MINI BUDGET GROW CHALLENGE

UPDATE: So a lot has happened since my last post .The plants have grown a bunch and I have stripped almost all the big leaves to allow the lower branches to get going. CBD kush has been topped and bottom branches are starting to shoot out after I think two days. Mystery strain (probably just induatrind hemp) has nearly no smell at all and has very thin sativa looking leaves. Found two more bag seed in some pretty strong bud, and threw them in dirt. One was a tan almost brown color, and the other was dark brown and looked mature. Accidentally let dirt dry out so may have killed the seeds. If so, it's not a huge deal, but I hope at least one pulls through. Just switched to 12/12 so I can hopefully see signs of sex in the next week or two. The CBD kush is only like 16-20 days old, so may need another week before it goes into preflower. The mystery seed is older so I'm hoping it flips over quickly. If they are both males, they will be thrown outside and I won't tend to them much. See what happens when mother nature takes over completely.

Waffledick420 said:

Highly doubt anyone will actually join in, but I have a challenge. It's simple. Complete a grow seed to harvest, while spending as little as possible. PLEASE USE ORGANIC NUTRIENTS, AS THEY ARE EASY AND CHEAP TO GET FOR BEGINNERS IF THEY DECIDE TO JOIN IN!
My cheapo setup is a small black tote with a cheap $20 led grow light, 2 pc fans, and CBD Kush for the strain. I challenge people to spend under $30 on a light, $20 on a box, and spend as little as possible on anything else. I spent $40 in total for my grow setup. $20 light, $15 for regular seeds (on eBay cuz why not?), And $5 for a timer. Everything else I had laying in boxes around the garage. My seeds are germinating now, and I hope someone joins me. If not, I'll just do this for fun to see what I can get out of the cheapest grow setup I could think of. I'm using creek water (no idea what pH is, but it's from a creek near a farm), and for smell control, I will probably rig up a super cheap air filter with dryer sheets or something

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My grows I spend $0.00 the only cost has been my time.

I grow outdoors in my yard in soil I built up from rock hard clay. I amended the clay with lawn trimmings, sticks, leaves basically any organic matter I could get my hands on. Fertilizer comes from 2 rabbits my wife has as pets and a horse farm down the road from us. The plants are watered with winter rain run off I collect over the winter and waste water from baths and even changing out the dogs water every day.

I did the store bought thing, soil nutes the whole shebang, the results got me weed so I was happy. Then I found this site and began reading about organic growing and I was hooked. While some organic growers are still putting together shopping lists so as to cover all their bases as far as nutrition goes I prefer no cost minimalist approach.

This method has resulted in the best results as far as plant health and weight that I’ve ever had. Granted with what I’ve learned I probably could turn the same results with Miracle Grow now, but no cost organic just feels better.

How long is the veg time? Should be a set veg time. Start flower after 4 weeks or something

Oh damn I didn’t see this is old. I was gonna pop my last fem to join in

danjac82 said:

Oh damn I didn’t see this is old. I was gonna pop my last fem to join in

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It's been about 20 days for my younger plant, so you're not too late. If you want to track your plant and show us the results, I'd love to see how your grow goes in a budget setup

how long is the veg time?

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the youngest a plant can flower is 3 weeks. Even if you go 12/12 from seed, it'll still veg for 3 weeks before preflower. At least that's what I hear everyone say.

They had a sale of 7W, 50W equivalent bulbs for $3 a pair so I grabbed a few. I will get some sockets and make an array for this clone of my CBD plant but in the mean time one bulb should do. So 56W when all are up and running, might grab a few more though, so far $12 but need some sockets yet.

SAD UPDATE: due to some bad luck recently, i had to pull both plants and discard them. there was no way to hide the smell or box, and some people were coming over because of false accusations. so i have to forfeit my own challenge, at least for now. if i can get my box up and running in a stealthier manner, then i will continue to post updates. i have some ideas that i can hopefully manage to bring to life

Aww that sucks. On the flip side the single 7W bulb of mine is doing my little plant well and I needed to cut a cup and make an extension to the above cup so the plastic wrap would not touch the leaves. I am going to have to get a box to put it in soon enough. I was thinking of doing the aquarium activated carbon as a filter and a small computer fan to move the air.

printer said:

Aww that sucks. On the flip side the single 7W bulb of mine is doing my little plant well and I needed to cut a cup and make an extension to the above cup so the plastic wrap would not touch the leaves. I am going to have to get a box to put it in soon enough. I was thinking of doing the aquarium activated carbon as a filter and a small computer fan to move the air.

