My first grow ever

[homer28110]

So I don't really smoke a whole lot by my friend grows and got me into it by showing me what he was doing and talking about how growing is his passion. So, I decided to give it a shot.

I have a roommate that is not cool with me growing so my only option for growing is my crawl space (has to be super stealth). The ambient temp down there stays around 75 and I had about of 4 ft of height to work with so i figured this would be perfect for me. The only thing is, i live in super suburbia and my house is about 10 feet from my neighbors so that really sketches me out. Oh well, we will see how it work. Hopefully no one will notice me going in there all the time or the small amount of light shining through the vents and door.

To get started my friend and I built a box using a plastic container. We installed a vanity light fixture that has room for 3 bulbs. We put a Y on the end of each outlet to get 6 CFLs in there. We then coated the box in refelctive material and cut out holes for fan. We are using 6 80cm computer fans. We only had 3 at the time so only 3 are installed but that will change shortly as i have 10 more fans coming in the mail tomorrow. Finally, we wired everything together and the box was done.

Next I had to work on my crawl space. I only had a light down there so I wire a recipticle down there to power the lights and fan.

As of 7/10 I have been growing. My friend gave my 3 clones and some hybrid he calls El Diablo QC. Anyways, thats what I am growing and they seem to be thriving. My friend recently found out that this strand tends to herme but we will see. I was planning on making these my mothers and building more boxes for clones, veg, and flower but i think i am just goign to grown and harvest these and be done with this strand and then try to clone some hindu kush. We will see!

Overall i spent right at $100 on box contruction and a nutes starter pack.

Right now the plants are a few inches tall and growing fast the temp is the box is a bit over 80 degrees so I am looking forward to getting 3 more fans in there to cool it down a bit.

I am using the Technafolra Starter Kit for nutrients. If anyone has experience with these nutes please let me know. For now I am following the instructions on the kit. I'll post later about results or if I decided to vary from the instructions.

Feel free to comment or offer any suggestions. Ill be posting here regularly to show my results and upgrades to my setup.

 

[Thcofgreen]

Lookin good bro, I have some pics of your starter kit that I will post up later. Can you take a pic of that outlet you installed? I'd like to see it. Oh yeah, if those diablos don't hermie, you can always re-veg them and you will have 3 mothers or three established veggies, or any combination of the two. I can tell they have already grown a good bit. keep it up. Did you get any ph down?

Homer is a friend of mine and SMG, we are all growing this diablo strain as well as a few variety of kush and skunk. He's a newbie so let him feel welcome, give him some advice and constructive criticism. I can already tell he is getting that warm fuzzy feeling inside that we all get when we grow these beautiful ladies.

Good Luck!

 

[Thcofgreen]

Oh yeah, I meant to tell you, you should go ahead and pick up some grow bags from your hydro store, I'd get 1 gallon bags, sometimes they will have white bags instead of black, if they do, get the white ones, they reflect more light. With CFL's you need all the light you can get. Those clones have already established some good roots so you can go ahead and throw them in the 1 gallon bags with your MG (miracle grow) and remember to add a good bit of perlite. Putting them in the bigger bags with more soil will allow the roots to reach deeper and the plant to grow faster with nice tight side branching (keeping your lights about an inch away from the plants will also help this, just remember to keep an eye on them and make sure they are not getting burnt).

 

[homer28110]

Yeah thanks man, I lowered the lights about 2 inches today, I realized they were way away from the plant so hopefully that will help. And i dont need to buy bags remember, you gave the 3 of them! Thanks again! haha

 

[Thcofgreen]

oh ok, I thought I only gave you one, but I remember giving you the other two now.

 

[lrg]

sweet box man Fer sureeeeee
Remeber to up that lighting for flowering at least double or tripple the lights 2700k
When do you plan to flower with your height an all?
subscribe

 

[submachinegun]

good to see you posting up your grow, subscribed. the only thing I would really worry about growing in the crawlspace is humidity issues and pests.

are you doing 12/12 from seed?

Queen City Diablo does tends to hermie, but it's usually late in flowering. Be vigilant about looking for male flowers / bananas around 35 days in flowering. it's not that heavy of a yielder, but we're working on that. this is what you have to look forward to...

 

[homer28110]

Thanks LRG and SMG,

SMG, its funny you posted that about pests. I just went to water the ladies and the 3rd plant has very very small looking mites/flea looking things. I would have never seen them if they weren't moving all around. The weird thing is that they were crawling all around the soil and not on the plant and they were only on one plant. I am posting more pictures today and the 3rd plant i post is the one with the bug problem.

I should be getting the other computer fan in today and if I do, I will wire them up today.

Also, about they humidity concerns, I haven't measured the humidity but what i am down there it doesn't feel humid at all. I am sure it will change with the outside humidity but doesn't feel any more humid than that.

And no I am not on 12/12. THC advised i should let them veg for a while so they are on 18/6 for the time being. I was also planing on some LST to get some more nodes growing. If all works out one might turn into a mother (we will see).

