[Pic Intensive] PC Grow from Seed - Beginner

Hey! I just wanted to share a grow with you I started. First of all, though, I want to thank Mr. Micro and his Nanomachine. I would never have even thought about growing if I hadn't run across his PC grow. There are tons of other people whose threads have helped me out a ton, so I'd also like to thank this community in general.

Down to business. I recently purchased this PC grow case online (from an eBay auction that was cancelled, but I was able to get in touch with the builder personally). It was $300 and beats those other much more expensive PC stealth cases butts. I built a clone of the Nanomachine for a first grow with mixed results... through no fault of the grow case. I'm just a very very inexperienced grower (hopefully you guys will be able to fix that for me!) I chose to buy a new case because I'll eventually use my old case for a veg chamber and this one for a flowering chamber and I wanted to see what another builder's vision was.
As a side note: I plan to build another Nanomachine clone and go into a lot of detail about the electrical system and the other tricky parts of the build.

So check it: An ordinary full tower?


Nope!



It has four sockets for CFLs on the top, intake and exhaust fans with light trap, and an LCD front panel temperature gauge. The temps stay between 72-80 F. The scrog screen is held in place by magnets, but not so obvious is that the lights are also held up by a magnetic bracket! I wish I could have thought of that!

This is the tricky part. I've never grown from seed before so I don't exactly know what I'm doing.
Monday this week, I started germinating three Kush seeds a friend gave me from a bag he had.


I put these seeds in a cup of water (shown below) and let them soak for 36 hours (was that too long?). They hadn't sunk or cracked open yet, but when I poked them, they eventually sank.


Last night, I took them out of the cup and planted them in Fox Farm Ocean Forest. I read it was best to water the soil heavily before putting the seeds in, so that's what I did. I covered the pots in saran wrap. Here's what they look like now:



Tonight, I tested the soil to see if the saran wrap kept it moist but it felt a little dry. I sprinkled a little water in each pot with a teaspoon. You guys are gonna have to talk me down from this. I'm freaking out about getting these seeds to germinate and I can't keep myself from checking on them and wanting to add a little water.

So again, thanks to everyone who has already helped me get this far. I hope the information I find out throughout this grow will help another reader in the way that the other grows have helped/inspired me.

Alright, I fixed the pictures. Everything should be working now. Enjoy!

the water in a cup method is good if you have it in a dark place from my experience. usualy its best to wrap the seeds in a wet towel, ziplock it, and place it on top of your monitor or an area thats 80-85 degrees F. once you see a tail thats when you pop em in the soil. be careful with the watering as excessive watering will create root rot and stress.

Looks good RudieJ, Im looking forward to learning more about how you built your case. Keep it up!

ChroniconCouncl said:

the water in a cup method is good if you have it in a dark place from my experience. usualy its best to wrap the seeds in a wet towel, ziplock it, and place it on top of your monitor or an area thats 80-85 degrees F. once you see a tail thats when you pop em in the soil. be careful with the watering as excessive watering will create root rot and stress.

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Thanks for the tips. This is definitely the kind of info I need. I am so worried about getting these seeds to germinate since this is my first time. I once tried to grow basil and the seeds would never sprout for me.
I left the cup in a dark closet shelf at around 75 degrees F, but next time (hopefully not soon) I'll definitely use the paper towel method.

MrDIY said:

Looks good RudieJ, Im looking forward to learning more about how you built your case. Keep it up!

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Awesome! Although I have to admit I didn't build this particular case. I will post a more detailed build down the road though (adapting some new ideas from this case as well). Mostly, it is material already posted (The Nanomachine, The Nanomachine Clone, Sugabear's Micro Carbon Filter, and the Wire A Power Strip to a Computer's Powersupply threads). I'll just repeat the same info, but put it all together and take a lot more step-by-step photos. But I'm getting way ahead of myself, that's for further down the road. First, I gotta get these babies to poke through the soil.

