150w HPS Mini Fridge {6x Diesel Ryder AF & 6x Apollo11/Green Giant}

[KolorBlind]

DAY 1

Plant Stage: Seed [Day 1]
Light Cycle: 20/4
Lights (Until HPS Arrives): 42w 2700k CFL, 2x30w 2700k CFLs, 2x26w 2700k CFLs
Medium: 50% Sunshine Mix, 45% Pearlite, 3% Blood Meal, 2% Bone Meal
Ferts: None (Besides Whats in Soil)
Strain: 6x Diesel Ryder Autoflower, 6x Apollo11/Green Giant


High everyone.

OK let me start off by saying how awesome this site & community has been for me. I have learned so much just in my first 2 grows its amazing. Thanks to everyone who has supported and helped me out so far!!

That said, lets get to business. I have attempted and failed one grow, I am 2 weeks into flowering on another, 2-3 weeks from harvesting 2 pollinated Diesel Ryders and I have 3 bagseed 2 weeks old at 3 days flowering. Through all of this I have pieced together good & bad experiences from all and I have put that knowledge into this next grow cab. Its a used mini fridge I bought cheap on cragslist. It was 100% functional but not anymore A friend and I are tackling this project and as of now we have it completely gutted, foam insulation and all. I have ordered the light and fan, they will arrive in the middle of next week so hopefully by next weekend we'll be painting and getting the fridge all setup.

I have a regular sized fridge/freeze combo that I have been growing with for about a month & 1/2 now. It is GREAT other than the fact that its in the garage. Due to low ambient temps in the winter and high ambient temps in summer, keeping the temps right is almost not worth the struggle. Especially since it is not gutted at all. Right now its great but when it gets to 90+ outside the plants will not be liking it much. So I decided to go with a gutted mini fridge and a 150w HPS so that it was small enough to keep inside. Ambient room temps should be 68-75 all year.

OK not many pics right now but Ill post what I have. Here are some before & after germination pics. This is my first time growing genetics from seed so I am taking more pics than usual

Before. Note the clever "D" design for the Diesel Ryder and the "A" for the Apollo 11/Green Giant. Otherwise I would totally forget what is what.

After. Two of the Apollo 11 seeds had just barely cracked open, but I planted them anyways as I have had good results from doing so in the past.

Here they are in their new hopes. I have used the Jiffy Pots & Pellets and will never do so again. All you need is a 16oz party cup, I find the Jiffy products provide more resistance than the plants prefer. The way i do it is to plant them in clear cups with drain holes, then put those in red cups so the roots dont get any light. That way I can take the inner cup out at any time and peek at the roots so I know when to transplant.

Here they are in their temporary home. The other 2 plants are 2 pollinated female Diesel Ryders. About 2 weeks ago i was given those 2, along with a male & about 16 seeds. I pollinated them myself when the male was ready then threw him away, this was a little over a week ago. You can see closeup pics of them in my other grow, the fridge one listed in my sig. The one on the left is Carmen, and the one on the right is Regina They are 45 days old & will be ready in 2-3 weeks.

I disabled the fan in the back as it was not doing much and was very loud. I went ahead and hung a fan on the door since I cant close the doors without it getting over 90F and they just stay open all the time anyways. This will only be like this for another 2 weeks MAX.

And this, unfortunately, is the only picture I have of the fridge for now haha! My friend has the rest, it was my job to finish scraping the insulation out of the door. Let me just say that it will take you at LEAST 3 hours to scrape the insulation out of a mini fridge if youre thinking of doing this. It gives you an idea of the size of the fridge though. The inside dimensions after gutting are roughly 18x18x32 inches. There is, however a 6" tall hump about 14" back in the bottom of the fridge. I think we will just be leaving it as it so that the back of the fridge can house the filter, fan & duct.

OK so that's really it for now. I will be posting as many pics as I can of the fridge setup, plants, etc. I ordered a 150w HPS, 150w Ballast/Igniter/Capacitor, & Ceramic Mogul Socket from 1000bulbs.com and I plan to make the ballast a remote, external one. The fan I ordered is a Soler & Palau 100/135CFM 4" Inline fan. i think I may use this fan for my large fridge and take the 80CFM NuTone bathroom exhaust fan out of it for the mini fridge. The NuTone is quiet and would take up less growing space in the fridge, as I want to keep it inside for stealth. Not sure if I plan to scrog or not. The Diesel Ryders are autoflower so the 2 strains will have to be grown separate after about a month as I plan to keep the DRs on a 20/4 light schedule. They may end up staying in the big fridge on 20/4 with a mother or something and I may scrog some Apollo/GG's in the mini fridge who knows, only time will tell.

