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my new grow room/closet...CFL's for veg, 8xT5 flower

AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
well the shorter girl on the left has been staying a lot bushier. She is the one that I did SCROG for 2 weeks...and didn't turn out the way I wanted, but does anyone use that kinda start (SCROG) with a plant to keep it shorter and bushier?
Both of these were cloned from the same plant...but have much different traits...
is this just cause the way I had them growing??
 
TheCheeseMan

TheCheeseMan

Member
nice grow you got goin.

I gave 3 cheese cuttings, and one afghan to a friend. He has the 4 bulb T-5 fixture with two auxilary t-5 bulbs. He is about 5 week into budding and his plants look Amazing. His are packing on some weight, so im sure you will get some nice colas in the near future.

and yes i would definatly do some topping next time around lol. Have fun Gardening. Peace
 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
ok...so the tall girl is getting really lenky. well I know my next round will be more topping, and less veg time. my clone tray seems to be doing pretty good. I have 2 that rooted out the bottom of the cubes...and put into 6" nets this morning.

the big girls are 6 days in flowering.

Thanks for watching!

picture.php

View image in gallery​



 
H

Herbatonist

Member
SO, not to be rude, but there are quite a few area's I see lacking here. Let's see if we can't get some of those settled, and get you a bigger harvest :)

First off, and I'd say the biggest problem. You're light. T5's are great for growing, much better than CFL's in my opinion. More lumens, and less heat! But the key with any kind of fluorescent bulb is not so much how many lumens you're throwing at the plants, it's HOW you use it. Most people who grow with CFL's/T5's, grow in open front box's, or wide open spaces. This is one thing when dealing with a HPS, but HAS TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS when using fluorescent! Think of it as light just...leaving your growing area. 16,000 lumens is going to be going mainly down sure, but what then? What about all that light that goes off to the side and doesn't hit your plant? I would seriously look at this, and re-think your setup. I've yielded 36grams from 1 x 1' plant in a SPEAKER BOX, simply because of HOW the light was utilized, and not wasted. It had no where to go but IN to the plant. Catch my drift? :) This will give you shorter, more stout plants...thicker stems...and thicker/bigger buds! Which we all want :)

Second, is how far away you keep your plants from the lights. A few people already touched on this, so I won't go into it much, but you should be able to put those plants within a 1/2 inch to a full inch of the bulb, with no burning. If not, then you need to think of another thing...air flow.

Heat and lack of air-flow will also cause stretching, especially in flower. This is because the plant is essentially trying to breathe in a dead room.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, I'd say you're on to a great start :)

OH! AND ALSO!! Remember that CFL's/T5's only penetrate SIX INCHES!! All those buds 6" below will be lacking significantly. So try topping, FIM'ing, or training the plants more so, till you get more reflection going. I know my plants seem tall, but like I mentioned, I have a large amount of reflection in there. You can even see where those buds on my plants are NOTHING as you go further up.
 
H

Herbatonist

Member
But at least you got the T5 hood. That's the best way to do it fluorescent status, with no side reflectors. Those hoods are pretty good about directing most of the light down.

Still, get some sides up :) And remember that airflow, cause putting walls up restricts it. Duh. Just making sure it's mentioned :) I'll be sticking around to see the finished product!

Oh, and LOWER THOSE BULBS! T5's can be practically RIGHT on top of em! Especially with a fan right there blowing all the hot air away.
 
joseaf

joseaf

Member
When will you start to flower? Your plant can get 3X the size when you start to flower. Check out youtude, search T5 Flower Room by davetheman213. There are 4 videos of a T5 setup that is producing great results.
 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
Herbatonist - Thanks for the input. The T5 seems to be working good for now...the reasoning for the room being wide open is: I'm using the T5 for my first "flowering cycle" since they are easier to control temps and humidity so I get to learn a little more about the way the plants grow. Next round I will be going to HPS since this grow was on a really low budget.
I only really get 2 chances a day for about 15 mins to play with the girls on week days so in the morning I set them around 2" away from the light, and by the time I get home, they are either touching or within 1/2" of touching...so its hard to control them at just under an inch all the time.

I will try to post more pics this weekend...today is 5 days of flowering...and since I let them veg a little longer then planning, the hairs are starting to form really fast :smile:

This is actually a lot of fun growing...not just thinking about the end product, but learning how to do something new is always fun.

Thanks for watching everyone! If you have any other information for me, I'm always willing to learn more!!
 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
hey everyone! so here is an update...day 13 in flowering after 27 days vegging...and I have some clones sitting off to the side...these girls are filling my closet pretty good...hahaha

well I bumped them up to:
900 ppm
5.9 pH

everything seems to be growing well...although this is my first time, so it could be a shitty grow...and i think its good...hahahaha

let me know what you think!!
...more pics in my album if you wanna check them out.




 
joseaf

joseaf

Member
Looks like you will have a lot of colas by using LST method. Keep us posted. I am thinking about building a grow box using T5s.
 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
..i don't think i'm using the traditional LST method...i kinda call it "shit, should have topped" soo.. SSHT? hahahahaha

The T5's have been doing very well...although I have never grown before and never flowered with them...but by the way they are growing, I think they will do pretty good.
keep posted for more fun! :)
 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
well everyone...here are my girls 21 days into flowering after 27 days of vegging...the buds are coming in very nicely...im really excited since this is my first grow.
i still have the nuets around 700ppm and 5.9 pH so I could start the other little clones into flowering with the larger girls...once they start to take off...ill take the nuets up so the big girls get what they need!

...and yes...the new ones that went into flowering have 2 plants per bucket...lack of space...and i didn't expect so many clones to survive my first cloning experience...haha. So i figured I would put them into flowering while they are small just to make this crop produce a little more...

any suggestions??
...more pics in my album...




 
AchromicSkin311

AchromicSkin311

Member
Well here is 28 Days into Flowering. My tips are browning slightly, i did add to my res, and the water went up to 6.8pH for a couple days...starting to bring it back down, this morning it was at 6.25pH...so hopefully thats my issue.

Other then that..they are smelling really good...looks like almost half way through flowering, the guy I got my clone from flowered for 10-10 1/2 weeks...so i'm excited!! :) being my first grow, this is a lot of fun!

There are more pics in my album....




 
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