unhorsedpenny
New Member
My first real grow, grew outside briefly before a sudden move rendered it useless, now building a grow box inside to try for real! Just looking for any advice, constructive criticism or general info regarding my plans. It’s going to be a 2 chamber box, LEDs up top and T5 under, however I am moving in 4/5 months and so plan on building the top now, growing a round of Autoflowing plants in that and then once the move happens, finish the bottom and switch to photo plants.
A lot of my ideas are not really mine, simply stolen from other peoples boxes and adapted so I’ll try to include links to the pages I viewed however if I don’t give you the credit you deserve I am sorry! Here’s a bunch of them I viewed, specifics of what I took from each box will be next to the details if I can.
Grow Box Construction
First off the grow box,
6 ft tall, 3 ft wide and 2 ft deep, used MDF boards and 2.5x1.5inch wood to construct it, lined it with 2mm mylar. Might not be the best work but i'm not a carpenter, power drills when your medicated can be trouble haha 2 chamber grow box, upstairs 4ft tall, downstairs 2ft, hopefully flowering in the top and veging in the bottom but for now some auto seeds on the way to see how it goes up top only.
Mylar bought from amazon, thicker than other mylar I found online and twice as much for same price (shipping takes a while tho so not if your in a rush)
Ventilation
The floor of the bottom chamber has 2 boards, both with 8 1/2inch holes drilled as passive intakes, drilled in different positions in both boards to minimize light leakage. In the board that seperates the 2 chambers I have 2 small computer fans built in to blow fresh air from the bottom chamber up into the top chamber which has a homemade carbon filter ran by two squirrel fans, hopefully filtering the smell and blowing it out the top right hand corner.
The Carbon filter was built roughly following directions of Stratlogic on
Grow Box Construction
I didn’t put the endcap on mine, simply wrapped both chicken wire tubes in panty hose and put carbon between the two at the far end as well, a little tricky to mount, I tied mine to nails for extra support. The fans I bought for this were cheap, easy to set up and delivered in less than a week from amazon, the rest home depot took care of.
Those are the squirrel fans, looks like combined has 17cfm, 6x3x2ft box gives me 36 cubic feet so replacing the air once in a little over 2 minutes, what I read people recommended at least once every 3-4 so should be ok…right?? Haha They blow out of 2 4 inch by 1 inch slots in the top of the box, that means I need the same amount of passive intake in the bottom right? So 8 1 inch holes? I have 8 ½ inch holes right now so if I need to widen them let me know and I’ll make them the full 1 inch.
Two chambers are separated by MDF so I drilled two 3.5 inch square holes in the board and mounted these two fans in there
Each fan has 20cfm so should keep the air moving nicely and bringing fresh air from the bottom vegging chamber into the top flowering chamber. Not sure how much light will creep through, going to be autoflowering in just the top first so no big deal now but any advice on blocking light without blocking airflow between the chambers for when I do photo?
Lighting
Right now I just have one light for the top chamber, the Advanced LED Lights 100w diamond series 3w. I'd done some research online and seemed like a solid LED light that was gonna give me good bang for my buck, looks bright as fuck but guess we'll see in a few weeks! I was going to start them 20/4 till they’ve stopped most upward growth, then switch the flowering light on the LED also and run 18/6, if people have results from other schedules or want to suggest something else let me know.
NEW - Diamond Series LEDs - Extreme 3w LED Technology - Advanced LED Grow Lights
I hope temp isn’t affected to much by this light but I have a thermometer/humidity meter to measure and adjust accordingly
Growing Medium
Going to grow in soil, Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil as I have their range of nutrients already, tiger bloom, big bloom and grow big. As I’m doing Autoflowering plants first I’m using 5 gallon pots to give them plenty of room and see how those go before finishing the second chamber and switching to photo plants. Eventually may switch to hydro but wanted to start off as basic as I could. I bought some extra perlite with the Fox Farms so may mix a little in as I’ve heard Fox Farms is rather nutrient heavy but perlite light. Was thinking FFOF 75% and perlite 25%, any ideas?
Nutes
Fox Farms again, just got the full set of nutrients, big bloom, grow big and tiger bloom, also bought the bushdoctor sledgehammer (their flush) for harvest time. I’ve read numerous things online about feeding autos, some saying don’t until week 6 in FFOF as the soil has so many nutes already, some said as early as the 2nd or 3rd week. If anyone has used these products together and has any advice I’d appreciate it, if not I was probably going to split the difference and around week 4 start the grow big, and then at flowering slowly add big bloom and tiger. Definitely going to flush a few days before the end and then throw them in the dark for last 72 hours, but should I flush between nutrient changes too? Photos yes, but do auto’s have the time to build up the excess nutrients flushes are designed to get rid of?
Also got a ph control kit and tester that says for use with hydroponics or soil
Seeds!!
Still on their way shipping from The Single Seed Center said 5-10 days, only been 5 so not bad mouthing them in anyway, just impatient haha I have one each of 60 day Wonder, Narcotic Kush, Candy Kush, Nothern Lights, Dark Devil and Blue Mystic, all autoflowering and all feminized, they also tossed in 2 free feminized seeds for when I photo and all at a reasonable price. Thinking of doing them in batches of 3, Will update with how many germinate when they arrive.
The Single Seed Centre
That pretty much summarizes my grow! Still waiting on seeds so will definitely update when they arrive, till then my main questions are regarding the ventilation (enough passive intakes?), light leakage through the fans separating the two chambers, light schedules/feeding schedules for autos, flushing and soil mixture (just go straight FFOF or mix with how much perlite? I’ll probably just experiment but any input is helpful), Anything else contructive people have to say would be greatly appreciated, a bunch of hate on autoflowering being for noobs would not, I know the difference but its perfect for my situation and a perfect learning tool for a first time grower like myself.
