Stealth Grow Mommy

[AgentMcFeather]

I'm a stay at home mother and a long time smoker. I hate paying for weed. Always have. You pay for what your dealer insists is some "good shit" though you never really know the quality and most of the time the bag has been pinched. I'm done complaining. Time for the solution...

I planted somewhere around 10 seeds with zero germination. They went straight into the dirt and into the window. 5 plants sprouted around 12/07/09. My cat destroyed one and damaged another. Though it's currently in recovery (being held up by a bamboo skewer) I do not have high hopes for it. The other 3 are growing strong and I had another sprout come in a few days ago.

After my sprouts came in I figured it was time to upgrade my grow but I didn't want to spend a ton of money. Frugal mommy, I know. So I rigged an area for the lil babies in the entertainment center in my bedroom. Surrounded by foil and a single lamp. So far they've done surprisingly well considering the lack of lighting.

18 days from sprout - I've changed the lighting numerous times because so many people have different opinions. I'm currently using 18/6 and will keep that up until they reach about 6 inches. (Hopefully around 28 days.) Then I'll be switching to 12/12 to induce flowering. After that I may start a Party Cup Plant at 12/12 from the beginning just so I have a steady rotation. I'm not too worried about the amount harvested since it's purely for personal use.

I know I'm going to need to upgrade the lighting. It's pretty sad in it's current state. I'm probably going to stick to CFLs since they've done me good so far, just need more of them.

My goal is to keep the entire grow cost under $50. All natural, no nutes. I want to show people that instead of paying $20 for 1/8th that's really more like 1/10th you can take some initiative and have decent quality after very little startup cost. So far I haven't spent a dime.

If you're interested feel free to chime in. I'd love any input or feedback you have to offer. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you may have about my modest grow.

 

[VThomegrown]

you will get a terrible yield if you flower at 6 inches, those are growing extremely slow are they bag seed? I suggest you buy some reliable seeds from attitude and plant in separate pots those will be a pain to transplant. I suggest taking down the tinfoil painting the cabinet white and redesigning your whole set up. you will be lucky to pull and 1/8 of shwag off all 5 of those plants together the way you are set up now.

 

[kevin]

you will get a small yeild and a lot of expirence, the only thing i see that you need to do is move the light closer and make a reflector. don't let folks get you scared of the tin foil it will take more than cfls to cause hot spots.

 

[408stein]

looks a lot like how mine started. Unfortunately i learned that it is not effective and most likely will not work unless you make some serious changes. Transplant each seedling into its own planter. Get more cfls. As many as you can fit in your grow area In the veg stage you want cfls that have a higher kelvin Get cfls that say they are 6500k Once time for flowering you will switch to 2700k cfls. Your plants are stretching out to much looking for that needed light. At 18 days they should be much larger and fuller. Look at peoples grow journals and get ideas and see what is working. good luck

 

[AgentMcFeather]

Ya, it's bagseed. Since it's my first grow I'm not going to worry about genetics. I tend to rush in and do things to the extreme so I'm pacing myself on this. I don't wanna spend a ton of money if it's not something I'm willing to stick with in the long run. One reason they're growing so slow is cause it's winter and for about a week at the beginning they were only using natural light. Once they show male or female I'll be replanting them. No sense in replanting all 5 if most turn out male. If I get 1 female at this point I'll be happy.

I check the temp in my grow area pretty regularly and it's never felt hot, in fact maybe a little chilly which is why I have a small space heater on low by it now. It's middle of winter in the Midwest and I'm trying to defy nature by growing? I'm sure I won't get much of a return off of it, but something is better than nothing. Espesially a free something.

If this grow goes semi-well I'll probably invest in a better grow setup. For now I'll most likely let this run it's course. After adding extra lights, of course. I appreciate the input!

