CFL Stealth Cab, my low cost first grow.

Whatup guys, been lurking this site for a few months and finally got my budget cab up and running. Just wanted to keep you guys informed on my progress as well as hopefully get any tips from the experts on here. You guys kick ass, so much useful shit to learn off this site

I got a 10pk of VSB's indoor mix. I was going to go with WW Feminized but they were fresh out. This will also give me a chance to learn on cheap seeds instead. I placed 6 of them in a cup of water for 36 hours, then planted them into soil in small foam cups. The small cups dried out too fast I found (found them wilting/falling after 14hours without water) so I transplanted them into some larger red beer cups.

My cabs tucked into the corner of my storage room semi-hidden between a pair of shelves.

I started off with a long skinny cabnet from Ikea, seperated it into three sections: top-storage, middle-veg/flower and bottom-future mothers. I then covered the entire grow chamber in emergency blankets from Walmart. Curious on how that's gonna go considering these huge 52" x 85.5" sheets only cost a few bucks each. I didn't even use 2 full sheets.

Then I hung two power bars from the ceiling of the veg room to plug in my two extension cord style reflectors. Inside are two 42w 6500k bulbs I am using for the seedling phase, then I will be adding the 3 23w 6500k's that are on the ceiling and maybe one or two 2700k 23w'ers (opinions?)

Ive got ballbearing 4" axial fan up top for exhaust with a variable speed knob (have it set almost all the way down and temps stay at 85ish) for exhaust and a passive intake slot midway down. I am thinking about adding another one near the bottom but don't know how much room I will need for my mom(s) in the future.

Here they are at 4 days since they hit soil. Once they get a little older I am gonna start them on the GH Flora 3 part nutes. Any c/c?

DAMN that is super stealth and super sexy. Very good job!

Subbed

Thanks for the kind words, not much new today. They all look like they are loving life, nice and green. Except for one who has had some brown on one of her leaves since she came up. Any ideas?

hmm, not sure... it's not affecting the fan leaves so i wouldn't worry right now.. cotyledons always wither away, usually not THAT fast, but it doesn't look horrible now..

Are you feeding them nutrients yet?

It looks like some sort of nutrient burn

Edit: Nevermind I just re-read and saw that you weren't feeding yet..

Not sure then... hows the temperature in there?

No nutrients, gonna wait another week at least. They are in regular old planter box soil from Walmart (sterilized) if that matters. When the seed cracked, this was the leaf is stuck on to for the few days it took to fall off, maybe it just didn't get any light compared to the others..?

The seed casing is probably exactly what it was

Ahh, figured as much. Temperatures are 85-89* with the lights on, and can go to down as low at 71* at night time, lights are 18/6, on at 6am, off at midnight. This is also with the fan barely being able to keep spinning, I could lower the temps I'm sure by turning it up, but I love how you cant hear a thing when the fans going this slow

silence is golden

Temps aren't too bad, a little warm in the day but nothing bad... I was the exact opposite schedule for 18/6... on at 12:00 midnight, off at 6:00 PM

BUT, today, I put it into flower

So I see, nice journal man. Your plant seems to be responding very nicely to LST. I am debating on this or a ScrOG method for my youngsters, hmm... I just turned my fan up a bit more to see what that will bring the temps down to.

Positive vibes in hopes of a female buddy

So yesterday I changed up the light configuration a bit. Took off the reflectors, added some Y splitters and two 23w 6500k bulbs down low, and then one 42w 2700k bulb up top for a little change in spectrum. I don't know if it's gonna do a hell of a lot way up there but why not give it a try.

After doing this my temps shot up to a sizzling 95*, as I was in the middle of adding another axial fan down low for intake, I realized that having a bigger intake solved the problem. This made me quite happy as the less noise the better in my case, and adding another fan/speed adjuster would have been another $40CAD.

The little ones seem to be loving the new light setup, but one seems to be lagging behind the rest. It also looks like one of her main leafs didn't quite manage to unfold. This has been like this since it came through, weird eh?

hey bc, nice setup man, something to thik about tho, when those plants get bigger, theres no way your gonna be able to grow 5 plants in there. i grew 1 plant in a 21 x 24 x 48 box and it filled it up. thats with some topping and LST also. good luck man and im subscribed for the ride, LoL. check out my grow, almost ready to harvest.

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/303155-new-cfl-grow-using-miracle.html

Thanks for the advise man. The seeds I got were not feminized so I germed 5 thinking I would get 1-2 girls in there with some ScrOG or LST. If I do get more then one or two I'll probly throw them outside, but it's still rainy/cold up here in BC. We'll see, if I get one girl I'll be happy.

On another note I opened the window in the bedroom the cab is in and temps now hang around 75-83* at the hottest time of day so I'm stoaked and the little ones seem to be lovin it. One plant's growth has exploded past all the rest which makes me believe it's probly a dude. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Lookin good, you'll have some dank in no time. I'm going to run into a space problem myself soon, but I think LST is helping a lot. You should try it.

thats my girl in a 21" x 24" box, kinda went crazy with the tie down, looks like a pinwheel. theres 5 big main buds and a bunch of small buds all over the bottom. ive cut like 6 medium size buds from some of the branches.

Well I managed to get two more bulbs in there for a total of 7 now. I added a 23w 2700k and a 23w 6500k right in the middle of my hanging fixture to add some lumens to the middle. I don't know how much the two 2700k bulbs are doing but I ran out of 6500k bulbs and I have heard that sometimes a mixture of spectrum can be beneficial to the little ones.

It's about 3pm here today and temps are about 81* in the box at the hottest time of the day. Major improvement from the 95* temps I was getting earlier in the week. It's supprising how much can change by simply opening a window. Goes to show you how much ambient room temperature can make a difference I guess.

Anyone have any input on the humidity? It usually stays around 50% give or take all day.

I don't think humidity will matter all that much for your grow at this stage. Just keep the air flowing, keep them properly watered and they should be fine. When in doubt do what your gut tells you.

Cannabis grows best in a mildly humid environment: a relative humidity of 40 to 60%. Plants growing in drier areas may experience chronic wilt and necrosis of the leaf tips. Plants growing in a wetter environment usually experience fewer problems.

Good to know, the little ones look like they are loving the added light so I went ahead and started them on 1/4 strength nutes today (1/4tsp of Micro, Grow and Bloom per gallon). Once this gallon is finished and I don't see any signs of nute burn I will up the strength until I see any signs of stress.

I'm surprised to see on the GH chart that you use all three bottles throughout the entire life of the plant. Has anyone had better results then the chart on the back of the bottles?

im not positive, but i would say they do that so you will use it faster and buy more, i did GH floragro for veg and florabloom for flowering, didnt use the micro product but i did get some worm castings (veg) and bat gauno (flowering) and Jacks Classic, grow and bloom. everyone uses something different, just whatever works for you.