[Budless]

Hey guys! I'm back and this time with pictures!

This is my first full grow, but second attempt hence 1.2v. The sole living plant from my last grow died over the holidays. It took a vacation to my friend's house and grew quit a bit, but a day of bad weather did it in. No fear though! I'm back from vactaion and I have time on my hands now. So here I go again!

I'm currently growing out of a the "Ductmaid" as I call it. It's designed after Red_Greenery's rubbermaid. It was executed by me, a poor student lacking proper tools and space(a compact and messy room) so it looks a bit shoddy.



Unfortunately it leaks light pretty badly. The duct tab is also a pretty poor medium to hold it all together. I suggest using anything, but duct tape. However its readily avalible and it works, so I used it. I suggest using black duct tape if anything.

Right now I'm having some difficulty germinating. I had no problems in the past. So far I have tried to germinate 4 x Skunk #1 seeds by placing the seeds into a cup of distilled water. In 48 hours I have a 0% germination rate. I threw those seeds out and placed 3 x Nirvana Northern Lights in distilled water. In 24 hours the germination rate is 0%. I'm a bit irked at the moment. My Ak-48 seeds germinated super fast and so have subsequent other seeds I have used in the past. No worries though, I'll let them sit for a while long. If nothing comes of it I still have more seeds to go through(Thanks SeedBotique!).

So right now the plan is to germ and sprout all 3 Nirvana Northern Light seeds. The medium is a soil mix. I'm using Expert Gardener's Perfect Mix in conjuction with perlite and vermiculite. I use a 2-1-1 ratio that helps keep the soil airated and moist.

The tub will be running 6x23 watt Cool White CFL's during the veg cycle. I will change out 4 of the bulbs for 42 watt Cool White CFLs to bump up the light for flowering!

Right now I have some minor fixes that need to be adressed

- I think the grow box needs another intake because the grow chamer remains hot despite being sealed off.

- Heat ventalation in my closet needs to be adressed. I live in a leased appartmenet, so I can't physically alter anything in this place. I need to find a way to vent the heat from my closet through the door with attracting attention.

- Germinating the seeds(TBD)


That about covers it for now. I'm sure I may have left something off, but if you folks have any questions or want to commit any advice on the subject be my guest. I'm here to learn and I want to learn it right the first time. Hard lessons are not always plesant, but there still something to learn from them, so don't be shy.

Thanks everybody and I hope you tune in throughout the grow. I'm pretty motivated right now!

tub looks cool..i like the black. duct taper is good until it gets heated..it looses stickyness...

as for germing...maybe i read it wrong but do you just leave them in the water? ive read about letting them saok before for like 12-24 hours....but then you either plant it in a medium or put it in the paper towels.

for air intake to cool temps....make your intake holes bigger like 2x times bigger than the exaust. for your closet....try to get some omre of the dryer hose and run it to the top and bottom of the door. use a funnel and stick the end on the bottom or top of the door frame..like underneath between the door and the carpet.

ok im done ranting....time to smoke... hope i helped

[ECUG]

48 hours for seeds to germ is not a long time. They can take up to a week to sprout. Something to check is the temp. of your water, you want it nice and warm, it will really help them grow out. Also, you can soak your seeds for a pretty long time. I have found that soaking them until they crack, and then using the paper towel method seems to work best (as i said this is my opinion). If you want to cheap out you can use a 1:1 ratio with planting medium and perlite (again this is what I do and it seems to work great). One other thing, as darren said you want your passive intakes to be at least 2x's as big as your exhaust, use 3.14 to figure out the area of your circles. Keep us updated. Good luck!

yea, like the other guys said, move them to paper towels and keep them warm but not hot. i like to drop my seeds in water for 24 hours to get them nice and saturated then i put them in wet paper towels (ink free) layered a couple layers thick, then put that in a small ziplock bag. put inside a plastic movie or DVD case and leave near a heat source (not so close as to burn. You want the towels to feel lukewarm all the time, not hot. Most seeds should pop after 48 hours in the towels and have decent tails. It sounds like its not the seeds that are bad, its that your germinating wrong or poorly. did u check to see ifthe seeds were crushed before u started germing them? I just reread your post and noticedyou said this worked many times for you before. Another thing I can think of is that the pH of the water is off.

