My First DIY Cab Grow: Using the K.I.S.S. Method

[OrganicEcoGrow]

How often and how much do you water your plants? Do you filter your water at all or use distilled/reverse osmosis treatments? Another thing: ever consider using diluted urine as a fertilizer? I've read it can be effective in promoting plant health and overall growth; the urea in urine is a form of nitrogen readily available to the plants as it converts to a useable form rather quickly when added. I only ask because I just began first ever indoor stealth cabinet grow (organic) similar to yourself, and admire your methods and techniques. I appreciate any and all responses. Think globally act locally stay organic... peace

 

[notballin]

How often and how much do you water your plants? Do you filter your water at all or use distilled/reverse osmosis treatments? Another thing: ever consider using diluted urine as a fertilizer? I've read it can be effective in promoting plant health and overall growth; the urea in urine is a form of nitrogen readily available to the plants as it converts to a useable form rather quickly when added. I only ask because I just began first ever indoor stealth cabinet grow (organic) similar to yourself, and admire your methods and techniques. I appreciate any and all responses. Think globally act locally stay organic... peace

My water schedule looks a bit like this:
-Sunday's: Alaskan Fish fertilizer mixed with PH'd water
-Monday: No water
-Tuesday: PH'd water
-Wednesday: No water
-Thursday: Diluted MGro Plant feed mixed with PH'd water
-Friday: No water
-Saturday: No water

I aim for a PH of 6.4 to 6.5.

I use the fish fertilizer full strength and I dilute the Miracle Gro Organic Choice to half strength (mix normal strength mix, fill a cup half way with it, fill the other half with distilled water) just to ensure I don't burn my plants like I did earlier in their lives. I water them until I see water coming out of the bottom of the pots and I leave them in the sink until the pots slow or stop their dripping. The soil mix is pretty airy (Perlite added for airflow), so I don't have to worry about overwatering.

Honestly I've been using tap for most of my grow. I'd take 4 cups straight from the faucet, add half a capfull of lemon juice to increase acidity and lower the PH level (Lemon juice works as PH down), check for PH, add any fertilizers, and go to town watering the plants. Haven't noticed anything negative yet. I try to use distilled water when I can and I do leave tap water out for 24 hours for chlorine evaporation.
Water purification methods are something I'm still looking into.

I haven't really thought about using urine as a fertilizer. I don't doubt it's effectiveness at all. And it's free too. I just prefer using fish emulsion as my primary source of nitrogen.

Thank you for all the compliments too!
Also, I see you're into organic mixes. You should look up compost tea's and making your own organic soil.

 

[OrganicEcoGrow]

Awesome info and thanks for the quick reply; keep up the great work.

 

[BSD0621]

You are really supposed to adjust the PH AFTER you add you fertilizers and such in water. But if that way works no reason to stop doing it

 

[notballin]

You are really supposed to adjust the PH AFTER you add you fertilizers and such in water. But if that way works no reason to stop doing it

I've tried it both ways. It seems that the ferts I'm using are PH neutral, or at least bring the PH of water down slightly. Since I've been using hard water, I don't notice much of a difference.

 

[ej691]

lol im not tryn to start nothn but why did yu waste your time drilling those holes when the that round thing is for a lock anyway lol yu didnt need to drill

 

[notballin]

lol im not tryn to start nothn but why did yu waste your time drilling those holes when the that round thing is for a lock anyway lol yu didnt need to drill

The original hole is too small for the lock (yes, I tried using it before I spent 10 minutes drilling lol).

If I used the hole, I'd need to purchase a smaller lock and I have locks already, which would make it a waste of money for less security. The way this is drilled makes bolt cutting a bit difficult and Shimming the lock almost impossible because of its angle.

EDIT: The next best step was to take a drill (battery powered but not cheap), crank the torque to max, and go to town drilling slowly. Honestly took more time measuring than it did drilling.

 

[notballin]

Forgive the bright light, but here's an update of everything.



In order: Keeper, Pepper (Peppermint Kush), and Duckfoot

Somewhere in the chaotic mess of the first picture are six tops. The second picture so far has seven tops growing (I'm not giving up hope for ten tops, though it might not make them unless I force it to). Duckfoot has three tops. I only topped it once and then LST'd it and that was the result. I'm not too disappointed since it's a really compact plant.

The nute burn from earlier mistakes still shows, but all new growth is green.

 

[emannn2010]

hey nb, looking good, ten tops = ten fat colas, good luck and happy growing

 

[notballin]

More pictures. The top light is now adjustable.



I'm surprised by how far this box has come. Looking at the finished product on the first page in comparison to the first picture in this post... it's been a rough ride. Everything is surprisingly stable now though. Let the journey to the end of veg begin.

EDIT:


For those that want to do comparisons.

