Stealth Microgrow DWC and outdoors.

I used to grow in my closet (600W) in soil many years ago, it was too hard to hide from anyone who came to my apartment, so I decided to stop.

after a long break I decided to start again, but with a small setup, keep it to myself.

I went and bought a PC grow case, which was a big waste of money, I stripped all the good stuff from it, and used them for this grow cabinet.

In the current setup, there are 2 50W HPS on top, and 105 CFL below them.
2 110V fans (intake and outtake) and a 12V fan blowing on the plants).
1 Space Heater.

To control smell and noise, I decided to put it on my roof, I was a little worried about the temp, but so far it was fine even in 20 degrees (8 with windchill).

For the first 2 weeks, they were growing (or not growing) in a solutions with PH of 4 or less, I had a faulty meter .

These pictures are 5 days AFTER the PH level was fixed.

 

So far they seem to be growing really well, no stretching and stems look thick.

I'm not sure about the light setup when I go to flower, I can either move the CFL to the side, or add another 50W on the side.

I plan to scrog when the size become an issue.

Here are more pics from Day 8 (after PH fix).

 

It's not a PC case anymore, that was too small, it's a cabinet I picked up from Home Depot...

The temps are in fahrenheit, I'm on the east coast (US).

The light + space heater are taking care of the cold, when I switch to 12/12, I think I'll keep the intake fan off when the light are off, I'll know more when I get there, but I'm probably about 3 weeks away from that.

 

Day 14...

I was away for 3 days, my babies were getting low on water, can't do that again

I think I'll switch to 12/12 in a week.

 

It was in the PC growbox that I bought, but I believe you can find it in a hardware store, it looks like a generic wire box.

 

Day 17.
I think those 3 days without adding water took a little toll on my babies, a few leaves dried out a bit (one is shown in the picture).
I took off the ones with the most damage (a total of 5-6 big ones), and the new ones that are coming are looking mighty fine.
I'm topping my reservoir every night now..
The stems look really thick and healthy, and it's getting really bushy too.
The roots are starting to get pretty long too, getting close to 1/3 of my reservoir, I'm still hoping to get 3 females, if I do, It's going to be tight in there

I know I could manage the lights better, at first I though of using the CFL only for veggin, but then I though, why waste a good 100W...

For my next grow, I will turn the HPS 90 degrees so the CFL could fit at the top next to them, rather than below them...

 

I can't wait anymore, I'm going to start flowering tonight

As soon as I can tell the sex, I'll Scrog them (hopefully it's "them").

 

Day 21....

Finally finished my building my ScroG, still need to do some fits, but I have a few days until I find out the sex of my babies and start using it.

Things are getting a little tight in there, but I must say, I'm very happy with the way they look, very bushy, and I'm also learning quite a bit from this grow.

 

I have a little hole on the top of my reservoir which I use to test ppm, water temp and ph, it's not really a problem, even with the scrog.

As for temps, it's been in the low teens here already (fahrenheit).
I have a space heater (with a thermostat) which is doing a good job so far.
for the 12 hour of dark, I turn off the intake fan, there's still a pretty good circulation of air, but without the lights' heat, I think it's better to keep it off (still experimenting....)

 

My only concern is that if the power goes out, I'm going to find a frozen reservoir

 

Thanks, just used the shelf that came with the cabinet.

Damn. its 22F Feels Like 6F I better check on my babies....

 

I decided to get and check on the plants last night (since it was soooo cold).

I'm so glad I did, coz the circuit breaker flipped, the temps went down to around 40 in the cabinet (reservoir was upper 50's).

I reset the breaker, but the damn space heater wouldn't start again, it was showing the temp at 35 which I guess was too low for it to work

I brought the cabinet inside for the night, did some rewiring to give the space heater more space, and took it back out this morning.

It's still very cold (low 20's), but it seems to be running fine now, and the plants don't show any real damage.

What a scare that was, so glad I decided to go check on them

 

Looks like things are back to normal, plants are not showing any stress signs...

I feel like a dad in a delivery room waiting to find out the sex of the baby

 

Thanks....

I've been known to be a risk taker, but I don't really have many options...

I live in a pretty small apartment, If I put the cabinet indoor, the noise from the fans and the air pump would be impossible to hide, and very annoying.

The upside of the outdoor grow, is that I have plenty of fresh air, which they seem to like, no noise inside my apartment, and smell control is easier too.

There really isn't a good reason why this wouldn't work, the cold weather makes the temp control much easier, I can get the plants much closer to the light...

I'm actually more worried about the summer and getting some sort of a chiller in there...