Couple Of ?

[DelaCroix Jones]

Hi everybody, I just received my prescription and am contemplating my first grow. I have a decent room set aside in the basement to use but due to budgetary constraints find myself starting with fluorescents. I guess thats my first question:

 

1. Can you simply replace the old 40w 4'long tube fluorescent bulbs with new CFL bulbs?

a. The only electrical info on the fixture is .82 amps 120v 60hz.

 

Peace

Del

[_abbenormal]

hey

 

why not just use those 4 ft fixtures with soft white and cool white bulbs for your veg setup... they work well for that... im using 3 of them in my veg cabinet and so far i have had good growth with them im using t-8 but have used t-12 also...

 

abbe

[SublimeWind]

Del,

 

High, congratz and welcome..

 

You can grow under CFL lighting, but you can't grow that well... I'm sure if you look around you'll find CFL grows, but they are difficult..

 

A T5 fluorescent fixture would be ideal for you.. The T8 and T12 (standard tubes) don't have NEARLY the output of the T5..

 

What you have will get you started, but it won't get you very far of give you very satisfying results..

 

Do some reading on T5's

[DelaCroix Jones]

Thanks for the quick replys.

 

Abbe, I think I might just start out with what I have as you suggest. I seem to be putting off getting something in a grow medium because I have mostly been reading on how to do it right as opposed to making do with what I have and is in my current budget. I had initially planned on starting off with 12 plants under HPS but things dont't seem to be working out with that. I do have access to some nice cuttings and am now leaning towards getting some about 3 weeks old and starting under the lights I have.

 

Sublime, I hope to have some kind of either HPS or T5 lighting by flower time, is 2 months a good rule of thumb for starting flower or should I consider other factors?

I just perused your carbon filter tutorial, thanks alot for all that helpful info, I'm a diy kinda guy and got alot out of it. One question, do you put your booster fan at the far end of the duct work from the filter or directly between the filter and the start of the duct work?

 

Since I plan on starting with 3 week old clones my thought is to start right in 5 gal buckets with happy frog ocean forest soil, how many 2 cubic foot bags do I need for a standard home depot 5 gal bucket? Is there any special way to configure the bucket for proper drainage or will the soil fresh out of the bag drain appropriately without any special needs?

 

Peace

Del

[SublimeWind]

Thanks for the quick replys.

 

Abbe, I think I might just start out with what I have as you suggest. I seem to be putting off getting something in a grow medium because I have mostly been reading on how to do it right as opposed to making do with what I have and is in my current budget. I had initially planned on starting off with 12 plants under HPS but things dont't seem to be working out with that. I do have access to some nice cuttings and am now leaning towards getting some about 3 weeks old and starting under the lights I have.

 

Sublime, I hope to have some kind of either HPS or T5 lighting by flower time, is 2 months a good rule of thumb for starting flower or should I consider other factors?

I wouldn't consider starting flower by time... I mean you can, but you'd be better off going by size.. Consider that by the time they are finished, they'll be 3x the size and work with the space you have.. remember, they grow up AND out...

 

AFA vegging with CFL light, again totally possible, it's just they tend to stretch looking for light (even when it's right on them), I have things that are over a foot below my T5, that have less than ONE INCH node spacing..

 

I just perused your carbon filter tutorial, thanks alot for all that helpful info, I'm a diy kinda guy and got alot out of it. One question, do you put your booster fan at the far end of the duct work from the filter or directly between the filter and the start of the duct work?

Thank you much Sir

 

AFA the fan, it's best to have it as close to the filter as possible, IF possible, my fan is ~6' from my filter and I may be pulling a slight amount of smell through any sort of blemish in the ducting.

If the system is blowing down the vent line, rather than sucking, it's impossible to "pull" odors into the vent.. So even my system is not ideal..

 

Now, you mention booster fan, is that in reference to a "duct booster fan" specifically? I ask because I can say that the typical duct booster fan for HVAC won't do a heck of a lot for you, with the restriction of the filter.. I had a 4" 80cfm DBF on the filter I made for the tutorial and it couldn't pull for doo doo... I bought an expensive inline centrifugal (440cfm out of 4", open air) and built a bigger filter and I've got PLENTY of flow now, even on a 4" filter.. I may be only getting 220 of the 440 rating, but that's plenty to keep a good solid negitive pressure on the room, keeping smells IN THE ROOM..!!