LRG, about the lights, I have 6 26watt CFLs in there now but not sure how many K. What would you suggest to double or triple the lighting or would my current setup be enough.

THC, the first picture is a picture of my 110 wiring. I wired the receptacle in parallel to the light and switch so it always has power even though the switch is off.

 

[Thcofgreen]

I've had the same bug problems, you probably took them home from my place. They are fungus gnats. All you have to do to get rid of them is make sure you are letting the soil get completely dry before watering again. That way the fungus that they feed on will dye and therefore they will dye. You can also try getting some "safer" caterpillar killer but I've found it works much better to just let the soil dry out. I had that problem because I was having to over water the clones when I first put them in the soil, therefore, causing a perfect warm, moist environment for the fungus. The roots have developed enough now to where you only need to water when the soil is pretty much completely dry; as dry as it can get without letting the plant wilt. It might take a few times to figure out exactly how long to wait but you will get it.

 

[Thcofgreen]

Thanks LRG and SMG,

SMG, its funny you posted that about pests. I just went to water the ladies and the 3rd plant has very very small looking mites/flea looking things. I would have never seen them if they weren't moving all around. The weird thing is that they were crawling all around the soil and not on the plant and they were only on one plant. I am posting more pictures today and the 3rd plant i post is the one with the bug problem.

I should be getting the other computer fan in today and if I do, I will wire them up today.

Also, about they humidity concerns, I havent measured the humidity but what i am down there it doesn't feel humid at all. I am sure it will change with the outside humidity but doesn't feel any more humid than that.

And no I am not on 12/12. THC adviced i should let them veg for a while so they are on 18/6 for the time being. I was also planing on some LST to get some more nodes growing. If all works out one might turn into a mother (we will see).

LRG, about the lights, I have 6 25watt CFLs in there now but not sure how many K. What would you suggest to double or triple the lighting or would my current setup be enough.

THC, the first picture is a picture of my 110 wiring. I wired the receptical in parallel to the light and swtich so it always has power even though the switch is off.

not that it really matters but they are actually 6 26W CFL's 100w equivalent each.

The "K" that LRG is referring to is the color spectrum. I mentioned it to you but not in these terms. Your bulbs are 2700K, This is a warmer spectrum and best for flowering. For veg it is better to use 6500K, which is a cooler (blue) spectrum. Like I told you before, you need to get the 6500K for the veg and mother cabinets, but we went with the 2700K for this cab because it was intended to just be a flower cab from 12/12 remember? You are only vegging in this cab because you dont have your veg cab yet and we decided that we were just going to wait for the mother because I want to get you off of this strain and on to the kush. if you want you can do like I do and mix up the lighting to get a more full spectrum.

 

[submachinegun]

ugh, i have the worse fucking fungus gnat problem right now too. they came in the miracle grow bullshit soil i bought. I was thinking about putting a layer of sand on the surface of my medium to break their life cycle.

 

[homer28110]

when I put the ladies in a a bigger bag should i use a different grow medium. I was reading peat moss is good. Since the plant is getting its nutrients from the water and the nutes i put in that and not the soil does it really matter what you use??? Fans are scheduled to get here today but still haven't showed up!

 

[Thcofgreen]

you can always add peat moss but you dont want to use nothing but peat moss. There are a lot of good nutes in the soil as well. Especially since this is your first grow, the soil will be much more forgiving than if you were to use nothing but peat moss. Soil helps buffer the ph and the nutes so you don't burn them up.

 

[homer28110]

So I just got this armoire. The inside is 20" tall, 45" wide, and 20" deep. Think this would be good for a good place to grow some clones a keep a couple mothers? Maybe put a T5 in there? Thoughts? Oh and obviously the shelf will be coming out.

 

[Thcofgreen]

yeah it will be perfect for clones, just remember you need something to put them in that will trap the humidity in. Something like an aquarium or Hungry Howie containers ? It could also work for a mother, though it might be a little tight. You would definitely have to bend the mother sideways and do some sort of LST, which I think you were going to do anyways. If it were mine I think I would use it for veg and clones. I would just get a 24" T5 or two, and use half of the box to root your cuttings in the Howie containers, and the other half to get the roots maturing outside of the rockwool into the soil (dixie cups). Then you would just need one more box for the mothers. Keep us posted on your decision.

