First grow in 8+ years... Is this TOO Micro for a PC Microgrow?? UK Based.

mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
I've had a look 'round the shops today, and couldn't find any nute free soil, or any growcubes about. Dya think I would be okay using some old soil from one of the plants around the house?
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
mewk69 said:
@SnotBoogie.
Okay man, I'll have a good read up on lst again, it's been a while. As for the training, I was just gonna go with the theory that anything that comes above the screen, will get looped over and pushed under the next hole, until I've filled up the whole screen, then just be careful with removing an excess fan leaves and letting it lay a nice carpet of bud. I am out on a limb here, as I'm just going by the theory of my first successful scrog, but that was working with an area about 5-6 times the size. I'm still very much bending towards scrog, but I will definteiyl pour a bit more time into thinking about the lst potential too. As for two plants not working well in one pot, that's cool, there's only gonna be one plant in there... and it's gonna go straight to 12/12 as soon as it's head is above soil.

As for the soil itself, it's here's a link. It's a bit vague with no 'ingredients' label, just mentions enough nutrients to sustain a plant for 4 weeks.

Just a thought, but the lights are held there by a few rare earth magnets, so I could probably attach them to the side of the case. You really think there's a big loss in light from having them vertical as aposed to sideways?
Click to expand...

LST basically consists of tying the top of the plant so its bent over. the side branches start to get much bigger so you end up with lots of main buds instead of just one. Like the scrog but with no screen, just string tied to the sides of the pot or whatever.

The main problem with your scrog is that the screen actually seems to be attached to the pot? So its way too low, once the earth is in the pot the seed will be above the screen as soon as it sprouts surely? and once the screen is filled with plant (if you can get that far) there will be literally zero airflow under the canopy, Which will likely cause bud rot.

Most people's Scrogs have the screen mounted 8 inches or so above the soil IIRC (never did one myself)

Also remember that CFL are not like HPS. you need to keep them as close as possible (couple inches).




Most of the light comes out the sides to my understanding.
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Just looked at your compost. its organic, has nutrients and micronutrients added. Normally it would be a bad idea to start seeds in soil with additives as said above. However I start seeds in organic 4-week soil with 100% success. The organics are much harder to hurt your plant with.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
SnotBoogie said:
and once the screen is filled with plant (if you can get that far) there will be literally zero airflow under the canopy, Which will likely cause bud rot.
Click to expand...
Well said, I had seriously not thought for a second about the airflow under the canopy. I won't go into explaining why the scrog was attached to the pot as it's a moot point now. I understand where you're coming from completely, and agree, LST is the way forward with this grow. Conveniently the holes I'd put thru the pot for the scrog will be perfect for the tiedowns on the plant. I've also shortened the pot a little to make it easy to move in and out of the box, meaning I can LST in comfort and get to all sides.

I've just put in a perspex partition between the lights and the plant, on the thinking that I can then suck heat out of the top part of the box, with less of it getting through to the plants themselves. I'm not sure if this will actually be the case tho. Also a little stuck on working the airflow out, as I really only want one exit, so that I can push that through a diy carbon scrubber. But not sure if the single pc fan is gonna be good enough to deal with the heat of the 3 lamps.

I've just given the box it's first bout of electricity and all lights are working well, and the wiring seems to be spot on. I think what I'll do this evening is wire up the fan to the back of the box, and maybe give it a run for a few hours, to see what the temp gets to inside. Still haven't picked up any distilled water, so holding off on germing at the moment.

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
I would personally avoid putting anything between the lights and the plants as it will kill efficiency and stop you from getting the lights as close as possible.

You'll need an intake (maybe just passive) and your exit. Its also good to have an air mover inside but not essential by any means. The smell won't get out the bottom hole, as there will constantly be a draft pulling air IN to the box.

Make sure when you get the soil ready to go that you get as much as possible into the pot! right up to the brim! :)
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
With his magnets he can constantly adjust the lights to be as close as possible. If you read the thread you'll see.

the magnets are actually a fucking brilliant idea for pc grow.

edit: and saying that isnt enough room is rubbish anyway... I've grown 8 inch tall plants before (just to see if i could)
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Thanks Snot, the magnets really are a great idea. But I'm thinking I need another four to make it really secure. At the moment I'm using two inside and two outside. Only I've not got another four hard drives I can rape for the 'rare earth magnets' I'd need. I am toying with the idea of just drilling holes in the box and zip tieing the lights in place. Not sure yet, needs a good bit of thought put into it, I know there's an ingenious way if I just get my head around it.

Managed to find someone with a water distiller. So pickin some water up tomorrow, will then be armed and ready for germing.

