Stealth CFL Box Grow - First Grow

I decided to chronicle my first real grow so here goes:

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4ft.


Intro:
I recently moved into a new living arrangement and have an incredibly small space allotted for the grow. I wanted to grow but the closet was out of the question because I actually need every inch of space in the room. Furthermore, there is a lot of friend traffic here so I needed a solution that was stealth, could grow a few plants at a time, and stayed cool.

I decided to build my own box to fill the space beneath my desk. I used simple screws and nails to put it together then spray painted it black so it blended better with the black desk. I simply tell people its a storage unit and they usually don't press the issue

Approach:

-2 15w CFL bulbs
These guys are plugged into 2 cheap $10 bendable lamp stands. I'm using them just for better spread even if they are pretty low intensity. Approx 800 lumens each.

-1 hydrofarm compact fluorescent 125w warm spectrum bulb
This is a neat little guy (found here) it puts out approx. 6,000 lumens to get me going. I wanted the cool spectrum more than the warm but it wasn't in where I looked and my baby was already beginning to stretch so i compromised. I am going to forgo a reflector for now because I've lined the inside of the box with Mylar and that should reflect sufficiently for such a small space.

-1 digital thermometer
I picked this guy up at target. Its a digital thermometer with a wireless temperature gauge meant to go outside. I put the temperature gauge in the box next to the pot and the receiver on my desk. this way i can monitor temperature at all times without having to open the whole thing up (its something of an ordeal to drag the box out of its place even when its got little carpet skates on.)

-2 80mm smartcool Thermally-Controlled variable speed case fan
This was a fun little project. I wanted the temperature to regulate itself so i grabbed these guys. They change speed based on the ambient temperature, so the hotter it gets, the more cooling power i get. Normally $20 each i found 2 on clearance for $5 each at an office depot, total steal. I grabbed a 12v wall adapter and a female molex connector and crimped away! One fan is pumping exhaust while the other is temporarily blowing straight on the plant to strengthen the stem and lower the temp (I have more germing but for now its just little Missy).
NOTE: Before the fans were implemented I tested the temperature. All closed up, my box got up to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit before I aborted the experiment! After literally chiseling away an exhaust hole with a pocketknife (i dont have any powertools :/) and mounting one of the fans, I can keep the temperature between 93-97 (i still need an intake fan but am waiting for the tools, i imagine that the intake will lower the overall temp down to a level that Missy finds comfortable)

Soil Mix:

I wanted to experiment with soil since I have a little experience with hydro and wanted to broaden my skills.

I went with a base of approx. 1/2 perlite 1/2 regular 0-0-0 potting soil. I plan to let the kids grow past seedling then I'll start feeding them with a fert. I mixed in a very small amount of slow release tomato fert (cant remember the npk but its real low) so it had something to work with, but i plan to use water soluble ferts for good so I will start with a basic grow mix and decide how to tweak the diet the moment she starts showing early signs of deficiencies or burn. I will definitely be giving them silica blast regularly in attempt to strengthen the cell walls against the threat of pests.

I should have pics up quite soon, so don't get too anxious.

Any questions, ideas, critiques, suggestions, or interjections?

A couple shots here. I apologize for the bad bad bad camera. I'll get something better when shes big enough for the camera to focus on.

This Is "Missy Elliot". She is 2 weeks old now and I'm celebrating the end of her seedling stage by beginning her LST!

I noticed something interesting, at the base of each fan leaf she has an additional leaf making the 3s technically 4 and the 5s technically 6 etc. The little additions are only millimeters and dont seem to grow as vigorously as the other leaves. In all fairness she is a bagseed so i expect it might be a sign of multi-sexing. Let me know if anyone has seen this before.

She must be heavy Indica, her leaves are quite broad and she is incredibly short for the amount of unseen undergrowth thats occuring.

im planning a weekly photo upload of the lovely lady.

I recently Topped the young lady and its causing a considerable amount of side growth! I found what seems to be a male pre-flower above the fourth internode but its tiny and i cant be sure so i remain hopeful.

