My [Very] Poorman's GrowBox | CFL Reflector | Stealth | Criticism Welcome

Maffchew

Maffchew

New Member
Hello, and welcome to my thread

The reason i made this is to get some ideas or opinions on my growbox, im an absolute noob at this, so any criticism, comments advice, ideas, ANYTHING is welcome!

EDIT- I spent literally NO money what soever on this, all of my equipment i found snooping around the house, even the box is just a draw i pulled out of a old set of drawers haha

So this little ones almost 3 weeks-ish, under 2 14watt CFLs and 1 (Soon to be two, thats why the space) 24watt CFL 4100k, ofcourse i found around the house haha. Is this efficient?
Oh, and how close could i get the plant to these bulbs without burning the fela?

Ventilation is basic 2 PC fans, one exhaust, one intake, and chucked another in there blowing on her for a extra strong stem, :D

Odor Control- Fuck it, i love the smell :D

Nutes- The only one i posses at this moment is PowerFeed Fish Fertiliser, with 12% N, 1.4% PH, 7% Potasssium, and 3.08% Potassium humate. I mixed in 10mL (1/4 recommended) into a 1L Bottle of water, and watered her with it a few days ago, a few yellow spots appeared, but nothing i should be worried about i dont think, we'll see in couple of days aye haha
could anyone reccommend some nute brand names that are known to be sold in Australian retailers? (Melbourne)

As for the reflector, the base of it was a cardboard box i cut the top of, i then simply wrapped it up in some aluminum foil, cut some holes did some wiring and bam! It actually works very well, i could see the difference, the light is alot more concertrated and alot more bright than it was! hopefully she'll like that better :ganjamon:

Im also planning to reduce the vertical growth as much as possible! I was planning on using LST and "Topping" but i still have my wohs, maybe its because a beginner and just worrying too much that ima do 1 thing wrong and screw it all up! Are there any other methods to keep down the vertical growth? or could those two methods combined be enough for such a small space?
I've seen some fairly decent grows inside a PC box, this drawer is almost double size in width of my pc case, and a good 5-7cms taller.

Oh, and could someone tell me how my plants going health/growth wise? for some reason i cant keep thinking shes growing, well different, and a bit slower than other plants i see in the journals, but i surpose as long as its green n still gettin bigger (slowly) she'll be fine, aye?

So anyway, heres some pictures.
Photo383.jpg

Photo394.jpg


@ 3 Weeks-ish, lets say day 18.
Photo393.jpg


FEEDBACK WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED ! :D

Thanks for your time,
~Maffchew
 
For free thats pretty nice. :Rasta: However you might want to get some 6500k cfl's for veg. The bluer the light the better. It's the very best trust me. 4100k will cause them to stretch some which is what your lady is doing now.

As for controlling height.. I used to tie the top down to encoutage the undergrowth to catch up. Then start tieing them all down and so forth. You get a very low but super bush plant with an even canopy.

If your going to repot soonish burry her really deep in the pot. Like almost up to her first set of leaves. Trust me this will really help especially with that long stem she has right now.

Nute wise that will work for veg. For flower look up fox farms nutes. (open sesame, beastie bloomz, tiger bloom, and cha ching) Even if you can't get them where your at look at the ratios, and try to match the N - P - K as close as possible.

Over all for free hell nice work. :slide:

Your girl looks healthy I think shes going to live. Shes just a little stretched and a little behind growth wise due to the 4100k cfls.
 
AK GreenLover said:
For free thats pretty nice. :Rasta: However you might want to get some 6500k cfl's for veg. The bluer the light the better. It's the very best trust me. 4100k will cause them to stretch some which is what your lady is doing now.

As for controlling height.. I used to tie the top down to encoutage the undergrowth to catch up. Then start tieing them all down and so forth. You get a very low but super bush plant with an even canopy.

If your going to repot soonish burry her really deep in the pot. Like almost up to her first set of leaves. Trust me this will really help especially with that long stem she has right now.

