CFL Auto Closet Budget Grow

Gastanker said:

That CFL grow of mine went amazing. I was pulling an oz every week or week and a half once it was running smoothly. You won't see it in that grow but I now have several of those bathroom vanity fixtures and they make canopy coverage super easy. Still recommend bulbs hanging below the canopy though - I attribute this to my CFL success. If you have any questions feel free to spam up my x-ray grow.

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Yea side lighting definitely seems to be important. Maybe will run a set up like this. Buying 3 bathroom vanity fixtures(6 lights- 3.5 ft wide) and putting them like this /---\
So that I have one on the side(back) , one on the top and another one on the side front. Or maybe a 6 lighter on the tops, a 4 light on each side and then on the each end do a 2 light

Diagram time:
* = plant
+ = lights and obviously this is not to scale
++++++
+***+(will be centered but haven't figured that out on here)
++++++(overhead)
+***+
++++++
This setup puts me right around the magical 15 CFLs calculated earlier

Yeah, im medicated.
But on another note, I looked into those light fixtures and was wondering, is there ground wire(s) that I have to put some where? Cuz I really have no idea where i would put that in my closet lol.

I did look into the Y connectors but at my local walmart they were all sold out ha, what a coincidence. I, for now, used a 2 outlet socket adapter and then got two polarized regular socket adapters but i only put 2 Lights into it where there could be three I only got 1 42w cfl and 2 26 watters on it now. I have 2 more 26 watters that im getting ready to throw on it when i can. The only problem i've been having is with where i live (cold climate) I have to have the heat on and sometimes my grow closet will all of a sudden be 85 degrees, and I do have a fan running on it.

This is what im "hittin" on. Pretty good for the north, and pretty good for this area. Very surprised only sixty a dub. very purple very smooth, very medicated A grade

Now this is the top view of the homemade(obviously lol) setup. I now have 5 lights in the grow "area" which is a pretty simple card board/mylar setup on the outside of the hydro-bucket.

And my babies, looking pretty good, no complaints except for maybe the undergrowth seems to be going slow. It'll speed up wit the next switch of nutes.

Nice set-up, what nutes you using? Foxfarm?

Got a feeling who ever reads this journal for info is going to be like wtf, after 3 pages they will probably be more confused than they were 15 minutes ago, welcome to my life.
So anyway here is final(though how final are any plans really).

PROCESS
Germ:
I will be germinating using paper towel method.
Starting:
I will be starting my plants(hopefully 10) in 3L modified soda bottles because they have a great depth and decent width for 1.50 a piece. I have heard that some autos tend to develop a deep taproot quickly that can ultimately determine plant size so there is my reasoning.
Transplanting:
I will be transplanting the females(hopefully 6, I have heard some high female rates from flash seeds but I guess you never know) in to 3 gallon pots where they will remain for the rest of their life.
Curing/drying: still a ton of reading to do on this subject so no idea but I got a while to figure it out.

SUPPLIES
This has changed quite a bit sort of.
I will be using 3 6light bathroom vanity fixtures set up around the plants (one on top and one on each side of the rows).
I will be using 3l soda bottles to start life in.
I will be using 3 gallon pots after they have been sexed.
I will be using FoxFarm Ocean soil and the FoxFarm trio set up for nutes(decided on this because there is a ton of knowledge surrounding them making it easy to understand because nutes are still something I am learning about).
I will be using 26 watt mixture of 2700k and 6500k throughout.

I will have pictures of the setup and the start of germination by Thursday, if my supplies come early then Wednesday!

Im using the flora-series nutes that came with the hydroponic bucket that i got. They are the FloraGro FloraMicro and FloraBloom that came with mine but I Only Use FloraMicro and FloraBloom because FloraGro has the same nutes pretty much as FloraMicro so i just double the micro.

So you will be using 18 lights total?!?!? damn nice, but to save space you could just get like a 42 watt or 55 watt (200 or 150w equivalent) setup but none the less I am very interested to see this setup. I redid my whole grow room (again) and i think its wayyy better this time around. I also started some LST and topped one of my plants so we'll see how that goes. I'll post pics soon, the fiance took my good camera so im gonna be posting some pretty crappy pics haha apologize before hand

Well right now I only have six lights up and running. I started germ today using paper towel method so we will see!
Out of curiosity, as I will eventually need to construct a grow box. If I put an intake/outake in my closet door would that work? Essentially using my closet as the box?

The seeds are not in there but they will hopefully be by tomorrow.

good luck with all mate hope you get what you're expecting

David Fonseca said:

good luck with all mate hope you get what you're expecting

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Haha me too, my set-up is still a work in progress. I have mylar and a couple more lighting fixtures. Eventually I will be moving to a big rubber-maid containers or turning the actual closet in to a box, we will see.

Hey man just stoppin back in, things are still lookin good bro keep it up

bdcook89 said:

Hey man just stoppin back in, things are still lookin good bro keep it up

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Thanks for stopping by. Converting my grow to a rubbermaid grow actually. Had really bad cop scare last night so need to go covert.

And nice set-up stoner! When do you plan on moving the plants to individual plants?

Its been 32 hours or so since I began germination, none of the seeds have 'popped' but all have starting opening up a hole on one end so I am hopeful that they will all germinate.

i may take 72 hours or so possibly longer.

donni101 said:

i may take 72 hours or so possibly longer.

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Good to know, was starting to get worries, I moved them to a warmer spot last night. Checked them this morning and I think four or five have popped. Going to plant them in a little bit
Going to pick up an inline duct fan today for ventilation.

8 out of 10 seeds have popped so far. Just planted the first 8 in damp soil and rewet the paper towel for the last two. Finished up my rubbermaid tub and am using my box fan for ventilation right now, drilled 6 half inch holes around the bottom and cut a 6inch hole out of the top. Pictures coming soon!

Just checked them again- seed number 9 has popped, just waiting on that 10th one, hopefully when I wake up tomorrow morning! Though I won't be able to get to it until tomorrow night, I will have pictures up tomorrow.

All 10 have officially germed successfully and have been planted in soil. So hopefully by tomorrow or Wednesday we will see some above soil!

The one problem I am having right now is that I wet the soil for 8 of the seeds yesterday and when I checked on them a little while ago most of the soil was pretty dry. That is a very quick drying period. So I am not sure why(either heat or too much ventilation). Only keeping the fan on in short intervals right now. In the third or fourth picture you can see the wetness of the soil.
I did not want to over water so I only put like a tablespoon of water on the center of each pot where the seed is buried. Should I add more water or just do a tablespoon every little bit? Any help appreciated!!

The final two seeds


Current lighting setup


Outside look of the box




The box in full action

good to ear that all they made it so far
don't worry about that just slide your finger threw the side of the pot and check it for moisture then take that as a reference day after same thing and asses how much hand when you should feed them water! and don't forget tap water always live it sit for 24h before using and ph 6.0
if the soda bottles are clear plastic you should cover them so they don't disturb root growth
good luck

David Fonseca said:

good to ear that all they made it so far
don't worry about that just slide your finger threw the side of the pot and check it for moisture then take that as a reference day after same thing and asses how much hand when you should feed them water! and don't forget tap water always live it sit for 24h before using and ph 6.0
if the soda bottles are clear plastic you should cover them so they don't disturb root growth
good luck

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Most of the soda bottle still have the wrappers on them but I will make sure to tape up the ones that don't have a wrapper anymore. I did some PH testing on my water and it sits right around 6-6.5 ph so that is nice!
Thanks for the tip on watering/moisture, guess I am just nervous about watering because I hear a lot of new growers tend to over water.