300W LED - Soil - Grow Box - Unknown Seeds

[BeachWolf]

Hi all, this is my first thread and grow journal. My goal is to be able to harvest 1 plant monthly, given a limited amount of space and time. I plan on trying several other setups in the future, but this is a tiny LED soil grow that I can closely manage and learn from before expanding.

Grow area: customized shelving unit 20" D x 28" W x 56" H. I lined the inside with Mylar film and a fan circulating air. I am still working on a cool air intake vent, but there is already an exhaust path for warm air around the light that keeps the temperature from getting too hot.
I also have a large dresser that I have gutted and I'm in the process of making it into my veg box so I can turn the shelving unit into a flowering box.

Soil: I purchased the only soil bag that contained lime and worm castings among its ingredients from a local shop and proceeded to plant the seeds that I had started in Rockwool into half-gallon pots. I covered the soil in the pots with cutouts of Mylar film. I also placed all of the pots in a plastic bin that I raised on one end and stuck a 1/4" piece of irrigation tubing for the excess water to run off into a trash bin below.

Light: per forum guidelines, I can't say the brand, but it is one 300w LED that supposedly equates to a 150w HID/MH/HPS since it has a full spectrum. Par value: 300umol (can someone explain to me what this unit means?), 5800 lumen.
Water + Nutrients: I'm watering about every 3 days (just before soil dries completely) and alternating between water pH'ed at ~5.6 and FoxFarm nutrients.

Log:
12-14-16 Placed 6 seeds in water and darkness for 30 hours.
12-16-16 Sowed seeds in Rockwool starter cubes after setting them at a pH of 5.8.
12-18-16 Soaked seedlings in Grow Big and Big Boom (using the FoxFarm nutes chart as max suggestion). 1 seed never sprouted.
12-20-16 Planted 5 seedlings in soil. They are all 1" in height with very healthy roots and first set of true leaves. Increased air flow.

12-22-16 Watered with pH of 7.0, runoff pH was 6.5. Added mesh to the tubing and slanted the grow for proper drainage and started work on veg box.
Notes: Create cool air intake vent behind fan (PVC?). Take pics. Prepare foliar spray. Research.

All feedback/suggestions welcome

 

[ResinSaurusRex]

Photoperiod or autos?

If you want to harvest a plant a month how many grows do you plan to operate at a time?

The shortest auto Ive seen is seed to harvest in 45 days. There might be a shorter out there.

Sent from my SM-G935P using 420

 

[Dwight Monk]

Shouldn't need/use nutrients first couple weeks of their life if in soil, as it should have plenty to begin with for early life. Do you have holes for air ventilation? Computer fan(s) work in my boxes well but my footprint is slightly smaller I think, and with the carbon filter (cut to fit pre-filter mesh stuff for air purifiers/furnaces) stuff over holes to cut down smell if needed (seems to suck or push thru it with the fans fine). Link in my sig for my Anti Journal one you can see my set up (bought a little box and built my own after I realized how small it was, but used it for ideas on how to set up bigger ones). I'm sure there is other threads here from folks running all different kinds of enclosed areas (freezer, real boxes, tupperware, etc...).

 

[BeachWolf]

Photoperiod or autos?

If you want to harvest a plant a month how many grows do you plan to operate at a time?

The shortest auto Ive seen is seed to harvest in 45 days. There might be a shorter out there.

Sent from my SM-G935P using 420

I have them on a 18/6 light cycle for now.

After this grow is complete I'll be able to calculate exactly how many plants I'll have going at a time, but for now it depends on how long it takes my plants to reach each growth stage. I'm also converting a large dresser into a veg box so I can have multiple stages going on at once.

 

[BeachWolf]

Shouldn't need/use nutrients first couple weeks of their life if in soil, as it should have plenty to begin with for early life. Do you have holes for air ventilation? Computer fan(s) work in my boxes well but my footprint is slightly smaller I think, and with the carbon filter (cut to fit pre-filter mesh stuff for air purifiers/furnaces) stuff over holes to cut down smell if needed (seems to suck or push thru it with the fans fine). Link in my sig for my Anti Journal one you can see my set up (bought a little box and built my own after I realized how small it was, but used it for ideas on how to set up bigger ones). I'm sure there is other threads here from folks running all different kinds of enclosed areas (freezer, real boxes, tupperware, etc...).

I used Rockwool to start the seeds, so I just wanted to give them a mild boost. But I'll lay off the nutrients for now since they have plenty.
I have a path for warm air to leave the box, but I'm trying to figure out how to make cool air intake holes closer to the bottom of the box without letting any light out, do the computer fans prevent light penetration? Great idea with the carbon filter, what kind do you suggest?

 

[Dwight Monk]

I used Rockwool to start the seeds, so I just wanted to give them a mild boost. But I'll lay off the nutrients for now since they have plenty.
I have a path for warm air to leave the box, but I'm trying to figure out how to make cool air intake holes closer to the bottom of the box without letting any light out, do the computer fans prevent light penetration? Great idea with the carbon filter, what kind do you suggest?

The carbon filter blocks out most if not all of the light far as I can tell, though usually had lights off in the shed (until it got cold and had some heat lamps before moving them inside, but didn't have any issues that I could tell if too much light got thru the filters). One could always hook up like a Dryer hose to inlet and outlet, and curve it around enough that light wouldn't get into the box if you was worried about that. You can buy it in sheets of it on Amazon and cut it to fit over your hole for the computer fan, and the computer fans pretty cheap there too depending on how quiet you want/need the box (I bought the 5 pack of fans for $15 variety as going cheap route until I know if I'm going to get hooked and continue with this Hobby lol). The power reducers that you can use for power you can pick up at thrift stores cheap (old power cords for routers/modems/phones/ etc... just find one that that is the voltage you want to run at as most of them can handle variable volts so can run fast or slower (like computers where you can turn fan speed up or down, all done with your switch changing the voltage).

 

[BeachWolf]

Just an update:

-They seemed thirsty so I watered them a bit and made Styrofoam discs to cover the soil.

-I used 4 bottles of Jack to raise the box and create an intake vent.

-I took the fan off of an old laptop and wired it to a broken phone charger to use it as an exhaust fan, but I need to fix the top of my box in order for the exhaust to work properly.
-I also made a simple CO2 generator that kicked in about an hour after setting it up.

All in all, everything looks good, I've kept my expenses under $200, and my girls (hopefully) are happy.

 

[BeachWolf]

Small update, week ~3:
I'm noticing a lot of minerals and salts on the soil, so I think I should flush them and start a feeding schedule soon. I did change the distance that I had them at because some of them seemed to be bleached a bit. Hoping they make a speedy recovery.

I still need to find a reliable way to increase my humidity, it's too small of a grow to invest in a fancy humidifier, and wet towels dry out too soon. Right now I have bowls set out but I would still like another 10% increase.
Also need to work on the air intake / exhaust, but that requires rebuilding the outer layer of the box, which I'm putting off.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.