full size fridge / 9 x 42w CFL / VScroG

I've temporarily converted a full size 'fridge only' fridge into a grow room, so this will be where i post some updates and where you keints can tell me where i've fkd up (thx!). I knocked together a timber frame the same size as the fridge door out of 70 x 35mm pine studs. The air intake & exhaust holes are drilled through this wooden 'collar'.

The door molding has been removed and replaced with thin ply sheet and has sarking stapled to it to reflect some light, though probably isn't necessary with the CFLs

Lighting (and bonus heating) is via 9 x 42w phillips tornado cool white CFLs. The light battens are bolted inside a length of 100mm diameter PVC pipe. will have to get a box of warm tornados for veg time

Air exchange is via 2 x 120mm 240v fans pulling through a DIY carbon filter that exits at the side of the fridge - these currently operate 24x7. Intake is a 50mm DWV pipe run to the bottom opposite the exhaust, hopefully creating a bit of circulation. Additional circulation is provided by a small desk fan

Temp control is via an aftermarket fridge controller that can be put into heat or cool mode (1 or the other, not both). When the circulation fan is going it tends to keep heat in the cabinet, so I have the circulation fan & temp controller connected. When temps rise over 25 the circulation fan shuts off and the always running exhaust fans remove the heat

I've been monitoring the temps for a few weeks and it has been between 19 - 26°C. A thermometer in one of the seedling cups reveals even less variation

I have 5 seedlings so far: White Widow (a double jointed freak); bag seed i'm calling 'Coast Runner'; Black on Black (apparently black domina x black domina); Skunk Haze; and lastly a feminised RQ Critical

The VScroG screens will be attached to each pot as they are transplanted, I am imagining a 300mm wide strip piece of orange safety barrier or some such screen that is able to hold its own shape and weight while being moved around, but when in the fridge it'll be hooked onto the top shelf

Enough about my cool story, here's some pics of my babies and such. All are regs apart from the RQ critical

I dig that White Widow. Looks like it topped itself immediately lol. Can't wait to see how it develops

Bit of an update - everyone is still alive, but the white widow and black domina are a bit runty. This is more than likely from both re-potting too early and the netting around the jiffy pellets not letting roots through, i.e. no taproot. Today I cut the netting off and put them back into cups so we'll see if that improves matters

The other 3 have been topped and what not, but they are nowhere as big as I expected

Oh and the CFL's are 24w, not 42w

Photos to come

TokinEffort said:

Bit of an update - everyone is still alive, but the white widow and black domina are a bit runty. This is more than likely from both re-potting too early and the netting around the jiffy pellets not letting roots through, i.e. no taproot. Today I cut the netting off and put them back into cups so we'll see if that improves matters

The other 3 have been topped and what not, but they are nowhere as big as I expected

Oh and the CFL's are 24w, not 42w

Photos to come

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Can you start to integrate LED bulbs like the Cree's from Home Depot? Once they came out, I stopped using Cfl's.

Your setup is perfect for a vertical stand like you have, I could only dream.

I love fridges too! good growing

Here they are, along with some new shipmates

Good idea about the LEDs abiqua, thanks for the heads-up. I'll do a bit of research while the 20 globes I have already bought are put to work. Hopefully when the CFLs pack it in the price of LED globes will have decreased somewhat

Anyway, once I get enough growth on the black domina to top it 4-ways I think i'll flip them so I can have some product this year lol

Update time - everthing is plodding along just nicely. Critical was first to show budsign, then the coast runner and skunk haze last

I am surprised by the stretch of the SH, she probably needs more light but i don't got none

Good stuff!

Where do you source your netting from?

Really like your setup, and once you get it dialed, it should provide. Hope you get some more light

The netting comes from the local hardware. It is some sort of recycled plastic and comes in a few different widths & colors

So I have bad news - the skunk haze is dead. It seems to coincide with me applying some molasses. Being sold for stock feed I assumed it would be ok, but it just curled up and died. This coupled with flying fly things that *used to* live in the soil made for a sick plant that never recovered. I have since covered the pots with sand to smother the bugs and it seems to be working a treat

and other bad news - I realised I left the light timer on manual override. For the last 2 weeks the left over girls have been getting 24h of light

All that being said, here are some 10x pictures of the critical. How long do you think these have until harvest?


The coast runner's buds haven't really done any more filling out. I assume this is to do with my lighting fkup

They are all dead now. It seems my problems are all due to the netting around the jiffy pellets I used. The roots were stunted once they reached a certain size

Oh well, on to the next run

Sorry to hear the news.
Good luck with the next run.
You'll get it right with all the great help from the members here !

Sucks.....looking forward to seeing another fridge in action.

In my ex., the Jiffy's are notorious for not shedding water, especially when saturated. I use some Jiffy pots from time to time and you have to watch your watering like a hawk.

Ever thought about building a small DIY bubble cloner to get things going?. Efficient, cheap, quick.

Thanks, I'll look into the bubble cloner. At the moment I have 3 x 1 week old autos in a coco dtw setup. Once they start doing exciting things I'll put up some pics

One 200 watt cfl

Nice buds killintimelsd, hope I can produce similar

Thanks. I use a coffee filter and a piece of thread tied around some potting soil cause of that reason happened to me with jiffy pots

With my next run I'll post some pics of how to do it

killintimelsd said:

With my next run I'll post some pics of how to do it

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cool man, look forward to it

Here's the 3 autos - they went in the dirt 2 weeks ago today. The middle one is a dutch passion autodurban poison

I was also gifted a twin fluoro unit so I whacked that in the fridge too

vostok said:

You need to understand the efficiency of cfl's
more don't mean more light and the
more so with the way you have mounted them in the tube,
tho it looks great its dumb and inefficient
9 x 42w = 378 watts over a length of a fridge ...?

first if you must play at this low level ensure you get the kelvin balanced
ensure 50% of your kelvin is warm white to get the correct internode spacing
and go 100% 2700k warm white for budding, you have got to get the light to within 1-2 inches of the leaves
to my blog on cfl racks
https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/a-collection-of-diy-ghetto-blasters.30154/

at 378 watts just another 22 watts and you could have the real thing
a 400w digatal M/h..HPS light or even a small time led..?
consider

ie. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YXDHX6/ref=twister_B00EUMEJRO
​

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Thanks for the heads-up vostok, I'll replace 4 of the 9 daylight globes with warm whites. The idea was to have the light tube more towards the centre of the fridge and just move the plants close around it as necessary

The CFL's are actually only 24w, so 216w total + whatever the fluoro battens are