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if you get on youtube and look up "$5 carbon filter" it shows you how to make a professional looking carbon filter with household items and some activated carbon. if you're wondering the difference between using activated and regular carbon/charcoal, i'm pretty sure activated carbon just has a much higher surface area so it can scrub more odor out of the air for a longer time than normal carbon. not 100% sure on that, but its what i heard. and if you want the cheapest possible box, get a big cardboard box (if you can get a fridge box that would be best for a decent size grow), cut a few holes for the computer fans (may need to upgrade to an inline fan if the box is too big. but two 120mm fans worked perfect for my last box that was 2x2x3.5ft. the carbon filter will add some resistance so you may want to do multiple exhaust fans each with their own small carbon filter. just my idea. good luck with your CBD plant. can't wait to see what you can get out of it.
EDIT: i would also like to recommend some ventilation in the cup to exchange the O2 with CO2 to increase plant growth. a few holes in the side of the cup with a computer fan blowing into them might help your plant

Are you guys removing the plastic lens from the LED bulbs? Too bad you guys arent near me, every week on trash day people leave out the best stuff, lots of different lamps and lights, furniture, etc... gold mine for collecting good stuff.

BostonBuds said:

Are you guys removing the plastic lens from the LED bulbs? Too bad you guys arent near me, every week on trash day people leave out the best stuff, lots of different lamps and lights, furniture, etc... gold mine for collecting good stuff.

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My LED lights don't have removable lenses, they're just the diodes on the heatsink. I wish it had lenses because the penetration isnt that great

Cardboard box lined with drafting drawings from work. Lamp holder securely fastened to a octagon box for those with inquiring minds. Don't worry, I deal with much more power and voltage at work. I am thinking of making a mini carbon filter and using a 12V cpu computer fan running off a 12V adapter to get some air movement. Not that I care about any smell, just doing this for the fun of the game.

printer said:

Cardboard box lined with drafting drawings from work. Lamp holder securely fastened to a octagon box for those with inquiring minds. Don't worry, I deal with much more power and voltage at work. I am thinking of making a mini carbon filter and using a 12V cpu computer fan running off a 12V adapter to get some air movement. Not that I care about any smell, just doing this for the fun of the game.

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Looks awesome man! Looking forward to seeing your yield. Hopefully going to make a new stealth grow. Possibly under my bed. Id only have like 15 inches (probably less) between the lights and the ground, so I'd have to keep it low and hope it doesn't get too big. Just an idea. Also might do like a PC case grow. I have a decent size tower I've already used as a box before but I dont expect much more than maybe 10 grams out of it with my lights. But never know

I meant the covers on these LED type bulbs.

BostonBuds said:

I meant the covers on these LED type bulbs.

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I was just thinking of taking a bunch of those lights apart and making a panel light for my box to get the maximum amount of light I can. Currently only have a bunch of 9w and like one 18w(something like that) so I'd eventually get nothing but the highest wattage I can find.

Waffledick420 said:

I was just thinking of taking a bunch of those lights apart and making a panel light for my box to get the maximum amount of light I can. Currently only have a bunch of 9w and like one 18w(something like that) so I'd eventually get nothing but the highest wattage I can find.

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They sell them at the Dollar Tree store, last time I went I picked up a bunch of 23watt bulbs (100watt equivalent).

I'll have to try to go to the dollar dollar tree sometime then. I think those lights would work great for my idea. I'll probably try to get mainly 3000k and a few 6500k or something for a mixed spectrum depending on what they have when I'm there

Got the box painted and set back up with some seeds from Opie1971 (THANK YOU SO MUCH) and have 6 seeds getting ready to pop above ground. 2 C99 feminized, and 4 cookies and chem seeds. I will hopefully soon be able to build a better lighting option, probably using 3000k led bulbs wired together and without the diffusers. Also have a trashcan I want to turn into a flowering chamber. Like a big space bucket

Now for off the wall, made a sort-of carbon filter for my main grow area. Cardboard box, charcoal briquets, landscaping fabric, packaging tape, fan.



Smack up the briquets with a hammer till they are dust, place it in the fabric, fold it over the edges and staple together.



Put a hole on the other side and stick the fan in place. I have not decided exactly where my vent will go outside the grow area so I am just recirculating the air. After a few hours I checked it and I think I can tell there is less aroma.

printer said:

Now for off the wall, made a sort-of carbon filter for my main grow area. Cardboard box, charcoal briquets, landscaping fabric, packaging tape, fan.

Smack up the briquets with a hammer till they are dust, place it in the fabric, fold it over the edges and staple together.

Put a hole on the other side and stick the fan in place. I have not decided exactly where my vent will go outside the grow area so I am just recirculating the air. After a few hours I checked it and I think I can tell there is less aroma.

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If I may give a suggestion, if you go to the store and buy activated carbon, you can probably find it for fish tank filters. Activated carbon will work WAYYY better than normal charcoal