Magua's CFL cabinet grow - Northern Lights

This will be my first grow experiment, mostly just to learn and for fun. I'm recording here both for my record and anyone who wants to follow. Will attempt to grow Northern Lights from seed. Very limited space due to my current living situation.

Cabinet Dimensions: 23" deep x 16" wide x 45" high

Setup so far consists of:

• 4 x 26watt 5500k CFLs
• 2 x 23watt 6600k CFLs (to be replaced with 2 x 23watt 2700k CFLs during flowering)
• Ghetto homemade hanging light fixture wired myself from parts found in dumpster, hung from top using lengths of chain
• Accutemp Hygrometer
• 15 amp timer for lights
• 9" Holmes oscillating clip-on fan
• Two 80mm PC case fans for exhaust out of existing holes in the top of the cabinet
• Six 7 1/2" pots
• Six seedling pots
• Child lock on cabinet door to keep my girlfriend's stupid demon cat out

7 or 8 seeds are currently germinating using the paper towel method. Hoping for 4 to 6 females. If I get extras I'll veg them indoors for a bit then plant in the woods, LOL. Will be planting in pots using a mixture of soil I had available. I mixed a bag containing compost, peat, and pumice with about 1/4 bag of "Sea Soil" which contains a small amount of organic fertilizer to get things started (2.1 - 0.16 - 0.05).

Picture of my [mostly empty] cabinet attached, currently awaiting germination.



Feel free to comment or make suggestions.

3 of the seeds have shown their taproot after 24 hours, so I went ahead and planted them in the small pots.

Was doing some testing with the cabinet and heat buildup... Going to be having some heat issues I think. With all of the CFLs turned on and the cabinet door closed, the temps reach 30C/86F. Running the oscillating fan actually raises the temps even higher, unless I leave the door cracked open about 2-3 inches or more (which makes the grow pretty obvious due to the light). Will be adding another 80mm fan at the top of the cabinet but not sure how much that will help. The existing holes vent into another cabinet above. Unfortunately I can't drill any more holes or permanently modify this cabinet since I'm renting.

Day 3, all seeds but one have been planted in their little pots since yesterday morning.. now awaiting for the little buggars to pop out. I have just one of the CFL bulbs turned on 18/6 to give a little warmth.

Mounted my oscillating fan from the ceiling of the cabinet. This gets the fan out of the way, but it will kinda blow down on the plants from above, any problems with this? I can also tilt the head a bit so it bounces off the walls. I had to cut out one of the tines in the fan cover because it was getting stuck when it oscilated in that hanging-upside-down position. Works fine now.

Ignore the electrical cables sitting on the floor... Still need to organize my cables, but I have to do some more wiring first as I have another exhaust/PC fan on the way.

Temp: 24C
RH: 54

Day 5, almost all seedlings have broken the surface. I turned on 2 more CFL's and brought them down to about 2-3 inches above the seedlings. Oscillating fan has been turned on Low to move the air slightly. Haven't done another full watering yet but I misted the surface of the soil with a spray bottle.

Temp: 25C
RH: 60

Seems to be going real good Magua, good work! subd

Seems to be going real good Magua, good work! subd

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Welcome, thanks for subbing!

All but two of the seedlings have sprouted. Not sure what happened to the other two.. they came just to the surface and then stopped. Weak seeds, or maybe I buried them too deep on accident.

Anyhow, the remaining 5 seem to be doing okay. All have since shown their first set of true leaves. On one of the seedlings I see two tiny (almost unnoticeable) holes in one of the leaves.. not sure what that is about. But otherwise it looks healthy.

Today I made some improvements with the exhaust fans in the hopes of improving the temperature situation. When I leave the door closed the temp has been jumping to 30C or higher. The existing holes in the top of my cabinet are a little too small, so I took both PC fans and made some ghetto baffle boxes using paper bowls and some creative duct taping. This has helped to get more air flowing outward instead of being forced back into the cab.

Watered today with two tablespoons each.

The five seedlings are still chugging along... Second set of true leaves are showing. Gave each of them a little more substantial watering today until it drain out of the bottom, and increased the light by screwing in 2 more of the CFL bulbs.

Meanwhile smoking some BC Bud and watching some Carl Sagan shows.

Not sure what is happening to my seedlings. There hasn't been much noticeable growth above ground lately. The first sets of true leaves are yellowing slightly.

On a few of them, the newer leaves are small and are often pointing straight up, while the older leaves are either flat or "twisting" slightly.

The symptoms don't look quite like any of the pictures I see in the various troubleshooting FAQs. I have not fed any nutrients, and the soil only contains a very small amount of nutes, so I don't think that's the problem.

Perhaps it's too hot (30C), perhaps my soil is no good.. ?

The temperature is a bit hight yes, I'd try to get it as close as 25-26ºC as possible. It could also be over-watering, very common problem, are you over-watering ? And it could also be the ph locking some nutrients, do you control it ?

lince said:

The temperature is a bit hight yes, I'd try to get it as close as 25-26ºC as possible. It could also be over-watering, very common problem, are you over-watering ? And it could also be the ph locking some nutrients, do you control it ?

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I have not checked the pH. I don't think it's over-watering, as I'm waiting until the soil in completely dry 1-2 inches down.

In any case, at this point I'm going to be starting over when I can afford new soil and some test kits. One of the seedlings completely died over night, and the rest are still growing slowly, but the bigger leaves are all turning yellow.

Oh well, part of the learning process.

Hey Magua,
Just curious, I saw the exhaust fans you have up top, but didn't notice any passive intakes. Did I miss them?

Aspyre said:

Hey Magua,
Just curious, I saw the exhaust fans you have up top, but didn't notice any passive intakes. Did I miss them?

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The intake is the cracks around the large cabinet door, which I usually leave open about 1-3 inches.

Magua said:

I have not checked the pH. I don't think it's over-watering, as I'm waiting until the soil in completely dry 1-2 inches down.

In any case, at this point I'm going to be starting over when I can afford new soil and some test kits. One of the seedlings completely died over night, and the rest are still growing slowly, but the bigger leaves are all turning yellow.

Oh well, part of the learning process.

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Sorry to hear they are dying ;(

I guess we only have the water and the soil left to blame. Good idea to try new soil and it also could help to get some ph meters, there are some cheap ones to measure the water ph and they do the job.

Good luck with it

Magua said:

The intake is the cracks around the large cabinet door, which I usually leave open about 1-3 inches.

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im new my self but I don't think that's good enough for the intake?

farmerJ420 said:

im new my self but I don't think that's good enough for the intake?

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No it was a bit too hot in there. I abandoned the effort for the moment until I can get a better location.

Magua said:

No it was a bit too hot in there. I abandoned the effort for the moment until I can get a better location.

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o ok well when u decide to start back u should think about a passive intake and outtake u can use 100 cfm well good luck in the future