I know it's still not a bother yet, but I am worrying about the CF. Not that anyone's gonna be sniffing the air, but for anyone with a non-toking gf, I'm sure you can appreciate that life would be a helluva lot more peaceful with a smell free growbox. It comes back again to being next-to-skint, so far the entire setup hasn't cost me more than £5, so I'm happy there. I've got a bunch of pc fans, but pretty sure they've not got the juice to push enough air through the carbon. I've been wondering about the idea of a fan pushing into a CF with another sucking air out of it, I'm assuming that'd make life easier on the fans.

Been looking through the endless list of diy filters, and not found one to go with yet. If anyone's had really good results from their filter whilst using it on a PC grow, I'd be interested to hear. It doesn't have to be super-stealthy, price and ease of grabbing the components are more important.

Getting anxious to get things going now. Will be happy when I can put this thread to bed and start a grow diary.
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Firstly, remember you need a lightproof environment during flowering, drilling holes could compromise your darkness hours.

Running two fans in series is actually problematic due to the way the air moves or someshit. someone explained it to me, not gonna pretend i understand :D

I think i posted a way of gutting a fan to make your "carbon holder" earlier in the thread. I'll write it again tomorrow when im not high as shit otherwise.

You'd be suprised what a pc fan can do, especially a big one. My CF pc fan is pretty standard, driven at 12v it does a good job. you dont need the carbon to be THAT dense.
 
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stocky

Active Member
Hey good looking case so far, i'd reccomend not using a carbon filter as it will dramatically slow cfm, instead i'd advise putting a small tub of ona gel near the outlet (on the outside of the case), this will out do a small carbon filter without slowing the air flow.
As far as compost goes you can compost in a small tub in the kitchen :) that should keep the cost down for next time.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Yeh thanks Stocky... I've been looking at that ona gel, but I think I'd rather go for the fullon scrubber... I keep seeing really mixed results. Have you used it yourself? If so, how big a grow, where they stinky girls, and how'd it work out for you?

As for the CF, I've just knocked up my idea for a design, but don't know if it's really that feasable.

@Snot You mentioned there might be issues with setting up fans in serial... I've had a search around but can only find references regarding setting the fans up with serial 'wiring', which isn't what I think you meant, or what I was planning on doing.

Anyways, if you get a moment, couldya have a look at my idea... I've posted it up on the 'Grow Room Design & Setup' board, in the hope of getting some more feedback on it: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/633599-will-design-work-diy-carbon.html
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
by in series i just mean one after the other.

I think you're also overestimating how much your plant will smell. Though i personally prefer small CF to ona gel (the smell of fresh linen gets old).
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Honestly Snot, it wouldn't bother me if I had it just venting straight out and left a window open. But the other half is the real issue. She's cool as long as there's no smell at all, so I just wanna put in the effort to make sure that's the case. It'll make my life a lot easier, and my stone last a lot longer if that can be achieved :)
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Okay update is I've got a bit sidetracked with lifestuff and getting some cash in. I tried the box out yesterday for the electrics and left the lights on for a few hours to check the temps... and all seems pretty good. Need to get my ass back in gear and get the box lightproofed next, but I think I've got all I need for that. The neverending CF issue still hasn't been sorted, I've got like 15 diff size containers and just wanna bodge together one of those 'cup in cup covered in nylon' jobs that I was linked to a few posts back, but nothing seems to bloody fit. Still, that'll all get sorted in time. So yeh, been lazy on the growbox front, but will get back on it over the weekend hopefuly, and maybe get things really goin.
 
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Slowburnone

Well-Known Member
Dude, Have you tried to mount the lights horizontally? one in the front (where the cdrom would be and the other at the back where the power supply would be? you will definitely get more height space. Also this would give you better light coverage. Also if you wanna experiment you could make your own light mounts with 4 cfl's. Materials required
1. 4 cfl holders ( the hanging type) The ceramic ones would be awesome http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/491914973/E27-Ceramic-socket-E27-Holder-E27-LED-Light-Lamp-Bulb-socket-Adapter-Converter-Holder-200pc-lotsFree.jpg
2. Some L shaped metal brackets that you can screw onto the case and ceramic bulb sockets.

Once i get home i can make the design and upload if you want.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Thanks Slowburn, but I'm cool. The box is lookin good at the moment, it needs some lightproofing sorted. But everything's solid and safe. I'm gonna leave the lights the way they are for now just because they're in there good. If I'm not happy with the results come crop time, I'll have a rethink. I know I'm limiting myself with the headroom. But the biggest part I miss of a grow is tending to the girls. I'm around most of the time, so I'm lookin forward to maximizing it with some heartfelt LST. On a different note, I popped round my sisters place yesterday and found *the* answer to my CF situation. It looks too good to be true, but I might do a tutorial if it looks as good as I'm hoping.
d
 
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