[gift of gab]

Hello people, new to this thread, Ive been watching for a month or so now, and good people here.

Im going to document my first indoor grow that I have full intentions of harvesting. The other times Ive tried to grow things were not in my favor. Horribly ghetto cabinets, poor outdoor locations, things of that nature.

Now nothing is in my way. Ive got the net to guide me, alot better setup, an easy strain to grow, and above all else the net to guide me

Heres the setup

4.5sqft cabinet with ~3.75ft of vertical grow space. Thats factoring in the light and the height of the containers. Cabinet has a ghetto mylar job. Im missing a couple spots, but it cover the cabinet pretty good.

A 265 CFM squirrel cage blower exhausting the room. Blows out a window directly to the outside. Air comes into the cabinet though 3 2" passive vents. I have thought about adding another, and more than likely will. What do you people think about that?

250w MH for vegging, anda 150w HPS to add during flowering. Daytime temps are as follows: ~80F in the room, ~90F outside, ~80F inside with the door cracked. When I get my ventilation completely sorted out, I shouldn't run hotter than 85F with the door closed. Right now it runs ~88F with the door closed, but I have issues that will be adressed this week.

Nite time temps are perfect, with both lights on at night and the cabinet closed it gets up to 85F.

The ballast are located outside the cabinet near the window. I have a fan blowing on them. Surprisingly, the 250w MH ballast runs cooler than the 150w HPS ballast. I really think the plants are going to love the mixed spectrum for flowering. I hope that extra 150w of HPS makes a difference. People are getting some pretty nice yeilds with 400w in the same size area (about the same as a c13) so im hoping that by my 3rd grow I can get well over a HP (8 ounces)

Humidity is VERY low, which worries my, but once all the seeds break the surface and start growing it will be alot more humid. Still, right now the humidity inside the cabinet is 25%. I want this number to get up to at least 40%, at the very least. Since Ive never actually monitored the humidity and temp like this, I dont' really know what to expect. Anyway, Im confidant that I will get everything sorted out and dialed in in the first couple weeks of vegging, and as long as everything during flowering goes smoothly I think things will work out.

The plants are 5 top 44 from nirvana, soaked in water for 24 hours, 4/5 popped in that time, ironically the one seed that didnt' pop while soaking broke the surface first. Im going to be keeping my eye on that one. After soaking I planted the seeds in foxfarm soil.

Ill post some pics whe the babies get a little bigger. Right now they are VERY small. A cm tall maybe. When they start to actually look like plants Ill take pics of the whole setup. I must warn you in advance, its not the cleanest setup, but its better than anything Ive had to work with in the past, and I know this cabinet is going to pull through for me. Even if I can't get the heat sorted out, 250w alone is good for over 50w/sqft. More than enough.

Thats all I have for now, Ill have pics when the seedlings get a little bigger. If you have any questions or advice, LMK, like I said, first serious grow, and Im trying to do it right. Ive read alot, but Im learning new things everyday, so if anyone sees me making a mistake, say something before I kill my crop please

peace

G o G

[deZerTomB]

sounds like you're on the right track welcome and keep it green.

deZerTomB.

[monkeybudz]

I'm still a newbie myself, but from what I've learned, it sounds like you're doing great. I can't wait to see some pics. Happy growing!

[Rabbitt-420]

Setup sounds fine to me just add another vent for intake and your temps should be ok.
Youve got more light then i do and i do ok in a small closet so i know youll be happy with your results.

[greenhit]

good luck

-g

[gift of gab]

Suppers everyone

small update:

100% germination rate When I woke up today, the last 3 had broke the surface.

Also, I think I forgot to mention that I don't have reflectors for my lights yet, and to be honest, I don't know that Im going to on this grow. I have mylar up, and when I have both lights going it gives me damn near 100w/sqft. Don't get me wrong, I know Im wasting energy, but I think the plants will get plent of light without a reflector.


Any ideas on a cheap and or easy to make reflector? I was thinking about getting one of these... https://www.mdhydro.com/ht-reflectors.html

either the one on top for $20 or the one with a cool tube built on, since I have a MH and a bake a round (I THINK) will be to small. Plus, when I decide to fire up the 1000w HPS I could use the same reflector. Just some ideas Im throwing around.

If anyone has the cool tube one, it would be great if you could give me the deminsions of it. On the site it just says 20", I need to know how deep it is as well. Because if its 20" deep then it won't fit in my cabinet. But if its say 18" deep then it will fit perfectly.


Well, thats all I have for now, if you guys want Ill take some pics of the seedlings, but personally, I don't find seedlings to be very interesting, so I haven't really taken to many pictures of them. After all, I can always open the cabinet and look at them whenever I feel like it, which is pretty often

peace

G o G

EDIT: I forgot that I had a quick question for everyone. My humidity is VERY low. Im VERY worried about it. Im talking 25% to 35%. I know that once the cabinet starts filling up with vegetation the humidity will rise considerably, but until then, should I be worried about the seedlings drying up? I have some water bottles in there with the tops off, but I know that isn't helping much. I was thinking about getting a pan to put in there, but Im not sure how much that would help either.

Anyway, as always, any and all advice is welcomed.

[Rabbitt-420]

Dont worry about your humidity being low right now.
Your seedlings wont dry out because of it trust me.
Just sit back and watch them grow!
Oh and any pics are good pics in my book. It's alway fun to have something to compare to.

[gift of gab]

well, its not much, but I have a couple pics for everyone.

Seeds are 2 days old in the pics. Popped and planted July 9th, broke the surface July 13th.


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Ill post a couple pics here, but I have a question for all the viewers out there. Would you rather I just put the pics in the gallery for everyone to see, that way dialup users aren't stuck with HORRID load times, or do the thumbnails make it OK for you guys. Just trying to make the thread easy for everyone to access. I know for me threads with pics are nothing, but I remember when I was a dialup user, and I remember the LONG loading times that can be a result of pictures.

No real updates today, nothing new or interesting.

Peace

G o G

BTW, mods or site designers or whoever is responsible, I must say I LOVE the process for uploading pics to your gallery and posting them in threads. WAY better than the system over at OG IMO. Keep up the good work.

[gift of gab]

Man, its exciting watching the little uns grow, but at the same time very boring. I can't wait to see what they look like 2 weeks from sprouting.

I had a minor scare today, not really a scare, but something to cause concern. I woke up in the afternoon, and it was 85F in the room with the cabinet, and 93F inside the cabinet. Needless to say I took care of the situation, and although its still 91F outside, I got the room temp down to 81.5F, and the cabinet temp down to 84F.

Its been 5 days so far, and they're starting on their second node. Ill probably take some pictures tonight. All 5 are going strong, although it seems like I MAY have 2 mutants :( When I take pics Ill show you what Im talking about.


I ordered a 24 inch reflector today, Im thinking Ill probably mount both the 250w MH and the 150w HPS to it. Its plenty big, thats for sure.

Thats all for now, like I said, exciting, but at the same time very boring.

[gift of gab]

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I know my digicam is SHIT, its only 1.5 megapixel


Whats a decent digicam going for these days? Ill definatly be getting a new one when flowering starts Gotta take some closeups of the nuggage.

Anyway, I know its not much, but theres a couple pics.

If anyone sees anything they think needs attention, please let me know.

To me (i know nothing) it looks like I may be overwatering. But I don't water until the soil is dry 1-2 inches down.

This leads me to believe Im already getting some root bound. Even though it seems pretty unlikely to me, only 5 days old and all, they are drinking EXTREMELY fast, I saturate the soil, and within 1.5 days its completely dry, on all but 1 plant. Roots are coming out the bottom of 2 of the cups.

Anyway, Im a little worried, and I don't want anything to go wrong, so Im going to give them one last watering, then when they dry up (1-2 days) Im going to transplant.

I was hoping they would be happy in the cups for a couple weeks, but its looking more like a week.

As always, if you have an idea about whats going on, LMK.

Thats all I have for now, as usual, its not much, but better than nothing I guess.

Peace

G o G