Some questions I have before I do a grow

[Lu-Tze]

Hi all,
I'm thinking of doing a grow when I move out, which will most likely be the start of next year, and I want to get everything prepped before I go so I can hit the ground running in the new place!

I've got some questions which I'd love someone to answer, and I've searched high and low on this forum for the answers. I think I'm on the right track, but would just like a second opinion

WHAT I'M PLANNING TO DO
I'm thinking of growing in a PC case with 12/12 lighting from seed. I'm thinking of getting a couple of bagseeds to the point where I can sex them, probably outside, then keeping the best looking female and chucking her in the box. Alternatively, I might just get a feminized seed from somewhere online.
I plan to grow one to the point where she's flowering, then clone her. Will the clone then settle back into veg under the 12/12, so I can harvest the mother, then just let the clone grow (and clone the clone when it's about to flower, and keep the love flowing)?
For lighting I'm thinking of using LED's, and as I am strapped for cash, I was thinking of this (2W LED Green-house Grow Lights for Hydroponic Systems / Gardening - Free Shipping - DealExtreme) as it's cheap, and looks ok. What are your thoughts on this? I'll probably go with one, if that'd be enough light, or 2 if not.

I think I'll leave a PSU in there, to power the fans which I'll leave in their normal places — exhaust near the PSU and an intake on the front down the bottom. What do you think? Will I need an intake fan, or should an exhaust be enough? I'm thinking of just using a 120mm fan for the quiet removal of air.
Odour is an issue as I don't want my room to smell heavily of bud. I'm thinking of getting an ozone generator and whacking that in the case just in front of the intake fan (so air comes into the case, mixes with the ozone, and then circulates.)

I am also planning to LST my grow right from the start, and have a couple of questions regarding that. I hope to get a sativa strain and know these stretch a LOT during flowering. Is it cool to LST sativa's right through the flowering? If so, how short could I realistically keep this baby if I LST heavily the whole grow?

Cheers for any assistance you can offer!

Lu-Tze

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've only seen one or two grows in PC-sized boxes that went on to a successful harvest. Mostly they seem to end up in the abandoned forum. On the successful ones, the effort vs. return seemed insufficient, IMHO, but I guess that's a relative thing and you could always look at it as an experiment I suppose.

Those cheap Chinese 2-watt screw-in LED bulbs aren't worth the nickel it cost to manufacture one. Seriously.

I doubt that you could successfully grow, flower, and harvest a sativa or sativa-dominant plant in a PC case. I could be wrong, but since they like a lot of light and a fair amount of space (also a lot of time, which is neither here nor there) - neither of which can be provided in a tiny box...

 

[ledtron]

You won't get any buds with that bulb. And a pc grow seems like a waste of time..not enough root space, air or light

 

[StonedyCreek]

The only realistic way I see you growing in a PC case is if you grow with an auto-flowering plant like lowryder or similar which tend to have disappointing (but size appropriate) yields. somewhere between 15-45 grams depending on your skill level. I myself, am not a big fan of these but you should still look into it for personal knowledge.You'll come to find out that after doing a little more research, the proper lighting your plant needs, would be very difficult to give in such a small space. and with cost and effort piling up, most people on this forum would agree with TS that the pc case is a usual born failure. You need to expect your plants to take up a little room if you want to see any benefits from it.

You also mentioned something about a mother plant coming from bag seed? Thats not a good start brother. Invest a few bucks and get some feminized from the start. If you dont start with good genetics, I generally advise abandoning ship Plenty of very reputable seed banks accept cash mail in orders, so you dont have to worry about credit cards or things like that.. And also, when cloning, its more difficult to successfully clone a plant if you have it in the flowering cycle. This is why, if you get some fem. seeds from a store, you can guarantee its sex, and focus on the clone and bringing it naturally into its own veg cycle at the right stage in its life. Try and start with clones 8-10" or more with a few small limbs for an easy cloning process. I'm not the best at cloning, but when they do live, they usually are at least that big.

As for salvaging your planned grow- op .. Heres my advice:
Bail on the PC- if you want to do it right, you need room-- at least the space of a small closet. I wouldn't even consider wasting time on anything less than a 2'Lx2Wx4'H and even that could be pushing it. You can find some REALLY GREAT cheap grow tents from LED wholesales. They sell a bunch of stuff on amazon, and you can also find a pretty good light on amazon as well. The tent is basically a big black box (like a dresser) that is light tight and zippered shut so its pretty discreet. you can get all sorts of sizes. Your gonna have to invest a few bucks if you want to see earnings come from your work, so while you have time, plan it out and do a little saving. your going to need 1)grow tent 2)soil,nutrients,pots 3) a grow light and fan to cool or ventilate your plants. The light will be the most pricey of all, but instead of having 15 cfl's hanging around 1 plant, and 5 extension cords, TRUST ME, invest in 1 good light. Considering you want to go small, I would say a 250w HPS/MH, sunsytems2 makes some great lights. I personally have a 3x3x7 grown tent with a 400watt hps/mh and its PERFECT. I only have 3 girls in it, and even that, is pushing it. I have it tucked in a closet, where the other half of closet functions normal with clothes. Real discreet.