 

[AgentMcFeather]

I took some advice and upgraded my grow a little. I'll post pictures later but here's a basic description. I took a travel trunk, the big wooden ones, and tipped it up on it's side so it's tall enough, painted the inside white, and jimmy rigged a light that'll hold 4 CFLs. I decided to try putting a couple plants lights in there for the rest of the cycle (about 6pm-1am) and when I checked on them this morning one plants had gone completely limp and another was barely recognizable. I don't know if this was caused by transplanting them into their own pots or if the plant lights made it too hot in there. Either way I was feeling pretty discouraged. I put the CFLs back in since they've done me good so far. I guess we'll just wait it out and see if the plants recover.

So all in all yesterday I bought
white paint
paint brush
a work light
lightbulb splitters (if that's what they're called)
plant lights (which will be returned)
fresh potting soil
all purpose plant food
oh, and a digital timer for the lights so I don't have to worry about forgetting anymore...

I'm really hoping the plants recover from whatever they're going through but I'm not going to count on it 100%. Considering germinating some other seeds as a backup for when these fail...and if they don't just as additional plants. As I said, I'll post pictures later on. If there's any advice on why my plants are suffering so badly or how to fix them I'd really like to hear that. If they die I guess I'll scrap the project and start from scratch...

Merry friggin' Christmas everybody.

From here in the snowed in Midwest.

 

[skervy]

a mom with a xbox and super nintendo in her tv stand? lol anyways just replant the ones you have and bury the stems as far are you can. throw a small computer fan or similar in there to blow on the plants and thicken the stems. and lastly move the lights as close as you can so they start to bush instead of stretch

 

[AgentMcFeather]

Yep. Xbox and Super Nintendo in the bedroom. Play Station 2 and Wii in the living room. The husband wants a PS3 or 360 but I figure we have enough for now.

Thank you for the advice! I've got them replanted as deep as I can now...given that their roots were almost as deep as the original pot. I've got a box fan in front of the trunk with the trunk door blocking most of the breeze. Just enough to make them sway without knocking them over. The lights are about as close as I can get without burning the tips. I'm going to add a couple more bulbs as soon as I can get out of my driveway. SO sick of snow already.

Here are some pictures of the new setup. I want to set up some kind of exhaust system but I may wait and see how well this box fan works first. Opinions welcome!

 

[skervy]

unless their in an open area constantly you need a exhaust fan no ifs ands or buts about it

Yep. Xbox and Super Nintendo in the bedroom. Play Station 2 and Wii in the living room. The husband wants a PS3 or 360 but I figure we have enough for now.

and thats just wrong you cant do that to the man its not the quanity its the quality you cant compare them to a ps3 haha. sell a couple of the old systems and buy him a ps3 he will love you long time like asian hookers on a navy ship

 

[AgentMcFeather]

Well then I guess it's time to look into an exhaust fan...


Oh and the husband agrees with you. Putting all these crazy dreams in his head...

 

[LaughingJim]

Get hold of some mylar party-balloons, or a fire-blanket.
Use tons of double-sided tape and some duct-tape to secure it to the walls.
Two more of those "Y" adaptors, and you can have 4 cfl's running for a good starter.
(Use the 150w flood-light bulbs if you can find them, they help a LOT.)

Eventually, you will have to upgrade to a HPS or MH of some kind.

Bare minimum, you can find a decent 150w HPS that will grow two plants with modest results.

Look at my signature for a quick idea of a vertical setup. Then browse the net for "vertical grows". You should be able to do this in a closet, with little risk from a 150w bulb. (Using a screen-grow, and minimal "other" supplies for your setup.) Don't forget that your plants will take-on a strong odor once they start to bud. If you don't control the odor, your whole house will indicate that you have a "stealth grow" somewhere on the property. (That odor will linger on your clothing all day long too.)

 

[AgentMcFeather]

What do ya know? Mentioned the exhaust fan to my husband...he has one in our shed.

Given, we can't get to it right now cause there's 2ft of snow in front of the doors, but when he gets around to shoveling I'll be set. Thanks for the tip again.

