Tiny PC Case Personal Grow - First Grow In Almost A Decade

Grow Journal Prologue: Why am I "wasting my time" with a grow this small?

When I was in my early 20's I was a VERY heavy user.
I was smoking a few grams a day and it was eating away at any money that i was earning.
Every week I'd pay back my credit bill with my dealer then immediately as for more credit.

Well I decided to break the cycle and grow for myself.
But almost as soon as I did my use went from maybe a gram at most per day to well over double that, hell at harvest time I could polish off an ounce in a week!

This plus some hassles with my land lord lead to me taking down my grow op, forcing myself to cut back and go back to buying it.

Since then my life has changed.
A bit over 2 years ago I gave up completely.
My wife (who knew I smoked but to this day has no idea I've ever grown) wanted to have a baby.
I knew I couldn't afford to pay for my habit and support a newborn at the same time so I gave it up.

Although giving it up was surprisingly easy I've always missed my "quiet time".
Those couple hours each day after work. I'd go out to my shed, punch a few cones, put on an album and unwind from the day at work. I miss that.

On top of just "missing it" my anxiety that I've had to deal with since adolescence is starting to come back to the point that I KNOW the Dr's will put me back onto a prescription drug that I HATE not only because of the way it makes me "numb" to feelings but also the harsh side effects such as not being able to eat for days at a time, not being able to sleep, nausea, headaches, it's a non ending list of suffering that makes the "cure" WORSE than the disease.

I'm Growing a SMALL supply that i'll only use when I just can't handle the stress. Something that equates to maybe a dose or 2 a week. Just enough to get me to the next harvest.

There is also the LAW to worry about.
I'm Australian, no matter which state you're in or how much you have in your possession, you'll be in trouble if you're caught.
I'm not 100% sure if it applies to my state but I've read a few articles on cases where people have been caught growing in a way that children might have been "exposed" to the cultivation process and therefore punishment is significantly worse.
To make it even worse for growers if anyone even has KNOWLEDGE that a grow is taking place they are up for the same charges as the person actually responsible for the grow.

I can't risk any of this, so this grow will be the ultimate test in stealth. it has to be inaccessible to my kid, even any equipment needed like nutes and meters.

This will be the ultimate test of stealth and security.

A PC case grow in my mind is the best solution to my current situation and medication needs.
So please if you do comment, and anyone that wishes to comment is welcome in my journal, PLEASE consider my reasons for such a small grow and respect them before telling me I'm wasting my time.


Next post: Setting Up My Grow Area...

Setting Up My Grow Area...

• PC Case INTERNAL Dimensions: 420mm (H) x 440 (W) x 195mm (D): $Free salvaged

• 4x Light sockets: AU$4ea
• (Cable and timber backing board are free salvaged)
• 4x Phillips Cool White 6500k 24w 1450 Lumens (63lm/w) CFL bulbs: AU$6ea
• Reflective Material (windshield Sun visor): AU$6
• Mylar Insulation Tape 50mm x 50m: AU$18
• 2 x sheets of Flute board: AU$3ea

• 25mmx10mmx2000mm conduit for passive air intake/light trap: AU$8

Next Post: DIY Exhaust/Carbon Filter Solution...

DIY Exhaust/Carbon Filter Solution

I'm still waiting on my fans and dust filters to be delivered (about another 1-2 weeks as they're coming from china).
The fans in the last photo of the last post are only here to show where they're going.

List of Parts:

• 4 x 80mm 12vDC PC Fans: AU$1.30ea
• 4 x 80mm PC Fan Dust Filters: AU$1.60ea
  
• 1KG Bag of Activated Carbon: AU$20

Misc parts that I had lying around which are all $FREE Salvaged

• 1 x 12vDC 2Amp Power Supply
• Wire
• Heat Shrink
• Solder
• Hot Melt Glue Sticks
• PC Fan Screws

I'll update this post later when the parts arrive. I may even make a seperate "How To" thread and just link it here as I see a lot of people struggle to find ways to handle the smell and still save space.

Next Post: Final Steps And Flicking The Switch!

Looks nice, but I just smoke too much I guess. I started out with a small grow as well (though not quite that small), but would only piss myself off when I ran out between harvests so I was forced to upgrade so now I'm running two 4X4X6 tents. But, in all fairness, I must admit that basically if I'm not at work I'm high . Good luck with your grow though my friend.

Thanks Bearkat, That's exactly where I was a few years ago. But I just couldn't go any bigger without ridiculous amounts of risk.
Hopefully one day Australia will wake up to the 21st century and legalize but for now given the risk that is involved, this is about as big as I'm comfortable growing.

Final Steps And Flicking The Switch!

Growing Medium
40% Peat Moss: AU$6
30% Perlite: AU$9
30% Vermiculite: AU$8

Misc Equipment
Herb Planter: AU$9
Mini Seed Starter and Humidity Dome: AU$5


I've mixed up a small batch of soilless mix and given it a real good flush until the water coming off is almost clear.
It's sitting out of the way to drain out a bit more, in a couple days I'll put it back into the bucket and re-mix all the perlite and vermiculite that has floated to the top during flushing.

