177W CFL Closet-Box Microgrow - Platinum OG 12/12 from seed

FIRSTLY: I'm using 100% reclaimed supplies for this grow!!!

Ok, so as it says, i'm growing a single seed of Platinum OG from a friend of mine.
I used to have 19 6500-5000K CFL bulbs, but a ton of them disappeared. So, I'm currently using 135W of 6500K CFL's (5 @ 27W), + a 42W 2500K CFL
Growing in reclaimed Fox Farms Ocean Forest, using (I know it sucks) MG All purpose (24-8-16), and MG Bloom Booster (15-30-15) (as the rest of my nutes of magically vanished)

So, here's the statistics;

Strain: Platinum OG (Seed)
Lighting: 5 6500K 27W CFL's + 1 2500K 42W CFL
Soil: Reclaimed FF Ocean Forest (reclaimed as in reused)
Nutes: MG All Purpose 24-8-16, and MG Bloom 15-30-15
Germination Date: Feb. 27th 2014 (7-8 days old)
Grow Location: A U-Haul box stashed in my closet

This is not only a micro-grow, but I need it to be stealth as well.
I had a grow from before, it was great, but my HID is now clipped to pieces, and honestly, this is my attempt to see if I can grow a successful plant in secret from the others who live in my household. I have a fan pointing into the lower end of the box through a cut hole. To deal with the excessive temps, I've been filling the box with ice packs (bottles I froze). Which also helps bring the humidity to 40% at the very least, since it typically hovers around 5-10%. (I live in a dry desert climate)

No camera currently, I will be borrowing one soon enough and will post them as updates.
You can find my previous grow Here >>https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/421945-4x-100-indica-master-kush.html
I LOVED THOSE PLANTS... But I was raided and they were lost to me, along with the genes.

So now I start from scratch. And hope that luck is on my side and gives me a female. I call it a her, and have given it a female name. 'Jacqueline'.
I'm hoping that helps nudge her into being a female.


Anyway, happy to answer any questions anyone may have, and will be making regular updates.
I unfortunately for my life, but fortunately for you guys, have a super addicts personality, and turn up everything I do to 11. As evidence by my last grow if you take a look, in seeing the EXTENSIVE amount of data I was collecting on them.
I may not go to that extreme, but I will be updating with anything anyone requests.
Enjoy.

Seems like a good plan. Sorry about your last grow, that's a total bummer. I'll be looking for some pics of that Platinum OG!

Yup, soon as I can get a cam, im set.
As it stands, when she wakes up at noon, I put her in the sunlight from my window most of the day rather then under the CFL's.
I wish I could get them under more light. But even if I DID have the rest of my missing bulbs, the heat is already an issue, with only 5 measly bulbs.
Even with the frozen bottles im stuggling to keep the heat under control.

Okayyyy, Finally got some pics of my grow
Here's a shot of her along with the grow box;


Here's a shot of the lighting from below;


And a closeup of the plant being LST'd and the thermometer beside her;



Those things you're seeing in beside everything are ice packs. To control the temps.
Finally have them mostly under control.


Here's a couple extra pics of the setup, and the fan.
It's NOT ideal, I sort of threw it together out of reclaimed supplies.
Suggestions are WELCOME.

My primary concern is secrecy. My last grow was raided, so my room mates are less then pleased with the idea, so... I'm going to do it in secret.

Grows can be pretty boring early on.

But mainly, im looking for simple and creative solutions to my basic issues facing me.

dajosh42069 said:

Grows can be pretty boring early on.

But mainly, im looking for simple and creative solutions to my basic issues facing me.

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Go find an old computer case. There is not anything stealthy about that many light cords going into a cardboard box. Good luck!

Nice to see you on and growing again man , best of luck with this grow

Maxed Out said:

Go find an old computer case. There is not anything stealthy about that many light cords going into a cardboard box. Good luck!

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I have a number of old cases, but if i'm struggling with heat in a box, the PC case will be 100x worse.
All the same, the box is fine, when I close the door and sheet flaps, it's quiet and the light isn't visible. So it is stealth when I have it all closed up. And I would very much like to simplify the current setup.
I have an HID, and a Blowerfan converted for ducting.

Gmz said:

Nice to see you on and growing again man , best of luck with this grow

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Thanks, hope it all goes well.
It spends about 5 hours a day under the sunlight, and the rest under the CFL's.

So I have my baby veggin out under a 400W MH for the moment, can't keep it like that though, WAYYY too much heat, and ultra conspicuous. Got my stanly blower fan sucking the heat out, but it can't last this way. I'm considering constructing a light hood with the MH, and some CFL's in it though to run inside the box. Use my squirrel cage fan that's modded to act as a duct fan sucking heat out.
But I can't seem to find the right materials to make that happen properly.

I've made some simple adjustments after running my 400WMh last night and dealing with the heat. I've narrowed it down to 5 6500K CFL's, all directly next to each other. (i'll have a couple more reflectors and some Y socket adapters tomorrow), and the heat is totally under control. The ice packs work great, I just put them in once a day and they handle the heat for 12 hours.
Also, due to my schedule, i've decided to put them on an 16/8 light cycle, in which at least 5-6 of those 16 hours are spent under the direct sunlight.

