Puffanpass's CFL PC growbox

First let me tell you a thing or two about box.

It's medium sized pc case with everything taken out. 3 pc fans mounted (80mm), one for the intake and two for the exhaust. Two fans are for air circulation through box, and one is for sucking out hot air around lamps to keep temperatures down (it was around 95-100 before fan and glass was mounted). Protection glass is 0.6mm thick - it's doing good job keeping temps down and taking care that plants don't burn leafs if they touch lamps. Bulbs are 4x23W 6500k 1450l CFL for vegetation, and I'll be replacing them with 3x23W 2700k 1350l CFL for flowering (one 6500k will stay just for the mixed spectrum). I just hope that 92W 5800l/5400l on 40x17cm grow space will give nice results. Temps are from 73 at dark hours to 84 at light hours.

Whole box is almost lightproof - isolated with black duck tape and only place that little light goes through is vents part on the back, but it's turned towards the wall under the desk so it's hard to see it.












First strain that will go in it will be Lowryder #2 on 18/6 cycle through whole growth, probably one or two plants. I'll be using Hesi nutrients and Hesi supervit for boosting.

Right now, there is unknown indica in it, and it's growing very slowly. It's probably because of the very small pot, but I'll be transplating it in a few days to a larger pot. I'm just waiting for it to grow a little bit bigger so that I don't shock her again when it's very young.
I had some troubles with this plant, because it started to grow with root facing light above soil, and after I corrected that it needed a few days to start growing normally (it was shocked). So this day 14, but because of the problems, I'll be taking it as a day 6



I cannot decide what kind of pot to use. It's very limited space, so I'm not sure if it's better to use wider but lower pot that covers almost whole box floor, or 2 deeper pots. Pot in the pic (on which small pot is right now) has a capacity of 2 liters but it takes a lot of vertical space.

What would be optimal pot size/capacity for grow this size?

You need to get square pots since round pots waste a good amount of space

Also, I think you should take out that piece of glass since it will weaken the intensity of the light that reaches the plants

Mr_Puffanpass said:

I had some troubles with this plant, because it started to grow with root facing light above soil, and after I corrected that it needed a few days to start growing normally (it was shocked).

Click to expand...

That sounds like a disconnection of root and stem to me, I have always had those die because I dont try to save a plant that doesnt want to save itself . In my experience they are a waste of time once they've gone through that.

I've never done a pc grow, but I've been thinking about a second smaller vegbox for a little cfl scrog. So I'll be watching to see how yours goes for ya, Good luck!

Have fun

overmind1632 said:

You need to get square pots since round pots waste a good amount of space

Also, I think you should take out that piece of glass since it will weaken the intensity of the light that reaches the plants

Click to expand...

Yes, I know that square pots are better for small space, that's why plant will probably be transplanted into this square pot that's below little round pot where plant is now.
I was asking about volume of pot...

to keep temperatures down (it was around 95-100 before fan and glass was mounted). Protection glass is 0.6mm thick - it's doing good job keeping temps down and taking care that plants don't burn leafs if they touch lamps.

Click to expand...

Mr_Puffanpass said:

Yes, I know that square pots are better for small space, that's why plant will probably be transplanted into this square pot that's below little round pot where plant is now.
I was asking about volume of pot...

Click to expand...

If you only grow 1 plant, then go with whatever pot is the biggest that fits like a 3 or 5 gallon pot

3 or 5 gallon pots? How do you think I can possibly fit 12-13 liters pot in this small place and still have a room for plant? I believe that 2-3 liters pot is the biggest I can fit.

cool pc box i would take out the glass inbetween the lights too.

Mr_Puffanpass said:

3 or 5 gallon pots? How do you think I can possibly fit 12-13 liters pot in this small place and still have a room for plant? I believe that 2-3 liters pot is the biggest I can fit.

Click to expand...

