Dirty Weed Proof of Concept

A little background
I live in a college town and weed is pretty expensive, atleast for my broke ass. Ever couple of weeks I can sometimes get smoked out by the few people I know around here that smoke good stuff. I hardly smoke at all anymore. In highschool I was a every day kind of guy and it just kind of petered off when I went to University. The idea of growing has always been intriguing though. My girlfriend is the only other person that knows I am doing this little experiment, and I do not plan on telling any of my friends. Even the ones I trust have big mouths and my room mate and his girlfriend are straight laced future law enforcement types. Thankfully I have my own room that I pay separate rent for and they never come in here. I have been reading off and on for several years about growing and last week finally took the plunge. My budget is shoestring though. So i bought:

18" fluroescent 700w 3500K Day Light setup
a big bag of miracle grow (says for bigger blooms on it but it was on sale)
a cheap 24 hr timer.
an extension cord
and some foil

this all set me back only like $30 at walmart.

I germinated the seeds in my closet with the papertowel method. 4 of the ten started to sprout so I put them in some VitaminWater bottles that I cut the top off of. I also put a slit down the side and some holes in the bottom so that I can easily take them out when they start to get some good roots. I then wrapped these in Duct tape to protect the roots from light.

So they all sprouted in about 3 days with about an inch of sprout and i planted them about an inch down in these six inch home made planters.

I do not have high expectations for these ladies, hopefully I get atleast one female, this is really just a proof of concept grow. If I can get these to be bushy and fit under my sink (which is about 2x2x2 I should measure it) then I will try building a grow box with a better setup. The seeds are also from some cheap stink weed that my friend had. So, no idea what they are called or anything. but if they work out I plan on ordering something a little better.

I know very little about growing. I am trying to do it as cheap as possible as this will mostly just be a little hobby to keep me sane during my last year at school. I am open to any suggestions though. Just about everything I know comes from forums like this one as well as a eBook that I downloaded off of TPB called Ditch the Dealer.

I plan on asking about "topping them" when the time comes and when exactly I should do this and changing the light pattern. They are on a 20/4 cycle right now. This seems to be the general consensus. Like I said they are under my bathroom sink. I am watering them very little in this stage, about 2 Tablespoons of water a day to keep the soil moist. I may start putting a little water in the tray they are in so that water can soak up but I do not know about this.

I checked my germ box today and one had sprouted without my realizing this so I just planted it today. I was just fooling around and sprinkled some tobacco on top. The two on the outside have a half an eggshell in the middle of the soil. My girlfriend thought that would be a good idea and i didnt know any better to tell her otherwise.

I did not know that CFLs were an option or so cheap so I think that will be my next small upgrade.

Anyway. here are my first pics. sorry for the shitty quality. All i have to work with is my crap phone camera. I am open to any suggestions, just keep in mind this is on the cheap and also my first time so dont be too harsh.

you should get rid of the foil.it creates heat spots

My fluorescent light doesnt seem to get very hot at all. I am worried that without the reflective surface that my light wont be enough. I had to mount it a good 10 inches above the plants in a fixed location. My infor is wrong up top. the actual specs on the light are

700 lumens
15 w
6500k

its brighter than the ones they had for "Plants" thought. like I said though I plan on returning this and getting some CFLs if that seems to be the thing to do.

Are you only using that one 700 lumen light? If so, you need to get more light, and ASAP. You generally want 100w for the first plant, and 50w for each subsequent plant. I highly recommend buying:

A power strip (Shouldn't cost you over $10. The more spaced out the plug outlets on it, the better. I can generally only fit 4 lightbulbs per power strip.)
CFL 26w bulbs (You can get a four-pack almost anywhere for under $10).
plug-light-socket adapters (A light socket that plugs directly into an outlet -- Can get these for roughly $2 at hardware stores)

Four of those 26w bulbs is enough for one plant (Though I'd still recommend one or two more, I try and run 10k lumens for my 'first' plant)

You can do with less, but I really doubt you'll get much yield at all with that 700 lumen light. That's not enough for one plant, should definitely be your first upgrade.

