First Pc Grow, Cfls, Nirvana Northern Lights

Okay, so I had to join and become a member after reading the forum for the better part of two months or so.  A little background, then on to the juicy details on my grow.
 
I worked for two and a half months in a cannabis factory, all hydroponics, about 6 tables each held 72 plants.  I learned everything I could, and participated in feeding, chemical mixing, foliar spray, electrical wiring, lighting setups, harvesting, curing; the works.  So I know a little bit about what I'm doing, but this will be my first soil grow.
 
As for my current setup, I recently got permission to set up a small grow, one plant at a time, and decided that I needed a little stealth but not too much, and went with a PC grow.  I'm a computer technician myself, so coming across PC cases was no problem.  I selected two cases, one Mid-Tower ATX case and one massive IBM server case.  Gutted both, using wire snips where necessary, to give all the room I could need.
 
This is what I had in mind.  Notice the massive 125W CFL in the cramped enclosure.  I hadn't factored in that the temps would be too high...I thought CFLs were little to no heat...well not when they're that big.

 
So that's why I went with a separate case for flowering, the IBM server case.  I'll get a pic of that soon.
 
Seeds were Nirvana seedbank Northern Lights feminized.  Cost just under $50 after shipping.  Got here in like a week.  I have sampled NL #5 from my hydro days, so I figured if I liked that, I'll probably like NL.

 
Germinated one using 24 hours in a cup of water, then moved to paper towel method for the next two days.  Got the smallest, baby root emerged from it and transferred it to soil.  After two days, I still saw nothing emerge from soil, so I carefully dug back into the soil to make sure I hadn't packed it too deep and found that the root was much larger.  So I covered it back up carefully.  Soil was kept moist.  After another day, finally broke the surface.  I have a pic of it but it's hard to spot among the soil.
 
A note on my soil, I went outside into our beautiful Carolina outdoors and mixed some good potting soil with some nice and rich soil from just under the surface of the ground.  I mixed the soil and watered it for at least a day before ever using it.  Come to find out, theres literally dozens of random grasses and plant seeds in the soil that also grow out under CFL light lol.
 
So I've just ran with it.  They're not drinking a lot of water, plus it gives me a tiny little garden to tend to.  As for my water, all bottled Nestle "pure life" water.  Contains Calcium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) and Magnesium Sulfate.  Says added for "taste" so maybe makes my bud taste better too...I sure hope so. ^_^
 
After a few days, I had this:

 
Five days later, I had this:

 
Some of my pics disappeared or got deleted, so I fast-forward to day 20 (from seed to present):

This is where I made my first mistake, trying to foliar feed with just water.  The droplets stayed on the plants too long and got a little bit of a burn on some leaves My bad.  I was using 2x5000K CFL bulbs, each 19W (didnt want to order real 6500K and pay a lot, I'm on a budget too) and 2x 2600K, 20W.  I didn't think it was that intense but the plant thought otherwise
 

 
There you can see the burn on the plant.  That's day 25.  I think I started LST the next day.  I trimmed the burned area with some surgical scissors.  You can also see another plant in that box, well this thread is about my NL, that's just a freebie seed that Nirvana threw in for me (gave me 10 freebies).  That plant was destined for outside...more on that in a bit.
 
Eight days later (day 32), I have this:

 
You may notice my humidity sensor sitting around 20%  well that's because my 3 year old son decided to get a hold of it.    So after some careful observation, I've noticed that it reads about 20-25% lower than it really is.
 
How could a child get into this you ask?  Well I have this setup with the side panel off of the case, in order to manage my temps.  So this is NOT stealthy in any way.  The smell is lovely btw. :wub:
 
So we are now up to present day, day 35 according to my notes.  After managing the LST some more, and switching the light to 12/12 two days ago, this is what I have now:


 
I removed my 5000K bulbs and added in 2x 27W 2600K bulbs so they're all 2600K now.  I'll flower in this box for now, and when it gets bigger I'm moving it to my outdoor flowering box, the IBM server case with the 125W CFL.  I'll also throw in 2x 27W bulbs for a total of 179W in the enclosure.
 
 
So what do you guys think?  Questions, comments?  Please post, I'll update this pretty often until it's done. 
 
Oh and about that other plant, well I put it outside three days ago, and then it rained for like two days straight FML.  Also, the temps got down to about 30 degrees F last night, but it seems to have survived.  We weren't expecting a cold snap, otherwise I would have waited to transplant.  It looks like a sativa.  It was pot-bound, so I had to do something to it.  Hopefully it's a female, otherwise i'll collect some pollen from it, store it, then chop it down
 

 

I have started adding Dyna-Gro bloom, which I know is best for flowering but I started adding it about a week before I switched to flowering.  It is just one plant in there now, as I transplanted my "freebie" outside.
 
