NerdGrower ||*Micro/Stealth PC-Growbox Log

Hi!

After lurking about and posting on this forum for a while now I'm ready to start my own first ever grow!
Since it's illegal here to own and grow weed I'm going for a small grow for personal use in a stealthy PC growbox. I'm hiding it as a school project server, since I study ICT I thought that would be a decent cover.

First step is to make the darn thing! I'm expecting my case to arrive somewhere this week, but i wanted to get the thread going to farm some tips to start off.
I live in Belgium so all measurements will be in metric, you know, the right system.

Pics of the case:



Measurements: H x L x W : 68 x 44 x 22

So it's nice and high so my plants have plenty of space to grow and be happy. It also has a power supply, which i will need for the stealth aspect (not for power).
Probably tomorrow I will be popping down to my local garden/DIY-store to pick up supplies. Here's my shopping list:

- 1 Timer
- 1 Power Brick
- Activated carbon
- Reflective foil/Mylar
- Aluminium Tape
- Lights
- Soil
- (Nutrients)

Fans I will probably scavange somewhere or buy some online if it's necessary.

Now I do have some more questions.

1) Lights, I'm aiming for about 35 euros for lighting, so i could get what, +-100 watts of CFLs? Also, what spectrum am I looking for for autoflowers?
2) Mylar, how much do I need? I'm really bad at estimating this kind of stuff Don't want to overspend.
3) Soil, what (combination of) soil is going to keep autos happy during their short life?
4) Should i get nutes? Seems a bit risky for my first ever grow. Seems that I want to get the basics down before I start messing with nutes.

Seeds I will be getting: http://www.zamnesia.com/royal-queen-seeds/116-dwarf-autoflowering.html

Seeing it's a cannabis cup winner it shouldn't be a bad smoke, also it doesn't grow too high which is always a bonus.

So that's it for now I guess, leave any comments you have about my setup before I go to the store and buy stupid shit

Looking forward to starting this adventure with you guys! Been on a lot of forums but this one has by far the best community!

Greetz,
Nerd

Hey mate!!
Happy to meet a new guy with a pc setup!
First of all, I'd like to say I've had the R.Dwarf in my previous run. (Link in sig)
With what I'm gonna tell you, I'd like to pinpoint some mistakes I made just to try and keep you away from them.

First of all, your dimensions are great! Nice space!
Ok, so think about your pot. How big will it be? I suggest you bought (or made) one as long and as wide as the inside of your case. You'll need soil, not way too much though. About 10 lt. + would be fine.
Ok, so buy all these things you mentioned in your list. Dunno what a power brick is, though!
You should consider buying some perlite too to mix with your soil.

Your ventilation is important, but you could do it as stealthy as possible (in matters of sound), passive intake. This means one outtake fan installed where it should be in the case, and some holes on the front side so the air is flowing with your lady in the middle.

Ok about the questions:
1)Hey, think deeper! Before considering what kind of and how many lights you'll get, think about how you want the Dwarf to grow in the end. Will you do some LSTing aka tying down too keep an even canopy, or will you leave her be?
In the first case, 3 cfls spread on the top would do. Also, in the second one, 4 (2 on the top and 2 on the upper corners) would do IMO!
Never dealt with cfls so dunno 'bout prices.
About the spectrum.. You can do it in 2 ways: The first one is get 3 6000K's and 3 2700K's and change them when you see no more veg growth (or when you feel to)
The second one is get 2x2700K's and 2x6000K's. Throw in 2x6000K's and 1x2700K's in veg and change the ratio to 1:2 when you think it's full in flowering.
Autos in general like mixed spectrum!

2)Mylar is not expensive in Europe, at least in my country. About 1x1m would do just fine. I think I got it about 4 euros?

3)Ok, soil. Here's my major mistake (that's why she got so small in the end): I started her on a nutrient-high soil from seed. So too much nutes in early stages just stunned her about 2 weeks. Just find a simple one enough to fill a jiffy cup and buy yourself a nice nutrient high-one. With pH around 6.5 o'course. (I got BioBizz's All Mix. It has some perlite in it, too.) Autos are great in this cos' their life cycle is short!
Get some perlite too, to get a lil bit of airation in there. About 30% of the final soil.