 

[OrganicEcoGrow]

So those are wholesale LED hydroponic grow lights from China? How are you liking them so far? I am currently using 3 CFL's somewhere around 4000 lumens, I believe. And you can use the same light for Veg and Flower phases? I like the idea of being able to keep the same light in throughout the entire grow period. How's the LST and FIM management working out for you? Earlier FIM and LST pics looked right on! Good luck

 

[notballin]

So those are wholesale LED hydroponic grow lights from China? How are you liking them so far? I am currently using 3 CFL's somewhere around 4000 lumens, I believe. And you can use the same light for Veg and Flower phases? I like the idea of being able to keep the same light in throughout the entire grow period. How's the LST and FIM management working out for you? Earlier FIM and LST pics looked right on! Good luck

They're not that bad. For a compact stealth grow they're spot on, but adding a 12w LED (i mistakingly called it a 20w earlier) made so much more of a difference... I like them though. They have blue and red diodes (way more red than blue), so I'm sticking with the same lights for the entire cycle. The LST's working out great. I guess I aimed too low for the FIM because it only grew two tops from it, but so far everything's working out quite well. Once the new tops on Pepper grow a second set of leaves, it's just a count down till I flip the switch.

 

[OrganicEcoGrow]

Excellent. How much did those LEDs cost?

 

[bb61]

Looking great I love the way if glows with the LEDs on

 

[emannn2010]

hey nb nice work, those led`s, are they supposed to be the same as a 40w cfl? if so, I`ve been thinking of using the same as lumen`s booster on my grow. I take it ur happy with them. good luck and happy growing

 

[notballin]

hey nb nice work, those led`s, are they supposed to be the same as a 40w cfl? if so, I`ve been thinking of using the same as lumen`s booster on my grow. I take it ur happy with them. good luck and happy growing

I'd have to actually do a comparison, as I'm not sure what the equivalent I'm putting out is. I'll try my best to get back to you with that info.

On a side note, I figured out why I'm having so many feeding issues with my plants: Miracle Gro Sphagnum Peat moss and the blood meal. They seem to be kicking out more than I thought. Everything is fine now of course, but looking back I think this is why the plants were struggling during my "normal feeding methods."

So... seeing as to how I've got my hands in a shroom project, I had to buy some vermiculite and lava pumice rocks (vermiculite for substrate, lava pumice rock for a poor mans pod. Different subject, moving on lol). I made this new soil mix now that I have a basic understanding of how soil is suppose to work:

8 parts Jiffy seed starting mix
6 parts scotts premium top soil
1.5 part Lava Pumice rock
0.5 part Perlite
1.5 part Vermiculite

The mix is very airy, breaks apart quite nicely in my hands and doesn't clump, but still feels like soil. And using lava pumice rock and vermiculite with less perlite means I shouldn't have to worry about "floating perlite" from watering. I'm -very- happy with this new mixture's consistency, and I expect it to drain well and hold the right amount of water.

Thank you everyone for the compliments and I'll be back next Sunday with pictures of my plants.

 

[notballin]

They're not that bad. For a compact stealth grow they're spot on, but adding a 12w LED (i mistakingly called it a 20w earlier) made so much more of a difference... I like them though. They have blue and red diodes (way more red than blue), so I'm sticking with the same lights for the entire cycle. The LST's working out great. I guess I aimed too low for the FIM because it only grew two tops from it, but so far everything's working out quite well. Once the new tops on Pepper grow a second set of leaves, it's just a count down till I flip the switch.

Five bucks each per small light, 32 bucks for the big one.

 

[notballin]

Small update (no pictures): the high power of this main light is amazing. It's sweet spot so all three of my plants are sharing it, but Keeper decided to grow its first 7 bladed leaf.

I'm going to invest in two more of these for the sides and use these small lights for my veg box.

Small edit: gonna see if I can make this veg box work. May be cheaper to cut through the excess material on the inside.

 

[OrganicEcoGrow]

Awesome, hoping the plants are doing great!

 

[notballin]

Awesome, hoping the plants are doing great!

Thanks man.

I've been narrowing down things that I can improve upon, and this week and a half I've been using distilled water. I may just be guessing here, but I have to say I'm noticing much healthier growth from using distilled water. Maybe the feeding issue came from salt/mineral build up from tap water?

Oh well. Getting a Brita filter.

EDIT: just gonna get this out there for people wondering about the large light.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXTQRWQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1#productDetails

is the light I'm using. I went ahead and ordered two more. I really like them (I'm a risk taker, so I took a risk since I'm not really big on marketing hype and I found that these are pretty decent for a stealth grow). They're very bright and this light is what gave me my first seven bladed leaf (so I know it's pretty powerful).

The smaller LED's that I have now will be used to cover the dark spots in the cab. With three of these total (all can be adjusted, I have omnidirectional adapters with on/off switches), the light output will be insane, and they're actually pretty cool to the touch too. This'll put me at 40watts in LED lighting.

-No worries on this being overkill. The light is super powerful but it has a narrow shine distance. Anything that's not in the middle of the box gets the scrap light, so I need to more for the sides to give the plants proper lighting.

The last thing I really need to do for this box is get an uninterruptable power supply. Knowing the power companies around here, I'm gonna need that to make sure nothing funky happens during flower.

To do list:
-Find power supply for veg box.
-Prepare to plant auto flower freebies in veg box to have some type of perpetual harvest prepared.
-Purchase the last required lights [DONE]
-Purchase a tap water filter [DONE]

Pics on Sunday.