Mewk's Tiny PC Grow / 69w CFL / 12-12FS / Soil

n0tmycupoftea said:

I see that you have an opening and empty space across from where your top fan is. Maybe remove the VHS tapes and then try and prop up the lights horizontally by creating some sort of fixture to support the individual light sockets you have. Like maybe run 2 rods from the top of your fan and have them poke through whatever you have covering that empty space on the other end of your fan. That may suffice for the time being until you find a more suitable solution.

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Thanks for the pic Cuppa, I get what you mean. My issue with that though is that it'd leave all the mains leads and connections with little between them and the box, and my paranoia would go apeshit for fear of a short. It needs some kinda insulated housing, that's for sure. Tho you have got me thinking, I'm wondering if I could gut a powerstrip, and somehow attach them to that, assuming that's a bit thinner than my vhs tapes.

Dragon311 said:

Ah i forgot you're across the pond. The adapters I'm talking about came from a hardware store, maybe a hardware store chain in your area might have something similar?

You can try mounting from the top possibly? Altho then you'll want a Y adapter too, since more light comes from the sides rather than the tip.

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No joy on either front there Dragon. Our mega hardware place is B&Q (www.diy.com) and I've looked through everything I can think of, with nothing similar. What do you mean by 'mounting from the top', if you mean what I think you mean... well, then that's where they've been from day one, the reason I wanna side mount is due to the lack of room. Oh, and I think the Y adaptors are a USA thing too.

SnotBoogie said:

Hmm you could maybe remove the bottom white part (that is attached to the VHS right now)?

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No can do on that either, Snot. The white section is just a covering that houses all the connections for the wiring, it's purely decorative, if I take that off I'm still left with a big chunk underneath it, that doesn't disconnect from the main bulb holder. If you get what I mean.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback lads, much appreciated. Keep them ideas comin.

I could help you out on that one, but only if you are a patented handyman like me.

I bought sockets that go directly in the wall plates:



Then I proceeded to bend the metal contacts horizontally, and soldered all the positives together and all the negatives together. I taped the solders to isolate them correctly, and then jammed the all the sockets between two flat metal bars tightened with bolts and nuts:


I would have liked to show you more details, but everything is strongly fastened in the case right now....

Hope you can get away with this!

allahdamnit said:

I could help you out on that one, but only if you are a patented handyman like me.

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I can certainly badly-bodge jobs... But I'm definitely not a handyman of your caliber, man... That looks and sounds a little beyond my means. I am kinda wondering if I might be better off doing the general stoner approach.. ie. buy a bigger box.

I might try and pop up the dump sometime next week, they've usually got some old cases floating around.

I really like your setup tho AD, nice approach.

Dang dude look at all those budsites. Looking good mewk!

hey mewk, she is looking mighty fine, is there a electrical wholesaler near you, if so, take 1 of ur lamps in and ask for a ceramic socket, I`m sure that wud fix ur problem, re the height issue, all u have to do then is either bolt thru the side of the pc box or stick them with sticks like shit glue in the place u want. hope this helps. good luck and happy growing m8

emannn2010 said:

hey mewk, she is looking mighty fine, is there a electrical wholesaler near you, if so, take 1 of ur lamps in and ask for a ceramic socket, I`m sure that wud fix ur problem, re the height issue, all u have to do then is either bolt thru the side of the pc box or stick them with sticks like shit glue in the place u want. hope this helps. good luck and happy growing m8

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Yeh good thinking emannn, I noticed some of those ceramic fittings online the other day, and wondered if they'd do the job. I'll have a look in, next time I'm passing B&Q.

I am wondering if I can possibly just leave it as is, and rather than moving the lights, just LST the colas out of the way, I'm not sure how easy that'll be, but for the moment, I think that's my best option.

Not much else to report, other than she's drinking like crazy, I reckon I'm putting in about 1 litre every two days. I keep an eye on the soil, and she only ever gets watered when it's really dry... Tho that's taking no time.

So, here's a few pics to show you how things're going. The budsites are looking nice and healtyh, she's got a really stinky skunky smell to her... and she is STICKY... So, happy days!

n0tmycupoftea said:

I see that you have an opening and empty space across from where your top fan is. Maybe remove the VHS tapes and then try and prop up the lights horizontally by creating some sort of fixture to support the individual light sockets you have. Like maybe run 2 rods from the top of your fan and have them poke through whatever you have covering that empty space on the other end of your fan. That may suffice for the time being until you find a more suitable solution.

I actually did something similar with really long screws and screwing them into the side of the PC case to hold my powerstrip up. I had about 6 long screws below the powerstrip and 2 above the powerstrip

View attachment 2669452

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mewk69 said:

Thanks for the pic Cuppa, I get what you mean. My issue with that though is that it'd leave all the mains leads and connections with little between them and the box, and my paranoia would go apeshit for fear of a short. It needs some kinda insulated housing, that's for sure. Tho you have got me thinking, I'm wondering if I could gut a powerstrip, and somehow attach them to that, assuming that's a bit thinner than my vhs tapes.

