]

December 15

She has 4 growing tops now and looks nice and healthy.
It looks like I'll be having some smell issues, as I already can smell her a bit when I get close to the grow area. Looks like I'll have to invest in a negative ion generator.

 

[riseup]

December 16 day 28

I think I've vegged her long enough, if I'll veg her any longer, I feel that she might stretch out of control when I flower. So tomorrow I'll make sure there are no light leaks in my cab, then I'll put the lights out for ~36 hours and then switch to 12/12. And I'll start LST'ing her to hopefully keep her low. Or something like that.

Also - today I got some bagseed. If they will germinate, I'll pop them in too, 12/12 from the beginning, they are indica dominant, so they won't grow too big, but hopefully I'll have some extra bud to harvest

 

[riseup]

December 18 Day 30

My plans are a bit delayed because I didn't get the chance to lightproof the cabinet. So I topped her again, so I'll have 8 tops. When she recovers, I'll finally put her in flowering.

And, much to my surprise, the bagseed germinated. So I'll be growing 2 plants now.

Peace.

 

[riseup]

December 27 Day 39 (day 3 @ 12/12)

Finally light-proofed the cabinet and put them to 12/12 a few days ago. Added some coffee grounds to the top of the soil for some N and brewed my first organic tea. I'm going away for two days, hopefully nothing will go wrong. Will take some pics after I come back, the plant has grown nicely and looks nice and bushy.

 

[riseup]

some pictures:

 

[NG2k]

wow.... shes doin much better. good job. i can only see 7 tips tho.... ... shouldnt there be 8?

how many pixels is your camera it looks very sharp :wink:

 

[riseup]

NG2k - look closer and you'll see that each of those 7 tips has two smaller tips forming
So I should end up with 14 tips. But I'm currently making a cloning / veg setup, so that I can make 2 clones out of the lower branches.

Plus, I finally found where I can buy perlite around here.

 

[NG2k]

yes i can see the 14 tips....
but what im sayin is shouldnt there by 16 tips.... not 14?

 

[smokeymacpot]

i think its abit small to be flowering tbh

 

[dre86]

wow, looking nice. Very healthy colour, keep on doing what you're doing!!

I agree with above post, I would wait 2 weeks more before flowering. if you would flower now your yield will be lower.