First Grow... hoping to have the definitive storage bin grow

THIS IS AN AUTOFLOWERING THREAD... 12/12 is not necessary or wanted with autoflowering strains. These are Diesel Ryder (Low Ryder 2 x Soma NYC Diesel) and prefer 20/4 for flowering.

OK so i'm starting with some Diesel Ryder seeds from Attitude. Over some weeks I've accumulated what I want to start with.
This is a 3x 27-gallon storage bin grow; not quite Rubbermaid... hopefully it will be better. I have (badly) spray-painted the inside flat white and have 8x 23w CFLs hanging down the middle of what will be 6x 2-gallon pots. I have a 4" inline duct fan pushing through a homemade can filter, made from a 6" and 5" netpot.
I'm using Ocean Forest with FF bloom nuts, but wont be adding any nuts til after they start flowering. They're on 24hrs atm, I will be doing 20/4 for flowering and switch the CFLs from "daylight" to "soft white" when flowering begins.

Comments and criticism appreciated.

The last pic is showing the light leaking.... yes, it's really only that little blur of light on the bottom.. easily fixed

Here's the pricelist off the top of my head:
3x storage bins @ $9/each = $27
2x spray paint @ .96 = $2
6x 2-gallon pots @ 1.25 = $8
4" inline duct fan @ $18 = $18
Tape (gorilla and duct) ~$3
3x 6-outlet belikin @ $3 =$9
5" and 6" netpot ~$3
Activated carbon =$10
16x 23w CFL(2700 & 6500)=$24
4x Y-connectors and light socket plugs @ $2/each = $16

That's all I can currently think of... oh, a "universal" carbon prefilter isn't pictured, but is wrapped around the outside of the can and the inside of the duct fan, and cost about $10
Total = $130 including the prefilter
Seeds were about $90 shipped, so total output so far is about $220...
In my area that will get you about 12 grams, I'm HOPING to get a total of about 180 grams (30 each) off 6 plants, but even if i get half that it is more than worth the investment. Plus this little box runs at about 200w total including the fan, which is much less power than my computer.
In the future I'm hoping to copy the top of the box and get another one built as a bubbleponic stealth system, and possibly keeping the soil version for 1 or 2 mother plants. In any case, even if I do move and can build a tent or grow room, I think this box is perfect for mothers.

Yay I got 2 poppers! Hopefully the rest will show soon.
I wrapped a couple pieces of rubbermaid lid (from another project) with aluminum foil and taped some hangers to them. Does a nice, if not perfect, job of focusing the lights.
You can also see the prefilter I wrapped around the outside and here's a shot of the 2-gallon pots underneath the dome, just waiting for some females to flower.
That last pic is of the lining that I put between the upper containers. It's a double-up Gorilla Tape with an end loose to stick to the sides. Works great at keeping the light inside the box

nice set up hope she works for you. i am scribed.

I would do 12/12 for flowering

I would do 12/12 for flowering

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stick with the 20/4

haha just kidding. 12/12 is the best for flowering. 20/4 would not allow them to flower at all.

oh and for some reason i thought this line was super funny...

I'm using Ocean Forest with FF bloom nuts,

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must be high...

Dude, I don't think 20/4 is gonna get you any nugs, maybe a few pre flowering hairs out of shock...but that's about it...and when flowering, they're gonna need light as bright as it can possibly get...esp. w/ a red spectrum. just my two cents.

OK, so to all you fine folks who jumped-in with the 12/12...
Thank you...
However, this is Diesel Ryder... Autoflowering strain from the Joint Doctor. It's kind of his follow-up to LR2.
24hours for veg, 20/4 for flowering... although you could do 24-hrs for flowering too if you wanted to, but supposedly you actually lose a bit of bud production by keeping at 24.

So yes, I know what you're all saying, but you must've missed that bit of info in the first post
Peace!

Been a little bit, thought I'd give a quick update. Had 9 of 10 seeds germinate. 2 were in trouble almost immediately and you can see that they're currently stunted, but looking like they'll survive, to whatever end.

They have the droops cause i over watered them a bit but they'll be fine.

Here's the pics...

That's right folks, it's time to start experimenting a bit. I decided to take one for the team, and top my 4 biggest Diesel Ryders.
I topped them just above the 2nd or 3rd node on each.
This was done about 8 hours ago and here are current pictures... Everything's lookin pretty good so far, and I THINK I did it early enough to get 2 colas from each; but we'll see.

Topped a fifth plant today and it's lookin good so far, more pics to come...

Here's some pics of the topped plants.
I damaged 2 of them in the topping process; but they seem to be recovering and will be just fine.
I topped the fifth one last night and it looks like it'll be good, I was a bit more careful with it after seeing the other two.
I might still top "Runt" when he's ready. I've been doing this at the 11-12 day, as soon as the second "real" node seems healthily on its way.
Cheers.

Thanks for posting your experiment with topping the auto's. Not sure I would've experimented with 5 plants, but I will be following your progress all the same. Best of luck.

how do i subscribe to this thread

scribed.

GL, I want to see what an autoflower will do after being topped.

nice box man...also good luck with the topping

Tops (i think) are lookin good, here's updated pics... I damaged the other one a bit too, but expect a full recovery, that's the last pic. I gave them a VERY weak FF bloom nute, so MAYBE i burned them a bit, hoping they'll start to show soon so i can get the girls in 2-gallon pots.

slov said:

Tops (i think) are lookin good, here's updated pics... I damaged the other one a bit too, but expect a full recovery, that's the last pic. I gave them a VERY weak FF bloom nute, so MAYBE i burned them a bit, hoping they'll start to show soon so i can get the girls in 2-gallon pots.

Click to expand...

Looks good.

I'm only on my first grow so don't take my advice for too much but from what I've read it looks like nute burn or over watering. What day are they on? I started FF nutes at 1/2 strength nutes at day 14 and my babies did fine.

Hope everything works out, I'm sure they will bounce back!

I'm still fairly convinced that topping was the right way to go, I'm loving the experiment so far. Unless I'm seeing things, everything looks like I'm gonna be getting 2 colas...