[The Most High]

Dude get rid of that duct tape, as soon as it gets warm it will fail on you. Duct tape is good for removeing warts, unwanted hair, and temp fixes only. Check some of the other rubbermade grows around, cause your setup just dont quite look right? What are all those dryer hoses for? What kind of fans you useing for vent, and where are you venting too? It could just be me, cause im high, but you got a lot more than some minor issues to address if you gonna grow in there.

As far as germing your seeds, try droping them into a jar of water till they crack and you can see the tap root start to show, then put them into a paper towel and keep it in a ziplock bag, in a warm place like the top of your tv, that should do the job. If any of your seeds are floating in a jar of water after about 24 hours, they prolly aint no good, good seeds will sink to the bottom. Sounds like you might have thrown out some good seeds, you gotta give em some time. Good things are worth waitin for right?

Hope that helps.

[ECUG]

Actually I think you might be high The Most High, this tub is essentially the same rubbermaid grow you will see most anywhere here in the micro-forum :-P Budless used Red_greenery's tutorial to base his design for this tub. You should check it, it is pretty cool and it will help you to better understand whats going on here. I do have to agree with you though about the tape. If I were you Budless Id purchase another tub and start over. I think that is a square piece of glass sticking out right in the middle? You can get a piece of plexi-glass cut to size at almost any glass store for pretty cheap. Then you could caulk it in place iside your cab. This would help with the whole tape holding your chamber together thing. Like irishsoco said check your ph also, youd be surprised what that can mess with, trust me.

[The Most High]

ECUG

I know im High, im always High, im The Most High. You told the dude to buy another tub and start over, that sounds like more than a minor issue to me. That box aint gonna make it from seed to harvest. I wanna help as much as i can. I aint trying to dis anybodies work, but that box is doing da "Sholder lean"!

Budless
I just checked out Red's thread so i get the idea of whats going on, but what kind of fans you running and at what cfm?, and is that thing at the bottom a light trap for your intake?

Also What exactly is that thing at the very top of the box, it kinda looks like a badly burnt baked potato with an extension chord?

I gotta be missing something? This weed got me seeing thangs!


"Now shake ya sholder shawty, lean, lean, lean, .........."

[Budless]

I live in a small college town. We have one hardware store and a Wal Mart. I used what I could. That was the best sized plexiglass I could get to do the job, but I had no saw to cut it nor a workplace.

I'm using heavy-duty 3 inch fans to vent through the scrubber and one on the side of the light chamber. Currently they are venting into the open area, which causes a problem with heat. My problem is not being able to vent it out of the room. This needs to be a stealth as possible so the closet must stay closed at all times when I'm not home. A problem I'm working to fix.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I have run this thing for a while. I successfully raised plants from seed in this box. Yes the duct tape is a bad idea. Hence why I suggested in my OP that nobody use it if at all possible. It works for now and it's going to work till it breaks or until I can afford a different setup.

The thing on the top is one of the 3 inch fans. V there is a picture of one V




I planted my seeds the soil earlier today. Now the wait for the seedlings starts!

[ECUG]

The most high:

Sorry if I sounded a bit rude, I really didnt mean too at all. My appologies.

Budless:

To be honest, if it is working for you go with it, but I am running a quite similar box to yours (without the carbon filter unit on top), and find it is unecessary to use pelxiglass with 6 42w cfls. Also mine is in a closet with the doors shut all day. My ambient temp is anywhere from 68-72 F and box temps 3 inches below the bulbs is about 4 degrees higher. I think im using the same honeywell fan as you from bed bath and beyond for like $9. Perhaps my fan is a little bigger. I did notice that it doesnt appear that you have any sort of airflow to you actual light bulbs. Correct me if I am wrong, because it is hard to tell. If not, perhaps a computer fan to extract the hot air would help cool your temps down a bit. Hope this helped!

duct tape works man dont lisrten to anyone esle...ive got it all over my rubbermaid and it holds fine as long as it dont get too much heat. if u want to try and get some velcro for stuff on the inside...might hold better under the heat. your tub looks fine, just not very stealthy. kinda hard to explain the rubbermaid to the non grower...my wife still questions mine and it runs fine...