As far as the soil goes, be careful with miracle grow. Try and take some of the fertilizer balls out of it if you can. The miracle grow moisture control in particular is very bad at nute burning your plants.

Remember that you're going to need odor control before flowering begins (If you want to keep them concealed). There are plenty of DIY carbon filter articles in the DIY section of this site -- I recommend making one of those (You can make some of them for like $3, not including the price of a fan and ducting material).

I cannot stress watching for nute burn close enough, with the MG soil, though. It WILL kill your plant if you aren't careful. Worst case scenario, get some soil out of the ground and use that. It's better to have your plant under-fertilized than over-fertilized

i agree with what gann told you...But you should get:

Mylar - You can buy this at Walmart for two bucks. Its sold as Emergency Camping Blanket or something in the Camping section, little box. works lot better than foil.

If you are gonna go with the power strip screw in cfls later. I would suggest adding a y-splitter (~$3) to screw into the power strip light sockets, double the lights

Other than that, looks decent. Good luck.

Ok got it on the CFLs and the mylar. I will have to think of something for the fan and filter. I hadnt even thought of that.
My girlfriend suggested just buying a tent and setting it up in the bathtub in the extra room. This guide I have suggests the DR60, but I guess that goes out of my immediate price range. I am just focusing on getting through one crop dirty and then go up from there.

for CFLs, you say 26w but should I be looking for a specific output in lumens for each light?

Thanks alot for these pointers.

Just get the highest lumen output 26w you can find. They usually range from 1600-1700 lumens per bulb.

6500k for veg.
2700k for flower.

Ok thanks alot. One more quick one for now, by 6500K do you mean color temp or lumens? I understand that at some point I will need to adjust the light cycle to flower but the color temperature and lumens for each phase, well there are different opinions it seems for just about every thread.

johnnytsmitw said:

Ok thanks alot. One more quick one for now, by 6500K do you mean color temp or lumens? I understand that at some point I will need to adjust the light cycle to flower but the color temperature and lumens for each phase, well there are different opinions it seems for just about every thread.

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for the light you have right now and are running get some screw eyes for the sides of the grow area and mount them up high and then use string to mount your light so it is adjustable ...then put it down 2 or 3 inches from the top of the plants .. as for the cfl's ... you want 6500K for vegging...and 2700K for flowering...those are the optimum light spectrum's...if in doubt and you don't see it on the box...DON'T BUY IT...better to have the right lights then to be re-buying shit all the time... sylvania makes a killer bulb...use them... and if you can ...put a power strip on each side of your grow box so you can have lights all around and reposition them as they grow bigger...

johnnytsmitw said:

Ok thanks alot. One more quick one for now, by 6500K do you mean color temp or lumens? I understand that at some point I will need to adjust the light cycle to flower but the color temperature and lumens for each phase, well there are different opinions it seems for just about every thread.

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In all due respect to everyone else's suggestions I have been using CFL and I found some real limitations.

Just speaking from experience to buy everything you need to keep them hanging where they need to be you will have to spend a ton of money!

Get one of these
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/sun-blaze-24w-2ft-t5-fluorescent-strip-light-p-2070.html
and one of these
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/sun-blaze-2ft-t5-fluorescent-strip-light-reflector-p-2071.html

This will cover a ton of space and in the long run its much much cheaper! and easier to raise and lower.

@MatanuskaValley Thanks for the recommendation. I have bookmarked those lights. My grow area is a little too small right now to get that to work. I am looking into moving the whole grow to the top of my closet will give me about 3.5'x3.5'x18" to work with. The method youre talking about is what I had originally expected to go with. If I can get these babies to live for a while I will feel justified in going deeper into a better setup.

@Am I Norml I will be going friday to the hardware store for about 6 CFLs and if they dont have any then I guess I will order them off one of the websites people link here. I will definitely position them around the plants to get some outward growth.

