OK.. I have posted only a few times regarding germination techniques, as the cold has made things slow. Now that I've germ'd, it's high time (hah!) that I started my own journal.

Overview:
So.. my home life does not permit a closet or small room at this point. Next house (soon) may have a false wall in it, but that's a path I need to cross later. I am looking for nothing more than self sufficience, really and I have little ones that can snoop around, so I need stealth. Combine that and the fact that I have dozens of computers around the house due to my career and a pc situation makes perfect sense. Since I do not want to waste my time picking males and buying assloads of seeds and the like, I decided to go ahead and convert a small fulltower desktop as a mommy / cloning chamber and also to gut a server tower to use as a flowering chamber.

Construction:
The box construction is fairly straightforward. I found a wonderful thing called industrial strength aluminum duct tape to use as a reflective material and as a bond. I used tin snips and aluminum sheet to patch up all my holes in the case, followed by a couple coats of flat white paint on the interior.

Electrical:
I spent good money on decent surge protectors just in case I had something that might cause a fire and I decided to use CFL's to keep heat down. In the veg. case (client), I used 3 Radio Shack AC muffin fans - 2 exhaust, 1 intake - wired up to a single snipped AC extension cord and run into the surge protector. The flower tower (server) uses its own DC fans (again, 2 exhaust, 1 intake) wired up to a strong, snipped cell-phone adapter from Radio Shack. I think the 12/12 on the box might end up getting controlled by using a UPS and my linux server, but that's still up in the air. I'm certain I want to UPS the whole deal.. maybe even get environmental sensors hooked up to the linux box to help keep stuff safe.. ie. it will page me if temps > 90 degrees, etc. I'm not about to burn my house down for this.

Lighting:
In the veg. box, I have 3x27W cfl's @ 5500 (cool) and 2x75W cfl's (warm) for the flower tower. I've got room for one more cfl in the veg box, but I'm worried that temps will get too high, as they are hovering around 80 right now and have spiked at about 83. Humidity is 20% now, but that will change as it warms up outside.

Medium:
Grow medium.. I'd thought about going DWC, but decided against it, as I've got a thing about chemicals and that. I went organic after some thought. I'm using Miracle Grow Organic.. it seemed to have a nice mix of nutrients in it and it was more readily available at the time. It seems that people on here like FoxFarm, though, so I may switch to it if I have issues. I'm looking for feedback if anyone's used the MG Org., as well. I was planning on watering with Molasses, too, as I've heard great things about keeping things natural and the taste that molasses brings. Again.. I'm open to suggestions.

Current Activity:
Right now, I've got a big planter w/ a Citral seed in it that broke ground this morning. I germ'd it by a 36 hour soak and just popping it into the grow medium - covered in plastic to keep humidity up. I also have a Top44 seed in a 20 oz. cup germ'd the same way and it is JUST below the surface. I can see a tick of green matter through the soil that wasn't there yesterday and I'm fully expecting to see it pop through this evening. Unfortunately, I got antsy waiting for the two seeds I have already described and I used the tried and true paper towel method to germ a 3rd seed - another Citral. It's tail popped right out in about 12 hours, so it'll get planted later today.

Strain Info.:
I chose these strains for several reasons. I had Super Citral in A'dam and LOVED it, but felt it was too powerful, so I went for the non-Super variety. I liked the sound of the Top44 and it has a big benefit: 6 week flower! Plus, it's supposed to be easy for beginners.. highly resistant to 'problems.' Both are known to be VERY short, which, considering my environment is perfect. I chose to stay away from the auto-strains because I'd read that LowRyder tastes awful and most of them seem to come from that. A tiny indica sounded perfect. Also, both of these Indicas are known to have a fairly Sativa feel to them, which I prefer. Couch-lock isn't a feeling I like too often.

From Here:
So.. there's lots to get done. My veg. box is up and running, but it's got some finishing touches left to take care of. It needs to be further light-proofed and I need to seal the hole from the PSU. It's about 95% done, really. The flower box is about 75% done. It needs to have the lights rigged up and the fans wired up, then light-proofed. I will detail what I'm doing to finish the builds, as I'd love feedback / suggestions, and I'll get some pictures up asap. If only I'd had my camera this AM. I can still picture that baby's head bent over just begging for my care! I may head home to work from there just so I can share more and be with my new friends.

Thanks for looking. More to come!

~ER~

Last night, I planted my second Citral seed in a 20 oz. cup and "completed" sealing the case. I do want to add a small device to block the light from the fans on the back, though. Since it's my veg. case, I likely don't need a carbon filter or anything like that. The flower tower.. different story.

I'm going to put pics up tonight of everything I've got going including plants as soon as my wife passes out on the couch.

I'm hesitating to name my plants, as I want girls with girl names. I can't name every plant 'Pat'. heh.

~ER~

__________________

Sounds like you've put in the thought and the effort ER. Usually that pays good dividends.

SketzoH and I have decided to name our girls after female porn stars

Good luck mate. Can't wait to see the pics.

Hey ER
Just had a look at the blurb on your seeds. A couple of nice choices there. The Citral is a CH9 and they seem to be VERY vigorous growers. I'm growing their Jack strain now and it does need a bit of controlling but they finish very quickly too, so that burst of growth won't last too long.
The breeder has an account on here with the ID Mendocino and there's a website too. If you have any questions on the plants you can ask the guy directly which has been helpful for me.

Still no luck getting the pics yet. Grr! Luckily, there's been just about zero movement in the past few days. The only thing I've got showin' up are the second set of fan leaves on both.

I wonder how early is too early to clone. I'm hoping to clone super-early so I can sex. I don't want to waste my time with males.

Other notables.. I drove around my area a bit over the weekend and I think there are some decent sites to Guerrilla. Makes me wonder how big both of these could get.

Regarding strain, I've read some reviews on the Top44 and hear that it almost is never ready in 6 weeks of flowering and I hear mixed reviews on taste. Taste is huge to me. Hmmm.. tasting is months away, though.

I may work from home tomorrow afternoon, so if I can't get the pics tonight, they'll be here tomorrow. I think you guys will really love my rigs.

Cheers!

~ER~

__________________

wow someone did their home work and spent wisely pretty high tech but i like might use some of your ideas when i construct mine =p

__________________
Been smoking all my life but starting to make the adventure into the gardening scene.

Ha They tell you to find a hobby to stay off drugs so ill just grow plants.

sounds pretty good cant wait to see some pics

__________________
Everything i post is a lie
Numbers 4:20: But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.<--Hermies suck

Sounds good dude any pics soon??

__________________
The RIU PC Gang - http://www.rollitup.org/groups/rollitup-pc-gang.html
PC Bagseed Grow - http://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/...o-bagseed.html

Yeah. I'm gonna finish my coffee at work this am, dump out and head home to get some snaps. Sorry for TMI, there.


Really, though.. my Top44 has some yellow on her, so I *NEED* to take snaps for all of your sage wisdom. Thanks for lookin' in again. Definitely pics in a few hours.

__________________

Have you fed them any any nutes yet??
could be a deficiancy

__________________
The RIU PC Gang - http://www.rollitup.org/groups/rollitup-pc-gang.html
PC Bagseed Grow - http://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/...o-bagseed.html