First Grow (Journal, also help/advice/suggestions) CFL

I've got a funky space to work with it is 3 feet wide 2 feet deep and 5 feet high.

I'm using bagseed. It's all supposedly MTF ((Matinuska Thunderfuck)AK here)

I'm using a 45% FFOF 45% Happy Frog 10% Perlite for germ.

The Nutes that I'm going to be using for veg are Mother Earth Blended Natural Super Tea 4-1-4 mixed with Organicare Nitrex 6-0-0

I am on a serious budget so I'm using emergency blankets instead of mylar.

I've got 8 light setup. During Veg I plan on running 6 6500k and 2 2700k. During flower I plan on running the direct opposite of that. I plan on running them 24 on during veg. 12/12 for Flower.

I'm tryin 3 methods of germination. I'm doing the 1/4" under the moist soil w/ very light water (just enough to activate the taproot). I'm doing the paper towel in a ziploc method. I'm also doing seeds in a cup of water for 20 hours then to the soil.

As you can see in the picture while the plants are germinating I am using a 10 dollar "grow" bulb from walmart, I guess I'm afraid of burning them or something....

So in closing I am BRAND NEW to this and any advice, tips, tricks, suggestions, stern talkings too, and praise are appreciated. Thank anyone in advance for any of their time they decide to spend unmessing up my everything. /excitement

Yea sorry for the low amount of posts. I know a lot of people are going to be like why don't you talk to anyone outside of this one thread. I'm just the kind of guy that would like to try and absorb as much as I can and then give it a go. But I do like the interaction on the "First Grow" posts on this site better than any other site so I chose this one to put mine up!

What should I do while I wait? A painting? Get ripped so I can impress all the ladies? Take a very long nap?

Yep time is everything, wating to water. The main this is wait too feed them, lol I screwed that step up.
What do you have for exhaust system in the closet? What is the temp and humidity like?
from what i see it looks good, im pumped to see pics when they start.
Im a couple weeks into my grow, you can see pics and tips in my threads.
But good luck, and hope your babies grow big
+rep and subed

Well the temp is good right now. I haven't ran all of the lights right now. It has peaked out @ 81 day and dropped to 74 night.
Humidity is about 16% atm (Alaska sucks for humidity) I've got a cup of water in there @ the moment hoping that helps a little to bring it up.
Right now I have don't have anything set up. I was wondering what the masses figured I should put up. I didn't think I needed it during germing so it would give me some time to figure stuff out.
Thinking about getting some more splitters and just throwing more lights in there. Thanks for the +rep and the sub! I'm stoked!

How long until I should start seeing green?

what worked for me, is in your cup of water put a sponge halfway. I had 3 jars of water didn't do much. Then i bought a couple sponges and now i brought it up.
Still very hard to keep it there, so dry in my house in winter. Yeah you will find that there is a endless list of things that you can get lol. Just have to draw the line some where.
It took me 3 or 4 days i think. You might see it a bit earlier or later

For your airflow, with that box I would go with a twin window fan with adjustable speeds at least 7" for exhuast in the top corner and cut a hole at the bottom for passive intake(at least a 6"x6" hole) also make sure to put a piece stocking over it to stop dust and critters, and for the lights you can get a vanity light fixture that holds about 5-6 bulbs for about 20 dollars, and add Y splitters and bam you have 10-12 bulbs with minimun wires, and from 200-500 actual watts for lights, for a breeze on your plants throw a couple of 4" high velocity fans in there and that what you would need for now, annnnd the water I would buy several gallons of distilled water, or tap water and let it sit out for 24-48 hours to let impurities evaporate, and your nutes I will let you do research on that unless you want help on that also. (all of this would come to less than 100.00 dollars)

Will be checking back here every now and then looking foward to pictures

Thanks alot Chief! I'll pick that up here shortly. Thanks alot! I knew I would appreciate the more progressed individuals!

Stealth, Excited to have something to take pictures of!!

I think I'm gonna throw splitters on the 6 I have now. I've got 2 in the mail but I think Im going to get them for each chord.

Edite: You're talking about a box fan right? The one with the 2 fans in it? LOL I'm slow...