The cotyledons are finally dying back as well as the first set of single leaves. This thing has many internodes and an incredibly short spacing between them. coupled with very broad overlapping leaves I am lead to believe that this plan is pretty heavy afghanica. If it turns out to be male i may flower and save the pollen to breed with since the short stature is perfect for my particular grow situation. Breeding with an indica will help keep things short and possibly get the lower leaves more light by thinning out the fan leaf width.

I am still hoping its a she!

Missy Elliot 3 Weeks:

Missy elliot may be a she after all! ive spotted several female preflowers and its still early in her life. shes so big that i had to move her out of the box to take a picture of her!

nice and bushy!!!

Looks good, your going to needs lots of light for flowering, that econolight 150wHPS would be perfect for 1 plant.

when you say the box is 2x2x4, your not only giving the plant 2 feet to grow upwards are you? i mean its viable esspecially with lst but that really constricts your space and probably your yield. ide just flip that bad boy on its side so you can use the 4 ft straight up. but it might be harder for you to justify the boxs use that way.

either way, nice plant and props for the fan idea, i gotta find a couple little ones for the inside of my box.

Small update : My camera is much too crappy to get good macros but you'll have to take my word for it, she is covered in female preflowers! I'm still going to watch out for sacks too just in case.

@cheetah: I know, right! shes beautiful.

@bxke1414: For now im sticking with my hydrofarm 125w CFL. Since i have such a restricted space i have to keep the temperature down by avoiding HPS for now. This should still be fine, I've flowered 3 plants under just one of those no problem. Ill eventually move to HPS once i have more freedom in the security of the grow.

@Rooter: Yes, you have it exactly right, only 2ft. upward growth. I know its super restrictive, but the whole point of the box is that im growing in a location where there would normally be no space or security. The box is measured to fit perfectly beneath my computer desk and so i cannot flip it upward. -- Heres how im accomplishing it:

(It should be noted though that its working magnificently so far). My light is mounted sideways along the top of the box, The inside is lined with mylar and such a small space can really pack a punch in lumens even with the plant offset so it isnt directly under the light. Furthermore i have been LSTing her since the beginning. While she is very stout and bushy, what you cant see is that the main stem is bent and curved to lower the height considerably. Also after topping, the growth is heavy on the side branches which I frequently tie to the sides of the pots. If she wasnt trained at all she would probably be 2-3x taller than she is now. This wouldn't be possible if I wasnt able to monitor her dang near constantly (considering that I have a webcam inside for when the lid is on and its under the table). but for the particular situation it works just fine.

and as for the yeild the benefit of having all the budspots equidistant from the light is that I should get 5-10 big main buds instead of just one. So long as i keep her properly cool and nuted I like to hope that it will be just fine

Thanks everyone for the interest, I'll keep uploading the weekly photo

Here are the week 5 pictures!


This is Missy Elliot on her busy side that flows over the pot edge


A side shot to show just how low it is that I am keeping her.


the closest up shot i could manage with my weak camera. Im planning on figuring out some cheap ways to get macro shots.

I still cant get pictures close enough with decent definition to show the preflowers but she is absolutely covered in them. All the stems are coming up and getting tied down at the right height. You can see in the one picture that i'm keeping her barely above the rim of the pot level because of the space issues. once she starts sprouting monster cones all over the place im going to need every inch i can take. She is still growing very quickly and ive had to tie branches down about every 2 days.

Its an incredibly rewarding labor of love though. I've become fond of all the little intricasies of different strains. I recently got a hold of a Banana Kush seed (just one) that i found in a sack of fantastic banana kush a while back, Im germing it now and plan to get it sprouting by next week sometime when I'll start Missy on 12/12. I want to use this as an experiment to see how a plant does growing 12/12/ from sprout since Ive heard so much controversy.

If it turns out to be male I'll hope it can get a pollen sack out soon enough for me to try fertilizing just one branch of missy for seeds, and if its a female i can find out exactly how stressed she will be and how it will effect the yeild.

