Mini-fridge test run. 12/12 from seed - CFL, Soil with a spin

[bouncyball]

First off if you're reading this let me thank you for clicking. This is my first serious and complete setup for growing and it's time for a test run with it before I order some Sweet Tooth.

I'm going to be testing three things with this grow. The first and foremost is the ability of my fridge to produce buds by controling temps and smell as well as contain the amount of plants I need to get the yields I want.

I'm also primarily testing the effects of using organic nutes all the way through flowering versus flushing two weeks prior to harvest. Mainly with this I'm looking for the way it effects taste but also will compare things like potency, yield or flowering time.

The last thing is specific but is still adressed as it's own issue because the hardest part of a mini-fridge is controling temps and humidity. So in this light I'll be testing my ventilation and filtration to ensure a quality environment for my plants. <3

So lets give the basics now:

Some decently dank bagseeds
26w CFL bulbs, no set total amount yet.
12/12 from signs of the 2nd set of leaves.
Started in rockwool, moved into pots with hydroton (will elaborate below).
Watering with drinking water from the grocery store - ph adjusted to 6.3 +/- .1
Nutes will be Earth Juice Bloom only, and of course Superthrive!
Height is a major issue here (only 18" from top of pot to top of box!) so I will train the plants as needed

Ok, so here are some pics!
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Current water/Growing method - The way I have them growing right now I'm just testing as an idea. They are in 1.5" rockwool cubes and then in 4" clay pots with hydroton. I have the hole at the bottom of the pots taped up and I'm using my medium in some silly way that probably won't work but I'll explain anyways. My idea is that by sealing the drain hole and using hydroton inside of a clay pot .. when I water the water stands in the bottom but absorbs in the hydroton and claypot and evaporates. This is like a soil grow because I don't really use water as my medium but I'm still utilizing concepts of hydro with it. I see it like a drip/ebb&flow type thing. The water only stands for about an hour before evaporating, like a flood/drain - and then I water intermitantly like a drip system.

Just an idea I'm testing as well. I'll probably switch to soil here in a few days before the plants take off - unless they take off before I switch, which would rock. Maybe I'll do 2 plants like this the whole way and compare to soil? Or I'll save that for another grow.

Anyways there are 6 plants total - 3 sprouts pictured, they had a 36 hour headstart on the other 3. One of those is just now standing up and the other two are about to pop their heads out.

And I think that about sums it up. I know how these things go - it'll be slow here for about a week but with 12/12 from seed we'll start seeing things happen shortly!

Again, thank you for clicking and if you read through everything - you're a trooper. Now go smoke one for me.

[bouncyball]

So i'm sitting here smoking this amazing bud. I would have to say it's hashberry. very lush smell, euphoric high or couchlock in high dose, frosty as hell and pretty fire too, dense but soft. it inspired me to fix up my box a little bit and plan for the future.

i replanted all the sprouts to a mix of hydroton and soil. i figured it is the same principle as perlite. regardless i see no drawbacks.

i cleaned up the room this box is in and now it just seems like the computer is making any noise you would hear - this helps my stealth. i also upgraded my fan inside the box - it's a plastic camping fan that is designed for high airflow output because of being outdoors. this seem'd pretty perfect.

as can always be expected - pics. a note about the first one: that light trap doesn't do much for my stealth; i know this. reasoning is that i'll be breaking the box down after i harvest so that i can relocate - i'll move it inside then .. and if i feel compelled otherwise it takes 10 minutes.

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the last one is all the light that is in my room at night.

[docmojoman]

I'm feelin' the fridge! I am all about small grows! I have a couple of plants that I grew from seed then flowered early.

Good luck!

[nomel90]

Looks like a nice little setup, light proof and stealthy from the get go. Just hope no one goes for a refreshingly cool beverage only to find a few little plants growing...

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by nomel90

Looks like a nice little setup, light proof and stealthy from the get go. Just hope no one goes for a refreshingly cool beverage only to find a few little plants growing...

haha. i've considered that but as long as i've had this fridge sitting where it is, i've never had it plugged up before. so anyone that knows it's there assumes it's empty still. ;P

aaaand. if anyone actually went into the room at this point, they would already know about it (ie: they live here). i'm about 99% sure on my stealth thus far. the 1% comes when smell is an issue.

room temp: 71.6
box temp: 77.5
current medium: soil in clay pots
current lighting: four 23w 2700k; second dark period of 12/12 ended about noon.
watering: put 3 drops of super thrive in 2 gallons store-bought drinking water; ph is 6.4. no set timing, testing the top inch of soil for dampness

just twiddling my thumbs. i'm thinking as i smoke again. thinking alot about my light coverage .. i'm going to start looking at the highest powered 18" flouro tubes i can find. i want to be able to mount them verticaly onto the walls of the fridge, then use only two CFL bulbs from the top of the canopy. trying to maximize. i dunno here i'll show you this .. lol

guess i should say that the cfl's would have to be height adjustable

paint_lighting.jpg

[docmojoman]

Originally Posted by bouncyball

...thinking alot about my light coverage .. i'm going to start looking at the highest powered 18" flouro tubes i can find. i want to be able to mount them verticaly onto the walls of the fridge, then use only two CFL bulbs from the top of the canopy. trying to maximize....

