2.5 Cubic feet Micro Grow (FIRST)

Hey everyone, venturing for the first time into the world of growing and thought I'd share the experience with everyone here. I'll go ahead and say I'm no pro and am open to suggestions/comments all the way so here goes!

Seeds:
Bagseed from a friend. Not to worried about quality as this is my first grow.

Housing:
2.5 cubic foot cardboard box.

Lights:
Two 26W CFL's for the whole grow. Currently I am on a 19hrs on/5hrs off schedule. Maybe planning to switch to soft white on down the road.

Soil:
I keep a compost at my home and have used the dark soil that it produces for my grow medium. No nutrients added so far.

Cooling:
PC Exhaust fan. Might add another if temps remain high in the box.

To update my status thus far - Seeds germinated and planted yesterday. I came home from work to find one beautiful little sprout already an inch outta the soil. Plant #2 is just peeking his head out as you can see in the photographs.



Stay Tuned! I'll be updating as the pretty ladies (hopefully) get big and strong!

52 watts of CFL for flowering? That's like, what, 2200 lumens? Big and strong ladies will be a relative term. But hey, good luck with it, we all have to start somewhere.

You understand if you yield 3-5 grams dried for 12 weeks work you're doing well?

smokinrav said:

52 watts of CFL for flowering? That's like, what, 2200 lumens? Big and strong ladies will be a relative term. But hey, good luck with it, we all have to start somewhere.

You understand if you yield 3-5 grams dried for 12 weeks work you're doing well?

Click to expand...

Yea man I actually don't expect any yield to be honest. I would love to throw some more light in there, but I'm afraid it just gets too hot. What's the warmest you would let your plants grow in with lights on?

no more than 85

thanks. Hovering around there now. might add another fan if it gets warmer

Make sure that fan is blowing out and cut a hole in the opposite side at the bottom for an intake, that will help your temps a lot, probably enough for you to add another bulb or two. Add a fan over the hole later on if needed.

Surprised nobody has said this yet but... A CARDBOARD BOX? You're gonna burn your house down man, just spend a couple of dollars and get something wooden or use two rubbermaid tubs or something. Just don't burn your house down just so the cops can see your charred plants and grow supplies and know exactly what happened.

Help4Weed said:

Surprised nobody has said this yet but... A CARDBOARD BOX? You're gonna burn your house down man, just spend a couple of dollars and get something wooden or use two rubbermaid tubs or something. Just don't burn your house down just so the cops can see your charred plants and grow supplies and know exactly what happened.

Click to expand...

I don't think this is so serious. That's why ppl use CFLs. They never get so hot to burn the cardboard. Imagine if you have CFL in thin paper ceiling lamp. Does it start to burn? you can easily take one in hand and it doesn't hurt. I think HIDs are the ones you should keep far away from paper boxes

If I were you I'd go straight to 12/12, this way you can avoid them overgrowing you box. Not that it matters much but just what kind of bag seed are you using? Good dank or "reggie" jackson? lol

The only thing that would make a cardboard box unsafe with a cfl grow is bad wiring or a short circuit. There are plenty of people on these forums that grow safely, and successfully out of cardboard. Your setup looks pretty clean so I wouldn't worry too much.

gingerbuddha said:

The only thing that would make a cardboard box unsafe with a cfl grow is bad wiring or a short circuit. There are plenty of people on these forums that grow safely, and successfully out of cardboard. Your setup looks pretty clean so I wouldn't worry too much.

Click to expand...

I agree with that.

Cardboard isn't optimal, but I've seen it done. If you're careful with wiring and keep temperatures under control you should be fine.

The bigger problem with cardboard is that its an intrinsically soft material. If you splash any water on it, it can soften up, or even rot.

imlovnit24/7 said:

If I were you I'd go straight to 12/12, this way you can avoid them overgrowing you box. Not that it matters much but just what kind of bag seed are you using? Good dank or "reggie" jackson? lol

Click to expand...

It was dank but not anything like Sour D. I'm working on a screen right now for a Scrog setup so I'm not too worried about overgrowth. Also, would that even happen with only 2 28w CFL's? From reading the forums it seems I'd need more light for larger growth.

Alright guys been just under two weeks and this is what they look like. I've been reading up an Scrog training but im not exactly sure when to start. Based on the photos when should I put up my screen and begin training them?

cataclism2 said:

View attachment 1907636View attachment 1907637View attachment 1907638

Alright guys been just under two weeks and this is what they look like. I've been reading up an Scrog training but im not exactly sure when to start. Based on the photos when should I put up my screen and begin training them?

Click to expand...

If you are planning to to use tying down method for scrogging then put the screen on and let them grow through it. then just bend the plants and tie down. I would suggest to move closer to the lights. They look like stretchy a lil bit.

I see this as more of an initial testing/experimental grow right? Plenty of helpful advice here to be had. I'd agree with the guy above who suggested 12/12 from seed, it's perfect for micro/stealth grows, I've been doing it for a few years now and you can keep those plant sizes right down and still get some nice buds card box wont be a problem with a couple of CFL's BUT I always advice electrical safety as paramount for any grow so I would think about finding a cheap wooden box as things progress.

Best of luck with the learning curve. How are you planning to extract warm air?

maturesmoker said:

I see this as more of an initial testing/experimental grow right? Plenty of helpful advice here to be had. I'd agree with the guy above who suggested 12/12 from seed, it's perfect for micro/stealth grows, I've been doing it for a few years now and you can keep those plant sizes right down and still get some nice buds card box wont be a problem with a couple of CFL's BUT I always advice electrical safety as paramount for any grow so I would think about finding a cheap wooden box as things progress.

Best of luck with the learning curve. How are you planning to extract warm air?

Click to expand...

Yep definitely experimental. I'm going to be adding another PC fan soon. Currently the one in there extracts air now. The other would be an intake. So if you go 12/12 all the way from seed how do you switch the plants into flowering when the time comes?