Noob Grow in a closet that I found on the side of the Street.

[mickyj511]

What's up guys

So I've started my second grow, after my first plant turned out to be a male. This time I'm starting off in a better way. I found a closet on the side of the street, about 1 x 2 x 5, and I thought it would be perfect for a little stealth grow. I bought emergency blankets to cover the walls, even though I've heard mixed opinions on them. I cut one hole in the bottom, and one hole in the top for ventilation. Right now I just have one small fan blowing on the light and the seedling, but I just got 4 silent computer fans from amazon for $12, and I plan on putting two over the hole on the bottom to draw air in, and two on the top to push hot air out.

This is just a bag seed I got from a friend. I'm using Miracle grow soil in the sprouting cup (I know, I know...). I'm using tap water with no nutes, which I adjusted the PH of to about 6-6.5.

As for the lighting fixture, I took three blocks of wood, and screwed flexible metal between them, so I can adjust the bend. However, I dont have much room to work in that small space, so it'll have to stay pretty much how it is now.

Here it is as of now:

I'm open to everything, including Criticism (Hopefully constructive). Looking forward to watching this girl grow up

 

[Abiqua]

1. Get rid of the crinkles in the mylar. Sooner the better, but you have some time.............
   • I really prefer just flat white paint.
   • If you go look at the reflection %, fwp is right up there with mylar, but mylar at an optimum reflecting surface, where it is "Perfectly" smooth.
   • Flat white or flat white painted surfaces are cleaner, but that's my opinion only. [It can take some work in some cases, so case by case]
   • What I started to use lately is hardwood floor underlayment liner material that is dirt cheap. It is white and waterproof and seems to reflect OK in my veg chambers.

• - Maybe point the fan just slightly away from the plant, that way it won't use water up as fast, but still allows fresh air to blow around. [bringing in fresh Co2]
• Looks good otherwise and the ventilation plans look good. If you continue CFL's in flower, I don't see why the fans you have wouldn't pull the heat out.

• General rule of thumb for intake is to be 2x the surface AREA of the exhaust.

 

[mickyj511]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll try to flatten out those crinkles. I would like to just paint it white, but the smell of paint would raise some questions. And as for the exhaust, I can keep that hole small and then double the size of the intake hole. Is what you're suggesting?

 

[BygonEra]

^ If you're worried about the smell of paint, you might want to reconsider growing such a stinky plant. Seriously though, when you harvest, everyone near your place is going to smell it... just keep that in mind.

My apartment smells like paint a lot... I take shitty furniture, spray paint it, and sell it... lol nothing weird about the smell of paint! White paint can also help keep heat down vs mylar IMO.

In my opinion, I would use 3 fans for exhaust and 1 fan (and maybe a passive intake hole) for intake. You want some negative pressure in your cab.

Also, that's a good CFL for flowering but it's the wrong spectrum for vegging. You want a 5500k or 6500k.

Looking good so far!

 

[chibzilla]

Looking good bro,

Don't sweat the reflective bullshit while your plant is so small, there's other things to worry about lol.
If you're in a confined enough space I honestly don't believe that reflectivity makes the biggest difference on yield.
If a little 23 watt cfl can light up my entire basement then surely 4-5 of them in a closet will suffice for a plant

Just buy latex paint, It won't smell nearly as much as oil based ones if you choose to paint it.
Personally I just do it for the looks, I just like to think of my plants in purgatory before they switch to 12/12 life.

Oh yeah, One thing.
Get it the fuck out of the miracle grow, check my grow log to if you want to see why.

 

[mickyj511]

Ok thanks for the suggestion about the latex paint! Also, I was thinking of planting it in a mostly perlite/miracle grow mix, since it's the soil I have.

 

[ii dP ii]

the MG soil just has nutes in it already, and it's also very dense, the perlite should help with that. make sure not to fuck with ferts really unless you think you have learned much and know exactly what you're doing.

 

[notballin]

From a design perspective this is actually very very well made. You even rigged a ballast, which is awesome.

You could opt for using desk fans and mounting them to one side of the wall vertically for air circulation. Desk fans are small and it's no big deal if the plant touches them. They usually come in high velocity versions too.

