MY little Growbox and First time Grow.

Guys please take it easy one me. This is my first grow I have ever attepted, I have never even planted flowers. So this is a whole new world for me. I have spent the last month researching and trying to figure everything out.

I made a rookie mistake and bout a pre built cabinet thinking I could just leave it in the corner or garge and let it do its work. Now with my first sprouts and little plants I am hooked and want enjoy learning about everything and want to make a much nicer setup.

This is what I have right now.

Plywood Growbox - 36 Tall - 42 Wide
Small Grow Tank - I think its only 2 gallons
3 85 watt Cfls
2 Computer fans that vent through a little carbon scrubber.


Should I be happy with this setup? I am starting to get results from it but I feel it may just be to short. When I was using the 24watt CFLs I was not to worried about how tall it was because the bulbs were tiny. These new ones are 3 times as big and I am just afraid the plants are going to be to large.

I had problems getting Seeds to germinate and grow in my system so I did the soil method. I took some decent bag weed seeds to and planted them into soil. Within a few days they were already growing nice and tall so I transplanted them into the grow box.

I transplanted most of them to early, they were just little sprouts and I did not know how tall they should be. I had 2 plants actually survive my stupidity of the transplanting and adding the nutrients way to soon. I was going by my instructions and not what I now read on this forum so it friend most my little guys.

I just new sprouts and they are nice and tall so me and the wife put them into the system last night along with the other 2 that were growing nice and good.


I have had the plants right up by the lights 18/6 until I got the new cfls. The box I was using was to tall and I was afraid the plants would burn. So I put them back on the floor until I could get a new box.

I have no idea on what nutrients to buy for this type of setup. I see everyone talking about them and it confuses me. I know there are different type so I am still researching this part.

As of right now I am doing a Gatorade ice bottle method of keeping the water nice and cool and its doing a okay job. It gives me a chance to look at my plants twice a day which I like so far.

Also my ph is still around the 5.8 area. I have been using a in water test strip and a ph tester from pet co that uses the drops.


I personally do not think this sytem can handle the amount of plants that the guy said it could. 9 plants in this little tank seem like a lot compared to the systems that I now see on here. 1 plant per bucket or 4 plants per big blue tote. Should I worry about this? I have ak47 and some other nice seeds coming and I want to know what I am doing before I plant them.

Here a few shots of the bigger plants that have been using the 24 watt cfls.

Just took them today. I installed the 85 watt cfls yesterday. You can see the yellow on the orginal leaves from where I put the nutes in way to early. They powered through the pain though. flushed them out and they are happy once again.

Umm, 9 plants? You're going to need a lot more light. Your setup is good for about one or 2 autoflower at max.

420God said:

Umm, 9 plants? You're going to need a lot more light. Your setup is good for about one or 2 autoflower at max.

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Your probally right. Like I said I did not assemble what I have now. I purchased it not knowing anything. It came as a package. Originally it was just three 24 watt cfls.

so your telling me with the three 85 watt cfls I should only be growing 2 plants?

Yep and that's kind of pushing it. As far as the nutes and stuff I'm not sure because I grow in soil but that is definitely not enough light.

Well I had a little bit of a set back yesterday. I came home from the gym to find that my grow box in shambles. Apparently the lighting was not secure on the track on top and the entire thing came crashing down onto my plants while I was gone. The lighting landed directly ontop of one plant crushing it and burning a few of the others.

10-4-2010

Yesterday I thought they were gonners for sure but today they look to be battling back. They were competly yellow and now they are somewhat turning back to green.

I feel horrible for the little guys they were doing so well. I guess we will chalk this up to me being a newb.

Tell me what you guys think.. these are pictures from today. I have other sprouts that I can put in their place if need be. If you think they will be okay I will let them do their thing and try to fight back.

Tape or paint that bottom up.. clear that lets light in is just asking for nasty things to start to grow in your DWC.

If you try again, and one thing I always do is make everything is secure and snug so mishaps like this don't happen if I can't check on my babies for a long period of time.

