My Odyssey - my quest from start to finish

Hello everyone, this is a bit different from what your used to probably, as I am starting from the absolute beginning.

I have grown before, however after getting males 3 times in a row a couple years ago I went on and did other things, and only recently the urge to grow has once again gone from a smoldering ember to a raging bonfire.

Last time it was bagseed and a trashbag under 2 cfl's. The male was fine i guess, but I only had room to grow 1 at a time, and each time it was a male.

Skip forward to the present, I was at the hardware store and they had one of those fancy clothes cabinets you usually see for over 100, well apparently there was something wrong with it, as they market it down to 35% of original cost and had "As Is" across the box. Well I was ecstatic, I quickly went to get a cart to put the box in!

I brought the cart and put it next to the box and went to put it in the cart. Only thing was, when I tried that it didnt budge. I mean it was like it was nailed to the floor. This box was HEAVY! Heh, well, after sometime of bracing myself, the cart and the box I somehow managed to use it's own weight to put it in the cart. I then slid it into my car from the cart, that was thankfully pretty easy.

Upon arriving home I opened the box in the car and brought the slabs of wood in piece by piece. As I started to assemble the cabinet I came to a realization - there was a reason for it being so cheap!

Only one board was predrilled, and many metal pieces were missing. Well I told myself "what were you expecting?" and starting measuring and marking off numbers. After a day of predrilling holes, a week of waiting for the missing screws and whatnot and another 2 hours of assembling, the cab is complete!

Inside dimensions are:16" deep by 23" wide and 53" high with a small box on top that I'll use for carbon scrubber equipment maybe. An issue is the doors dont meet exactly so I will need some kind of rubber skirting to seal in the light. It also isnt white so in the near future it will be painted (i should have painted before assembling but.. oh well.

My first grow will be with the CFL's I already have (2 of the big walmart ones, 42 watts or something like that) one is soft white, the other warm white.

I caulked every square inch to make it airtight in there. I will be adding pvc S pieces to provide light trapped ventilation in the near future.

The strains I want to break my cherry with are:

Dreamtime by Mr Nice Seeds.

I plan on growing 3 plants at a time, and perhaps letting them seed. Dreamtime should be a mix of Skunk, NL, Haze, and Afghan, do you think the Haze would be too large for my cab if I got one of them in the mix?

Imo i think you would be better if you could find a low watt hid or something a 150 would do very well in that cab. but i digress ok anything really would do fine in a your cab as long as you institute some kind of training method whether it be a scrog or a lst if your not familar do ask. you are gonna mos def need some kinda exhaust for that radioshack offers computer fans for a nice price. ill post some more info later but i think you would be better suited if you brought this over to the microgrow forums so u could get alot more input on this. but before you start you are mos def gonna need a few more supplies before dropping on the cash on some higher end genetics. check out nirvana or mandala for some nice first timer strains.

thanks for stopping by!

I put it here because it truly is a diary, for my own uses as well since I have horrible record keeping skills if I just post everything in this diary I can come back later for my own reference. its nice to have the timestamps too.

yes, I plan on getting a hid setup. was looking at a 250 digital mh/hps, but that will be after I move.

since i am most likely moving in the very near future i will be shipping seeds to my house from a visa giftcard that was bought with cash, and will be shipping it to the previous owners name (i still get his mail so its all good, I'll slightly mispell his name as well)

I re-evaluated the seeds. I had to buy a $50 gift card, so that works out to 3 packs of nirvanas seeds. I wish mandala had his hashberry priced at $15 too, oh well I'll have to work the numbers to end up with around $45 in seeds saving the last $5 for shipping.

tentative seed list at this point is hindu kush, northern lights, and one other, maybe AK-48 or Jock Horror. I kind of wanted to do Hashberry tho so still working the numbers.

I will do soil for the first grow but as soon as possible I want to start trying DWC, that seemed pretty cool.

So, the first run is just experimental, using decent genetics and a way for me to get some weed pretty quick while I worry about all the frills and special lighting, hydro etc while I'm already smoking my cheap setup weed.

I got no hookups where I am, and I dont really want to get into the criminal scene. I do have patience though, although it is kind of running out hehe.

Well thanks for stopping by.

Ok, I landed on the genetics finally. I got

1 x NRS - Northern Lights Pure Indica
1 x WHL-White Skunk
1 x NRS - Hindu Kush

Cab is looking good, keep up the posts! I will be looking intently since Im running a smiliar setup.

Thank you, I checked your grow and am stoked to find out you are just ahead of me, hopefully I can learn more from you as you progress, best of luck bro!

Today I weather stripped the cab and painted it flat white. I also converted the lights and hung them in the cab.

