PC Case grow - Stealth + Perpetual + LST

cerebralvibrator

Active Member
Looking good in there V12 :-) tight as the nuns proverbial whatsit :-) Those cuts look real healthy too, I dont see any reason why you should not root a clone cut from an early clone either, fingers crossed anyway.

Hempygonewrong seems determined to show what she can do... does she have a bit of moss in the soil mix V12?

Liking your style as usual mate :-)

CV.
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Thanks MC.

Cheers CV. Yes there's 30% moss and 30% perlite in HempyGoneWrong's pot, so it's almost a hydro grow!
Still not sure how best to utilise moss but I think maybe you have the right idea by just lining the pots. Root space is at such a premium for me that just mixing it in seemed the easiest option but it stimulates the root a bit too much TBH.
I'm wondering now if I can combine the hempy bucket with the moss to get my desired effect. I think the 12/12 sysem was the reason my hempy trial failed as the plants don't put out much root growth compared to a plant in veg. Maybe the moss instead of perlite in a hempy would give the plants the start they need.
I guess I know what to try next :)
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Thanks MediMaryUser. Good to see you again, hope things are good with you. Some top advice you gave earlier in the Outdoor forum. I'm sure it was appreciated.

Greets fs. I'd put in some pics of my manicured toenails but there just isn't any room :)
Could always find a spot for one of those new breeds of yours though.

Hey bornhigh
Thanks for stopping by. Got your message and I'll pop over soon.
Check out Sketzoh's PC Growers Gang for some great background research. There's a post full of links to pc grows. Add yours.
There's a link in my sig.

Got an update from lights on last night. There's allsorts going on in there just now :)
In the group pic you can see HempyGoneWrong at the back left. If you look closely you can see some bleaching on her from the new light. Think I may have found a solution though, I fitted a diffused plastic strap under the 2 lowest filaments of the bulb. There's no bleaching on the cuttings so I think it's just a temporary glitch.
In front of Hempy is a new hempy bucket experiment with moss instead of perlite. She went straight into 12/12 after her repot.
The other pics are just budshots, including the one I plan to use for testing after I cut Terra on Saturday night.
Here's the pics:
 

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v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Cheers m8.
Realy appreciate the props. Means a lot form someone who knows the deal.
Good luck with your latest grow. I'll check it out in a mo.
 

cerebralvibrator

Active Member
you're really packing it in there these days, man. I really gotta get you a pic of the insanity in my flower case..
I have a theory that V12 has actually constructed a PC case 4x normal size for this thread :-)

V12, lovely as ever mate. They really look healthy. Can I ask again what soil you use and your watering /feeding regime because I'm re thinking this for my future plants.

Buds look tasty, plenty of sparkle in there.

CV.


ER, I can't wait to see what you're up to atm.
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Hey ER. Good to see you m8. If you still have no cam then do a painting for us :)
I think we're all gagging to see what you've been up to!
The plan for me was to move to more plants of smaller stature but I think the genetics I currently have are just a bit to big and bold so I may have to drop back to the original plan and sort out a more suitable strain.
I always fancied Nefertiti for it's single cola growth pattern so maybe I'll get some of those for my next experiment.
Did you ever try the moss cloning trick?

Hey CV. Wish I had the space to fool all you guys with a 4x case :)
As soon as I get Terra out of there the place will have a mountain of room! I nicknamed her Bigfoot after the repot :)

The best mix I've had so far is the mix Hempy went into after I renamed her to HempyGoneWrong. She looks like she will be ok in the 1.1 litre container and the blue light seems to be keeping her from yellowing off. She has 3 or 4 weeks to go but all is looking well so far.
The mix is 40% soil, 30% perlite and 30% moss. Half of the moss is cut into small bits and the rest left as long strands.
With hardly any nutes in the mix she went onto 100ppm veg pretty soon and that was upped to 250 when the first yellowing appeared at the bottom. I alternated veg and bloom nutes while she was preflowering and I've worked up to 500ppm of bloom now but every 3rd watering is a 100ppm veg feed as a kind of tonic. She will get 750ppm bloom nutes for the last week before her flush and I ph everything to 6.4.
Even with all the soil/perlite/moss/roots, she takes 400ml of food every time. Usually she needs a top up every 3 days but while she was in the growth spurt it was every 2nd day. The soil always feels moist even right on the top layer, but after 3 days the pot feels light as a feather so I know it's time to top up.

Just a tip for when you have multiple plants at different stages. I mix my food up at 2 or 3 times max strength and water it down in a measuring jug. 4 water to 1 food = 500 ppm so I can use that for the big girls. Water what's left down 50/50 gives me 250ppm for the smaller girls and dilute what's left 50/50 again for the toddlers. Makes things sooo much easier than individual bottles for each plant.
 

cerebralvibrator

Active Member
V12, thanks for that detailed reply, its really useful. Do you PH the water ? I have to be honest, I grew for years without ever bothering to adjust or even check PH and rarely had problems, my plants remained green and healthy right till the end aside of course from natural late yellowing. Since I've been using the PH down I've had more probs with burning etc on those fans.

