2.5x1.5 cabinet (first grow)

[Federson]

Hey guys! This is my first cana grow but I've been growing vegetables and the like outdoors for about 3 years. I recently gutted an old 2.5 wide x 1.5 deep x 4ft tall armoire and lined it with black and white poly.

I'll be using a cheap Chinese led i got for ~55 dollars until tastyled restocks some of their stuff.

I'm growing in "soil" (actually mix of coir and worm casting with other stuff like water-saving polymers). It's called Wonder Soil and my only reservation about it is that it says it feeds up to 6 months. I'm afraid I might burn the plants if I add dyna-gro like I'm planning, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess.
Here's a list of ingredients in "Wonder Soil"

My bean actually just sprouted today, it's Northern Light Blue from Delicious Seeds, which is a cross of the GF's 2 fav seeds. Just doing 1 plant this time around since I don't have great lights (yet) will probably do 2 next grow unless this plant ends up being huge and taking up the whole area.

As far as training is concerned I'll be attempting to main line the plant when it gets 4 or 5 nodes.

Oh and I'm a college student. Stealth isn't really a huge issue for me, but my dad pays the power bill and I don't think he'd approve so I'm trying to keep my watts low and only using 1 CFL to suppliment the Chinese led..

 

[Federson]

And pictures!
Here we have the gutted armoire all ready to be lined with black/white poly film:

And here's the intake. I put some HEPA filters on the left and right side of the armoire and tried to seal everything with some caulk. Hopefully this will reduce mold and such, but will be a real pain in the ass to replace the filters in a few months.

Here's the cabinet (armoire) finished. Could probably be considered a stealth grow except for the giant exhaust filter, and the fact that the duct booster fan (240CFM) is pretty damn loud. Luckily I only share this house with my GF and our cats. Even though I put window sealing strips and magnetic clasps on the doors a little light still gets through. It also gets out the filters. I could probably put a light trap over the filters but I'm not really worried about it.

And here's the inside! I've got a CFL to supplement the LED, and a little oscillating USB fan that actually pushes a pretty decent amount of air. I had to spray paint it white because I didn't want a black fan in there soaking up the rays.

A little closer... You can see the fan a little better. I think flushing the plant and getting it in/out of the armoire is going to be a real pain in the ass since I have to reach down and fit it through these tiny doors.

A lot closer! She's alive!

 

[blueaqua]

Yeah that sounds good, you will most defenetly need a bit more space.

DONT put you're seedlings in pre-mixed soil that has long delivering nutrients. You cant do it and might succeed but you will save yourself a whole lot of problems if you go with some normal organic soil.

I mix1/4 peatmoss, 1/4 organic dort, 1/4 worms castings, 1/4 perlite.

I have 180w led two plant-closet setup. Also student, and sort of newby.
Rooting for you . Good vibes.

 

[Federson]

Thanks man! Yeah like I said the soil is my only reservation. The list of ingredients all looks really good except for the "combo slow & quick release fertilizers" . Might just have to spring for some fox farms since everyone seems to love it so much!

I really wish I had more grow space so I could have multiple plants and experiment with different growing mediums.

 

[blueaqua]

Yeah brah , I really don't have acces to all of those comercial products.
I have been using "Alaska Fish fertilizer" 5-1-1 and some natural sea weed extract and going to use dome liquid worms humus. Have to get some Alaska Bloom they are both "organic"
I have two alpine og fem eone is topped and prunned the other isnt. Have been experimennting with both and different products.
I can personaly recomend the seaweed extract that stuff does miracles it will literally grow as soon as you feed it. I had three plants but got rid of one because of space, I was experrimenting with all of them.
Will add pic, I need to get probably two HPS for flowering but made a nice setup with aluminum foil and aluminum tape (rapped some carboars) and made a haul on top to concentrate the light.

 

[blueaqua]

 

[Federson]

Yeah brah , I really don't have acces to all of those comercial products.
I have been using "Alaska Fish fertilizer" 5-1-1 and some natural sea weed extract and going to use dome liquid worms humus. Have to get some Alaska Bloom they are both "organic"
I have two alpine og fem eone is topped and prunned the other isnt. Have been experimennting with both and different products.
I can personaly recomend the seaweed extract that stuff does miracles it will literally grow as soon as you feed it. I had three plants but got rid of one because of space, I was experrimenting with all of them.
Will add pic, I need to get probably two HPS for flowering but made a nice setup with aluminum foil and aluminum tape (rapped some carboars) and made a haul on top to concentrate the light.

