Stealth rubbermaid grow box first time need help plz

Hello fellow

This will be my VERY FIRST time trying to grow indoors/period. I'm starting to get a little discouraged there is sooo much literature on the growth and growing of plants. I'm hoping that someone will be able to offer some friendly advice and I can get the ball rolling with the plants. So this is what I've gotten so far 1 22gal rubbermaid 2 23watt cfl bulbs a roll of duck tape 2 XSF-F1251 extreme silent pc fans 1 for intake and the other for exhaust 1 6' personal fan 3 13 watt cfl bulbs(not currently using these tho) not sure which bulbs to use. a bottle of flora nova grow. I will attach pics so that you all will have a visual.I have four tester plants b4 I grow the REAL deal blue mystic and bubblegummer feminized seeds..just really wanting to know if I'm on the right track I'm ready to plant the real deal but wanna do it right first
Thanks in advance

Hi ya Blazin

Welcome to RiU

Your on the right track ... one or two things need to be looked at though

Line the bucket with something reflective ... Can just be white card or paint it white ...or put some mylar in ther ( NOT TIN FOIL .. People are against it for a lot of reasons and some say its the best thing ever .. but i myself dont recomend it )

Do the same to the inside of the lid if you can , Air intake at the bottom ..Check ...Air exaust at the top ( be sure the fans are sucking and blowing in the correct direction )

Pots ... All the same size and no see thru pots , If you only have clear pots .. wrap something round them so that the roots ( when they establish ) are not pruned by the light ... Black pots absorbe heat and this is good for roots ..warm damp dark

Lighting ... As much light as you can manage while keeping the inside temps of the box between 70-80 F .... Young plants and seeds need it to be HUMID ... So a humid well lit ( reflective ) box with good air flow .

Your plants ...The plants in the pics may not make it ... They are way to streached and have been looking for light , This makes them weak and unable to support lather growth , What your looking for is to get your CFL's as close to the top of your plant as possibe but without burning them ..2-3 inches is recomended , If you can put your hand between the top of your plant and the lights and its not to hot ...it's fine for the plants to , The futher away a lamp is the less lumins are reaching the plants and if it's to far away the plant will streach up to be in the right place to get the lumins it needs to grow ... Remember ...your plant WANTS to grow MORE than you want it to

Recomend you get yourself a cheap PH meter to check your water and be VERY careful about how much nutrient you feed to small plants ...they burn VERY easy

Hope that helps a bit

Again , Welcome to RiU and have fun ( READ LOTS )

If you have more questions ... Fire away


V

I think you need to re-pot the seedlings. Some of them are stretched out too much. The small round leaves should be an inch or so above ground. If you don't re-pot the taller ones, I don't think they're going to live. Be very careful though, those stems will break easily. I still think you should be ready with a second tub to give you more headroom. It won't take those plants long to outgrow the tub. Also, don't use fertilizer yet. The soil will give them all they need until they get a few leaves growing.

Hey THANKS SO MUCH for the feedback I was beginning to think no one was going to follow up with me. You have given me enough to make some adjustments. To be clear I shouldn't use the tin foil duck tape to line the bucket? With the two different lights that I have 2 23 watts and the 3 13 watts bulbs which should I use? Do you know how the feeding works with the floranova I got a gal of distilled water and added 1 tbsp of floranova to it and use it to water the soil when dry.. One more thing will I be able to bud in that one tub im limited with space FA REAL FA REAL...thanks again bud

thanks guys for the pointers...that discouragement is starting to go away

Hi Blazin

Bucket = Box ... Line it with reflective material ( not tin foil )

As for lights ... you need to check what spectrum they produce ,For best results. 2700k to 3000k bulbs provide higher output in the red spectrum which promotes flowering. 5000k to 6500k bulbs are full spectrum with much of the light in the blue spectrum which promote overall green plant growth.

So you need to find out what spectrum your lights are

As pointed out above ... the plants you have are way to streached to be of any use i think .. BUT if you do decide your going with them ... get them into the same sized pots asap ... Pots with Drainage ... no drainage = standing water = drowning roots .

Dont over feed plants with water .... and don't give them any nutrients at the very begining ... and then when you do only use 1 /4 the recomended dosage at first just to get them used to it ...or they burn

I was planning to do the whole grow in the box..but I went back to walmart today and got another 22 gal bucket and I will put them together.. I do have a question about the fans though...How do I know whether they are positioned correctly far as the intake and exhaust which way do they face...also do I need to run the fans and lights 24hrs I don't want to be burning electricity all day for nothing..also I'm using the Fox Fam Ocean Soil(light sea blue bag)...after I germinate the seed can I just plant the seed in the pot that it'll grow completely in instead of having to transport ...THANKS AGAIN