North Central FL indoor Grow Box (CFL/Bag Seed)

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone, figured I'd finally post my Journal. Its not as impressive as others but hey, its a first shot to indoor growing.

Some background: I've done outdoor growing a few times before many years ago, medium yield w/bag seed. Not impressive but got the job done. This is my indoor grow in my workshop.

Grow Box: I have an 'island' in my workshop which is basically just a custom built cabinet with a few doors, drawers, etc, with a counter top. I isolated one of the doors, lined it with tinfoil and an awesome reflective tape they use for sealing air-ducts (not duct-tape, that actually is bad for sealing ducts, as it emits poison when heated), added 3x100w (equiv, like 23w I think) daylight (6500) CFLs for veg, a fan sucking air in and blowing air out. Smell isn't a concern in there but I might add a carbon filter (have the stuff ready) if I find its needed. People rarely go in there though.

Actual Grow: I'm using biodegradable fiber pots to start with, basic Miracle Grow potting soil for starting plants which has some fertilizer in it, its mixed with sand and is very porous. Its a general brand that says its good for fruiting/editable plants. Didn't want to use anything that would make me sick when smoked. Originally the plant was in an outdoor sand/dirt mixture but (as you can see) one of the leafs started to curl so I moved it over. Once I did that its grown about 60/70% in two days. The other (small curled stem) plant I think might be dead, hopefully it'll come up.

I have some 20-10-20 and 20-20-20 fertilizer, which I'll probably use once the plant gets bigger, if I use it now I know it'll over fertilize and harm/kill my baby.

In the back I have that green plate germinating seeds in a paper-towel. My last germination (these two plus two outdoors) came quickly when exposed to light, so I placed the plate in there.

The Camera is hooked to a linux box so I can check on my baby remotely via web (using Ubuntu 9.04 and Motion to generate the .jpg images for me).

Total cost sofar is about $30 for lights, soil, pots, etc. I'm trying to keep it cheap while learning whats best before I go for the gold. Main thing is how I want the grow area, which I've changed about 2/3 times (all updated for the better) and I didn't want to have good plants that didn't handle the disturbances well until I have everything setup as needed. (does that make any sense?)

Enjoy the pics, any comments/criticism welcome.

Edit: Note this is about 1.5wk of grow (minus 3 days of germination). It was growing extremely slow in soil and w/only one light. Once I upped the light and moved it to the potting soil it started shooting up quickly. The two leafs on the very top that are starting to emerge were NOT there yesterday morning, at all.
 

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BigL420

Well-Known Member
Looks good, But I would lose the tin foil and add more lights. instead of tin foil use white paint or mylar you will get more light reflected on the plant, with all the crinkles in the tin foil you actually lose light.:cry: Also i would use Fox farm soil instead of mircle grow next time fox farm is all organic and will give you a better tasting bud plus she will grow quicker:blsmoke:
 

DLC420

Well-Known Member
yeah miracle grow isnt the best potting soil out there, well maybe if your growing apple trees it might be, but yeah id say fox farm soil aswell. but it costs a shit load just a warning :-P
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tips guys, today I was wondering if it might be better to just go with mylar or white paper. However, I figured tinfoil was better than nothing (was just bare wood the other day).

I'm working on a custom 6-light fixture that I can raise and lower using a pulley, got the wood cut yesterday and picking up the fixtures and wiring today. Sadly, I had just the one 100w in there, got a little too ahead of myself when I started. Had the plant before I had the box setup, lol.

I'm heading to the store this afternoon, I'll be sure to check for the Fox Farm Soil for the new seeds. Any good alternatives in case I'm unable to find it?

Also, I'm on 24/0 lighting right now. I'm going to switch to 12/12 here shortly, is now a good time or should it be done after the plant gets a little bit bigger?
 

DaCDaC

Well-Known Member
Nah I went 12/12 from seed. A fully mature plant, 12/12 from seed will be about 3-3.5FT tall.

Miracle grow soil will DUE, But its not prefered. Its very acidic and causes nute lock fast!

But if you just trying to get through the grow on a budget, It'll do!


Laters
DaCDaC
 

DLC420

Well-Known Member
um, well first off i dont suggest using tin foil.. AT ALL lol, you can go to wallyworld, and the sporting goods spot in the store, and ask them for the silver emergency blankets, they are made out of mylar, and reflect light so good and they only cost like $1.88 or so, for a huge ass sheet of it, but i would buy 2 :)


and theres really no other soil you coul use besides the miracle grow that i know of, :( and i think its worse to wait till its bigger to switch to 12/12, cause the bigger it gets the more risky it is to switch it over and make your plant trip balls cause its light cycle is screwed up, but im not sure :) id think so though!
 