Now... correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't most bag seeds (in an example where it's the ONLY seed in the bag, meaning it came from a plant who hermied on herself and gave herself seeds) essentially a seed clone of the previous plant? There's no new genetic material being introduced, so would the seed be "feminized" so to speak? Or is the genetic potential for a full male plant still there?
I do fully understand that most bag seeds have a strong potential to become hermies themselves, as they possess the hermie genes from it's mother. But aren't the odds of a hermie bag seed pretty high of it being a female?

I've been doing a lot of runs with bag seed recently and most of them came from bags with only one seed. I've had a lot of males which has been making me convinced that temps are important during germ. But they were all germed at temps above 80-85f. Before, when the temps were only 70-75f I got almost all female. I thought I just got lucky.

just thought I'd throw that out there. Your seedlings looking good! Hopefully it's a she!

Thanks, i'm hoping so too.
I'm having real trouble dealing with her hours though. I really don't want to stress her by changing them around too much, but I have to monitor the box's heat issues, and when i'm not home, I don't want to leave everything on, so i've finally changed her times to coincide with my work schedule, and it unfortunately now means I have to keep her awake while i'm asleep. Which sucks, I woke up this morning to temps of 93F. WAYYY too hot.
But, I have finally got my reflectors back from a friend, so I have 7 bulbs running in reflectors, 3 in 2 large, and 1 in 1 small. The 1 small I turned off almost right away to control temps, and when i'm asleep, im reducing her to bulbs in the reflector. I usually wake up about 4-5 hours and move her to my window for natural sunlight. She seems to really enjoy that.

So here's the slightly better setup.




Here's it with the box closed (i'm going to hang some clothes there when i'm not in here, in case anyone decides to get cute.



And lastly, here's my girl. She's a young'n still, only 11 days old technically. But I think she looks pretty nice so far.
Gave very light nutes on my last watering, which was almost 6 days ago, and it looks great. The soil was pretty baron and without nutrients to begin with, so I figured i'd give it a little something.

Damn... that camera SUCKS for closeups. Lemme see if I can set a macro mode and try again.<br>
Also. I'm a pretty shitty photographer...

Alright, fuck this camera...
But yeah, I guess you get the idea.

It's looking good for 11 days old!

If your still having temp problems, try getting a box fan in your main room. Just point it towards your closet. Should bring the temp down a bit.

That's not a terrible idea, but I need it closed most of the time.

Wow... I had no idea CPU fans could move so much air...
I just wired up 3 CPU fans to exhaust in my box. I think it'll be very helpful! I'm hoping for the best! Pics soon, already took them. But i'm going to attempt to wire a 4th 12VDC fan to a single 12VDC plug.
I live dangerously. More then likely, i'll burn my power supply out. But, i have a backup just in case.

4th wired in, successfully. They're all purring like kittens.
I'm gonna run them for a few hours to confirm they can stand up to long term use. But with 4 CPU fans running in there, it's gonna help quite a bit.

Alright, I pulled the largest fan in the picture out of the loop. 3 is probably too many as it is, but, I think they'll work well.
At least while I have everything closed up while i'm asleep. Besides, I think the heat will be pulled out more efficiently if the box is closed.
I just throw in as many ice bottles as I can before bed, and leave the fans on.
I know all of this seems silly. But i'm not overly handy... (like gutting a PC tower and getting lights in there. So this is the best I can do for now.





And here's the box all closed up. With some clothes hung there, you wouldn't even be able to see any wires. But you will be able to hear the fans unfortunately. And it will stifle the exhaust fans.

dajosh42069 said:

View attachment 3019639

And lastly, here's my girl. She's a young'n still, only 11 days old technically.

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I just want to ask a question about what I'm seeing here, why don't you fill the pot with more soil? It would get your plant closer to the lights and also more room for roots to grow. I was using CFL bulbs to start with and once I got the lights closer to the plants, there was a tremendous growth spurt. You may have reasons for this practice but it just doesn't make sense to me. Good luck on your grow.

Maxed Out said:

I just want to ask a question about what I'm seeing here, why don't you fill the pot with more soil? It would get your plant closer to the lights and also more room for roots to grow. I was using CFL bulbs to start with and once I got the lights closer to the plants, there was a tremendous growth spurt. You may have reasons for this practice but it just doesn't make sense to me. Good luck on your grow.

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You're absolutely right. As she grows, i'm going to fill in the rest of the pot with soil and cover a bit of the bottom of the stem.
Unfortunately, every morning when I wake up, the temps are up to 85-95F It's insanely too high. So i'm adding 2 more fans, but these 2 PC fans are going to secondary and tertiary intake fans. I wired them into a second 12VDC plug. Now that I see how easy it is, I wanna see if I can find more.

Anyway, temps are good. I gave her a splash of water today, not much, but it's been almost 7-8 days since her last watering and she hasn't drooped, or shown any signs of needing any, but I gave her a splash anyway.
She's been pointing up a lot lately. In a very healthy (good omen) sort of way, so. *shrugs* She must be happy.