First grow, stealth (sorta) random bag seed

Okay, where to begin? Attempted a different forum before I found this one, :astonished: (I know, right?) :smiley: it never sent me a confirmation email, so I couldn’t post, tried several times to no avail. I had given up, but then stumbled across this one, so I’m going to post the journal here, I’ve just been doing it on the local machine, so bear with me, might take me a bit to get the story so far told haha! :slight_smile:

As it stands right now, I’m entering week 4 of 12x12 light cycle, seems to be going well so far, but I don’t have a lot of experience to gauge that, anyhow, it’s flowering. Growing in soil, unfortunately a 'MiracleGrow" product, it’s the “organic” one, but my options of where and how I could get a medium to grow in were kind of limited, and I was also kind of pressed for time. That is, I started vegging the seed on a whim, and sort of built the grow around it, so this whole thing is very much improvised, using as much information as I’ve gathered of course, but still making it up as I go. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, fixed a lot of them too, thanks to all the info available. No idea what strain it is.

At any rate, I thought the organic soil would be okay, but missed the fine print which says something like 0.093% time released Nitrogen from bone meal (or something like that, I can copy it exactly if need be). So that’s the first question, bit late to attempt re-potting, how badly will it affect things? Used Botanicare - Pure Blend “Grow” for veg and using “Bloom” now for nutes, really need to check PH but haven’t seen too many problems, and funds are super limited at present, hopefully within a few days.

The rest of the setup: using CFLs in an old cabinet, re-purposed, I have about 32"Wx22"H16"D space to work with. It’s technically an indoor grow, but the cabinet is on the back, screen room, so I’m also dealing with a bit of cold at “night”, got the timer set OFF from 6AM to 6PM to keep it warm enough in the “evening” and cool enough in “daylight”. Have 5 120mm fans running off an old computer PSU, two for exhaust, one blowing directly in (see pic) the other two are pushing air through ducting up through the floor, and two small usb fans inside for circulation. Currently I have 10x60w cfls, but if the temp outside goes much above 70F, I’ll need to use less, at the moment, it’s about 84 degrees F in there (about 60F outside). Had a bit of a cold snap, so for a few nights I covered it up, but now it’s like 40s-50s at night (when the lights are on) 70s during the day, so it’s quite manageable, hopefully it’s a mild winter, usually not too bad though. This brings me to my second question, should the weather not hold, I’m trying to think of some creative way to keep it reasonably warm in there (IE above 60F) I know incandescent bulbs can’t be used for growing, so, could one be used for heat? That is, will it mess up photosynthesis, or have no affect at all? Seems like I’d have seen the recommendation somewhere if this wasn’t a silly question, but I have to ask anyway. :blush:

Here’s what it looks like


I know it doesn’t look terribly “stealthy”, but it will pass a casual glance if it has to, mostly no one ever goes back there though, so it should be fine. No one knows about it but me (though the irony of saying that, and then posting this here, is not lost on me) so I’m not terribly concerned, smell shouldn’t be a much of a problem, since it’s technically outdoors, it’s also a fairly small plant, and so far, pretty low on the smell-O-meter, so far… lol. I don’t expect that will last. I’ve also changed a few things since these were taken, I’ll post some larger, more recent ones later, just wanted to give a rough idea what I’m working with, with this pic.

Anyhow, that’s where I’m at, I’ll post more details and pics of what I did in later posts, I’ve taken a ton because I’m really excited about how well this girl is doing, better than I expected so far. Okay, til next post,
Happy Trails all!

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Welcome to the best forum my friend :+1:!
The picture whit her it’s recently taken?

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Thanks, I appreciate it. No, that one’s about a month old, saw your reply as I was finishing this post (below) up, these pics are from tonight.