Ill post more pics once they sprout, and I should update pretty frequently if you're interested in following. Thanks for watching, all input is always welcome, just dont be an ass about it Feel free to ask any questions also, after all that's the only way I was able to start this, by asking TONS of questions!

KB

 

[Morduskull]

Sweet will drop by and check out ya progress

 

[b1izzard]

nice man. its should work out. The only thing i was wondering is whether you really think you have room for 6 plants in that mini fridge. those dimensions sounded like they could house 1 maybe 2 plants even with a scrog. Also are you putting the hps in the mini fridge or outside and if its going in the fridge, how much room will that leave for the plants?

 

[KolorBlind]

nice man. its should work out. The only thing i was wondering is whether you really think you have room for 6 plants in that mini fridge. those dimensions sounded like they could house 1 maybe 2 plants even with a scrog. Also are you putting the hps in the mini fridge or outside and if its going in the fridge, how much room will that leave for the plants?

Well the reason I started 6 of each was to hopefully end up with 3 females from each. Im really only growing the Apollo11/Green Giant to get a nice sexy mother plant. If I do scrog the mini fridge I would think 3 or 4 plants max. I think it could house up to 12 though until they are 3 weeks old.

At 3 weeks I should be able to sex all the Diesel Ryders, and the Apollos will go into the big fridge on 12/12 until can sex them. It may be a bit long to keep them all in 16oz cups, but Im working with what Ive got for now until the grow in the big fridge is done, then I will have more room to play with.

As far as the light goes, the bulb will be mounted inside, with a remote ballast mounted outside to the back of the fridge. Its not a fancy grow light kit or anything, with that small of space a reflector isnt as important so no point for me to spend $40 or more on one. I plan on making a very low profile reflector to go above the bulb. The reflector will probably be flush with the ceiling with the bulb below, so Id say it will take up roughly 4" of height. With a pyrex cooltube that would leave about 18-20" between the top of the soil (7-10" tall pots) and the botom of the cool tube/bulb. It should be plenty for a few plants, maybe 4. If they were Diesel Ryders it would probably be more like 8-12 plants SOG style in 20oz bottles since that strain stays so short. Otherwise it will be 3-4 Apollo11/Green Giant scrogged to the max! Havent decided for sure on the pyrexy tube though, I am going to go pick one up for $5 I saw on craigslist just in case heat is an issue.

Thanks for the interest guys. Feel free to help me figure out things I have missed or am not thinking about. Only 1 sprout so far and hes not really 100% out of the soil so no pics as of yet. As soon as they all sprout Ill snap some pics.

KB

 

[Gastanker]

Looks awesome man. You got several great threads going props. Just took a look at your auto thread - well done. Pretty sure I'm going to have to order some autos now just to fuck around with em. Keep it up

 

[KolorBlind]

Looks awesome man. You got several great threads going props. Just took a look at your auto thread - well done. Pretty sure I'm going to have to order some autos now just to fuck around with em. Keep it up

Thanks for the kind words Tank. And yeah man the AFs are so fun. ESPECIALLY if you like growing outdoors. They stay small, harvest about a month sooner & if the temps are right it doesnt matter how much light they get.

Im pretty sure that when I harvest my little Carmen, she will still be just shy of 6 INCHES tall, which is freakin crazy. The whole plant looks like a side branch off most larger plants lol. Its not like AFs will yeild a pound or anything, but you can grow more, grow faster, and grow shorter.

I think the neatest thing about AFs for indoor growers is that if you grow a non AF strain, you can put some AFs in the same grow area as the non AF mother and they will flower!!! I think that is my long term plan for the large fridge. That way I have 2 crops constantly going and I only have to have 1 "veg" and 1 "flower" room. Id say I could easily fit 6 of those diesel ryders in the big fridge with 1-2 mothers.

Anyways, all 12 of my seeds have sprouted and are looking great. I took pics last night (well, this morning) but it was too late to make a post so Ill do it tonight. The amount of lights in my little cab is just ridiculous now. 2x42w & 6x26w CFLs!! Looks silly.

Peace
KB

 

[KolorBlind]

DAY 4

Plant Stage: Seedling
Light Cycle: 20/4
Lights (Until HPS Arrives): 2x42w 2700k CFLs, 2x30w 2700k CFLs, 2x26w 2700k CFLs, 2 23w 6500K CFLs
Medium: 50% Sunshine Mix, 45% Pearlite, 3% Blood Meal, 2% Bone Meal
Ferts: None (Besides Whats in Soil)
Strain: 6x Diesel Ryder Autoflower, 6x Apollo11/Green Giant


My apologies for not having any pics of the mini fridge yet, its been a very hectic week at work. This weekend will be "go time" on the mini fridge. We have a lot of work to do and it may not all get done but we'll do as much as possible.

