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Member
So, finally I have started first grow. This is strange territory to me so any advice is very welcome.
Cabinet is a thing from walmart, all cheap plywood. Weatherstripping to lightproof, with black duct tape in places like hinges. White painted interior. Bracing was installed since most shelves are removed except for one near top, to hold electricals, and overall cabinet is semistealthy; the weatherstripping shows and screws and bolts are plainly visible on side that faces into the room but overall it is just another storage cabinet in a basement. So I could compromise on stealth somewhat.
This is cabinet information: floorspace 2.5 square feet and usable grow height 3.5 feet. Intake about 45 square inches and exhaust about 20. Exhaust involves 2 120mm computer fans each rating 87.5 cfm according to manufacturer wired to AT computer power supply. Lighting is 23W CFLs in bathroom fixture wired to old computer power cable. Four are 2100K and four 6500K. Presently the bulbs are about 7 inches above pots since I am worried about excessive dryness/heat; after 3 hours the very top of soil was dry though moisture was right beneath, and uncomfortably warm to the touch. Temperature inside cabinet is 78 degrees. Outside 71 degrees. Humidity 40 percent so I think I will have to mist soil/seeds often. Good thing I am out of work.
Seeds are 4 Mandala Seeds' Speed Queen and 1 G13 Blue Venom. Venom arrived with cracked shell and black specks on inside of baggie so I am not expecting it to be viable but planted anyway to see if I am wrong. This morning I threw all five in water and soaked for 9 hours at which time a light tap sent all to the bottom except 1 Speed Queen. All went into soil. Which is 30% mixed with perlite. According to my soil tester which needs replacing for being imprecise pH is 6.5 and N/P/K reading 25/6/25 ppm in approximation. This is a Rapitest electronic unit that gives instead of precise ppm measurement a scale from 'too little' to 'too much' and explains in manual what value each roughly corresponds to.
I have a nagging feeling I am doing something very wrong.
Cabinet is a thing from walmart, all cheap plywood. Weatherstripping to lightproof, with black duct tape in places like hinges. White painted interior. Bracing was installed since most shelves are removed except for one near top, to hold electricals, and overall cabinet is semistealthy; the weatherstripping shows and screws and bolts are plainly visible on side that faces into the room but overall it is just another storage cabinet in a basement. So I could compromise on stealth somewhat.
This is cabinet information: floorspace 2.5 square feet and usable grow height 3.5 feet. Intake about 45 square inches and exhaust about 20. Exhaust involves 2 120mm computer fans each rating 87.5 cfm according to manufacturer wired to AT computer power supply. Lighting is 23W CFLs in bathroom fixture wired to old computer power cable. Four are 2100K and four 6500K. Presently the bulbs are about 7 inches above pots since I am worried about excessive dryness/heat; after 3 hours the very top of soil was dry though moisture was right beneath, and uncomfortably warm to the touch. Temperature inside cabinet is 78 degrees. Outside 71 degrees. Humidity 40 percent so I think I will have to mist soil/seeds often. Good thing I am out of work.
Seeds are 4 Mandala Seeds' Speed Queen and 1 G13 Blue Venom. Venom arrived with cracked shell and black specks on inside of baggie so I am not expecting it to be viable but planted anyway to see if I am wrong. This morning I threw all five in water and soaked for 9 hours at which time a light tap sent all to the bottom except 1 Speed Queen. All went into soil. Which is 30% mixed with perlite. According to my soil tester which needs replacing for being imprecise pH is 6.5 and N/P/K reading 25/6/25 ppm in approximation. This is a Rapitest electronic unit that gives instead of precise ppm measurement a scale from 'too little' to 'too much' and explains in manual what value each roughly corresponds to.
I have a nagging feeling I am doing something very wrong.