Once you get this operation going, you should look into different training techniques for you plants. LST training, topping,and super cropping. It will show you how to get 1 plant to yield like 3, so why not right? good luck dude, keep it green

 

[StonedyCreek]

And as for the 12-12 lighting cycle from seed? I dont know where you've been searching high and low.. but its not on this website.

Unless there are some technique I'm unaware of (which is very possible ) GENERALLY I would say most seeds need to 'germinate' first. after you get that part under control, the seedlings enter the VEG cycle, which is at least 15-18 hrs of LIGHT a day. Do that for 60-90 days, and then you enter a FLOWER cycle, which is your 12-12 cycle your referring too. You will never get a clone into a veg cycle running 12-12, that's specifically the flowering cycle where your buds develop. Go to grow room tab on the top of this website. the go to how to grow marijuana. There is an organized table of contents that will show you the light.

 

[Lu-Tze]

Thanks for the replies guys!
Yield isn't a huge deal for me, and if I got even 10g I'd be stoked!
But I understand where you are all coming from, and thank you for the feedback!

SC - I'm thinking of having this more stealth than a tent in a closet, I'm thinking like having it just under my desk, where a computer case would normally go, so all the wiring and stuff appears normal. Stealth is the number one priority, higher than yield, effort, and quality of buds produced.
If I can have get this working, then a yield of 10g every couple of months will be plenty (I don't smoke a huge amount.)

And also, if I can get it working, then it's more a matter of fine-tuning the lights, topping, lst and so forth till I can get something that works well.

That's the plan at least!

 

[mudrunner]

you know when you think about it a dresser grow would probably be just as, if not more stealthy than a pc grow. i mean most people dont have an extra pc tower laying around. with a dersser grow ive seen people yeild 2-4 ounces and its air tight so you can keep odor down. totally not telling you what to do. i mean if you could find an enclosed night stand i bet with the right strain and training you could probably yeild an ounce or more just something to consider

 

[StonedyCreek]

I think a big thing your overlooking is smell. If you happen to get these things into flowering, somebody is gonna start sniffing around and pick up the scent. If you were to elaborate and get a co2 filter and fan setup, now you have to think about the noise and such it will make. You should really look into the auto flowering strains available if your that serious about using your pc tower for a grow op. Also LST training and topping will help keep unruly plants short while growing. I would personally say, if it seems like a bad idea.. it probably is. I have a 90% feeling if you follow thru with this, someone will discover your operation. do a little planning and find a more discreet place than that. An Attic, and outside garage, even look thru some for sale ads and get an old shitty fridge that dont even run. NOW your talking stealth, and youll have some elbow space. throw a padlock on that puppy and tuck it in your man cave. say its where you keep your beers and porno either way, good luck, kudos if you pull it off. (i did some digging around too, and found some people actually DO go 12-12 right form seed. there generally using hps, but I just wanted to clarify if I mislead you.

 

[Lu-Tze]

Hey, yeah, smell is a consideration, but I've just bought an ozone generator which should be able to pump out enough O3 to deal with any smells. I'm planning to test it out on my room as it is at the moment, it stinks pretty bad, then try it with some bud smoke in there, and if that works ok, I'm thinking of like ducting my exhaust to a cardboard box and having the generator in there. That way, the exhaust will go into the box full of ozone, and be killed, before seeping out through the cardboard fresh as a daisy.

but yeah, if I notice any smells I've already decided that I'll give it like a day to bash together a carbon filter, crank up the ozone generator, get it sorted, or I kill the grow.

A large part of this is the challenge of doing such a tiny grow I kinda want to prove to myself that it can be done, and I have a spare computer case i can shred with enough fans and stuff. Yeah, that's basically it. Small yield, that's fine, I just want to try it, keep it super stealth, and if it works and i can keep it stealth, then I'll do another, and work on bigger yields! Thanks for the feedback guys, it's really great to get other views and ideas - it really has pushed me to think more about it and find solutions to the problems you guys have said

BUT!
I'm sticking with the pc box, cos that's the whole point of it for me haha

cheers guys