ghetto first pc case grow

[neo247]

yes there is a hole at the bottom. i water it outside the case but still under light. i always water when i turn the lights on. i was planning on no nutrients. the soil im using has alot. you can see that one of those first leaves (coldeblah blah..??) has a little burn. probably from the nutes. so i wouldnt be feeding them right now. ill edit this post later with info about the food.

ima keep the power strip not wired to the side yet. not till the plant gets bigger. i dont want it to stretch. which actually isnt a big deal considering im LSTing. but i dont wanna be wasteful.

and ninja...the case is in my closet. in the corner. i keep a little blanket partially on it when the lights are on to light proof it completely. i dont think it takes away from stealth.

the two intake fans are connected to the metal chassis of the case then the front cover of the computer is attached to make it look like a computer. i also attached the front of a cd drive to make it look more realistic. but the metal chassis has alot of holes. fans are meant to be there. there are spots on the front of the plastic cover to get air. soon i will be adding a new little design. i mentioned it in a previous post. with lightproofing the fans. i havent got a chance to go to home depot.

i havent tried pointing a fan at the case. i dont have anything like that and i think it would take away from stealth.

EDIT: i went to home depot and picked up some stuff for the grow. i got this flowering nutrient stuff. its 15-30-15. idk how to give it to my plant though. i think i mix it with my water but the instructions call for me just mixing it in with the soil. help please

edit again: its phosphorus that is good for flowering. potassium is good for it too but not the P.
http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/374679-essential-plant-nutrients.html

i was looking at this grow and this guy was using that tigerbloom stuff which is only like 4-10-8 or something. can i make the nutes i bought work? if not i will return it when i return the pvc piping for the fans that was the wrong size >.<

 

[neo247]

so yesterday i got called into work early for today. so i set up the timer. i came home at 2pm (2 hours past the light turn off) and they were still on =/ and the water was dry and it was kinda hot. but it will be fine. the instructions for my timer suck i think.

so i took more pics. it turned sideways kinda. but its ok. soon ima transplant it to something alot better and will bury the stem down alot.

i found a 2 and a half inch fan. smaller than the 80mms. ima hook it up to 5 volts. and just put it in a corner to move air around. not really an intake or exhaust.

so heres so pics. and if someone could help me out with telling me if my ferts are good that would be great.

 

[ScrubNinja]

I'm a brown thumb at growing pot in soil, but a few people have posted this ratio of n-p-k for pot here:

Veg: 3-1-2
Flower: 1-3-2

So using that ratio, the new stuff you bought is 1-2-1. The RosePride stuff is 2-3-1. Again, not an expert, but I think both those would have too high ratio of N for good flowering, and probably not the best choice for veg either. You can always ask on the indoor soil grow forum. I just mix up part A and B hydro so please correct me if I'm way off base on the fert thing, anybody.

 

[neo247]

ehh well on the package it says to mix with soil. but ima mix it in a gallon jug of water. at like a quarter of the strength. and water with it every other day. and flush every two weeks or so. but ima transplant soon. and it doesnt need food. its a deep green and it loves whatever its getting. i dont think its too much N. most important in flowering is the P which is what my plant is doing. 12/12 from seed. im sure it will be fine.

the food is like little tiny balls. should i crush them before adding to water?

 

[neo247]

update. day 6 or 7 i think. kinda goin a little slow. but im in no rush. i got the timer working. i forgot to push the button to timer on >.< i hooked up that little fan. i also got some good ideas for keeping the timer hooked up once the plant gets bigger and i have to move the light up.

comments would be nice. even cool to see new people =]

 

[Megas]

Can 2 cfl actually complete a full grow?

 

[toastfighter2]

Hey neo247, I have a couple suggestions for you.
1)Don't use that fertilizer, it is meant to be time release, ie mixed with soil before you start planting. Crushing it up will burn your plants. Look for liquid Shultze, if you are going the cheaper route with this grow
2)You should fill that can up the rest of the way(aluminum is not the best choice for a container, look into getting a plastic bottle)
3)You have a little bit to worry about fertilizer, it still has its baby leaves on it.
4)Unless that plant is just for testing purposed, you should start a couple more just to be safe(ie some will be males(around 50% in fact), some will be better than others), and 3 plants is just plain harder to kill than one.
5)Most cell phone chargers are in the right voltage range for your fans, if that will help with your space issue at all(and radio shack sell adjustable voltage "wall warts" so you can control just how fast your fans go(helps with heat issues)
6)Get your timer on track man. An hour or two here and an hour or two there can turn a fine female into a hermi, or worse a 100% male, in no time flat
Edit- I was just looking through your thread again, and just noticed this, get the wires off of the bottom of your cab, they may be low voltage, but it is still not safe

 

[neo247]

Can 2 cfl actually complete a full grow?

ya. i think ive seen one 23watt cfl complete a grow. obviously not the best results. but i could be mistaken.

