My First CFL Cabinet Grow!

[quagland]

Hello all! I've been following these threads for the last 5 months, and wanted to share in my grow. 100% of everything I'm doing in my cab has come from the fine folks on this site. I thank you all for the knowledge.
This is mainly a trial run. My cabinet is a work in progress. Right now only the vegetative chamber is up.
I originally started with 10 Blueberry bagseeds from my dispensary, and a few Space Queen feminized seeds. Either my soil was too strong or I was over watering. Only one Blueberry has made it. Eventually I will have a perpetual grow cycle going.
I welcome any comments and suggestions!

What strain is it? Blueberry
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Hybrid, 80/20 Indica
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg
If in Veg... For how long? Almost 2 weeks. Since 2/16/10
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor cabinet
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Fox Farms Ocean Forest only
If soil... What size pot? 1 Gallon pot
Size of light? 4 26w (100wt) 6500k CFL
Is it aircooled? yes, 2 PC fans
Temp of Room/cab? between 72 - 80 F
RH of Room/cab? around 20%, dry region, occasional use of humidy dome
PH of media or res? ~6.5 approx
How often are you watering? as needed, mostly every other day
Type and strength of ferts used? FF Grow Big. Started with 1tsp/gallon, upped to 3tsp/gallon
Here is my cabinet

Veg chamber

My plant. First image is from 2/27. The other one is from 3/7/10.

 

[quagland]

Some details about my cabinet...
I picked up the cabinet off of Craigslist for $15. Each chamber is 19"h x 16"w x 26" d, and if I did my math right that's 4.4cubic square feet (roughly).
Modified cabinet into 2 separate chambers, 1 for Vegetation and 1 for Flowering. I then sealed the top off, below the drawers. Mounted bathroom light fixture to the ceiling of vegetation chamber, with a chain to adjust for growth.
Wired white to positive (bigger socket end), black to negative. Painted the interior with flat white paint, and it's plenty bright. I have to wear sunglasses when I open it up.
The cost of the cabinet has run under $100 including the light sockets, bulbs, and paint. I had to buy some silicone and 1/4round to seal out light in the flowering chamber.
Since this is a trial run, I may end up reconfiguring the design, but so far I'm happy. I can only legally have 6 plants, so I figure 1 or 2 mother plants, I'll take a couple cuttings at a time.
Here's a shot of the veg chamber with the humidty dome in it.

 

[quagland]

A couple of more pictures. I've been using 1tsp/gal of FF Grow Big for 2 weeks, and upped the dosage to 3tsp/gal...so far so good. I'm going to let it go a couple of more days and then I'm switching to 12/12. It's (i hope it's a she!) spitting out 2 new sets of leaves a day!

 

[quagland]

LST time! When I first read about LST, I knew I wanted to try it. I've also changed my light cycle to 18/6.



I have a question about feeding. I'm giving it 3 tsp of Grow Big, and the FF chart says to also give it 1tsp of Big Bloom. Do I use a little of each during the feeding? Feed it with one, then feed with the other on the next watering? Any help would be great!

 

[jacobharry]

sick set up bro! i'm looking to have a similar setup.

 

[quagland]

sick set up bro! i'm looking to have a similar setup.

thanks man! I see you're in BC...i'm heading up to Vancouver in June, can't wait.

 

[MountainHigh]

Hey there CO.

Nice looking grow so far, am subscribed for this one.

brother.

 

[quagland]

Hey there CO.

Nice looking grow so far, am subscribed for this one.

brother.

thanks man! If my plant ends up being a 1/10th of yours, I'm set!

 

[dohmixer]

I have a question about feeding. I'm giving it 3 tsp of Grow Big, and the FF chart says to also give it 1tsp of Big Bloom. Do I use a little of each during the feeding? Feed it with one, then feed with the other on the next watering? Any help would be great!

If you're using the same FF Soil Feeding Chart I use, it shows 3 TSP/gal of Grow Big and 2 TBL/gal of Big Bloom for week 3 feeding. When the feeding chart calls for more than 1 nute I mix them together for that feed.

 

[MountainHigh]

The general rule is to add your nutes to a gallon of water, never mix them ahead of time (before adding to water) they can do chemical reactions that make the nutes unavailable to the roots. And all the nutes you are feeding can go in the same water.

I recommend PH'ing your nutes to 6.5 (safe place) before feeding.

brother. (I didn't see the question under the pics before)

 

[jacobharry]

yeah it's pretty nice living here. good luck on the grow will be posting in.

 

[3lions]

Count me in amigo..

Erm, why is the humidity dome still on?

 

[quagland]

Count me in amigo..

Erm, why is the humidity dome still on?

thanks man...I had that on mainly to show the size of the cabinet.

The general rule is to add your nutes to a gallon of water, never mix them ahead of time (before adding to water) they can do chemical reactions that make the nutes unavailable to the roots. And all the nutes you are feeding can go in the same water.

I recommend PH'ing your nutes to 6.5 (safe place) before feeding.

brother. (I didn't see the question under the pics before)

If you're using the same FF Soil Feeding Chart I use, it shows 3 TSP/gal of Grow Big and 2 TBL/gal of Big Bloom for week 3 feeding. When the feeding chart calls for more than 1 nute I mix them together for that feed.

thanks!! I couldn't find anything on how to mix the nutes.

 

[quagland]

No new pictures today, but I'm already seeing new growth due to the LST. I'm thinking of switching to flowering at the end of the week. It would only be at 21 days. Too soon? No such thing?

I gotta say, I'm a member of other MJ boards, and this is by far the best and most friendliest one around.

 

[MountainHigh]

No new pictures today, but I'm already seeing new growth due to the LST. I'm thinking of switching to flowering at the end of the week. It would only be at 21 days. Too soon? No such thing?

I gotta say, I'm a member of other MJ boards, and this is by far the best and most friendliest one around.

When to start is a personal choice, with my favorite plant Lilbit, I put her in 12/12 at 21 days. I let her have 36 hrs of darkness first to force a quick switch, worked pretty good too. I plan on doing that to all my girls now.

brother. (I agree this is the best forum around.)

 

[3lions]

Yeah apparently you can switch when you wish. Also as Montain said, I have read a lot of people that give extra darkness before they switch to the 12/12. I havent figured out why exactly but they are people whos grows I respect.

The main reasons to flower early are; 1: Impatience 2: Space restrictions.

"I gotta say, I'm a member of other MJ boards, and this is by far the best and most friendliest one around" I hear ya!

 

[mary_juana420]

I'd wait until they are a bit bigger and do one more transplant into bigger pots before flowering !

I'm following the FF feeding chart almost exactly and am having great results with two different strains.

Great job, Keep it up ! + Rep
MJ420

 

[mako]

Nice grow cant wait for mine to get that big, im doing a similar CFL grow in a cabinet like yours, SUBSCRIBED

 

[3lions]

I personally wouldnt put in bigger pots, people often use pots much larger than needed, you can produce a lot of bud in teeeeeeeeny pots I assure you.

"Roots are merely a mechanism for the plant to uptake nutrients... therefore, so long as the plant is getting fed regularly enough... a small root system should be capable of sustaining a large plant"

The choice of course is yours.

 

[CFL man]

Good idea with the LST. I might try something like that too soon. Im tuned in!