Well after germinating two bag seeds (Was told it was Northern Lights) just for the hell of it I ended up looking up a bunch of stuff about indoor growing and after watching a bunch of YT vids I became very interested in wanting to actually give it a go myself. That's when I came across this lovely community you guys have here, been hooked since and I've been trying to read anything and everything I can on here. After thinking a bunch about what I wanted to do it in I remembered I had an old dresser with this cabinet that would work perfect. So anywho after a few modifications with a dremel tool and a couple trips to wally world I was pretty satisfied with my work so far. Gonna hopefully be turning this into a journal but right now I'm looking for any and all advice I can get, hoping you guys can help me out as I go. So lets get to the pics, more to come with many questions to come as well. Ok so as for some specs on my current setup. The dimensions of the inside of the box are 17.5" x 15.5" x 29.5" 4x26w=100w 6500k CFL's 2x80mm computer case fan's. 1 intake 1 exhaust 1 small desk fan at bottom of case for circulation Temps 75-80 variant sorta from bottom to top/65-70 during night when lights off Running lights at 18/6 currently Hoping to get some advice on my intake/exhaust setup and if I should get some more lights. Open to any and all sorts of criticism.
looks like ur legit if u dont have heat problems ull prob want to put t5's on each wall to light the sides for maximum yield. goodluck
Look's good so far. But just a heads up, you'd be better off turning the CFL's to a horizontal placement and keep in mind that you'll definately need more light later in veg and into flowering.
your going to want more cfls. also hang them sideways. The most intense light comes out of the sides of the cfls so you wan the sides pointing down at the plants. Also when you flower your going to want to be running 2700k temp bulbs. Other then that it looks like your doing well. Make sure there are no light leaks also. What kind of nutrients are you going to run? what type of soil is that? im Subbed for sure. Goodluck -Teapot
The soil that I'm using is MG Potting Mix (pics at bottom). I know it's not the best but they seem to be liking it so far, was looking at the Fox Farm line of potting soils but not sure what I'd need. As for nuts I was looking at the Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula-Big Bloom®, Grow Big® and Tiger Bloom® from Fox Farm as well. I found a store about 45mins away that sells the potting soils but they only had Grow Big in stock, mentioned she could possibly order me the others. I also have some MG Organic Fertilizer (pics also) that we use for the other potted plants around the house, not sure if I should use it or not. I threw in the other 6500k bulb that I had and have it hanging down at plant level to get the side on it like you guys said, planning on rigging up some side lighting here soon too. As for light leaks do you just mean for stealth purposes? Right now I have black electrical tape around the lip of the opening to prevent light coming out the front. But the two holes in the back have light coming out of them, open for ideas of how to conceal this. Also I think I have a slight temp issue but I'm not sure, I'm usually running like 78-81 when it's all closed up. Is that too hot? Thinking maybe another exhaust fan on the top right side. Before I ramble some more here's some more pics.
your temps are fine. The reason i bring up light leaks is 2 things. First, yes, stealth. If your trying to be stealthy then you want to make sure when your lights are off in the room and the lights are on inside the cab that there are no leaks coming out. which brings me to no. 2. when you switch to 12/12 you dont want light leaking into the box durring the dark period. It can cause your plants to hermie and then produce seeds. take some pics of the light coming through and we will be able to suggest something for you. MG is not good soil for MJ. Fox Farm Ocean Forest (FFOF) is great soil. I use the nutrient trio (Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom) as well as the supplement trio (Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, Cha Ching). expensive but good stuff.
I moved my temp/humidity thing up on the side a little above the top of the plants and notice I'm getting like 80-83 and it kinda looks like the leafs are curling a bit, but I'm not sure so I took a couple pics. And as for the light leaking out I'm talking about you can kinda see it in my first post pics, the one of the back side. It's the two holes for the fans that some light is coming out of on the back side.
Any thoughts on the temps anyone? Is the curling I see from heat? Also what are good humidity levels? I'm getting anywhere from 30-45% humidity. Some bud porn pics for you guys, some Bubble Berry I picked up the other day.
I have a little leaf curling in my grow too... I think it we might share the same problem For your intake just make sure you have exhaust near the top and intake near the bottom, and like the above posters said, lights sideways, and some better quality soil. I have mine in the fox farms actually, once the roots hit that, they started to take off. how often are you watering?
Leaf curling might also be a sign of off PH, check to make sure your runoff is 6.3-6.5 next time you water.
Went out and picked up some FF Ocean Forest and tried to get all three of the liquid plant food's but they only had Grow Big at the time, said she was getting more in next week. Now when I replant these should I go for something bigger then the two 8" pots I'm using right now? And how should I go about using the Grow Big? Should I follow the 'seedling' instructions on the back, 1/2 tsp per gallon of water once per week. Or should I not be using nute's yet? I noticed today that the leaves aren't really curling anymore, think it may have been heat related but also I didn't know if over watering can cause leafs to curl. Someone mentioned pH so I also grabbed a cheap pH/moisture/light meter today. Checked the MG soil I was using with the same water I was using to water (I've been using room temp water from my Brita pitcher). It looked to be in the 6.2-6.5 area, but I'm not positive as the meter doesn't show decimals.
Sounds pretty good but... I'd hop on ebay and get a Hanna PH meter (or something similar). They're usually around 20 bucks and do the job just fine. Just make sure to keep it calibrated. The PH meter you have no is pretty sketchy, it's better to have a meter than focuses soley on the PH and besides being off in PH by a couple decimals can be the difference between bad and good.
I'm seeing a few different 'hannah' pH meters on ebay, I'm sure they're all good but I don't know what to get. Seeing prices from like 30-150. Took a few new pics today, can see all the new leafs coming out from all the nodes. I'm sure it's too soon to tell sex but if anyone can see anything let me know. A couple other pics as well, got a couple baby cacti while I was at this huge nursery today. Also picked up a new 120mm exhaust fan, hoping it helps a bit with temps.
700th post!!! Wooo! Looking good! Also make sure not to go off of the equiv. watts. Those mean nothing.
Took the suggestions about having the lights horizontally and made myself a new light rig, with a few ideas taken from you guys here. Still only had room for 4 bulbs but I'm planning on getting a couple to hang down on the sides when they get bigger. Also I haven't transplanted them into the Fox Farms soil yet, not sure what size of final pot I should be using. Also how should I go about using the Grow Big at this state? Got a funny pic here too, while I was moving the plants around to setup the new lights I had the plants sitting next to my bearded dragons cage. She seemed very intent on wanting to eat my plants lol.
There is nothing I can suggest to make this box better. Good work. You are going to need more light on the plants when they get bigger though. More light = more growth, and we all want more growth here.
Still kinda wondering what size pots would be good to transplant them into, something that would be good for the space I have. And yeah I'm using 4 26w 6500k CFL's at the moment, gonna put in another one or two here tomorrow to hang down on the sides.