CFL Stealth Dresser & Ordered Seeds! First grow w/ pics

Yeah im pretty sure its from me stressing them out by moving, lifting, rearranging, checking the bottom of the rockwool, etc- Its okay though, the first run is a learning experience. Thanks for tuning in Oopscake

Just checked PH and its around 6.7-7.3- about to readjust it to the target of 5.7~

No problem man I'm obsessed with your cab design because I imagined pretty much the exact same thing. I see those dressers on the side of the road all the time. I was wondering about you door sealing? I had a hell of a time trying to light proof my wardrobe closet in the front and had annoying problems trying to figure out where to put the hinges. Eventually I sacrificed stealth for function and put them on the outside and now I just hang a sheet of this light proof fabric called Black Out over the front during night cycles.

Yeah the PH was around 7.3-adjusted it to 6.0 in 2 tries with PH down..Getting used to how much I need to put to get it to the levels I need. Theres new growth coming up from the center coming up. I've read a lot about different light schedules during veg and havent really found any concrete information on the best. Everyone has their own preference. I may switch the lights to 20-4 or 18-6 in the next few days just so I can keep the lights off from 1pm-5pm or 12pm-6pm when its starting to get pretty warm. It was getting up to 30 degrees in the box again, turned the AC on and brought it back down to 24-25.

Thanks. I sealed the door using adhesive weather stripping. Started with 1 strip, closed the door, found that the top and bottom needed an additional strip ontop so i put one on. I use clasps that hook on and then pull, so it tightens when it closes..almost like a cooler lid. That keeps it tight. I placed another little storage unit beside the cabinet so you cant see the clasps. As for the hinges..You could use ones that cabinets use so you can install them from the inside, but you would need to drill them into the wood. I used gate hinges, secured to the outside. For the face, I put the hinges onto plywood then covered with the dresser faces. Theyre exposed on the outside a littte bit but its covered by a sheet used as a dresser cover with some stuff on top. Cant see anything unless youre looking for them. When im done this grow I will take the hinges off and paint them the same colour as the cabinet. Right now theyre still brass looking

Just got the timer and lights set up. Right now as were headed into the summer months, the circulating, exhaust and intake fan will stay running at all times. The circulating fan will be at the lowest speed not blowing directly on the plants while the light is off. My light schedule is going to be 20 hours light and 4 hours dark.

Hey there Adosbulc, picked you up in Yankee`s journal, nice little set-up you have there mate. Feel free to fire off any inquires you may have, I have plenty of small-spacegrowing experience if you run into heat/RH issues, especially in Canadian climate like myself (and you I can only assume from your Avy). Keep it up mate, I`l stay posted,

KC

KushCanuck said:

Hey there Adosbulc, picked you up in Yankee`s journal, nice little set-up you have there mate. Feel free to fire off any inquires you may have, I have plenty of small-spacegrowing experience if you run into heat/RH issues, especially in Canadian climate like myself (and you I can only assume from your Avy). Keep it up mate, I`l stay posted,
KC

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Yup. As temps climbed pretty high today the box started getting pretty warm..like 31 degrees celsius. That was with 3 bulbs, 2x 6500k and 1x 2700k. I had to take out the 2700k to keep temps down around 26-27C. I think when I replaced my 2 gallon bucket with this 5 gallon cooler its blocking some of the cool air flow from the bottom where the intake fan is. Ill have to figure something out as its not exhausting/changing the air out enough.. Just about to check out your cataract kush grow! Thanks for tuning in

Adosbulc said:

Yup. As temps climbed pretty high today the box started getting pretty warm..like 31 degrees celsius. That was with 3 bulbs, 2x 6500k and 1x 2700k. I had to take out the 2700k to keep temps down around 26-27C. I think when I replaced my 2 gallon bucket with this 5 gallon cooler its blocking some of the cool air flow from the bottom where the intake fan is. Ill have to figure something out as its not exhausting/changing the air out enough.. Just about to check out your cataract kush grow! Thanks for tuning in

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No worries, get yourself a spliff for some reading time before you head over there mate, haha. Loads of info

KC

Little update

Checked PH..was around 7, brought it down to 5.3 or so
Added more nutrients to the res: GH calls for 2.5 ml/gallon. 2 days ago I gave them a little less than 1 ML/gallon..Today I added an additional 1 ML/gallon, we will see how they respond. This is following their seedling instructions. It calls for 10 ml/gallon in the next week or two but I believe I dont have a root system to handle that yet. Ill let them grow out of the netpot and see how they like the nutes right now before making it too much stronger. I dont have a PPM meter so I dont want to go overkill.

