PC Grow setup, tips/opinions

Hello everyone, I've been lurking for the past few days, checking out PC grows to get an idea of how I want to set mine up. I must say there are some very encouraging PC grows on this forum, especially by Emann and Mewk. I'm looking to get some feedback on how to set up my case, anyone who has done it with good results, your input is greatly appreciated. I have some growing experience but only tent growing under HPS in a hydro setup and I've never done SCRoG or LST, so when it comes to this PC grow I'd consider myself a beginner.

My goal for this setup is to be able to take a sprout all the way to harvest inside the PC case and obtain a yield of an OZ per harvest ideally but I'd still be ok with a half off a single plant in this setup. I have a PC case already but I'm not sure if its big enough for what I want to accomplish. The case is a NZXT Lexus S, dimensions (WxHxD): 8"x19"x20". It's a mid tower ATX case. Is this case big enough or should I try to find another case that is slightly larger?

I'm going to have to either LST or SCRoG my plant but I'm not sure which one to go with and this will most likely determine my light setup. If I SCRoG I'll need to be able to adjust the light height so I'm thinking that I'll have to use the powerstrip lightbar setup. If I LST the plant, I can mount the lights inside the case with fixtures and raise or lower the plant as needed. What would you do for lighting? I'm leaning towards the powerstrip method but have safety concerns about that.

What is better for bud growth and energy efficiency, multiple low watt bulbs or one big CFL grow bulb around 150W?

Any strain suggestions? I'm considering autoflower strains for how fast you can grow them but am not sure i'll get my desired yield off strains like Easy Ryder.

So thoughts? Advice? Thank you!

Good job following Emman and Mewk, Mewk had great results from his grow.
The biggest thing that I learnt about pc grow is timing, to not let her veg too long so she outgrew the case. I used Lst, and has a large number of bud sites, I think Scrog is a better method for foliage maintenance.
I kept my power strip mounted to the to so the lights ar horizontal. I used a few DVD cases to raise my plants.
what concern domyou have with a power strip? As long as it has a surge protector, it should be fine.
For my bulbs, I kept it cheap, I used 4 23w 5600k bulbs and one 23w 2300k for veging, all seemed to have worked out great.
With regards to strain, I wish I would have gone auto flower, but decided to KISS and went with Arjan Haze #3 (they were the cheapest I could find at my local shop. There is one that is called 60 Day Wonder which is ready in 60 days from seed: http://www.marijuana-seeds-canada.com/products/dna-genetics-60-day-wonder


I did find this article on main-lining which I'm going to try on my next grow, not sure how this would work in a pc case.
http://www.growweedeasy.com/how-to-grow-short-bushy-marijuana-plants#main-lining

Good luck!

hey kush, hate to say this but urs is bigger than mine, , my pc box is 14" tall, I think Ogonzo is right. the trouble with a 150w cfl is its bloody big but 4 x 23cfl`s will give you more room, personally I feel in a small space lst is the way and be brutal with it, its amazing how much you can bend mj, if you plant ur mj to one side of the pot then u can train her to the other side flat along the soil, as mewk did, top her at the 4th or 5th branch set and then lst her, veg for 3 or 4 weeks. as you know there are several successful pc grows on here and we all pulled around the ounce, check with recu as he has a successful auto grow. Ogonzo mentioned main-lining, which looks awesome but I feel main-lining is for a bigger space, ie cab or tent as I think it is intended to make the mj plant wide. obviously stay away from any sativa dominant mj. good luck and happy growing

If you don't allready have seeds or are still shopping I would consider http://seaofseeds.com/auto-seeds-auto-pounder for any grow where space is an issue, but if you would like to grow certain strains don't let that hold you back. You plan looks soild, If I were you and I wanted to a bigger case and had to shell out cash for it I'd get a cab instead, but if I was getting a larger PC case for free then I would swoop that up ( I am a cheap skate). I think going with a higher number of smaller bulbs in a pc grow would work better as you can ajust them and turn them on an off as to control heat. If you go with one huge CFL it won't be movable much and will have to add fans pronto if there is a heat issue, with that being said I have never done a PC grow I do have a same cab not much larger than one though. One last thing emann and Mewk as you have seen there grows, really know there stuff! Good luck with your grow I think an oz is an obtainable goal.

double post doh!

First off, thank you for the helpful replies!

Just an update: I gutted the PC case and lined most of it with Mylar (holding off on the top until I have fans mounted and wired). When I took out the panel where the motherboard mounts, it took out most of the back along with it, card mounting covers and the motherboard I/O panel, leaving me with a big hole and no real way to cover it up while keeping it looking like a PC. So, I covered it with cardboard and then lined the inside with Mylar, shouldn't be too noticeable when the pc is near a wall.

I decided to go with the power strip method for lighting, with Velcro that will allow me to adjust the light height. My concern with safety was that I read that making a powerstrip into a light bar could be a fire hazard? My powerstrip only has a 2 foot cable, is it safe to plug a powerstrip into an extension cord and then extension cord to another powerstrip?

So I'm close to being done setting up my case, I need fans, going with a 120mm intake at the front of the case and two 140mm exhaust fans mounted at the top of the case. I have a SCRog screen, just need to come up with a way to mount it and I'm still searching for a good planter for my PC case. I currently have a 1 liter pot but ideally I want something that's a little shorter and rectangular. Probably going to look into modifying a window planter.