Nute wise that will work for veg. For flower look up fox farms nutes. (open sesame, beastie bloomz, tiger bloom, and cha ching) Even if you can't get them where your at look at the ratios, and try to match the N - P - K as close as possible.

Over all for free hell nice work. :slide:

Your girl looks healthy I think shes going to live. Shes just a little stretched and a little behind growth wise due to the 4100k cfls.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback mate :)

Do they have to be exactly 6500k, or just close? Will she be alright with the lights she has for now? Im not sure ill have time to go pick up some new ones this week, but yeah i'll definatly do a change soon if shes gonna stretch more from it, thats definatly what i dont want! Oh and what do you recommend for flower? i think ive read they like more red/violet so what cfl would i use?

True nice idea, i think i'll give that one a shot for sure :). I probably will be using the topping method also for maximum yeild :D Good to know its only the bulbs that have slown her growth, puts my mind at ease, just hope she doesnt stretch too much, ill just burry her more if that happens haha,

Thanks again for feedback, you just improved my green thumb ahaha if that makes sense :p:peacetwo:

Oh and btw i just switched to 12/12, could i still use the veg nutes to encourage more leaves and such:peacetwo:
 
nice work bro, she's lookin pretty good. I'm really interested to see how she turns out. I'm about to start a very similar grow. Tryin to keep my plants pretty small.

side note: I see the skateboard in the back ground, Skate or Die!!!:headbanger: haha
 
One problem with using veg nutes during flowering is the excess nitrogen. In flowering if you use alot of nitrogen it will cause your plant to stretch bigtime. Also your flowers need high ammounts of P - K and low N for flower developement. You could use it but you wont be happy with your final reward. The flowers will be thin and more leafy. They wont really fill out. SO I would really encourage you to find some good cheap bloom nutes if your on a budget.

BTW I like what you did adding the 6500k's You will notice a difference very quickly.

Keep up the good work! :blunt:
 
Thanks Ero, yeah thats the way keep em nice and bushy huh :D ill make sure to have a look at your grow too bud :)

Thanks AK you just stopped me from doing something stuipd :p I'll have a quick look in the shed for some bloom nutes, (mum used to grow, she should have everything in there ;)) If not ill nag her for some cash to get some. I'll keep you posted. Oh and free im not planning on getting new lighting just yet, thanks though :peace:
 
Day 5 Into Flower, showing no signs of sex yet. She seems to have stopped growing, i think i should refigure my lighting..? now from what ive researched, there should be a 2x/3x growth spurt in the plant after the flowering period starts, seems like she hasnt shot up at all though :/ I've used a lighter for comparison purposes for later on..
QUESTION- How long roughly till this one shows there sex? Cheers :)
Photo447.jpg

Photo446.jpg

Photo445.jpg

Photo444.jpg

Cleary no signs of showing sex yet god dammit :((
Photo443.jpg

Shes a camera whoare alright.. :D




Make sure to check out my OutDoor Grow guys, great weather we're having in Australian at the moment there flyin' :D
My First Outdoor Grow
 
You might have to wait up to two weeks to see the sex, unfortunately. It varies.

As for lighting, there's a pretty direct watt:bug weight ratio... so maybe ask around. Try and find more 2100K lights. Even if you can trade a friend. Picture the difference between a few grams of popcorn buds and something with weight :)

Also, it's a bit late, but you can tie them down a little bit. I won't give you an LST tutorial... you can find those all over.
 
Subscribed and along for the ride.

Looks like you're doing things right so far.

As for the lower leaf... turn it over and look for any small specs (will look like dust). If it moves when you turn it toward the light, it's a bug of some sort.

If there's nothing moving on the underside of the leaves, then it's either burn (water/nutes splashed onto leaves) or it's just dying off due to being blocked from the lights. I noticed a big fan leaf directly above it. Every light has a diminished effect over distance; for CFLs a few centimeters means a huge decrease in light penetration, so expect the lower stuff to die off eventually.

