dresser stealth grow

[Eric Chaton]

buthidae,
Everything you're doing shows your determination & I admire you for that. I've never done a scrog but my next grow will be one. Great job on the cab & the reflector for your bulbs. Seeing that puts a smile on my face. I'm enjoying following your progress. Very cool !!

[corvoid]

Hey man what strain are you planning on growing? There's so much variation in how tall they wanna grow. You may need to both LST and top your plant depending on how she does. Guess as long as you keep the lights really close, and maybe veg with 24/0 light for three weeks, you could cut down on stretching.

Wouldn't soil be a little easier? You could get away with pots that are like nine inches high, giving you more room under the lights.

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by corvoid

Hey man what strain are you planning on growing? There's so much variation in how tall they wanna grow. You may need to both LST and top your plant depending on how she does. Guess as long as you keep the lights really close, and maybe veg with 24/0 light for three weeks, you could cut down on stretching.

Wouldn't soil be a little easier? You could get away with pots that are like nine inches high, giving you more room under the lights.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the strain is, it's bagseed, so I'm running blind. I agree on the LST coupled with topping, especially after seeing how little room I do have in there.

Reason I didn't decide on soil is cause I have NO luck with potted plants. I used to grow peppers outside, and would occasionally start them from seed indoors. Always had trouble with the soil, and better luck with hydro, even with transplanting to the garden. I believe that they may be hardier as than MJ as well, as I really just did the peppers by trial and error. After reading all this, they probably had WAY too many nutes. But I digress...

What size pot would I need to do a full grow? I also read a lot that pointed to heavier yeilds and more aggressive growth from hydro, which was a large determining factor to this setup. Being that it'll only be one plant, and I'm planning on vegging a little longer, accelorated growth and increased yeilds are a pretty big turning point. Maybe there's a method that's shorter than DWC but will still have larger yeilds than an indoor soil stealth grow?

[corvoid]

You've probably seen edwardvanhalen's setup. It's a lot like yours. Like him, I think you can get over an ounce from one plant ....and he's using soil.

Hydro seems more difficult and prone to error. Maybe I'm a noob, but in looking at all these posts on GC and other places over the last couple of months, I've seen good consistancy in indoor soil grows and more disasters in hydro. Just put your seed in a pot and water it, no big deal.

Anyway your cabinet is way better than my tiny filing cabinet. I bet you'll get two ounces with that nice light fixture which seems perfect for one plant.

[myles117]

even with soil grows.... ph is still quite relavent and not paying attention while adding acidic fertilizors can result in nutrient lockout and a sad/aangry grower. Soil does act as a buffer however... giving more space for error by grower in the ph category. Iv had plenty plaants in soil have serious issues from the nutrient salts building up and it is frustrating as hell. Not saying your post is wrong but shit can go wrong easily either road you take if things arent monitored and tended to properly

[buthidae]

I have seen his setup, and they are very similar. It's something I'll have to consider quickly.

Hopefully I can get more opinions on this before I decide, before I have little plants going and it's too late. Soil may be easier, but at what cost? Although I'll be losing something by keeping it setup the way it is due to height restrictions.

So, the debate ensues, dwc with 1.5-2' of head space, or soil with 2-2.5' of head space (plus whatever I can get by downsizing light fixture as money allows)? What does everyone think, which would be a better yeild (by better, I mean both quality and quantity)?

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

even with soil grows.... ph is still quite relavent and not paying attention while adding acidic fertilizors can result in nutrient lockout and a sad/aangry grower. Soil does act as a buffer however... giving more space for error by grower in the ph category. Iv had plenty plaants in soil have serious issues from the nutrient salts building up and it is frustrating as hell.

I'm not even sure how you would go about checking your soils pH, would you check runoff from watering? I'm currently laid off, so I have plenty of time to monitor my pH, and anything else I might need to (though I don't have equipment yet to monitor anything but pH).

[myles117]

id do hydro.... strange coming from a soil grower but its just as easy if ya know what you are doing and growth is up to 1.5 times faster then soil as far as vegetative state is concerned. means bud faster and prrobli better yield.

[corvoid]

Only you can decide man. It's your grow.

All I can tell you is that I'm a total noob, I'm away from home a lot, sometimes a couple days at a time, and I tried to grow some plants in soil in some stupid little cabinet. So far, I'm really happy, because I do like nothing with those plants and good buds are growing anyway. It is so friggin easy.

I'm really happy with the MiracleGro (and edwarvanhalen uses it too) because for the first three weeks at least you don't need to worry about doing anything except keeping it moist.

If you want a monster plant in there with a huge yield you could use a bigger pot and veg it for longer.

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by corvoid

If you want a monster plant in there with a huge yield you could use a bigger pot and veg it for longer.

Only concern with this is that then I'm right back to the problem I'm having now with height. I've read that MJ's roots grow more vertically than horizontally. I haven't seen anyone try to do a large, but shallow pot for soil.

[myles117]

they def dont love shallow pots..... now if it were a cactus.... then itd be a dif ballgame lol

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

they def dont love shallow pots..... now if it were a cactus.... then itd be a dif ballgame lol

Lol, the only plant I HAVE had luck in soil with. My intro in hydro mostly stemmed from a long time passion both for growing peppers, and for keeping aquariums/terrariums. It just seems easier to me, but the height is really bothersome... Is there another way to do hydro without the tall bucket that will be just as effective?

[corvoid]

Heck the height thing doesn't seem like it would be a problem in your cabinet, hydro or whatever. With and some proper tending of the plant I bet you'll be okay. You build that friggin awesome cab, man, you're grow will be fun to watch, I can tell.

I'm guessing that a 12" depth of soil, if that isn't too much for you, would be plenty for any cannabis (unless it was some monster strain of pure sativa).

[myles117]

Originally Posted by buthidae

Lol, the only plant I HAVE had luck in soil with. My intro in hydro mostly stemmed from a long time passion both for growing peppers, and for keeping aquariums/terrariums. It just seems easier to me, but the height is really bothersome... Is there another way to do hydro without the tall bucket that will be just as effective?

if you can finda lightproof container thats more shallow then a bucket (maybe a rubbermaid type bin or sumthin like it) then the roots will have no prrob goin sideways if they in water.

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

if you can finda lightproof container thats more shallow then a bucket (maybe a rubbermaid type bin or sumthin like it) then the roots will have no prrob goin sideways if they in water.

Would it be possible to do this and have the air stones to the side of the pot then? Also, I've read that the pot should be one inch above the water, what happens if the pot is partially submerged?

I could easily cut six to eight inches by going to a shallower container and by submerging the bottom inch or two of the pot. Any ideas/experience that could explain why this would/would not work?