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Fridge Farmer - Refrigerator Build

First post here.

Been watching and lurking for quite some time. I’ve gotten so much information from this site, as well as others, so thanks in advance for the unbelievable wealth of information, I’ve learned so much.

Started working on a stealth cabinet about four months ago. Loved the idea of having something hidden in plain sight, so started to explore the various cabinets and tents that people are using. Ended up deciding to go with a fridge I bought for 15 dollars and put it right in the back corner of the garage.

The 15 dollar fridge was really disgusting and looked like it had been stored wet for a few years. So much mold and mildew, I wondered at times if it was too far gone. After a week or so of sterilizing and removing the excess materials, I was pretty happy with the result. It was a pretty nasty job and I’d recommend doing it outside, if possible (which I didn’t). The insulation foam in the walls gets everywhere, and the lines are likely still charged with freon so be very careful.

 
I fitted a four inch elbow into the upper rear wall “permanently” to aid in removing heat from the fridge. Added some eye hooks into the top in order to hang lights, and ultimately a carbon scrubber once the girls start to stink.

I wasn’t able to fit the fan under the fridge where the original compressor lived. It was pretty close, and I thought I could remove enough junk to shove it in, but decided the extra work would be pointless. I ended up just mounting the fan to the back of the fridge wall. I didn’t want to deal with any vibration, so I put a thin piece of wood on each side after drilling to dampen any vibration from the fan.

For the first week, I ran it with the lights on an 18/6 cycle to check temps and humidity. It’s very hot 75% of the year where we live, so air exchange was crucial. Temps generally swing between 80 and 90 degrees with humidity in the 50 - 70 range.
 

troutman

Seed Whore
I hope nobody looks for a cold beer or some cold hard cash. :biggrin:

Problems I see is that refrigerators are well insulated and that may keep in too much humidity and/or heat.
Good venting both at the top and bottom is probably wise. Use the bottom vent(s) for intake and top vent
for outlet(s). Since heat rises and you would be using natural air currents.

Good Luck.
 
Really annoying that I can't edit my posts. If someone could delete the one above that would be awesome.

Materials Used
Refrigerator
LED Panel (Viparspectra 450 Reflector Series)
iPower 4 inch 190 CFM Fan
Fan speed controller
Timer for lights
iPower carbon scrubber
Flexible Duct work

First Grow
Strain: Nirvana AK-48
Lights: LED
Medium: Coco 60% / Perlite 40% in 3 gallon fabric pots
Nutrients: GH Micro / Grow / Bloom w/ Cal Mag

Seeds went into rapid rooters on 4/23 and they popped on 4/26. I moved them into the fridge almost immediately. Only PH'd tap water until 5/3 and then used a 50% diluted feed schedule I found online.

Afterwards, I transplanted to the three gallon containers and topped on 5/15. My intention was to mainline these, although maybe a bit too much for my first grow. Ended up working towards four colas because I was afraid of running out of room.

Decided to name the girls Thelma and Louise and added a picture of their namesake to keep them company...

 

Nup

Active member
Looking well Fridge Farmer!
I have similar plans for a fridge, so its nice to see other's ideas.
Looking forward to more! Happy & safe growing.
 
Ended up vegging the girls for seven weeks. Everything was going along pretty well up until we traveled in the beginning of July. I had done a fair amount of research as I was going to be gone for an entire week. Decided to go with the Tropf Blumat auto watering system in my absence. Setup was pretty easy and had it running for about 10 days before I left.

I used two small Blumat carrots for each 3 gallon pot. Followed the instructions to a T and they actually worked perfectly. Kept the soil most but not sitting in water for about 15 days straight with only a couple “drenching / flush” waterings throughout.

When I got home from the trip and opened the fridge I was shocked. Over six days they had stretched well over 12 inches towards the light, and one of the flowers was literally touching the light. Whoops.

Pulled everything back and down as well as I could, but I couldn’t really do that much. Still now I have one Cola which is about 2 inches from the light. It doesn’t look bleached or any different, which is weird, so I’m leaving it for now. Should I chop it off?

