NEW PC GROW CASE - 1st Time grower

Hey whats goin on? Im starting a new grow after much lurking and compiling research. Honestly, Im super excited about the process and I look forward to the Rollitup community sharing their knowledge with me thru the first of hopefully many grows.

Enough of the sappy stuff....heres the details:

I made a small pc grow box out of an old case I had layin around the crib. I followed the advice of many threads around here and tried to combine the best of all designs considering the space I had to deal with. Im an avid smoker (who around here isnt I guess right?), and this is more of a project/hobby than anything else. I guess what Im sayin is that I have no expections other than trying to gain some understanding into the process. Any buds harvested would be a definite plus.

I know I shouldve made a bigger setup, bought a bigger case, used a dresser, grow tent etc.... You are prolly right but for now, this is gonna work for me. I want to concentrate on LSTing the plants, learning the nute effects, soil, light cycles etc. I also live in a loft so a certain degree on stealthiness is always a plus. My goal is to get thru this grow, learn as much as possible, and set myself up to be able to move on to a larger setup in a few months time.

Since a picture speaks a thousand words, heres a few photos:



I still need to put the front of the PC case on. Im having second thoughts about whether the front panel will block the air intake fans. Im thinking that the circulation in there is so high its not going to matter as much as the outtake fans. I want to figure out an exhaust system for the back of the case. Possibly connecting both outtake fans to a single tube and then building a carbon filter concoction to help with the smell. Im stll working on this, any suggestions would def be appreciated

Heres my equipment list: (all prices are approximate, most stuff bought at walmart, home depot, and the Nursery)

PC Case - Free laying around house
4 cpu fans - $8
4 6500k 100w/26w CFLs - $15
4 soft white CFLs for flowering - $15
Car visor liner - $5
Chrome and black tape - $7
2 Power strips - $5
Extension cords - $5
Panoramic picture frame - glass taken out and cut to size - $4
2 power adaptors from ripoff horseshit Radio shack - $40
Digital Thermometer/Humidy gauge - $10
Fox Farms Ocean Fresh - $9
Perlite - $5
Fox Farms Grow Big - $21


I initially bought some Miracle grow but quickly realized that wasnt a good idea. I took it back to walmart and headed to the nursery. I picked up some FoxFarms Ocean Fresh, a bag of perlite, and a bottle of Grow Big. I plan on waiting a couple weeks and then start using about a 1/4 strength of the Grow Big and ramp up to a 1/2 after a little bit. Ill probably end up picking up a bottle of Tiger bloom for flowering as well.

I picked up two seeds from a buddy of mine. He thinks they are the Jack Herer strain. Ive never heard of this, and after a little research, I feel kinda stupid for not. This guy is a legend in the game. Im hoping they turn out fine, im excited to check it out.

Anyways, I started my seedlings in wet paper towels last Wednesday 5-19-10. I placed them ontop of the hot water heater in my apartment and on Saturday 5-22-10 the first one popped. I put the seed tail side down into the styrofoam cups filled with a mix of watered FFOF and perlite. Id guess a 70% FF and 30% perlite mix. I mixed it up so it didnt clump up in my hands like I read on here somewhere. The guy at the nursery said hes had no problems putting seedlings directly into the FFOF soil so I figured Id give it a try and keep an eye on it. I put a plastic bag on it and put it in the box to get some light.

5/23/10 The second seedling sprouted a tail and I did the same with this one.

Alright, thats it for the catch-up. This brings me to today......
5/24/10



The first sprouter is popping out of the soil but it looks like its taking the seed with it. Is this the case coming off or do I need to worry here??

Any comments or advice is welcome

I like your pc box man. What kind of lights are those. How many lumens does each one produce? Im intrigued to watch this grow.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2903524&CAWELAID=109398744

here are the bulbs I bought. Im using 4 @1600 lumens each. I havent researched that much about the lumens and lighting, I just went with what others were doing. Obviously more is better but what am I looking for in the way of lumens?

Alright, I moved the cups up closer to the light. Is it okay to put theone with the bag that close to the glass? The heat isnt that bad at all.....

Ok, a few concerns/observations......

Ive raised the plants up about 7-8 inches or so by setting my tray on top of the plastic cups. I checked them after the overnight and my temp is running at 84 degrees rather than the 77 it was lower in the case the day before. I assume most of this is simply cause its closer to the light, but now my plants are above the circulation of the fans which causes an increase in temperature. The humidity also dropped to 39%. Ive placed a cup of water in front of the intake fan to help with that.

The more I look at this setup, the more I can see how this is going to be problematic for me. I believe my cooling/exhaust system is flawed. After reading around on the forum, Ive compiled a little research on the exhaust/cooling process (good thing I waited til after I cut the case for this huh? HA). When I bought the cpu fans, I paid more attention to size rather than CFM. What has happened is that my 92mm fans are blowing WAY harder than the other fans. One is acting as an intake fan and most likely is going to pressurize my case as the exhaust fans move half the amount of air. I like being able to separate the lights with the glass to keep the heat down by blowing air directly on the lamps. I believe my exhaust fan on the left should have been higher up and at a higher CFM than the intake fan on the right side.

My fan on the bottom right makes a horrible vibrating noise too. I think imma have to cut it off and reattach it with some foam underneath to kill the vibration. This might be a good time to swap it out with a lower cfm fan to keep my flow in the right direction.

This is probably the first of many "take it easy and see what happens" moments in my grow, but my seedlings are showing no signs of anything. The first one has split the seed case but is just layin there over and hasnt moved in 36 hours. I just put the plastic bag back on the top. I removed it last night as I thought it was gonna sprout but I guess Its better to leave it on til the cotyledon has formed. Im wondering if a combination of removng the bag and placing the plants closer to the lights caused the humidity to escape and thats why it looks like nothing is going on. Ill keep an eye on this for any news.