Good luck bro.

Tony thanks for the info. I have the reflective tape i can use for that.

Its very hard for me to use this little box now knowing what I know now. I am working on acquiring a nice 72" cabinet for my next grow. Planning on http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/easy-ryder-aka-lowryder-2-x-ak47/prod_442.html and http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/greenhouse-seeds/greenhouse-seeds-feminized/green-house-seeds-super-lemon-haze-feminized/prod_701.html.

This grow is me learning by trial and error so your help is greatly appreciated.

I would like my next grow to be 6 plants. Debating totes or 5 gallon buckets.

Jdohman said:

Tony thanks for the info. I have the reflective tape i can use for that.

Its very hard for me to use this little box now knowing what I know now. I am working on acquiring a nice 72" cabinet for my next grow. Planning on http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/easy-ryder-aka-lowryder-2-x-ak47/prod_442.html and http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/greenhouse-seeds/greenhouse-seeds-feminized/green-house-seeds-super-lemon-haze-feminized/prod_701.html.

This grow is me learning by trial and error so your help is greatly appreciated.

I would like my next grow to be 6 plants. Debating totes or 5 gallon buckets.

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No problem.. man we all started at square one like you. Most everyone here is helpful and will steer you in the right direction. Don't get upset I make mistakes and I think everyone does.

Hey Tony.... What type of nutrients should I buy? I see everyone talking about nutrients and ppm.

Jdohman said:

Hey Tony.... What type of nutrients should I buy? I see everyone talking about nutrients and ppm.

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Well I started mine off with just Fox Farms Big Grow but after 14 days didn't like the results, so I switched to General Hydroponics FloraMicro, FloraBloow and some Kool-Bloom for bit later. I am seeing better results now, they are growing like weeds (no pun intended). I think all three quart bottles ran be 50 bucks at local grow shop.

If you want the receipe for the GH nutes let me know. If you don't have Ph or TDS (ppm) meter get them, they make life so much easier.

I have a test strip in my container right now. I also have the little drop solution. Debating if I want to splurge 100 on a digital meter. I have other stuff that I need to buy first for my larger project. Thanks for the help btw.

"I see everyone talking about them and it confuses me."

Don't worry, happens to everyone. The thing is, everyone has a different growing preference (and due to lack of testing, everything seems subjective) so its difficult to gather information from browsing multiple threads. If theres one thing you can do, find a thread with someone who has complete a successful grow and try to mimic everything but make adjustments if needed.

a excellent starter thread would be rosemans tutorial....

endofwed said:

a excellent starter thread would be rosemans tutorial....

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+1 Nice thread.

Hey Tony. I have been doing my research and seen I need a good 100 watts per plant. So if i wanted to do 6 plants a 600 watt hps system would be ideal or 6 100 watt cfls? What would be more cost effective and would hps provide a much better yield.

I would highly suggest an HPS light system. You will see a better yield the light spectrum is great for flowering. You can run your veg with CFL's or if you find a system that does both MH & HPS that's good too. I went with T-5's for seedlings, then MH for veg & finally HPS for flower.

Well another rookie mistake. I am so glad I started with just bad seed.

Woke up today and checked on my plants. One of my good ones was shrivled up dead. Apparently his rockwool went dry which is very strange because all the others are still nice and wet. Very upsetting because he was my favorite so far.

I am pretty upset about this. In the future when I start my buckets is there a way to keep the water level high without having to check on it constantly?

I use rapid rooter plugs in a humidity dome until I see a root out of the plug then transfer to hydroton and dwc. Humidity dome which probably could be made out of anything but a small plastic one with hood is just few bucks at a grow shop. I used a heating pad under it to keep it humid, with the lights on top.

I use CFLs now for veg stage (4) 6500k at about 20 days old but getting a 400watt HPS soon to see how that rocks.

It was probably a male bro just keep telling yourself that

The reason it dried out was probably due to the size of the plant. The more roots the more nutrient /water solution uptake