How many plants under 100w CFL?

[wrekstar]

Thinking to grow in two litre bottles
either 12/12 on photoperiod
or 18/6 on autoflowers..

What should i go with? photoperiod or autoflower

and how many do you think i should stick under a 100w CFL?
goal = 28g.

Dimensions of cab = 80cm H x 57cm W x 36cm D
Lights = 2x30w CFL + 2x20w CFL ALL 2700K
Soil = Normal ordianary local soil
Nutrients = Will order a good range of nutes
Venting = exhaust fan , intake holes and fan blowing across lights

Any ideas? on what i should do?

I've seen blynx grows and other ones, just personally asking.

 

[geeker]

currently, i personally have 2 plants (1 in a small coffee can, the other in a 20 oz foam cup) under 107w of cfl. then again i have no exhaust and rely completely on passive air movement created by the single fan i have in said box.

 

[sneaky101]

I would say 2, 3 at the most.

 

[wrekstar]

photoperiod on 12/12
or auto on 18/6?

 

[geeker]

12/12

 

[TheGreenBastard]

It's up to you really, personally I prefer AF's when space is limited. You have over 2sqft of floor space so you could EASILY fit 4 AF's in there. If you went with ~6x6 inch pots you could fit 6 plants with a few inches to spare. If you ran some good SOG AF's like Pinkbud from SGS you should have great results in that space. I'd say 28g is a good goal and I'd imagine you exceeding that once dialed in with some better lighting (replace those CFL's with 110w's of PLL's and you'll be hitting .5g/w in no time).

Anyway, if your interested in AF's I'd say throw half a dozen in that cab and after a few runs you could expect an eighth to a quarter per plant consistently. Right now it seems that your most limiting factors are going to be lighting and growing medium. Rather than using local soil I'd go with a good soil/soilless mix and basic veg and flower nutes, Fox Farm is a good place to start. Then after this run (which should be a seed run if your using AF's) upgrade your lighting.

 

[whatsupdoc]

I've (fairly consistently) pulled 56g from a 1.4 sq ft footprint with one decent plant. You might want to up your expectations! Best of luck.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I'd never advocate upping your expectations, every setup/grower is different and when it is your first run you should not expect too much. An oz is a great goal for your first run under 100w, after a few completed grows you should be yielding at least half a gram per watt.

 

[wrekstar]

thanks for the replies guys, they've been great and helpful

@thegreenbastards : i cant fit pl-ls atm just becasue i cant go thru the hasle of wiring them, maybe next time but thanks

Also, would 12/12 from seed deliever a higher / faster yield or aUTOFLOWer?

Blynx's grows are great

Im just not sure to take the risk of more than 2 plants under the 100w
If you understand, would it be better for me to use the whole 100w on one plant?
or on a range of plants?

 

[stihgnobevoli]

under 70w hps with half gallon pots i pull roughly between 7 and 14 grams per plant. with 100w of cfl im sure you can achieve similar if not better. i wouldn't do more than 4 plants though unless you can either surround them with light or train them low. the plants are gonna bush outside of your light footprint.

if you are only going to do 1 or 2 plants then i would really look to LST and planting in bigger pots like 1 gallon.

 

[wrekstar]

how many plants do you usually do?
and any veg time?

i will probably do 12/12 from seed
about 3 plants in 3-4 litre pots
or even 2 litre pots

will use lST anyways
probably some indica strains i'll use

 

[wrekstar]

* what pot size do u guys think i shud use

 

[sgapetti]

i have d35cm x w35cm x h70cm, 120 watt 8 plants




i would go with 6x30watt, when using 12/12 from seed or just a few days of veg a sativa leaning pheno work fine. with more indica you can veg a bit longer, but you want short fat plants.

 

[wrekstar]

bro i can only fit 4 lamp holders inside, and i cud do 3x30w but im not sure about temps
so 2x30 + 2x20w CFl on the safe side

 

[Anti]

(All pics above from my micro CFL cab.)

How many plants under X watts depends on many things.... like how you feel about plant count, what variety of plant you want to grow and what your space is like.
​

Your space with your 100w of light has a "maximum budding" capacity of its own.

With the right techniques (i.e. vert scrog) you could hit that "max" capacity with one plant.

With other techniques (i.e. SOG) you could hit that same "max" capacity with thirty plants.

