New Grower My first grow journal. Heavyweight Strawberry Cheese Cake

[hairyman]

CFL are ok you just have to know there limitations, they have little light intensity so you have to keep them real close say 8 to 6 inches, unless you have the really large ones as even they can get too hot, its best to use the (6500k) bulbs for veg and the(2700k) which you have for flowering, even better a mix, though the 6500 will work all the way through, those pots need to go right under the lights pal, a simple rearrangement of the pots will help.Check out the cfl grow threads, and yes a LED would be great in the middle of that, then you could use that as side lighting but if its all ya got and can/want to spend it will produce, also you could do with some thing above them to reflect the light down good luck

 

[HD Grower]

Howdy pigman....Just a newbee here,but I started mine off just about the same as you..My pea pots I cut the bottom almost competely off before placing the bean into it..That way when ready I just removed the bottom.I seen that done with solo cups and figured it should work..So far so good in my 1st grow..


Good luck and Thanks

 

[pigman]

Ok guys this is day 5. I took the bio- pots and tore out the whole bottom of it to give the babies roots a way to go. I then planted them into there 5 gal buckets. I also had a 3rd lady pot out of the dirt so I'm super excited!!!

i gave them a tiny drink of water ph'ed to 6.5 so hopefully that will hold them for a couple days.

Anyways just a thought and wanted to run it by y'all. I was thinking of fabricating an automatic waterer for them. I was thinking about taking a 1liter coke bottle and fill it with water ph'ed to 6.5 and stick it in the dirt upside down. Letting the soil soak up the water as it dries out. But I was worried about the possibility of OVER watering....

thoughts? Suggestions? I'm all ears guys and thanks for the support.

 

[A Gardener]

Unless you've got issues visiting your grow I'd only ever consider watering by hand, then you're in charge of nurturing them. Watering is a growing together, you grok me?

 

[A Gardener]

I use large 250w CFLs and start them 18" above dirt. I work down to 1-2" with no obvious heat stress issues, fan across canopy helps I'm sure.

 

[oldster]

Hi Pigman,

As mentioned above I would water by hand, it will be easy for those big pots to get waterlogged in particular until the plants get some size.

For the first few weeks of growth you want about 3000 lumens of CFL's per square foot of floor space. Your 8 lights are probably putting out about 13000 lumens total (should say on their box) so guessing based on the size of 5 gallon buckets I think you may be a little low on light levels but may be ok for a few weeks. The plants will tell you pretty quickly if they start to stretch too much. You really want to add some blue (6500k) light as the 2700k lights can also cause some stretching.

You will definitely need to increase your light level as plants get bigger to something more like 4000 - 5000 lumens per square foot either with larger CFLs or an LED as you were discussing

What are you using for soil and what do you plan to do for nutes?
Do you have something to check pH?

 

[pigman]

Hi Pigman,

As mentioned above I would water by hand, it will be easy for those big pots to get waterlogged in particular until the plants get some size.

For the first few weeks of growth you want about 3000 lumens of CFL's per square foot of floor space. Your 8 lights are probably putting out about 13000 lumens total (should say on their box) so guessing based on the size of 5 gallon buckets I think you may be a little low on light levels but may be ok for a few weeks. The plants will tell you pretty quickly if they start to stretch too much. You really want to add some blue (6500k) light as the 2700k lights can also cause some stretching.

You will definitely need to increase your light level as plants get bigger to something more like 4000 - 5000 lumens per square foot either with larger CFLs or an LED as you were discussing

What are you using for soil and what do you plan to do for nutes?
Do you have something to check pH?

Oldster,
im using a local organic light mix (32 quarts) then added 8 qts of pertile, and 3 qts sand and mixed really well.

as far as nutes im going to be using Fox Farm Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, and Grow Big.

yes I have a digital soil ph tester. I use it to test my water to 6.5 before watering and once the ladies get big enough that I start getting run off, I will test that as well.

now I have a couple questions for you.

I looked at the box for the lights I have currently, it says that the 6ea bulbs produce 1300 lumens. so basically I need to add another 8ea lights but they need to be 6500k? also you say I need to have about 4000-5000 lumens per sq ft. what im using is aprox. a 3x3. so I need to have about 15000 lumens total light?

 

[pigman]

ok guys, today make week 1 the ladies have been germed. and so far I think everything is going ok. its hard to sit and not worry so much about them because they are like children, you want the best for them! lol. anyways my wife decided to give them names so....meet the little ladies.

#1 name is Fireball, she is only about 1/4" above the soil.
#2 name is pistol annie, she is about 2" tall now.
#3 name is havoc, she is about 1-1/2" tall.
#4 name is Nyquil, she is also about 1-1/2" tall,
#5 is lickem & stickem, she is about an inch tall...

where she got these name I have no idea...LMAO!

anyways have a look at the pics and feel free to give any advice you may have. thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[A Gardener]

Looks good. Looks moist. I'd observe them and let them grow for a few days. If they need water, little drizzle.

Thanks to your wife, next time I'll have to give my girls names.

 

[pigman]

Looks good. Looks moist. I'd observe them and let them grow for a few days. If they need water, little drizzle.

Thanks to your wife, next time I'll have to give my girls names.

thanks for the feed back Gardener, yea she is just as excited about this grow as I am! she told me she went to spend some time with her new friends and said she named them all, I damn near fell out of my chair laughing at her, but the way I look at it, as long as it keeps her interested im more than happy!