400w shelf grow.

[CFL_Grow]

Hello everyone. Since my last grow I have ditched the CFL's and went HID with a 400w switchable ballast and super sun 2 hood. I got the hood hung with all heavy weight chains, etc. Superb, much better then 10 light bulbs to deal with.

I've just put a bunch of seeds in for the paper towel method. I will report back when I have something with leaves.

Had to ditch the cab from my last grow, this hood is huge, it didn't fit. I will be building a bigger platform for my plants down a little lower. Going for tall skinny plants, small pots.

Might find a female and take clones to SOG in the closet. We will see what happens. Going to be adding some Mylar and a few other small improvements but this is the general idea for this grow. KISS.

 

[BroughtSuperior]

bro, that looks to close for such young plants, look out!

 

[FRANKENBLUNT420]

damn cuz, you growin plants or incubatin' eggs?! 400 watts and that looks about 18"s away too!

nah man, you got problems out the gate. start them of with the CFL's and then use that HPS for flowering.

that HPS light so early on is gonna cause your plants to stretch way too much in the beginning. you'll be messing up your options to get a good amount of clones and bud in the long run

an aspect of the KISS method is to realize that less is more!

 

[one Q]

agree.

You can still use the 400w at this stage tho, but I recommend 2 things.
1) back it up to about 24" between pots and glass.
2) get a fan on that air-cooled hood and get the heat out of the closet. If you live in a real COLD climate the heat could be useful tho. If this is the case, just do #1.

They may stretch a little but that's something you can fix later. But if you still have those CFLs around, use'm. Dont Learn the harrd way, like I do/did.

 

[CFL_Grow]

Cool thanks guys. There are no plants in those pots yet but i will remember that when my seeds pop. I will most likely get a MH bulb to veg with since the ballast is switchable, i was just firing up the bulb for a picture and to make sure it did work, and test heat build up

Temps in the closet are 2F over ambient, which is 75ish at the moment. This closet has an open ceiling which will let the hot air rise right out of the room Have a fan blowing on the ballast and one blowing on the glass.

Be back in a few days. One seed is starting to pop, so it won't be long.

 

[tonto]

your clothes are going to smell dank + is that a leather jacket?

 

[CFL_Grow]

Haha. Yes that's a leather jacket for my CBR929.

Well I am working on round 2 of beans. My two cats did a number on round 1, leason learned.

I've gotten the closet a little better setup for the grow now. Also i have a MH bulb for veg now and i'll dust off the HPS when it's time. Also made a detachable side with plywood and reflctix, just have to get some hardware from Lowe's to mount it tomo. The table is about 25inx30in and will be open on two sides plus the top now. Have 7feet of height from the highest light position to the floor.

With the added side up:

Two beans up.

I guess it's on now unless I kill my seedlings. Still figuring out the light and how close it should be.. Im just using this one light for the grow. MH for veg, HPS for bloom.

 

[Nicoli]

What soil mix are you using? That looks like straight up Peat and mulch.


??

 

[CFL_Grow]

It is the Organic MG. I know it is not the best but I used it my first grow with sucess. Closest store with FoxFarms is over an hour and my yard is clay..

I should start a compost eh

 

[Nicoli]

Ahh. Well do what works for you, I was just curious if it was str8 peat or not..

CHeers!

 

[CFL_Grow]

Well well well... I have discovered the Cactus soil and perilite. This mix looks and feels much better then the chunky tree bark soil. Will switch to this from now on.

I was also gifted 15 1gallon containers from a local nursery Will use these when i re-pot at a later time.

Temps are 80F max. Things started slow but it's picking up now, a few days later they are starting to pop.

I have started more plants then I can possibly flower on this table top i think, but i still need to find females. Im going to be topping my plants once they are a few nodes.

 

[CFL_Grow]

Beans still popping up.

Dialing in a good starting height for the light. Im around 23inches now with the raised pot being 18in away as my test subject.

They don't appear to be stretching too bad so i think im getting close with the light range now.

 

[CFL_Grow]

Well did i ever score good today. I have been checking out the stores around town for an oscillating fan the last few weeks and most have gotten rid of them all for winter. Today i stopped in Goodwill and they had a few hundred for sale. $2.95 each. Can you belive that ?

I got 5.

All old fans in trash. None oscillated. No more stale air spots. I must say the smell in the room has "cleaned up" also. It doesn't smell stale or moldy or im not sure what word im looking for but it's gone. Fresh now. These new fans also move atleast twice the air of the old ones... the ballast isn't even warm to the touch anymore.

Trashed a few runts today, narrowed it down to 12 plants. Will run these out the course and find my females.

 

[CFL_Grow]

Anywhere from day 4 to 7 for these.

Trying to control the stretch:

Will bury any strech on the re-pot.

 

[CFL_Grow]

The one in the white pot might not make it. When i watered it last time, the water did not drain out the bottom. The container is clogged and not draining so it might drown before the pot dries. We shall see, that was 3 days ago and it's pretty stunted.

 

[BroughtSuperior]

if the container is clogged, you should try as a last resort, squeeze the sides of the pot, till the dirt cracks open, that could make a fend to the water drain from the bottom.
if you can get perlite, and the dirt that you use doesnt perform the way you like, you could try all perlite Hempy bucket style, or even more simple, coco.
cheers

 

[CFL_Grow]

Thanks for the advice I have about 30% perilite in that container, but it's ceramic so i can't squeeze it. I've 'ruffed' up the top few inches of soil to get air in there, time will tell.

I saw that Hempy Bucket thread, and i am interesed in that for my next grow. Seems to yield very well once it's dialed in.

I'm thinking when it's flower time, i will add in a bunch of CFL's that i have left over from the last grow to boost the wattage, and hopefully the yield too ! Cool air has moved in so i don't have any temp worries at all. Should have got a 1000 and emptied the closet... haha.

 

[CFL_Grow]

The little watter logged runt might just pull through ! Today it popped out a little new growth finally.

My first try at topping. Can't wait to see how it grows.

The whole crew. I have been slowly re-potting them into bigger containers.

Light is 20inches away now.
Temp are 75F
About the end of the first real week.

 

[CFL_Grow]

The Metal Halide is amazing in comparison to fighting CFL's.
Working them into their final pots. 15 plants, they all survived. Growth is faster then my first grow, for two reasons i suspect. More wattage and lower temps.

How close do others get their lights in veg ? It's about 17inches and they seem to love it.

Temps are 77F today.

For record keeping purposes we will call the 16th Day 1. Today = day 8.

 

[CFL_Grow]

Day 10

You can see the plant in the white pot, the water logged one, is pulling through ! I have started feeding full strength Superthrive, will do so every feeding for a few feedings. I feed at just above 6.5 PH, or as close as i can get.

Temps are 81F today. highest the plants have seen, it's an unusually hot day outside and windows are open.

I gave them 6 hours of darkness for the first time last nite. Mainly to let the equiptment cool down.

The plant i topped. Not sure what is going on, but something is happening.