First Grow

This is my first grow ever, hoping everything goes well.

Grow Box
Dual 12” sub box. I hollowed it out and am using the two sub faces as “doors”

Lighting
All CFL, 3 23w 5000k, 3 23w 2700k each in an outlet to socket plug (home depot ~$2 ea) I used two cans of spray American Accents ultra cover flat white (walmart, ~$2) to cover the inside of the box

Airflow
I used an old Cooler Master fan(86.15 CFM) spliced into a 12v DC wall charger (Output: 12v, 1A; it was originally an arduino power supply) with an attached diy carbon scrubber and muffler for the exhaust. Passive intake on bottom

The seed I’m using now is something I found in my supply. Put it in a paper town and warm water for 24 hours now planted it in a cup covered in vented cellophane in my box.

Tell me if this is a bit too enthusiastic for a first timer at this, but I want to get this setup as scrog(or lst, haven't decided yet) to try and get the highest yield I can. I want to go as all out as I can in this confined space.(I was also thinking of going with a hydro setup for speed and yield, but I worry that I won’t be around enough to maintain it and my plants will die) If you guys have any other suggestions/tips or any area I can improve upon as well that would be great.

Pretty creative. I like the idea you have here. And although you have 6 bulbs, I'm pretty skeptical that will be sufficient enough. I would invest in some higher output Cfl's. that fan on your scrubber may not be powerful enough either to effectively clean the air. So maybe look for a slightly more powerful exhaust fan as well. The intake fan should be fine. Just make sure the exhaust fan is stronger (higher cfm) than the intake fan. Doing it this way creates negative pressure in the grow room. Positive pressure will cause air to be pushed out cracks and holes, and the smell along with it.

As for training, my best advice would be to just top the plant twice. One time to get to main colas, then top those two colas to get 4. Then lollipop it. Those lights won't penetrate deep canopys so that's definitely a good route to go.

These are only suggestions though , you can do some more research and do some experimenting for yourself. Hope it goes well

Thanks for advice man! Yeah the bulbs I have been kinda struggling with. I have two 85w 5500k bulbs (holy shit are they huge and make a lot of heat), and 4 45w 2700k bulbs which I was gonna originally use, but the temps got too high, took up a lot of space and pulled down my power strips I had mounted. So here I am with these dinky 23w. I was thinking of adding another power strip with more 23w bulbs or somehow try and get the large bulbs to work again. My original plan was to have 15k lumens at least, but now I'm not even breaking 10k.

My intake is actually not a fan, just a hole cut in the box. I've tested it out with some smoke and nothing leaks out and air is getting pulled into the intake very easy. Although, just for the hell of it I was thinking of upping the fan to this 210 CFM beast but I'll defiantly need to build a larger muffler for that.

So I definitely have some work and thinking ahead of me..


The seed is still in my starting soil in the box on a 12/12 cycle, still not cracks in the seed or anything.

Lights fell again, tided it up a bit and secured them like all hell.

Good setup on the scrubber, it is usually better to pull than to push. Especially for these 12v fan's they get bogged down and hot so quickly. But 86cfm should be no problem in that space.

Props!

Thanks! I am actually pulling the air through the scrubber, the box on the end is my muffler I made for the fan

Yeah I just read.....the best I can say is that you are breaking the basic laws of physics. Intakes should almost always be located in your lowest spot and exhaust in the highest, [aka hot air rises] You can't pull hot air into a duct like that, without greater energy than need be.

YOu could just make the intake your exhaust and put holes in your lowest spots for a passive intake. That way you will exchange fresh O and Co2. Easier at keeping temps, less humidity troubles, air exchange helps with keeping critters away, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe Velcro instead of the tape for the long run.