Mission: Get store bought clones a jumpstart on spring here in sunny southern california Equipment: 70 watt MH HID wall mount type from large home improvement store 1 double thick cardboard shipping box 17x17x36 inch... 2 rolls of gorilla tape 1 roll of aluminum flashing 14in x 10 ft ....assorted nuts/bolts... copper tube for spacers 1 120mm low speed fan .. cell ph charger Feb 01 2013: take delivery of 5 clones from online supplier.. nice sized girls all about 8 inches or better 2 blue dream..and 3 white berry Remembering last years early planted green crack that turned into little volly ball sized plants and then bloomed.. i decide not to just stick them in the ground and stand back .. my usual method...off to the trusted internet i go ...we all know how helpfull that was.. ok so after reading thread after thread ,, pages and pages.. i decide the 70 watt MH is about what i'm willing to pay to run .. cheap skate that i am..and low inital cost as well ...so off to the home improvement center.. with light in hand i saw hole in box and presto.. some white paint and a few bolts .. it's styling...turn light sensor to on 24-7 and 3 min later the light goes off ..ok so i can remove the sensor .. no big deal ..lights on ...fans running .. things are looking up...let it run an hour ... touch light OUCH damm that thing is smoking hot .. ok so we remote the ballast .. good to go...so ...now the question is ... how close do i put the plants to the light ..so i know enough about lighting to understand the " inverse square law "...hmmm so how close is to close i'm thinking ...so we start with the 5 gal bucket as the pic shows....button up the box for the night.. Feb 02 2013: light on all night and things look ok.. one of the white berrys looks unhappy.. leave her outside the box for 24 hours .... get wild hair.. lets improve the box today .. as it leaked light like a freeking UFO had landed in the garden shed the box is living in ...spend day making light traps on outside of the intake and exhaust holes in the box ..more tape on everything .. door seal .. light to box area ... Feb 03 2013: put unhappy girl back in box ..the white berrys are looking a bit crisp on the tips .. set them all in the bottom of the box .. the 2 blue dreams look fine .. Feb 04 2013: unhappy girl is now really wilted .. coat hanger and plastic bag her..leave her out of the box again .. another wild hair kinda day.. get alumin flashing roll .. ahhhh DYI reflector.. use up rest of roll covering inside upper half of box ..shiney.. heh...another night check shows still light leaking from vent light traps .. Feb 05 2013: unhappy girl now looks like i used a blow torch on her .. and the other 2 white berrys are looking sad as well .. but the 2 blue dreams have survived it all so far unscathed...more light trap work..i think it's finally light tight... LUX---LUMENS---CANDELPOWER---WATTS--- LUX---LUMENS---CANDELPOWER---WATTS--- Meter-Candle, Foot-Candle, Flame, Phot, Nox, Lux, Lumen/square Meter, Lumen/square Centimeter, Lumen/square foot, ... Candle (International, German, pentane, UK), Decimal Candle, Hefner Candle, Carcel Unit, Bougie Decimal, Lumen (International)/Steradian and Pentane Candle (10 candle power). Are you confused ?? i sure am and i understand at least part of this..the more i read the less i know at all...so the basic question still stands ..how close is to close...for reading light levels i now have ..1 $ 8 3 in one PH light meter.. not much help..3 light meter apps for my cell phone.. better .. if i knew what i was doing ..beecam / lux meter.. both read out 10/100/1000/10,000,16,000lumens the other reads in lux from zero up to about 600 lux in full sun .. some advice on clones under hid would be welcome at this point...
So after playing with the light meter apps for my smart phone.. I took outside as my baseline reading.. after all thats what we are trying to reproduce.. mid winter day.. so it's a low baseline.. not mid summer mind you .. Compare reading in full sun to readings in box .. keep getting closer to lamp.. hmmmm.. the only really bright places are the side of the lamp it's self ... the old Inverse Square Rule i suspect... pendant drop the lamp down out of the reflector ..without the power to waste of a high watt lamp i've put the plants up along side the lamp..
Ordered 5 new clones chemdog mars candy chocolate sour diesel alien og diablo og they should arrive tommorow.. with 30 clones to chose from it was hard to decide..i think 10 clones is near limit using both upper and lower sections..i'll start the new girls in the bottom till they harden up
girls arrived late and got planted in 3 inch pots .. left overnight in cab base..repotted the 2 dreams and 2 of the berrys into 6 inch pots as they are showing root bound after 12 days ..planted the fried and semi recovered berry outside..when i opened the cab this AM 3 of the 5 new kids were hung over with a bad case of the wilts..put everybody in ICU and misted the group every few min for the rest of the day .. ICU and no light tonight..they perked back up finally.. just to dry for them i think..
Yesterday was a disaster for the new kids on the block .. i spent most of the day misting them and kept them in a covered bucket.. they wilted if left unmisted for more then an hour.. left ICU tent sopping wet last night.. i'll see in a few if they survived the night
More time spent trying to keep the new girls alive.. another day of misting .. i think i know whats wrong .. i cut down the clay soil with some potting mix .. i'll repot them this AM into pure clay like i did on the 1st group..Put the 4 1st group clones outside in the ground .. put sun shields up on them for the time being ..