Cool man yeah I looked into seaweed/kelp extract based on your recommendation and everyone seems to really rave about the stuff so I ordered a bottle. Your plants look like they're doing great, I can't wait till mine starts growing, but I'm resisting the urge to check on it every 10min, just checking every few hours to make sure it hasn't caught fire or something lol.

Actually yesterday I forgot to turn on the ventilation for some reason and the cabinet got up to 90f. Hopefully this doesn't stunt her growth too much
Oh well she's still young and if something does happen I still have more beans

 

[blueaqua]

I did the same, Hey told me its called helicopter parenting and acutally his bad for youre plant I did not believe this but as soon as i stopped my babies grew and were so happy. It has to do with the neg. Vibes I guess . Try it.

 

[DankTankerous]

Dude you have more than enough space. get a decent Scrog going and you could turn out some ounces. I'm growing and have grown cannabis in a PC tower, it's possible. Good luck man, i'm sure you'll turn out some good bud and weight. Sub'd

 

[Federson]

Thanks DankTankerous, I was planning on mainlining if it ever gets to that stage.

She's 4 days old now but she still looks like she's 2 days old. Come to find out this "Wonder Soil" is really ruining me with it's boasted "water saving polymers and 50% less watering". Means my little girl is sitting in water a lot longer than she probably should be. She's looking like she's been over watered, but I haven't watered her except on day 1. It's finally to the point where the top 1/4inch is dry, will probably end up watering her Thursday morning at this pace. So now I'm definitely going to mix my own soil. I'm thinking like 30% compost, 30% perlite, 30% coco coir, and like 10% worm castings (and a little azomite).

 

[Kevin the Great]

Don't sweat too much dude, I've added the water absorbing polymers to my soils before if I know it's going to be a grow I can't regularly check on. Looks like they're in cups now, so when you repot just use something better. I like to amend the Ocean Forest with more earth worm castings, just a personal preference.
Also, you're a college student, so figure out exactly how much money the extra electricity costs. You might be surprised by how little it is. Don't go by the rated power on your Chinese light either, I'm sure you can get your hands on an amp meter easily enough and take accurate measurments.
5 gallon buckets of the kitty litter variety work great for cab grows. They actually hold around 5.8 gallons full, but I like to leave a bit out for ease of watering, and the would fill your space nicely. For 2 plants, the plastic milk crates hold about 5 gallons too and they're about a foot wide. You just have to put a plastic bag in first for a liner.
Where did you get the carbon filter? They shouldn't leak light.

 

[Federson]

The filters on the bottom that leak light are hepa filters on the intake. The only carbon is on the exhaust up top. And yeah I was going to just use the soil mix when I repot her. I needed to buy a bunch of soil amendments anyway with spring just around the corner!

 

[Kevin the Great]

For the passive intakes, I paint the inside of a ducting elbow flat black then put panty hose over the end of it. What little light that gets through the panties is easily lost on the black and the panties are an easy to change intake filter.

 

[Federson]

She was very dry this morning so I watered her. Tastyled.com also must have restocked and I missed it, because there was only 1 t2-1400, so I snatched it up. It seems as though the tips of her tiny true leafs have turned white. This soil mix might just be too hot. I have most the stuff for my own mix but I didn't realize we're out of perlite so I'm going to swing by home depot tonight and grab a bag. At this point I'm not sure she's going to make it, but I'll keep giving her a chance till she gives up on me.

I'll post a pic later today.

 

[Federson]

I also decided (after much googling) that one CFL is enough for her at the moment, so I cut off the LED.

 

[Federson]

Well it's been a week since she first broke ground, and she's finally starting to grow it would seem. I'm a bit worried about why the previous 2 leaves turned kind of white. My tastyLED is supposed to arrive on the first which has me pretty excited.

 

[blueaqua]

Honestly and I do say this with the best of vibes; I would start over with some new seeds. They don't look healthy. It would be much better fot youre total yield, overal plant healyh and youre personal stress, you are gonna wind up with a bunch of problems over veg and flower periods . They can be "saved" but not worth it, my personal and some what perfectionist point of view.

:: )

 

[Federson]

I was considering the same thing, but I think it's finally starting to grow! I might plant a second seed when i get the tastyLED, and if it quickly outgrows the first plant I'll probably cull the first one.

 

[Federson]

Got my tastyled in the mail today and just finished setting it up. I think the cabinet looks much more respectable now lol! The little seedling is looking MUCH better now, hopefully switching lights doesn't stress her out too bad. I think I'll stick to one plant for now, although with this lighting I could probably get away with 2.

 

[blueaqua]

Alwaya better to have 2 just in case.