First MicroGrow...need Suggestion

[Mycrowman]

Okay guy this is going to be my first indoor micro grow. I have dabbled with outgrows. I need some suggestions on what do about the following:
Lighting:??
Soil:??
Ventilation:??
Nutes:?


Here is the Dimensions of the case I am working with:
Dimensions:H-17", L-18", W-7.5

I will be using Hawaii Maui Waui and some South Africian Durban(posion x skunk)

Thanks guys, I am excited and cant wait to keep you guys updated.

 

[yeknomssa]

well, first things first, you may want to do a bit of research on pc case grows. there's 2 ways to go, stealth and space.

if you want stealth (which i just looove for pc cases) do a search for "nanomachine". Mr Micro did a great tutorial on a really stealthy pc grow.

if you want to use all the available space inside the pc case, there are several grows that you can find on the first couple pages here that re not so concentrated on stealth but still show you exactly how their cases are setup.

either way you go, CFLs are best for lighting because they don't produce much heat and are available easily. Depending on how much room you have i'd say go for 1-2 23w CFLs in the 6500k range (cool white/daylight) for veg, then step them up to the bigger 42w 2700k (warm/soft white) for flowering.

Ironically, pc fans are gonna be your best bet for ventilation as they sound right (stealth) and move sufficient air to keep a small area cooled. there are several tutorials around on how to wire them up (check the DIY Link-O-Rama in my sig)

When it comes to soil and nutes, thats really personal preference. i'm a bit lazy and prefer not to feed my plants much. I opt to put my nutes in the soil. my current grow uses Red_Greenery's easy cheap mix:
2 parts potting soil (no nutes mixed in)
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
1 tbsp/gal blood meal
2 tbsp/gal bone meal
1 tbsp/gal dolomite lime

you can give them extra nutes if they need it easily with fish emulsion in veg and Neptune's Harvest in flower. other than that, they just take the nutes from the soil as they need it. my next grow will be organic soil using peat moss, but the mixture will still be very similar to this one with the adition of some earth worm castings.

You may also want to brush up a bit on height control methods such as LST and SCROG as these will increase your yield and help maintain some order in your box.

best of luck on your grow

 

[Strider]

I also recommend you check out my guide to micro-growing, might find some help there.

 

[Mycrowman]

Will the CFL have the K listed on the package at the store? Or do I need to find a place that specifically stocks them.

After doing some reading i think I am going to go with the scrog method, once they get going.

Strider Can you tell me more about the Coco Coir you were talking about?

 

[yeknomssa]

yes, CFLs will have the kelvin rating on them (usually) if not...
Cool White / Daylight = 6500k
Soft White / Warm White = 2700k

 

[Strider]

Sure, but there is no need for me to explain something that someone else already explained better. Check out the handwatered coco thread and the coco slabs with drippers thread in the coco grow forum for inspiration.
The best coco I have used to date is by ATAMI and is called Coco BOunce, it comes in small bricks that you put in water so it expands into a soil-like medium (which isnt really soil-like at all, but you get my point.) These can be found on www.head-nature.com, www.leafman.nl and many other growshops.

 

[Mycrowman]

Just wanna give ya guys a little update

The plans are posted below, I am still waiting for some parts to come in that I ordered.

How do you think the airflow will be with the Intake/outake?



I am going to ad the filter if I feel that it is needed after a couple of weeks.

 

[Mycrowman]

It been awhile since I had planned on starting this, but yesterday I finnaly got everything up and running after two days of germing.

In this batch we have
Nirvana-Maui Waui
South African Durban- Poison x skunk #1

Than the rest is seeds from bags of hedeis/dank/mids. All labeled.

Do you think I should keep light on these babies for 24hrs or do something along the lines of 18/6?










I plan on moving the best looking ones out doors and keeping one female to make clones with.

I will keep ya updated. Wish me luck!

 

[minigreens]

good luck man
keep us updated

what are your temps in that bad boy?

 

[Mycrowman]

I am not sure out the temps, I am hunting around for a digi thermoator I had lying around. But I think it should be okay I got 3 fans in there.

 

[JlMH4LPERT]

Things are looking great be sure to add pics to the forum in my signature
We had a CFL grow in my PC we found with a carbon scrubber, that two intake fans
for each (filtered) exhaust fan sufficed very well, however if you were going to start
without a scrubber you may want to consider just running one intake and one exhaust
and seeing how your temps hold up.

 

[Mycrowman]

Do you think I should elevate the plants closer to the light?

About the carbon scrubber, I am not sure how good it will work, but I bought this poly carbon filter material and I have it over the Fans.

 

[Mycrowman]

day 2

day 2



ill be back in a week to update enjoy.

 

[Mycrowman]

Do you think I should have them on 18/6?

 

[Mycrowman]

some of the have wilted over and died, what do you guys think i am doing wrong, to hot, not enough water, to much water?

Sory for the triple post!

 

[cman2011UT]

ahh may wanna put pictures on here of what they looked like when they were wilting...but it depends on alot...what is your ph of your water, how often are you watering, what are your temps inside?

 

[Mycrowman]

It seems all of the one that were not in the red cups have died. I will post some pics later.

here are some of them looking healthy, and the next day all dead.

So sad

 

[Mycrowman]

UPDATE 5/4/08

UPDATE 5/4/08







Is this coloring something to worry about?



Still not sure what happened to cause 8 of my babies to die. Oh well, here is to hoping all of the are ladies!

 

[ripOG]

So weird. I had a mysterious problem like that recently as well. If they wilted it is either over or under-watering...hard to know from our perspective which one it is but hopefully you're picking up a feel for it.

How high are the lights? You can pretty much touch the plants to the bulbs and be fine with CFL's. I wouldn't keep them more than a couple inches from the lights.

 

[Mycrowman]

update 5/14

update 5/14

Took two outside.

















cya