My Steralite CFL Grow

S

somewhereintheusa

Member
I am about 10 days into my grow, started out in a cardboard box, and recently moved my babies into a custom-built Steralite box. It still has some work left on it, but it is so much better than the original box, and for only $39 at walmart you can't go wrong.

Currently I have two plants under 4 CFL bulbs totaling ~100 watts. I will also be adding an additional 2 40 watt 3500K CFL bulbs, but first I have to improve ventilation a bit as with all 6 bulbs the temps hover around 90F.... as is the temps are between 80-85F.

One thing about this box though... It is very thin and will let light leak through unless you are very very careful.
 

Attachments

L

Lance85

Active Member
Looking nice! I'm just finishing my cab now, plastic cabinet like yours, 3 ft high. It's lined but light still leaks some. I'll be popping my BMystics soon with 10 26 watters, mixed. Only 8 are on right now and i have the therm in there for it's first temp test soon. :) :) Yeah i just finished today lol. Have to figure out light proofing then intake/exhaust, i'm thinking of cutting a shoebox in half diagonally for each side :O What u think?
 
S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Lance85 said:
Looking nice! I'm just finishing my cab now, plastic cabinet like yours, 3 ft high. It's lined but light still leaks some. I'll be popping my BMystics soon with 10 26 watters, mixed. Only 8 are on right now and i have the therm in there for it's first temp test soon. :) :) Yeah i just finished today lol. Have to figure out light proofing then intake/exhaust, i'm thinking of cutting a shoebox in half diagonally for each side :O What u think?
Click to expand...
I am still struggling with light coming through myself. So far I have gotten the exhaust pretty well done by throwing a few right angle turns in there along with dark surfaces.

I also have some bleed through via the doors, but I think with some rubber seals or something similar I can take care of this problem also.

I attached a pic of the cabinet taken in a dark room. The pic had a 4 sec shutter speed just to take it. With a little more work it will be pretty much light-proof from the front, but the back is a whole different issue :(
 

Attachments

L

Lance85

Active Member
Yours is much cleaner looking than mine but other than that very similar. I have mylar (emergency blanket) on the insidie and there still seems to be a lil leak through, albeit manageable (can cover it with blanket or whatever if need be). Checked temp with 8 26 watters and is holding at 84. :) I'm thinking 2 more 'might' be too much but we'll see. Have 2 120mm pc fans running and an intake hole i cut about 10X4inches on the other side. Airflow seems good, i can feel the pull on the intake. Have to lightproof em tho! I have the same crack of light down the doors too, but i bought weatherstripping. I havn't installed the weatherstripping yet tho. 1 step at a time.

Anyways, i'm gonna post my grow in a couple days i think when i throw in the bean so i'll be with ya!
 
S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Lance85 said:
Yours is much cleaner looking than mine but other than that very similar. I have mylar (emergency blanket) on the insidie and there still seems to be a lil leak through, albeit manageable (can cover it with blanket or whatever if need be). Checked temp with 8 26 watters and is holding at 84. :) I'm thinking 2 more 'might' be too much but we'll see. Have 2 120mm pc fans running and an intake hole i cut about 10X4inches on the other side. Airflow seems good, i can feel the pull on the intake. Have to lightproof em tho! I have the same crack of light down the doors too, but i bought weatherstripping. I havn't installed the weatherstripping yet tho. 1 step at a time.

Anyways, i'm gonna post my grow in a couple days i think when i throw in the bean so i'll be with ya!
Click to expand...
I think if I had it all to do over again I would have painted the inside of the cabinet black before doing anything, a couple of coats of paint would have probably gone a long way to fixing the light problems I am having now.

Sounds like your ventilation is in better shape than mine. I was running over 90F when I had 172w in my box, had to back it down to ~100 while I attempt to fix it. Currently I only have the one exhaust fan pushing 85 cfm.... might need to add another, but I hate the idea as the box is already louder than I would like.
 
S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Day 12 or so, one plant seems to be doing very well, but the other one doesn't really seem to be doing anything. The scrawny one was the first seed to germinate, and was pretty much at its current height before the other plant even sprouted, but since then little to nothing :(

Oh well, here's hoping that it's just a tease
 

Attachments

S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Day 15

Added an additional 2 23w 3500k CFLs yesterday making the current config 6 23w 4 of which are 6500k and the other two 3500k. Still not where I want to be, but temps are still an issue :(

I almost feel I should give up on the small plant, it hardly does anything, but the other plant seems to be doing quite well.
 

Attachments

L

Lance85

Active Member
I wouldn't give up on it, seems so many of the ones who don't have a plant rebound healthily. Worst case scenario you can flower yourself a quarter off it ;) hahaha
 
J

jdizzglass

Member
i had the same problem when i was growing my low ryder...started off small and stunted but after the 2nd or third week it just shot right up...be patient =]
 
S

somewhereintheusa

Member
jdizzglass said:
i had the same problem when i was growing my low ryder...started off small and stunted but after the 2nd or third week it just shot right up...be patient =]
Click to expand...
I hope your right, 2 plants are deffinatly better than one when you're looking for a female :) I plan on letting the plant stick around as long as I have room for it in the box, it's just sad to see it linger when the other plant is doing so much better.
 
S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Day 21

replaced the 2 30w 3500k bulbs with 2 40w 2700k bulbs I found at lowes yesterday and have been running at 172 watts total since yesterday. Temps are high, but so far I think acceptable ~86.5F.

Had to move the box temporarily so the photos are a bit off, had to use a flash as the lighting sucked.
 

Attachments

S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Day 23

Reading around on this forum, I think my two plants have suffered from lack of nutrients. The lower leaves on the bigger plant had turned pale green/yellow and the smaller plant had been pretty pale almost from the get go.

After adding some fertilizer yesterday it looks like some of the color may be returning to the pale leaves, and hopefully the problem has been solved, and hopefully this also means the smaller one will actually start doing something.
 

Attachments

S

somewhereintheusa

Member
Day 25

I think I have avoided killing my plants for the time being. The small plant seems to be recovering, and actually shows some pretty decent growth over the last 48 hours. The bigger plant has also improved with the color returning to its lower leaves.
 

Attachments

thatdjsnow

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member
You ever fix that light leak in the middle of the doors?

If not, get something (wood, plastic?) about 2 inches wide, the high of a door, and 1/4" thick. Then glue it in the back left side of the right door's edge so that there is 1 inch of reveal. That way the right door must be shut first, then the left door will sit one inch on top of the panel as well - blocking light. Sort of like the little fake cross beam on kitchen cabinets under the sink... :P
 
budboyste

budboyste

Member
i have a scrawny plant as well,one on the right,real slow growth,not much foliage,but that pic was after i just topped it,and new growth seems to coming in faster so hopefully have 2 decent plants :}
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top