There all dead Jim !! Dammit Bones they can't all be dead.. Well we may have 1 left alive.. Time will tell.. In other news i'm having a tough time finding Clones from other sources then the infamous one i've used twice..Wasted several hours and 60 miles of driving for nada..And still have to return to pick up the deposit i left .. another well advertized so called Clone sellers retail outlet.. NOT..so today i'll try the last supplier on my short list.. post more later
I'm subbed on your grow bro... I just did a diy 70... I have a bag seed diablo og plant... I want to start a grow journal...(hope I get a female) I plan on having two mothers taking 3 clone off each every two weeks and put them into my other box with a 100 watt diy hps... I dont know if diablo would be good for a small perpetual garden... I guess we'll see... How do I post post pics?
Whats your temperature and humidity in your box?... My lowest temp has been 76 and my highest has been 89... It usually maintains 81 with the door open during the day... I'm goons grab two pc fans today and see where I'm at with intake outtake holes with fans to boost the airflow...
Interesting, you're cracking me up. But I would almost bet that your bulb is to close to the girls and the temp is way to much. Try moving the light 5-6" above them and putting a small fan blowing in there. Digging your setup tho, I LOVE growing in cardboard boxes, I use CFL tho.
Love seeing a cardboard box grow done well. Some look pretty terrible... like it was some sort of 'Grow-Box Building Race'. Seems like you're having the same problem I was when I made my boxes. I was also watering CONSTANTLY (you should be watering seedlings at most once every few days).Best advice I can give is to maximize air exchange to keep temp and humidity within range.. First Step - Enlarge intake/outtake holes Second Step - Add more fans (either for circulation or exchange) Love the Star Trek reference. I've just started watching the original after finally getting jaded with Voyager and TNG. Hope everything turns out awesome. Don't give up and make sure you keep fiddling with stuff (I sometimes fell into the habbit of just throwing up my hands).
Gizzo.. hit the go advanced button next to the quick reply.. the lower section has a manage attachment button ..ect .. you'll figure it out .. hell i did .. The orig cell charger/fan is now on a door doing light air movement duty .. the box got a 120mm 65 CFM 120volt shack fan.. controlled with a 120v attic fan thermo from Lowes.. temps range from lows of 50 to highs of 90f humidity from 50% to near 0.. box lives in a small garden shed and gets full sun so it can get hot even being winter.. The orig 4 suvivors moved outside after 14 days in the "BOX"..and are doing nicely..the 2nd group is a near total loss..might have 1 left alives.. not sure if it was bad plants .. late delivery means they spent the day in the trunk i suspect..
Give both Deep Space 9 .. and Enterprise a try if you liked Voyager and TNG..in related news my Clones are taking longer to assemble then they 1st thought.. how hard is it to pick out 1 ea of 12 plants ?? ohh well i can wait ..the other supplier said he can only send 1 hero and 5 of something else .. HUH .. ok so send me 5 blue dreams ..hard to go wrong with that .. more test subjects for Brass's torture chamber of plant horrors..
Picked up 12 new girls yesterday..did quick potting to keep them for the night ..dark and tent for the night ..they spent all day in the shade today and 5 of the shorter strains planted late today ..nobody wilted.. put the rest in the box down low for the night ..
So here is the list of the new kids on the block .. i'll list by size as i think i know now why the growers kept saying you can't grow all that together.. and i kept saying OUTSIDE !! Ohh that might work .. sheesh..here we go BC Big Bud - indica 55cm-1.8 ft Blueberry - indica 75cm-2.4 ft Platinum OG - indica 100cm-3.2 ft Sour Diesel - sativa 130cm-4.2 ft Master Kush - sativa 150cm-4.9 ft Headband - sativa 180cm-5.9 ft Trainwreck - sativa 180cm-5.9 ft Blue Dream - hybrid 180cm-5.9 ft OG Kush - hybrid 250cm-8.2 ft Afghani - indica 300cm-9.8 ft G13 Diesel - hybrid 300cm-9.8 ft White Widow - sativa 350cm-11.4 ft so thats the upper end specs off the suppliers page..where am i gonna put that 11 ft tall monster ?? thats not gonna fit that PC case..
Out of the 6 planted yesterday just 2 got the wilts late in the day even with the sunshades they had ..Put some huge pieces of cardboard over them till sundown .. Everybody had perked back up an hour after dark so they should be fine ..Left 6 in the box overnight on 18-6 with the main fan on.. Bypassed the temp thermostat .. I think they need more full time air..Got idea for a dual fan with bypass i can do with more cardboard and tape and a fan from a dead space heater i have..
So that was a bust .. little fan sounds like a 747 taking off.. but in playing with that i found the main fan slowing down when i shut the doors.. redo all the light stealth tech..long direct run with no turns ..much better fan speed dosen't change now..65 CFM fan for a 6 cubic foot box seems like overkill but it's not really..so having spent the last week on temp controls.. fan speed controls.. what did we learn??..ripped it all out .. 1 main fan.. runs full speed .. 24-7.. bhaaaa..have to love cardboard and tape prototypes..this box is on it's 5th or 6th major rebuild .. not counting the 4 or so minor ones..more work today as i left the reflector hood out yesterday while working on max air flow..have to trim a bit to get it past the now internal mounted exhaust fan..