For flowering nutes, you can pick up some Miracle Grow Rose Bloom powder. It's cheap (like $7 USD) for an amount that would feed a dozen plants for a year. If you plan to keep growing, it may be worth investing in some Fox Farms nutes. I'm currently using their trio of liquid nutes (Grow Big, Big Bloom, & Tiger Bloom) for my grow. Just started on flowering nutes, but I'll say the Grow Big made my plants grow about twice the size I expected after my experience with Miracle Grow.

Hope this helps.
 
JohnGalt said:
Subscribed and along for the ride.

Looks like you're doing things right so far.

As for the lower leaf... turn it over and look for any small specs (will look like dust). If it moves when you turn it toward the light, it's a bug of some sort.

If there's nothing moving on the underside of the leaves, then it's either burn (water/nutes splashed onto leaves) or it's just dying off due to being blocked from the lights. I noticed a big fan leaf directly above it. Every light has a diminished effect over distance; for CFLs a few centimeters means a huge decrease in light penetration, so expect the lower stuff to die off eventually.

For flowering nutes, you can pick up some Miracle Grow Rose Bloom powder. It's cheap (like $7 USD) for an amount that would feed a dozen plants for a year. If you plan to keep growing, it may be worth investing in some Fox Farms nutes. I'm currently using their trio of liquid nutes (Grow Big, Big Bloom, & Tiger Bloom) for my grow. Just started on flowering nutes, but I'll say the Grow Big made my plants grow about twice the size I expected after my experience with Miracle Grow.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Hm bugs indoors? ive never heard of such a case, but i surpose its possible :S ill give it a good check up and watering when lights are on.
I dont know if those products are available in my area, but i'll go to Bunnings tomorrow for a good look for them, if not an alternative with same N-P-K or similar.. Thankss
 
cflgrow said:
You might have to wait up to two weeks to see the sex, unfortunately. It varies.

As for lighting, there's a pretty direct watt:bug weight ratio... so maybe ask around. Try and find more 2100K lights. Even if you can trade a friend. Picture the difference between a few grams of popcorn buds and something with weight :)

Also, it's a bit late, but you can tie them down a little bit. I won't give you an LST tutorial... you can find those all over.
Click to expand...

Hahaa i tried to trade some globes the other day, and i failed :/, But ill defiantly get those flowering CFLs, figners crossed for at least a 1/2 Oz harvest, 1 Ounce would be amazing but :thumb:
 
theres a great tutorial on growing in the grow section here....
at hardware, house centers, any bulb with a "warm" designation is good for flowering, any bulb with "cool" designation for veg...i know you arent going for the money this time so thats a good hint for when you do...
a plant needs around 50-60watts per sq. foot to grow right...more is better...i run around 100-120 watts per sq. foot...cfl's work fine, i use them as aux. lite on my plants so there is no dark corner....
the problem with the leaf, is a form of mildew, not powder, it is from being too damp, not enough air, and heat, i know, i get it in the nursery before i move the girls to a bigger light....if you had geetas ($) i would say get liquid light and mildly spray the leaves.....keep in mind...
maybe let your soil dry a little more before watering.....you can kill with love...less is more...i know, i learned the hard way...
when you get on your feet, always use at least one "cool" bulb with all the "warm" bulbs....it will keep them from stretching as much....the plant needs some "cool" even in flower....
the ferts, do as the grower below suggested....a flower formula....rose will work...try to match the nutz to fox farm...they are good and not too expensive...
rule of thumb: a plant is mature at 10 wks,(not always true) the limbs on the main stalkwill not be opposite each other, they will be staggered...bud then...sometimes it will take up to 3 wks to respond to light change....switching ferts helps and will control that...
hope you didnt take this wrong....i mean to help...and as for how you got it started and did it, many kudos, you're giving it a good try and learning, and it takes it to ask for help and learn...very proud of you...growing is an art...it takes practice and a willingness to make a few mistakes, we all do...and grow from those mistakes....all of us were newbies at some point....and we all made mistakes whether we cop to them or not....if you're not making mistakes then you arent learning....hope it all works for you...best of, lady L:thumb::tokin::goodjob::peacetwo:
 

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