Im tryin to decide what to do about this noisy fan and light blockage all at once. If Ive gotta cut the other one off and replace it, Im thinkin I might as well take some steps to secure the front of the case on and try to light seal it. Hmmmmmmmmm

UPDATE: Here are a couple of pics I just took. I dont know how to rotate pics on here and didnt feel like messin with Photoshop so ur just gonna have to turn ur head

After some thought, I figured that it was best to replace the bottom right fan with a lower CFM fan. I didnt want to use a totally passive intake as its a little warm in my back bedroom and I think the fresh air blowing in would help keep it cool. So now I have the two exhaust fans on the left - ~90CFM and then the two small intake fans on the right - ~25 CFM. This provides a nice airflow around my cups as well as a good stream of air over the CFLs. They dont really get that hot, but im thinkin everybit helps in this small ass case.

I also put the front of the case back on as well. I didnt have any drive bay covers so I just made a wall out of duct tape wrapped cardboard. Theres still plenty of air getting in and thats all that matters I guess. In hindsight I shouldve bought a better pc box that was at least of the 24" high variety with one of those front panel doors. That wouldve helped with light and gave me more room. Eh.....oh well, ill be fine.

I guess thats all I can do today. Im gonna buy a small digital scale and a jewelers scope on amazon. The local head shop wants to charge like 3 times more for them than they are worth. Im not gonna have any need for either of them for quite sometime so I might as well save a few $$ and buy online.

Im hopin to see some activity in the way of sprouting here soon Please feel free to leave me any comments/suggestions/etc. I feel like writing this all out is good for my process but I also would like some feedback from others who have been there.

Nice setup, I'm in the same exact situation as you are, I want to grow something fairly small just like this just to learn. Good luck, coming along pretty good so far

Thanks! Im gonna document my journey so when ur ready to go, you can hopefully learn from my grow. Please check back, ill update often

Grats on starting your journal

Great strain you got there, I had some jack herer couple years ago and it was awesome.
I think its a sativa, so I think you got a problem there. Sativas tend to grow a lot and it looks like you only have a couple of inches of space after taking account of your pot in which you cant put too much soil. I think no matter what strain you use you are going to need a little more space im afraid

The seed casing might or not come out by itself, if it doesnt it will stunt the growth of the leaves undernerneath. Ive used tweezers before to gently remove the casing without doing any damage to the leaves.

Also you got to hope for 2 females

Thanks for the post. Yeah I was lookin up some info on the strain and it said its a pretty high growing plant. My homie gave me a couple seeds so thats all I had to work with. Ive heard good things about attitude seeds, I might order some femmed WW or somethin else from them that would work better in the case. Ive got a scrog screen I made that I plan to use. Im hoping that I can get it wrapped around there some and then flower before it gets too big. Im not too concerned with yield, although something would be nice.

As for the seed case - I took a closer look at it and it appears the stem has pushed the case up out of the soil. But it looks like the stem is real thin and dried up and almost damaged lookin. Its all piled over the side. I used a pretty good mix of perlite in my soil I wonder if they arent getting enough water?? The cup feels heavier than one filled with dry soil so I know its not dry. I misted the soil and put the bag back on the top. It does look like its doing a little better now.

hmmm i was just looking at my pc case and its a antec 1200.....lolol...i bet growing in this thing would be pretty good since is has good overhead space.

GL wit grow

TheCheef said:

Thanks for the post. Yeah I was lookin up some info on the strain and it said its a pretty high growing plant. My homie gave me a couple seeds so thats all I had to work with. Ive heard good things about attitude seeds, I might order some femmed WW or somethin else from them that would work better in the case. Ive got a scrog screen I made that I plan to use. Im hoping that I can get it wrapped around there some and then flower before it gets too big. Im not too concerned with yield, although something would be nice.

As for the seed case - I took a closer look at it and it appears the stem has pushed the case up out of the soil. But it looks like the stem is real thin and dried up and almost damaged lookin. Its all piled over the side. I used a pretty good mix of perlite in my soil I wonder if they arent getting enough water?? The cup feels heavier than one filled with dry soil so I know its not dry. I misted the soil and put the bag back on the top. It does look like its doing a little better now.

Click to expand...

The attitude is a reliable place to buy, thast where i got my last seeds. But keep in mind that attitude is a reseller, they sell other breeders seeds, so you still have to choose what seed company you are going to get your seeds from.

Glad your seedling is getting better, can you show a new pic ?

looking good man nice to see one more pc grower

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/331073-diy-first-pc-auto-red.html#post4164557

Tatan said:

Glad your seedling is getting better, can you show a new pic ?

Click to expand...

UPDATE 5/26/10

The first 3 pics are the 1st seedling. You can see the casing and the stem is just bent over laying there. There is no green color or anything to it. Im not sure thats good lol. Im gonna need to post these pics over in the hospital threads I guess and try to get some help with whats goin on. It appears as if its getting longer but it def doesnt look healthy.....HELP!!!

The last 2 pics are of the 2nd seedling. It looks like it just now is starting to sprout. How long do I leave the humidity bag on for??

Thanks NewBud! This is honestly one of the most fascinating and intriguing hobbies I have ever took on. Im head over heels for this hahaha. Thanks for stoppin by

I would remove the humidity bag. Looks like your first seedling is dying, I would take out the seed casing. The second one looks healthy but its crooked, is your light at an angle to it ?

And yeah its a great hobby, and wait til you get to the flower stage, its even more fun then