So next run I'll try your % mix and cut the moss up a little, it makes sense to me. I may also revert to my old watering regime too, just to see :-)

Anyway, thanks again, I'm just off to update my thread and reply to your post.

*edit* sorry I just re read and see that you PH at 6.4 It may well be that I'm feeding too aggessively!

Cheers

CV.
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
That's a very interesting point about lack of ph measurement. I never had problems when I was growing bagseed in the 80's and early 90's yet I never even considered ph values.
I wonder if it's because we have moved away from landrace strains in favour of genetics that have been bred for indoor and hydro growing traits. It seems certain to me that this is the reason we have to keep temps so low when indiginous plants thrive in much higher temps.

I've been looking in on Ston3rs grow and he was getting burning on leaf edges even before he started feeding. We think now it's because of a slight drooping caused by high humidity.
When the leaves transpire they put out moisture that needs to evaporate slowly but the drooping was causing leaves higher up to cover or rest on lower leaves so the ones underneath were getting soaking wet. Obviously when those leaves got some light or heat it caused them to dry up too quickly.
I wonder if that's what you are seeing rather than nuteburn?
 

Carolina Green Bud

Active Member
V12,
Read the first 25 plus pages of your thread until you harvested (Granita I think her name was). Great information, I think this could work for me. I'm gonna ask some questions, and I apoligize if they were asked before.

1. You said you bought your PC case on Ebay. I checked ebay and googled PC grow case and came across several "ready made" set ups, as well as instructions to build your own. Your's is ready made? Do you have any comments on what's on the market?

2. You start seeds every 3 weeks for a perpetual grow? How long from seed to harvest?

3. What is your light set up again?

4. You get feminized seeds of regular (not auto flowering strains) on a 12/12 light cycle What is the best? Wasn't it mostly sativa strains?

5. Why not not auto flowering except for lack of variety?
 

Carolina Green Bud

Active Member
One more.

6. How stealth can the PC case be. My wife is not cool at all. But, I am going to have to set up a home office with my job soon, so I'll be getting a new desk, etc. PC case under the desk would not attract much attention. I saw that there is no light leaking out, but what about odor, and how much noise from the fans?
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Hey CGB
Thanks for looking in. Here's some answers to your q's:
1. The case was just a cheapo case without a psu. The same case is still available. I saw 1 at scan.co.uk under the brand name xclio. Can't remember the model but it's the cheapest 1 they do. It wasn't prebuilt but the initial design was based on 1 of the available prebuilt solutions.
That design didn't really work as it used lack of light to control temps. I've not been impressed with any of the ready made solutions I've seen and would suggest building your own. If you want to link me to what you are looking at I'll let you know what i think about specific units.
2. The plants are usually in and out in 12 weeks
3. I have just changed my bulb but all the results in this journal were achieved under a 125w envirolite 2700k and a 13w 6500k cfl.
4. Indica dominant strains are best suited to the job. I've yet to grow anything that bettered Ice Cream for ease of growing or potency.
5. Auto's a very suitable for the task but taste & potency are not up with the best strains yet IMHO. The 2 week veg period also makes them tricky to train into decent canopies.
6. The cooker hood filter removes much of the smell and running the lights through the night means that any odours are emitted while everyone is asleep. The filter also helps trap light pretty well. Hard to describe noise and smell levels, but my rig has been running in a shared house for 12 months without detection and some housemates actually use the internet connection in my room.
Low odour strains are available as are lemon & fruit smelling strains which also help.
 

Carolina Green Bud

Active Member
V12,
How soon do the plants show sex under 12/12.?I've got some free seeds that aren't feminized, that I may try to set somethin up like this, if not a PC case.
I figure if I'm experimenting, might as well be with free seeds. They are called "cheese wrecks" cross between Big Budda Cheese and Trainwreck.

Oh, and here is a link to one of the ready to go PC grow cases.

http://www.pcgrowcase.com/
 

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Hey Green Bud
The plants usually take 3 - 5 weeks to show sex. A dry run with free seeds is a good idea but if you decide to go for it I'd definitely suggest feminised seeds. With mixed seeds you will half your yields at a stroke.

I've have seen the case in your link a couple of times & I wouldn't buy it personally. The 2 grows I've seen it used with have had such bad heat issues that 1 doesn't seem to use it any more and the other has to remove the door every time the lights come on.
I was also asked to look at a grow journal on youtube featuring the same case, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7jxGlGka9Q
The plant in the vid seems to have grown sideways and away from the light which no plant will do. The buds that are touching the side of the case and are getting no light are also as well developed as the rest of the plant. That never happens either. Finally if you compare those buds to cfl and hps buds you can tell pretty easy that the plant was grown under a hps.
If the guy who markets them doesn't even use it to make his own sales material, then perhaps it's best to follow his lead and use something else yourself.
Please don't expect anything even close to 2 -3lb a year out of a case either.
 
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