I'm gonna hold it down with LST for a few more days, then I'm gonna let her stretch up as much as she wants.  I cant wait to see more branches sprout out.
 
Also, I collected a lot of rainwater a couple days ago, so I'm gonna give her that also, although, I have no way to test my pH.

 

Had to...this grow is actually on a schedule.  I was gonna go 12/12 from seed but I wanted slightly more yield if I could help it.  This plant gets the chop-chop on the second to last week of June, no matter what.  Because I'm going out of town for a week for two weddings and a small vacation, so I am gonna cut it, and cure it for about two weeks before I go so at least I'll have something to take with me.

 

Turned the lights on this morning after about 10 hours of darkness, oh well.  Impatient hehe.  Applied foliar spray, which I have been doing to the plant for about two weeks now.  I bought some Miracle Grow Orchid Foliar Spray, everything in concentrations of .02%  Plant responding very well.  When I figure out how to add new pics I will post two new ones.

 

Yeah, but I leave my side panel off my case...stealth isn't my issue.  My temp stays at 78-80 while indoors my house is between 70-74 degrees.  Also, make sure your thermometer isnt too close to the lights...that will throw off your temp measurement.  I have mine where my canopy sits.

 

heres a pic of the plant i moved outside:

 
My son grabbed a hold of the indoor plant while I was at work and two leaves got ripped..... but the plant still looks great.

 

My NL plant is just exploding with new growths!  I'll have to take a picture when I get home from work tonight.  I'm so proud of it even though you GrassCity members out there have some nice looking ones out there that really shine too.

 

follow along; i'll smoke sum for ya when its all finished!

 

Big day for the grow!  Today is day 39 from seed into soil, day 6 of flowering.  White pistils are much more noticible now, which I expected as this was a feminized seed, but it's always a relief to see them.  Took it out of my small PC case and gave it about 8oz of rainwater; last two feedings were with nutrient enriched water.  I'm using Dyna-Gro "Bloom" which as I understand isn't made anymore...shame.  Heres a pic of the plant after getting some water:

 
And heres a pic, if you look closely at the top and second nodes, you can see the white pistils:

 
And here's a pic of my IBM server case, stripped and ready to roll:

 
And as you can see from this pic, I'm not going to continue the LST, I'm just gonna let the main cola grow up and to the left into the empty space:

 
I actually put a second 27W CFL in that space also, so I'm running a total of 179W at 2700K white point.  Here's what it looks like all closed up.  As you can see, some light leaks out which is okay; nobody is going to see this.:

 
And finally a pic from the top.  I'm gonna mount 2x 80mm fans where the fan mounts are here, so they'll pull the warm air out even quicker and create a small draft inside.  Oh, and inside, temps are right at 78-80 degrees F at the canopy top...so I know that as it grows closer to that light I'll need more ventilation to keep the temps down.
 
And I have only 75 more days until I have to leave town...so for me to have some smoke I'm gonna chop it three weeks before that point so that it can dry and cure a bit before I go.  So basically, 54 days until harvest, on June the 15th.  That will give the plant a total of 60 days of flowering, which I'd say is about perfect for Northern Lights, what do you guys think?
 
Oh, and at nighttime the plant will come inside to keep out of the cold.  This will run from 11am until 11pm daily.  When summer arrives, i'm gonna switch the light cycle a bit and it will be outside from 11pm until 11am.  This will keep the temps inside the case manageable during the hottest parts of the days.
 
So I'd love to hear some feedback.  I know I have it made by not having to worry about carbon scrubbing and light issues.  I chose a PC grow because I do want to keep this away from my kids and my cats, and so I don't have my entire house smelling like cannabis.  And I'm a computer technician, so it only seemed right

 

I can live with 80W.  I don't have much choice, as the summer months are approaching and I have to keep my case temps down on the inside here.  Took lots of measurements today, and my case sits at about 16 degrees above ambient temp outside.  So it got up to about 60 degrees today, and my case got up to 76 degrees.  Thats about perfect.  If I somehow mounted a large reflector on the 125W CFL, I am sure that temps will soar and that's a no-no as far as i'm concerned.
 
I may keep doing LST, I'm really not sure.  I'll see how I feel about it and I'll see how big the plant wants to get in that space.  I'm hoping that it doesn't get more than a foot or so taller since that would be about double the size of what it sits at now.
 
I may setup some reflectors on the smaller CFL bulbs....or I could try a large reflector and see how the temps get.  I'll keep you all posted on what I figure out.

 

Just measured the nighttime temp inside my case here at 11pm.  It's about 50 degrees outside and the inside case temp is sitting at 60.  My girl knows it's time for night night I believe.  So I'm seeing a 10 degree difference at nighttime and about a 16-20 degree difference in daytime temps.
 
Oh, and I rigged up an computer power supply and case fan inside for some ventilation and air movement, which brings the temps down quite a bit.