Hey neo247, I have a couple suggestions for you.
1)Don't use that fertilizer, it is meant to be time release, ie mixed with soil before you start planting. Crushing it up will burn your plants. Look for liquid Shultze, if you are going the cheaper route with this grow
2)You should fill that can up the rest of the way(aluminum is not the best choice for a container, look into getting a plastic bottle)
3)You have a little bit to worry about fertilizer, it still has its baby leaves on it.
4)Unless that plant is just for testing purposed, you should start a couple more just to be safe(ie some will be males(around 50% in fact), some will be better than others), and 3 plants is just plain harder to kill than one.
5)Most cell phone chargers are in the right voltage range for your fans, if that will help with your space issue at all(and radio shack sell adjustable voltage "wall warts" so you can control just how fast your fans go(helps with heat issues)
6)Get your timer on track man. An hour or two here and an hour or two there can turn a fine female into a hermi, or worse a 100% male, in no time flat
Edit- I was just looking through your thread again, and just noticed this, get the wires off of the bottom of your cab, they may be low voltage, but it is still not safe

thanks for the suggestions.

1. this is exactly what i needed to know thank you. i will return this to home depot and see if they have any liquid stuff. suggestions on the NPK rating? keep in mind i am flowering. 12/12 from seed.

2. ya i figured that. but i will transplant into a real planting pot soon.

3. yes i know babies cant take the fert. and my soil is really rich to begin with...i just wanna get the nutes straight so when the time comes they will be happy =]

4. well yes it is kinda for testing and see if i can grow anything. but ironically last night i started germinating 3 more bagseeds and it was kinda gonna be a little surprise lol.

5, i have all sorts of adapters. but all the cell phone chargers i have seen at my house and my friends house have all been 5 volts. but they are running 7.5 each now. 12volts is too much. it gets really loud. i was gonna buy that "wall wart" thing but i like how everything is now. this week my second cfl is gonna be plugged in. just gotta get a few adapters. i didnt get a dual timer =/ but ill make it work

6. timer is doing great now =] i saw it go on and off at the right times.

i didnt think wires being on the ground were that big of a deal. but if you say so then ill do some changes. ill have them sitting on a box and the fan cables(the ones that hand down on the left side with that small gray extention) ill put them on some cd cases again.

thanks again so much.

 

[neo247]

update.day 10. ima add another exhaust fan (80mm) and another tiny fan where the other little fan is (below it). probably both at 5vlots. i also added 3 more plants.

sex will be showing soon. i think i see some pistils but maybe too early.

question: can i go the whole grow in that tiny soda can or a pot that s just a little bigger? space is an issue. i also wanna keep them LOW.

pics. comments please

 

[neo247]

hey guys. day 11. i wont be updating this much anymore because no one seems interested in this, sadly. but thank you to all who helped me. i greatly appreciate it. here are some final pics that i will be showing you guys. first post will be of the case. i made some changes.

added an 80mm exhaust fan at the top top of the case where the PSU fan is. its running at 5volts
i added a tiny fan above the two intake fans and below the other small fan. that is running at 12 volts. but its only on when the lights are on. it is attached to the 80mm intake fan at 12volt.

case pics:

 

[neo247]

oldest plant pics. i think itse a female!! doesnt appear to be new growth. looks like pistils to me

 

[ScrubNinja]

I would suggest something like take out food containers, low and flat and rectangular.

 

[neo247]

i was thinking of that. i got more ground space now that i cleaned up the case a little.
the top left plant is dead i think. i over soaked the water then planted it. oh well. just a bagseed. i feel more comfortable with 3 plants anyways

 

[zlock]

Lookin good man!
Give plastic soda bottles a shot, or even plastic cups. I forget exactly how much, I wanna say it was like a half oz between a Celtic Hash clone and a Cheese clone both grown in plastic party cups, under CFL's (making many n00b mistakes along the way).
I grew a Skunk #1 seed 12/12 from the start, in a plastic soda bottle under the same CFL's making all sorts of mistakes along the way, and got a few grams of some VERY nice weed. I think the way I watered the plants had a good deal to do with how happy they were in such small containers. Rather than watering from the top, I mixed up my nutes in a tub (could be a 2 liter soda bottle with the top cut off or a water jug with the top cut off, anything like that) and submerged the cup/bottle slowly until the water level was right at the top of the soil. I got the idea from DrBudGreenGenes, and it seemed to work great. It insured that there were no dry pockets in the soil, and something about pushing out any stale air/gas from the soil. It worked well for me, heres a pic of the Celtic Hash and the Cheese drying (You can see one of the cups in the pic) as well as the Skunk 1 which was 12/12 from seed, just before I cut it down.

