Newbie For personal

[Jamrasta]

Hi folks.

New here to the forum but plan on spending alot of time here researching and (Hopefully) become a decent grower.
All my future buds will be purely for personal consumption.
So far i have purchased my seeds from a reputable source, i bought my tent and the coco A&B nutrients.
i also bought PH tester and some PH up and Down and also PH buffer in case of poor levels as i have read that this makes a huge difference.

So my first question is going to be about my Bulb type.
I have done the bargain hunt thing and gone for a tent setup which is "Complete and everything i need"
The light and reflector type is CFL (200W i think it said)
After a little read online it suggested to me that for 1 plant this would be enough.

However i have a friend who laughed when i said i will be using a CFL. Did i mess up before i even began? Or is he just laughing at the one plant thing? :/

From what i have researched so far it would seem LED is a good choice for multiple plants and the different colours help at different stages etc. Then the HID / HPV lights are for really hardcore growths of 16 plants and require alot of power and fan usage.

As with many things i don't always trust google and being that i am a complete newbie to this I'm hoping for some opinions from you lot about the lights i should be using for a small grow. Literally one plant to begin with and see how i get on.

Should i return the CFL or give it a go?

Seeds i have are Super Skunk, girl scout cookie and also some Train Wreck.

thanks in advance for any advice and support.

[Gingerbeard]

Welcome, Jamrasta.
Take a look at this link. CFL's are a perfectly valid grow choice. Not the best yields but still valid.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-grow-lights

[DW2]

Howdy and welcome Jamrasta, I have been using CFLs for all eight grows (hydroponics, DWC) and have had good results. The last two grows yielded 12.8 ounces of bud and 11.3 ounces all using 220 watts of CFL bulbs (two each at 2700° K and 5000° K). The actual wattage rating per bulb is 55 watts (250 watt equivalent). be certain to check the actual wattage rating for the bulb, not the equivalent rating. The CFLs produce less heat than MH or HPS lamps and cost less than LEDs and the HPS and MH lamps.
Good luck with Your grow.

[Mr.furley]

Welcome to the forum Jamrasta
Anybody that laughed at me for trying to grow my own and not helped me with what I had to work with wouldn't be much of a friend in my book.

Simple put yes you can grow 1 plant with 200 watts of cfls. What is misunderstood is that no matter what kind of light source you use, HID, Led, CFL, ect..... a watt is a watt.
What is important is watts to square feet. Around 40 to 50sqft of canopy is ideal for hobby growers to produce phat nugz.

Cfl bulbs will grow cannabis, they have to be keeo closr and just don't have the penetrating capability of Hid unless you have alot of them, which at that point you are still using the same watts as a hid and dealing with about equal amounts of heat.

More then one grower on this forum has/does use CFL bulbs to grow, myself included and will be more then happy to help you without laughing.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cfl-grow-light-cannabis-grow-setup-tutorial

[Jamrasta]

Awesome thanks guys. When all my equipment is here I'm going to post a pic to this thread. Hopefully if anything needs to change people will spot it.
I'm Going through the posted articles now. Very helpful place indeed

[Toker1]

I am not a fan of CFL in veg because you have to constantly adjust the light height to be optimal. Too far up, they stretch... too close and they burn. The forgiveness zone is quite small when compared to LED and HID.
Yields are best on a HID system.
Plant size and watts are directly related, as stated above. You really have to play around with your set up to dial it in to what you need.

[FatBoy40]

Welcome Jamrasta! I am a little over a month into my first grow. A friend of mine did the same to me. I did some research on different light set ups. I decided to go with a light set up that I was told was a waste of money and said that a 1000w HPS was the only way to go. I bought a 630W dual bulb LEC Light for about $380 ish. Also grabbed a 3100K and a 4100K bulb to get all the light spectrums the plant needs. A 4x4 tent. So I did spend some money but with the results im getting I laugh back at them.

[Gingerbeard]

t5's are a good way to go. If you do, make sure the bulb has a cover. I've had veg plants grow into the light without issue.

What do you call plants in veg, anyway? Veggies? Veggers? Veggings?

[Toker1]

Only bad part about the covers, UV won’t pass through them. We call plants in veg clones/seedlings, saplings, pre-teens, teens, and mothers. Depending on their size.

[Gingerbeard]

I like vege-mites. Damn that's funny.

