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[MEGA]Community Growing advice, tips, tricks, & experiences Part 4

It means it's the equivalent to 86W incandescent in terms of light output, but that's just marketing. 20W is 20W so it's misleading. They are very leggy because as you said, the light is too low. You want more light on them.

Incandescents do not really work for growing as they've got the wrong type of spectrum and are too inefficient.

Are you planning on upgrading from your 40W total of CFLs?

Also without an intake bringing in fresh air at the bottom and an extraction fan at the top removing hot stale air, the plants could overheat and just as importantly, won't get fresh CO2 or be able to expel oxygen from photosynthesis. So I would get that sorted. A fan inside will circulate air within the growing space but not cool things down or recycle old used air with fresh air from outside the grow space.
 
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the fan is actually sucking air from outside. its installed between the lamps and the plants to provide some air circulation for both of them. the airflow is rather good and i'm more worried about the pc case being too cold :)
 
Been updating and improving the box the last days.
First of all I added aluminium foil to alle surfaces for max reflections, then I repotted the plants burieing the stretched part inside the pot for better stability and finally I got hold of a socket for 1 cfl.
currently running 6500k. the plants are all doing quite well, the stretching has stopped or atleast went down by 80% :)

Now I am thinking of topping the plant after the next leave set has grown out.

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greetz xayo
 
6500 as in 6500 kelvin light temperature. the bulb is 20 watts btw.
Bought 2 sockets and tomorrow im going to purchase 2 y sockets.
my plan is to put it all in one box with the 2 bulbs coming out to make it look more tidy but also easier to move if I want to migrate into another growbox :)
 
oh..okay. I see you lined with tin foil. Actually a flat white surface is more efficient at reflecting light. easier to take care of also. you can just spray paint the walls with flat white spray paint and you'll be able to wipe them clean anytime you need to. I wasn't buying this when I first started growing, but I've since checked it out with a light meter and it really is true..
 
That's too early to top it, even in a small box.

Are you planning on growing it to maturity with the 20W CFLs? If so how many are you planning on using in total as the plant gets larger? Five?

When are you switching to 12/12?
 
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How old is xayo?

Anyway, I just set up my carbon filter refilled with activated carbon myself and it works like a charm!! I just saved myself quite a bit of money!!
 
Hi all, I'm new to this thread and I'm thinking about starting my first grow but I got a few questions.

Right now I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, I'm the only one living here and I have a lot of extra space. I wanted to try a very small grow for my first time, maybe just 1 or 2 plants. My second bedroom is completely empty, and I was thinking about putting my plants in the closet. The dimensions are 6 x 3 feet, and the height is 5 feet tall and above it is a shelf and a metal bar for hanging clothes. I won't be able to exhaust anywhere though, and I'm also concerned with the smell. In the 7 months I've lived here I've never had one maintenance person come in besides the cable company, which I was the one who called and made the appointment. I'm worried my neighbors above me might smell it, but the neighbor next to me I'm friends with and there's no one else living on the other side but the buildings laundry room.

I was thinking about trying the 12/12 from seed method. I realize my plants are going to be small and the yield is going to be smaller, but I'm okay with it. This really is just for fun / personals / seeing if I found something I like to do.

For lights, I'm not sure what to use. I don't want to invest a ton of money to find out growing isn't for me and have a bunch of equipment I won't ever use again. I would like something that's fairly easy / cheap to find and set up. I can order lights online but I'd like to avoid it if it's possible. Any suggestions / links to what you think I should use would be appreciated.

Nutrients, I also have no idea. What would you suggest for a first time grower?

Anyways I know these questions have been answered a lot in the past and I'm sorry I'm too lazy to go threw this thread and find the answers. I'm really just trying to get started, I realize my results probably aren't going to be that great. Maybe I'll find something I enjoy doing and whatever I do get I'll be happy about it. Thanks for the feedback and responses in advance :)
 
With this place you should be well off with about 8 cfl's you can buy 4 sockets and use 2 Y Splitters each. With CFL's you are way below the price of a HID lamp + you can move the plants closer to make up for lack of light power since they are way cooler.
I just put my plants under just 2 CFL's and they are starting to grow really good now. Had a bad start wich really lengthened the whole thing for 2 weeks (shouldve waited the 2 weeks before starting since my PC wasn't ready yet).
At the moment I have a total expense off 30€ wich is for the 2 cfls + the sockets.
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The burning you see is caused from not expecting the plant to grow so much over night ;)

Growing cannabis is a fun hobby. its like applyieing crafting to your favorite hobby forming a new even more satisfieing hobby :)
 
I would be hesitant to start a grow in an apartment. anything could happen like a water leak from your neighbor's apt or some other maintenance situation that would allow the management to enter your apartment without notice. You can probably see in your lease where they have a right to do that.
 
Instead of 8 separate small household CFLs, a single 125W CFL is better and more efficient.

Xayo, can you tell me how you're planning to control the size of those two plants? Seedlings are not the same as clones and can't just be flowered like clones with the same results. Plus with lower light conditions etiolation occurs and you get spindly, leggy plants because they are searching for light by rising above competing neighbouring plants which hog the sunlight.

Here's a photo of one autoflowering plant of mine, so not as small as some would believe.

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Also, I know this wasn't contradicted above, but HIDs are cooler than CFLs or linear fluorescents watt for watt. So if you've got a 150W HPS, it will be far cooler than a 150W CFL (or even a 125W CFL I would've thought). That's why they're better for small grows.
 
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DaDankyDank said:
Hi all, I'm new to this thread and I'm thinking about starting my first grow but I got a few questions.

