Stealth PC Case - First Grow - White Widow

The seed had broke the surface 3 days ago. I just removed the humidity dome as well. I've found that it's really only necessary for clones to maintain a humidity dome. I hope this is true as I do not want to shock the plant. My current humidity ranges from 28% - 49%. It's usually around 28% or more when the lights are on, and 49% or less when the lights are off. I thought it would be the opposite, but oh well. I hope this large variation doesn't stress the plant.

After a case of scoliosis, I've manged to build two new light catchers so that I can get more airflow through this thing while remaining stealth. I have my 140mm mounted at the top of the case now at 75%. If this doesn't cure the temperature issues, I guess I'm fucked. I've spent a bunch of time rigging this thing up, so I hope this can produce some nice medicine as my hands and back are temporarily fucked after constructing this thing.

I'm still not sure what I will do room wise. I removed the carbon filter in hopes that Ona gel will solve any smell issue, but still lack upward room. I have read that White Widow is a very non-smelly strain unless you are right up next to it, so that is a good thing if it holds true.

I will be running a 20/4 light cycle. I really wanted to do 12/12 but read up that 12/12 is terrible for yield on auto strains. 20/4 is the best schedule I can use other than 12/12 for stealth purposes.

So far so good. The temperatures are peaking at a max of 80 F with the 3 CFL's, after the 140mm has been rigged as an outtake fan at 75% power. I'de like to get one more light in there, so I will be increasing the 140mm fan to 100% and adding 1 more 5000K CFL. I might be able to fit one or two more lights in here with a Y adapter, but I don't know if the temps will hold.

The first set of leaves have just about doubled in size and seem to be coming in nicely... nice and green so far. I have a concern though.

The leaf on the left is not beginning a curl due to heat is it? The leaf on the left seems rather flat. No big deal, but if anyone following thinks I have a curling issue about the occur, let me know . To catch it early is always a plus.

I installed a 4th 5000K CFL, for a total of 92 watts. My temperature is peaking at 83 degrees with the surrounding electronics on. With 3 CFL's and the surrounding electronics on/off I was peaking at 80/78 degrees, so I would assume 81 degrees with 4 CFL's and the surrounding electronics off. This isn't terrible I don't think, but could be better. I've heard not to pass 85 indoors, so I think I'm on track. Although 70-75 seems ideal, this is the best I can do right now.

RH is at 24% with the lights on. Is this something to be concerned of with the plant this young? I've read you want RH a bit higher than 25% with a seedling... maybe somewhere between 40% - 50%. I'm not real concerned what the ideal RH is, because that info seems awash with all the opinions. I just want to know, is 24% is lethal to this seedling?

I hope my 2700k's run a few degrees cooler, and if so maybe I can pop another one in the cab while flowering. Or maybe I'll just add a 3rd fan with another light catcher, but I really don't want to do anymore of that. It really is a hassle with the stealth aspects and all.

Sounds good man, the humidity is kinda low maybe try putting a small cup of water in there. Try to raise it up to around 40 or 50%

paperplanesmoker said:

Sounds good man, the humidity is kinda low maybe try putting a small cup of water in there. Try to raise it up to around 40 or 50%

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Will do. I got to be careful with it though... I'll probably put it on top of the soil or maybe just a wet paper tower. There are quite a few power strips in here lol, and a cup of water wouldn't be their friend if it spills on them.

Humidity also rises to 30% with the surrounding electronics off, peaking at 80 F. Now the question is to raise temps 2-3 more degrees with 1 more light, or let it ride with 4 lights and a lower temp?

InCognition said:

Will do. I got to be careful with it though... I'll probably put it on top of the soil or maybe just a wet paper tower. There are quite a few power strips in here lol, and a cup of water wouldn't be their friend if it spills on them.

Humidity also rises to 30% with the surrounding electronics off, peaking at 80 F. Now the question is to raise temps 2-3 more degrees with 1 more light, or let it ride with 4 lights and a lower temp?

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It will be fine at a few more degrees IMO* My pc runs at around 88-90 degrees at MAX! and humidity is around 45-50 % for me that is perfect, I also have six 26watt cfl's going on 12/12. If I have a problem with humidity I just open up the case for an hour or so when I can and it goes up to where I need it to be. Hope this helps man.