 

Since I plan on starting with 3 week old clones my thought is to start right in 5 gal buckets with happy frog ocean forest soil, how many 2 cubic foot bags do I need for a standard home depot 5 gal bucket?

I'm not sure, but with a measuring tape and a little simple math, and you'd know.. I can say the large 40lb bags of soil mixes, usually do 2 5 gallons nicely..

 

Is there any special way to configure the bucket for proper drainage or will the soil fresh out of the bag drain appropriately without any special needs?

Well, you need holes in the buckets...lol.. beyond that there are places you can read about soil mixes till your hearts content (cannabis culture forums is one of my faves) This place is great, but it's just getting off the ground, CC has been around for 10+yrs...HUGE amounts of info in the stickies..

 

check this out.. http://hightimes.com/grow/subcool/5728

 

The article specifically mentions FF Ocean Forest (Happy Frog is a Fox Farms product) burning plants when used on it's own, but worked great as a base soil when mixed 2-1 with Light Warrior starter mix... It's a great article

 

Peace

Del

 

See above..

[SublimeWind]

See this as well... http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1093945#Post1093945

[kingofbuds]

t-12 fixure 4ft will work i use them in my veg grows great. little lanky but not bad at all the beef up in flower any. i use one cool white bulb. and at wal-mart in the light bulb isle they have grow bulbs for plant and aquarium growth. there about 5.97 a peice. so i use one of those purplish tint, and a cool white. also check your local nursery. i was at mine the other day and they have t-12 agrosun bulbs for growing same thing they were pretty cheap about 6 bucks for a 4ft. good luck.

 

p.s. cfl's are good for clones and starting seeds.

 

king of buds

[DelaCroix Jones]

Thanks for all your helpful advise and tips, Loved the linked article to organic soil mixes, thumbs up for abbe. Off to do alot more reading.

 

Peace

Del

[LITLJON]

You can retro fit your housing w/T5 ballast and socket clips. Probably just as much as new. But you could.

[2d]

I've used t-12s to start tomato plants since the 80's. The cheap cool blues work just as well as the "Grow" tubes. JMHO

[PadroPadro]

Hi everybody, I just received my prescription and am contemplating my first grow. I have a decent room set aside in the basement to use but due to budgetary constraints find myself starting with fluorescents. I guess thats my first question:

 

1. Can you simply replace the old 40w 4'long tube fluorescent bulbs with new CFL bulbs?

a. The only electrical info on the fixture is .82 amps 120v 60hz.

 

Peace

Del

 

 

Fluorescents will work for small veg plants under 2 ft. I dont know if you have, but look up the penetration depth of them v.s. HID. Like others are saying, you will need a HID once you start flowering. It'd be good to have one for veg as your growth will be explosive compared to the florescent.

 

I would either save for the HIDS and than start up, or just get a caregiver who can get you some free meds while you save. But I just don't think you will be happy using fluorescents.

 

peace

[Dubliner]

About Fluorescent Grow Light Bulbs

 

What are the differences in tubular fluorescent bulbs? Size and efficiency. The letter 'T' indicates the shape of the bulb (tubular) and the number after the 'T' represents the diameter of the bulb in eighths of an inch (A T5 bulb is 5/8 inch).

 

The T12 fluorescent bulb is the oldest and most common of the tubular bulbs. It is also the least efficient. Then came the T8 fluorescent bulb which will fit the same fixture as the T12 but uses roughly 20% less wattage to produce the same amount of light. Now the new T5 bulb is available which will NOT work in T12 and T8 bulb fixtures because it is shorter and has a different pin arrangement.

 

T5 bulbs offer even greater efficiency and a high output version (HO) which produces about twice the amount of light as the standard T5 bulb.

 

So you could Retrofit your T12 fixtures with T8 Ballasts & T8 Bulbs and save 20% on Efficiency plus the availability of increased lumen's with a Higher Output T8 bulb ,,,