Next time I'll probably only want to flower one plant at a time in this amount of space. If I had the room, I would've just pulled the main branches to the sides, but couldn't because there was another plant there. I'm already fantasizing about more space...

Been feeding according to the nute schedule I found online which is about 50% strength, as everything I’ve read states that less is more and over feeding is something I don’t want to have ruin my first grow. Flowers are coming along nicely though and are extremely sticky.

 

Jonny Lan

Well-known member
Welcome Fridge Farmer! today is my first day back but this was a great community several years ago when i joined and I'm sure it still is. Im very interested to see what you can pull off in this fridge! Keep at it bro!
 
Welcome Fridge Farmer! today is my first day back but this was a great community several years ago when i joined and I'm sure it still is. Im very interested to see what you can pull off in this fridge! Keep at it bro!

Thanks Jonny Lan! A few more weeks and we'll see.
 
Today is day 45 of flower. It’s been crazy hot here, temps in the fridge with the lights on have gotten up to 93 degrees. Average temp in there is 87 degrees with RH of 60%. So far so good and no issues. Flowers are fattening up nicely and I’m starting to check trichomes. Everything looks relatively cloudy to me, although I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be looking for. I know that they say that this plan can be harvested in as little as 48 days, although I’m going to go at least a week maybe 2 longer. Anybody have any feedback on this? Most of the pictures I’ve seen of mature AK48 girls they’re all mostly white.

One other thing to note is I literally can’t seem to water them enough. I’m sure the heat is partly to blame, but I’m adding about a gallon per day to each pot before I can seem to get any runoff at all. These girls are thirsty…

I would guess I’m about two weeks out at this point, but would love any feedback from you all.

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djimb

Active member
Veteran
They're looking great! I really like the stealth fridge cab.

I'm not especially familiar with the AK-48, but considering that the pistols are still all white, I'd say two weeks or so seems fair. It looks like those colas could definitely fatten up.

Keep it up!
 

-TheShortTexan-

Active member
Thanks for doing this. This is an impressive grow. I love to see the straightforward results of the same temps and humidity that I usually deal with. That light is also one I was looking at getting. Please stick with this! Anxious to see the weight and smoke report!!
 

ratchy

Member
Today is day 45 of flower. It’s been crazy hot here, temps in the fridge with the lights on have gotten up to 93 degrees. Average temp in there is 87 degrees with RH of 60%. So far so good and no issues. Flowers are fattening up nicely and I’m starting to check trichomes. Everything looks relatively cloudy to me, although I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be looking for. I know that they say that this plan can be harvested in as little as 48 days, although I’m going to go at least a week maybe 2 longer. Anybody have any feedback on this? Most of the pictures I’ve seen of mature AK48 girls they’re all mostly white.

One other thing to note is I literally can’t seem to water them enough. I’m sure the heat is partly to blame, but I’m adding about a gallon per day to each pot before I can seem to get any runoff at all. These girls are thirsty…

I would guess I’m about two weeks out at this point, but would love any feedback from you all.

View Image View Image View Image

Fridge Farmer you have done a good job on them :)
 

justanotherbozo

Active member
Veteran
...high bro and welcome to the hobby.

anyway, i'm guessing you've never seen any of Freezerboys work seeing as how he hasn't been active in some years now but since you are following a similar path i thought i'd share a list of links to his many threads, he was a gifted grower and a prolific author who wrote in a very easy to read style.

...it's a real shame his work has been mostly lost in the fullness of time.

peace, bozo
 
Thanks for doing this. This is an impressive grow. I love to see the straightforward results of the same temps and humidity that I usually deal with. That light is also one I was looking at getting. Please stick with this! Anxious to see the weight and smoke report!!

Thanks TSS! I've had to move a lot of air to keep temps under control. I'm real happy with how everything is coming along, but I would probably only do one plant at a time next flowering run. Need more room for things to grow sideways instead of up
 

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