I checked my plants and they look the same for the most part. Although I did notice this:



Can you see it?! Right in the center, look really close, a small, slightly green sproutish looking thing! I am freaking out right now, it looks like I did it. I was so excited that I had to fight the urge to water them again... I know. I have always told myself "I'll never be one of those new guys who is constantly over-watering his/her plants," but now I totally understand the mindset. Must keep myself under control.

For those that are keeping score, this is the pot on the left. This pot contains the biggest seed (see first post), the middle pot contains the medium sized dark colored seed, and the right pot contains the slightly lighter colored seed that was the last to sink in the cup. These pots will be referred to as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to keep them straight.

Thanks for the saran wrap tip, I was wondering when I should start to take them off.

The scrog screen's brackets have rare earth magnets glued to the back of them. I can adjust the screen as high or as low as I want, it's going to come in handy getting those little sprouts close to the light too.

RudieJ said:

It was $300 and beats those other much more expensive PC stealth cases butts. I built a clone of the Nanomachine for a first grow with mixed results... through no fault of the grow case..

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Its awesome to see someone getting into something like this. And from your setup, it looks good. Didnt catch the equipment or anything but seems solid to me. But out of curiosity, are you aware of what something like that actually costs to build?

I bet the guy who sold it to you probably banked at least a couple bills.

Not meaning to toss flak your way, just trying to help. Better consumerism, is all.

Edit: And ive done a large amount of micro grows, so if'n ya need any help, feel free to ask.

Thanks, Bagseed! I have already built a grow case before and it ran me about $225. While most of the fun came from the actual build (since my first run didn't go so well), it was hard for me to pay $300 for a case that someone else built. I had a chance to have a conversation with the builder through and we compared ideas and future build plans. Afterward I felt a LOT better giving so much coinage to an actual enthusiast... not to some company that builds cases that look cool, but aren't equipped properly and cost twice as much.
I should say, however, that at no time during the conversation did I ever give the builder the impression that I would use his product to grow weed and it never seemed to cross his mind either.
As for the offer to answer any questions, thank you so much. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions coming up in a little bit, and you'd be the expert (especially considering I'm using bagseed). In my first grow (from pre-rooted) clones, I had some leaf yellowing and eventually the plants died. I'm hoping to avoid that this time around.

Update: I checked the plants last night before I went to bed and the Alpha plant had already started to poke through. It had just been a matter of hours.

Edit: Im no expert by far, Ive just grown a crap-ton of bagseed. Haha.

So your using clones from a bagseed mom? Thats what I gathered, at least. But Im stoned..



Ill be doing that after this grow, actually. I got 4 germ out of six bagseed (at 4 days) so Im stoked to see where it goes. Even if I just keep the four, I bet ill get one good mommy. After I flower, ill reveg her and take clones if shes good enough.

Yellowing sometimes happens with clones. Its when that nasty wilt comes that you gotta watch out! I hate cloning, I just never had a knack for it. Im a seed guy at heart. But I recently made a bubbler that worked wonderfully so ill be doing that if I find a good maw plant.

Anywho, good luck!



BB Clone:

Haha.

My first grow was from clones from a friend, but this grow is from bagseed... which is why I'm so scared I will screw up the germination process.

If I can get this to work, I'll buy some better quality seeds and germinate them to get a mother and cut my own clones.

Today: The Alpha plant finally poked up, and is starting to shed its shell (see below). I figured that Beta and Gamma did not germinate, so I dug them up and sure enough, nothing had happened. I am down to one pot, so it looks like there is no chance I can make this a much needed seed run.



I moved the single pot closer to the lights. I'm just hoping it's not too close. You'll also notice in the picture that I added a humidifier. This is just a container of water with an air filter coming out through a hole cut in the lid. The filter wicks moisture upwards and incoming air is blown through it by the intake fan. This was also not my design, but I thought it was pretty cool and I wanted to experiment with it, we'll see how well it works.

How high will the seedling grow in 3 days? I'm wondering if it's too close to the lights.

For 3 days anywhere between 3/4 an inch to 3 inches ive seen. Though if theyre growing out tall make sure its not stretch. As far as distance from lights, Id need to know what kind your using. From the pictures you are using CFL? If its CFL those things can be a centimeter away from the leaves and, as long as they dont touch, it probably wont burn. HPS is a different story.

