First ever Indoor Grow using 100w growlush CFL

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

I have been wanting to grow indoors for ages but the heat generated by normal grow globes and the energy use was putting me off anyhow I was looking around and was very interested in CFL growing as they use less power and of course less heat so I have decided to bite the bullet and give it a go..

this is what I have so far ... the grow are would be around 3 foot long , 2 foot wide , 4 foot high.

the strain I have is definately a indica strain as I have grown it outdoors and a 6 month plant no matter how well treated only got to say foot and half then winter it flowered great with nice buds with a purple fruity smell which Is what I want in a smoke.The seeds all seem to produce females which is weird ..

anyway enough of that heres what I have put together ..

Grow lush 100w 6400k energy saver bulb which says on the box it puts out 500w of light and is not suitable for enclosed fixtures and has a temp warning on it so I chose against a reflector. cost $70 and also had to buy lamp holder which was $30, so $100 , then purchased 3 windscreen heat sheild reflector from $2 dollar store .. so $6 , decent sizedself watering pot cost me $22 , 2 airstones and tubing and air pump $20, bag of perlite/vermiculite grow bag $12 , seperate 1 bottles greenform vege/flowering fertz $36 and $20 for superthrive hormones, 2x 24w 2700k cfl $12 , piece of project board $10, timer $6.

so basically I spent just around $200 for the setup

If you can see from photo ( camera phone pix sorry) that I have spare space in corner of my room were closet and draws are I have got piece of project board and cut a hole in the centre of it so I could place the globe and it sits on top of the drawer and I glued some brackets to hold it so can be placed like a lid ontop -->

the fan I already had and most of you will have a spare fan which I have
blowing cold air in a circular motion and you can feel the air coming out
the top where I placed a vent.I have a old bed sheet taped to the area and is just weighted down to hold it on place , easy to get to.The fan is only place you can tell theres a light in there and when fan turns off the bed sheet comes back out so no light can get in there .. all up 148w of cfl which they say should equal 700 watts of light.

Above photo of my two seedlings and I have a lamp reflect that was laying around the house with two 24w 2700k cfl aimed at the seedlings as well and when plants are bigger can adjust them towards plants when they older.It looks alot brighter than it does in photos as cameraphone adjusts to light levels. the light is blinding if you stick your head in there.

the growlush 100w energy saver

the box lol
ok and here is the self watering pot that I have modified a little -->

plastic seperation of the pot for two plants so roots wont tangle

can you see the airstone in above photo , I replaced the small ones in photo above with one 6inch airstone going sideways so both plants will be getting bubbles to their roots, using some contact cement to keep it floating or moving.

reason I have placed a seperation in the pot using some cut out plastic is because I am growing two plants in the same pot using a perlite /vermiculite grow medium.

at this stage all I have is 2 seedlings and will be training them to grow vertically along the wall at the top . I am running on 18/6 using a timer thats all hooked up so when lights come on so does the fan , airpump etc ..

I will be trying for a sog and a vertical scrog in the same area ... alot of work but what I am aiming for is growing two mother plants and training them to grow along chicken wire at the top near light and length ways so canopy gets good light.Then taking clones and growing them vertically like a sog in good potting mix and growing them for two weeks then placing them outside to flower and this is what I am trying to go for good a constant supply of weed because I am sick of paying for the stuff.

the container with small pots to grow clones then placing outside to flower.

I do have some questions ...

1.Do I really need to buy another globe 2700k 100w growlush as they do have them but I don't really want to spend anymore money. one day I may decide to flower the mothers inside the grow area.From what I have read the 6400k is for veging and the 2700k for flowering and using only a 6400k light will produce buds but they will be small and tight and if using just a 2700k you get long stringy loose buds.Using two different globes at same time is what I know I should do but cant be stuffed spending another $100 for another lamp holder and the 2700k globe.

2.Will I have to worry about PH because the fertlizer I am using is Ph adjusted or friendly or some crap, I was told just to flush with clean water once a month.They sell ph adjuster for aquariums with tester and ph up and down for $14 at kmart , can I use that ?

3. Should I place something over the perlite mix to stop green algae , can I use plastic or foil or something

4. will me seperating the pot like that be enough to stop roots from tangling ?


This is my first ever indoor grow and my first post on this site so be nice ..
I will report back in a month or so to show you progress...

 

[Dr Dog]

Firstly
You need to get your plants closer to the bulb

Light dissapates quickly, and what is getting to your plants, is hurting them more than helping them.
I would not use an aquarium test kit, as the ph scale for fish is different than for weed. Try and find some water ph testing kit, probably already at Kmart or walmart. Drops form.
It is not your fert ph you should be worried about it is your water.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

The seedlings I moved about 8 inches away from the globe ... and are growing great ...

the tap water where I am is good ... but I am still boiling water then letting it cool and using this as the water supply ..

will report back in a month or so ...

 

[Maj.PotHead]

The seedlings I moved about 8 inches away from the globe ... and are growing great ...

the tap water where I am is good ... but I am still boiling water then letting it cool and using this as the water supply ..

will report back in a month or so ...

personally i woulnt boil the water to make it distilled thats no good for cannibis just allow the water to sit in open just 12-24 hrs before use.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

ok thanks for your advice , I have moved light a little closer and the tap water I am putting in old 2litre plastic bottles and letting them sit for a while , they also get to room temperature which is better than straight out the tap and being very cold which can shock plants.