I dont have a picture but I have stacked some books to position the seedlings to about 2" under the light I have now. hopefully this is good enough for the next few days. It is easier for me to raise and lower the plants at this stage, and in this grow space. The ceiling of this area is a stone sink so I cannot mount anything from there. I may be able to rig some lines strong enough to each wall to suspend the lights from but no telling yet. I think the best thing would be to move to the top of my closet. Should have paid more attention to MacGyver reruns...

I will be making the carbon filter myself with the instructions on this site if I get to the stinky stage. I guess I have 4-6 weeks before I switch to flowering cycle though. I am a little worried about the smell escaping whatever box I build and stinking up my clothes but I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

As of right now the only major thing I am worrying about is soil condition. Like I said, its miracle grow. but its not the moisture control. I live in the hill country here in Texas, so I think that I will go down by the river and get some of that soil. I have heard you should bake the soil you get from outside in the oven for like 30 minutes to kill any parasites. Anyone heard of this? I will probably get a cheap bag of the rockwool too.

would 2-4 of these be good to switch to for flowering? http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/150w-sylvania-hps-grow-bulb-p-1179.html It would be a jump in Lumens from the 6 CFLs but the color temp would be right.

Thanks again folks. I am grateful for your sharing all your knowledge.

johnnytsmitw said:

@MatanuskaValley Thanks for the recommendation. I have bookmarked those lights. My grow area is a little too small right now to get that to work. I am looking into moving the whole grow to the top of my closet will give me about 3.5'x3.5'x18" to work with. The method youre talking about is what I had originally expected to go with. If I can get these babies to live for a while I will feel justified in going deeper into a better setup.

would 2-4 of these be good to switch to for flowering? http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/150w-sylvania-hps-grow-bulb-p-1179.html It would be a jump in Lumens from the 6 CFLs but the color temp would be right.

Thanks again folks. I am grateful for your sharing all your knowledge.

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@ the 150 watt hps, Those are going to be hot as balls. Your space is too little and it will possible be a wasted investment.

However the grow lights I recomended can have flower spectrum bulbls put in them when you move to flower, they generate minimal heat, and they outperform CFL, and they are cheaper than CFL. You can get them at any gardening stores.

I plan on running by the hardware store tomorrow and checking prices and availability of CFLs and lights like the one you suggested. I have some serious stretch beginning already so I need to do that asap.

I just spent a couple hours reading several small area grow journals though. I have six sprouts going. I dont remember doing it but there are two sprouts in one container. I guess I was a little over zealous. I plan on replanting that one and letting one cannibalize the other.

other than the stretch everything seems to be fine. It is pretty cool in the bathroom and when I take showers I open up the doors to the cabinet to get the humidity up. I am not sure if I really need to invest in a humidity monitor or temp gauge yet.

I read a few rubbermaid grows and think this might be the way to go for me. Space and privacy are still an issue. I will have my own place in 6 months and plan to get more serious about it then. Like ive said before this is just a dirty test run. If I can get at least one of these to survive through flowering, regardless of yield I will feel better about sinking some real money into it.

johnnytsmitw said:

I plan on running by the hardware store tomorrow and checking prices and availability of CFLs and lights like the one you suggested. I have some serious stretch beginning already so I need to do that asap.

I just spent a couple hours reading several small area grow journals though. I have six sprouts going. I dont remember doing it but there are two sprouts in one container. I guess I was a little over zealous. I plan on replanting that one and letting one cannibalize the other.

other than the stretch everything seems to be fine. It is pretty cool in the bathroom and when I take showers I open up the doors to the cabinet to get the humidity up. I am not sure if I really need to invest in a humidity monitor or temp gauge yet.

I read a few rubbermaid grows and think this might be the way to go for me. Space and privacy are still an issue. I will have my own place in 6 months and plan to get more serious about it then. Like ive said before this is just a dirty test run. If I can get at least one of these to survive through flowering, regardless of yield I will feel better about sinking some real money into it.