So I should a put a window fan in the top corner for exhaust? Then just a 6" hole for passive intake? How would I seal light in/out with that fan? I've heard of "the labyrinth" and I see how I could do that for the 6" hole but not the 7" window fan. Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help and +rep for bein an awesome dude! Both of ya!!

dabumps said:

I think I'm gonna throw splitters on the 6 I have now. I've got 2 in the mail but I think Im going to get them for each chord.

Edite: You're talking about a box fan right? The one with the 2 fans in it? LOL I'm slow...

So I should a put a window fan in the top corner for exhaust? Then just a 6" hole for passive intake? How would I seal light in/out with that fan? I've heard of "the labyrinth" and I see how I could do that for the 6" hole but not the 7" window fan. Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help and +rep for bein an awesome dude! Both of ya!!

Click to expand...

Google twin window fan you will see it you cannot miss it, or just take a look at my thread in my sig and you will see the fan in the second post because my box is damn near identical to yours, just use a bigger shoebox,cardboard box to put on top of if it with one side cut off, and depending on the length you may have to add another piece of board to it to cover the entire length and just make sure to have the one side open which I probably dont have to tell you that, but anyways no prob for the questions ask all you want, when I get home I can take some pics of my light traps to give you an idea of what I mean, but doing it this way helps with your budget and it works.

Also about your germing process they all work, and I have done them all, but I find the easiest for me is to let nature do what it does and plant it directly in the soil, about a 1" down in a solo cup, make sure to water the soil first before planting the bean, then just put a piece of saran wrap on top to keep moisture in, and soon as I see it sprout I remove the film and let it happen.

ChiefsitandChief said:

Google twin window fan you will see it you cannot miss it, or just take a look at my thread in my sig and you will see the fan in the second post because my box is damn near identical to yours, just use a bigger shoebox,cardboard box to put on top of if it with one side cut off, and depending on the length you may have to add another piece of board to it to cover the entire length and just make sure to have the one side open which I probably dont have to tell you that, but anyways no prob for the questions ask all you want, when I get home I can take some pics of my light traps to give you an idea of what I mean, but doing it this way helps with your budget and it works.

Click to expand...

Yea I checked out your set up and yea mine is a darker wooden color other than that it's pretty much exactly the same except mine looks like a homeless person made it lol. Thanks for all of the advice again. I actually am going to shamelessly copy your vent setup.
If you could post those pictures though it would be amazing! No sprouts or anything yet with the strait to soil method but I have the best feeling about those for w/e reason but I didn't plant them anywhere near 1" deep. Maybe 1/4" deep, maybe.

Many different ways to do exhaust, my box has a 4" inline fan with speed control. The intake is the 2x 2" intakes pvc i had laying around.
Depending on your place you may want to invest in scent control, just search around riu and you will see many different diy exhausts

'

I've been checking them out. My only concern right now it is kinda hard to keep the humidity up here. This is the driest place on earth!

have you tried adding sponges to your water cup, if that doesnt work. you may need to invest in a humidifier

Just got a humidifier actually!

Could someone enlighten me what the difference between my seeds and theirs cuz with theirs their seeds are showing green in 3 days and mine aren't anywhere near there?

Here are the pics as Promised not the best angles but you should get the idea, also they were spray painted black to reduce reflection, also if you look close right on the inside there is a flap I can flip up or down to help with light escaping connected the the cab instead of the box.

dabumps said:

Could someone enlighten me what the difference between my seeds and theirs cuz with theirs their seeds are showing green in 3 days and mine aren't anywhere near there?

Click to expand...

could be serveral things being its bagseed, with has been known to have hidden treasures sometimes, but the key is SOMETIMES, could be the condition they where in, or the temps on the soil, or a seed thats underdeveloped, or some seeds are slow to pop, or the depth they were planted, or etc.. on my first grow the seeds took about 5-6 day to come above ground, funny thing is on my 3rd day I thought they weren't going to do anything so I turned the lights off to save energy for a couple of days til I got some more seeds, and with the lights off, and coming back in about 2-3 days later I opened my cab and there they where above ground, which they say when germing keep them in a dark warm place.