UPDATE:

I finally bought PH strips. I understand why she was such a dark color. I originally assumed that it was a nitrogen overdose but it turns out my PH was a little high. It was a phosphorus deficiency. That explained the almost blueish darkness turning to bronzed spots.

I bought pro bloom nutes and that brought down my ph to a nice 6 ish. So she is just starting on her flowering nutes and should have a bunch of phosphorus and potassium to work with and make awesome buds. I plan to buy a light timer and get her started on 12/12 on sunday if i have the funds to do so. So excited to bloom!

BlazeAwayTheDays said:

I still cant get pictures close enough with decent definition to show the preflowers but she is absolutely covered in them.

Click to expand...

Hey bro... you're plant is looking nice and bushy. I like how you are using the LST technique to keep its stature so low. I hope you are able to continue keeping the height low enough to fit in that tiny box. One thing you mentioned is that you are seeing pre-flowers all over it? If you haven't turned the light back to induce flowering yet, then there shouldn't be any pre-flowers. Pre-flowers don't usually appear until about the first week of the flowering light-cycle, and are the indicators of sex. So like I said, if you haven't turned the light back to 12/12 yet, I don't see how there could be pre-flowers.

@rolla8: Thanks for the reply.

Actually, plants grown from seed will develop preflowers at branch internodes just behind the stipule around the fourth week of vegetative growth. Normally you can conclude at eight weeks for sure what the sex is, but she has no less than 90 individual calyxes shooting out around her tops and all of them are visible with the naked eye. I assumed it was safe to say that she is female (or if multi-sexed then at least predominantly female)

I will admit that since sunday is her 6 week mark she is rather ahead of schedule. If the internodes were growing asymmetrically I would consider the possibility that its an auto-flowering strain, but i think she may just be a quick grower. She has been rather large all her life.

I would like to veg a little longer, but i cant afford to since she just keeps growing taller and taller and its becoming a task to tie her down lower and lower every couple days since the leaves all overlap and its easy for bud spots to get hidden from the light.

Lookin good. I started some bag seed too and its coming along a lot like yours did. Aside from the sock I put it threw from learning how to light my box and water properly . I may have missed this, but are you still growing under those two small lights?

@pokingsmot: No i was never using those by themselves they are just for supplemental light, but the big CFL is so bright that it rapes the camera exposure. Im using this guy to great avail in my compact cubby:

Hydrofarm - Hydrofarm FLC125W 125 W Compact Fluorescent Bulb - Warm

Maybe when i take her weekly picture ill show how i have the grow arranged now, its much more neat as i have the big light mounted. Additionally im growing some swiss chard and lemon cucumber next to it for gits and shiggles, i suppose i could chronicle those for the interested.

Haha ok - was blown away by the growth with those first pics of your lights. Im glad to hear you are having success with CFL's. I just made a DIY reflector today using CFL's - still waitin to see what people think.

ya man my box was exactly the same size lol, i had to drop it the plants grow into the lights too much...i even when so far as to Scrog it to no avail. flip that bitch over on its side it will work a lot better......

preflowers aren't always there, they are blessing when they do show though.

nice bushy look.

@tryingtogrow: I feel yah, its not the kind of situation where you can grow many plants at once or where you can leave it it alone for too many days or it'll grow right into the lights. But i prefer the high maintenance. It makes me feel like im earning mah buds!

Week 6:

Missy is doing great! I am about to run out to grab an adapter i need, but after that I'll start her on 12/12 tonight!

picture time!

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^^ This is Missy before tying her down. ^^

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^^ Missy after being tied down very carefully. I dont want to have to handle her too much once shes flowering so this is hopefully the last tie down.^^

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^^ A profile to show height ^^

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^^ And the closest i can get with my almightily shitful camera ^^

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^^ My grow box as seen from the top **notice the swiss chard and lemon cucumbers growing next door to missy!** ^^

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^^ Grow box seen from slightly inside ^^

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^^ Closeup on the chard and cukes. i bought them to grow for fun. at only a dollar a pack im happy with whatever they do^^

Its hard to see from the pictures, but after balancing my PH and my nutes She is already looking much healthier. Im stoked to start flowering!