Right now I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, I'm the only one living here and I have a lot of extra space. I wanted to try a very small grow for my first time, maybe just 1 or 2 plants. My second bedroom is completely empty, and I was thinking about putting my plants in the closet. The dimensions are 6 x 3 feet, and the height is 5 feet tall and above it is a shelf and a metal bar for hanging clothes. I won't be able to exhaust anywhere though, and I'm also concerned with the smell. In the 7 months I've lived here I've never had one maintenance person come in besides the cable company, which I was the one who called and made the appointment. I'm worried my neighbors above me might smell it, but the neighbor next to me I'm friends with and there's no one else living on the other side but the buildings laundry room.

I was thinking about trying the 12/12 from seed method. I realize my plants are going to be small and the yield is going to be smaller, but I'm okay with it. This really is just for fun / personals / seeing if I found something I like to do.

For lights, I'm not sure what to use. I don't want to invest a ton of money to find out growing isn't for me and have a bunch of equipment I won't ever use again. I would like something that's fairly easy / cheap to find and set up. I can order lights online but I'd like to avoid it if it's possible. Any suggestions / links to what you think I should use would be appreciated.

Nutrients, I also have no idea. What would you suggest for a first time grower?

Anyways I know these questions have been answered a lot in the past and I'm sorry I'm too lazy to go threw this thread and find the answers. I'm really just trying to get started, I realize my results probably aren't going to be that great. Maybe I'll find something I enjoy doing and whatever I do get I'll be happy about it. Thanks for the feedback and responses in advance :)
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That space you have seems really great. If you wanted to fill the whole space, you would need a total of about 900W to achieve 50W per square foot. So that in practice would mean one 600W HID lamp (ideally an HPS) and one 400W HID (ideally a MH). Alternatively you could put in a partition and have one vegetative area and one flowering area with a 400W MH and a 600W HPS in each respectively (much better option IMO). That way whilst the plant in the flowering area are flowering the plants in the other area could be simultaneously growing vegetatively and you could have a harvest every two months.

If you want to keep it small, put in a partition and use one half the area.

I would strongly advise you not to go 12/12 from seed since it just doesn't work that well at all. The only time going from 12/12 from the start works is if you're using clones and even then, you would need to grow it vegetatively for a week first preferrably. Seed plants should be grown until sexual maturity if you can, since this allows you to yield more and have more potent weed. Once the plants have reached sexual maturity the cuttings from which the plant is taken will also be sexually mature and can be flowered soon after rooting. It takes about 6 weeks or so, depending on the strain to reach the point where you can see the sex and there are no shortcuts to reaching this stage. This is why many people grow from cuttings rather than seed, but once you've reached this stage it that's it, it doesn't have to be done again for that plant as you can make a mother plant from a cutting taken from the plant and take cuttings regularly.

You ask about nutrients, but do you want to grow hydroponically or in compost. If in hydro, what type of system are you planning on using?

Like pap says, you need to be careful if growing in a flat. I'm lucky with my situation but you might not be. So I would try and make it as stealthy as possible. Perhaps think about using a wardrobe.
 
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Well, my father also owns my apartment (not the building but my individual room) so technically he's my landlord. People would have to have his consent to enter right? (sorry this is off topic a bit :p) It's awesome I have no rent, but pay 200 a month for utilities and got my own place :)

AE, for lights this is what I had in mind. Other lights I've been looking at are VERY expensive, I never knew how much lights could be lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Hydroponic-Pr...=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1324238948&
sr=1-4

I can see wattage isn't enough for HPS and I also don't know the different between super high pressure sodium and just regular high pressure sodium.
Would this possibly work? I know it's a pretty cheap set up compared to others, and I don't want to be buying complete junk that ends up not working at all. Would this be better then using CFLs? I don't know if I'm up to spending 350 dollars on a bulb and find out growing isn't for me.

Not going to bother with 12/12 from seed then. I also plan on a soil grow, hydroponics looks pretty complicated and for my first time. I'm trying to go the easiest route as possible while still getting an okay product. I was going to use bag seed, but reading threw this thread I can see that probably isn't the greatest idea.

Right now I'm off for 4 weeks too for holiday break, So I'm going to try and get all my supplies. Thanks for all the help so far :)
 
That seems fine, but it will only comfortably cover an area of 2 feet and ten inches by 2 feet and ten inches, so not very much space at all. I would go for a 600W lamp instead. You'll also need a contactor. HID lamps are much better than CFLs, especially for flowering.

Hydro doesn't have to be complicated (see hempy buckets) but I agree, soil is probably your best bet for a beginner. Luckily with soil you don't have to bother with a pH pen or EC meter.
 
DaDankyDank said:
Well, my father also owns my apartment (not the building but my individual room) so technically he's my landlord. People would have to have his consent to enter right? (sorry this is off topic a bit :p) It's awesome I have no rent, but pay 200 a month for utilities and got my own place :)
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people would have to have his consent to enter except in the case of a maintenance emergency. a plumbing or electrical malfunction or something like that. anything that causes damage to the building or poses a risk to the safety of the tenants. in such a situation, the building owners have reserved the right to make any entries they deem necessary to take control of an emergency situation. This is a standard clause in a legal apartment lease or building tenancy agreement that both renters and owners are required to sign.
 
^ what he said. I was thinking they'd have to get his consent and not his dad, but I doubt he's signed a tenancy agreement so I think it would just be the dad as said.
 
far too risky.... even if there really wasn't an emergency, and the owners suspected illegal activity, they could use that clause to enter your apartment without any notice or permission. All they would have to do is say they were tracking down an electrical problem. They would just wait until you're not home and let themselves in. there's absolutely nothing you can do about it..
 
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