ANOTHER STEALTH PC GROWBOX...input is appreciated!

EDIT - I've started a Grow Journal in the grow journal section. I realized i'd get a better response if it were in the right forum. http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/588208-scums-pc-grow-flower.html#post7302437. i will no longer be updating this thread.


i've made many changes to my case since i started this thread and out of boredom, i decided to make a very detailed diagram of what i used to make my case. i originally posted this thread before i saw there was a grow journal forum... since it's a do-it-yourself forum, i figured i should at least show how my case could be recreated, as it is proving to be a pretty effective stealth box. instead of putting the diagram i made of the case on the second page, it makes more sense to put it on the original post, since it's most likely the design i'm going to be sticking with until the end.

check the pictures below..


----ORIGINAL POST----
Hey guys... i've been lurking this forum for like 3 weeks now. i'm sure i'm one of thousands of curious first time growers who became inspired by some of the pc grow box designs and came here to start one out..i've seen that there are many pc enthusiasts and detractors, so i'm sure i will get comments from both sides. i'm not tryin to grow enough to smoke out a whole army, i just wanna get a feel for the process and have a little to reward myself with in the end for my troubles. i chose the pc case because i've got 2 computers in my room already, and this one right next to it doesn't look suspicious in any way. i even have a firewire cord running from one comp to the other just for the effect. anything that can help me would greatly be appreciated.

supplies i've used so far

-18inch computer case
-1 large comp fan for exhaust and 1 small comp fan for intake harvested from an old pc
-a 15v adapter for the large fan, 12v for the small
-powerstrip glued to top
-2 socket adapters
-2 6500k 27watt cfls
-thick drumliner garbage bag to insulate
-cut up reflective emergency blanket from car to replace mylar.. (looks like it should work just fine)
-terrarium thermometer and hygrometer
-lightbulb packaging to create a light trap for the exhaust fan.
-bag seeds from what i was told was a g13 strain (even if it wasn't, it was gnarly bud)
-miracle gro organic potting soil
-hot glue, duct tape, electrical tape, etc.

aprox. cost ~80 bucks since i found most of it around the house.

i picked up a new case... the only one i could afford was 18 inches tall. got it for around 45 bucks. i sliced a few fingers open quite deep tryin to gut the thing.. i gave up and left the little powersource cage inside of it for now. i figured if i need that space later (most likely i will) i will cut it out.

there are a few concerns i have though...

-is it ok to run a 12v fan on a 15v adapter? the fan is blowing pretty fast, i was wondering if there is an elevated risk of fire from overvoltage. what are the chances that it will blow the fan out?

-right now, my seedlings are covered in plastic bags for the greenhouse effect so i'm not worried about condensation just yet, but the powerstrip is exposed on the top of the box. what should i do to prevent condensation on the powerstrip to avoid fire? would it be feasible to put a piece of glass or plexiglass between the plants and the lights to minimize this risk?

-i'm pretty concerned about the little space that i do have... i've seen a few pc cases where the powerstrip was mounted to the back wall and the lights were horizontal in the box instead of hanging vertically... i tried this, but the bulbs were too long to fit inside the case horizontally. are there smaller bulbs of the same wattage and light temp? right now i only have like 9-10 inches from the bottom of the case to work with. i've seen some people using the scrog or lst techniques with very small spaces, but i'm not sure if that will be enough.

-i have temperature spiking at 80F... is that too high? this concerns me because that's only with 2 lights. I was planning on adding 2 more once the plants began to grow a little more.
**EDIT** oops. the fan i had as exhaust came loose and i put it back in backwards.... that explains the heat issue. **


-right now i have 4 germinated seeds in dixie cups with miracle gro organic soil... 3 have begun to sprout and one looks like it might not make it. what is the feasibility of having the 3 that make it fit in the case at least until i can determine what sex they are?


i know this is a lot of questions for someone who hasn't really contributed anything to the forum before, but if anyone could help me out, i would greatly appreciate it!

please check the pictures too.

thanks a bunch!

-scum

 

thanks berry!

i'm kinda thinkin that i might have this thread in the wrong forum.. is there a way i could move it?

anyway.
ok.. so it's day 3 of the grow.

i've made a few little changes to my case... i took out the tiny fan i had goin as intake and got a brand new super quiet one, the same size as the exhaust (not sure how big it is, too lazy to measure it haha). I put a small tin full of cold water with a sponge in it right in front of the intake... it helps with the humidity (went from 20% to 30% in a few hours) and also seems to keep the temp around 77F.

i have one plant that seems to be growing very healthily... another seemed like its shell was stuck on it, so i lightly removed it... i guess i was wrong cuz it only had one fully formed cotyledon. the other one is yellowish and misshapen and the first set of leaves is shriveled and thin.. not sure if it will be reversible. another one has a stem about an inch long, but the shell is still firmly attached to the top.. i don't want to remove it yet, as i don't want to risk repeating what happened to the second one. the 4th one is just poking out of the soil.

today i was reading up about how you really should have drain holes in your pots.. so i added about 8 holes to the bottom of each cup and placed them inside of a plastic tupperware container.. i didnt want to risk drowning the plants so i took a shotglass full of water and cut a piece of the sponge to fit in it... put it inside the tupperware and lightly rubberbanded a piece of plastic wrap over the box, with enough opening on the sides to let air circulate through, but enough coverage to build some condensation.

the one plant is lookin like it should, but i dont know about the rest. don't wanna put all my chips on one plant that could be male, so i'm goin the safe route and germinating some backup seeds just incase.

i'm definitely gonna have to add 2 more lights, so i'm still mulling over some different ways i could set them up. any ideas?