Here are the plants 7 days since last photo above -->

I am using a few drops of this -->

and grow fert as well but very diluted -->

I will be increasing strength in fertilizer in a week or so , will report back in a month ...

 

[Dr Dog]

Plants look pretty healthy

When using a CFL bulb, you should try and get the bulb almost right on top of them

 

[NightVision]

Hey DrGreenthumb, in that second pic, I think I have a bowl just like the one the pots are setting on. It has silver lining around it and you can't put it in the microwave.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

its not a bowl ... its a big dinner plate ...

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

Ok here is 10 days later , I transplanted them a few days ago from soil to perlite.

I washed the roots under the tap with warm water and placed into perlite and sprayed some superthrive hormones to help reduce shock and worked great ...
the plants are showing some purple on the stems .... good fruity skunky smell as well coming from the leaves and tips ..

anyhow everythings going well , have upped strength of ferts will report back in a month.. ...

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

Ok sorry I been busy anyhow heres an update ..

Both plants showed preflowers one was male so ripped that one and the other female anyhow I put that outside in soil because a friend ordered seeds from amsterdam, super skunk and mango.The bag seed plant will flower in winter a fair few months from now.

Now indoors I have 2 super skunk seeds that are 40days old and are growing just great and I am planning on flowering them indoors and as it's summer here so no chance of getting clones from them to flower outside.I have switched the lights back from 18/6 to 12/12.

I plan on flowering fully then trimming buds then reveging and getting clones from the reveged mother plant ready for when its nearing winter and days are shorter for outdoor flowering.I also want to keep flowering and reveging the mother plants for a while that's if I hopefully get two female super skunks.

heres photo of plant thats outside and is 3 months old and from original photos from first post as you can see I have trained it to stay low.I put a mango seedling to replace the male and hoping it is female as well -->

And here are my super skunk babys only 40days old , I placed the bottle of superthrive and a pen so you can get better idea on size of plants I would say around 8 or so inches high-->

I have read up and can't decide when is a good time to flower , nodes , age etc.My plants would be taller if I did not prune them early but I wanted them bushy so my question is can you tell from photos if they are mature enough to flower, they have atleast 1.5 foot height room for the flower growth spurt and if I remove stand then they would have 2 foot for flowering but thats it.Does anyone have experience with super skunk and if it's ok to flower them as I just put 12/12 today on the timers and can change it back easy.


thanks in advance for your replies..

 

[Dr Dog]

I have grown superskunk in the past

Mine were tripling in size in flower, so if you want 2 feet plants, then you are probably at the right height

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I just put 12/12 today on the timers and can change it back easy.

No you can't.

It is not a good idea to switch the light cycles around. It is a lot of stress and could potentially result in hermies.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

Ok thank you both for your advice ...

Now I know why my plant outside last year was hermi because at night time I would go outside to do whatever and the light would shine on top of plant .. and it was hermi

atleast I now know light leaks etc can cause hermis ... thanks

will report back in a month or so when I have buds to show off ..

 

[sito007]

looking nice son

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

Ok one of the super skunks showed male ball flowers so I put it outside in the dirt because I want the pollen to store in fridge for breeding in the future.The other skunk is femal and showing white hairs.I placed the big bagseed plant that was outside inside in place of the male skunk because it's female and showing white hairs.

The mango plant thats in photo from outside has shown male and female sex on same plant so Im chucking that one in the bin.

Alot of stuffing around but atleast I know theres two female plants indoors undr lights .. female super skunk and female bagseed and I am flowering them.

See you in a month when I have bud photos ..

 

[labtec]

Awesome grow man. Looking good. Like Dr. Dog said though, you should get that bulb right on top of those plants, you'd be amazed at the growth difference. As long as there's a slight breeze your plants can literally be a couple inches away from that cfl bulb, if not closer.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

yeah I did have them sitting higher near globe & have dropped them a level so when they stretch from flowering the buds will surround the globe vertically ..

the warmth in grow area is around 25-30oC in there & the 2x 24 wat 2700k lights which also provide the sidelighting for lower leaves/buds...

I turn the plants around every few days as well ...will report back in 2 weeks

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

The plants a stretching like crazy & I even had to drop the pot down again , so since I started flowering the tops have stretched nearly a foot already as the tops of plants were nearly touching the globe and only have say another 6 inches to lower them again so they have atleast another foot to grow before the tops be burning on the globe lol..theres white hairs showing as well..

will report back when theres a heap of white hairs

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

here is day 14 of flowering with white hairs all over the place and also some resin forming-->

the other female bag seed plant next to the super skunk is not as covered in white hairs so its alot slower growing so hopefully the transplant shock from outside to inside wont hurt it too much.

will report back in a couple weeks..

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

Here is 21 days into flowering -->

there is lots of frosting of resin already on buds and the leafs.

I have pollinated 2 lower branches of the SS female with SSpollen and mango pollen so I have seeds to put away and I plan on growing the super mango slunk strain outdoors this summer.The bag seed plant next to SS is flowering so slowly and I am not concerned with it as I will be chucking it in the bin when it eventually completes flowering as that badseed strain is rubbish.

will report back in a week or so.