So if you try to grow 2 large plants in a space that can only support 1 large plant, you're going to have two plants with smaller, larfier buds instead of 1 plant with nice compact nugs. The smaller larfier buds will add up to about the same weight as the 1 good one would've, but it'll be less appealing and less enjoyable to smoke.

Because you are planning to use low wattage CFL as your light source, my suggestion would be to keep the bottom of the lights no more than 12" from your soil and having your plants finish in the space within.

CFL luminosity is rated at a distance of 1 ft. So if your 20w bulb is rated at 1200 lumens, that means that, one foot from the bulb, it is putting out 1200 lumens. If you raise your bulb by another foot, you loose all but a quarter of that. So at 2 ft. from the bulb, your 1200 lumens is down to 300 lumens. Which will not give you fat juicy trichome covered buds.

So my recommendation in your space is to use small containers, many plants and to flower them 12/12 with no veg period. (As soon as you see first real growth, flip the switch to 12/12). Trim off large fan leaves after about 4-5 weeks of 12/12.


So I'm suggesting that you grow many small (12" tall) plants inside a 2sq ft. space like yours.

My micro cabinet had two chambers and each chamber was roughly the same size as yours (but mine wasn't as tall, only about 59cm) but I was running 6x42w lights (252w) in the same space.

EDIT: If there's something unhelpful about this post, somebody please let me know what it is so I can fix it. Thanks!

 

[wrekstar]

@Anti : Thanks for the reply bro, i understand, i would SCROG but that takes more attention which i can only tend the plants every two dasy really, my gf will be their to water them and what not.

My lights are ' clip on lamps ' so can be placed even on the sides of the pots, they will be above the pots

By trimming, wont that fuck up bud production?
as the fan leaves?

How many plants did you fit in your cabinet?

I've decided to grow four smaller plants inside the cabinet, in smaller pots 1L-2L
and LST a lot to see what happens, might just let them grow in one single cola?
4g of each and im happy : )

How do i know when they've had enough water? say for a litre pot or two litre pot.

Thanks for the replies guys, im searching aswell
just like the concentrated form of answers you guys give

 

[Anti]

@Anti : Thanks for the reply bro, i understand, i would SCROG but that takes more attention which i can only tend the plants every two dasy really, my gf will be their to water them and what not.

I wasn't recommending that you scrog. I don't scrog. too much work, too much veg time, etc.

I was just saying, you can maximize your own area in many different ways.

The way I choose is to get as many plants in (without completely crowding each other out) and to make sure that the ENTIRE plant is close enough to the light that I have bud growing right down to the soil.

(I don't wanna grow a bunch of stems or sticks. Just buds.)

By trimming, wont that fuck up bud production?
as the fan leaves?

This is a subject of debate. Most of the large fan leaves will yellow and fall off on their own during the course of flowering. The plant will grow smaller leaves at the budsites. In a situation where you had no restrictions of size, I'd recommend you leave those fan leaves until they yellowed off naturally. However, in close quarters (2.14 sq. ft. of growing space) your plants will all do better if they are not competing with each other for available light. You'll get better overall bud development (in my experience) by trimming excess branches (IN A SOG ENVIRONMENT). If you were going to grow a few plants that were not crowding into each other, I would not recommend you trim the fans.

How many plants did you fit in your cabinet?

My cab was 43cm L x 43 cm W x58cm H and the pots I used (and still use in my colosseum grow) are 6.35cm L x 6.35cm W x 25.4cm tall. So I could physically fit 36 of my pots in my space at a time in 6 rows of 6 plants each. However, there was so much competition for light with thirty six plants that my per plant average was significantly lower. I found that when I kept it to about 18-25 plants that I got to pull 2-4 nice looking plants out every week.

I've decided to grow four smaller plants inside the cabinet, in smaller pots 1L-2L
and LST a lot to see what happens, might just let them grow in one single cola?
4g of each and im happy : )

I got 5-6g each in 20 oz. soda bottles for my first ever grow. No need to use 1L-2L to get 4g.

I get about 12-14g in my containers which are 857ml.

(See my last post for pictures of my pots and a recent harvest.)

How do i know when they've had enough water? say for a litre pot or two litre pot.

Here's what I do:

Submerge your entire pot so that the soil is below the water line. When it stops bubbling, it's done. Allow it to drain thoroughly before putting it back in your cabinet.