Noob Mirco Stealth CFL Grow Box

**NZgrowah** · 01-07-2012, 01:42 PM

Hey everyone.

I was first given 8 strain-unknown seedlings in a propergation tray as a gift from someone who had too many.

It's the 2nd of Dec 2011.

Here they are on my window sill loving the sun. 1 week old and in cheap potting mix I got from The Warehouse (New Zealands version of Walmart). No sand or anything.

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Move forward to the 13th Dec.

Ive traded with my mate. He gave me his old un-used PC case. I mounted a 85w CFL 6400k, and 2 silent fans I got from a computer store.
I lined the entire case with Panda Film and made it semi light-tight.

Ive lost 4 plants to various reasons. Mainly my cat liked to walk all over them on the windowsill.

Im also growing a small bit of grass to plug a rat hole in the backyard.

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Its now the 16th of December, and ive been reading up.

I now realise that because I want to have alot of quick harvests, I need to have two seperate rooms. Veg and Flower.
I manage to find a great local listing for a second hand small white cabinet that will fit under my desk in my room for only $25.
I installed the 2 fans and the light fitting, and covered it 100% with Panda Film.
I have also been looking at DWC systems so decided I would get all the parts I needed while I was out getting other stuff.

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December 30th 2011.

I have the DWC system running. I got a new container and spray painted it black. I picked up two more seedlings and chucked them in the deep end you could say. I didnt expect them to survive. I am just playing around at this stage.

I used Growzilla NPK 35-15-55 at quarter strength as well as normal dosage of Superthrive, Nitrozyme, and Bounty Plant Food.

The pH was roughly 6.0 using reagent test. Need to invest in a digital pH tester. The water was tap water left to reach room temp (about 2 hours). I had no idea of the ppm at the time, but since purchased a digital meter and my tap water is avg 003-012 ppm, and im on the city fringe.

The grass has been removed and inserted into the rat hole. The cat also caught the rat. Good girl <3

I picked up a digital temp/humid meter which has been a massive help! We are currently in mid summer so im expecting high temps of above 33c.

The plants looked nice and healthy. One is has stunted growth. One is tall and scrawny, and the other is juuuust right. lol

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About a week later, the DWC seedlings started looking in bad shape. The yellowing started to take over both the plants as well as severe burning of lower leaves. I put it down to the nutrient mix not being right. I didnt have a TDS/CF/EC meter at the time.

I upgraded the pump to something 3 times as powerful and gave it a few more days to recover. No visable growth and the yellowing increased.
I decided to remove the DWC system and replant the stronger of the 2 seedlings in soil and put it outside to recover.

At time of writing this, it has recovered very well and is growing strongly outdoors with rainwater and the same potting soil mix with a 3 scoopes of sand. I do nothing else but move it around to the private sunny patches in our backyard.

Jan 5th 2012. A new year. New ideas.

I diagnosed the plants were not growing because of cramped space in those little biodegradable pots (which were often water soaked and falling to peices).

I decided to repot into the pots that my girlfriend picked up for me as a joke.. funnily enough they actually fit 3 across in the gros box!
The colours will also help with sexing later on.
I used the same potting and sand mix.

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All three are looking ok a week on.

More updates soon.

**rollinbud** · 01-07-2012, 02:32 PM

Looking good, but I think things will get a little cramped with 3 plants in the cabinet and I think the plants will get cramped in those small pots as well. Maybe you could move one at least to your newer cabinet. If you dont want to go to the expense of making an additional dwc system you could repot one plant in plain potting soil like you have it will do fine. Since you dont know what you have odds are you get some males and wont know this for a while yet. I had 5 plants and 4 of them turned out to be males! Good luck with your grow.

**ZipDriveX** · 01-07-2012, 02:41 PM

Looks like your off to a good start man. Good luck!

**NZgrowah** · 01-07-2012, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by rollinbud

Looking good, but I think things will get a little cramped with 3 plants in the cabinet and I think the plants will get cramped in those small pots as well. Maybe you could move one at least to your newer cabinet. If you dont want to go to the expense of making an additional dwc system you could repot one plant in plain potting soil like you have it will do fine. Since you dont know what you have odds are you get some males and wont know this for a while yet. I had 5 plants and 4 of them turned out to be males! Good luck with your grow.

Yeh Ive started to realise that I going to be very cramped for space.

I also have two additional 65w 6400k CFLs on the way which Im going to need to fit in the white box too.

My basic plan is this:

Veg those 3 plants until they can be cloned. I think another 4-6 weeks? Advice plz.
Setup two more lights in the box which are able to be lowered to the plant when sitting on the floor. Basically a 85w/65w/65w.. one for each plant to accelerate growth.
Take a clone from each and veg it using the 85w light in the PC case untill its big enough to flower for sexing. I might use the DWC to speed things up. I have lots of rockwool cubes to use up.
Switch to 12/12 and put in the 2700k and flower the small clone once strong enough.
Pull out the males and keep the best female from the veg box.
Switch up the boxes so that the PC case becomes a full time veg box for the female mother.
Use the cabinet as a veg/flower room for the clones with LST and SCRoG training and hopefully harvest at least 3 ounce every 10-12 weeks.

I dont expect this to be a quick process.. im prepared to start over if I get all males. Ill prob do it right the first time if I had to do it all again. Use coco or a proper medium lol

**NZgrowah** · 01-07-2012, 06:43 PM

Jan 8th 2012

This morning before work I started LST'ing the plants. I tied off each stem pointing away from the light, exposing the inner nodes to the light.

Is this the correct way to do it? Do I start not so tight then tighten it over a few days, trying not to snap or damage the stem?

Also been spraying water on the stems to soften them. I want them to fill out the diameter of the pot by continuously tieing down the stems.

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**NZgrowah** · 01-09-2012, 05:54 PM

Jan 10th 2012

Just found a ruler and measured the grow box.

420mm wide (16.53inch)
568mm tall (22.36inch)
270mm deep (10.62inch)

My light is 280mm from end to end.

Does this sound big enough?

I am thinking of getting 2 of these from a local auction site.

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**NZgrowah** · 01-10-2012, 04:52 AM

Btw I welcome all comments in here. I only want to maintain 1 thread.

All comments and discussion welcome!

**rollinbud** · 01-10-2012, 05:12 AM

When you get ready to clone be sure and cut a stem with multiple nodes on it so you can root at the node sites. Check out youtube, some good videos on there for cloning marijuana. I wouldnt spend the money on those light reflector things there surely is a cheaper way.

**NZgrowah** · 01-10-2012, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by rollinbud

When you get ready to clone be sure and cut a stem with multiple nodes on it so you can root at the node sites. Check out youtube, some good videos on there for cloning marijuana.

I have been watching alot of videos and think I have an idea on how to clone. I need to get some rooting hormone though.

Originally Posted by rollinbud

I wouldnt spend the money on those light reflector things there surely is a cheaper way.

Yeh after a night thinking about the reflector I have decided not to get them. Instead I might invest in a pair of these lights which would hang perfectly next to each other in my box.

Ive asked that company to see if they can get a pair in 2700k too.

http://lightbulbman.co.nz/shop/P6172...ght-865-6-400k

Cheers for comment!