 

hey guys.. sorry for the lack of updates... so my first attempt was a total fail. things were looking good for a while. i went away for a night and came back to find that the powerstrip had become unglued and the lights fell right onto my seedlings and scorched em. so i completely gutted and redesigned the case.. (i'll upload pics of it later)

i set up the powerstrip (with velcro this time) on the back side so the lights dont hang down, but rather across. got a few different bulbs... first ones i got were 14 watt daylight bulbs but they were only 5000k. so i have 2 of those and 2 20 watt 6500k.

tore out the emergency blanket reflective shit and opted for a windshield reflector instead.. looks waaay cleaner and seems to reflect better.

i got a big 4 1/2 inch comp fan from radio shack for $5.99 ($24.99 originally but the shelf label was wrong and they honor those mistakes.. kick ass!).. i have that set up as an intake blowing right towards the lights to push the heat towards the exhaust fan.

got a small jiffy pellet seed starter and germinated 10 of 12 seeds successfully. i put a small thermometer in with the seeds and it stayed between 75-80F.. they were growing just fine for about 2 weeks until about 2 days ago... the leaves on what were my healthiest looking plants started turning dark green and brown.. i touched one to see if it was dried out and it pretty much just cracked in half.

i dont get why this happened.. i water them once a day.. at one point they were kinda droopy like i overwatered them, but now it seems like they're almost too dry. havent used any nutes yet. i have the plants a few inches from the light. i think the temp spiked to 90 at one point, but i only saw this happen once... is this enough to cause the damage shown in the pics?

is it because they're still in the jiffy pellets? any way the brown spots can be reversed?

thanks for the input

 

sorry for the lack of updates... the yellowing/dryness issue cleared up... i guess i just had the plants too close to the light or somethin... most of the affected leaves died and crumbled up, but the new growth is looking very healthy and the plants are starting to fill in quicker than before. they're growing their 3rd set of leaves right now. i had one healthy plant that wasn't affected by the dry spell, and that one seems to be my number one at the moment.

i'd put some pictures up but i let my girl borrow my camera for the day.. so sometime this week i will have a full picture update including the modifications i made on the case..

overall though, things are going pretty well i would say though.

 

i didnt' buy any adapters.. they were all just 12v adapters i found lying around my house (one of which was for an external hard drive that i used frequently... didnt realize that. felt like kind of an idiot after that)

i just cut and stripped the wires on the adapters and twisted them up with the fan wires.. most of the adapters tell you which sides are + and -, but if they dont, you can figure it out just by whether the fan spins or not. i've heard of fans spinning the opposite direction if they're hooked up wrong, but i dont see how that could work.. i wrapped the exposed wires in electrical tape lightly just to check if they were hooked up right.. if the fan went on, good. if not, i switched the wires. once they were hooked up right, i tightly wrapped them in electrical tape, then a thick layer of duct tape, then i used a hot glue gun to seal each end of the taped parts... seems like overkill but it's better to be safe than sorry i guess.

 

yeah i was planning on using lst for the 1 or 2 plants i decide to keep.

i really wish i had my camera right now so i could post pictures of my babies. right now there are 6 plants in peat cups the size of solo cups. a few of them are on their 4th set of leaves already, and just to see what would happen, i tried fimming one of them a few hours ago.

they are all bagseed plants and some of them seem to be very different from eachother. a few of them have a pretty strong herb-y smell (not like weed, but more like some kind of edible herb) but they're all different scents. i'm pretty sure that the one i fimmed is mostly sativa or fully because it has long thin fan leaves and most of the others have broad fat leaves... but what the hell do i know? i've never done this before. i'm just worried that it will quickly outgrow the case and be tough to lst... i'm thinking i might just veg it until it's warm enough to plant outside somewhere.. might end up doing that with several of them and just keep the 1-2 most developed to flower in the pc.

i've also thought about building a flower box somehow/somewhere in my house but space is VERY limited and it needs to be totally stealth. i'm already kinda pushing it as it is.

 

here's a diagram of my case i made in illustrator and photoshop when i was baked last night... hahaha could come in handy

 

ok guys... finally got my camera back


first picture is of the case with all the plants in it...


second picture is probably my healthiest looking plant.


the third picture.... this was a very healthy plant up until i just came home and looked at it... i'm not sure what's going on with it... its leaves started to curl upwards and it appears as if there are already some pistils(??) forming in the center of it. none of the other plants have this, i'm not sure what to make of it.

the 4th pic is a not-as-healthy looking plant, and some of the leaves underneath are starting to yellow.

5th pic is of the plant that i practiced fimming on 2 days ago.. it seems to be growing back the way i had hoped...


6th pic is of a plant that had a very rough start.. it grew out all mangled and twisted with a very thick stem and very long internode space. definitely stretches more every day. i'll probably just end up puttin this plant outside somewhere once it gets nice, as i think it will quickly outgrow the box.

and the last pic is of plant number 6... this one never showed too much development besides it's really think brittle stem... i tied it down just to see if it would bend towards the light and it barely did over the course of 4 days... probably just gonna chuck it.



so my main concerns right now are with plant number 2 and the pistil-like growth on it... i have not switched the lights over to 12/12 from 24/0 and the plants are nearing a month old now... could it have somehow gone into flowering already or is this not actually pistil growth?