Becaused you asked

Fellow growers,

I have had several requests to give a detail description of my setup. Time to post a thread and give a step by step. I do not think my setup is any better than most out there, but it is working and does allow me to have a nice grow in a closet without even those in the apartment knowing what I am doing.

I am going to do this somewhat in the form of a grow log, as there have been many changes in the last week. I will post for each day, the pictures for that day and discuss any changes to the environment.

This is my first grow, and I am blown away at how fast things can change. Who would ever think growing some plants would be this exciting.

Everything in this setup can be purchased from Home Depot. The only thing I purchased elsewhere ae the eco-floros and I bought those from Wal-Mart.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

So what did you buy from Home Depot to make it? How did you make your set up? Etc.....

The first stage of the box was built out of the largest storage bin I could find at Wal-Mart. I bought two of them knowing I would out grow the one in a few weeks.

I purchased 5 eco grow lights (18w and I have no idea the spectrum). Like most first time growers, I underestimated the amount of light required to find success. They did alright under the floros, but began to stretch and I had to start propping them up with q-tips.

I lined the wall of the box with tin foil to provide a light barrier and provide some reflection. In hindsight, I would have painted in all flat white after installing the foil. That will be for the next grow.

Cooling and airflow is provided by 3 12v DC cooling fans. The intake is a single speed 35 CFM which blows through the center of the CFLs. The exhaust is a 4" 20-50 CFM 3 speed fan. It allows me to provide pretty good temp control. There is a 3rd 2" multi speed which blows through the center of the plants to provide movement and airflow. They are all wired to a 600ma 12 transformer (from wal-mart).

So, after much research I upgraded the lighting... (photo 2-7-b). I purchased 2 5 light bathroom fixtures from Home Depot. $14 each. I hot glued them to the lid of the case, wired them together and to a plug, and installed 26w 6500k CFLs.

BTW, IMHO a hot glue gun is a life saver. You can glue just about anything with them and they provide good electrical insulation.

Wow, enough light makes a huge difference. The plants went crazy with the new light. One nice thing about this setup is I can control all of the lights separately. So, I can start on the floros and switch on the CFLs at any time or for only part of the day. During the next grow I have been thinking about "pulsing them."

....next to come... germination and planting.

Cajun, I am going to give every little boring detail... At least until someone tells me to shutup.

Awesome man,

Perhaps your setup with be followed with new ideas?
Looks pretty good... That 2nd picture above your post above this one...

It looks a little dark, But i'm sure it provided enough light, your plants are looking good

Thanks slient. It looks dark because the lights throw off the meter on the camera. As I continue to post you will see there is a lot of light. Off to the gym now. I will continue the thread when I get back.

wanting a small grow, I would take notes from bear because obviously things are going perfect here...... look at those plants, they're perfect!!

i think they are plastic

I hope you are kidding fred.

It is always good to go away and find the most interesting posts.

Plastic!!!! Dewd!!! We all smoke from the same pipe! These are my babies, not plastic!

I am tired and dewds and dewdets, it is V-day.... I am silly in love and very thankful. I will post more tomorrow. The grow is doing awesome. Just about to mist the girls (hopefully) before they go to bed for the night.

BTW: They have grown 5 inches in the last two days. The are doing awesome!!!!

good info so far. thanks! Now go bang the gf/bf.

good set up mate im under cfls my self i like the 10 light thing is that 5 in 1 i only got a 3 spotlight fixture with 3 23w energy savers witch give out 125w each and 1550 lumens not much but all i could find thinking of wiring my own with household light fittings lookin at your (not plastic) plants i belive 10 is the way to go how r u gonna flower? different spectrum bulbs or are you gonna go hid?

I am flowing now. I will update this thread tomorrow with more details. In shot though, I am flowering with 10 42w 2700k CFLs. They are doing very well.

Very nice setup. We are going to try a similar set-up. Thanks for the idea!

Germination:

January 1, 2007

I germinated in paper towels with distilled water. I put about 15 seeds from some average bag pot in a paper towel on a plate and covered it soaked it with water. I then put another plate on top and put it in the top of my kitchen cabinets. One by one they sprouted. All together it took about a week for the seeds to germinate. Once they had a little budding growth, I planted them in two flower boxes 32" long and 6" wide. So, 5 plants in each box.

At first I thought 1 plant did not make it . Once a couple of days had passed and it did not reappear through the soil I planted another in its place. About a week later, the other one came up right next to the replant. I left them both next too each other and they are both doing great.

I used Miracle Grow Moister Control Potting Soil strait out of the bag. It has some time release nutes. During this time I watered every 3 days and misted them as they begin to put on leaves.

I do not have a photo ( ) to show. They grew strong at first and then began to get too tall and a couple fell over from being top heavy. At this point I was using 5 18w eco grows from wal-mart. It was clear there was not enough light.

About 2 week after planting I purchased 2 5 light bathroom fixures and installed 10 26w 6500k CFLs. Wow, after having just the 5 eco grow it was like turning on the sun. The plants responded by growing like crazy! In about a week they went from 4 leaves to bushes!

I top coated the soil to make up for setting and to provide a little more support for the stems, which a couple of them still needed. All 11 plants were going strong at this point.

However, I had one problem. Up to this point I had one fan install in toward the bottom for ventilation. It was pulling air through holes in the handles. I was averaging about 95f and 20% RH. I knew this was not a good thing.

My next post will be about the reworking of the ventilation.

...I guess interest has died off. If anyone is interested in more details please send me a private message.

-ngtybear

Hell yea we're interested.. Get some updated pics of the girls

I Bet they're looking perdy

Agreed. I too would like to see how they are doing. I would really like to build my own grow box I simply lack the funding to do so right now. (I'm eating ramen here people ) Anyways I have a design and specifications for a 3 foot tall grow cabinet that has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Yeah I would like to know more about your setup and plants also. Please. More pics.

I have a question for you, you may have awnsered it in another post but, what are you going to do when it gets taller? how will you acomidate for that? Thanks Dude.

SCEPTER