In the meantime, all 12 seeds have sprouted and I have a few pictures. I added 3 more bulbs to the cabinet to keep the seedlings healthy while the fridge is being built. I added a 42w 2700K CFL and 2 23w 6500K CFLs. I also added some Y adapters for fun . Here is a lineup, just before I changed the light configuration in the cabinet. We have Diesel Ryder 1-6 (From left to right) up front, and Apollo11/Green Giant 1-6 (From left to right) in the back.

And here is a shot after rearranging the lights & adding a few more. This way the seedlings are closer and Carmen & Regina actually have light above & beside their top buds instead of just beside them like before.

Heres a closer shot with the lights off that shows the light setup a bit better. Its sooooo damn bright in there lol.

All of these pictures are from last night, thats why it says "DAY 4" up top. I just couldnt stay up late enough to post last night. I watered all the seedlings again today, and man I really gotta get some Neem oil & fly strips or something because I have gnats like you wouldnt believe. I know they dont eat the foliage usually, but they can get in the buds & die, no fun to smoke.

Ill post as things develop, gonna try to keep the pictures pretty updated since I have some good seeds now. Thanks for the interest, feel free to comment, critique or ask any questions.

Peace
KB

 

[b1izzard]

looks good man. only thing i would do and rearrange so that Carmen & Regina get more of the light. Right now they need it more than the seedlings, and right now a whole side of them is going lightless. Surround those girls with the lights and put the seedlings on the outside edge and they will thanks you in the long run.

good luck and good growing

 

[KolorBlind]

looks good man. only thing i would do and rearrange so that Carmen & Regina get more of the light. Right now they need it more than the seedlings, and right now a whole side of them is going lightless. Surround those girls with the lights and put the seedlings on the outside edge and they will thanks you in the long run.

good luck and good growing

Yeah I messed around with every possible combination of rearranging the light & plants and it was near impossible to get light on all sides of the 2 girls AND cram 12 party cups in there. I hoped that I would be putting the 12 seedlings in the mini fridge this weekend but it was a pretty slow, lazy weened. By the end of the week, the plan is to have only Carmen & Regina in the cabinet and the 12 seedlings in the mini fridge.

Speaking of which, I finally got some pictures of where I am at with the mini fridge. I got the exhaust fan all wired up, got a scrubber built & we turned a cheap piece of duct work from Home DePot into a nice little reflector.

Here is a few shots of the fridge. Its 18.5" Wide, 18" Deep, 32" Tall. A few final touches need to be put into scraping the inside out, then its time to drill holes & paint the inside flat white. Flat white reflects like 90% of light, and considering mylar can burn, the 5% lost is worth piece of mind to me. Two 4" holes will be cut in the front of the "step" for passive intake. Anyone have any ideas on making them lightproof? Ive thought maybe some PVC elbows but they would take up a lot of room in back. Darkroom louvers might be too expensive too

Here is a shot showing the insides of the door that I gutted. It will only add about another inch to the cabinet depth but every inch helps!

And here is how I plan for the back to look. Not exactly stealth but considering the size & weight of this fridge, it can be easily moved to my bedroom closet with a lock on the door when company is expected. I have placed my 4" hole saw roughly where the exhaust hole will be cut, then duct will run to the fan, back out and up to the scrubber. This will help to dampen the whooshing sound. This fan is amazingly quiet on its 100CFM setting. I decided to mount everything to the back to give maximum room inside. The ballast & components (not completely assembled yet obviously) will also be mounted on the back to keep some heat out of the cab.

I turned the fridge upside down and placed the light & our simple reflector we made right about where they will be mounted. This will only take up less than 4" of vertical height. Take about 8" away for pot height and Im left with a comfortable 15-20 inches of room to grow depending on how close I can get them to the light. I still need to pickup a Pyrex bake a round tube for $5 since its so cheap, but I will try to get away with not using it if I can. I have seen people get plants very close to 150w HPS lights with just minimal airflow between the light & plants.

Thats where Im at now. By next weekend sometime the fridge should be up & running. Later on down the road I may cut the hump out at the bottom, but Im just fine leaving it for now, as I am starting to get burned out on DIY projects lol. Im thinking 3-4 plants max in this thing, most likely with some sort of scrog but still not entirely sure. Let me know what you guys think.