For nutes try finding a local garden supply place. I didn't buy my stuff from them, but the Agway a few towns over had a decent selection of all sorts of stuff you can't find at Creepo-Depot, bLowes, or Wally World

Are you measuring your pH?
If not, head over to the pet section of Wal Mart or go to Petco or something and in the aquarium section you should find a pH test kit with a little plastic tube, some test drops, and a card that shows you what color = what pH
This will cost about 5 bucks and works great, and will help you BIG TIME.

Keep up the great work man, you'll be getting the hang of it soon!

 

[neo247]

thanks zlock! great advise. i will be getting and using this tiger bloom fert ASAP. no earlier than 4 days. and i will pick up a ph tester kit for sure.
http://shop.simplyhydro.com/Tiger-Bloom-Quart_p_369.html

how did you get that skunk so short? obviously not LST.

i transplanted the big plant into a little tray i made from a Chinese takeout tray. about 6 inches long 3.5 wide and two inches deep. but i made so mistake which im sure ill regret =[

so first thing i fucked up on was placing the plant into the new pot. i wont wont even go into it....but i grabbed a long screw nearby and stuck it in the soil and twist tied the plant gently to it and put some soil over most the screw. which i tried doing this all as gently as possible, but lets just say i still have to find my green thumb lol

then if anything couldnt get any worse...it does...i was about to put the tray into the case and i fucking dropped it from about a foot high. flipped over. fucking faceplanted my little baby. wow i was sad. but i just put it all back together and cleaned up all the soil and put it in. seems alright but only time will tell how bad i stressed it.

i made a quick temporary setup to give as much light as possible to the plant. you will see in the pic. but i had to unplug one of my fan outlets which was running 1 exhaust and one intake. both at 7.5volts.

so i got one 5 volt exhaust. one 12 volt intake. and those two little small fans pushing around air. but i have the two lights in there. i hope it doesnt get too hot. im doing this so the plant will have plenty of light to produce energy to help heal. sounds logical to me...

goodnight. here are some pics.

 

[neo247]

hey guys day 17 of big plant. just fed it some tiger bloom at 1/4 strength. we'll see how she likes it. she already smells like bud. im a water with food every other day. then the days i dont, ill use regular water. she drinks alot! i water her a bunch and i check it 24 hours later and shes pretty dry. temps are good.

 

[matero23]

good job, its all a learning process man dont worry. how are the heat issues now? just a thought i might add, wouldnt u want the exhaust to be using 12 v and the intake 5 volts? i feel that the intake will be putting to much air in that the little exhaust wont be able to pull all that air out, and when u have ur plants stinking up the case the smell would leak out.

What stops the smell is Negative Pressure.

You can use intake fans but you'd better know what you're doing. You can't pump out more than you bring in but you CAN pump in more than you pump out. That's called positive pressure. Where pressure inside is greater than outside the cab. Positive pressure forces air out of the cab through any crack it can find thus eliminating the usefullness of filters.

Traditional passive intake uses 3 equal sized holes. One at the top for a powered exhaust and two passive intakes at the bottom. Now air rushes out as fast as it comes in. No buildup of pressure. Air rushing through the cab creates a pressure drop or, negative pressure. Pressure inside is less than outside the cab (it's why wings lift an airplane or a curveball curves) Because of negative pressure, all air in the vicinity will try to enter the cab. The only way out is through the filter.

this is from Reds ventilation 101.... i think this is what im talking about. anyone else might want to ive more info on this... im just a n00b lol

 

[neo247]

thanks matero. i was actually thinking the same thing. but i dont run the 12volt all the time. just 12 hours when the lights are on to cool things off. i liked that quote you posted. i need negative pressure to eliminate odor. im going to make a box like carbon filter out of cardboard to go over BOTH exhaust fans.

stealth is the most important thing. and it is hard to hear the 12 volt fan...but i rather be safe than sorry.

btw i like your setup. ill be posting in there once i have some sort of input. thanks again

EDIT: after reading ventilation 101 again i will soon make another fan change. i will have three 80mm exhaust fans running all the time. this will suck fresh air from any cracks and the intake holes. i will keep the 12 volt fan as an intake but still only running when lights are on. and those two mini fans will stay to help cool the light. im pretty sure this will create a good negative pressure in the box.

i also have some cool carbon filter ideas.

question: when making a carbon filter, is it okay to just have a layer of that carbon sheet stuff? that activated carbon is very annoying to work with.

thanks guys

 

[ScrubNinja]

The sheeting's been confirmed not to work. I mean it's ok to use it in the design of it - it's good to hold the carbon granules in sometimes - but it won't filter a grow well enough by itself.

 

[neo247]

thanks scrub