What's new

1st thread, got a few questions

N

Ninja Grower

Member
Hey guys, first post here, i'm ninja :wave:. i'm a stealth grower lol i've got a small cupboard set up for my first grow, and need a little help just sorting everything out so my plants will be ok.

the cupboard is about 2ft x 2ft x 5ft, i have 100w of CFL lighting and 1 quite good fan, but no extraction fan, i leave the door open a little when the lights are on to manage the temperature. average temp is 18C - 25C ( lights off - lights on )

just wondering what you guys think of having no extraction fan for a start, i'm also having some ph troubles, the ph of my soil is 5.5 atm, as far as i can tell the plant seems to be doing ok; no signs of ph lockout. my plant's had a little heat damage from the beginning but it seems to be recovering ok. i went to the grow shop to get some PH up but the guy didn't reccomend using it and said i should start from scratch.

also does anyone know exactly how bad smoking around the plant a little is? i like to have a joint in bed and its in my bedroom so its not really taht much smoke.

atm i have 3 baby plants in there, i now there might not be enough room in the end when they get bigger, what do you guys think?

i'll get some pics up soon, for some reason the wire for my cam wont work so i'll have to get a new one.

many thanks, ninja :joint:
 
NorCalFor20

NorCalFor20

Smokes, lets go
Veteran
i say if your plants look good then your doing fine, i would use higher ph water some where around 7.0 to try and *raise* your soils ph...

you don't have much space so i would lst as soon as possible... any idea about the seeds ur using....

try making another thread in the micro section they know all about micro grows... wouldn't hurt to copy and paste this there.
 
Last edited:
W

Weedman Herb

NorCalFor20 said:
i say if your plants look good then your doing fine, i would use higher ph water some where around 7.0 to try and lower your soils ph...
Click to expand...
Just what are you talking about here? 7 is pH neutral and 5.5 is acidic ... what kind of Higher pH water is going to Lower dudes soil pH ??? Why would he want it Below 5.5? I think he might want to bump it up a bit IMHO.
 
NorCalFor20

NorCalFor20

Smokes, lets go
Veteran
yea i ment raise. not lower. im pretty stoned off this GDP i should stoner proof my posts before i post when im blazin hahaha sorry bout that, i was trying he should use the 7 ph water to try to RAISE his soils PH :D
 
N

Ninja Grower

Member
ah thanks NorCal yeah i'm tryin to raise the ph by flushing the soil, its going up, its at 5.8 now so were nearly there. its because i gave that plants too many nutes at the beginning, i am a noobie. everythings going well now.

two of the seeds are a blueberry / spotanica cross and the other is a mystery seed that my friend gave me, it was real juicy and the plant is growing much quicker than the others.

i was thinking about turning my lights to 12/12, i've seen that if u do 12/12 from the beginning the plants are long and pole like, i think it would be better for the space i have in the box, do you think it would be a good idea to change so soon? as far as i can tell the seeds should be fine for 12/12 growing

do you think i need any more lights in there also? ive seen in most rooms people use 100w of CFL and then another 150w of HPS, i dont think hps would be good for my space but will the plants grow with this many lumen? any advice?

thanks for ur help so far
 
Last edited:
S

smokeymacpot

Active member
Veteran
with 5ft of height? you can easily use 150w hps or even a 250w, obviously you WILL need a good exhaust fan... even the 150w will seriously own 100w of cfl.. and a 70w hps will beat 100w of cfl too!
 
N

Ninja Grower

Member
ah im not sure about hps, i would need a good extraction fan but dont they make lots of noise? its really really important for me to be stealthy for it is the way of the ninja! (and im not exactly living in the perfect growing environment, i'm in student town lol. it's fine as it is because its only really when the light is on that you can tell and thats only if you look closely.

im not really sure about the electric bills aswell, we dont pay the bills, the landlords do; so i cant have anything that uses loads of power, and the fan + hps is alot more than what i have atm. how much does it cost you guys to run a 150w hps with a good extraction fan on 12/12?
 
S

smokeymacpot

Active member
Veteran
Ninja Grower said:
ah im not sure about hps, i would need a good extraction fan but dont they make lots of noise? its really really important for me to be stealthy for it is the way of the ninja! (and im not exactly living in the perfect growing environment, i'm in student town lol. it's fine as it is because its only really when the light is on that you can tell and thats only if you look closely.

im not really sure about the electric bills aswell, we dont pay the bills, the landlords do; so i cant have anything that uses loads of power, and the fan + hps is alot more than what i have atm. how much does it cost you guys to run a 150w hps with a good extraction fan on 12/12?
Click to expand...

depends what country your in, maybe $5-10 or £4-5 a month.
tis worth it imo, cfl are pathetic for flowering, but they do well for starting the plants off for the first few weeks.
 
