I had trouble finding a fan. All the department stores/radio shack/ect. in my city had gotten rid of the fans and replaced them with heaters since its getting cold out. I found some computer fans at radio shack, but I didn't even want to begin attempting to re-wire something like that, nor did I have the budget. I ended up finding a small heater (about 6" long x 6" tall x 3" wide) that also had a "fan only" mode. It's kind of bulky but i'm working on sealing it into the box as an exhaust fan. I don't have an intake fan, just a black pvc pipe with two 90 degree angles so no light escapes. if I need air intake I have another, large fan that I can put in front of the pvc pipe and let it blow air in. I realize the exhaust fan I have isn't the best, but it was on sale for $9.99 (originally $29.99) and I figured if it wont work as an exhaust fan or I find something better I can use the heater to heat my room this winter haha (fan is 120 volts, 10 amps, and 60 Hz) I don't know if that helps explain anything but it's the only informational number I could find on the box. I ended up buying 4 daylight CFL bulbs that are 60 watt equivalents (14 watts actually) and are 5000k. I think this should be enough light/heat. I also got a thermometer/hygrometer to put in the box. and also upgraded my rubbermaid boxes to bigger ones, so my growbox is about 2' wide x 3' long x 4.5' high and used 2 coats of Krylon (for plastic) black spray paint, followed by 2 coats of Krylon (for plastic) very flat, white spray paint. For soil I just got miracle grow organic choice potting soil. its 10-5-5 and made from completely organic ingredients. These include: composted bark, peat moss, poultry litter, and "organic wetting agent?". I've read good reviews and bad reviews on this soil, but I figured it would at least work for the first 2 weeks, and if necessary I can CAREFULLY transport the plant to a different soil brand or add more nutrients (still have to do a little research).
I don't know how well this setup will work, as this is my first grow. I've researched pages and pages of information and it was hard to come up with a final conclusion on what to use because it seemed like every website had 40 different opinions on soil, lights, fans, germination, ect. So I just took everything I learned (which was NOTHING a week ago) and bought what I thought would work best. I didn't have much time to prepare because as soon as I got my seed yesterday I started germinating it (paper towel method) because I would like it to be flowering by christmas. I still have a lot of research and critiquing to do to my set up, but I figured this would work for now as I am in a hurry to get this grow started due to limited time. I got everything for under $70 so if it doesn't work I'll return as many things as I can and count my losses. However if it does work I'm in for a great second semester after xmas break.
Any suggestions/tips would be GREATLY appreciated. I think i'll start a grow journal, that way if it doesn't work I can look back to exactly what I did and see where I went wrong. I'll post some pictures up to once I get the grow box completely assembled.
