so i just rigged all of this up in the last three days. i originally did this just for shits and giggles. i just got some dirt and threw a bagseed into it and sat it in the window.after i started it i did a little research on micro grows and decidd to build this box. now keep in mind i havnt spent a whole bunch on this so far. in total about 20 bucks. i have a 24" tall by 20" wide by 16" deep box. im running 4 24 watt cfls. you cant see the other 2 because they are right above the opening. i plan on moving them to the sides soon. ive got a small intake fan going from an old computer. ill be putting two more in tomorrow. i have the box lined with mylar. i plan on getting a digital thermometer in the next few days also to keep a closer eye on the temps. doesnt feel too hot right now though. heres a few pics for you guys to check out. feel free to give advice. i appreciate it guys
looking nice you should check out MG420's elastic training tutorial and start LST right away...goodluck
Alright. I'll definitely check it out. I also picked up a thermometer today. My temp is holding steady at 88 and my humidity is at 33 does this sound ok? If I read correctly the humidity should be around 50 right? If so how can I raise it? And do you guys think that fan is alright? I'm mainly talon about when I get into the flowering stage. Other then that everything is going alright. Ill update in a few more days with some pics. And any advice at all would be appreciated.
88 sounds a little high(not terrible)...If you put the thermometer in direct light sometimes direct light can give a false reading for temps...try shading it with a papertowel or something for a more accurate reading. Don't worry too much about humidity...if it's real low you'll just have to water a little more often. the fan sounds fine for now..but plan on adding 1 or 2 more and a carbon filter by the time you start to flower.
ya its lookin good, i dont really know if it can be too dry, you just have to watch your soil moisture level, my humidity goes down to 30 in my box before i water then it spikes to 45 after, never more, you could try hanging a damp towel in front of your circulation fan if your worried about it and cant afford a humidifier for the room your box is in, a good idea for a micro scrog is a fridge rack, i got a 4inch wide one from a mini fridge, i am just going to tie it to the top of my pot, and essentially just LST my plant along the length of it.
Yeah I definitely plan on adding another intake fan and an exhaust fan with the filter over the exaust. I might do two filters just for the hell of it. That's really the only thing I'm kind of worried about is the smell when I start to flower. And I'm not too worried about te humidity. I usually water once in the morning and once in the evening when i get off work. I'll also try putting a paper towel over the therm. To see if it changes. I'm goingto get the other fan set up after my Kentucky game (go cats). I really do appreciate the help guys. Oh also another question. When is it recommended to start nutes? I don't want to start too early and take a chance on killing it.
depends on the soil, most Miracle Grow(and other commercial) potting soils have slow release nutrients in them to begin with. i personally used miracle grow moisture control plus with .1-.1-.1 slow release nutes and non ph regulated tap water and didnt need to add nutes until end of week three.
Well right now I've just got some regular soil that I took out of a planter on the deck. I do have a bag of miracle grow soil but after it got going I was afraid to transplant it into that because I didn't want to kill it. And I put in that other fan tonight and my temp is down to 82. It may be a little lower because earlier I put a paper towel over the thermometer and it dropped down five degrees, I took the paper towel out though. Oh and I checked out what youve got going on earlier and it looks pretty good man.
ya, they might be a little small to transplant, i waited till the roots were well established in a cut off water bottle before transplanting, it was 10 days after breaking soil for my current plant, thanks for the praise man, its definately been a learning experience for me
you can start your plant in the final container if you want. it doesnt matter. it just wont hit its wall multiple times, only when it binds in that bigger container giving you unrestricted root growth for longer. as far as temperature goes, i dont own a thermometer and i believe off of feel alone my box temps are near 90* and my girls show zero sign of heat damage. these plants are quite hardy. if you have them in slightly warmer temperatures, make sure they are consistent. they oughta oscillate hot/cool when the lights are on/off closer replicating outdoor conditions
Another question I rea somewhere that when first starting them off to do 24/0 light. I'd this correct? My only plant so far has stayed about the same for probably the last four days. I don't expect it to grow a shit ton in four days but it seems like it's at a stand still. The second set of leave are at close to half inch right now. Also could my lighting have anything to do with this as far as the light spectrum. I learned of this after already buying my bulbs. They are 2700 k. For vegging I need 5500 k right? And would these be with the regular bulbs because I looked the other day at wal mart and only saw the 2700 k. Thanks for the help guys.
Yeah I saw that growing seedlings with the 2700k is not nearly as good last time I did. It doesn't affect it as much once the plant is already a little bigger though.
Ok well if I can find some I'll get them. If I can I'm goingto try to leave it in the window to get some sunlight while I'm working.
Yeah thatll be good. I did see a difference when I switched my seedlings/veg from my old 2700k to 6500k bulbs. They just perked up and started growing faster it seemed. Make sure its in the direct sunlight.
What's up guys? I'm back with an update, this is the end of day 9. Right now I've got two 24 watt 6500k cfls. Is this ok for light? Between the two thats 2400 lumens so I thought it would be okay. I just put these in tonight btw. My temps have been around 83-84 in the day and 78 or so at night. Everything seems to be going alright so far. I still need to make a carbon filter also.
it is ok for now, i really noticed a huge difference in growth rate when i broke the 10,000 lumen mark, with one plant.. most common rule of thumb for CFL that i have seen, is 100W for 1st plant +50W per additional plant but only if its feasable, thats a lot of heat and takes a bit of space in the box, unless you have a hydro store locally... going to get myself a couple 200W CFLs today, 12$ each at the local store here. cheaper than the 44W at home depot
Yeah right now my temps are already pretty hot, in the day anyways. I would hate to see it with that much wattage. I've got four more regular 24 watt cfls so I'm going to try to rig up two more for some extra light. I does seem like its growing kind of slow. But that ould just be me being anxious. Lol
ya, you might need a higher voltage hooked up to your fans, you want to force exhaust out and just have passive intake, and when you hook up your filters try and make it so the fan has to suck the air through the filter, it is much easier than trying to push it through, even my big fan cant push through my filter but it pulls no problem
Alright thanks. I do need to hook up my fans differently. They're regular computer fans and i have them hooked to phone chargers, the fans are 12 volt and the charger is 6 so they're not fully running right now.