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lighting questions

samwise gamgee

New member
hi , a friend of mine is just starting a pair of spliff gold bubblegun girls (i hope they are girls?) in a closet area about 2 1/2' x 3 1/2' x 5'
has grown outdoors, never such a lil space...

anyway, they are about a week old and doing great under a ass-load of 6500k 100 watt cfl on a 20/4 schedule.
had planned on using 4 x 65 watt 2700k cfl for flower, but just got a deal on a 150w hps.
will the 150w hps be enough to get good buds? or should he use it combined with the cfl's also?

the sun was always easy to figure out, but space and stealth and shitty weed are forcing drastic measures:thinking:
 

samwise gamgee

New member
that is another concern... havent got the hps yet, and wasnt going to start using it for about another week or so. you think with the hps above and the big cfl's around in corners and between plants will do it?
i've heard you dont get as good of yield with cfl's, thats why adding the 150w hps.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
i took some pics of them. the little one is a couple days behind the other one... slow germinating. was about to give up on her... 003.jpg

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i have never grown with cfl's so i cant really comment on them. i can tell you that i use a 400w hps in a space a tiny bit bigger than yours. i would look at getting another 150w in there but if thats not an option the cfl's will help forsure.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
thanks. just wasnt sure if it was going to be enough... dont want a bunch of twigs
that would really suck!
was planning to go with a 250 or 400w hps, but hey, who can turn down a free light?
 
But it also depends on your definition of "twigs". Some people can think a plant under 4 feet is a twig.

They will do just fine for personal and a few. look up micro grows and 150hps. Some people are getting around 3/4 of a gram per watt in like 3 cu. ft. [1-1.5sq.ft]

-If you add the cfls to the hps it only gets better. Cfl's can be tuned a little better for useable light in theory. Changing out spectrums with CFLS is eazy peezy. Plus they are dirt cheap and can be bought anywhere. I found some 26w 2700k's at Walgreens on sale I bought
HPS not so much, one spectrum per bulb.
The HPS is great but puts out a lot of heat, that plants just don't utilize as much.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
ok... so these ladies are 2 weeks old. the 150w hps came today and i got all my lights in where i want em... and heat doesnt seem to be an issue. (I'm venting it with a 4" fan into the attic)
they were doing pretty good with just the cfl"s, so i hope adding this hps will help.

these two are both supposed to be the same spliff seeds bubblegun feminised, but look completely different.

the one that germ first has lots of small leaves, and the one that took a couple extra days is getting fewer (but really big) leaves...
maybe i been smokin too much... who knows?
 

ogtommy

Member
cfl's will definitely help when have s such a small area but they have to be kept really close to the plant. the hps on the other hand gives off a lot more heat. pit the back of your h hand at plant level, if the hps is getting it hot, move it up a bit. bud production should be good if you keep your plant short.I wouldn't veg for too long cause the light won't be able to penetrate all the way down. lol into training your plant to maximize yield.lst,scrog,etc
 

samwise gamgee

New member
well.. these girls(?) seem to be liking the lights. i was looking and they germinated 0n 3/11 and 3/13. the smaller one actually germinated first. i've had them under18/6 since i switched them to these 3 gal. pots a few days ago because the roots were sticking out of the bottoms in the smaller ones. would have gone with smaller pots, and then stepped up to these, but why stress these ladies with an extra transplant?
 

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samwise gamgee

New member
i have been putting them outside for 2-3 hrs a day also. i get some good sun on my lil back porch in early afternoon, so i am trying to utilize all of it i can.
... have a lot of nieghbors though...
got to be careful doing this
 
K

kooldave67

Make sure you watch temp flux. It maybe 75ish in the grow closet and colder out side this would also stunt growth. Just thoughts.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
its been in the upper 70's-mid80's everyday here.
stays around 80 in closet with lights on.
never below 68. (thats where the house thermostat stays)

anyone got any ideas how much longer they should veg? was told with bubblegum to keep veg short... how short is short?
 

samwise gamgee

New member
some more pics of these girls
 

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You have good full structure,but not too many nodes yet. That is my definition of a short veg.
I have heard the opinion if you are using cfll's and starting from to seed to induce a short veg time [less than 2 months], but I usually find that inadequate. When starting from seed I have vegged under cfl for these periods [1 month][2 months][3 months]. I find that they all get to be about the same size when finished. The main differences I have been noticing is that 3 months vegged plants have more node sites, but only slight weight increases when done, so not much of a trade-off in my experience for an extra 4-6 weeks.

If you don't know how they react when they a flipped, my opinion, is to flip them now and see what happens.

i.e. If you made copies, you can veg longer in the future if they need it or shorter if they have a lot of stretch during flower.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
thanks for the advice s.l.
heres a couple of pics of the ladies. three weeks old
they seem to be doing good. reallybushy and tons of new growth
sorry. the camera on my phone isn't all that great
 

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tube dude

Member
I would advise against putting your plants outside. You could bring in all kinds of pest that you would not want in your grow room.
 

samwise gamgee

New member
they really seem to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air... if i didnt have so many neighbors i would leave them outside.
i'm afraid my lights will never compete with the sun
i have alwys grown outdoors though, and i guess its hard to make an old dog quit chasing cars... or learn new tricks... but i'm trying my best for these girls. and i really appreciate and welcome all your advice and criticism.
here''s a couple of pics i took today
 

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