Shower Cubicle Set-up

A mate of mine gave me a bunch of seeds the other day. I'm into my gardening (I'm currently growing 2 bonsai trees from seed and also have 6 baby Christmas trees on the go- also grown from seed). I get a lot of pleasure growing things, but I think I'll be getting even more pleasure from growing the beautiful weed!

With seeds in hand, I began to ponder where abouts in my house I could grow them. I'm a total novice when it comes to growing weed. I tried it once years ago by simply germinating a couple of seeds and sticking them in a couple of pots on the window sill. They died quickly because of lack of sun (it aint that sunny here in the UK). So this time I want to do it right. I spent hours researching growing tips and how-to's. I watched the entire series of 'Ready, Set, Grow' on YouTube (here is the 1st in the series in case you're interested):

YouTube - Ready-Set-Grow Part 1of 7 UPDATED

I realised that I had a perfect place for them in my home. In the spare room (which is used as a storage room) there is a (very random) shower cubicle. I have no idea why the previous owner decided to install a single stand-alone shower in a bedroom. There's a perfectly good bathroom in the house. We've never used this shower and I figured it'd be a perfect site for a new grow area.

The shower cubicle has everything. Ventilation (the walls to the unit don't go all the way to the ceiling), drainage, white 'easy clean' floor, and it's discreet!. I set about making it into a grow-area.

This is my blog about my growing attempt. I realise I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an expert, and would really appreciate any pointers and advice. My intention is to grow a couple of nice plants for personal use.

I just want to document my experience so that a) I can help others learn from my mistakes and b) so that hopefully you people can give me some advice!

I hope that at least one person finds this useful!

Peace,
passiton

Welcome to the site!

look forward to seeing the grow.

welcome m8 good luck nice work so far

Mm that is a rather clever place to grow. Good luck!

The first thing I did was to germinate my seeds. I did this the usual way by placing them in between sheets of damp kitchen paper, between 2 plates. I placed them in a warm place, on top of a radiator.

I realise that using seeds that I know nothing about the origin isn't a great idea. The next step I took was to go online an ordered a bunch of 'Misty' seeds from Holland. The missus doesn't know this, so hush! I'm using these 'free seeds' as practice. I don't wanna f*ck up a bunch of £40 seeds ($80).

I also researched lighting. I purchased the best light I could afford, which was an 'Envirolite White/Blue Spectrum 6,400k CFL' (Compact Fluorescent Lamp):



I got it from TradeHydro.com for a reasonable price. I know that it's not ideal. A Metal Halide lamp or HiD lamp would have been better, but they're also a lot more expensive. Perhaps I'll upgrade to one of those in the future. I'll see how this goes. The lamp is very, very bright though and I think it'll be okay for this small reflective area.

I then began to deck out my grow area:

1st step: Scrub clean the shower cubicle using detergent. I cleaned all walls and the floor. I've never seen a shower so clean! I made sure that all areas were surgically clean as I know that this is important (watch the YouTube series mentioned earlier).

2nd step: 'Wallpaper' the walls with shiny material. I ordered a couple of 10mtr rolls of kitchen foil when I did my weekly shopping at Tesco.com (I'm a lazy bastard- I fucking hate shopping!). I covered all walls with the foil, sticking them carefully to the walls with heavy duty tape.





I'm aware that foil covered walls can potentially cause the light to concentrate on certain areas and potentially burn leaves. The CFL lamp I have though does not get very hot at all. I think it should be okay.

That's all I have time to write today. I'll put some more photo's / blog on here tomorrow.

If you are going to do a CFL grow - there is a forum on here dedicated to CFLs which will probably come in very handy. i would also recommend seemorebud's Buds for less: Grow 8 oz. of marijuana on a $50 budget.

Okay, I know I said that's all I have time for today, but I'm prompted by the responses I've had already to continue!!! Thank you guys for your welcoming messages! It's nice to get feedback already!

Anyway, I didn't buy a reflective hood with the lamp. I thought I could easily make one myself. I fashioned a hood from a wok lid (much to my missus's annoyance!):



I covered the inside with glue:

And then covered the inside with foil:

Here's how it looks with the lamp:


It's not ideal; the way the lamp is secured to the hood is primitave, and it will be difficult to highten the lamp when needed. I'm going to get some chain from work and make it more secure and easier to raise. It'll do for now!

I also got a small greenhouse heater and ventilator unit and a plug timer device. It has been 3 days since I planted my germinated seeds and nothing is showing yet. Can anyone suggest how long it might take to show? I think that maybe the seeds got too hot during germination, so I've started germinating a few more in case the others are dead.

