[FreezerBoy]

Who would suspect that beneath this unassuming exterior lives a horrifying Garden of Madness? Yes, girls and boys, the DEVIL’S WEED! Well, the cops didn’t. Nor the detective, paramedics or coroner but, that’s another story.




This is the story of a fridge named Shed. Shed first saw action some 14 years ago, long before I’d heard of the innerwebs. I’d heard of people growing indoors under huge lights but, had no such facilities of my own. Then I met Shed and thought, “What is this, if not a small room? All I need do is find a small enough light” So I searched and I searched til I found a 150, cut some vent holes, jury rigged a simple flood and drain and, for 14 years, that was good enough.

Then I found OG, just before the crash. More importantly, I found NGB’s now famous cab. This guy’s getting 3 times my yield in 1/3 the space!?! It’s gotta be the roots. I needs me some roots! But my first attempts at DWC and aeroponics all end in disaster. The fervor died.

Then I find you’se guys. I develop a serious Jones for root porn. You can’t all be making this stuff up. I try another DWC grow on the side. It works! The DWC, under 46 watts of CFL, is outperforming the rockwool under 150 watts of HPS!

So Shed’s getting a makeover. I’ve swapped out the HPS for a 250 CMH and rebuilt the ballast. As a NON electrician, it was relatively easy. Don’t let the idea scare you if you’re thinking of doing ballast work. Here's a shot of the naked cab. Heavy duty ext cord comes through the freezers drain hole and connects to a power strip. The fan is a Toyo (100-120 CFM?) it’s been running almost non-stop for 14 years. I should get a backup, huh? Fan and intake holes use clothes dryer vent kits, the kits flex hoses (on the back of the freezer) provide light baffles.





The ballast used to live inside the freezer. Now it lives outside, underneath the freezer, with the wires running through the intake vent. Looks like I need some new filter material. This is screwing with the hose’s effect as a light baffle. Tomorrow, I should enlarge the drain hole and run the wires through there.

So, here’s where Shed’s at now. The wooden table is because the freezer floor is only flat halfway back and then slopes up. This prevents my using buckets with the door closed. With the table, the buckets can slide back. The shelf goes out when the buckets go in. They still have silicone drying so this setup is temporary.




I recently went 0-10 trying to germ some Sensi Seeds Silver Haze. I’ve had 4 more under a dome for 2 weeks, still hoping. The last 2 just started a 2 month cold water stratification process. Cross your fingers for me.

I know I’m supposed to give away the freebies I got with them but, so far I’m $100 for nuthin’ with the Silver Haze so it looks like I’m growing ThaiHaze x Skunk#1 instead. Planted all five, three cracked (so far) one died (RIP Carrie) and here are Betty and Wilma (Betty’s the taller one in blue)



With so many to thank for inspiration and guidance, I’m just going to say “Thank you everyone.” I hope those more knowledgeable than I (most everyone here) will stop by from time to time to keep me from screwing up. I hadn’t planned on making my first official DWC garden a 160 day grow. Yikes!

Keep cool,
FreezerBoy

[wasted]

Nice one out there!

[Dr Dog]

Entertaining thread man

I will be coming back to check on this set up

Good luck with your grow!

[Jay_Khrist]

Everything looks good.. what nutes you plan on running? you going to LST/scrog any?

[Mischief2JZ]

that is bad ass freezer!! The bottles on the bottom, what are they for? How do you keep the humidity levels up? Can't wait to see more!!

[Haps]

Looks like a good design for my road home when I convert to a nomad. I like it, seems very logical to me, good luck with the beans, I had to grow out the freebies a couple times too, they come in handy, happy buds.
H

[FreezerBoy]

Wasted, Thanks for stopping by.

Dr Dog, Entertaining? From the greatest Muppet of all time, I'll take it !

Jay Khrist, GH Flora Micro and Flora Bloom, no Flora Grow. I just learned about the "Lucas" formula recently but, apparently stumbled into it on my own about 10 years ago. All the green added was Magnesium. I was adding Epsom Salts anyway so I chucked the green to no ill effect. Then I learned I was supposed to adjust my Rockwool to 5.5-5.8. and my Magnesium "deficiancy" dissappeared. I'm guessing nutrient lockout due to bad ph.

I'm going to try SCROG (gave up SOG, I had as many as 50 plants going at a time in various stages and, here, a half inch clone costs the same legally as a twenty footer fully bloomed.) I accidently discovered LST in the wild about 20 years ago. Love it outdoors. Inside, I'm intrigued by the even canopy of SCROG.

Mischief2JZ, The bottle in the tub is frozen solid. Hadn't counted on the black bucket heating the water to near 100 degrees F. The little half bottles are humidity domes. Under one are 4 silverhaze, planted for 2-3 weeks with no action but, I'm still hoping. Two Thai Haze under the other. I enlarged a hole in the top of each a little bit, several times a day until I found a spot that would leave them at about 80 degrees while still retaining some moisture.

Haps, Nomad? Are you going to put one on skates and pull it behind you? Thank gosh for the freebies or I'd be growin nuthin'.

Thanks, all of you for stopping by.

[FreezerBoy]

Today's mission was to reroute the ballast cords so they no longer used the intake vent. So I drilled two holes through the floor and here you see the cords sticking out the bottom. This is a shot of the bottom of the freezer from behind.



Apparently I overdid it rebuilding the ballast. I used blue Locktite and it did NOT want to break loose. Fortunately, I have an impact hammer. 1/8 turn per whack.

I’d forgotten how tough this freezer is. Not only did I drill through double walls but, the freezers fan housing frame as well (you’ll see that in a minute) So, I’m filing the hole in the fan housing when it hits me. Why reassemble the ballast in the box AGAIN? I mount it on the fan housing instead and reattach the housing below the freezer. Added bonus, now I can rebuild the ballast box with the original 150 coil.







I consider cutting a second intake but, damned if I can remember how I did it last time. You can see the hole in the top ballast shot. Exactly the wrong depth for my jig saw. Blade is just long enough to bang on the lower wall without going through and bounce the saw off the surface. No hole saw that big ... Did I really drill a circle of holes and file it out? I’ll ponder later, time for reassembly.

I siliconed suction cups to the bottom of my buckets yesterday. When pushing the airline clips into the suction cups, they pop off the bottom. I try hot glue but, the buckets laugh at my puny attempts at adhesion. Fine, spit it is. If that doesn’t work, rocks. I run short of tubing so one bucket only gets one air stone for now. Both pumps are dual outlet. The single stone bucket (left) seems far more agitated than the two stone (right) Obviously, the single stone is getting double air. The two stone bucket seems to have finer, more dispersed bubbles. I’m guessing finer is better. Thoughts?





And here we are. All back in the box. Again, Betty’s in blue and Wilma’s in orange.

[chrones]

nice setup like the idea of a really big freezer good luck

[FreezerBoy]

Why, thank you, sir.