Lowryder 2 PC Grow - Organic - Stealth

[Micro man]

hi!
im new to 420, i have always wanted to make a journal, i have heaps of photos of my old stealth pc grow and i think its time i put them all together for myself and for the use of others,
i have struggled to find a completed pc grow journal, and it was frustrating.

Strain; lowryder 2 ak47 feminised, autoflower

soil; 30%pearlite 30%general compost and 40%worm poo

pot size to start is around 1ltr

lights are 4 24w CFLs

room temp; 68-74c

i started by constructing the cabinet, i used a meduim sized gaming tower and completelly stripped out all the insides to leave just a shell, i then put 1 computer fan on the front, one on the back and suspended another one for circulation, they are all 12v wired into one 12v adaptor, i fitted 4 standard light fittings to some MDF and used a filler type glue to stick it to the back wall of the box, added the CFLs and wired it to a 240v plug, added a lot of duck tape to protect cables from wet and warmth and that was it, whole thing took a day and cost no more than $100

hear are the photos of the cabinet. sorry there not to good ill ty and dig some better ones out later,

next post coming soon

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

ok so hear are the (slightly) better pic of the PC

hear it is from the out side,

and hear from the indside

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

once i had stood back and turned it on (with a sence of fear! im not to good with electrics!) it was time to choose a seed, i went for the lowryder #2 due to the fact i needed something small, feminised as i only have room for one plant, and auto because it was my first grow and that seemed the least complicated.

i think that this would be a good time to say thanks to all the folk hear at 420, from ideas for the box to harvest method this website has been amazing, and there is no doubt i would have failed with out it and you guys.

one thing that did scare we was nute burn, im a clumbsy f*%ker and and i only had one shot, so i decided to go as organic as i could, i bought a bag of organic compost from my local hardware shop, along with some perlite, then ordered some high quality worm poo off the internet,
worm poo is slow release and cannot burn the plants no matter how clumbsy you are!!

i mixed in about 40% worm poo with the soil and perlite and planted my seed!

this is the first shots of my girl in its first weeks growth;

 

[420Farmer]

Haha worm poo.. Made me laugh.. Lookin good so far!

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

ha ha thanks man,

i kept to about 4 days between watering as i was not yet used to the different weights of a wet and dry pot, i was so paranoid about over watering.

hear is the girl on week 2

i then decided to start LSTing i had read a really good post on this website and decided it would give me a greatet chance of incresing my yeld in such a small space.

then at the very start of week 3 i know for sure she is a lady! good moment!

 

[420Farmer]

Lst is the way to go! Wish I could but my space is just too crowded as is! I didn't read the initial post, but what medium are you in?

 

[420Farmer]

Ok I just now read. Interesting medium to say the least! Have you ever considered growing in coco? You could have the perlite and "worm poo" lol.. And not have to worry about overwatering in coco.. It's about 11 bucks a bag and nearly impossible to overwater! Look into it if that's a concern for you.

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

sorry im a bit new to all of this, im gonna take "medium" to mean the soil.
i have a mix of organic compost, i think it was for small flowers. worm poo and pearlite at about a 30%,30% and 40% respectivly.
starting in a 1ltr pot with holes drilled in the bottom and some broken polystyrien in the bottom.

the lst i believe really helped increase my yeild and was a great way of keeping more of the plant close to the lights in my oddly shaped grow room, i was able to manipulate the plant to grow allong from one end of the box to the other, making full use of space and avalable light.

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

if i ever repeat this type of grow i was really hoping to get rid of the compost, in favour of something a bit less suseptable to pests, i was again paranoid about bringing in mites or something and coco was something i was interested in, i think by the end of the grow i was getting spot on with the watering, but still coco has an appeal!
the worm poo was amazing, i didnt add a single nute the whole grow just worm poo and i believe it was a good first atempt!

 

[420Farmer]

if i ever repeat this type of grow i was really hoping to get rid of the compost, in favour of something a bit less suseptable to pests, i was again paranoid about bringing in mites or something and coco was something i was interested in, i think by the end of the grow i was getting spot on with the watering, but still coco has an appeal!
the worm poo was amazing, i didnt add a single nute the whole grow just worm poo and i believe it was a good first atempt!

Well keep doin what Ur doin, so far, so good! Sub'd! Check out my journal if ya want!

 

[Durtee]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

Looks good.
Subbed to this 1.

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

thanks man! just flicked onto your jounal and saw the first photo! brilliant! loving that box! gonna read the rest now!

ok so moving on to the end of week 3, the watering regime was seeming to be working and still no nutes!

week 4 lst has been removed and she is bushing out a little

towards the end of week 4 and i lst again, i was super nervous as i bent the top over, but i was told to be brave!

and hear she is in her little home,

and thanks 420farmer and Durtee for subbing!

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

ok so were at the end of week four now, the lst is working well and the bud sites that would normally be shaddowed buy the top of the plant are looking good.

watering is good and there have been no signs of it running out of nutes in the poo.

i will add that the lights were on a 18/6 cycle and will be for the whole grow.

i start running into a few temperature problems now, its the middle of summer and temps in the box got above 90f for alot of the day, i had all my fans on full and was considering taking out a bulb or two, in the end i slowly changed the timing of the lights so the "dark" period was smack bank in the middle of the day, it kept the box cool enough and the plants didnt seem to phased buy the change!

this is the tip of the plant, slightly leaning due to the lst

now see only 3 days after LSTing the tip of the plant is facing the light!

a shot along the main stem showing the pistils

a reajustment on the main stem LST but its getting tough to bend now, she is quite strong!

looking back at the photos is bringing back the excitment of the grow, i remember seeing this and smilling from ear to ear!

hear is a good shot of the lower buds, that are now at the same height at the top of the plan due to the lst.

 

[Mark Green]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

congrats on the young lady, she is looking nice and green!

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

happy new year folks!

ok, were starting to move onto week 5 now, staring off with a bit of a bummer, the lighting rig in the box fell down and burnt the tips of a few leaves, not to serious but a bit of a concern.

LST is applied again

hear are the buds that the lst is allowing to get maximum light

towards the end of week 5 now and the plants getting re potted, i really think i did this to late, if i would have done it maybe a week earlier i would have got a slightly larger plant, the roots were verging on root bound and there was also a green moss around the edges that was later discovered to be alge growing around the roots due to my original pot not being light tight!
i took a 2lt tub and drilled holes for dranage, placed in the polystytrein in the bottom then cut the bottom half of the original pot off and place the half pot with plant into the larger tub creating a collar.
the lst was removed for re potting but will be back!!!

buds are developing nicely now,

is now the end of week 5 and the LST is back!! This is a geat shot of how the lst is leveling out the plant to suit the box, allowing the light to be close to all bud sites!

and from the top

 

[420Farmer]

Wait are you using cfl's for flowering?

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

Year I used them all the way through,
I think there 27k and I read somewhere (maybe) that's that's the best clf to use for flowering, and seeing as this is an auto flower and it only Veg's for 2 weeks I figured to go with them. I don't really have alot of options, the space is small and I need to keep heat down!

 

[azcruiser]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

Any way to put a peace of glass under the lights to keep some of the heat off the plants and up by the fans?

 

[Micro man]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

I saw a video of a guy on YouTube that had used Perspex and it looked brilliant, since then I've been on the look out for a piece, but due to my location it was almost impossible.

But good idea! Thanks

 

[Icemud]

Re: Lowryder 2 pc grow, organic, stealth

Wow...really good job so far on the PC grow...sorry to hear about the light falling, but seems that the lil ones are doing ok... can't wait to watch this one thru flowering, looks really good!!!