 

[skervy]

you could just use any random fan 6 inches or smaller if you dont need a filter for smell. if you need a filter find a real exhaust that can handle it or youll end up like me with a pc fan that cant blow enough air through the filter while lights are on to keep temps down. you might wanna post in the cfl section instead to so youll get more attention and help with what your doing instead of people like the one above telling you you need a mh and hps light

 

[408stein]

huge improvement from ur previous setup and it will just keep getting better looking good

 

[AgentMcFeather]

skervy - Thanks so much for the advice. I have a feeling I'll be hitting you up pretty often. The exhaust fan my husband has is one that you would put above a stove. I'm not terribly worried about the smell because pretty much anyone who knows me knows I smoke but maybe a filter wouldn't be a bad idea in case people I don't know very well pop by. Your grow uses CFLs, doesn't it? Almost all of the grow journals I've read that have had the kind of results I'm looking for off of 1 or 2 plants (rather than a whole room) use CFLs which is why I chose them.

408stein - Thanks for the positive words. In hindsight my first setup was pretty jank and so far I'm happy with the new one.

 

[skervy]

ya mine is all cfl i wanted cheap and easy. you dont need a hps or mh for a small personal grow i mean sure youll probably get better results but its gonna cost you an assload more and bulbs are nowhere near as easy to find at a normal store. this is my first grow with cfls and indoor so im far from pro but ive done plenty of reading and my results are more then satisfactory for me first time around. its all about placing them right

 

[AgentMcFeather]

I'm going with CFLs for the same reason. My goal was to stay under $50 for this entire build by using crap I had around the house. I spent $55 at Home Depot yesterday (should have gone to walmart) but I'm taking back the 2 plant bulbs I bought so that'll be $14 returned I can spend on some more Y sockets and bulbs. I will need to get the higher watt bulbs tho since I didn't really think things through on my lighting. Your vanity setup is pretty awesome. I was looking at the veiling fan attachments where they hold 3 lights each and then adding a Y to each...however they were out of stock and I can be pretty impatient and impulsive. Maybe next time around I can expant to something more like yours. For now I guess 4 bulbs will have to work.

 

[skervy]

unless it fits your area perfect dont use the vanity fixtures they suck for customization to space. just get bare sockets and make your husband wire up a fixture to fit in your space thats one of the first things im changing for t he next run. that box looks small you could prolly get by with 4-6 26w bulbs

 

[AgentMcFeather]

Love this site cause I can learn from other people's grows.

I'm pretty sure that box is about 18" x 12" and a few feet tall. That's why I couldn't just get a fluorescent plant bulb on a fixture that you could raise and lower, which was my initial plan. The smallest size they make them in from what I saw was 22". Since I can't make it to a store today or tomorrow I have my 2 26W CFLs and my 75W plant bulb in there right now. I had a 2nd 75W plant bulb but it shot the temp sky high.

Can't believe I've spent a good portion of my Christmas Day on RUI. But hey, my husband told me to get a hobby. He didn't say it had to be legit.

 

[Kriegs]

Well, for whatever it's worth, when you're in a small cabinet like that, you need ventilation - I know you've already got that part.

So, since you need to ventilate anyway, why not just spring for, at the very least, a 150-W HPS? You can get a full set up for about $75 and it will outperform a whole bunch of CFL's that end up costing you the same more or less. Helluva lot safer, too. Wiring up your own fixtures and shit? No disrespect, but that's a good way to burn your house down.

I dunno ... just my thoughts. Just ignore me if it's impossible for your situation. There's a lot of ways to skin this cat. The first and only thing I ever did for growing that was a serious investment was my light -- $200 for a 400W MH/HPS switchable. Next was the beans - $30 for some decent seeds. Everything else has been nickel-dime. Best move I made for sure..

RIU on Christmas Day? Ah.. what the hell - it's kinda cozy, really.