New To Indoor Grow

Hey everyone I've done a few outdoor grows in my old backyard but now that I moved to an apartment and don't have a backyard I have to go with an indoor grow. I've decided to just build a box because I'm fairly decent with woodworking. I used some Thai Stick seeds that a friend gave to me that he said was good for an indoor grow.


I have some good soil that I mixed off of instructions I read on the forums. I tested the ph of the water and soil they are both perfect. (I was blessed with good tap water but I still will let it sit out for a few days.)

From what I read Thai gets close to a foot tall but not a foot. so I would be making my shelves about 2 ft apart. I got designs already sketched up but no scanner to see what everyone thinks about them. Its basically a light proof box with a few vent holes where I'll be placing some cpu fans.

For my first set-up I'll have to use CFL's until I can find a nice priced HPS light and a MH light. I know I wont get a good yield but It'll be nice to practice with these free seeds so I can make alterations without feeling like I wasted to much money.

The seeds are germinating right now, first I dropped them in a cup of water until they all sunk to the bottom, the first half sunk right away the others took a few hours. Then I transplanted them into some moist paper towels in a ziplock bag inside on a tupperware container which is placed on top of a heating mat. When they sprout the roots I'll be putting them into some of those rockwool cubes in a humidity dome until they are considered seedlings. Well for those of you who actually felt like reading this long ass post here are my questions.

1) Would it be okay to put cfl's on the sides as well as the top of the box so the plant is getting light from all angles and wont really have to stretch around to find light?

2) I'll be using the baking soda vinegar method to keep CO2 in the box when should I start adding the CO2?

3) Really this post was to see if I am on the right track and to get any information anyone thinks I should add. I plan on building one of those canisters that go into the venting pipe so my room wont smell like weed. If anyone has some good plans on how to build that for cheap let me know if now I'm thinking just a nice big bag of kitty litter placed somewhere in the venting pipe will work as long as the air doesn't reverse and send the kitty litter smell back into my box.

sorry for the long post
~Drew~

welcome to the forum

hellraizer30 said:

welcome to the forum

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Thanks I already learned a lot from just searching around and I read a lot of the stickys. This is a nice forum hopefully soon I'll be able to answer questions and not just ask them.

For your questions, you should put as many CFLs in there as you can afford/ will fit. You can start adding CO2 anytime I'm pretty sure. If you go HID, you will have all kind of heat issues in that small space. But since you will be ventilating for odor, it might not be such a prob. I've never built anything like that but I'm the DIY forum can help you.

mared juwan said:

For your questions, you should put as many CFLs in there as you can afford/ will fit. You can start adding CO2 anytime I'm pretty sure. If you go HID, you will have all kind of heat issues in that small space. But since you will be ventilating for odor, it might not be such a prob. I've never built anything like that but I'm the DIY forum can help you.

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So until I'm willing to go with a bigger grow area I should just stick with CFL? Any specific brand you think I should go with. Eventually I want to turn the closet into the grow room but I have to talk the girlfriend into it and I doubt she would want to give up her closet space.

I was going to put as many as possible on the sides and on the tops but I read that I can get away with reflectors instead of doing the sides. And if I paint the inside of the box white It'll also reflect more.

Is it possible to give a plant to much co2?

I know Co2 is heavier than regular air so I was thinking about just hooking it up to some aquarium tubing and having it drop from the top next to the lighting.

Is this safe? Or should I just let the bottle st next to the plants right by the base?

Also I was searching the site and thought about doing this setup for my lights https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/64628-easy-cheap-dyi-cfl-setup.html Any ideas on if this will be equal to using the long tubes? I was thinking about alternating them between the blue spectrum and the red spectrum lights if I could find them. So far all I found are the basics.

hi man. Wellcome to the RIU ! Best of luck ! Cheers!!! CheetaH

Thanks. I'll need all the luck I can get.

Also I read when a plant goes from the vegging to the flowering state it doubles in height is this true? Is so I'll need to rethink my growing box build.

hi,
i have just done some cost calculations on bulbs (based on wattage (will worlk for any electrical appliance)) (running constantly for a year)(kilowatts x hours in a year (8760) = number of kilowatts per hour (kwh) x 0.16 (cost of one kilowatt).

10w - £14.01
20w - £28.03
40w - £56.06
60w - £84.09


over 60w cfl's do not fit in ordinary light fixtures i don't think but if you need to do any calculations on the cost of your power output use this formula (kilowatts (e.g. 40w bulb would be 0.04 kilowatts) x hours in a year (8760) = number of kilowatts per hour x 0.16 (average of 16 pence per kilowatt of energy) = your answer in pounds and pence how much it will cost to run the appliance for a year on 24/7.

thanks for the info i currently have 6 60w cfl's on top of my seeds while they are trying to escape their cubes. As soon as they pop out they will be greeted with light. I'll run 24/7 for 2 weeks and then drop it down to 18/6 when its time to transfer them into their new home. From there it'll stay 18/6 until its time to flower which is 12/12. I'm guessing this will be fine.

Thanks for the info.
I just came back from HD and bought everything I need for now I would've bought some wood to make my grow but I didn't have my truck at the time. I'm hoping someone can tell me if its okay for the light bulbs to slightly touch each other. They aren't right on top of each other but they are close and I know they will touch each other as I move them closer to the plants.

If they cant touch each other I have to move away from 6 CFL's and 1 light I used to grow my tomatoes (its not cfl its mercury) to 4 CFL's and the mercury bulb. Any suggestions?

EDIT: I think if anything I'll have heating issues with the bulbs being so close I dont think that will be a problem because everything will be air cooled.

Decided to make a very temporary setup for my grow just for the next two days. Its a rubbermaid tub flipped upside down. Cut some holes in it to fit the string thats holding up my surge protector and all the lights are beaming down about 3 in away because I dont wont it to close to the humidity dome.

I have pics if anyone wants them. The plants are also on a warming mat and I peaked (I know I'm not supposed too) and they are close, very long tap root and the dirt is humped up on most so it is trying to force its way through. I say two days tops in the mean time I'll be building the actual housing.

Tell your girlfriend that if she likes to smoke then she better give up that closet. Your grow will be a lot easier, faster, and with way bigger yields if you use that closet. I have a 400watt HPS setup in my 6'x6'x8' closet with only one fan and I don't even need to turn the a/c down further than what I usually would. The sooner you move to the closet, the less you'll have to invest in more cfls and just go straight to HID. All you need is a ballast, a hood/socket, and a bulb. Later you can get a MH conversion bulb that would run off the same ballast to maximize veg growth.

I tried she doesn't smoke anymore because of work but her brother does and is always coming over and when we work together we usually can get what we want. I'm still trying but she does have a lot of crap in the closet since we moved from a house to an apartment.
Theres really no room to get rid of her crap but in a few months we're moving to a bigger place just so I can have a grow room so I'll keep my little setup for now and when our lease is up we'll be going back to our house hopefully and I can get the garage or the extra closet. (Master Bedroom has two closets)

forget about the garage (too hard to regulate temps). Yeah, just keep it small till you get the hang of indoor growing and then scale it up when you get the space.

Yea I was thinking that about the garage plus my neighborhood has nosey neighbors. They want to cycle dinner parties and such, have their kids come over and play with my dog. Glad the owner decided to remodel and put us up in the apartment its like a break me and my girl even thought about staying here and looking for a different place.

So far it seems as if my plants are loving the extra heat from the lamps one poked out while I was gone and the lights have only been on it for a few hours. Just a tiny little piece of shell is through but I bet by morning I'll see some leaves.

while building my box and realizing I need reflecting areas so I was thinking about putting mirrors on the bottom of the shelves underneath the plants and I wont really need anything reflective on the sides because there will be lights down the sides also.

Good Idea? Bad Idea?

I couldn't think of anything more reflective.

two have broken surface. They look little and weak. I'm guessing now is okay to start giving them some light? I think I may have planted a few of them too deep because I think I went down an inch on the first 4 I put in cubes. The rest are just a few cms from the top.

I still have 5 more seeds so I dont mind losing a few if I can call it a learning experience.

Wait... what? I should have been checking this thread. You should give the seeds light the moment they have been planted and then solid until they have four leaves, then switch to 18/6, 20/4, whichever you prefer.