Go for T5s tubes and ballasts - you can get the whole set up at: 1000 Bulbs

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by docmojoman

Go for T5s tubes and ballasts - you can get the whole set up at: 1000 Bulbs

nice tip, unfortunatly i can't use anything larger than 18" or i'd have to put it in sideways. 22.5" total vertical space i have. hehe

i started looking at other parts of the site though. and i came across some other alternatives i think could work well .. only i don't know where to find a ballast or a plug for this one

Sylvania 20559 - CF36DF/830 - 36 Watt - 4 Pin 2-G10 Base - 3000K - CFL Light Bulb

any idea? i could use 4 of those on the walls, and two or four regular cfls in the middle.

[bouncyball]

I'm killing myself over this bulb selection .. what I have picked out right now is so primo I can't describe but.. I just can't figure it out. I need some input

Philips 34511-6 - PL-L 36W/830/4P - NAED 20581 - 36 Watt - 4 Pin 2G11 Base - 3000K - CFL Light Bulb

it's a 2G11 plug but for the life of me i can't find a SOCKET for it that is anything i think I could use. i'm not sure what i'm looking for here ... argh. i don't mind wiring it up myself. if only i thought i could find the right socket to plug the bulb into.

if i could get that worked out .. how amazing. four of those with two 23w cfl's would give me 4870 lumen/sqft and 76.8 lumen/watt! another two cfls bumps that to 5870 and 74.5! i want those bulbs in my box. now. <3

[piper32]

This is nice looking. Bravo dude!

[tyrone bigms]

Looks cool dude. I was thinking of doing something in a regular fridge.. but how did you get holes for intake and exhaust?

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by tyrone bigms

Looks cool dude. I was thinking of doing something in a regular fridge.. but how did you get holes for intake and exhaust?

Bingo, I made this thread just for you it would seem.

A pictorial DIY for how I installed my exhaust.

http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-room...haust-fan.html

[bouncyball]

Lights just came back on today. 3rd night of 12 for the ones in pots.

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got bored when i went food shopping, looked around the food storage containers at wal-mart and bought two of these 1.3 liter jugs to test out as mini-bubble buckets for potential grows down the line. :P for now i'm going to plant that one sprout in a pot and take it out to veg side by side with the hydro one.

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well, as you could maybe tell from the pictures i have more sprouts than i can really deal with - they're all just bagseed anyways. i'm still only flowering 6 plants total i'm just going to pick the weakest ones out as i run out of space - and of course any males go first. haha

edit: my other option with that bucket is a 4" plastic pot that i've cut slits and drilled holes into. it fits dead into the hole. it's amazing i'll show you in another pic later today once i make the other one. :P

[docmojoman]

Originally Posted by bouncyball

I'm killing myself over this bulb selection .. what I have picked out right now is so primo I can't describe but.. I just can't figure it out. I need some input

Philips 34511-6 - PL-L 36W/830/4P - NAED 20581 - 36 Watt - 4 Pin 2G11 Base - 3000K - CFL Light Bulb

it's a 2G11 plug but for the life of me i can't find a SOCKET for it that is anything i think I could use. i'm not sure what i'm looking for here ... argh. i don't mind wiring it up myself. if only i thought i could find the right socket to plug the bulb into.

if i could get that worked out .. how amazing. four of those with two 23w cfl's would give me 4870 lumen/sqft and 76.8 lumen/watt! another two cfls bumps that to 5870 and 74.5! i want those bulbs in my box. now. <3

Just call into the 1-800 # those guys are REALLY helpful. They sell the sockets, they also have a ballast that will work. Check out the Fullham line of ballasts. All you probably need is a Fullham Workhorse 6 or 7 - I'll look into it when I get a chance!

[docmojoman]

Here is Fullham's ballast calculator. You just enter the number and type of bulbs that you intend on using and it will give you the ballast(s) you can use! You can then go back to 1000 bulbs and get the ballast!

[docmojoman]

I just ran your specs through the calculator, and it says that you can use a Fulham Workhorse 7 ballast. Just choose "twin" in the "Choose your bulb type" pull down. Then choose 4 x 36w in "Choose quantity and wattage" pulldown.

You will then get to a spec sheet page complete with a download-able wiring diagram.