Now all I need are seeds

If all goes well I will try HID lighting. Do you think my cab is way too small for a 400 watt mh/hps system? Probably huh? Its a shame tho they seem to be the best bang for the buck in the lighting department.

here are some pics of the cab. Pretty much complete now, I will be working on a carbon scrubber next, as well as getting the equipment for a DWC grow as my #2 grow. I just cant find net pots anywhere yet.

What are the measurements of your cab, and are you willing to spend the money on a cooltube or aircooled hood and a nice inline fan? I'd say that a 400w bulb would be fine in there as long as it was cooled, say with a 150-175 cfm fan. That's if heat is the only issue. You could really kick ass in there with a bulb that big. I say give it a shot. I have an aircooled 600w in a 64 cubic foot space, and temps are no problem at all. Good luck!

right on DYI reflector i have made few also heres a suggestion for cfl ussage and how i use cfl's during veg stages http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=29899&page=2

stealthpackage said:

What are the measurements of your cab, and are you willing to spend the money on a cooltube or aircooled hood and a nice inline fan? I'd say that a 400w bulb would be fine in there as long as it was cooled, say with a 150-175 cfm fan. That's if heat is the only issue. You could really kick ass in there with a bulb that big. I say give it a shot. I have an aircooled 600w in a 64 cubic foot space, and temps are no problem at all. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Inside dimensions are:16" deep by 23" wide and 53" high

not deep enough for aircooled hood or wide enough for bought cooltube but he could DYI this if he is a handy person http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=31478&highlight=DYI+cool+tube

stealthpackage- I have a bit more than 11 cubic feet usable.

maj pothead- thank you for the links, I've already seen your post regarding the cfl's and was hoping i didnt need that many hehe. By the time I get rdy for bloom i'll get a new, longer aluminum turkey pan and add another Y-split (or get a bathroom vanity 3 parter to run 3 Y splits at once for a total of 270 watts)

I will need to get exhaust in there first though.

Well I have a hiccup in the seed supply, I am corresponding with Gypies store to see if they can make an exception to take my visa gift card hopefully he responds. I spent the cash on a gift card before knowing they stopped taking credit cards.

I will need to get exhaust in there first though.

yes ventilation is a strong key factor on a cab grow must good passive bottom on 1 side and strong exhaust top other side of cab, few smaller fans for circulation and you should be set.

small update: money order has been sent, should leave today as well. here we go

I need help please:

I have a 1/4 inch gap in between the 2 doors when they close. Nothing I try has been successful at lightproofing this.

I have tried the spongy weatherstripping, the rubber B shaped weatherstripping, and a combination of the 2. Right now I have a 4 inch piece of heavy duty cardboard attached to one door, so i close that one first then the other one over it and there are still light leaks.

i cant put too much because then the doors dont close. man i am wracking my brains over this.



as an aside, i added 2 2' flouros to the cab running up the back corner walls. i forget how many watts they are, probably 50ish, i got them from walmart though, they are the kind that have the round turn button for power, a detachable cord, and are hotglued to their blastic housing.

good luck this time.. sounds like you had rough luck before

you could easily rig that cab for a 400, and in fact, frankly I wouldnt wait to see how the flouros do I'd go straight to the 400.

a 400 watter way to small a cab for a 400 watter, remeber lorax its only 23 by 16 and all that hieght, imho i would go with a 250 watter more than enough personal piff. right now im running a 250 watter in a 31x18x51just enough light, could do a bit more but really dont need to. 23x18 a 400 watter is way overkill. and then you wouldnt have to drop the cash on a fan just some computer fans from radio shack. although i have never used a 400 watt, imo, i think you could save your money by buying something smaller. 250 watters an pull more then enough for an average smoker, just search 250watters.

obviously we agree to disagree then

obviously

hey common guys, lets keep it mellow in this thread. toke a smoke, we all brothers here.

i think 250 or even 150 (after looking at mtnjohns setup--you sir are a god) is all i'd need. i'm only supplying myself afterall. the whole idea is to be self sufficient, thats all.

also temps are high where i live so i dont want to get too much wattage going, as i'm having a time as it is with the cfls.

so i'll probably end up going 250 as i dont think i have the power of mtnjohns karma.

but thats all later.

i have been out of weed for a month now, my seeds havent even arrived yet, i wanna toke so badly. but i have patience (or i keep telling myself that..) also i dont know anyone down here with weed and am too shy/security minded to go asking strangers.

anyhow, i just want to grow 1 with the current setup (justify the costs and all) then I can expand from there. prolly to a 250.


oh, by the by... if i get a 250w electronic ballast, i can plug in either a mh or an hps right? the ballast will detect and fire each bulb correctly?

you should have got some low ryders seeds to get you through the flowering of these plants