I pulled this experiment from … Third page down.

https://teachers.stanford.edu/activities/InvisibleRays/InvisibleRays.pdf

"First, there is long wave ultraviolet light (300 to 400 nanometers), which most of us recognize as "black light" the light that is often used to make decorations glow in discos and theatrical productions. Long wave UV passes easily through plastic and glass.
Short wave ultraviolet light (100 to 300 nm) is used to kill bacteria, hasten chemical reactions (as a catalyst), and is also valuable in the identification of certain fluorescent minerals. Unlike long wave UV, the short wave UV cannot pass through ordinary glass or most plastics. The shortest wavelengths cannot even travel very far through the air before being absorbed by oxygen molecules as they are converted into ozone."

Also, I don't know about all of them but my LED has a glass cover. Am I missing a different light wave?

[Toker1]

The UV light that is most beneficial to plants is UV-B. 280-320nm. So not all UV-B will pass through standard glass or any plastic, I agree some will.
However, I believe fused quartz glass will allow UV-B passage.

http://www.plantcell.org/content/plantcell/4/11/1353.full.pdf

[FatBoy40]

I also did research on that as well, I bought my set up with just a reflector wing no glass.

[Toker1]

I use UV bulbs in my T5 fixtures (plastic cover removed) to supplement UV light. I have them on brackets so that I can use my hood with glass as my main work horse. I run them 15 min on and 2 hours off during lights on for the last few weeks of flower for increased resin production.

[Jamrasta]

Not sure if i am worrying too much but after starting up,, my little seedling has shot up over the past 2 days.
My equipment was late so only just managed to get going properly.

2 questions for this photo..

1 - Is my plant ok lol? It seems really tall or is that normal? I keep expecting it to fold over at some point because it cant support its own top weight lol. The light is about 6-8 inches above the leafs. Held my hand there for 30 seconds and its not burning me. (Advice taken from the post above)

2 - Is there enough growing medium in there at the moment and if not...should i add more or transplant to new pot?

[SoOrbudgal]

Hello Jamrasta welcome to GWE you've asked a lot of good questions on your lights and received good feedback. Now for your seeds, soil and containers are of upmost importance also. It appears from this photo that your seedling stretched for the light your using ( light to far from top) if it was your CFL or t5 it needs to be about 2-3 from seedling first pops out of soil. If that container is for just the seedling start it definitely needed more soil. Most growers will start seeds in 2-3" small peat plug or rockwool or just a small yogurt cup punched with drainage holes. A very light coco/soil/perlite medium for rapid root growth once germinated seed is popped place it tail down in 1" hole.
Your seedling in photo would greatly benefit now in transplanting to a taller container maybe 1 gal and buried real deep. get it close to your veg/seedling light not your big grow light it will fry it. You got good seeds i'd hate to waste them even if you want to experiment it's up to you.
Good luck and that seedling is fragile.

[HappyDaze]

I'd add some soil. Also, you want a little air movement on seedlings, the stress of rocking back and forth seems to stiffen them up.

Here's a trick for splinting seedlings if you water them into the ground by accident, or it flops over under it's own weight. Take a short segment of plastic drinking straw and slit it up the side. You can then slip it over the stem and press it into the soil slightly to prop it up. I only do this as a last resort, they usually right themselves.

[FatBoy40]

I recommend filling the pot up with soil and let the seedling get stronger before you do any transplanting IMO. but I'm a beginner myself. You can put soil on that stem to help with the weakness.

[Jamrasta]

Thanks people. So i opted for the added soil and i moved the light a little closer. (Done the heat test for 30 seconds its ok)
Here are some pics just to make sure I'm on the right track?
Air flow is decent and i know the tent can probably hold more plants too but i just want the one (for now).
Are my temps and humidity ok? A lot of articles say they should be between two points. Temp i think is fine between 20c-30c?
But humidity levels i have seen varying opinions, so am i ok where I'm at? I mean it's growing so it cant be too bad right?
Appreciate the help

[FatBoy40]

I would also recommend using a different pot next time as well. I have looked at clay pots and found that they are not as easy to work with as say plastic or a cloth pot. Easier for air to hit the root zone. Also you can add holes on the sides of the plastic pot to add access points for air. Generally from what I have read 75 - 80 degrees and between 40 - 60 % RH for vegging and slight air movement and they grow good and fast in those conditions. Again I also stress that I am a beginner myself so all of this is just my opinion.