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yea the HPS bulbs are gonna be crazy hot in your little area and will cook those plants alive as long as you stay with CFL's you wont have to worry much about heat at all

one question tho...why 6 plants for such a small space...or are you thinking about males and die off ??

bottom of your closet would be killer...i know i grow in the bottom of mine all the time...ive been predominantly a closet grower over the last 15 years and have had some killer plants come out of it ...if your worried about smell look into a odor killer called ONA GEL its bad ass you will be standing right beside the grow and never know its there it covers so well

i always start out on tube CFL's then after about 4-6 nodes(branching locations) i switch to the tornado CFL's( 26 watt 100 watt equivalent per plant) and just let them go for it...

im pulling for you man and don't stress its not as hard as you will try to make it... its easy to obsess over them big time...

Am I Norml said:

yea the HPS bulbs are gonna be crazy hot in your little area and will cook those plants alive as long as you stay with CFL's you wont have to worry much about heat at all

one question tho...why 6 plants for such a small space...or are you thinking about males and die off ??

bottom of your closet would be killer...i know i grow in the bottom of mine all the time...ive been predominantly a closet grower over the last 15 years and have had some killer plants come out of it ...if your worried about smell look into a odor killer called ONA GEL its bad ass you will be standing right beside the grow and never know its there it covers so well

i always start out on tube CFL's then after about 4-6 nodes(branching locations) i switch to the tornado CFL's( 26 watt 100 watt equivalent per plant) and just let them go for it...

im pulling for you man and don't stress its not as hard as you will try to make it... its easy to obsess over them big time...

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I have decided to move to my closet. I reorganized it and have about 6ft of height and then a 2 ft by 2 ft ground area. There is also a rack up top that might be useful for hanging the lights from. This is a little bit more out in the open but I think the seeds I have now will end up growing some fairly tall plants. I have read up on topping and LSTing. This is all further in the future but I am leaning more towards LST when the time comes.

I have six plants going because I got a little excited when I decided "what the fuck ill germinate these"... but also I figured that if there is a 50/50 chance that they will be male I wanted to make my odds a little better. I also fully expect that one or more will just die. I figure when it gets to the point that I can tell the sexes I will go and plant all but two females outside near one of the rivers around here.

I have increased my knowledge quite a bit reading up on this site. So I am about to run to walmart and look for some CFLs and a 18in tube to fit this fixture I have. I dont think a hood will fit over it so I wont worry about that.

One of my seedlings is already almost 6in long. I dont know what to do about that. stretching I assume. Anyway, I will post some pics when I get back with this all setup.

johnnytsmitw said:

I have decided to move to my closet. I reorganized it and have about 6ft of height and then a 2 ft by 2 ft ground area. There is also a rack up top that might be useful for hanging the lights from. This is a little bit more out in the open but I think the seeds I have now will end up growing some fairly tall plants. I have read up on topping and LSTing. This is all further in the future but I am leaning more towards LST when the time comes.

I have six plants going because I got a little excited when I decided "what the fuck ill germinate these"... but also I figured that if there is a 50/50 chance that they will be male I wanted to make my odds a little better. I also fully expect that one or more will just die. I figure when it gets to the point that I can tell the sexes I will go and plant all but two females outside near one of the rivers around here.

I have increased my knowledge quite a bit reading up on this site. So I am about to run to walmart and look for some CFLs and a 18in tube to fit this fixture I have. I dont think a hood will fit over it so I wont worry about that.

One of my seedlings is already almost 6in long. I dont know what to do about that. stretching I assume. Anyway, I will post some pics when I get back with this all setup.

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if you dont have a shade for your light make one.

I bumped mine before I took this picture but the space blanket and cardboard can rest right on the light.

Definite stretching. All you can do is get more powerful lights (and more of them), and move them closer.

Edit: At this point, I wouldn't even consider saving up for more powerful lights than CFL's (If you really want to make it to harvest, with plants that are worth more than 2-3 grams). I know that it would be ideal to not have to spend MORE money to upgrade in the future, but those 700 lumens are gonna make those plants stretch like crazy, and grow extremely slow.

