First time grow, mini-DWC CFL setup, advice welcome

[Robotrumble]

Hi everyone, been a long time reader on this forum and I finally got the space (not really, just a closet, 29"x37"x68"), and most importantly the privacy to try my own grow project. I'm working on an extremely tight budget and this is basically my learning run so I didn't want to waste time/money/space on trying to go for massive plant count or anything like that. I originally wanted to do a vertical grow setup but haven't been able to set up the lights the way I wanted to yet so for now the lights are just above the plants.

So far I have two 5gal buckets with separate pumps although I might just split it from one later to reduce noise. I currently have a female SourD in one and an unknown in the other lol. It was from a collection of seeds I had gathered a while ago but didn't bother to label what strain it came from at the time. Both are growing well and have a healthy root system going on under the bucket.

I will put up pics as soon as I can so that you guys can take a look and give me advice as to what I'm doing right/wrong as well as some tips to improve my setup. Please keep in mind this is my first time so I will also have a lot of questions as I am growing. Thanks a lot!

I realized the "mini-dwc" in my title is a little misleading, the mini was simply the fact that I only have two buckets going...not tiny buckets lol.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

got any pix of all of this.

 

[thehappyguy]

good luck, man. this is a difficult hobby to start without a decent chunk of cash or a good amount of DIY skills. hope all ends well.

 

[rollinmachine]

with that much space ur gona need alot of cfls stacked all around the plant within an inch of the plant to get a decent outcome. i had 8 cfls over 250watts of cfls ina space half the size of urs (15"x23" footprint n 32" high) dwc tupperware sweater box with 5 plants lst'd. yielded 103 grams dry. thats less then .5gpw. i ran this setup for 2 years. my opinion would be upgrading the light from cfls to hid just for the coverage and penitration cuz ur gona use just as many watts of cfls or more to get anything worth smoking. or shink the space down some...lol.

 

[Robotrumble]

got any pix of all of this.

Pics will be up tomorrow hopefully...don't have internet set up at my new place.

@thehappyguy
Thanks a lot man. I'm definitely going to invest in proper lights and better equipment once I can get a few runs down and get everything dialed in. I didn't want to invest hundreds and mess things up for my first attempt.

@rollinmachine
Thanks for your suggestion. I didn't think my closet was a lot of space but compared to the micro cabs that other guys are working with I guess I do have a lot of vertical space to work with. Do you think I should somehow try to shrink it temporarily with some panda sheets and effectively cut the vertical space in half? I am planning on investing in a good hid at least for flowering once I can get a one or two runs down and I feel confident. What wattage hid do you think would be good enough and not overkill, 400? 600 too much? But I do agree with you that cfls are not going to be good enough in the long run if I want to increase yield and light penetration, etc.

Thanks for your replies guys, I'm sure there will be more to comment on once the pics go up and you can see what I'm working with. Hopefully they'll be up tomorrow.

 

[Seaweed24]

Its all about light position and containment with CFLs, but I do just fine with them in my closet grow. Lets seem some pics

 

[rollinmachine]

start off with a few cfls. depending on if ur going to lst,scrog, super crop u can figure out how to position the lights in conjuction with airflow because u need the plants close to the lights. my biggest nug was the size of a newport 100 box and was less then a quarter inch from 2 lights... a 42watt warm white n a 32 watt cool white stuck up between them actually touching the lights without burn.longest was the size of a bannana. if ur on a budget figure everything out with cfls then u can learn as u go about nutes/ph/temp/humidity/airflow then when u upgrade ur light you will have a good idea of whats goin to happen. put atleast 3 lights for each plant depending on how ur growing them one on top 2 on the sides if ur growin them up or spaced flat across the top if ur goin for a flat canopy. again u can learn how to lst/scrog/ crop before u jump into sumthin bigger. just dont forget exaust and airflow to keep everything cool. pc fans work fine as long as they push enough air for the cfls but the first thing u should upgrade no matter the light would be decent exaust fan with enough cfm to cycle the air out the whole space ur gona use to grow((keep in mind the light wattage u wana upgrade to so u dont waste money in the long run)). in other words if u plan on upgrading ur setup from cfls to hid and ur ona budget dont go and buy every thing thats only going to be sufficiant for the cfls so u dont have to go and buy all new stuff to accomidate the hid. You can leave the space u have open instead of cutting it in half it may help keep the temps down a bit just put some sort of reflector on the cfl so ur not wasting half the light and keep them adjustable. the round shoplights(i think they are called) can be hung or clipped to something and have a relector already if u dont wana make 1. u can add splitters to it to hold 2-3 cfls. and they also can be used as side lighting when u plan on upgrading. Just remember that ur grow is ur grow and stuff that works for others might or might not work for you. i ran my setup with cfls for over 2 years learned alot about everything that has to do with growing n now im in the process of shoving a 400w hps ina armoir thats 22.5"d x33"w x48"h for flower. at the bottom of the armoir theres 17" d x est.17" h for each chamber and 36"w divided into 2 a mother chamber and a drying area. I hope it works been workin on it for 2 weeks puttin it together...lol. good luck to you on ur journey hope everything works out for ya.

