ElephantRider
Well-Known Member
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~
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~
