So... started a grow (first time)

[dokholidae]

So forumers,

I finally figured out how to upload photos on GrassCity.com. Apparently, they didn't have the option available for me when I checked last time, but now I see it there.

Anyway.... onward to the photos!

-- Fan and Lighting Rig

-- sideview of rubbermaid box

This is, of course, my growbox. It's a rubbermaid box, and as you can see, there's a fan on the side. This is my exhaust fan, and there're hanging lights too that I'm using to hover over the plant itself when it is closed. The wires are attached to a loop of cable wire (or something like that), which is tied to metal loops that's bolted on the top of the rubbermaid box. This helps ensure stability.

The lighting wires themselves can be pulled as the plant grows, though I need to find a way to hold them outside the box (i.e. so they don't drop on the plant).


-- carbon scrubber

The PC fan itself inside the box is 73cfm, so it should be sufficient to move hot air outside. I have 2 passive intake holes on the bottom (one hole has wires coming out of it). Not sure if I will be adding a new one.

For odor control, I decided to try this method. The carbon scrubber itself is designed such that there is another fan that's hollowed out on the outside, and the screws are long enough to go through the fan inside the box, and the fan outside the box. The fan outside the box is wrapped in pantyhose, and inside is filled with activated carbon.

-- sideview of carbon scrubber

However, for now the plant doesn't smell, so I am using this opportunity to ventilate even more hot air outside.

-- Hanging Lights

You can see how close my lights are to the plant. Before, it was just a grodan box, but I just transplanted it into soil (Foxfarm) and I'm going to wait to see if it works. I could see the root on the bottom of the grodan box, and figured it was time to put it straight into the soil as you can see.

-- plant close-up shot

My little baby! It's my first time, so I hope this plant is very forgiving if it receives any abuse.

I originally had two seeds in two grodan boxes, but the other one was obviously dead, as nothing came out and I cracked open the grodan box a bit to see what's up. The seed didn't even budge. :'(

The other one... as you can see, is alive.

Tips/Advice are welcome!

[killachronic]

Just sprout the seeds in a moist paper towel. Im pretty sure they don't need any light to germinate. Or you could just go ahead and throw them in the dirt and if they don't pop up in a week or so they are probably dead.

[dokholidae]

Updated with photos.

[KittensOnPCP]

Good looking set up, I used to use a rubbermaid container, but 8 plants was a bit too many for it
Your plant is probably going to outgrow that box, so when that happened to me, I cut a very large hole in the lid, stacked another box with a hole in the bottom on top of it and then raised the lights to the taller bin.
Oh, and a good way to hold wires from the outside is to get some Zip-Ties (the ones that usually come around wires to hold them together, riot police use them too) and put that around the group of wires and leave the tail part of it sticking out so that it can be duct-taped to the side.
Good luck with your grow!

[dokholidae]

Originally Posted by killachronic

Just sprout the seeds in a moist paper towel. Im pretty sure they don't need any light to germinate. Or you could just go ahead and throw them in the dirt and if they don't pop up in a week or so they are probably dead.

I already put them in the Grodan so I didn't want to disturb them when they were processing growth. One of the seeds never busted, so I threw it away as you can see in the picture, I only have one plant left.

Right now it's not growing because, I suspect, it's undergoing shock in a transplant (grodan into soil). I hope it resumes normal growth soon. The leaves are actually showing a burned colour (a little purple/black'ish), so I raised my lights a bit.

Originally Posted by KittensOnPCP

Good looking set up, I used to use a rubbermaid container, but 8 plants was a bit too many for it
Your plant is probably going to outgrow that box, so when that happened to me, I cut a very large hole in the lid, stacked another box with a hole in the bottom on top of it and then raised the lights to the taller bin.
Oh, and a good way to hold wires from the outside is to get some Zip-Ties (the ones that usually come around wires to hold them together, riot police use them too) and put that around the group of wires and leave the tail part of it sticking out so that it can be duct-taped to the side.
Good luck with your grow!

Thanks! I have a back-up plan for if my plant grows too big. The plan is to buy two ropes of chains... and create a metal hook each side. So that means 4 hooks, and it'll be hanging over my closet rail just above the growbox.

The plan's to hook each hook into the top of the box, and eventually pulling the chain (hook will have to be adjustable) upward effectively raising the top of the box. The walls outside are white too so I shouldn't be too worried, the only main problem here is odor control.

But that's something for me to consider later (the whole plan).