Actually it may not be a terrible idea with more lights & higher temps. I've heard once you get into the 85 F range the plant starts to get stunted growth, but then again I'm in a PC case and can't go huge. I know more light causes denser buds, but I wonder if you get denser buds while the growth is stunted by these higher temps?

InCognition said:

Actually it may not be a terrible idea with more lights & higher temps. I've heard once you get into the 85 F range the plant starts to get stunted growth, but then again I'm in a PC case and can't go huge. I know more light causes denser buds, but I wonder if you get denser buds while the growth is stunted by these higher temps?

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I wouldn't worry about the extra lights and heat, like you said your in a pc and can't get much vertical growth anyway. You'll be happy when you get thicker more dense buds from adding a few more cfl's to your case. I have 6 and if I could fit more I would have haha. Try to surround your plant with light not just on top

paperplanesmoker said:

I wouldn't worry about the extra lights and heat, like you said your in a pc and can't get much vertical growth anyway. You'll be happy when you get thicker more dense buds from adding a few more cfl's to your case. I have 6 and if I could fit more I would have haha. Try to surround your plant with light not just on top

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Ok, I think I'll toy around with my Y-fixtures then and see if I can cram some more in here, or see if I can fit one of my 55 watt bulbs in here (will be a miracle - they're beastly).

Have you ever had any heat damage on the plants with 88-90 degrees? I know these things can easily take 88-90 degree heat in the wild, but with indoors you get all types of variables.

The second set of leaves has come in, and I can tell the 3rd are starting.

I've added one more 2700k CFL. So 115 watts total with 92 watts being 5000K and 23 watts being 2700k.

Temps are 85-88 with the lights on. 71-73 with lights off.

I seem to be watering every 3-4 days, which is how long it takes for the soil to almost completely dry out.


My Ona Pro Gel has arrived and smells fantastic, but is not yet necessary. Whoever says this stuff has an unbearable smell doesn't have a functioning nose... it smells fine.

Good looking little seedling man, ill keep an eye on your thread for updates.

paperplanesmoker said:

Good looking little seedling man, ill keep an eye on your thread for updates.

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Thanks for following and I appreciate your advice .

I just tied her down today on one side. I'll probably give her 1-3 days before I tie another one of her branches down.

I also added my makeshift ribbon scrog screen, lol.

She will be ready for another watering tomorrow. The last time I watered was on the 8th day from sprout, so I have about 4 days between watering. I wait till the soil dries almost completely. To the touch I feel no moisture 2 inches into the soil.


I have heard that with FFOF you may have the possibility of running out of the required nutes mid-way through flowering, so I'm considering adding another 1/2-1 inch layer of FFOF about 1 month into the grow.

I really don't want to buy nutes. Money is no problem at all, I just don't have the room for this thing to grow into a beast.


My temps seem to be running lower than what I previously stated. I checked my temps today with all 5 lights running for hours, and my temps were 84 degrees with surrounding electronics on. I checked them the night prior to that and I was running 81 degrees with no electronics on. I may be able to get another 1-2 lights in here for a total of 161 watts . I would be happy with that.

She started to smell upon touching her about 3 - 4 days ago. You have to put your nose right up to her to smell anything, but when you touch her your fingers smell of an earthy-skunky smell. I hope she doesn't turn out to be a real smeller, or I'll have to play around more with this pc case.

just a fyi

if you care about this kinda stuff, but you dont really need all those lights right now.
You could have that little one sitting an inch under one of those 23w and you be fine for another week or two at least.

2supra4u said:

just a fyi

if you care about this kinda stuff, but you dont really need all those lights right now.
You could have that little one sitting an inch under one of those 23w and you be fine for another week or two at least.

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Yea, I just figure the more light the merrier. I have limited room and didn't want to risk stretching the hell out of the thing, even though I really have no idea if it's stretching now. It seems to be short and stocky, but this is my first grow so I'm clueless on that.

The lights right now are about 1 inch away at the closest spot.

The plant doesn't seem to be burning which I was worried of, being surrounded like that with the lights.