I started her vegging before I had the cabinet done, okay, before I even started. I had it under 1 60w CFL, the lamp was basically right on top of it the entire time, but for whatever reason (strain maybe?) she stretched, A LOT, consequently, when I finished my cabinet, she didn’t even come close to fitting. I’m actually kind of happy it happened, since it forced me to do some rather aggressive training, I just wouldn’t have been comfortable doing had there been another choice. As it happened, I’d bent it 90 degrees higher up on the stalk, let it go for another week or so, then realized I wouldn’t have any room to flower, and had to supercrop it at the base, unfortunately, that part had turned to wood, and the only way to get it bent was basically crush the stalk and duct tape it up, I got a little overzealous (oops) you can see in the pic how bad I messed it up, it worked out, but I wouldn’t recommend it, luckily she was really healthy, and didn’t even skip a beat. The picture in my first post is just after I did it.

So basically, what I have is a tall plant, growing on its side, I’ve managed to get 8 main colas, reasonably well spaced, this is what she looks like now


A couple of burnt leaf tips, don’t know if I should be concerned or not, I’m new at this, so probably doing more worrying than is strictly necessary, but better that than not enough I suppose. Also been defoliating to expose as many bud sites to good light as possible. Why I said above, kind of glad I was forced to train it this way, it’s teaching me a lot about how the plant grows, and was also a bit of a crash course in getting over the fear of manipulating it to do what you want it to.

This has been a great experience so far, kind of a pain doing it this way, but I didn’t have the cash for a tent and all that. I may in the future, but good to do a test run with very little invested first anyway, I just hope I can make it all the way to harvest, the cold might be a problem. Not really sure how I can solve that one yet, I realize this is not a standard setup, so far seems to be working though :slight_smile:

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Welcome to Ilgm, great place around here!
Lots of info and helpful people, a lot different from the other grow sites.
Your cabinet is great use of what you had to work with. And hey it is growing meds huh!

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Seems everything is going well, the girl is doing well, it’s healthy, also you don’t need to be concerned about the burn tips(nutrient burn) if you are are feeding her right and not over dose her :joy:.
Everything will be much easier in the future :joy: whit each grow.
If you have any questions or you need help just let me know. :+1:

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Your baby look great and keep doing what you doing. You will be happy in the end

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Been using two gallon bottles to water, one with nutrients, one without, so every other watering, which is working out to about 5 days. Been trying to let it get pretty dry before I water it, then give it a little under half a gallon, seems to work okay, I’m a notorious over waterer of plants, so I have to restrain myself :smiley: When I got the nutrients I was thinking it was enough for one grow, yeah it’s a bit more than I thought it was, I’m going to have to do a bunch more grows just to make a dent in them lol!

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Hey, was doing some poking around for a DIY heat-source for the colder nights, just to bump the temperature up a few degrees, and I found a paint can heater on a home brewing site. It’s pretty simple, just involves attaching an incandescent bulb to the inside of an empty paint can, and wiring a 120V circuit to it. As it happens, I had to add a power adapter with USB ports in it for the fans, so I even already have a 120V outlet to plug it into. I’ll have to do a bit of experimenting to see how much heat it puts out, so it doesn’t get TOO warm, but I think this might be my solution, what do you think? This is the link to the plans, pretty sure it’s an okay link to post (pre-emptive apologies to mods if it’s not, anyway, doesn’t seem to be blatantly promoting anything at least, though please correct me if I’m wrong :slight_smile: ) http://www.brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html At least, it should be possible to make a smaller version of it, not sure a full size paint can will fit…

About light leakage, does light from incandescent bulbs count, to the plant I mean, will it mess up flowering? It seems to me, logically, an incandescent bulb is basically an electric candle, so it wouldn’t do anything at all, but how I “think” stuff works, and how it actually works, are sometimes two different things. :smiley:

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Definitely it’s bad to have any kinds of light when them are sleeping so it must be light proof, also I’m thinking to use a termostat wired to that light and when temperatures are in range he’s turning off the light!
That it’s a brilliant idea :bulb:! But I think you need a big one for a big space and that :bulb: consuming a lot of power in long terms but maybe I’m wrong…
PS Whit some duck tape (resistant to heat) you can cover the holes

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Ah! Great idea, thanks, hadn’t even thought about doing that, a bit of creative thinking I should be able to accomplish something workable. It will get rid of a big worry if I can work it out, I don’t think it will ‘freeze’, but the temps during dark may not be ideal. I also didn’t consider how I was going to check the temperature during the dark, with a thermometer inside the box, DOH! Though I imagine most first time growers go through some degree of realizing all the things you should have thought of before you started, when you’re in the middle of everything.

