I am staring my first auto grow. It is also my first indoor grow. I’m on a no funds budget and I already had a 4x2 growtent and a 4ft t5 flourescent fixture. They have just started being about a week old in some good homemade median that I have read your blogs and used the best blend I could afford and put them with the median in a 3 gallon grow bag.
The girls are just starting to develop their second nodes and are looking beautiful and happy. My question is that I’m wondering if the 6 4ft bulb fixture I already jad and are using will be strong enuff to produce the high quality and good yields of autos I’m hoping for. Also what distance should I keep them for what stages?
If anyone has the knowledge of this please let me know so I can try and correct it or keep doing what I am to acheive what I’m wanting
What type/wattage tubes are you using?..
As far as 'strong enuff ’ to produce the high quality and good yields of autos YOU are hoping for?..probably not…:>)
You can keep t5 lights close to the seedlings. You do not want too much of a stretch and they are not very hot. You are not going to get a good growth or yield using that light for your whole grow.
We need to know the wattage of the bulbs, and if you can the temperature/Kelvin. But in general that should be close to 300 watts, which is not too shabby at all. It will produce a decent amount. With T5 you dont get as much light penetration through canopy so be sure and prune the lower stuff.
Like quantum boards you can run those lights close to the plant without burning it.
Ok I went and looked at my bulbs. They are t8 650gs ho. 65 watt. They are 6 of them in my fixture I have 6 autos. 3 slr2 and 3 by.
They are together in a 4x2 reflective grow tent about 18 inches under these t8s.
Will those do for a good potency and harvest. The median is premo and I’m using calmag and Fox farm tiger grow system nutes
Theres one sure way to find out…good luck!..:>)
Yes they will. That’s right at 400 watts over 8sqft so 50w/1sqft.
Having said that wattage is the about worst way to figure how much light you need. When your ready to learn more you can try and google the pfd/ppfd of your light and fixture and how it effects growing.
And its not just about adding more light, it’s about the efficiency of the light you add (how usable to the plant) and how much it cost you (both investment and running cost).
Something else to consider. That’s 6 plants in 8 sq feet, gonna be tight. You’ll need to make sure you keep good air movement throughout the canopy. And you’ll probably need to train/prune them.
This is my 6 lemon haze autos in a 4×3 tent. Instead of training by tieing down pulled them together to make them tall and narrow.
Good advice. What if I had already started training. Just by tucking and lightly tieing them over. My low Ryder auto is about 4 weeks and has some beautiful long and thick white hairs. The blue haze auto is a week behind and just showing a slight white tip right now at 1 or 2 nodes. First shot at autos and first inside. I know from past experiences outside its hit and miss until u find the sweet spot. The flavor u like and the requirements that beat suits your girls for a happy harmonious relationship to be had.
I appreciate all your advice keep an coming
Thats right. Thanks. First tent and auto grow.
About 30 days in slr is about 12 inches with little buds all over and the bh is 8 inches and just showed her first pretty little white hairs.
I’ll upload some pretty baby pics when they get a bot more photogenic and give a full taste and smoke report. Thanks and happy harvesting
What you have is great to start. Keep the lights close to prevent scraggly growth. Should be 2" (50mm) between nodes. Even though auto flower will flower as long as they have like 5hrs of light, you are using veg bulbs. If you switch to flower bulbs, you will increase potency, yield (bud size / quality). For t 5/8, you can get flower bulbs as easy as amazon, ebay, many online shops ( 3000K/6500K (flower / veg))
https://smile.amazon.com/Lightingwise-6500K-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs/dp/B01EQN843G/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=flourescent+grow+bulbs+veg+flower&qid=1601333862&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-4