FreezerBoy

FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
50 watts per sq ft is considered minimum. You're running 25; Grossly underpowered even without considering CFLs limited penetration. For that size you'll want 200 watts or more and at that point, any heat advantage lies with the HIDs.

Shrink the grow, enlarge the lights or be prepared to underperform.
 
S

smokeymacpot

Active member
Veteran
cktRAVEl said:
Here are some thoughts for you...

Stick with the cfl's for now. I don't think your situation is best for HID at the moment. Get a couple more cfl's to add to the 100watt that you already have. 4-26 watt cfl's would be good. Hang'em one per sq. ft. That will give you 50 watts per sq. ft.

Get an extraction fan. You can use a computer fan. Bigger is better. Of course get the quietest one you can.

Put more plants in. 8-16 plants per sq. ft. This really helps in cfl grows since there is so little canopy penetration. I know you only have 3 right now...but take clones and fill that cabinet up. Keep the plants short and packed tightly together.

Good luck

ckt
Click to expand...

but look at how many cfls you need :chin: 8-10cfls vs 1 150hps i know which is easier and better ;)
 
P

Pompey_Monkey

Member
Ninja Grower said:
ah im not sure about hps, i would need a good extraction fan but dont they make lots of noise? its really really important for me to be stealthy for it is the way of the ninja! (and im not exactly living in the perfect growing environment, i'm in student town lol. it's fine as it is because its only really when the light is on that you can tell and thats only if you look closely.

im not really sure about the electric bills aswell, we dont pay the bills, the landlords do; so i cant have anything that uses loads of power, and the fan + hps is alot more than what i have atm. how much does it cost you guys to run a 150w hps with a good extraction fan on 12/12?
Click to expand...

Ninja -

1. I could harp on about not growing where the landlord has access...
...but I won't :nanana: And, as you are:

2. Get some ventilation going. Plants are carbon based life-forms. Carbon come from CO2. CO2 comes from the atmosphere, not the soil, water or fertiliser.

3. Even a small PC consumes 2-300 watts and a gaming rig would probably use twice that! Don't worry about a couple of hundred watts. No one will notice! :)

4. The most common problem that first-timers have, IMHO, is giving TOO MUCH LOVE to their babies. i.e. too much water and/or too much nutes. It's understandable, but too much love can kill! Use good soil (not compost). Wait untill they tell you that they need nutes before using them and even then, only use half as mush as you think. It's a lot easier to add more than it is to flush!

5. Get some ventilation going. Oh yeah - I said that already.

6. Have muchos fun! hehe.
 
N

Ninja Grower

Member
ty FreezerBoy and cktRAVEl thats some really good advice, i've thought about a computer fan but how do you set them up? how do they plug in? when the plants are in flowering i was going to buy some more cfls anyway and put them below the canopy, my friend has a 400w hps reflector but its waaaaaay to hot to use atm, with a extraction fan do you think i would work? remember i've got to be stealthy also, im not sure about electric usage for that thing

sorry i havent updated for a while our internet got cancelled and we had to sort it all out ourselves.
 
N

Ninja Grower

Member
oh and ty pompey, the landlord is really old and trust me i dont even think he can see the thing lol. i know about 'over loving' the planted, i already made that mistake ( over wartering and nute burn ) but i fulshed the soil and they're fine now. my bigest one is starting to show signs of sex, ill post some pics up soon
 
N

Ninja Grower

Member
hehe i just a got a 100w hps light from my friend, was wondering what u guys think i should do with it? shal i put it in now with the 100w of cfl or will it be too hot with no proper extractopn? or should i just use it alone? i've put the fan at the bottom so it's pointing upwards pushing the air out of the door, my temps are quite low from it, i can get it down to 21 degrees with the light on but will the 100w of hps make it too hot?

my friend told me that i should chop the other two plants and just use it for my best one, what do you lot think?

also i think that 2/3 plants are male but they its not for definate because they are only one day into 12/12, the other is definately female

thanks for your input so far, its helped alot and my plants are looking really healthy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top