[basscadet]

Okay, so this is my first grow having thought about it ever since I started smoking. Looking through these forums gave me the inspiration for the PC grow, from the Nanomachine that blew my mind to all the successful grows that have followed it, I thought it’s the most stealth way to grow a personal stash known to mankind.

Ironically, as I was building the grow box I remembered a nursery rhyme I had on a record as a kid, “The Farmer in the Dell”, now I am one.

The first attempt to germinate saw three C99 and three white skunk seeds in dishes of water over the heating vent. Two of each popped their tails out and they went into some soil in an egg carton. Me thinking it’s the perfect container to start seedlings in, Newbie mistake #1. One skunk launched itself towards the light so the egg box went into the PC that I was still dialling in, Newbie mistake #2.

I definitely needed to get the PC right before starting anything in it. Temps were around the 40*C mark so still trying to cut through the front light trap to add intake.

So the strongest seedling burnt to a crisp under the lights and the other five slots were baked dry, they have been given a nice burial in the compost so they can help future generation to live. Two seeds were still in their casing so I tried to get them to germinate in some soaked soil in pots. A week later I noticed what looked like a small spider web amongst the soil. Closer look FUCK, the Borg! So the soil gets tossed after a spray of alcohol and water, now I find more in a small worm farm I had on the kitchen bench for scraps. Same fate for that.

Not even a bud and I get the Borg. Damn, I must be one lucky fucker!

So, after my first grow attempt;

Loss; six seeds…
making three newbie mistakes and having a possible Borg infestation; frustrating

Knowing that there are more seeds; priceless!

So my second attempt will be with one feminized Gigabud seed that Attitude sent me by mistake instead of the G13 Poison Dwarf I ordered.

But that’s kinda works out okay, I’ll start with one seed and hope to hell I don’t turn it male.

I’m using two PC’s converted to IBM’s (Inconspicuous Bud Machines). One as a flowering box and a smaller one, which was going to be my auto flower box, as a veg/clone/mother box.

Flower box
L 44.5 cm
H 43.5 cm
D 20 cm
.94 sqr feet
4 x 23W 27000k CFL globes (92W)
6200 lumens in total
120 mm PC fan exhaust



Veg/ clone/ mother box
L 38.5 cm
H 39 cm
D 20 cm
.83 sqr feet
3 x 23W 6500k CFL globes
4650 lumens total
80 mm PC fan exhaust

LIFT OFF!!!






Germinated on 13/05 and broke soil on the 18th.

Hell yeah, finally! Hopefully I can get this little girl to harvest. Man do I love a challenge, not only my first grow, but while I’m farming in my PC, my in-laws will be staying here for two months… scrubber in place for sure!!

Stick around for my grow if you can stand the ramblings of a newbie, hoping to get a quarter from this one… but if I get more, oh well. LOL

Please, if you see something I'm doing wrong or could be doing better, jump in and let me know.

[ScrubNinja]

Hiya again basscadet! Looks good bro, nice work on the lights.

Make sure you cut your intakes low. And always have your exhaust at the top. Uh oh, yours is not at the top, it's midway. So that's one thing I see. You'll be fighting science right from the get-go. Sounds like you're in a cooler part of the world so it won't neccesarily ruin your grow, just not great design.

I don't grow in soil, but is it decent soil? It looks a bit gluggy. Haha hope I don't seem too negative. I know how exciting it is! Good luck man!

[basscadet]

Hey ScrubNinja,
Thanks for dropping by. Your words of electrical wisdom helped me get to where I am now. K+ for you!

I'm still tweaking the intakes, I have them low but with light traps and having to enlarge the vent to double the intake.

On the veg case, the exhaust is at the top, the flowering case has the exhaust mid-way but I have more temp issues in the veg box. Weird I know. I added an 80mm PC fan to circulate air and cut a hole where the floppy drive would be but that hasn't helped. It dropped the temps 2*c but still in the too-hot zone.

Ahh the fun of physics and gardening or maybe this one

The soil is made up of 40% perlite, 10% Wettasoil (like vermiculite but with kelp extract) , 25% potting mix, and 25% soil from my veggie patch. The veggie patch soil feels so good. I spent three months working in chicken manure, seafeed extract and worm castings. It feels like silk, almost but when i planted veggies in there, my hand went through to my elbow with hardly any resistance. So warm at the bottom of in.


So I figured it would be good in a pot. I did water it before I took pics and maybe stired the top in search of any bugs, just in case, but turned it into mud LOL.


I did over water a little, the tips went a little brown, nothing too bad, just the edge of the tip so I backed off the water the next day and all is well. It is a small pot and with high temps it an make it dry out a little quicker.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?...ictureid=77885

[ScrubNinja]

Cool, you got it all under control! Yeah that soil mix sounds pretty decent. I miss my vegie patch. I think it's ok to have higher temps in veg. What is the temp in the veg?

[basscadet]

Hey ScrubNinja,
I managed to get the veg temp down to 33*C, but that is still 12-13*C above ambient. The first time I nearly burnt my hand on the top of the PC when temps were in the 40's

I did read somewhere on a horticulture site that high temps creates a larger root mass, something to do with the heat making the plant send out more roots to bring in more water.

This pdf is of a study into pot colour and how it can affect root temps, kinda interesting too.
https://www.canr.org/02008.pdf

Although I still spend way too much time over at Redgreenery's ventilation 101, I get the temps down to 27*C and be happier.

[stealthcabber]

mad props man those are clean looking cases. after one grow you will want to upgrade tho trust me. if you say theres no way, you will find one https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?al...ictureid=77971

btw the t1 fresh compact flouros are ionizers and lights in one

[basscadet]

thanks for the props Stealthcabber,
I know what you mean about upgrading, I look at the two cabs I have and wonder if I really need a veg cab or two flower cabs haha, but gonna reveg some moms after this grow so we'll see how it goes.

Nice one about the ionizing cfl's really cool idea. Could save on carbon filters I think. I' might look around for them in the future.

[stealthcabber]

bog talks about new method in his book on taking clones so you never have to have mothers. might stagger harvests a little more also.

[stealthcabber]

btw other tips, use black pc cases as you did...

[ScrubNinja]

Why is black better?