K-wylds First Cabinet Grow Caramelicious & Unknown

[k-wyld]

This is my first time growing, but I feel as though all of you here at 420 have shared enough knowledge to get underway. Hope You all enjoy, I'm sure with a little help I can have a successful first grow

Strain: Caramelicious (60-40 indica) and unknowns

Grow Medium: Soil (Fox Farm Ocean Forest)

Lighting: 2 (2' four lamp T5 CFL's)

Nutrients: GrowBig, BigBloom, and TigerBloom

Grow Area: Home-made grow box

 

[k-wyld]

Re: Grow Box Caramelicious

This is just the first test run with the lights on...my babies have been germinating for about 24 hours at this point...i am germinating 3 caramelicious seeds and 3 unknowns

The dimensions are 38"Tx24"Dx32"W (I think...i know that is close)

Door open. The ice on the floor is to cool the box...any other suggestions?

 

[k-wyld]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

I woke up this morning and 4 of 6 of my seeds have germinated already! (3 caramelicious and 1 unknown).. I didn't take pictures of them but they are now in the pots and the waiting has begun...for the first couple days I plan on using only one of the lights to keep temps low while in the hood. New pics whenever they decide to crawl out of the soil

 

[dank86]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

Whats up KW! Nice stealth set-up man. I didn't see any ventilation in there, which is a must for a small cab like that. As you've seen, mine is similar, and even with 4 fans (2 intake, 2 exhaust) I have major heat problems with the door closed. I keep it open for now, and have an 80 cfm inline duct fan on the way for my air cooled hps, but eventually the smell will be a problem.

A few questions:
Do you plan to use T5's through the entire grow? If so, are you using both spectra (2700k and 6500k)?

How long do you plan to veg?

Are you waiting at least 4 weeks to add nutes to the FFOF? (this is highly recommended).

Are you able to add ventilation?

I noticed the temps were around 90, which a little on the high side, but is fine during germination. You will want to get this down to at least 86, and preferably lower most of the time. PC fans work great as ventilation for some ppl, but I have a feeling you'll run into the same problems I have with them. Even at 36 CFM per fan, it isn't cool enough. You can use passive intake if you want (just some vent holes with not fan) and active exhaust. Go to a home improvement store and ask for 4 or 6" inline duct fan. They are pretty quiet and can plug directly into 120V wall socket or your power strip. They usually circulate air pretty well.

If I'm telling you a bunch of stuff you already know, then I apologize, as that can be annoying. If you have any questions or need advice on the ventilation, PM me, and I'll be happy to let you know.

Great set-up, good luck with grow man, I'm really excited to see the carmelicious!

 

[k-wyld]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

I have all air being exhausted by a 4" inline fan attached to a carbon filter (underneath the seedling dome) and my intake is a 1" in circumference, (up top where the lights come in,visible in second pic)...I have been putting cups of ice inside the container when needed. I turned off one set of lights to drop temps since i dont need that much intensity.

My biggest worry about adding intake is that air will be seeping out of the box as opposed to exiting through the filter.

Right now I am using 6500K lights, and when veg comes all will be replaced with 2700K to help flowering.

for the tips Dank

 

[dank86]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

OK cool. Well you need to do two things to make your ventilation more efficient, if you're willing to:

Switch your intake and exhaust. Fresh air needs to come in from the bottom and exit through the top in order to get the hot air out efficiently. Since you already have a 4" exhaust at the bottom, you can just leave that hole open for the intake. I know you will have to make the 1" intake bigger to fit your exhaust fan, but its necessary. Don't worry about air leaking out of your intake. Having an exhaust fan the same size as the intake hole will create back pressure, meaning air will flow into the box continuously. The suggested size for passive intake is 2X the size of exhaust, and even with that large of a hole you won't have air leaking out of the box, as long as the exhaust stays on all the time.

I know it sounds like a pain, but you gatta be willing to put in that work to get great results. Keeping temps below 86 will ensure that your plants grow as fast as possible. Plus, keeping that icy water in there way end in disaster if it gets spilled. We all know you'll be tending that garden baked, which mean eventually that water is getting knocked over, haha. Keep up the good work, and keep us posted!

 

[k-wyld]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

I went ad picked up another fan this evening to try to manipulate temps without having to redo it all...I have 0 tools needed to make alterations to the box. but with a second fan inside the box i am maintaining a steady 84 degrees farenheit under the seedling dome...only one light is on, but hopefully this works.

 

[dank86]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

84F is fine, especially in the dome, since it will most likely be warmer in there due to humidity. At some point, you at least want to make that intake bigger, at least 4", but it can wait as long as the temps stay down. I'm assuming you'll need to use the other light in a few weeks when they start to take off, so keep in mind at least increasing that intake, even though it isn't an efficient way to get the heat out. The only problem is you'll be carrying the hot air for the lights down over the plants, and out through the exhaust, which will increase the canopy temps. It shouldn't be a big problem if you can get more air flowing through, though.

Looking good, though...pic soon!!!

 

[k-wyld]

Re: K-wylds first cabinet grow ~caramelicious & unknown~

3 of my four babies sprouted this morning (2 caramel, 1 unknown)..4 more should be germinated and ready to start growing by morning...pics soon!!

 

[k-wyld]

So it has been 3 days since the first signs of life popped out of the soil. Small changes have been made to the box, but nothing extraordinary. I'll be renting tools from the local hardware shop to increase the size of my intake, but for the time being I just added another fan.

Here is Caramel 1 from the top view

and Caramel 1 from the side

Caramel 2 from the top view

Caramel 2 side view

Caramel 3 from the top view

Caramel 3 side view

I have one more that is unknown that wouldn't resize for me so I will try again later.

 

[dank86]

Looking good KW! Does that active intake lower temps at all?

Looks like you've got a little stretch going on there, but not too bad. You can always bury the stem when you transplant.

Am I correct in thinking that these are not femenized plants, and that we'll have to wait for the sex?

Anyway, the plants look awesome and super healthy. Can't wait for 'em to grow up into beautiful women! Keep up the good work bro.

 

[k-wyld]

Thanks Danks,
The temps are a little bit lower with the extra moving air, but I still need to make the intake larger (soon). You are correct that these are not femenized. When the time comes i plan on checking sex by flowering some clones, not sure yet though.

as far as the stretching goes, how long do i need to keep the seedlings inside of the dome? my lights could be much closer without it.

 

[dank86]

Thanks Danks,
The temps are a little bit lower with the extra moving air, but I still need to make the intake larger (soon). You are correct that these are not femenized. When the time comes i plan on checking sex by flowering some clones, not sure yet though.

as far as the stretching goes, how long do i need to keep the seedlings inside of the dome? my lights could be much closer without it.

Some ppl will say leave them in there for a while. I pull the dome as soon as the cotyledons (seed leaves) open fully, which your's certainly have. I would go ahead and pull the dome now to stop further stretching. The humidity is really only necessary for germination and starting clones.

 

[k-wyld]

got them out of the dome and about 4 inches below the lights. Now to see if I can keep RH high

 

[dank86]

don't worry too much about humidity, its an over exaggerated factor. Strains originate in conditions ranging from desert to rain forest. As long as you're above 25%, there are no worries. If your RH is below that, just spray the foliage once or twice per day.

 

[dank86]

Any updates?!?! I'm anxious to how big these gals have gotten.

 

[420]

Is this grow still alive?

If so, please update us with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Smoke Report?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial:
Photo Gallery Guide - How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

I am moving this to abandoned journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world!

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine!