Mewk's Tiny PC Grow #2 / 69w CFL / Soil

Happy New Year and looking great Mewk.

so how about update and how long will it take until the harvest? wanna see the result!!!

Mewk, update us dude

That is legit, I like the use of space! Looking forward to an update!

Okay, sorry all.

Things are fine, she got a heavy watering yesterday, fresh from the fishtank. I've got some serious yellowing occuring in the larger leaves, but I think this is just her using up the last of the energy. I think today I might turn the lights off for good. Then give her a couple days darkness... Then choppity chop!

Sorry for the lack of pics, been busy with workshit, but I'll get back to it!

Excuses, Excuses!

Just kidding, glad to hear it's all good.

Drop by again soon with the pics

I gotta say that your ingenuity is astonishing. This is just so cool! Until this morning I had no idea that anyone had ever grown inside a PC. "PC Grow? What's that?"

I do have some questions. Don't get me wrong, this is really amazing stuff. But I'm wondering what's driving this. What problems are resolved by going this small? And why an old PC case?

I thought, maybe it's so you can hide in plain sight, but the ducting out the back is not exactly stealth.

Maybe it's largely about the satisfaction of accomplishing something that seems absurd at first glance? My jaw dropped when I saw your pics.

I'm a geek, so I've got some PC cases laying around. The gears started turning. The cases I've got are full size ATX. It almost looks like yours is a mini-tower? A full-size ATX case would alleviate the problems you had with the plant growing into your CFL's.

Anyway, what you've done is really awesome. Looking forward to your next thread!

@Mellodrama - Thanks for a lovely post dude. Kind words indeed, there's certainly a lot that can be accomplished in such a small grow, it's surprised the hell outa me. Anyway, let me get onto your Qs.

But I'm wondering what's driving this. What problems are resolved by going this small? And why an old PC case?

Click to expand...

Yeh, they're all pretty tied together. It's driven by the fact that I did a few grows years back, and loved everything about it. Always been pretty green fingered anyhows, and tieing that in with free smoke was perfect... But times were different, flat mates didn't care... Now I've got my other half living with me, I stopped growing long before I met her, but had carried on smoking. I've still got my old HPS growbox in the hallway, but it's used to keep old comics n whatnot now. She's not up for me doing a major grow, doesn't think the place is safe enough for it, plus I've got nowhere safe to vent it too either and can't afford a good enough carbon filter to even think about it... Weed prices go up, or at least the weights I was gettin started to drop... So a small personal grow just seemed like a good compromise, she's cool with it as it's easy to hide if needs be. It doesn't really smell that much as it's only a tiny plant kicking into a cheap DIY CF. The PC case just happened to be lying around unused and seemed like a good challenge. A mate gifted me the seeds. My dad picked up the CFLs for me. All the rest was laying around the house.

And here we are, two grows down the line... well, almost.

I *think* it's a mini tower, tho i don't know much about cases. It is small, the dimensions are floating around somewhere in one of the threads I'm sure. Oh, and I never had probs really with the plants growing into the CFLs, I did in grow #1, but then I changed the lights from vert to horizontal. This grow she's been stacked up closer to the lights for the entire grow... I reckon I had about another 4-5inches of space I coulda dropped her.

Right, I've rambled too long, I'm stoned, I picked up some the other night, just to make sure I didn't go pinching nugs early from this girl.















If you look at the last two pics, with the size comparison to the lighter... Well, you can see that these buds are actually nothing special.. They're pretty dense, and healthy looking, but they are kinda small.

I'm not fussed. I don't see myself cracking 2oz with this, but I have got grow #3 in the thought process already.

I've hopefully got a set of 5050 Strip LEDs coming soon, they'll be cool white... And I'm thinking about possibly vegging the plant under just the leds, which I'm assuming would get her to stretch a little... which would be perfect for me, meaning I could fill out the length of my pot a little easier. Then when I switch to 12/12, I'll kick the CFLs in alongside the LEDs.

Well, that's the plan.

Back to the now.

She's officially in the dark now. Lights have been unplugged and the fan's been turned down to low. Just gonna let her sit there for a couple days now. Then, then we chop, hang and attempt to cure before I've smoked it all.

So, thanks for the ride everyone. All the growing's over, let's just x a few fingers in the hope that it turns out to be an okay yield.

mewk.

Pure awesomeness,

Can't wait to see what you get in dry weight and i'm really looking forward to your next grow Mewk.

Keep up the awesome work dude, you're perfecting your technique and helping many along the way.

