First grow...temporarily ghetto!

justfkngrowit

Active Member
So my space is about 2'x1'x2'(length, width, height). It's about a week and a half old. I started with bagseed. :-? I have about 3500 lumens in there with partially lined mylary walls.. The back of my box is carboard with two 4'' fans ghettoly mounted in for exhaust and intake. Hey, it gets the job done.

So it's pretty ghetto space right now, the very little of it that I have. However, I have about 70 bucks I can spend tonight on some shit offline. Whats the best/cheapest site to go with? I'm going cfls. I have a specialized tube fl that I might toss. It's pretty nice though.


What is the smallest ply of plywood you can get? I need to replace the back. What are some quiet, good 4"-6" fans I can buy? (Cost friendly!)


My oldest plant. How does it look? Hope it's a female. Any reason why it would be drooping like that? I just transplanted it today btw.



Seedlings. Comments?

Maybe you guys could make a list.. Like with all the stuff I'd need for a small grow like this.
 

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
some plants suffer some trauma while replanted, specially if they were root bound. just monitor the temps, humidity, PH and moisture of the soil and it will most likely bounce back.

i love your setup.
you could add much reflection using plain white color wherever its brown right now. you can use wall paint, or printing paper glued on.
 

blaze1camp

Well-Known Member
try frys or some other discount computer store to get your fans them on that link above are expensive as hell...
 

KaleoXxX

Well-Known Member
that light could probably be closer to the plants if it dosnt put out much heat. keeping the light close will keep the plant short and bushy instead of stretched out

you should try and mcguiver some way to have that power strip outside of the box to make things safer

those translucent cups are not ideal because they let light in to the roots and light and roots dont get along well. i like the red and blue party cups

when are you going to switch to 12/12 (or did you start 12/12 from seed)? given the size limitations id start flowering as soon as possible
 

justfkngrowit

Active Member
Yeah I guess I'll probably have to go to some computer store to get fans seeing as how they're all expensive as fuck. A 6'' one is like 50 bucks wtf? So... I plan on adding more lights soon. The tall one I'm going to LST to see what happens. I'll probably keep this posted...
 

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
tear down fans from computers ment for recycling. thats what I do.a simple case fan should cost around 3 bucks.

as for the clear cups- I really like using them when I don't know the medium.
yes, its crap for the roots and all that, but I know exectly when to water as I SEE how damp the soil is, and I know whats the stage of my roots.
Considering that it takes a few tries to dial thoes things in I think doing them right but damaging the roots a bit is a fair trade.
 

justfkngrowit

Active Member
Well. I'm actually planning ahead for unexcusable difficulties. Some seedlings may die off. And the thing we're all afraid of: Males... So, There'll actually be only like 2-4, maybe even one.


Do any of you think my space is too small for a small wattage metal halide or HPS bulb?
 

skervy

Active Member
70$ budget to grow 7 plants is kinda rough. if your going 12/12 after a real short veg you might be able to get by with like 2 or 3 26w bulbs on each plant. that would be around 30-40$ for your lights alone. then you need fixtures and splitters to put them in your 70$ is gone or very close to it. you still need fans and something to replace that cardboard. id say a rubbermaid setup would be one of your cheapest options unless you can get some wood and build a small box. go straight to 12/12 to keep them small and try a 12 bulb 26w setup. figuring about 10$ for tubs or wood to make a box 25-30$ for 12 bulbs about 15-20$ for splitters and sockets. youll have about 10-20$ to find some cheap fans

1 quick edit you can get everything from this list at walmart except the y splitters. cheaper then its gonna cost online with shipped :P and no way you can put a hps in that box


ok 1 more edit i see you only have cardboard on the back. find some wood to replace that. and i see you have some fans already so theres some more money saved :P
 

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
I got a grow box for 10 bucks total.
got a cardboard box, some black\white poly left, but mcGaivering stuff for lightproofing isn't that hard.
got a fan from a computer I found. I got some of thoes lying around, I've picked some from a computer recycling fecility.
For a light reflector I've used some excess astro-foil I had, but a simple white plastic hood that sells for less than a buck would work as well.
Cut a passive intake, and thats around it. I vegged there for a while and nothing seemed off at all.
the transformer for the fan was lying around, but cost around 5 bucks.

Only thing I had to buy was the light - 10 bucks.

The art of ripping off stuff usually pays off.
You can just as well mcGaiver a broken up PC, gutting it out and use the fans and trasformer thats already in there.
You just need to line things with reflectives - A\C ducting tape, the silver type, is highly reflective and VERY easy to use.
Small space, yes, but you could grow things in it.

Or just as well rip off thoes things from the PC and use it in any kind of other box.


Options are unlimited. Growing with VERY tight budget is possible, just far from ideal :D
 

skervy

Active Member
carboard is just to much of a fire hazard in my opinion. you can get a small sheet of wood for less then 10$..... i think thats very reasonable for a peice of mind that your box might not just burst into flames one day
 

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
a CFL doesn't hold that much of a fire hazard. even if its 24\0 on and placed directly on a cardboard it won't even blacken it up.
wood costs a lot around here.
 

justfkngrowit

Active Member
I plan to replace that back with some wood. I've also crafted up a light reflector from a few pieces of wood. We'll see how that works here shortly.


What do some of yall think about LSTing?
 

skervy

Active Member
lst is awesome but kinda useless in that small of an area if its gonna be filled with plants. you need room to bend them over to and there wont be much with 7 plants in there
 

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
For a small grow like yours LSTing can be a pain in the ass.
The more convinient way to achive pretty much the same is SCROG - Screen of green.
You place a net where you want the canopy to be minus an inch, using flouroscents you should place it 3" from the light, and when the growth poke through the holes of the net you pull them back through another hole screating a screen of green.
When the net is filled you flip to flowering and remove all the under growth beside fan leaves.
You keep pulling back shoots during the first 3 weeks of flowring, that will become buds later and keep the light where it should be.

You want an bowed down shaped net so it will be 3" no matter where you check.
 

skervy

Active Member
even scrog would be pointless in there unless hes growing just 1 or 2 plants. as long as your gonna grow multiples in that small box just grow em out normal maybe top em top get a little more out of the small space. scrog or lst would be nice if you have about a square foot of space for each plant
 
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