Simple Stealth Cabinet CFL Grow

Hi all.

1st Time Simple Stealth Cabinet Grow.

Space:
Roughly 3ft tall x 1ft wide/deep cab.
Mylar(Emergency Blanket) wrapped with 3M foil tape.
Passive intake, Bathroom/House fan exhaust.
Carbon filter in exhaust fan with option of routing exhaust outside via ducting through a window.
Temp range is 25-30C
Humidity 40-60%

Light:
3x 23watt 5000k CFL
1x 30watt 2700k CFL
18/6 Light Cycle

Plant:
Bagseed (came from good purp stuff.. hoping it's good)

Notes & Dates:
10/10 - Germinated
10/13 - Planted
10/15 - Sprouted
10/17 - 24/0 to 18/6 Light Cycle
10/19 - Swapped 1 5000k for a 2700k CFL

Going to document this as best I can. Lots of words will be involved. You've been warned.

Decided I wanted to try my hand at growing. I've never done anything like this before so it might fail miserably, or it might turn out spectacular. Everything I've used aside from the bathroom house fan I had lying around the house, so I've invested a whopping $18+3ish hours into this so far. Even if it turns out not being female I think I'll still grow it out just for the experience, until I come across another seed from a good bag. If all else fails I figure I can sell this setup locally to someone for more than I put into it.

My housemates are all smell friendly, and smoke faaaar more than I do. I'm simply keeping it stealth to see if I can do it undetected. Right now the exhaust airflow is actually keeping my room nice and warm, which will come in handy during winter. I'm a little concerned about the mildly warm temps and dry air, however the plant seems fine and the airflow is solid. I need to add a small computer fan to put some simulated wind directly on the plant soon also. I also need to improve the light leak a little bit, I need ideas on how to prevent light from escaping through the cracks in the door area as well as make some kind of curtain or something for blocking the light from the passive intakes down on the bottom. Also need to invest in a better thermometer. Might end up painting the outside of the cabinet black also.

I'm also trying to keep this as simple as possible. Light, soil, water. My tap water is decent enough to where if I let it sit out for a day or two it balances the ph nicely, and friends have had good luck with the brand/type soil I have for their (much larger/professional) grows. I'm going to try and get away with no or very minimal nutrients, but that's all going to be played by ear. Keep it simple, stupid.

Any input on tips, stuff I'm doing wrong, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway enough with the essay. Onto the pictures.


About a week old!

Some sticky foam inside the door will seal against light, and for the bottom you can pick up a cheap door sweep from the hardware store and trim it to length.
If you make some sort of cover over your intake, even from a soda can cut open or something (be creative) so the air is drawn from below the opening, I think you would eliminate most if not all the light from there.

Dont expect a good yeild under the cfls, unless you maintain proper specrums and increase watage with flowering. For Veg you want the highest, 6500k is best, but 5000k would work(its close to metal halide on the specrum scale). When you flower you only want 2700k bulbs in there.

imchucky666 said:

Some sticky foam inside the door will seal against light, and for the bottom you can pick up a cheap door sweep from the hardware store and trim it to length.
If you make some sort of cover over your intake, even from a soda can cut open or something (be creative) so the air is drawn from below the opening, I think you would eliminate most if not all the light from there.

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I'll pick some foam adhesive and a door sweep later today, thanks for the idea. I think for the intake holes I'm going to fab up some kind of buffer box with some spare thin plywood I have lying around. I'll try to make something today or tomorrow to show you what I mean.

OriginalOrganics said:

Dont expect a good yeild under the cfls, unless you maintain proper specrums and increase watage with flowering. For Veg you want the highest, 6500k is best, but 5000k would work(its close to metal halide on the specrum scale). When you flower you only want 2700k bulbs in there.

Click to expand...

I don't know, I've seen some pretty good CFL grows on here. Right now if I get over a few grams I'll be happy. The bulbs were just spares I had, but I've been looking inmy local stores and cannot find any 6500k. Shrug, I'll keep it as is for now. If it's not broke don't fix it.

Hey would you put up more pics of the exhaust. Im thinking about using and exhaust fan on my dresser

Nice.. We started about the same time! I got 1 NL and 1 skunk#1 under cfls tooo! ill be watching ur grow!
Subbed!

mstrymxer said:

Hey would you put up more pics of the exhaust. Im thinking about using and exhaust fan on my dresser

Click to expand...

Sure, I'll get that in the next update. It works pretty well and the one I got is quiet too. Just test them out in store though.. I tested a few that were VERY noisy.

ironfox said:

Nice.. We started about the same time! I got 1 NL and 1 skunk#1 under cfls tooo! ill be watching ur grow!
Subbed!

Click to expand...

Cool, I'll check yours out too!


Anyways, onto the update. PROBLEMS!

I'm not sure if it's a ph issue, or the slight heat, or what, but there's some browning on the edges of it. Could it be a nute issue already? And it's still a baby!





Any input from the experts?

Have you been adding nutes bro? What kind of soil did you use?
Ive heard no nutes for the first three weeks is the best way to go...
Ive been having 25-30ºC too with no ventilation at all(Fucking fan is taking forever!) and my plants seem ok... thats why i would say is a nute problem, either from the water or ur soil...Im no expert, i might be just making up some shit....

it looks like you could be overwatering. make sure the cup is light in weight before giving more water, you don't wanna let her dry out completely but you don't wanna keep her moist at all times. If the soil mix you have is decent, it should be able to take the plant atleast a few weeks into veg with nothing but water and transplanting around the appropriate time. The type of soil you are using is very important, and those details should be the first to be posted, as some "soil" mixes are actually soil-less mediums that contain little to no nutrients... and just to let you know, there are plenty of people who have pulled decent harvests under nothing but CFL's. seemorebuds is a great example, and he even wrote a book about it. 5000k or 6500k bulbs are usually labeled "daylight" or have a bluish tint to them, while the 2700k's have the yellow tint. I can usually find different sizes of each at my local hardware store or even places like walmart.

For your light issue at your exaust, I used a shoe box, spray painted the inside black and made a hole on the side towards the wall. I attached it to the cab from the inside with tape so it just looks like a shoe box sitting on the table. Then I cut a piece of carbon filter and taped it over the hole pointing towards the wall. Worked like a charm! wish I took Pics. Later on I took poly fill and filled the shoe box with it to muffle the sound. Hope this helps!!

Slow down on the watering they look over watered which will kill them let them dry up well. As far as "you won't get a good yeild" is bull cfls are very good lights if used properl. Cfl bulbs put out more light intesity and useable light for plants then HIDS watt for watt only within one inch, don't use strictly 2700k for flower you will get more airy buds use both specs to get fatter harder and heavier buds if you use both. Cfls are great but they need to be very close. I hope this helps man don't think cfls are bad they can for sure keep up with the hps if done properly.

Thanks all. It seems to be recovering, even though it's gone through some trauma recently. Power was knocked out for a few days so it was only able to get natural sunlight in a windowsill, then a cat knocked it over and spilled the soil out. Hopefully it can recover fully.

How often should I be watering in this stage? And water enough until it drips from the hole in the bottom right?

Here's the worst of it, which I think is over now. I was probably overwatering. rookie mistake. Quick snip and it seems to be doing much, much better.