26w cfl, stealth, soil grow

[DOC. GREENTHUMB]

hi im new to sites like this and i need help with my growing i have not
started but i have bought a 3 pack of 26w (orange/red spectrum bulbs)
(it doesnt say the k rating but it should be around 2700k)
the lumen output is 1750 each bulb and i have 3
i have a hourly timer for the lights, i will be making a batwing reflector with
the 3 bulbs on and add hooks to adjust the hight of the bulbs i am using
white printing paper for reflection on the walls and roof of my cabnit
(not very big i am going to lst the plants)
i will be picking up some soil from walmart with the higher N in the #-#-#
NPK numbers (or marical gro) a garbage bag held up with tacs or staples
infront of the cabnit door so there are no light leaks and normal desk lamp
light fixtures for the bulbs to go in
but i need help on how to make the batwing reflector and what to use
becuz i am on a no budgit grow (add spent $30 already)
i was thinking of using alummanum foil stapled onto a piece of cardboard
(so i can get the right size/bend i need)

please give any other comments thank you

 

[WeedHopper]

1st off,,do not use Nuted Soil to start your seedlings.
Ya need anywhere from 3000 to 5000 lumens PSF of grow area,,2700K is good for Vegging
Keep them(the CFLs) 2" to 4" from the canopy.
Flat white paint is best,,the paper would probably suffice,,not sure.
I dont like Foil,,but thats up to you. I used Mylar to make reflectors before. But,,if thats all ya have,,use it. Use the dull side.

 

[LassChance]

I read a post...I think it was in here...suggesting the use of Coke cans, ends removed and cut in half lengthwise, then taped together with FOIL tape for a reflector. I imagine that would be more stable than foil over cardboard? Im a Noob, too, and will probably be using Flouros, myself, so Im interested to see what the Pros will say.

Have you got a way to get air IN and air OUT?
LOL, the other day I realized I MAY have a perfect stealth "cabinet" already...an old refrigerator down in my garage! I think if I cut out the "floor" of the freezer, I could easily get two shelves of four plants per shelf in there...cut holes in the BACK of the fridge for air IN and OUT.....and WHO would even bother to open the door of somebody's old frige in the garage? I mean...millions of folks keep an extra frige for beer...
Good luck and Happy Growing!

Lass Chance

 

[LassChance]

COWBOY BUDSKY--
Are you saying that his flouros wont work for flowering? Hmmm. OK, what sort of light should be used in a "cabinet" set up? Reason I ask is, Im thinking about converting an old frige down in my garage...and obviously I need a compact but powerful light...? duh?
Any advice on this?

Thanks.

Lass Chance

 

[LassChance]

PS__ I forgot to say this to Doc Greenthumb... Last year (my first grow) I did use flouros in the closet for some White Widow. The plants DID flower, but the buds were very light and fluffy, not hard and dense. However, it was VERY potent and tasty. Obviously not good for commercial purposes due to the lack of weight...but for personal use, what the hey,, light and fluffy is better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Lass

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would advise against using paper or cardboard anywhere. And remember, just because something looks like it reflects, doesn't mean that it does. Use FLAT white paint.

For vegging, I would recommend lights more in the blue range--maybe something like 6500K. Red spectrum is better for flowering. The 3 26W CFLs are adequate for a little over 1 sq ft. You arte most likely going to need more/better lighting.

Do not buy soil with nutrients already in it.

I hope that this doesn't sound too harsh, but this is a "hobby" that requires some investment. You are trying to manufacture (grow) a product that sells for $300-400 an oz "retail" (on the street)--you are going to have to invest some money in this enterprise if you hope to get anything out of it. A "no budget grow" will most likely also result in a "no bud grow".

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

LOL, the other day I realized I MAY have a perfect stealth "cabinet" already...an old refrigerator down in my garage! I think if I cut out the "floor" of the freezer, I could easily get two shelves of four plants per shelf in there...cut holes in the BACK of the fridge for air IN and OUT.....and WHO would even bother to open the door of somebody's old frige in the garage? I mean...millions of folks keep an extra frige for beer...
Good luck and Happy Growing!