Thank you email468. How can I find that forum mate? I can only find threads which talk of CFL's- not a forum specifically dedicated to CFL's. Thanks again - it's people like you that make this a great place!

Happy toking - I gotta get off to bed now (5am start tomorrow :/ )

it is a sub-forum under "indoor growing" :
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/

it can take from a few days to nearly two weeks for seedlings to make their appearance.
one thing - you probably would have been better off leaving the foil off the inside of the wok and just left the stainless steel. it is said that the crinkles in the foil can focus the light and create "hot spots" on your plants. so if you notice any burn spots on your plants (that isn't due to something else - like nute burn) - hot spot could be the problem.

Hey Passiton,
I did the same thing with the spare shower in my guest bedroom! Way to go! Now I use the whole room as my grow room. Though the shower still houses my mums and clones. Only exception is that my shower is all white except the door and I just put up a cheap white shower curtain there.

I know you want to cover up those dark tiles, but you have got to get rid of the aluminum, it just isn't conducive to growing. Try going to your local Dollar Store and get some white poster board for now, it's better than nothing and the foil just might kill your plants. And as far as the hood for you light goes, you just don't need one for now really. Just let the bulb hang til you can get more cash to get better set up.
Peace,
P007

Update: Sunday the 13th Jan 2008.

I last checked the pots on Sunday morning, before the light went off at 0130. Nothing.

Today (13th) I was out all day. When I got back, I was delighted to see this:



One of the others is showing signs of making an appearance too. It makes me happy!

I went and ordered the book by Seemore Buds today. I'll make good use of that. I think I'll have to get some more CFL's too. I dig the Envirolite range. Any experiences on these?

I think I'm going to get some shiney foil type wrapping paper to replace the foil, too (in lieu of the expensive other stuff-I forget its name). Either that, or white poster boards. What do you think?

Thanks for all your advice peeps.

Wrapping paper is the way to go. Mylar is the expensive stuff. Both are way better than foil, and probably better than poster boards. Congrats on the sprouts.

We've got a card meter for our electricity (it's a rented house) and I got home just now (lunchtime, Monday) to discover that we'd run out of credit. The power was off and my poor lil' babies were without light for a whole 3 1/2 hours. I'm not amused. The one that has made an appearance looks okay though. That topped off my already shit day. I forgot to take the bins out 1st thing this morning, work is totally f*cking insanely busy, the milk has gone off. What a spunk stain of a day I'm having.

Hey ho.

wouldnt having it in the shower attract mold and other bacteria?

Looks like you have lift off! Congrats!

Friday 18th Jan 2008:

Here's an update on my Envirolite CFL grow. To recap, I'm currently using one 125 Watt, 6,400 lumen CFL.

I got some chain from work and made a better suspension set-up for my lighting rig. It's nice and easy to raise and lower now and is much more secure. The rope set-up I had before was clumsy and liable to collapse, so I'm much happier with this!

I also got some shiny mylar style wrapping paper today (well, the missus got it for me). I'll be putting that up tomorrow after work. I gotta get rid of that tin foil.

I also spoke to my good mate who also grows his own. He's got a proper set-up including extraction systems, carbon filters and all the proper heating controls etc. He tells me that he's got a box full of HPS lights at his house and he's gonna rig me up with a couple That's f*ckin' awesome!!!!!!!!!! He's also got some proper fertilizer for me amongst some other bits and bobs. He's a top geezer

Right, it'll be a week on Sunday since the first baby made an appearance. The other (smaller) 2 appeared since then. Here are some pics:

The set up. The lamp is as close as I dare get it. It's within an inch and a half from the top of the plants:



All three of the plants:


My favourite plant. I like this one because it's the closest to the lamp and is nice and stout:


This is the one which appeared first:


I think I need to re-pot the ones in the smaller pots soon. They really need to be all at the same height so they're an equal distance from the lamp.

QUESTION:
The largest plant here has stretched a bit due to the distance of the lamp (I know it's a bit far away). Can I add top soil to the pot to 'bury' some of the stem? (to make it 'shorter' and more sturdy)???

What do you think of my humble efforts so far people? Any comments would be very welcome!

Cheers peeps, happy toking!

...sorry people, another question....

...is it possible to move a thread to another forum?? I think this would probably be better suited to the 'Grow Journal' forum.

cool idea....looks like you got a plan going....welcome and good luck!

Cheers tahoe - I appreciate your feedback bud!! A noobie question, I know, but u think my babies look okay so far?

Thankingyou!

hey....they look very good....nice colour and stout form......looking good.