 

[Robotrumble]

Hey guys, sorry about the lack of updates and pics. Apparently comcast messed up my order and now I have to wait another week for my internet to get set up.
However my plants have been growing well. I flipped the switch a few days ago and the "unknown" plant is stretching like crazy, it's already caught up in height to the SD plant. Other than that, I just added a few more lights and took two clones off the SD for now. I promise pics will be up as soon as I can. Just out of curiosity how long after the 12/12 flip do plants usually start budding? I'm sure it differs by strain but just curious to the average time frame. Thanks

 

[rollinmachine]

depends on the veg and strain from what i seen. 1-2 weeks i belive would be a good guess. maybe 3 it all depends on above circumstances and enviorment.

 

[Robotrumble]

Excellent, I'm coming up on my first week in a few days, hopefully next week I'll start to see some buds forming.

I really wanted to SCROG these two but I never got around to installing the screen so I guess that will have to wait till round 2. I topped the SD and I may have to top the unknown which I THINK is either Super Lemon Haze or Lemon Skunk, I guess I'll find out in another few weeks which one. What are some easy ways to LST these guys, I know string can be used but I actually don't have any so I've just been bending them.

This is the Sour Diesel clone sitting pretty while I was top feeding her, waiting for some roots to drop down into the water.

 

[Robotrumble]

And then there were roots...

second pic is my lemon plant on its first day in the bucket, been top feeding her under a single cfl light until roots started creeping out from under. Needless to say, after I dropped it into the dwc bucket, it started growing like crazy.

 

[rollinmachine]

lookin good

 

[Secrecy]

she looks happy! keep it up dude!!

 

[Robotrumble]

thanks a lot guys, I'm pretty happy with the way things are going for my first run. I finally got internet installed so here are more pics as promised.

that's day two after the root's dropped into the water

day 3

and root mass starting to form at day 4 :yay:

 

[Robotrumble]

More pics

Day 5

Day 6...she's really starting to take off now

Day 7 already reaching for the lights

even more roots at day 7

 

[Friend]

Might want to get those bulbs up a little higher, the curling leaves show that the plant is too hot.

 

[Robotrumble]

yeah I definitely raised the lights after I saw that. These plants are way past this stage at this moment, I'm just putting up pics from the beginning.

 

[Robotrumble]

some more pics

day 10

day 13 notice the burn mark cuz I found it in the morning touching from such fast growth

roots looking healthy

the space I'm working with. more lights have been added since

 

[rollinmachine]

hey ditch the tin foil. go grab an emergency blanket for $2 and it will cover most ur area with just 1. just tape it up but if u use staples put sum tape where ur going to staple it so it dont tear the blanket. very cheap mylar and alot better then foil. i belive its like 5'x8'???

 

[Robotrumble]

hey ditch the tin foil. go grab an emergency blanket for $2 and it will cover most ur area with just 1. just tape it up but if u use staples put sum tape where ur going to staple it so it dont tear the blanket. very cheap mylar and alot better then foil. i belive its like 5'x8'???

would you know where they would sell that? I know what you're talking about but I just don't know where to buy it. Thanks for the tip, I just had foil so I did that but if the blanket is better then I will change it out asap.