Peace
KB

 

[KolorBlind]

OK so I found some 4" round darkroom louvers that are very affordable. I have never messed with these darkroom louvers and was wondering if anyone has?

Do they restrict airflow much, or at all?
Will I need more than two 4" intake holes using these?


At just under $11 each I think they would work great.
I would put them on the inside probably. Anywhays, here is the link, check them out and let me know what you guys think.

http://www.builderdepot.com/browse.ihtml?pid=11367&step=5&prodstoreid=301


Thanks
KB

 

[crazytrain14]

looks good man can't wait to see the fridge when its done

 

[keenas]

coming along good mate...keen to see finish.

 

[mvega]

nice setup.
hey is that fan pretty loud?
thinkin of getting one for my stealth grow but not sure

 

[KolorBlind]

nice setup.
hey is that fan pretty loud?
thinkin of getting one for my stealth grow but not sure

Well like I said it has 2 different speeds, 100CFM and 135CFM. I plugged it in on both and the 100CFM is no louder than a computer fan, its amazing. The 135CFM setting is probably twice as loud, but if it was inside your cab I think it would be virtually silent. Mine will be installed outside on the back, so Im hoping to get away with the 100CFM setting.

I think even if I had to use the 135CFM setting it would be ok considering this is a mini fridge and is expected to make a little noise. On a dresser/cab/closet type grow though I think the 135CFM setting would have to be muffled in some way, or just run an oscillating fan or something near it to drown the noise out. I once used an old humidifier that didnt work on top of my cab, and when you walked into the room it looked and sounded like the humidifier running, especially because the fan was right beneath it.

KB

 

[S0uthernSm0ke]

I once used an old humidifier that didnt work on top of my cab, and when you walked into the room it looked and sounded like the humidifier running, especially because the fan was right beneath it.

KB

Great idea. This is the type of low profile stealth that will keep the attention away

 

[KolorBlind]

DAY 14

Plant Stage: Veg
Light Cycle: 20/4
Lights (Until HPS Arrives): 2x42w 2700k CFLs, 2x30w 2700k CFLs, 2x26w 2700k CFLs, 2 23w 6500K CFLs
Medium: 50% Sunshine Mix, 45% Pearlite, 3% Blood Meal, 2% Bone Meal
Ferts: None (Besides Whats in Soil)
Strain: 6x Diesel Ryder Autoflower, 6x Apollo11/Green Giant


Ok its been a little bit since a picture update, and the damn fridge still isnt finished up I have more pictures haha! Between me being lazy, making too many trips to the hardware store, and having car trouble I didnt get a whole lot done. In fact I owe 99% of the work done this weekend to my good friend. Anyways, here are some pictures of where I'm at with the mini fridge.

Here is how it will look from the front. Doesn't stand out at all, which is nice.

Heres an inside shot. After some sanding and a final layer or 2 of paint it will be finished. I have the reflector and light in place for visual effect but its not hooked up yet unfortunately.

The setup on the back was done with a lot of rubber, nylon & plastic washers & spacers to cut down on vibration. My friend came up with the idea to mount the ballast on a bracket to dissipate the heat away from the fridge better. We also decided we will mount the igniter in a separate box, I was told that the closer the igniter is to the transformer the louder it will hum.

So that is the fridge for now, lets move to the ladies (hopefully) that will be occupying it for a while. here is a shot of all the girls. The 6 Diesel Ryder autoflowers up front, and the 6 Apollo11/Green Giants in the back.

The growth has been great considering the cramped cab with med-high temps (86 max). There are 2 that Im not sure about. They are both Apollo11/Green Giants, plants AG1 & AG6. AG1, on the left looks fine but one of the leaves didn't form completely and its a bit lopsided. AG6, on the right has been a little runt from the beginning, but it looks 100% better than yesterday.

All 12 will be going into the mini fridge asap on a hanging shelf. I will be using the 150w HPS for vegging, but they CFLs I'm using now are 2700K so they're used to the orange spectrum a bit already. After another coat of paint or 2 and some simple assembly it should be complete. Ill post details as they are available. Feel free to comment or ask any questions, I'm open to all suggestions & criticisms.

Peace
KB

 

[crazytrain14]

lookin good man

 

[KolorBlind]

lookin good man

Thanks man, appreciate you stoppin by!