DLC420

Well-Known Member
and yeah what Dac said, it'll work if you dont have the money to afford fox farm soil. and most dont lol! shit is insanely costly
 

DaCDaC

Well-Known Member
Its not going to hurt it or freak the plant out. Thats perfectly natural. The only problem comes in is when you run out of room in your grow box to support the plant.

If you only have about 3-3.5FT of hieght. Id do 12/12 from seed every time. Thats what Im doing.. : )



Laters
DaCDaC
 

BigL420

Well-Known Member
yeah DaC is right it will not hurt the plant to wait ot switch the light but if space is an issue i would switch it to 12/12 but if not stay on th 24/0 for about 6 to 9 weeks for some big plant and then go 12/12 for flowering and you can get fox farm for about $20 a bag but is heavy to ship so cost more go to fiffthseasongardening.com they have it the cheapest yet plus not to high on shipping cost either they are located in Raleigh NC and they also have a few other stores through out NC
 

bikeskill

Well-Known Member
I used scotts potting soil for my first grow and switched back to it for my most current grow with great results. and for my first grow i used peters 20-20-20 it grew some of the best weed i EVER SMOKED, for my last grow i used earth juice meta-k and seabird guanno + worm castings. my second grow was 12/12 from seed i grew blueberry and it got just under a foot tall and i grew chem dawg which was about 3 feet tall but i did exterme lst so it grew in a circle and was a foot tall
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
Excellent, thanks for the info everyone.

I'm going today to pick up some more outlet splitters, mylar and some other stuff.

I only have about 3ft of growing area so I'll switch to 12/12 when I get home, I'll also use that for my germinating seeds once they pop and keep them on 12/12 for the whole ride. I'll get some pics up this weekend.

Just outta curiosity, I know it depends on strain, conditions and such but how long should I keep it vegging and then flowering? Also how long am I looking at harvesting after seed-pop?

The seeds arn't from the greatest stuff, good normal mid high w/a little bit of energy, if that helps.

I'm also going to start building a 6ft tall box coming up soon, have some plans and the wood to do it in, that'll be my big one, when I actually get some good seeds.
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
Checked on my baby, the other one (you really can't see it in the other picture) is dead.

I added another light and moved to 12/12. I also got mylar and pearlite for the new ones. I'm gonna search but incase anyone happens to stop by, what mix should I use with pearlite & miracle-grow? I'm thinking 50/50.
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
i might would try 30/70 because MG has some pearlite in it already
Excellent, thanks. I did some 40/60 and 30/70 mixes (doing a couple from seeds up on 12/12).

I changed the to 12/12 and have the daytime on the 12 "off" to help with heat. When lights come back on I'll take some pics. Got it all setup now, better airflow, cooling and I'm building a scrubber tonight to help when smell becomes an issue.

Growing is such a fun hobby, over a few plants and it'd get way unmanageable for me but 3/4 small plants is quite a joy. bongsmilie
 

BigL420

Well-Known Member
:mrgreen:Yeah man sounds good. How are you building your scrubber i like to know because i am going to need one also. So if you could post some pics please.:mrgreen:
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
:mrgreen:Yeah man sounds good. How are you building your scrubber i like to know because i am going to need one also. So if you could post some pics please.:mrgreen:
I have everything but the activated charcoal. I'm using metal dryer-duct (have extra) and some wire mesh to make the 'tunnel' for the air to flow then wrap the charcoal pad over the mesh. Kinda like this:

0 = duct
X = mesh
B = endcap

[BOX w/fan]0000XXXX0B

I'll be using cardboard to form the opening coming from the area and going to the dryer duct.

I wired up a few PC fans to a 12v wall-wart that sucks the air in and using a cheap wal-mart $9.00 clam fan to suck the air through the scrubber.
 

HHGTTG420

Well-Known Member
Change of plans on the scrubber, decided to go with a 120mm fan I had extra, will build a connector with wood to inlay the 120mm fan in.

Didn't get a pic of the girls last night before they fell sleep, will try tonight. Two seeds haven't sprouted yet, put those in when I started the 12/12 cycle.

How long before I gotta start adding nutes to the soil? I know the soil has some in it, but don't know how long it'll be before the plant eats 'em up.
 
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