Thanks for all your help and if anyone has questions feel free, I’ll help however I can
A lot of my ideas are not really mine, simply stolen from other peoples boxes and adapted so I’ll try to include links to the pages I viewed however if I don’t give you the credit you deserve I am sorry! Here’s a bunch of them I viewed, specifics of what I took from each box will be next to the details if I can.
Grow Box Construction
First off the grow box,
6 ft tall, 3 ft wide and 2 ft deep, used MDF boards and 2.5x1.5inch wood to construct it, lined it with 2mm mylar. Might not be the best work but i'm not a carpenter, power drills when your medicated can be trouble haha 2 chamber grow box, upstairs 4ft tall, downstairs 2ft, hopefully flowering in the top and veging in the bottom but for now some auto seeds on the way to see how it goes up top only.
Mylar bought from amazon, thicker than other mylar I found online and twice as much for same price (shipping takes a while tho so not if your in a rush)
Ventilation
The floor of the bottom chamber has 2 boards, both with 8 1/2inch holes drilled as passive intakes, drilled in different positions in both boards to minimize light leakage. In the board that seperates the 2 chambers I have 2 small computer fans built in to blow fresh air from the bottom chamber up into the top chamber which has a homemade carbon filter ran by two squirrel fans, hopefully filtering the smell and blowing it out the top right hand corner.
The Carbon filter was built roughly following directions of Stratlogic on
Grow Box Construction
I didn’t put the endcap on mine, simply wrapped both chicken wire tubes in panty hose and put carbon between the two at the far end as well, a little tricky to mount, I tied mine to nails for extra support. The fans I bought for this were cheap, easy to set up and delivered in less than a week from amazon, the rest home depot took care of.
Those are the squirrel fans, looks like combined has 17cfm, 6x3x2ft box gives me 36 cubic feet so replacing the air once in a little over 2 minutes, what I read people recommended at least once every 3-4 so should be ok…right?? Haha They blow out of 2 4 inch by 1 inch slots in the top of the box, that means I need the same amount of passive intake in the bottom right? So 8 1 inch holes? I have 8 ½ inch holes right now so if I need to widen them let me know and I’ll make them the full 1 inch.
Two chambers are separated by MDF so I drilled two 3.5 inch square holes in the board and mounted these two fans in there
Each fan has 20cfm so should keep the air moving nicely and bringing fresh air from the bottom vegging chamber into the top flowering chamber. Not sure how much light will creep through, going to be autoflowering in just the top first so no big deal now but any advice on blocking light without blocking airflow between the chambers for when I do photo?
Lighting
Right now I just have one light for the top chamber, the Advanced LED Lights 100w diamond series 3w. I'd done some research online and seemed like a solid LED light that was gonna give me good bang for my buck, looks bright as fuck but guess we'll see in a few weeks! I was going to start them 20/4 till they’ve stopped most upward growth, then switch the flowering light on the LED also and run 18/6, if people have results from other schedules or want to suggest something else let me know.
NEW - Diamond Series LEDs - Extreme 3w LED Technology - Advanced LED Grow Lights
I hope temp isn’t affected to much by this light but I have a thermometer/humidity meter to measure and adjust accordingly
Growing Medium
Going to grow in soil, Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil as I have their range of nutrients already, tiger bloom, big bloom and grow big. As I’m doing Autoflowering plants first I’m using 5 gallon pots to give them plenty of room and see how those go before finishing the second chamber and switching to photo plants. Eventually may switch to hydro but wanted to start off as basic as I could. I bought some extra perlite with the Fox Farms so may mix a little in as I’ve heard Fox Farms is rather nutrient heavy but perlite light. Was thinking FFOF 75% and perlite 25%, any ideas?
Nutes
Fox Farms again, just got the full set of nutrients, big bloom, grow big and tiger bloom, also bought the bushdoctor sledgehammer (their flush) for harvest time. I’ve read numerous things online about feeding autos, some saying don’t until week 6 in FFOF as the soil has so many nutes already, some said as early as the 2nd or 3rd week. If anyone has used these products together and has any advice I’d appreciate it, if not I was probably going to split the difference and around week 4 start the grow big, and then at flowering slowly add big bloom and tiger. Definitely going to flush a few days before the end and then throw them in the dark for last 72 hours, but should I flush between nutrient changes too? Photos yes, but do auto’s have the time to build up the excess nutrients flushes are designed to get rid of?
Also got a ph control kit and tester that says for use with hydroponics or soil
Seeds!!
Still on their way shipping from The Single Seed Center said 5-10 days, only been 5 so not bad mouthing them in anyway, just impatient haha I have one each of 60 day Wonder, Narcotic Kush, Candy Kush, Nothern Lights, Dark Devil and Blue Mystic, all autoflowering and all feminized, they also tossed in 2 free feminized seeds for when I photo and all at a reasonable price. Thinking of doing them in batches of 3, Will update with how many germinate when they arrive.
The Single Seed Centre
That pretty much summarizes my grow! Still waiting on seeds so will definitely update when they arrive, till then my main questions are regarding the ventilation (enough passive intakes?), light leakage through the fans separating the two chambers, light schedules/feeding schedules for autos, flushing and soil mixture (just go straight FFOF or mix with how much perlite? I’ll probably just experiment but any input is helpful), Anything else contructive people have to say would be greatly appreciated, a bunch of hate on autoflowering being for noobs would not, I know the difference but its perfect for my situation and a perfect learning tool for a first time grower like myself.
Thanks for all your help and if anyone has questions feel free, I’ll help however I can
,a very perfervid man 