If you get the strips of LED lights, maybe you can put them on the sides to increase penetration of light on the lower parts as opposed to relying on reflection? They look pretty good for being such a small grow, and the space you're saving can't be beat!

Still looking awesome mewk =D looking forward to that yield

Glad it pulled through, looking good, looking forward to seeing what weight you get!

I was thinking that some kind of strip LED's would free up a lot of space for you. If you can find something powerful enough that provides the right spectra. These fancy Phillips horticultural strip lights are marketed to the commercial growers. I'll be that would be a freakin' awesome solution if you could find someone who works in the industry and could get you a handful of those! The link goes to the "white" version pdf. Philips also makes strips in red and blue spectra.

Thanks all!
@Mellodrama - Yeh, I'm thinkin on a much cheaper scale, these are the kind I'mna go for:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5M-300-LED-Strip-Light-3528-5050-SMD-RGB-Ribbon-Tape-Roll-Waterproof-IP65-12V-UK-/350871703543?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Night_Lights_Fairy_Lights&var=620177095682&hash=item51b1954ff7
They may not do much, but it'll let me cover pretty much the inside of the box, with the box itself working as a heatsink. Means I can get a better all around coverage of light. It's cheap, too.

Aren't you gonna run into trouble trying to bend them 90 degrees? Would you buy a 150 LED strip and try to stuff all of them inside? And how do they terminate? Can you plug them right in to the wall, or would you have to do some soldering or what have you to something like a computer PSU?

I think I get the general idea - attaching a carpet of LED's to the ceiling of your PC - just wondering if the devil's in the details.

looks great Mewk! Even though they're not huge nugs they're dense like you said plus there's quantity

Interesting idea with the strip LEDs. I know someone who lit their bar top with them, didn't think about using those kind for growing....interesting indeed Mewk! I'll have to ask him about how they're wired and powered. Only problem I can think of is if you're covering the walls with strips, how do you manage veg vs. flower (blue vs. red)?

@Mellodrama - as for 90 degree bends, you don't. You run and wire all the strips parallel.

OK, I assumed you couldn't cut the strips. You're saying that you can? Cut the strips to the right lengths, then you'd have to trim the plastic back a bit to find the wires and start soldering?

They look so dense, and fat!
Rep +
The led strips have me wanting to get some in my box. I think it would be cool to have your entire box covered with leds, screw mylar.

Mellodrama said:

Aren't you gonna run into trouble trying to bend them 90 degrees? Would you buy a 150 LED strip and try to stuff all of them inside? And how do they terminate? Can you plug them right in to the wall, or would you have to do some soldering or what have you to something like a computer PSU?

I think I get the general idea - attaching a carpet of LED's to the ceiling of your PC - just wondering if the devil's in the details.

Click to expand...

Now this is all slightly speculative. As I've yet to get hold of them. BUT, I've watched a few vids, read a few technical sheets, and they do all seem to be pretty much the same.

So, they come on a strip, 5m long. Every 3 LEDS there's a cut point, where you can cut across the strip, leaving you with two solderable pads on either side. So if you wanna work around a corner, you just solder up a couple small wires to either side of where you cut the strip? Ya follow?

As for powering it, I'm getting a 6A power adapter with the order, so that's that covered. I'm pretty certain they run at 12v.

So, my plan, at the moment... Is to run the power inside the PC box, this'll just be a couple wires coming from the 6A power adapter. Then i'm thinking of lining the top, back and as much of the left and right (ie front n back, or, discdrive side and powercable side) of the case as I can. For veg I'll just use the LEDs *maybe* on a 20/4 schedule. Then come flower I'll keep the LEDs on, and chuck the CFLs in too use everything I've got.

I don't know if they've got any real power for growing... BUT, someone's buyin them for me. I've got two grows that're otherwise almost identical under my belt, to which I can compare n contrast against to see if I feel they've made any difference. Also, I don't think I could squeeze another CFL in there.

HTH,
mewk.

//edit//

@Mellodrama - Here go lad, have a look at this:
[video=youtube;TR5X4VfX880]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR5X4VfX880[/video]

I didn't know you were worried about where to cut them, I actually make custom led clear corners for cars.. Most come every 3, how ever even it being a cuttable doesn't mean it's goin to allow you to solder to it.. Some actually have the space for you to cut but doesn't leave to clear of a spot to solder to. Never gone with the ebay versions but thought I'd throw my 2 cents in!
Hope it helps!