If you can do that, you'll clear a lot of space so you can have more than one plant going (or more room for training one plant).

Lots of potential here, and you're doing a great job out the gate.

 

[notballin]

About the ballast, instead of having the bulbs sideways, you could do this:



My very crude Microsoft Paint diagram. Putting them like this (cept a bit diagonal) will allow the use of two lights. You'll be able to keep the ballast a bit higher than the plant (lessens the possibility of heat stress).

 

[reku]

Looking good, Bygonera is right about the smell though.

 

[mickyj511]

From a design perspective this is actually very very well made. You even rigged a ballast, which is awesome.

You could opt for using desk fans and mounting them to one side of the wall vertically for air circulation. Desk fans are small and it's no big deal if the plant touches them. They usually come in high velocity versions too.

If you can do that, you'll clear a lot of space so you can have more than one plant going (or more room for training one plant).

Lots of potential here, and you're doing a great job out the gate.

That's a good idea! I'm just trying to think how exactly I would be able to mount the fan on the wall. Also, I still need to wire up three fans in series to use as an exhaust, any idea how to do that?

 

[notballin]

That's a good idea! I'm just trying to think how exactly I would be able to mount the fan on the wall. Also, I still need to wire up three fans in series to use as an exhaust, any idea how to do that?

You'll probably need to man mode it and drill holes in the side of the cabinet, then measure them, drill holes in the plastic fan plate, and screw them into the side of the wall. Also, I'm not too sure about the wiring for them. I just use a power strip and plug everything into it as is.

I think it's the second journal entry I made, but it's got some good examples of how I wire.

EDIT: It's the first journal entry with all the pictures.

 

[Abiqua]

That's a good idea! I'm just trying to think how exactly I would be able to mount the fan on the wall. Also, I still need to wire up three fans in series to use as an exhaust, any idea how to do that?

For interior fans you can just mount on little brackets attached to the wall.

Agree with notballin on the exhaust side, "manning up" and such.

- I would wire them in parallel. Wiring them in series you would need 36v from a DC power supply, not good. + if one fan dies, the rest do too.


I wanted to go this route to control all my fans individually, while not giving them too much voltage.

• 4 Fan Controller

http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-Channel-Multi-Fan-Controller-FPX-001/dp/B00DP9WRZY/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1381516039&
sr=8-11&keywords=fan+controller

• Cooler Guys Power Supply 4 Pin

http://www.amazon.com/Coolerguys-100-240v-Molex-Power-Adapter/dp/B000MGG6SC/ref=pd_sim_pc_2

• You can also use a 12v wall wart, like a cellphone battery charger.
  • I run most of my fans now this way [but I actually run 5 and 6v versions, which work great] .
  • But you have to be careful with these as well, since most are switching power supplies, they are just constant current, but not consant voltage. -
  • Voltage spikes can occur when not running full loads.
  • Its important when using wall warts to size the current as close as possible between fan and power source, even filter powered supplies will experience voltage spikes with a load below the rated capacity. Try to match your rated capacities as evenly as possible from fans to power supply.
    [*][That is don't run a 12v DC .10amp fan on a 12v DC 1amp circuit.] Add up the amps of all three of your exhaust fans and try to find a power supply with 10% more current and you will be fine.
    
  
  
  

 

[mickyj511]

Here's an Update for you guys. She's getting bushy, but her leaves are curling just a little. I'm not too worried about it though. She's really green and no sign of nute burn from the MG or anything. The first image is from 2 days ago, the second is this morning.

 

[mickyj511]

So some of my leaves are starting to droop, and the bottom leaves are curling and browning. I'm not too worried about it but what do you guys think is happening?

 

[randybishop]

Awesome stealth cabinet for a first time setup!

 

[mickyj511]

Awesome stealth cabinet for a first time setup!

Thanks bud! I like it so far too!

 

[diet coke]

Need a bigger pot so roots can spread and not curl around the cup.

 

[mickyj511]

Need a bigger pot so roots can spread and not curl around the cup.

I have a bigger pot to transplant it into, should I do that now?

 

[Yasi]

You should plant in the biggest container you are willing to as early in your grow as possible. Gives the plants some time to settle in and spread their roots.