Meanwhile Here's my Nirvana Papaya Regular Seed. It's been soaked in water for about 24 hours then transferred to some moist paper towel. My idea here is if the Papaya is female I want to use 2 branches to make some feminised seeds, if it's male I'll save some pollen then sprout the Feminised Strawberry Blue and cross them.

I've specifically gone with fruity smelling seeds that I've seen a lot of journals say "they don't smell too bad".
The Afghans were just some freebies that will probably never be used as I've heard they stink really bad.


I wired up some old PC fans to a 12v power supply while I wait for my new high flow silent fans to be delivered.
I then instantly pulled the 12v supply out a replaced it with a 5v supply as the old fan's bearings sound like a jet trying to take off.
The new fan's I've ordered should be damn near silent when running at 12v but just incase I've ordered an LED dimmer (AU$4) to act as a limiter speed controller
These LED dimmers are a great cheap way to add a bit more control to your fans, they use pulse width modulation instead of dropping the voltage so you get full torque even at the lowest setting and won't get any fan stutter.


I then left the lights on with the fans running and closed the case up for half an hour.
The ambient room temp was 22*c, inside the box it got up to 29*c which is at the upper limits of what a grow room should be, but keep in mind the fans are running at less than 50% speed. I'm hoping that new fans running at near full speed while dragging air through the carbon filters will still be about the same airflow/temp, but I've ordered another 60mm fan/filters just incase the temps start to climb.
Next Post: Lights, Seedling, ACTION!

****Breaking News!***

WE HAVE A TAP ROOT!!!

I was a bit worried about only being able to get one seed of this strain.
It's a one shot deal, but thankfully that's the first hurdle over and done with.
I'll give it overnight for the tap root to decide which way it want's to shoot for then tuck it into the pot that will be it's home for the next 3 months or so.

Lights, Seedling, ACTION!
Vedge Day 1
Total Days 1

My tap root got a bit more of a leg to it so it's been dropped into it's new container.
Lights are set to 18/6.
Nothing left to do now but watch the grass grow.

It really is an interesting deal you got going. (Im in same situation, half oz every friday sk Im growing my own lol.) Cant wait till I pay him off and he wonders why I stop calling, will regret ignoring my calls! Im growing the afghani you have if you wanna look at my journal, all 11 seeds I germinated from herbies all germinated successfully so dont worry.

What nutes are you using? Hope security works well for you man

Kind Sir said:

It really is an interesting deal you got going. (Im in same situation, half oz every friday sk Im growing my own lol.) Cant wait till I pay him off and he wonders why I stop calling, will regret ignoring my calls! Im growing the afghani you have if you wanna look at my journal, all 11 seeds I germinated from herbies all germinated successfully so dont worry.

What nutes are you using? Hope security works well for you man

Click to expand...

That's exactly it dude, if you are going to smoke that much you can't pay for it or you get stuck in the "always chasing it" cycle.
Subbed your journal, I'd like to know how the smell is when it gets into bloom. I've read about people having to go and throw manure all over their lawn because even their carbon scrubber couldn't handle the last 2 weeks of stank, hence why I gave them a miss.

Nute's I've always loved canna COCO because it's cheap, you only need to buy 1 lot of nutes as it does vedge + bloom from the same nutes you just mix it differently, it flushes really well and it's super easy to adjust when needed.
There are things out there that can get better results, but Canna COCO is the one you use when you want to give as few fucks as possible.

I had some light leaks...

So I thought instead of covering them up with darkness, I'd just add more light!
I had a whole bunch of left over LED strip so I've just drowned out any leaks with lights under my desk that are set to turn on and off at the same time as the grow box.

Dope setup man. But will it be grown inside the pc tower from start to finish??

Great work.... If I were you, I would first go for a mother plant kept under 18/6 somewhere else... Then clone the mother and flower them... Starting from seed is not a good idea considering height issues.... Or go for autos, which means spending money on each bean ...

Another beauty of flowering small clones is that you can plant them in small cups, they are easy to move. That way you can use sunshine discreetly, put them under the sun for 6-7 hours, then to a dark closet. Just an idea

Yea he has a stealth issue right now. Gotta be real careful, best pc setup ivemseen though. Upload picture today plezse

James_Danko said:

Dope setup man. But will it be grown inside the pc tower from start to finish??

Click to expand...

Thanks man. I'm more than confident I can keep it in this the whole way through, It'll need all the training I can find time for but it should be doable.

CenkTripper said:

Great work.... If I were you, I would first go for a mother plant kept under 18/6 somewhere else... Then clone the mother and flower them... Starting from seed is not a good idea considering height issues.... Or go for autos, which means spending money on each bean ...

