compact fluorescents

[Tom O'Bedlam]

thanks...the rapid rooter label makes no mention of added sweeteners or preservatives, just tree bark. Others on the site have endorsed 'em, so I went with them over jiffy cubes. Disassembly in 5 minutes? Unlikely, but the room is well out of the way in the basement, and that's what the basil plant is for...plausible deniability!!! I'll move the plants instead!! No opinion on planting germinated seeds tip up vs down?

 

[Capone]

check out my grow journals..ive done it but the yeild isnt worth the effort later on down the line. but you can most deff. have a great experience w\CFLs..Goodluck

 

[pussum]

thanks...the rapid rooter label makes no mention of added sweeteners or preservatives, just tree bark. Others on the site have endorsed 'em, so I went with them over jiffy cubes. Disassembly in 5 minutes? Unlikely, but the room is well out of the way in the basement, and that's what the basil plant is for...plausible deniability!!! I'll move the plants instead!! No opinion on planting germinated seeds tip up vs down?

I have always planted with the tip either pointing down or slightly level. I have never tried it with the tip up. I have yet to have any problems growing a plant with the tip down. I am a huge naturalist kind of guy when I am growing so any way I can mimic nature I do because mother nature has proven time and time again that she knows what she is doing with her children so I try not to step on her toes. Up, down, left, right. The plant was designed to root itself anyway it can so I don't see you going wrong with whatever decision you choose on tip up or down.

check out my grow journals..ive done it but the yeild isnt worth the effort later on down the line. but you can most deff. have a great experience w\CFLs..Goodluck

CFL's are a fantastic way to learn the do's and don'ts of growing without having to invest in a lot of expensive equipment. They make very good training wheels. It offers you the chance to figure out if it is really something you want to pursue and if you are really as interested in it as you thought you were. Moving on to bigger and better equipment is only going to help you and work for you if you have an appreciation of the basics and have a steady grasp on the science of growing. Otherwise you are just wasting your time and money.

 

[ChatNoir]

CFL's are a fantastic way to learn the do's and don'ts of growing without having to invest in a lot of expensive equipment. They make very good training wheels. It offers you the chance to figure out if it is really something you want to pursue and if you are really as interested in it as you thought you were. Moving on to bigger and better equipment is only going to help you and work for you if you have an appreciation of the basics and have a steady grasp on the science of growing. Otherwise you are just wasting your time and money.

More over, a simple calculation I made a few minutes ago show that, with a small grow area, a HPS is unnecessary but at a large area CFLs cost more than HPS on the long run, actually they need twice as much as power to operate.

Up to 14 feet², CFLs are better than HPS both on the long and short run (430W HPS vs 30W CFLs), less heat, closer to plants but if you have more cash and willing to invest cash for a CO₂ tank as well, HPS beats every aspect of CFL save for heat generation.

 

[pussum]

That is a very good observation and very true. The only reason I suggest that people use CFL's as a trainer are because A) they are incredibly easy to find and don't require one to leave a paper trail online or continuously frequent a specialty store that will more than likely be keeping tabs on your purchases, B) built in ballast, so no electrical tinkering needed which prevents a rookie from possibly wiring it wrong and starting a fire, and C) if it doesn't work out and they don't enjoy the grow everyone has house lamps that need bulbs

I have ran up to 12 CFL's on a 18/6 schedule and never noticed any kind of drastic spike in my bill, in fact for three months straight my bill actually went down which was odd.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

Well, as long as things work out (read: good grow) as they are I'm cool with the CFL's...although I've already found myself buying more and more stuff than I thought I ever would for this.

 

[toke@smoke420]

yeah good point pussum last i heard cfls are suppost to be energy efficent as a grow light isnt since its meant for growing not saving energy... Yes itll run you high if take lke 500 watts of cfls but that would cost a hps just buying all those cfls... but if your doing a closet grow with about 150 watt to 250 of cfl watts the bill aint to bad.. goodluck

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

just checked out your log, toke...looks a lot like my set-up. Good looking stuff!

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

one last thing: does the fan need to be on 24/7, or only when the light are on, or what? thanks

 

[MeNtAlPaTiEnT]

Can be either or... Depends on the temperatures inside the box. Normally when they're off, you can go without a fan... But a fan is always good, since it circulates air and whatnot.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

OK, next question (see attached pic). Notice those two idiots with baby leaves AND roots near the surface? If I leave them alone will they figure out what to do and is there anything I can or should do to prevent a problem? Also, there's one super-seedling (not in pic) that has itty bitty rootlets extending from the sides as well as one really long single thin root extending from the bottom of the cube. Transplant time? My soil is black gold wich is 0.5-0-0 in terms of nutrients. thanks for any advice

 

[pussum]

If roots start poking out of the soil on your super seed it is time to move it to another container. The light will eventually kill the roots if they start poking out to far.

As far as the girls with little roots poking out on the top they will get the picture, but if you want to take a little soil and cover them up I don't see it hurting them.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

gotcha, transplanted 3 of those little monsters today. As for the others, I'll wait til I see a little rootlet coming out the bottom. I covered the little root bits that were poking out.

 

[tokemon]

It's worth repeating too that if your medium is always soaking wet the roots have to reason to 'seek' water.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

OK, so I've got 7 decent-looking seedlings. lights on 20/4 cycle. I've added the 2nd big CFL (125W daylight spectrum) which has the spectrum that's supposedly good for flowering. Will that screw up the vegetative growth phase? Put another way, which is more important, light/dark cycle or light spectrum for determining vegetative phase vs flowering? Hope this question makes sense. thanks

 

[Killertea08]

I tryed growing with cfls and even got the book that shows you how to do it you all probably know which book im talking about. So I had 8 42w cfls on one plant and flowerd it at 6in and I got an ounce of good bud. The only thing that sucks is that the buds have no weight on them there very wispy. Since then I got a 150w HPS I the same strain I got 2 ounces so its all in the light.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

out of 9 seeds germ'd I've got 7 plantlings. 4 of them look good while 3 not so much -still ok, just smaller. Maybe I'll put them outside after awhile and see what Ma Nature does. Germinated about 11 days ago and transplanted into the current pots about 6 days ago. I'm thinking some dilute feeding in about 3 days, ya? :hubba: