Second grow - PC box + CFLs

Otacon · Feb 3, 2010

Well, my first grow didn't go so well. I made a ton of mistakes, had to move in the middle of my grow, and was forced to harvest way too early.

So, I'm giving it another shot. The entire grow will be in a PC box, using 4 25W 6500K CFL lights for vegging, and 4 23W 2700k lights for flowering.

3 seeds, which came from some very good stuff I smoked, cracked 4 days ago and were planted in jiffy pots. They sprouted the next day and were put in a humidity dome because the jiffy pots dry out way too fast(my fans are blowing directly over them). However, I'll have to transplant them tomorrow or the day after, because they'll overgrow the humidity dome.

Also, I'll have to make a cooltube or something - with 3 lights on, the temperatures range from 25-28 degrees Celsius, and I plan on using 4 lights.

This journal will be updated once a week. All suggestions, comments and questions are welcome, as long as you're not being a douchebag.

Finally, some pics - the case, the humidity dome, the sprouts

ErroneousRex · Feb 3, 2010

Haha interesting technique for raising the plants! I'm putting a PC together now so I'll be watching

ErroneousRex · Feb 6, 2010

hows the grow comin along? pics?

Otacon · Feb 7, 2010

Day 8:
I made the number one mistake and put my babies too close to the lights. Which resulted in their first leaves getting crispy on the top. I simply cut off the dead parts, moved them lower from the lights, and they seem to be doing fine.

Also, I made my ghetto-ass cooltube using CD boxes and wide sellotape and added the fourth light. The cooltube seems to be working, but it's not that effective, because the temperature tends to build up to 30-31 °C and stay there. I'm not too happy with this since growth slows at 32°C, so I'll add another outtake fan for the lower part of my case. I'm hoping that will keep the temperatures around 25-26°C.

Other than that... everything is going according to plan. Going to water them now.

Have some pics:

Otacon · Feb 14, 2010

Yesterday, Day 14:

Added another outtake fan and temperatures seem to be hovering around 25-27°C, so that solves the temperature problem. Also, I found 2 bigger pots laying around so I transplanted 2 of my best-looking babies. And, day 14 marked the start of 12/12. Wish I could veg for longer, but I'm dealing with 3 plants in a very limited space. I'm expecting to see sex within the next 2 weeks.

Have some pics:

tiyoo · Feb 14, 2010

I will be watching this also as I have a bunch of PC cases that I need to put to use. :-)

Otacon · Feb 20, 2010

Day 21 from seed,
Day 7 from 12/12:

Well, nothing much to say. They look great, I did some LST the other day, now I'm just waiting for them to show sex - then it gets interesting.

Also, I know the small one in the middle isn't getting much light - it was growing slowly from the start, so I decided to dedicate the lights to my other 2 plants which are quite bigger. This one will serve as a backup in case things go wrong

Pics:

Otacon · Feb 22, 2010

OK, quick update, day 23:

The biggest and healthiest plant turned out to be female, and I'm now calling her Emma

The medium one turned out to be male and was killed. To bad, but I'm being positive about it, so - more space for Emma

The smallest one in the little pot which received minimum light still hasn't shown it's sex, but I doubt I'll be able to harvest much from it even if it turns out female. Still, I'm keeping it, and may transplant it into the now-free bigger pot tomorrow.

So far, I'm happy

ErroneousRex · Feb 22, 2010

Looking good man. Sorry to hear about the male but hey they can't all be perfect. What did you get out of your first grow?

tiyoo · Feb 22, 2010

Ya me too man, I am soooo sorry to hear about the male, think you can salvage it or is it gone gone? Post some more pics when you get a chance, I am putting together a PC as we speak...I have a lot of questions on your design...my PC case is only 14 inches tall...

Spoon420 · Feb 23, 2010

looks good man +rep to u

but in my opinion, drop soil and pick up dwc or something... ur wasting so much room on the pots its ridiculous

Otacon · Feb 23, 2010

ErroneousRex said:
Looking good man. Sorry to hear about the male but hey they can't all be perfect. What did you get out of your first grow?