4) Ok, about nutes. I suggest if you don't want to spend too much, to buy simpler stuff, like a pH down and a water pH meter. Your water should be 6.5 if you don't wanna mess with any type of deficiencies at later stages. It's something that will stay there for the whole run. About water, personally I prefer bottled for the first 4 weeks and then tap water. (pH'd always)
You can get some black strap mollases if you want to fatten just a lil bit your final nugs (start at mid flowering) and get some nute (a forgiving one if you overdo it) experience!

Hope I helped!!
Cheers mate!! Go strong!

What a load of info =D thanks a lot cool!

A power brick is the rectangular thing with multiple power sockets
I'm looking into doing some LST, maybe even 2 smaller plants in 1 case for a sort-of perpetual autoflower grow, if you see what I'm getting at

The perlite was something I was looking into but forgot to put it on my list, thanks for reminding me
How much would a set of ph up and downs cost me? And is the usage of rain water of tap water a good idea?
I would assume rain water has more good stuff in it for plants then tap water.

Thanks for taking the time to type all that stuff out really appreciate it.

Hey man as far as exhausting goes it would be cheap and easy to get a fan like this and then wire it with something like this. 10 bucks or so and you get more than enough exhaust for the case which means you can rely on passive intake instead of a separate intake fan.

as far as lights go I just built a pc case for a friend using these sockets and wiring them to the cord I cut off an old box fan, you can do this with any sort of plug because the cfls are all self ballasted.

all together with the lights ~$10 for 3, sockets ~$10, and the exhaust fan setup ~$10. you could have that thing up and running for around $30, then from there you can add the mylar and get your nutes later on. But the sooner you start the sooner you harvest!!

Yeah the AC adapter was something I was going to use, I do need to make sure my exhaust fan is powerful enough to pull trough my carbon filter, I will also have another one inside the case blowing onto the plants, making them more sturdy and avoiding mold and other nasties.

Those sockets appear to be hard to find outside of america, no idea why, I'll have to take a look in the store to come up with a solution.

Thanks for the info!

Hey mate, not a problem, happy I helped somehow!
Ok, yeah, a power brick is useful with CFLs.

Hm, at the same time having 2 different aged ladies in a pc wouldn't be an option for me, cos the branches of the older one won't let much light get into the smaller one, if you LST.
First of all, get a bottled water and see the pH. It's been written on. If it's higher than 6.5 (prally will) that's a good sign. Get a pH meter for start. Test your tap water's pH. If it's also higher than 6.5, just get a pH down, won't need a pH up! Ok, I got mine from eBay for about 9euros (meter) and another 11euros(pHdown, for aquariums). Just the money your nutes should cost!

Man, rain water. I forgot to mention cos rain is kind of uncommon here. It's really great. It gives nutrients that tap and bottled water don't have. You can use it for your whole run (never seen someone doing this before, though!) or just 1 watering of rain water and one pH'd.

I forgot to mention earlier:
It was one of my major mistakes: When you germinate the Dwarf, and put it into soil, keep it moist (high moisture and always wet soil) until it shows its first pair of real leaves. I let it dry out and it died. 2 of them.
When it starts photosynthesizing (has leaves, even if they're small ones) let it dry out first and then water. Don't overwater at all times.
Another one: I mentioned jiffy pots earlier cos autos do not have the time to recover from a possible transplanting shock, so get one and when you see it's growing out, throw it in your final pot with the jiffy pot.
A last one: Your soil in your final pot, in order to release its nutrients, it has to be watered first. The earlier you do it the better. So, mix your final soil, let rain (or pH'd water) through it, till you have a runoff and let it dry.

When the roots reach it after transplanting, they'll get a nicer boost.

Cheers again!!