I dropped my cheap waterproof thermometer so im not sure the res temp at the moment. Feels around 70 degrees. Im surprised how cold it has stayed since filling it up a few days ago..I have to say the cooler is the way to go vs a bucket. Im going to add an ice water bottle into the cooler to bring it down to the 60s again...Theres no visible roots coming out from the netpots so Ill be okay to have it floating around.

Since putting the cooler in ive had heat problems. im assuming its because I was blocking half of the intake fan (12V PC fan), which doesnt have very much power to push air to begin with. I moved the lights over and moved the cooler over, then put the circulating fan back on the side where the intake is. This seemed to fix the temp issue so now I can run my additional 2700k bulb again.

These plants do look pretty small for day 15, but im 99% that it was from me repotting them/checking rockwool dampness etc for the 10 days while I fine-tuned the hydro system. Thats okay though, now I have markings for waterlines and know what to expect for my next grow. Ever since placing them into the cooler and leaving them alone growth is really starting to pick up.

Current light schedule is 20/4, which ill be using the whole duration of vegging.

Thanks guys, heres some pics

Made a little ac out of a cardboard box, some foam & 2 frozen 1 L bottles. Ill snap some pics for tomorrow.Seems to be working pretty well so far. Just hope I can control the high temps with double the bulbs later this summer...I guess ill be flowering with the lights off from 8 am to 8 pm so it will avoid some of those super hot temps.

Every few hours when I check up on the little ones there's noticeable growth. It seems they get a pretty good growth spurt during the 4 hours the lights are off. The cotyledon (Sp?) leaves are turning more and more yellow as time passes

As long as your new growth is lush green mate, don`t worry about the coty`s getting yellowed. They do that when the nutrients they supply are no longer needed, as that`s their purpose in life is to nourish the young plant growth

KC

Well..battling with temps again. For 2 hours before lights out and 2 hours after lights out temps are getting up to 86/87 degrees. My thermometer is closer to the lights than my plants so its maybe a degree or two less. Also, I have a 6" fan blocking across my lights, cooling them enough that I can could physically hold the bulb as long as I want without it even getting hot. Last night it was staying around 86 degrees, so I took the 2700k bulb out again leaving me with just 2 6500k bulbs and it brought the temps back down to 77-78 overnight. So now I'm trying to figure out the lesser of 2 evils. Is it better to have temps down and only a single spectrum of light during veg, or to have warmer temps but to give them both spectrums. I found a little 10W CFL in a lamp around my house, no K rating anywhere but its more of an orangish colour so im assuming its around the 2700-3000k range..Ill try this and see what happens.

I will snap some pictures in a few hours

Hey guys sorry for the lack of updates, was away for the last few days. Plants grew a fair amount! One more so than the other..

I definitely thought my plants would be bigger 3 weeks in. One of the plants is about 1" high and at its widest part is about 1.5". The larger one is about 1.5" tall and 3.5" in diameter. The smallest one has a root sticking out the bottom of the netpot about 8", the larger one only sticking out 2-3" from the bottom of the pot. The smaller plant also had slight yellow tips on the bottom set of leaves, almost looking a spec of purple at the end. The lights were sitting about 2" above the top of the plants, I raised them to 4" above the plants and added 2 more CFLs for a total of 120 watts. All of the nodes are only spaced out like 1/8th inch, I believe its just starting to grow its 3rd node. I definitely thought they would be a lot taller by now.

Took the res out today and cleaned it, topped it up with fresh water and I doubled the nute strength. GH calls for 2.5 ml / gallon for 1st week and 10 ml/gallon for the 2nd-4th veg week, im at 5 ML/gallon to see how they react. If they respond well, on friday I'll add another 25% strength when I top the res off.

Here are some pics:

The black specs on the foil around one of the plants is activated carbon that escaped when I moved a little extra container of it

Once again I'm having heat issues. Temps are 83-88ish with 5 CFLs going. Temp in the room is about 78-80. Im thinking I may have to upgrade my 4" booster fan to a 6" fan. 4" is 80 CFM and 6" is 150 CFM..Its getting pretty frustrating trying to fight with temps all the time! Im wondering if my DIY carbon filter is too much resistance for the fan to remove even 40 CFM from my current setup. Anyone have any suggestions on what they use for temps?

Adosbulc said:

Once again I'm having heat issues. Temps are 83-88ish with 5 CFLs going. Temp in the room is about 78-80. Im thinking I may have to upgrade my 4" booster fan to a 6" fan. 4" is 80 CFM and 6" is 150 CFM..Its getting pretty frustrating trying to fight with temps all the time! Im wondering if my DIY carbon filter is too much resistance for the fan to remove even 40 CFM from my current setup. Anyone have any suggestions on what they use for temps?