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Hey Mewk, nice grow buddy. You have quite a lighting dilemma there don’t you!! I would love to help but I’m not familiar with your electrical system across the pond. One thing that remains the same would be insulating the electrical current from shorting out. If you remove the VHS cassette case, you could insulate the wires connections with wire marrets and further rap those with electrical tape. If the back of the light fixtures are open allowing for a possible short, use a rectangular, thin but ridged piece of plastic to serve as a new mounting board, one piece for all three lights. That idea will only gain you a few millimeters possibly 25 maybe but it might be enough.

Here is another idea if you have means of cutting three holes or one rectangle in the pc case and this would allow you to leave your current lighting fixture in its present form and mount the lights on there side. Cut the three holes in the side of the case and fasten the VHS on the outside of the pc. Once in place screw in the bulbs; this will gain you a few centimetres and more so by placing spacers between the pc case and the VHS case making it fully adjustable in one sense.

Here in the US I would go with this approach



I would get flexible wire one white and one black, wire all this together, marrets on the connections then electrical tape just for safety. Wire in a parallel circuit. Hang those suckers the best way you know how. haha

Looking great Mewk!

Shes going to be a beast man!! Youre sitting real pretty here. I think depending on how many huge colas youre going to have you should be able to divert them away but the plant itself grows so much during the first couple weeks of flowering its ridiculous and Id be worried about the top main cola's fan leaves getting burned.

Cant wait to see this thing fatten up.

Cruising along mate! The lady is really starting to hit her stride! Keep up the good work.

Your lst is actually amazing! What a beauty!

hey mewk, howz it going?

It's going well, thanks emannn. Very sticky, pretty stinky. I've managed to start LSTing the problem colas outa the way of the light, and I think I'm gonna get away with it. Also been trimming a few of the fan leaves out, to give a bit more exposure to some of the hidden buds. All seems to be going like a dream at the moment. I think light-wise, I'm gonna have to dabble with those ceramic fixings, which I'll pick up when I'm next at the hardware place, the poss use them if there's another grow. Been checking the buds, and they seem to be putting on some weight alright, really startin to get excited about a nice crop now. Will try and sort a pic update tomorrow.

mewk69 said:

It's going well, thanks emannn. Very sticky, pretty stinky. I've managed to start LSTing the problem colas outa the way of the light, and I think I'm gonna get away with it. Also been trimming a few of the fan leaves out, to give a bit more exposure to some of the hidden buds. All seems to be going like a dream at the moment. I think light-wise, I'm gonna have to dabble with those ceramic fixings, which I'll pick up when I'm next at the hardware place, the poss use them if there's another grow. Been checking the buds, and they seem to be putting on some weight alright, really startin to get excited about a nice crop now. Will try and sort a pic update tomorrow.

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excellent news mewk, I told u I`d be jealous

So here's some DAY 60 pics of my girl, she's thriving at the moment. Doesn't seem to be putting on any more growth anymore, but the buds seem to be slowly fattening up. I need to check back on this thread and figure out when she started flowering, so I know where I am in the flower stage. Anyway, nothing else to report, all goes well. Here's your updates.




And here's my attempt at some macro shots, can't seem to really suss the settings on this camera, but I got a couple okay results.



:edit:
Just checked, turns out she started flowering around Day40... Which makes today Day20 of flower(ish)... Which, according to Sensi Seed's site, leaves me with 25-35 days to go.

So...... a July 10th(ish) harvest.... Oh nicely nicely... Gonna be a nice start to the summer!

Damn good work man! That's going to be more than just a decent yield, congrats!

hey mewk, she looks ready to smoke now another record breaking harvest me thinks. isn't it a pain always playing the waiting game, but when you, me and others do get to harvest and partake in a spliff we are going to be extremely high and it will have all been worth it, but I gotta say ur close up shots do make my mouth water. keep up the good work m8. good luck and happy growing

emannn dude, you are closer to the truth than you know. earlier today the sun was blistering down, the gf had popped out for a couple hours... the buds were calling me... no stash in the house, but ample backy and rizlas... so it was time to.. uh.. 'sample', I think the word is... i nipped off the top of one of the smaller buds, maybe about 1cm worth.. chucked it into an envelope, threw on the frying pan, and let the bugger sit there for five to ten mins, flipping it every now n again.

In the past I've nuked early buds, but our mwave died months ago, and I couldn't be arsed to let it sit on the radiator in the box for hours to dry out. Anyhows, long story short, the tester was dried and split between five single-skins... wasn't expecting anything much... so called up a stoner mate and we popped down the park for a couple... man alive... that shit was nice, kept its buzz for a good half hour afterwards too.

So if that's where it's at now... I can't fkucking WAIT till harvest time... Have already decided I'm gonna overcook my girl a little, and go for some serious couch-lock. I want my weed to last, so I'm thinking if I cut her earlyish and go for a nice buzzy cerebral high, I'll waste the lot in a matter of weeks or days... If I keep her going to the point where she's gonna lay me flat on my ass, no ability to move more than arms distance from the sofa, then I should get some time with her.

mewk, mewk, mewk dude, me and the misses are sitting on the sofa laughing our heads off, fcuking excellent, glad to hear you and your mate enjoyed. its not wish you were here its wish I was there and I finished work at 3.45pm. man keep up the good work. good luck and happy growing

great job lst'ing the plant! Excited to see the final product