Just remember:

You can grow fantastic bud at lower yields with cheap CFL's. (And you can still get respectable yields with T5 or CFL's)
You can grow undeveloped bud with nearly no yields at 700 lumens.


With respect to Matanuska: It's definitely cheaper to go CFL's, unless you build some highly complex light fixtures. Granted, it's not TONS cheaper or anything, and T5's with CFL spot-lighting is definitely better if you can afford it right now.

The only reason I suggested only CFL, is because of your budget. And remember, no matter what anyone says, go with what you need, and not with what is best. There are plenty of people on here that will say HPS or go home, but honestly you don't need an HPS unless you're truly worried about yields (commercial guys) or you're a connoisseur. Perfectly great weed is grown with T5 and CFL

Gann said:

Definite stretching. All you can do is get more powerful lights (and more of them), and move them closer.

Edit: At this point, I wouldn't even consider saving up for more powerful lights than CFL's (If you really want to make it to harvest, with plants that are worth more than 2-3 grams). I know that it would be ideal to not have to spend MORE money to upgrade in the future, but those 700 lumens are gonna make those plants stretch like crazy, and grow extremely slow.

Just remember:

You can grow fantastic bud at lower yields with cheap CFL's. (And you can still get respectable yields with T5 or CFL's)
You can grow undeveloped bud with nearly no yields at 700 lumens.


With respect to Matanuska: It's definitely cheaper to go CFL's, unless you build some highly complex light fixtures. Granted, it's not TONS cheaper or anything, and T5's with CFL spot-lighting is definitely better if you can afford it right now.

The only reason I suggested only CFL, is because of your budget. And remember, no matter what anyone says, go with what you need, and not with what is best. There are plenty of people on here that will say HPS or go home, but honestly you don't need an HPS unless you're truly worried about yields (commercial guys) or you're a connoisseur. Perfectly great weed is grown with T5 and CFL

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So here is what I am working with now. In about $50 more dollars but I returned my 18in fluorescent fixture and the 700 lumens bulb. So in reality I am closer to $35. I think the next step is to wrap the area in some mylar ?

@ Matanuska : I will be building my own hoods like the ones you shared after dinner.

I am a little worried now about heat. I unscrewed two of the bulbs that were not supplying direct light to the plants. I hope this configuration is good enough. The lightbulbs have been on for about 15 minutes and I can still touch them with my fingers and they arent very hot. I may just be hot myself from being in the small space rigging up the chords.

I dropped one of the plants. I was moving them from my bedroom back to my little private office/tv room when my room mate showed up. I tried to sprint across the kitchen and it just exploded on the ground. He is none the wiser though, he went straight to his room. I imagine this is enough stress to have an effect on it coming out female? the one I dropped is the one laying over. The one in the last picture is the stretched seedling. hopefully this retards some upward growth a little. I stuck a fan in there on low. I have read that can help thicken them up.

I am not sure if I need to start worrying about soil tests or pH tests yet. I use filtered water that I leave out over night for watering. I am also barely watering but with the fan in there I may need to do a little more. The soil is Miracle Grow so I dont think I will need to add anything for a while. plant color seems to be fine though so far. When I get a couple nodes I will start looking for planters to move them to.

keep the critiques coming, I am going to calm the fu*k down a bit and start sending these babies positive energy. but this is how my setup looks as of now. I also have a shot of the light leak from the inside of the closet. I dont think it is a problem though. Last midterm tomorrow so ::

so thats it for now fellas. Thanks again on the advice. this may be the most friendly forums I have ever been a part of.

MatanuskaValley said:

if you dont have a shade for your light make one.

I bumped mine before I took this picture but the space blanket and cardboard can rest right on the light.

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The coverings you have on the soil, is that to keep it from drying out? I like this also.

johnnytsmitw said:

The coverings you have on the soil, is that to keep it from drying out? I like this also.

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I put down the white paper over the soil because it just makes the whole thing brighter. when I added the paper and the shades you could notice a huge brightness difference!

for example plants in your closet will do much better next to the white wall then next to that fan for sure