I redid my original lst tie-down so that I could pull the main stem of the plant rather than an individual branch. The new lst tie-down is also pulling the plant closer to the ground which is what I wanted. I also redid my scrog screen with computer wires rather than the ribbon.

My only downside as of now is that I think I roasted her a little. I made my own reflector for my CFL's and after about 10 hours with the reflector in, all the leaves have a curl, so I removed it. No big deal, she should be fine.

I'll water tomorrow around the afternoon because my last watering 2 days ago was lighter than normal, and the soil is nearly dry right now.

dude water now. that thing is hot as fuck .
water it and help it to cool down. Its trying to cool itself because its way too hot.
you need to get a pc fan in there right beside where the stack of two bulbs are and have it blowing constantly on it. it will help with the heat from the cfls heating it up too much like it it now.

it'll let you know when its getting too hot as those leaves start to curl upwards and get pointy on the edges. you dont want it constantly like that as it slows growth even stops it if hot enough because its uses most of its energy trying to cool itself.

2supra4u said:

dude water now. that thing is hot as fuck .
water it and help it to cool down. Its trying to cool itself because its way too hot.
you need to get a pc fan in there right beside where the stack of two bulbs are and have it blowing constantly on it. it will help with the heat from the cfls heating it up too much like it it now.

it'll let you know when its getting too hot as those leaves start to curl upwards and get pointy on the edges. you dont want it constantly like that as it slows growth even stops it if hot enough because its uses most of its energy trying to cool itself.

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Yea, I decided to water+mist them immediately after that post as I figured it might help cool them. I also raised humidity to help with the issue, and turned one light off.

The leaves actually do look like they are some-what curling in previous pictures, but it got really noticeable when I put a reflector above the CFL's so I won't be using it again.

I did try to rig an older PC fan up to blow the heat away from the lights, but the wire snapped while I was rigging it. I think I'm going to take an 80mm fan out of my desktop PC and put it in this case tonight.

Like you said, it slows or stops growth with the heat, and I noticed this thing is not as big as some other 2 week old photos I've seen.


Thanks for the advice, I'll get that fan in ASAP.

Update:

Temps are out of control. Opened my case up today to find that I was at 99F. All I did was move the lights closer to the top of the case and added a fan between the plants and the light.

I thought I corrected the issue because I felt my 140mm fan wasn't pulling 100% after I rigged my other 40mm fan to the same AC adapter, so I hooked it up to my 4.15 amp AC adapter because I don't need speed control anymore. I also got rid of my adjustable AC adapter which put off quite a bit of heat.

I removed some aluminum foil as well because foil is a good insulator.



I have just 3, 26-watt lights running right now and I just opening the case back up to find it at 94F. What the fuck is going on here... well, I have no clue. I turned one more light off, for a total of 2, 26-watt lights running. Temps are at 84F with the 2 lights as of now.

I'm going to have to de-stealth the thing partially by removing 1/2 of the light trap on the 140mm to get more airflow. I'm also concerned that the fan blowing on the lights is somehow negatively affecting the negative pressure, causing the temps to rise because of less external air being drawn in. No idea though.

If all else fails, I'm removing all light traps and installing 1 more out-take fan.

This is ridiculous. I'm in a PC case with two CFL's running at 84F, all awhile I have a 80mm & 140mm fan running at 100%. I feel like I need to hook up a 6 inch inline fan running at 100% to correct this problem.

After attempting to correct my heat issues by removing half of the light catchers for both the 140mm and 80mm fans, temps are at 84-86 with just 2, 26-watt lights running. Looks like this is my limit unfortunately. I cannot keep this thing stealth even at this rate.

I'm lightly misting the plant 2 - 3 times throughout the day for humidity purposes. It only raises the humidity briefly. It ranges from 24% with the lights on to 40% with the lights off.


I may continue with the grow, but I'm contemplating trashing everything. If I add anymore fans the stealth will be out the window, and I've already severely compromised the stealth. 46-watts and a damaged/stunted plant isn't going to yield anything worth compromising the stealth for. At this point my goal is just to see if I can keep the thing alive.

I guess I learned a lesson on airflow... take what you think you need, then double it.

I'm working on a very similar project linked in my signature. If you would like to take a look maybe you could gain from my thoughts as i gain from yours.