First indoor micro grow

[jasonk]

Alright, time to join the mirco area with you guys. Im growing in my room in an apartment, veg in a covered nightstand, speakerbox or something and flowering in a cab in my closet. I posted this in indoor growing, but realised it suites micro growing better. This is what I plan to do. Let me know if anything doesnt make sence or if there are any problems with the plan.

In a small cab, about a 1.5' cube I will veg a single plant at a time(to later be scrogged) under a CFL. I will then sex the plant and move into the flowering cab if female. A few questions on doing this.
1) I will have a couple CPU fans for exhaust and a passive intake, is there a guide on wiring CPU fans anywhere? I searched thinking it was a common question but couldnt find anything.
2)Will smell be much of an issue at this stage? or would a small carbon scrubber be required?
3) Will sexing with a CFL work fine? around how old is it best to sex plants? Im not sure how tall Ill be growing them yet, any input there?

This plant will then go into a larger, probably 2'x2' cab with probably a 200W HPS. I will have 4 plants inside there with individual scrog screens, each being 1 sq ft. They will all be in different stages takign one out and putting a new one in every time one is finished veg. A couple questions for this cab.
4) with a simple intake at bottom of cab/exhaust at top fan system will heat of the light be a problem or will one of those vented hoods (not sure what theyre called) be needed? If this is needed will the other fans also be necessary?
5)do you paint the inside with glossy white or flat white paint... or should i just use mylar? Ive never dealt with it so I dont know if Ill be able to find it and afford it.

6)and is it recommended to get everything from a hydro store? Can some things be purchased at, say wal-mart? Or is there any recommended online stores to get everything from?
Thanks, Jason

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

You can get a lot of good supplies from wal-mart. At the hydro store the only thing I would ever buy is a light and nutrients because everything else is ridiculously overpriced.

A few months back I was going to do a setup like yours, but decided it would be too risky. But the reason I mention this is because I too wanted to use computer fans, but if you want to go a cheaper and easier route just go to wal-mart and buy a small box fan. Don't go too cheap because you don't want it burning out on you, but it will get the job done.

 

[pieceofmyheart]

You can get the hps at Lowes. I got a 150 watt for $69.00

 

[jasonk]

thanks guys, Im in Canada so stores are a bit different. I dont think we have any Lowes... but Ill shop around a bit. What kind of cfm should the fan be for each cab in general/

 

[jasonk]

So I'm guessing this bulb is more for hosuehold use and has the wrong spectrum for growing?
http://www.walmart.ca/wps-portal/st...pe=1&page=null&departmentId=20&categoryId=415

 

[cid420]

it would do something but far from great , go to 1000lightbulbs.com can get nice cfl bulbs 200watt 12,000+ lumens for like 60 dollar. or 105 watts 7,000 lumens 25bucks

 

[0p0rat0r]

Wiring PC fans is extremely easy. All you need is a 12 volt or variable voltage adapter. Cell phone chargers are commonly around 12 volts. You can also find cheap 12 volt adapters at second hand stores like goodwill and value village. You can get a variable voltage adapter from radio shack and some computer and electronics stores.

You just snip the end off the adapter and the end off the PC fans. Some PC fans will have a third wire for controlling their speed via the computer motherboard. You just ignore the extra wire. The positive and negative wires are usually red and black on the PC fans I think. You just connect one of the wires from the adapter to the positve wire on the PC fan, and the other wire off the adapter to the negative on the PC fan, there's no wrong way to do it. Once you have the parts you'll be able to figure it out easily.

Smell can be an issue during veg, it all depends on your strain. I got something that smells fairly strong during veg. You can probably put off the scrubber for the first couple weeks though. Just be aware that at some point you may need to add one to your veg cabinet and plan accordingly.

Sexing should work fine with any light that'll make your plants grow, including CFLs. I don't know of a specific age it's best to sex plants. I usually just veg my seeds until they show preflowers and determine sex from there. I think most people take cuttings and flower them to determine sex from seed. I know people have flowered directly from seed so I'd imagine you could take clones as soon as there are viable branches. I also recall seeing someone mention you don't even have to root clones to sex them, but I'm not positive on this as I haven't done it myself yet.

How tall you grow your plants will depend on the height of your cabinets and the strain your growing. Plants that are more on the sativa side will tend to grow taller their indica counterparts.

You'll have to calculate the cubic footage of your flowering cabinet to determine your ventilation needs. You'll want the air to be exchanged roughly 3 to 5 times per minute to keep temperatures under control. Fans are usually rated in cubic feet per minute (CFM) so if your cabinet is 2x2x4 that's 16 cubic feet. If you got a fan rated at 16 CFM then the air would be exchanged once per minute, but you'll want more than that say 5 times that so you're now looking at 5 x 16 = 80 CFM. Also consider if you are passing air through a carbon filter that will reduce your air flow and you'll need to account for that when getting a fan.

If you paint the cabinet white use flat white not glossy. Glossy creates specular bright spots and uneven light reflection which is not what you want. If money is an issue just stick with the flat white paint, mylar is kind of expensive, and I doubt mylar is really that much more effective to warrant its cost, but it does look pretty cool. I use both.

Get as little as you can from the hydro store they are generally overpriced. Check dollar stores first, then places like walmart and home depot etc.

Oh by the way, I'd veg more than one plant at a time, that way if you end up with a male you won't have to wait for another week or two to sex another one. One last thing, I use those 40 watt CFLs from walmart for veg and flower in my stealth speakers and they work just fine!

Good luck!

 

[jasonk]

Thanks alot 0p0rat0r, very helpful.

 

[Saabotage]

Hey man, I have a 1.3 cubic/ft. PC server tower. The way I hooked up my PC fans. Was with a PC power supply. All you have to do is bolt all the fans down. Hook them up to the power supply. Confine all the wires! Then take the big set of wires on the power supply and cut the black and the green wires that are right next to each other. And connect them and tape them together. The fans will then work whenever you turn your power supplly on.