Lass Chance

I think that an old fridge or freezer makes a good stealth cabinet. People are used to seeing fridges and freezers in garages and it is not suspicious if they make fan noises . I would certainly put a lock on it, however.

You are not going to be able to have different shelves of plants without having lighting on each shelf. You may want to leave the freezer part for clones and use the frig part to veg and flower. Cutting out the floor of the freezer is not as easy as it sounds. If you go with a fridge, I would recommend a 150W HPS in a cool tube. Just so you know, you will probably find a fridge really hard to "cut and drill" for ventilation, too.

 

[LassChance]

Yet another PS...The flouros I used last year were only 15 w, so I assumed his 27 w's would do the trick. Im starting to get my mind around the seeming fact that flouros just wont produce dense buds, period. I hate that...Flouros are so nice and simple and un-scary! I dont know why, but Im nervous about buying/using some big hairy monster light like a 400 w HPS. If I could actually SEE one, not just a picture, maybe I'd be less scared of them...but the pictures look like they're complicated and the more I read the more confused I get...for a Noob, all that lumens and ballast and watts and everything is kinda overwhelming! sigh...ever since I stuck a fork in the toaster to retreive a piece of stuck toast when I was nine, Ive had this fear of electricity, LOL. I dont even like to change a damn lightbulb, to tell the truth.

I know this sounds like Im a moron. Im really not...maybe it's a 'girl" thing.Having lived my whole life knowing nothing about electricity, trying to learn it all at once is intimidating. Well, I do know ONE thing---dont stick a fork in the toaster...

Lass-afraid of electricity

 

[WeedHopper]

COWBOY BUDSKY--
Are you saying that his flouros wont work for flowering? Hmmm. OK, what sort of light should be used in a "cabinet" set up? Reason I ask is, Im thinking about converting an old frige down in my garage...and obviously I need a compact but powerful light...? duh?
Any advice on this?

Thanks.

Lass Chance

Im the last one that would tell you Floras wont flower
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showpost.php?p=444281&postcount=8

T5's have the highest Lumen Output Per Watt for Floras. My 4ft tubes are 5000 lumens,,and I use a 6tube setup. You would get better buds with more Lumens. But,,yes you can flower with CFL's.,,not very well,but ya can.

 

[LassChance]

I think that an old fridge or freezer makes a good stealth cabinet. People are used to seeing fridges and freezers in garages and it is not suspicious if they make fan noises . I would certainly put a lock on it, however.

You are not going to be able to have different shelves of plants without having lighting on each shelf. You may want to leave the freezer part for clones and use the frig part to veg and flower. Cutting out the floor of the freezer is not as easy as it sounds. If you go with a fridge, I would recommend a 150W HPS in a cool tube. Just so you know, you will probably find a fridge really hard to "cut and drill" for ventilation, too.

Thanks HEMP GODDESS! The idea of using the freezer for clones is brilliant! OK...now you said to use a 150 w HPS with a cool tube. Duh...I dont know what that means. "cool tube"? Can you detail me on that, please?

I guess NOW would be a good time for me to get over my phobia about HPS.

Lass

 

[LassChance]

COWBOY BUDSKY

I see what you're saying. So if I want the dense fatties, Im gonna have to go HPS, just like the Big Kids use, LOL, and stop being a wus.
The HEMP GODDESS reccomended a 150 w HPS with a "dool tube". That would be for IF I use the old frige. But even in my closet, that would still be good? About how many one gal pots could go under such a light?
My current grow space IS the closet, which is big enough to hold about 10 one gal pots. What would be your suggestion for the closet? (Hemp Goddess, too!)

VERY grateful for your and HG's help, here--

Lass

Lass

 

[WeedHopper]

I see what you're saying. So if I want the dense fatties, Im gonna have to go HPS, just like the Big Kids use, LOL, and stop being a wus.

No sir,,that aint what Im saying at all. If you click on that link in my above post,,you will see my girl flowering at 7 weeks under Floras(T5's)

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Cowboybudsky gets great results flowering with T5 fluoro tubes T5s are high output tubes and give you the most lumens per watt of the fluoros. I use a T5 to veg and then flower with a HPS.

