First Time Grower - PC Stealth Grow w/ Bagseeds (CFLs)

CollegEnt

Member
My roommates and I are planning on trying our hand at this - not for economical reasons or anything like that but simply for the love of the plant. We are starting our endeavors with a PC stealth grow, because I had an old tower laying around with tons of PC components. The seeds are currently germinating, but I have the box [almost] complete. I figured I would start this journal by offering up pictures of the box and let you guys give me some tips on what to do. We are going to try to grow two plants in this amount of space, keeping them small with LST.

The case is 7.9" x 17.4" x 17" (WxHxD). Right now it is painted flat white, but I am using magnets to attach literally everything to the case so that everything can be rearranged as the plant grows. The magnets have stripped a lot of the paint off, and I didn't like the looks of it anyways, so I have ordered some mylar to outfit the case this should make it more light tight too.

Lights (for veg):
3x Movable 23w 5000K CFLs (Bottom)
2x Stationary 23w 6500K CFLs. (Top)
Total of 115w.

Fans:
All fans are controllable by a Sunbeam fan controller.
1x Silverstone 110CFM Intake (Bottom Right) with DIY Light Trap.
1x Silverstone 110CFM Exhaust (Left) which will also have a light trap once complete.
It also has 2 moveable 80mm fans for hotspots in the case.

Now, my roommate and I have been lurking around here soaking up information for the last couple of weeks. We have also both read the book The Cannabis Grow Bible. To my disappointment, the book contains nothing about CFL growing. I've heard that you should have 150W of CFLs for two plants, but, correct me if I am wrong, that's from an overhead source. With this box, I am free to move three of the lights anywhere that I please meaning that it's going to have an easier time reaching the important parts of the plant. I wanted to go with a lot of low wattage CFLs so that I could get them close to the leaves. I realize that plants "reach" for the light. Since we want a short bushy plant, should we leave the bulbs on the sides further away from the plant so it reaches for those and the ones above as close as possible? Is there any reason to put bulbs underneath the plant to reach the underside of the leaves? I can always make some more of those lights with the cords on them to add more.

We currently have the bulbs setup for vegetation. We have 5000K and 6500K bulbs. Should we add some 2300 or 3000K just to balance it out? When it comes time to flower, should be replace all of the bulbs with 2300 - 3000K or just the 6500Ks? The bulbs are the top of the plant are only 23W. Should those be bigger?

This is our first grow, so we are starting out with some bad seeds just to get a feel for everything. Once these are complete, we have The Church to put in there.With that one, we will only be doing the one plant in the box.

IMG_0675.jpgIMG_0677.jpg
 

Kieshed

Active Member
Got similar wattage setup will be awesome to see how you do . Mixed spectrum will get you the best quality but using just 2700 k bulbs at flowering will give you the best quanitity but idealy at flowering think you need 75% red for nice balanced results .
 
Top