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Just don’t forget to tag me when you try it.
Also a lot of people are running they’re lights at night and that is the colder period of a day :wink:

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Welcome!

I’m kind of following @M4ur here with the potential for light to enter space during dark period. Both from the heater, and from fans. It looks like fans are on top of cabinet, and you’re running lights at night? I’m almost sure that light will enter your grow if there’s light from above in that room. You need to look at building some sort of shell for the roof of the cabinet, to keep light from entering through the fan ports.

Speaking of the fan ports, are you bringing in fresh air from bottom of cabinet and exhausting from top? You’ll get the best exchange that way, and ensure the fresh air is going through canopy and out the top. If you’re not doing that currently, that will help with temps during lights on. As long as you’re moving fresh air in the bottom and out the top, you shouldn’t have any issues with canopy temps from the cfls either.

Also, if you get a reflector of some sort over those bulbs it will boost your par levels quite a bit. Look around online, you should find plenty examples of a diy reflector.

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The top of the cabinet has a cover that flips up, I just took the pic with the top open, It’s about as light tight as I could get it, or at least, I can’t see any getting out with the porch light off, I didn’t vent it to the outside at all, just that top bit, thought it would be enough. If I could put a vent in the bottom now without a whole lot of upheaval, I probably would though, but then, if I use this setup again, I’ll probably change it around a lot, because now I’m starting to come up against all the stuff I should have done differently. At this point, the best I could do is drill through the back, on top, and maybe use a vent cover. I kind of built this with scraps, so places where stuff didn’t quite fit, there’s duct tape and weather stripping stuffing up the cracks and stuff like that, :rofl: unfortunately taking it apart right now just isn’t an option, except as a last resort.

Ah well, it’s a learning process I suppose, I probably limited myself a lot for a reflector too putting everything up top like that, might block what airflow I do have, but there just weren’t a lot of choices, space-wise. Thought about using the clip on type cones, but not sure there’s room, I’ll definitely have a look around for something I can use though, thanks!

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The problem whit that box is not being much taller… If that was at least 4 feet or more…
I think we have the same problem, MONEY :dollar:
I built up my own grow box from old furniture panels and I make it 2x2x5. In that space I was be able to put a meizhi 450w (it was not cheap for me, around 110$, but it was necessary if I wanted to grow). Everything else I used it was cheap stuff like pc fans, and cheap Chinese stuff (ph meter, tds meter, a bigger fan, my fabric pots and anything else).
After I make a calculation of the spending I think it was under 200$. This not included nutes, pH up and pH down and what I was needed for growing some good and cheap meds.
I get my investment back from first grow (26.4g listed at 300 - 350 $ street price).
Now I need to tell you that I don’t sell, share, give it for free or something else… Is just for me and not because I’m A bad guy, it’s illegal in my country so I need to keep it low

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@M4ur Yes, definitely, on both! :smiley:
I made almost the exact same investment as you, somewhere around $200, I’m afraid this is going to be a one off too, sadly. Looking at what I got right now, heat-wise, it’s about perfect, if it’s in the 40s out, I can run 10 lights, would’nt work in summer though. It’s a little iffy right now in the early AM, since the lights go off at 6AM, should be fine noon to 6, but a bit chilly for a few hours in the morning. I got the stuff to make the lightbulb heater, but haven’t made it yet. I also found a inline thermostat on Amazon Amazon.com pretty cheap, but not quite as cheap as I need it to be, cash is a little tight, might just try it without first. I honestly don’t think it will put out enough heat to be harmful, I’m thinking I can put it up top where the fans are, the top of the cabinet (it’s actually an old wet bar) is hinged in the middle, so it opens up and there’s a power strip up there. Figure I can do it for a night, then, since I don’t have a remote, open it up just before lights on, and check the temp, I’m thinking 10 degrees at most, probably far less, with that space, for 1 60w bulb, but I can always use a lower wattage. Although, I haven’t done anything but put a blanket over the whole cabinet for the last few nights, and things seem just fine, at any rate I’m not going to make it tonight, so I’ll decide later lol, what’s that saying “never put off til tomorrow what you can avoid entirely…” ? :rofl: Something like that…