So I have some interesting news. At only 15 days old all 6 of my Diesel Ryder plants have shown sex!! The night before I was watering them and giving them a good look over, and did not see one sign of sex on any of them. Overnight its like they went from toddlers to young adults!! I woke up and 4 of the Diesel Ryders had balls from top to bottom, and 2 of them had 6-12 white hairs coming out the top of the plant. I was a little disappointed at the low female to male ratio, so I started germinating 4 more seeds last night

I repotted the 2 females in 6 inch pots and set the males outside he cab. I will snap some pics of a male & female to show off. It just looks so funny seeing balls & hairs on such little plants. I also rearranged the light setup in the cab to maximize the light that Regina & Carmen (my "almost ready to harvest" diesel ryders) get better coverage. Plus i took 4 plants out so theres more room overall.

I got the light & fan all wired up on the mini fridge last night. Tonight I will work on the ductwork & some touch-up lightproofing. The gasket on the door is pretty lightproof, it doesnt let light through but it kinda glows. I may just have to leave it as is unless light starts peeking through. That 150 HPS puts out a LOT of damn light in that little fridge! I will need to get a 120mm fan still to mount to the reflector so its constantly blowing on the light.

Ill get some pics of the new girls soon, and also of a male or 2 for shits n grins

Peace
KB

 

[crazytrain14]

sweet man congrats on at least getting 2 ladies. ive got 4 lorwyders in my pc case hopefully they will show as quick as yours did

here's my set up https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/204206-pc-case-lowryder-grow.html

 

[KolorBlind]

DAY 18

Plant Stage (Apollo11/Green Giant): Veg
Plant Stage (Diesel Ryder): Flower [Day 4]
Light Cycle: 20/4
Lights (Until Mini Fridge is Ready): 2x42w 2700k CFLs, 2x30w 2700k CFLs, 2x26w 2700k CFLs, 2 23w 6500K CFLs
Medium: 50% Sunshine Mix, 45% Pearlite, 3% Blood Meal, 2% Bone Meal
Ferts: Schultz Plant Food (10-15-10) every other day.
Strain: 6x Diesel Ryder Autoflower (4 Males 2 Females), 6x Apollo11/Green Giant


Well the fridge is still sitting in my garage all hooked up and needing a little touch up work. Its been very busy at work this week and just keeping all my plants watered, trained, etc. usually consumes most of my night. Not to mention its been over 90F all week and that keeps my garage hangout time down to a minimum, haha!

But anyways, I promised pics of the Diesel Ryders and I finally have time to post them. I took a few more pics that I will share of my pollinated Diesel Ryders that I am harvesting, too. So here we go.


Here are the 4 males of the 6 Diesel Ryders I started at just 16 days old!

A closeup of the 2 showing the most pollen sacs. A couple are even split open, just blows my mind

Here are the 2 girls in their new pots at 18 days old. Lots of white hairs up top and multiple budsites with white hairs on both. Daria is the lady on the left, and Ellie May on the right. Im sticking with the alphabetical method used for hurricanes when naming new females

Closeup of Daria

Ellie May

Here is how the cab is setup right now. The plan is still for everything in there to go into the mini fridge asap. The 4 newly planted Diesel Ryders are in the middle with plastic wrap on them. The plastic wrap will get taken off as soon as I can see green through it.

I have decided its time to harvest my two 61 day old Diesel Ryders, Carmen & Regina. We sampled a couple little buds last night off Carmen and we were VERY satisfied with the results. With just a 30-45min quick dry on top of my light reflector int he fridge and it got us higher than we've been in a good long time. The high lasted for about 1 to 1.5 hours and it had a slight fruity pebbles flavor to me. It was pretty harsh and the flavor was not very strong but it made my toes tingle and my lips slightly numb, god DAMN I miss that!! haha!

I decided I will put Carmen & Regina in my bedroom closet for 48 hours with no light. I had installed a lightproof curtain inside the closet for my first grow attempt, and it finally came in handy The temps are 68-70F and humidity is 58% so it should be great for drying. after the 48 hours Ill chop them and hang them upside down for 5-8 days. Ill take a little after that and cure the rest since we need to save some for a trip coming up. By the time we smoke the rest it will have cured for about 2 weeks and should be very smooth & the high will hopefully be stronger and last longer.

Here are both of them just before going in the closet. Carmen on the left, Regina on the right. Carmen ended up at 5 & 3/4 inches tall and Regina is 6 & 3/4 inches tall.

Carmen

Carmen's top bud

Regina

Regina's top bud

I will give more of a full smoke report in about a week or so, as well as what they yielded, which I'm sure wont be much. They are pollinated and quite full of seeds, Id be happy with a 1/2 ounce of bud total, including the seeds. I'm just in it mainly for the seeds on this run, and I already got 7 out of the 2 tiny little buds we smoked.

Thanks for tuning in, please feel free to leave any comments or ask any questions. I am still learning myself and I enjoy all feedback.

Peace
KB