Hey Kirku, bout the links, I just want to suggest Nerd to get a 12v fan power supply with 1A. These things are meant to run on 12V. Best choice if he wants to get best air circulation with a carbon filter on!

Man if info was beer I would be stupidly drunk right now XD thanks a bunch

Great tips about the watering, I don't wanna kill any of my ladies, since the seeds aren't exactly cheap...

EDIT: About the fan powering, I have an old PSP charger laying around, which is 12V, probably going to use that also has some decent amps, should be able to wire both fans to it.

Hehe, dunno 'bout you being drunk but I'm stoned for sure!
Anyday my friend!
That's why I mentioned all these things! It cost me 2 Dwarfs and 1 week's time to realise how to water properly!

Cheers!! Waiting on updates!!

My case is set to arrive either tomorrow or friday, so the building will commence shortly! =D Since I need my money right now for the case I can't pop to the store yet, I'll do that monday.
After that I'll be ready to start the build! =D

On a side note: I was lucky enough to score 1 gram of royal dwarf by coincidence! =D smoked it yesterday it was pretty good
Right now I'm smoking on some lemon kush I got for a cheap price =D What an amazing smoke, if you haven't tried it out you really should!

But yeah expect pics of the case when it's delivered either tomorrow or friday, see you then!

Keep on smoking.

The case arrived today! I'll be tearing it apart and building the growcase this week.

Good luck buddy!

So I've started clearing out the case, I've taken out everything I can with a screwdriver, soon a friend of mine will come along with his dremel and we'll cut out the stuff thats welded to the frame.

Here's a pic: You can see theres still lots of cutting to do

Also I've been to the store, haven't bought anything yet but did a scouting tour of sorts

A few things:

1) The best CFLs I found were 30/90 watts, I suppose thats input and actual power? which one should I count on if I want to calculate how many bulbs I need?
2) I did find some interesting soils n such, I found a bag of nutrient rich soil which was apparently made for bonzai trees? It says on the bag it has nutes in it for 100 days, which should be more than enough for 1 grow, even if the plant uses a bit more.

So yeah, any advice is welcome =D

The lower number is the actual watts and you should look at that. In my cases i'm running 4 of 30w so 120w total.

Should 3 be enough? Things will get expensive when I'm getting 4 of em and also some more with different spectrums... Like 3x 2700 and 3x 6200?

It's up to you really.. more lights = bigger buds. You can get 3 each anyway and just run 3 of 6000 and 1 of 2700 for veg and then 3 of 2700 and 1 of 6000 for flower. That way you'll have a nice mixed spectrum and you won't spend more money.

avrum said:

It's up to you really.. more lights = bigger buds. You can get 3 each anyway and just run 3 of 6000 and 1 of 2700 for veg and then 3 of 2700 and 1 of 6000 for flower. That way you'll have a nice mixed spectrum and you won't spend more money.

Click to expand...

yeah but since it's an autoflower I'm going for 3 2700 and 1 6200 all the way, I think its a smart decision seeing my cramped budget

Hey man.
Just keep in mind, 2700K means more stretching, even for an auto! 6000K keeps them at their normal levels!!

But if your budget is really crappy, just get the 4 first and along the way you'll get the others if you want!

About the soil: Check its pH. It should be from 6.2 to 6.7 to be ok with your ladies!
Dunno about nutrients, I got mine from a brand name!!

Cheers!!

CoolDudeStuff said:

Hey man.
Just keep in mind, 2700K means more stretching, even for an auto! 6000K keeps them at their normal levels!!

But if your budget is really crappy, just get the 4 first and along the way you'll get the others if you want!

About the soil: Check its pH. It should be from 6.2 to 6.7 to be ok with your ladies!
Dunno about nutrients, I got mine from a brand name!!

Cheers!!

Click to expand...

so... 3x 6K and 1x2K?

For veg stage definately!

As you move on, you'll see if they fit you for flowering, but I wouldn't risk the entire crop being fluffy or lower quality for spending money on two extra 2700K's.

Cheers!!