Being from USA, im not too familar with Liters lol....anyways
A 2 or 3 gallon pot isnt that big and you can easy fit that into that computer if you LST it

you'd be surprised at how I fit 3 3-gallon pots with plants in a single rubermaid that lights within the rubbermaid, that gave me less than a foot of growing height but I pulled it off with dam good LSTing

overmind1632 said:

Being from USA, im not too familar with Liters lol....anyways

Click to expand...

you dont drink pop? haha

nice little case you got goin
i'm also looking into a heat shield for my cab and wondering how much light i would lose

whatsup buddy

first of all, you should have two fans intaking and only one exhausting. the best would to have two fans intaking at the bottom of the case near the floor and the one exhausting at the very top near the lights. this will help exhaust that hot air much better. i am running 4 23 W and the temp is only 1/2 a degree above ambient room temp (77)

and the other peeps are right about the glass, its okay to use with HPS because you regain some light intensity being able to put the plant much closer. dont worry about the cfls getting too close. after the 12 hour dark cycle, i open my case up to check (plant will grow a lot during this time!) and i always have one or two leaf tips touching the cfls but it doesn't to any real damage

i would also go to the dollar store and look for a piece of tupperware the right size for ur comp measure exactly and you should be able to find a container to suit ur needs. the dish doesn't have to be very deep if it takes up the whole pc floor space

peace and GL hope this helps a bit

yeah tupperware all the way sumat that takes up the whole floorspace believe it or not marijuana roots do prefer to grow out rather than down and that heatshield is probabily pinchin ur lumens more than saving heat probs happy growin kidda. u in the uk?

also i would keep that baby seedling as close as possible to the lights (3 inches or less) it will grow much faster

good luck again! i am having a lot of fun growing in my computer!

@overmind
Google is your friend - 2-3 liter pot (that I intend to use) is cca 0.52 US gallons
Do you have some pic or link to your rubbermaid grow? I would really like to see your grow

@greenatik
Interesting. Do you think that maybe my temps are high because of the difference in pressure? I'll probably follow your advice, because I have one fan at the bottom of case (front side) thats taking the air out now, but I will reverse it to take the air in.
Regarding the glass - I will see how will the temps be when I reverse fan, but I still think that it's doing more good then bad
Tupperware - Shall see if there is something interesting in shops, but I doubt it (small town).
Sure it helps


@growsmall
Do you maybe have some example of grow with and without glass? Or some reference regarding that glass decreases lumen output?
I wish I was from uk. I would be growing hydro then No mate, I'm from Croatia and it's very hard for us to grow because you can't find/buy let's say 60% of stuff needed for grows - starting from nutrients to soil or bulbs


Here is a little update - day 9



I'll probably transplant it today to a bigger pot.

A little update...

This is my friends 276W (10x2700k and 2x6500k) CFL box with Lowryder #2 12-13. day.







We transplanted one nice plant to pot and it will know continue it's grow in my box - I believe this is one of the rare lowryders that was driven on passenger seat at 90mph on highway



Lowryder #2 13. day

looking good puff, how are the temps? if its not too hot i would have the plants less then 3 inches from that glass (if you want it to be bushier)

definitely looking forward to the rest of your log

Day 19

Day 19

I've done some changes to the box.

Glass has been removed, and temps are at about 84-86 - plant seems to like it. Vent at front has been reversed so now there are 2 vents for the intake and one for the exhaust.
Tommorow I will change 2x6500k for 2x2700k, and my Fresh2Ti bulb is on it's way.
The little unknown plant has died after transplantaion uppydog, but the bigger one called Buba has been doing great. I treated it with some Hesi Super Vit and I begun to LST it.
It really bushy and it's already started to smell nice

So here are some pics.

Day 19

boost it up to the light and you'll achieve greater growth
cfls dont reach that far down
a good way to test this is put your hand at the bottom of the case and slowly raise it towards the light.

Close like this?

u can also use a netting/chicken wire to hold possible leafs and shoots away from the bulbs. That glass is robbing your plant of precious lumens mate.

kenny, he's already removed the glass.

hopefully the new bulb changes will reduce the heat a little. ideally, you want the plant less then 2 inches from the bulb. especially during flower. anyways bubba is looking good puff!