Check out the cooltube link in my sig to see what I am talking about. And do more reading on lighting. You will need 5000 lumens per sq ft to flower. The bottom line is that watt for watt and lumen for lumen, flouros cost more to purchase initially, they cost more to operate every month, they put out as much heat as a HID, and they produce less bud.

 

[LassChance]

No sir,,that aint what Im saying at all. If you click on that link in my above post,,you will see my girl flowering at 7 weeks under Floras(T5's)

OK, I looked at your pic. Very nice! Are the buds light, tho? or dense?

Lass

 

[WeedHopper]

OK, I looked at your pic. Very nice! Are the buds light, tho? or dense?

Lass

Nope,,even I was suprised how dence they were. Check this out.
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showpost.php?p=446801&postcount=36

But understand,,I use T5's cause I got a very good deal on the whole Setup,,Fan,Lights and all. HPS is the way I would go for Flower,, If I didnt get this deal.
T5's are the best for Vegging though,,, as for as I am concerned.

 

[LassChance]

Cowboybudsky gets great results flowering with T5 fluoro tubes T5s are high output tubes and give you the most lumens per watt of the fluoros. I use a T5 to veg and then flower with a HPS.

Check out the cooltube link in my sig to see what I am talking about. And do more reading on lighting. You will need 5000 lumens per sq ft to flower. The bottom line is that watt for watt and lumen for lumen, flouros cost more to purchase initially, they cost more to operate every month, they put out as much heat as a HID, and they produce less bud.

OK. I read it. You're light years ahead of me (pardon the pun). So far Ive never even SEEN an HPS light in person, let alone ready to whip out my power tools and start diddling one. At this point, my skill level is pretty much an ability to open the box, hang it and plug it in.

Thanks and Happy Growing
Lass

 

[thedonofchronic]

go to your nearby hydrostore,
ask about 150-600 watt HPS lights.
ask if theyd mind showing you how one works..

 

[DOC. GREENTHUMB]

so i set up everything over again and i desided to lose the foil and go with the white printing paper altho one of the 26w cfls broke when i was screwing it in:'( i suck at everything but i have the 2 26w cfls still and i have 13w cfls that are 800 lumens each if i add just one of these would it be ok just to flower 1-2 plants finnal? and to sex about 4-5?
is 3" a good hight for pots in a small space? anyo e have experience with a pc grow this would and should be much the same and for the marical gro i only am getting this becuz a friend owes me a favor and said i can have a few zip lock bags for free soo

 

[thedonofchronic]

just relax and stay positive.
You need alot more light then what you have now.
You know about lumens, so you need 5000 lumens
per square foot in your grow room. That means that if all of
the lights you are growing with put out for example 6400 lumens.
Then those lights are only good for an enlosed area of one square foot-ish.
So if the space you are growing in is bigger than one square foot (which
im betting my life on it is) then you will need much much more light.
Cfls dont put out nearly as much lumens per watt as HID lights do such as a metal halide or high pressure sodium lights. I know your on a budget but im just informing you that HIDs are super effecient. and actually are not that expensive. You might have heard people say, what you get out of growing will depend on how much you put into it. Definitely a true statement.
Also tin foil is for cooking so dont even bother with that.
Grab reflective mylar its really not expensive and youll get enough
to do what you need to do with it. And for your question the more height you have in a grow room indoors the better in my opinion. If you have height limitations you might want to look into things like topping.
Miracle grow is a no-no, pick up some real nutrients designed for marijuana.
Right now focus on getting way better lighting,
grab a decent pH tester and always know your pH.
Then focus on getting good nutrients.
But before any of that, go read all of the info in the stickes that marijuana passion has at the tops of all the forums.
Good luck just be patient and study and good things will happen.

Thedonofchronic

 

[Dankerz]

2700K is good for Vegging.

nobody else stepped in so i will
2700k bulbs give out more of a red/orange spectrum..great for flowering!
6500k bulbs give out more of a blue/white spectrum..great for Veg!
using both these types of bulbs will be best!
or maybe im wrong im new to cfl's