CFL Cardboard Box Grow

Jimdog

New Member
Just to start off i want to say that this is my first time posting in the forums so if i do anything wrong please let me know:love:

So i decided to start my first indoor grow (I've done 5 seasons outside with great results)
A friend of mine is growing in a tiny cardboard box, he gets a moderate amount of top tier grass and says it costs next to nothing to make. I thought i may as well give this a whirl as i had a big enough box and a few small CFL's lying around.

Obviously I understand the drawbacks of a cardboard box this is more of a science project then anything :p
Ill be using only CFL lights. I have 2x 24w Warm Whites and 2x 24w Cool Daylights as of now.
I have a couple of little USB desk fans on order and ill eventually end up finding some sort of exhaust fan as well whether it is another USB fan or a PC fan.
Im not sure about oder, the box is in a double garage that no one goes in. I figure between the size of the box and the CFL's it wont grow anything big enough to stink up the town. Please let me know your opinions :)

The seeds are from a few random bags I've had over the years so not sure what to expect there.
The only ferts I plan on using are a nitrogen based food with smaller amounts of everything else (potassium, magnesium ect) Outdoors this is all i use, flowering happens well enough without adding any other ferts. Again please let me know opinions on this as I do know during flowering is when they need to be looked after the most.

Please let me know any tips you may have on this, it is my first time inside and obviously i picked it difficult with the box idea but hey don't know if we don't try ;)

I will upload photos later this evening
 
The Box itself not a whole lot of light escapes from it.
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These shots are 9 days into growing, they have just had their first lot of nutes (The reason why they are a little saggy) obviously things aren't perfect yet but the girls look fairly happy !!
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Hey Jimdog welcome to :420: first of all and good luck with your grow, those plants are looking good for 9 days in. One thing I'd like to say is that if light is escaping from your box it means that light can get in too, this could cause problems when you switch to the 12/12 flowering schedule so you may want to look at making that box light tight.

In flowering phase the plants won't want as much Nitrogen, instead they will be after a higher ratio of Potassium and Phosphorous so it's worth investing in a cheap bottle of bloom fertilisers just for the simple fact that too much Nitrogen will affect the yield from flowers, that or make up your own organically.

Good luck either way and due to the magic of :420: I'm now auto subbed, looking forward to the rest of the grow :thumb:
 
One other thing Jimbob, if those CFL's are longer lengthways then they will give the plants more light if hung horizontally above them due to the fact that CFL's emit more light from the sides rather than the tips. Hope this helps ;)
 
Hey Kriaze, thanks for the tip on ferts and for subbing. Like i said i have heard indoors you need to be alot more onto it with nutrients ect, ill head down sometime this week and find something. Any recommendations on the NPK level for flowering ?
With the bulbs I'm using i don't think they have the size to flip them onto thier sides, this would create a lot of trouble as well because the box is made around how the lights are hanging. For now ill leave them how they are if i end up making a new box (Probably will its not the easiest to access) then ill look at hanging them sideways. Thanks again for the tips and i hope you enjoy watching the grass grow :allgood:
 
I love watching the grass grow :allgood: lol.

I'm not a great botanist so unfortunately I can't help you with any precise ratios, I tend to buy a bottle of premade Bloom nutrients and throw a few of my own extras in to wing it :) Plantmagic Plus Oldtimer's Bloom is what I currently use, all the best and good luck :thumb:
 
Thanks for the idea DeanB! ill definitely find something like this, did you just buy it from a home improvement store?

MetalPoet, the soil the girls are in now is a nutrient rich strawberry mix from the local garden store. Great for growing anything that flowers or fruits !!
 
Morning all here are a few photos of the girls, the ferts have gone through them and they are finally standing tall again :)
(Im using my phone camera at the moment so mind the low quality photos)

These are the veg ferts and soil i use (Have for years they are great)
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Here's the girls, they are slowly getting bigger. What should my light schedule be ? I've seen people say leave lights on 24/7 then others saying plants need as little as 12 hours of light to veg. At the moment I'm doing 20/4 and they seem to be happy but could i be doing better? Also do i LST or what? Outside when plants get to big (Helicopters ect can spot them) i tie a fishing sinker to all sides of the plant and that slowly drops the branches down over time. Obviously i cant do this in this situation so any help would be lovely !!
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Digital weather station will pull up what you need with an internet search, but look around as there are some pretty decent ones that don't cost much. DeanB is right too (good catch), when your plants leaves curl up and 'canoe' you are having a touch of heat stress, they need cooling before they start curling back on themselves as that will cause more problems than slowed growth.

I haven't really tried training plants much myself but if you want to see a master at work I suggest you check out Light Addict and his 'fluxing' techniques, 20 oz per plant indoors makes it worthwhile I reckon to say the least :) :thumb:
 
Thanks for all the feed back guys, i went out today and got a cheap little make shift USB fan until my better ones come. Its drawing cool air in straight onto the plants and I made a few "breather holes" in the top and sides so hopefully that should fix the heat problem a bit for now.
Is there any special sort of "weather station" i should get? i see them ranging in prices drastically.

WOWOWOWOWOW is all i can say about "Vladimirs" journal. That's some EXTREME plant manipulation right there !!!
 
Hey everyone thought i'd give a little update, second lot of ferts went in today everyone is looking well.

I went out and bought a weather station for fairly cheap, what humidity level should i be sitting around, also what temps will the children grow best in??
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A few photos of the babies growing we are on day 17 now, the missus wants to push them into flower at one month (I don't mind like I've said this is more a science project then anything) any advice for or against this ?
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I fimmed one of my babies (Little red) she is coming back well :love:
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This little one had a bad run in with a light and had to be trimmed right back, slowely but surely!!
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They look good :thumb: With random bagseed you may have a couple males in the bunch, keep an eye out for them when you flip to flower. One month veg is fine before flipping,(I go two months with mine). Consider transplanting to bigger pots at least a week before flipping to flower. Humidity for veg keep around 50-60 percent and flower you want around 30-40 percent.
 
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