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I keep my day temps between 80F - and 83F now with my 400w HPS without much worry mate. I run a 4in IF (rated at 180CFM) for exhaust and a 6in (reduced to 4in) IBF (rated at 160CFM) for intake and two circ fans for air movement. The movement is key IMO, I`ll be adding another soon to disperse hot spots, but I have one that is dedicated to blowing hot air away from the lights, you may want to investigate the same Ados. Here`s an example, intake on far left, supplies and set-up in last picture. Early flower smells handled by ONA back of tent so exhaust passes through



KC

Hey KC thanks for the comment! I have one fan circulating in there constantly..unfortunately I know I'm going to need a better exhaust fan..Not a great feeling knowing Ill be trying out my 3rd exhaust fan, but I guess its trial and error in the beginning!Is yours relatively quiet? I can hear mine outside the box if i'm within a couple feet. When the door is shut in the room you cant hear it at all even with your ear pressed against it. I do need to keep it fairly quiet. About to google some of your supplies. Just about to check out any new posts to your grow-havent been around for a few days

Mines noticeable, even though it`s small. Could run a fan-speed controller as well, but mines not much louder than a bathroom fan outside the grow room (where the tents are housed) combined with the intake booster fan. I live in an apartment as well, sound is of the essence (or lack there of). Hopefully I could be of some assistance,

KC

Little more growth is noticeable today. I filled a 1L bottle with some ice cubes and water, mixed nutes into it and topped of the res. Put full strength nutes into the 1L bottle.

To battle temps with all 5 26W bulbs going I have to leave the cabinet open an inch. Before that I tried taking off my carbon filter, thinking it was restricting my fan causing high temps, but its just the fan..temps were getting up to 86 before I opened the box . Some friends will be over this coming weekend so I wont have time to tamper with the setup..but im almost thinking I need to take all the emergency blanket down, caulk the whole box from the inside (i used duct tape last time) then spray it flat white. Unfortunately I think I need to get a 6" booster fan to move more CFMs..apparently its 2 decibels quieter than the 4" one I already have. Just trying to get it to the point where I can leave it and no worry about temps every 30 minutes lol

Ill take pics tomorrow!

DAY 31 UPDATE! (cant change title!)

Hey guys!

Just got back from a 6 day vacation, had to leave the girls alone!

Was definitely uneasy about leaving them for that long, but they flourished! Drinking about 2.5L of water, they easily grew 3-4". Theyre a nice dark green colour and the PH is around 6, when I left it was 5.2~. The root systems have developed massively and are starting to look like some of the pictures I've seen so many times online. Some of the roots directly around the netpot are slightly brown/redish..It doesn't look like root rot-im thinking that while I was gone for so long, the water level that dropped 2-3" stopped getting that area moist and was slowly letting the roots dry out?

Anyways, I received a new job opportunity which requires drug testing, so I stopped smoking yesterday and will begin a new gym routine and diet to pass it in the next couple weeks. (yes I know its fat soluable, you cant flush, etc etc etc-ive passed them a few times before smoking within a week or two). this job will require me to be out of town for up to 2-3 weeks at a time every couple months. Unfortunately this puts me in a tough spot.. I have someone who is willing to watch them here and there, but not to do it for weeks on end, which i completely understand. So here are my choices:

1.) Put the SCROG screen 2-3" above the lid (instead of the 6-8" I wanted), fill as much as I can and flip to flower in 2 weeks.

2.) Top them, then continue on with step 1

3.) Transplant the smaller plant into soil and put it outside in the garden, hiding it among a couple tomato plants- neighbours wont be able to see it, but its along a back fence where people will walk their dog, walk home, etc, and may be able to smell it later while flowering?

4.) Don't top or scrog, just LST them and flower in 2 weeks

Some things on my to do today:
Originally I duct taped all the seams inside the box to seal everything, then put the emergency blanket over and sealed that with duct tape. As the temps got crazy hot here a couple weeks ago, some of the duct tape started peeling off, and now im not sure how well sealed it is. To fix this (unfortunately....) I will have to take the box all apart, caulk and seal all the seams on the inside then spray paint the interior white instead of using more reflective blankets. I will install chains to hang the lights instead of steel banding and reconnect the carbon filter to the booster fan. On a side note, I relocated the box into a new room with the intake close to a slightly opened window. Its now keeping my temps around 75-79 degrees.

I will take some pictures when I'm done this post, then post them within the hour.

Hope people didnt forget about this!