help

[B_L_0_W]

this is my first time growing. ok so a friend of mine gave me his plant. he said its only like 2 weeks old. its about 2 feet tall right now. I have it in my closet and its under a 300 watt bulb. and a 40 watt next to it. I put tin foil up around it. the closet is in my room and its in the basement which is kinda cold so I put a heater in there to warm it up. it looks fine for the most part. its nice and warm in there. Ill try and post pics as soon as I can. is the 300 watt bulb with the 40 watt next to it too much? and should I not have a heater in there? he also said to have the light off for 14 hours and then have it on for 12. I dont think thats right? how long do you think I should have the light on it for?

[ninfan77]

300w CFL?

14/12 will induce flowering. Do you want it to flower?

[douley01]

it should be on something more like an 18/6 cycle right now, and tinfoil actually absorbs light away from the plants, you actually want to put just plain flat white around your plants, thats the most reflective surface.

[greendream69]

well first of all what kind of lights are they? high pressure sodium? metal halid? flouresent ? and i wold prob lose the tin foil? i would also get a thermometer down there 2, to get some temps to find out weather or not u need the heater. an

[B_L_0_W]

yeah Im pretty sure its a compact fluorescent one. its one of those spiral looking bulbs. yeah I want it to flower

[B_L_0_W]

http://www.stevesphotoshop.co.uk/images/25w_5000k_daylight_spiral_bulb.jpg

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:V9am_WrMVKPORM:http://www.zilla-rules.com/assets/004/9784_200wh.jpg

I have those right now. should I keep the reflector dome? its metal

[ninfan77]

So its a 5000K cfl?

You either want 6400K for Vegging, and 2700K for Flowering, and for a plant of that size, at least 5x26w You'd prob be better going with T5 floros.

[Naturalhi]

I agree those lites ya got are OK as extra light but it's the t-5s that get the job done, at least for vegging IMO hps is still the best for flower=>D

[B_L_0_W]

Do you think that light will work for now?

[greendream69]

yea those lights will be fine. but if u want to induce flower then ul need a 2700k bulb.

[B_L_0_W]

T8 FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHT compact T5 cfl Replacemnt
HIGH OUTPUT,3 BULBS, MIRROR LIKE REFLECTOR, HIGH GRADE

would this be better for a plant overall. would I then need the other bulb for anything, or just use this?

[Naturalhi]

I only tried them once, for a couple of weeks between t-13 and the new T-5 installation, they seem to go dormant neither growing nor withering ?>\

setup was; 4 - 26w CFL's in a 2'x2'x3' shelf :>)

[B_L_0_W]

I think my plant is growing too slow. like I changed the light cycle to 18/6 and it seems to only be getting taller. ive seen some other people's plants on here and there arent as many leaves on mine and its like 2ft 4 inches now.

[lune]

It's getting taller because you're light is too small, so instead of staying squat it's stratching upwards in search of more light. If there is a decent amount of space between the nodes (where the leaves come out) then this is definatly the problem. People that use low wattage lights usually train (bonsai) the plant so it has more than one top. Each top is an equal distance from the light, so more light reaches all the buds and you get a higher yield. That T8/t5 would be great with what you have for vegging plants, but for just a little more dough you could get a HID lamp that would bump up your yield by a whole bunch.
A 250w mh/hps (or even a 150w) is still pretty small and easy to cool, and instead of trying to push for an ounce you'd be trying to push for a QP or maybe more once you have some experience.

heres a good site:
http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/items.asp?Cc=HL&Bc=

Good luck.

[B_L_0_W]

Would this work?

400 Watt METAL HALIDE GROW LIGHT BULB NEW! 8 INCH ED-28

[lune]

I grow with a 400w mh, and average maybe somewhere around 5-6 zips per harvest. That should do you fine, just make sure to buy a fan with it to keep things cool and you're in business. I use a 4 inch fan, I think it's rated at 112 CFM, I forget. I'm going to be getting a bigger 6 inch fan soon, to help things run smoother during the summer.

[B_L_0_W]

alright thanks. I just got one off ebay. should be here within a few days.

[lune]

Cool, good to hear, good luck

(and don't tell anyone )

Peace

[B_L_0_W]

how much do you think one plant would yield

[lune]

It depends on how long you veg it, the bigger you grow it the more it will yield. You could veg it barely at all and get a 1/2 oz, or veg it for a couple monthes and get 5 zips. Yield also depends on the strain, some strains don't give that much bud (but might give amazing weed), others are known for getting really big yields easily. Odds are youre first grow your not going to be pulling half a pound, just cuz your bound to mess up in one way or another in some way, but the more you grow the more you learn and perfect your setup.

If you want to get an idea of what to expect then head over to icmag.com and check out the grow forums. There are a lot of people there that grow with 400s, with all sorts of different setups (there are separate sections for soil/coco/hydro/outdoors/etc). The best advice I can give you is find someone with a simple one and just copy it. Mine is pretty simple and it works great.

Get a book too, it's a lot easier to learn the basics by reading a book than it is sifting through a forum. At places like icmag, or hg420, or other forum that are just for growing, people will straight up ignore you for asking newbie stuff. Ya gotta do some homework, but its so worth it in the end that it's not even funny. IMO this is the coolest hobby there is.

Peace.... if you got anymore questions then ask away

http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/13748IMG_1111-med.JPG

[B_L_0_W]

is there an easy way to tell when its ready to flower

[B_L_0_W]

well this sucks. its a male plant. what can I do with one male. could I make hash from the leaves?

http://forum.cannabis-seeds.cc/uploads/post-5-1088832475.jpg

mine looks kinda like this. it has those little balls. just not as many.


also- I have four 1 day old plants going and one of then is already sticking out and it has a purple tint to it. what would that mean.

[lune]

If you were going to make has you're have to finish flowering. Honestly I don't even know if you can make hash outta males. I think you're best bet would be to buy a pack of seeds and start over. Things'll end up better if you do everything right this time anyway. Good luck.

[Naturalhi]

Good greif! male plants are a very poor source for THC, if thats oall you're looking for, medicinally it should have all the CBD's n CBN's etc.>\

Also, something else is you're going to have scrub your room from ceiling to floor and back, and all around to rid grow room of pollen so your next female won't get impregnated=>O

[B_L_0_W]

is there a place like home depot where you can get a ballast at

[lune]

If you want a legit setup it's best to go to a hydroponics shop, or order online from a hydroponics supplier. You can convert some lights from home depot into growlights, but they are all small lights (70 and 150w....not really that big) plus I'd be worried about burning my house down.

You should be able to find a local hydro shop on google, be careful if you go to one, don't bring up the herb or come in with a strong herbal funk on your clothes. It's also best if you borrow someone elses car, just to be safe. These places are used a good deal for legit growing, but growers use them too and cops know this. Pay cash, and get rid of any reciept they give you. Don't sign up for any mailing lists. If someone asks (a good shop won't),you're growing tomatos...

Online some good sites are bghydro and plantitearth. It's best to pay by MO.

Both stores and website will also have anything and everything else youll need for growing.

Peace.