Please tell me I don’t need 4 feet… !! :scream::grin: Yeah, the height’s definitely an issue, with any luck at all she won’t outgrow the box (if it was “skill”, I could probably guarantee that I guess, but I have no idea what to expect, that’s why I’m here though, to learn from the people who have done it successfully) I thought about turning the cabinet on its side before I made this, but figured it looked too obviously “off”. It’s not legal here either, I have a card, so I can buy it, but it’s not legal for me to cultivate if there’s any dispensaries within 20 miles of my house, there are, but it’s expensive. It’s a risk I guess, but as you say, cheap meds is worth it, and no, I have no intention of selling or sharing either. I have to admit, it’s tempting, given I could really use the money for a real grow setup, but growing and selling it too, just seems like tempting the luck gods one too many times. Just the grow is more than enough risk for me thanks. Now I’m thinking on it though, I wouldn’t know who to sell it to even if I did want to lol!
----anyway----
This is what it looks like from farther back right now, thinking about getting some cones for the lights (if I can find cheap) socket extenders and a couple more splitters to get the side lights closer.


I have a little bit more height to work with when I take the rack out, I needed it before she started stretching, but it’s almost served its purpose, I’ve just been bending the legs down as she got taller. :joy:
If it gets too tight, I got these (the plates for the back aren’t pictured
Should buy me a few more inches if I need it, probably take an hour to wire them up, I have a T5 on the wall a few feet above my desk, behind a computer tower with a nice warm breeze, be a good spot for her to sit for a bit, how well do they take to being temporarily relocated? I don’t know, not going to go to the trouble unless I need to I guess. I’m sort of going with if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it at the moment though.

Right now, all the lights are going, I was thinking I could get by without the lower ones if need be, but all this lower growth is starting to happen…


I’d really hate for that to stop :sob: if the weather warms too much at night, as things stand, I’ll have to,
@dbrn32 mentioned venting the bottom, I’ve been thinking about it, and the only way I could do it without taking the whole floor apart, is drilling several holes where the holes are now, the cabinet’s ‘feet’ are a few inches off the floor (outside), so there’s space there; . I have some of that mesh you lay down on a garden to stop weeds from coming up, maybe some of that over the holes? It would certainly solve any heat related issues, worth thinking about if heat becomes an issue, but for the moment, she seems okay. Defoliated a bit more, to maximize exposure of the bud sites forming, to light, not quite sure if I’ll pluck any more though, see how she looks tomorrow… The thought occurs, I should have waited ten more minutes for this pic… :rofl:
Well, at any rate, she seems reasonably healthy, and looks good so far, I can’t even tell you how happy this makes me, watching this plant grow, it’s quite fascinating. To be honest, I wanted to do a grow as much for the pics of the process, as far the bud. Will be posting some more as things progress, I’ll wait a while before I post any more. The thing gets mad at you if you post too much, apparently… hence the long post… :blush: but I’ll wait til there’s a significant difference…

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Lol :joy: you need to wait a while because it so much to read :joy:

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LOL :joy: you will not stop if you taste the money :dollar:… Easy money are always the best and for that… :thinking: maybe I’m wrong but… I also was tempted to make a buck and invest in my grow space but NO thank you! Be sure you know what you do, always! Keep it safe my friend :+1:

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I just meant bring cool air in from the bottoms and exhaust out the top. A false floor is one way to do it. You could also install a hole or two in the side bottom and then build a light trap out of pvc elbows or something.

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If the temperature is not different and you can bring a “enough” light them can stay a couple of hours but I will not change their climate for more than 15-30min…
You will be amazed by how strong them are and how them will keep going no matter what (but let’s not touch them :joy:). He’s named weed because she is one :joy:

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Now let’s talk about her!
Good job :+1: whit everything, you have a healthy young (i will say teenager) girl!
From now on you need to be a little more carefully whit her(my opinion only) because now she’s going to be mature and that means you have to be careful to not get any defiency, she’s eating more and she needs new elements in her diet (flowering nutes).
I think I write something… :joy: I don’t even want to re-read it :joy:. tenor

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