With your seeds, dont dig them up unless a week has passed (or sometimes more). If you mess up digging up a slow rooter, you may destroy the taproot and kill the plant. WHen germinating, i dont bother soaking or anything. I wet some soil and put the seed just beneath the surface. Works like a charm.

My next seeds will be DJ Short - Grape Krush.

Good luck!

Yeah, they are 4 23W CFL. I'll switch to 4 46W CFLs at 2700K for flowering though.

hey i was wondering how did you wire your lights and how did you use the magnets to hold the lights in place? also what did you do for the lighttrap?

Frozengreen, I've been meaning to post a picture of how these lights are held up since I've talked about it so much already. Take a look:



It's just earth magnets (available at RadioShack or online) glued to the top of the bracket the sockets are mounted on. It just sticks right to the ceiling of the case. If you've never used earth magnets before, you'll be really surprised at how strong they are. This is also how the scrog screen is held up.

The light trap is simply a small cardboard box (in fact, the ones that the fans were packaged in) taped to the exhaust. Air can escape, but since the trap forms a right angle and is not reflective on the inside, very little light escapes.



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Now for an update. The true leaves have finally started to form. The germination period is officially over! The plant has stayed very short, I've been trying to keep it as close to the light as possible.

So my little plant is just barely starting to form a second pair of true leaves (pictures coming tomorrow). I just bought a soil pH and nutrient tester and a better hydrometer.

I have a question though, what should the ideal humidity and temps be for a young plant like this just beginning the veg stage? Right now I'm at about 80F and 32% humidity... even with the humidifier!

Here's the update I promised. As you can see, a second set of true leaves has grown in.



What is causing the yellowing of the old seed leaves? Is this normal? I've never grown from seed before so I'm not sure if I should have just expected this to happen.
This may or may not be related: When am I supposed to start feeding? The soil has nutrients in it already, but when do I know if they've run out?

I can feel a transplant into a bigger container around the corner as well.

Hum.. Couldnt really answer your question about humidity because I never worried about that nor do i have a meter for it.. BUT

Good PERFECT temps for Canna, is 73-87'F... 90+ is a little stressful, and growth will slow or stop(what iv noticed)

I personally prefer the 80-86 range because it promotes vigorous growth and fast growth rate.


And those bottom leaves, that are yellowing thats normal, dont worry about them they will fall off soon. The plant is using them as food and energy atm, while its building up its root system. Id suggest putting the lights on a 18/6 light schedule to increase your root development.


As for feeding, your plant looks just about right to be given a 1/4 OR LESS nute mixture. Don't give them anymore then 1/4 the strength of a full mixture. Better yet go a little less then 1/4 to be safe. Then once they get larger youll tell when you can start to give them more nutes.


Also, Id let them get a little root bound first before transplanting them. Doing this THEN transplanting them will increase growth rate. Putting them in a to large of a pot to soon, all there energy will go toward making roots ... so it will slow your rate of growth.


GL and everything looking nice

no it doesnt look like it wants feeding. it wont need any for a few weeks yet..
no transplant needed yet either

RudieJ said:

Here's the update I promised. As you can see, a second set of true leaves has grown in.



What is causing the yellowing of the old seed leaves? Is this normal? I've never grown from seed before so I'm not sure if I should have just expected this to happen.
This may or may not be related: When am I supposed to start feeding? The soil has nutrients in it already, but when do I know if they've run out?

I can feel a transplant into a bigger container around the corner as well.

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Hi Rudie

Don't worry about the cotyledons yellowing - it always happens. You won't need to start fertilising for a couple of weeks at least. As for the transplant, wait until you can see little roots in the holes underneath your pot, then you'll know it's time to transplant.



I wait til they're about this big and you can see the roots coming out the bottom. After you transplant they will get fresh nutrients from the new mix and when they need feeding they'll be about this size, and will show a general yellowing of the leaves from the bottom up.



This is when I'd start feeding them 1/2 strength nutes.

Hope this helps.