Bloomin' In A Box

[Sonora]

I am going to share my new grow with all who are interested. I will be growing 3 seeds of Crop King White Widow, in a BCNL BloomBox.

White Widow is my go-to strain. It's hearty and resistant to all you throw at it, a great combination of yield and potency, and can dialed in to bring out either her sativa or indica traits depending on harvest time, and she grows great indoors in most environments. In short: she's a bad bitch.

The BCNL BloomBox uses "shallow water culture", basically bubblers in a shallow tray, coupled with drip emitters for twice a day flooding/flushing of the rockwool. It's a pretty slick setup. I'll be using nutrients from Future Harvest.

You're joining me right at the beginning, so here's where we're at. The box is (mostly) assembled. I bought it second-hand, and it's taken a bit of rigging up for those parts the original owner didn't have anymore. I still don't have the flower chamber pump working, but parts are on their way, and that should be fixed in the next few days here. I'm going to have to fabricate a new mount for the carbon filter because the back has a dent in it that tore a hole through where the original mount went. My buddy will do that for me next weekend.

I'm only growing three seeds right now because I'm going to moving to a Sea of Green as soon as I identify a mother plant. I have plenty of weed, so identifying a mother plant right now is more important than yield. So I'll take my time, pick which one of the three (assuming all 3 pop) is the best, then start running a SoG off her cuttings.

Pics are dull so far, as we're still germing seeds. But here they are.

 

[Frenchy672]

first to sit in

 

[Frenchy672]

btw that box is 110% awesome

 

[Sonora]

btw that box is 110% awesome

It's pretty cool, but I still like your DIY approach better. Always love it when someone takes what's available to them, and turns it into art. This was a semi-cheap purchase of premium gear, but at the end of the day, I didn't build it. You did! I'm much more impressed with yours.

 

[Frenchy672]

hahahaha..I always love diy, always have been that kid. and then on the flip I'd be the one who'd love to have that box not mine...literally lol'ing

 

[Sonora]

All 3 seeds cracked over night, an they're safely embedded in rapid rooter pods, under a humidity dome that's lying on a heated seed mat.

Cracked seed + rapid rooter + humidity dome + heated mat = ~100% success rate. In the hundreds of seeds I've germed this way, maybe my success rate is 98%, but not less than that.

Still not the exciting part of the grow, but if there's no pics it didn't happen, so here it is.

 

[growstrong]

Well you have me all curious about this box grow. I'm in.

 

[Far East Buds]

Sweet im in while there is still room in the car!

 

[Frenchy672]

they pop yet?

 

[Sonora]

The seeds are probably an inch below the surface of the plugs. They'll pop by tomorrow morning, the day after that at latest. I'm getting the nutrient mix ready for the veg area now

 

[Frenchy672]

I've been saying that for the past 2 days it feels.."gunna have to get ready to start the bucket" it's cause I wanna start already lol. I have patience when it's alive but the iffy beginning is always so tense lol

 

[Frenchy672]

we gunna get to see this box in action soon?

 

[Sonora]

1 out of the 3 seeds popped up today, she's under the lights. I'm expecting the other 2 to pop by tomorrow afternoon. Once all three seeds popped and they're under the lights, we should see more action

 

[Sonora]

I wish I understood how 420mag determined to rotate my pictures. They aren't rotated all f*cked up on my compie.

 

[Frenchy672]

lol they do whatever they feel like..can't wait to see it working full blown.

 

[Sonora]

BloomBox First Impressions

So my first impressions of the BloomBox:

* The build quality of the box itself (e.g., the metal container) is pretty solid. Well machined aluminum. Snug fit. Powder coat is pretty tight. Well crafted. 8 out of 10.
* Unfortunately, that's about the only thing I have positive comments on.
* Customer service at BCNL is poor. I can't stress this enough - when I called them, they acted like I was interrupting something important. Comments were borderline offensive, at times. This is a huge selling point for them on their website, but I'm not seeing it. Customer Service: 3 out 10.
* Hydroponics build quality: lame. The veg area is complete garbage. It's basically an ice chest with two customized lids (clone and 3" pots) with a pump. Nothing you or I couldn't put together in an hour. Changing nute solution is a train wreck - there's no way to do it without flooding your work area. The flower system is a little better, but even there it's pretty poor. Drip emitters don't quite fit on on their connectors, and the pump used is the kind of pump you can buy for $30 at a fish store. Overall, just really disappointing when it comes to the hydroponics grow system. 4/10.
* Lighting: Again, pretty mediocre. The type of lights you can buy at a discount hydro shop, but you pay premium prices for it. 5/10
* "Sinew" - one thing I've noticed - the little things that bring the box together SUCK. The wheels and casters are ultra cheap. The screws used to connect panels are soft metal, screws you couldn't even find at Home Depot they're so cheap. I've already completely stripped and ruined 2 screws with my pretty low-powered electric drill. You can't use an electric drill to take panels on and off - you have to use a hand driver, or else you'll ruin the cheap ass chinese screws they've used. Fit and finish: 2/10
* Nutes: They use Future harvest nutes, but rebranded as their own. Above average, but not great. Overall: 7/10.

Overall first impressions: 4/10.

I went into this with the assumption a new BloomBox was basically targeting new growers who didn't know any better, and as of today I stand by that opinion. I think a new grower would be better off buying a tent, and using hempy buckets to get started growing. The BCNL BloomBox seems to me to be a marketing-powered device, rather than standing on it's own quality. Even at a second-hand discount, I'm, disappointed I bought it.

 

[Sonora]

Baby 2 popped her head up this morning, so we're 2 out of 3. The 3rd one is still pushing upwards, and will probably pop tomorrow. Generally, when it comes to feminized seeds, I think the strongest grower usually ends up the best yielder, so I suspect plant #1 will end up being the mother I select.

 

[Frenchy672]

lucky

 

[Sonora]

I'm pretty eager to get these babies under the Metal Halide, so hopefully I can get the permanent grow chamber up and running this weekend. Parts are shipped, seeds should be all popped by them. I'll be running nutes at 1/3 strength of manufacturers recommendations. Seedlings right now are drinking nutes at ~1/7th strength - just a slight taste of the good stuff.

I don't use RO water - I just use tap water that sits for 24 hours to dissolve the chlorine. RO water can lead to CalMag issues unless you supplement, and the fewer supplements the better, in my opinion (less variables to worry about). So I'm mixing the 1/3 nute mixture this Friday, with the intention of moving the babies under the halide in the grow chamber on Saturday. I'll also be getting a CO2 tank this weekend; I won't introduce CO2 until flowering, but I want to get that system all debugged and ready as soon as I can.

 

[Sonora]

When I woke up this morning all three seeds have now popped. The third and most recent baby still has some of the seeds membrane stuck on her, so the leaves haven't unfurled. Maybe another 12 hours or so for that to dry out and flake off, so tomorrow morning her leaves should be open. The second plant that popped yesterday has completely shed her helmet and is now open and spread. The first plant is doing great. There's not a lot of airflow in the "veg" chamber, so she's looking a little stringy and stretchy. Truthfully the veg area is really only suitable for managing your clones - I really need to get these babies over to the true growing area under the MH, where I can get a fan and the other things they need in place.

Pics.

White Widow #3 (WW3), the newest.

WW2, yesterday's birth. Doing good.

WW1, the strongest of the bunch. She's looking like the eventual winner of the "Who'll be the mom?" competition.

The whole family together.

If anyone can tell me how to rotate pics in the gallery, that would be awesome. I don't understand why 420 randomly rotates some pics 90 degrees, and doesn't to others, so I don't know how to anticipate and correct for it.