As for strains, I like the idea of autoflowers and how fast they finish but I have read that they are sometimes not very potent, I don't want to spend 2-3 months on a plant that isn't going to be a good smoke. I've been narrowing down strains of autos and I've heard a lot of good things about Trans Siberian and Diesel Ryder. I have some random seeds from an order of Citral seeds that I got, some bag seeds that I know the strain of but I also have access to mother plants to take clones from, Cheese, Dutch Passion and a Mazar/Blueberry cross. So getting strains and seeds isn't too big of a problem for me, I was just looking for some suggestions of good autos to try or other plants that are ideal for a PC grow. From what I've seen though, I can grow pretty much any strain in this case with proper training.

I'm on the same page as you Reku, if I have a larger case come my way I'll definety switch to that but if I'm going to spend money I'd get a cabinet or something bigger than a PC case. I plan to hopefully upgrade to an HPS setup in a mini fridge or some other form of a stealth grow box. I had most of the stuff I need laying around for this PC case setup, I've only spent 8 bucks on it so far.

Sup BDOG, I'm glad to see that you are getting your Grow box up and running! +Rep

the light bar method is safer than you may think, but only if you have a modern power strip, almost all modern power strips have a built in surge protector and even a short prevention fuse. which will cut all power to the power strip in an event that there is a "short".

try to stay away from autos, IMO they are not as yielding as other non-auto flowering strains < but I guess is all about how you grow your plant...

Im going to add this to faves and check up on you seeing as how we are starting our grows around the same time, it would be rad if we did a head to head on our PC grows....???

RickyTick said:

Sup BDOG, I'm glad to see that you are getting your Grow box up and running! +Rep

the light bar method is safer than you may think, but only if you have a modern power strip, almost all modern power strips have a built in surge protector and even a short prevention fuse. which will cut all power to the power strip in an event that there is a "short".

try to stay away from autos, IMO they are not as yielding as other non-auto flowering strains < but I guess is all about how you grow your plant...

Im going to add this to faves and check up on you seeing as how we are starting our grows around the same time, it would be rad if we did a head to head on our PC grows....???

Click to expand...

I'm going to use zip ties to secure the bulbs to the powerstrip so they don't fall out (I guess that's the fire safety concern that people have.) I have a modern powerstrip but the cord is very short.

I probably will stay away Autos, I have no experience with them and would need to do a seed run to keep from shelling out money for seeds when I want to grow more of them. I'll probably just do a 12/12 from seed schedule. I'd be down for a friendly grow off, should be fun. My goal is to have a plant started before October. Vet bills from my dog are restricting how fast I can afford to set this up. I hope to get the fans, bulbs, and a better planter pot this week and then fertilizer and nutes on the next paycheck.

I've hit somewhat of a stumbling block and could really use some suggestions. I've searched ten seperate threads now on multiple websites and I can't come up with an answer for this question. What size plant pot for a PC grow case? 1 gallon pots aren't going to work, they're 7 inches tall, that's almost half my cabinet height.

The pot I have right now is 1.40 QT, 1.32 L. So about a third of a gallon. Too small? Just right? The planter boxes I found in my area are too big, even after modifying them like in Mewk's journal.

@BDOG

I'm using a Swiffer wet jet cleaning pads container that I washed out works Great!

BDOGKush said:

I've hit somewhat of a stumbling block and could really use some suggestions. I've searched ten seperate threads now on multiple websites and I can't come up with an answer for this question. What size plant pot for a PC grow case? 1 gallon pots aren't going to work, they're 7 inches tall, that's almost half my cabinet height.

The pot I have right now is 1.40 QT, 1.32 L. So about a third of a gallon. Too small? Just right? The planter boxes I found in my area are too big, even after modifying them like in Mewk's journal.

Click to expand...

Ive seen people who have used a 2 liter pop bottle turned on its side. If you use anything clear, be sure to cover up the container with tape or something to stop the lights getting to the roots. You can get root rot or damage.
Also, make sure you have enough drainage holes in the container.

You can use a2 liter pop bottle laying on its side, the only thing to remember is that you née to make sure no light is hitting the roots, so you may want to tape the bottle to let no light in. Also, you need to remeber drainage holes.
Here is a link to what I mean: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E9eLD5UN8gs/UfRebh9HwpI/AAAAAAAABTc/qAM01A_epKo/s400/2013-07-27-165504.jpg

BDOGKush said:

I've hit somewhat of a stumbling block and could really use some suggestions. I've searched ten seperate threads now on multiple websites and I can't come up with an answer for this question. What size plant pot for a PC grow case? 1 gallon pots aren't going to work, they're 7 inches tall, that's almost half my cabinet height.

The pot I have right now is 1.40 QT, 1.32 L. So about a third of a gallon. Too small? Just right? The planter boxes I found in my area are too big, even after modifying them like in Mewk's journal.

Click to expand...

hey BDOG, I used a 2 ltr pop bottle in my pc grow but I would go for a 1.5ltr next time, don't forget to put a couple of feet on it, to stop rolling, blue tac rolled up n taped on would do, I used curtain track spacers. also as Orgonzo suggested cover the bottle in tape. put in a load of perlite or similar in the bottom of the bottle for drainage, don't bother putting in drainage holes as u will be able to unscrew the cap, tip the bottle upright and drain the excess water into a glass, then test ph. when u have unscrewed the cap and tipped the bottle keep a finger or 2 over the hole, this stops soil coming out, u could put a cotton wool bung in it. good luck n happy growing