 

[lrg]

I personaly like going of watt per base square feet(roseman back this statement in a cfl tutortrial btw)
it goes as this

3000 lumens is minium per square foot MINIUM MINIUM MINIUM MAKED MINIUM BUDS so screw that noise MORE THE MARRIER
the suns 10,000 lumens on decent day
so mid that your at 6500 lummens
I like 6000 to 10,000 no less
LUMENS ON THE BOX ARE ONLY RIGHT WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE AT PROPER CFL DISTANT WHICH IS 1 to 2 inches anything farther than that you are loosing tons lumens
forget the actual math
just think about like this

Hope this makes sence the arrows are your lights foilage over distant light gets further less intensity

YOUR LIGHTS HERE
^^^ MAX POTENTIAL
^^^^^^^ OK NOT GREAT
^^^^^^^^^^^^bad
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ terrible

Determining lumens for your grow area:
First determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet, 2 by 2 feet is 4 Sq ft. ) If you have a 1000 Watt High Pressure Sodium Light Bulb, that produces approximately 107,000 lumens. Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 divided by 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot. So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of square feet, and that's your lumens per square foot.

your grow box looks 3x2
Ideally need 60,000 lumens but thats probaly not neccesary
so id go with about 36,000-45,000 lummens
or 25 to 30 cfl bulbs total so a minium of 19 more
23 watt 2700k

ITS NECCESARRY
sounds crazy right, wait till you do it !!!

ALSO for veg your friends right 6000-7000k k cfl or blue looking in stoner talk lol
during veg you dont need as many starting out depending on size plants but still recomend 16,000 lumens
til flower than its wht this whole thread is about lol
AND TO REPEAT MY SELF
LUMENS ONLY MATTER IF THE BULBS ARE 1 TO 2 INCHES THREE IF ITS GEETIN A LITTLE HOT ON TOP



at my home depot i got a 12 pack 23 watts for 20 bucks not bad I thought but look around

most cfl grows on here with NOT ENOUGH LIGHT lol
cfl i will say do take more bulbs but are still more HEAT effcient than an hps with a decent fan I like a total 100cfm to 200cfm

two pushing hot air out of the top
and two pushin cold air in the bottom

any ways bug problem easy fix put an inch of sand on top no more can come in they will eventually all die
REMEMBER some bugs in soil arent bad
but i havent done allot research on bug problems(havent had any major ones)
recomend tranplanting in 5 to 7 days into BETTER soil aka fox farm if you cant get it
go with a perlite pre mixed potting soil with NO ADDED NUTRIENTS
get your self some worm castings and bat guana
you look around hard enough you will find em

transfer into a gallon or three gallon pot
(i like grow bags to cut cost)
put two inch of rock at the bottom
followed by spagmuh peat moss on top
then put in your soil if fox farm or other pre mixed "A" grade soil just dump in.
if cheaper soil
like MG moisture control
DONT MIRACLE GROWS ORGANIC ORGANIC has allot of bark ive tried it so has my friend dont enjoy at all
so if you have to go with mg stick to basic cheap shit SAYS POTTING MIX ON IT LIKE 3.50 AT WALMART FOR 10 QUARTS mix it with the worm casting 30% AN PERLITE 10 % an bat guana for a kick if you want
mollases during flowering and thats it !!

you can try nutes your next time around
after get some experince (there pricey an you can fuck up if you dont know how or reserch enough lol)
dont run before you can walk doesnt get far you know

that killed some time lolll

hope it helps

and ya that clone box
t-5 are nice KEEP CLOSE REMEMBER
the three feet one's are thirty watts i believe
id go with at least sets
get the double so there will be six bulbs
180 watts and some where around 12,000 lumens
perfect for cloning
t-5 are no more powerfull then spiral cfl
they just diperse light way more equaly
over distance
the watt and lumen ratios apply the same to some degree
YOU CANT REALLY MEASURE LIGHTS IT JUST IS
but we try an try watts mean nothing
just your power bill
an lumens mean nothing when put more distants in between
so keep em close

 

[Thcofgreen]

I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure you don't add lumens together like that, especially with cfl's. Even if you had 30, 2000 lumen cfl's a luxometer would still read 2000 lumens, however, you are still increasing the photons and usable light for the plant so it's still a good idea to have as many bulbs as you can. Just check out other CFL journals and get some ideas. Here is a nice dual T5 for $69 like we talked about before. This probably wouldn't work in your new cab but it would be great for a mother cab. http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=51907

 

[Thcofgreen]

Ok here is what you should get for your odor control. I'm going to look around and see if I can find it any cheaper, though this is pretty cheap already.

http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=1532

 

[Thcofgreen]

it's like 8 bucks at that site but $16 to ship, outrageous! If you decide to order from there let's order together so we can save on shipping, I'll just pick mine up from you when I see you. I also found it on ebay for 16... shipped

 

[homer28110]

The fans came yesterday but not until after 5 and had some shit to do so I didn't get to install them until today. Anyways, I am going to attach pictures that are taken through the new installed fans. I also lowered the lights about 3 inches a few days ago and it shows the new lighting level. Let me know what you guys think (to close?). Also, the bugs in the 3rd plant seemed to be gone.

I will be putting these into 1 gallon bags today also. When I do that I am going to put a layer of sand on top. Hopefully that will get rid of them for good.

Oh and thanks for all the info LRG. I know typing all that up probably took a good while! I checked out your journal. Looks like you got things goin on!