Another beauty of flowering small clones is that you can plant them in small cups, they are easy to move. That way you can use sunshine discreetly, put them under the sun for 6-7 hours, then to a dark closet. Just an idea

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you're talking about and I'd much prefer to use clones but I've got a big issue. Local law count every stem poking out of the ground as a plant.
The more you add the higher the penalty. If your numbers go too high it's jail time. Where as seeds are just counted by weight. This is why I want to do a batch of feminized seeds and I'm hoping that this is female. If it's male I'm tossing up whether or not to use it's genetics with one of my fem seeds, but that's something I'll work out when the time comes.

Kind Sir said:

Yea he has a stealth issue right now. Gotta be real careful, best pc setup ivemseen though. Upload picture today plezse

Click to expand...

It's not so much an "issue" of I NEED to be stealthy, more it's best off that I am just incase something does happen.
Like I said before, my wife wouldn't care but if she doesn't know about it she can't be charged with the same crime as myself. And I need to have it and everything needed for the grow in a spot where my kid can never get to because the penalty for "exposing" a child under 16 to growing is another penalty in some states, unsure if it is in mine but best to just avoid it.

That and I kind of like being all covert, it's fun.

There's nothing really left to take pics of for now, it's just a pot of dirt.
Lights are back on in a few hours and I'll be home from work a few hours after that, if there's any change I'll post a pic.

Vedge Days 2
Total Days 2

Nothing much happening other than a bucket full of dirt.

love what im seeing.....will be following this all the way through...thx for posting

GROW JOURNAL SIDE NOTE: ***MAJOR POWER OUTAGE***
I'm not sure how much of this is going to hit international news, but the whole lower east coast of Australia just got hit by a massive cyclone.
I was completely unaffected by the storm, I'm no where near that part of AU, but I had an unrelated power outage that resulted in me being without power for 2 days due to the whole countries emergency services packing up and shipping out to the storm hit area.
Long story short, my small issue was just not on the authorities "to do" list.
This power outage has dragged on so long that I'm used the last of my laptop battery just to type these grow journal entries each day.
Again, my apologies for the late posts, but there's a good chunk of my country completely fucked by a freak "once every 100 year's" storm.
________

Vedge Days 3
Total Days 3



I woke up to the lights having already been out for 5 hours, then another 3 hours went passed before I could open the case and check out what was going on.
The seed had only *JUST* punched up above the surface at this point.
Interesting side note, I'm not sure if it happened before midnight or not, but there's a good chance this plant was "BORN" on 20/04/2015... or 4/20 to my american growers.
SURELY this is a good omen!?

_________

Vedge Days 4
Total Days 4



I spent the night at the in law's and the seedling spent the last 24 hours on a window sill in a room that the wife never enters.
I managed to be the first one back and quickly transferred the baby back to it's grow box.
I'm just table flipping the light schedule in a true "she'll be right mate" Aussie fashion and re-starting the light schedule where it would have been if the power had not gone out.
I'm home alone at the moment and this photo was taken just before it was transfered back to the grow box or "hour 8" of the light cycle.
It's a seedling, it's a baby, it doesn't know if it's female or male or some mutant cross between the 2. All it knows at this stage is "alive" and "DEAD".
I doubt all this stress will effect the plant AT ALL. (Well here's hoping anyway...)

Side note, Macro shots of half inch seedlings are bullshit to try and get in focus with a "point and shoot" camera when the background is a bucket of perlite and vermiculite covered peat moss!!! (hence the sheet of paper)

The wife stayed at the in law's tonight as we still don't have 100% power, so I'm drinking my ass off until morning. I may actually sleep/hang over passed day 5, apologies in advance.

_________

final side note of the whole "I've spent 2 days in the fucking dark ages" post:
It's almost 12:30am and I'm drunk off my ass while watching "HYGROWHYBRID" on youtube.
I'm just about ready to stress myself to death over the bullshit that's gone on over the power out and as a result I've drunk my self to the point of wanting to tactical chunder just so I don't feel like shit any more... that doesn't make sense but you get what I'm saying!?
I can't wait till harvest where I can just smoke a fat bowl and chill the fuck out so I don't feel anxious as shit without getting drunk any more and feeling sick.
I'm so jealous of all my USA brothers growing on recreational/medical licences free of the stress of being busted over growing a fucking plant in the dirt!
One day this shit will be legal in my neck of the woods and I'll be able to grow the monsters I want to. Smoke what I want to. and be medicated to the point of not being so fucking stressed!
FUCK!
Shit's fucked ey!?

Vedge Days 5
Total Days 5

Couldn't decide which photo I liked better tonight so I uploaded both.
Also My new fans and other bits from china started to arrive today, however I'm not installing anything until everything has arrived.

Vedge Days 6
Total Days 6

I gave it a water last night, let it drain out for 10-15 mins, then put it back in the grow box.
I checked it just now and I think the room that the PC case is in might be a bit too humid/damp (There is a bit of mould in the room which may be a deal breaker for this part of the house.)
I could just be mislead as I've never taken close ups like this before, but the discolouration of the rocks and leaves lends me to believe something might go wrong in the next day or so.
BUT, only time will tell and I have some backup seeds of other strains....