Almost nothing. I was forced to harvest way too early. Basically, I got around 10 grams of weed that could barely get you high. The plant was nowhere near ready.

tiyoo said:
Ya me too man, I am soooo sorry to hear about the male, think you can salvage it or is it gone gone? Post some more pics when you get a chance, I am putting together a PC as we speak...I have a lot of questions on your design...my PC case is only 14 inches tall...

Chopped the male as soon as I saw those balls

It's gone. I'd post some pics of the hairs on my girl, but I have a shitty camera which can't properly focus on them even in super macro mode, so you can't see shit. So I'll wait until my next scheduled update to take some new pics, which will hopefully show those white hairs. And I'll probably get some more branch growth until then.
Oh, and ask anything you want, I'll do my best to answer you.

Spoon420 said:
looks good man +rep to u

but in my opinion, drop soil and pick up dwc or something... ur wasting so much room on the pots its ridiculous

Thanks for the +rep, and thanks for the opinion. I'll check DWC out(already checked out your thread) and think about it, I was planning on changing to some form of hydro anyways. I just doubt it'll be on my next grow - I don't have any money, and I want to get some more experience growing in soil since hydro supposedly requires a higher level of experience and care.

Otacon · Feb 26, 2010

Day 27:

Gave them my 6-8-8 nutes today at 1/2 strength. I'm having some temperature problems again, they seem to be rising to 30°C... really have no idea what to do about this. Also, I'm seeing really slow growth here. And the lowest bottom 2 leaves are starting to yellow from the tips. Somehow, I have a strange feeling it's too early for that to be by-product of flowering, so I'm worried. Any help with probable causes would be nice.

ErroneousRex · Feb 27, 2010

Hmmm well the girls are lookin a little thirsty in your last pics but with half strength nutes almost a month in they might be hungry too. What's your feeding and watering schedule? Also about that heating problem, how many fans are you running and where are they placed? While we are at it, what's your lighting schedule?

Otacon · Feb 27, 2010

Yeah, because I took those pictures right before I watered them. I usually have to water once every 3 days, and this is the first time I found them drooping. I just started feeding half strength nutes with that watering. I'm running 2 fans, 1 intake and 1 outtake in an improvised cooltube which proved efficient. I also have one outtake in the lower part of the case, beneath the "cooltube". Temperatures seem to have risen these days along with the outside temperature, as weather improved recently. I'm currently running 12/12, last pics were from day 13 flowering.

Otacon · Feb 27, 2010

Quick update, day 29:

The smallest plant turned out to be male, too. So I only have one female left. But I'm actually happy with this outcome, more space for her and her side branches

I just transplanted her into a bigger pot, gave her a good watering, and then re-tied her. She seems happy, which makes me happy

ErroneousRex · Feb 28, 2010

your right she does look happier

well i did some figuring on your temps and your on the fringe at 30C but as long as they stay below 32C nothing detrimental should happen. also, try taking your temp readings in a shaded spot to get the ambient temp and not surface temps. thats what your really after anyway. oh and your lst looks pretty good but i think the idea is to tie up the main cola and let the lower shoots catch up at first, then tie them all down for an even canopy.

Otacon · Mar 2, 2010

ErroneousRex said:
your right she does look happier well i did some figuring on your temps and your on the fringe at 30C but as long as they stay below 32C nothing detrimental should happen. also, try taking your temp readings in a shaded spot to get the ambient temp and not surface temps. thats what your really after anyway. oh and your lst looks pretty good but i think the idea is to tie up the main cola and let the lower shoots catch up at first, then tie them all down for an even canopy.

Well, that was spot on. I don't know how I managed to overlook something like this, but the outtake fan from my "cooltube" was blowing right behind my thermometer. I moved the termometer to the middle of my case, and temps are now 25-27°C again

ErroneousRex · Mar 3, 2010

haha you do the heavy lifting and I'll do the thinking

Otacon · Mar 6, 2010

Day 35,
Day 14 flowering:

Well, Emma seems to be doing fine. Looks healthy to me, and since I started with nutes no more leaves are yellowing, so I'm guessing it was a nitrogen deficiency.

She seems to be doing great, actually. I see a lot of new pistils shooting here

Second grow - PC box + CFLs

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