First ever grow - Fridge grow

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willy0405

Active Member
Hey all,


I'm interested in doing a fridge grow seeing as I have an old one lying around. I have recently cleaned it and gutted it out to make room for what looks to be 4 small-medium sized plants if positioned veritcally, or I had another idea which was to position it lying down to make maximum usage of my space available. Later down the track once i become more experinced i plan on constructing a small box used for vegetating/clones etc.


Before starting this project I want to make sure I have everything as well planned out as possible. So if you guys could give me some suggestions as to what light would be ideal and any other tips it would be much appreciated. I am currently leaning towards using cfls due to their price, effectiveness and ability to be positioned so close to the plants.


Below are some pictures of my fridge and 2 basic plans that I have come up with. Apologies for the size of the pictures...




Picture of my fridge










Using bagseed, for soil i'm thinking of using a soiless mix with peat moss/perilite/vermiculite.

Lights I am still debating between cfls and hps
smell and sound I am not too concerned about but I was thinking of using ONA Gel if the smell gets bad
 
ThE sAtIvA hIgH

ThE sAtIvA hIgH

Well-Known Member
the best advice i could give you would be to use a 250w hps in that space you will be so thankfull come harvest, compared to using the equivelent in cfl .
i would also recomend using coco instead of soil , you can get a bag of coco for a tenner , a hesi coco nutrient starter pack is only 40 pounds , its so easy using coco and the results are outstanding .
 
W

willy0405

Active Member
ThE sAtIvA hIgH said:
the best advice i could give you would be to use a 250w hps in that space you will be so thankfull come harvest, compared to using the equivelent in cfl .
i would also recomend using coco instead of soil , you can get a bag of coco for a tenner , a hesi coco nutrient starter pack is only 40 pounds , its so easy using coco and the results are outstanding .
Click to expand...

would the 250w hps be suitable during veg and flowering? and ill look further into coco, thanks for the tips
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Also, why waste your time on bagseed? Might as well spend some money and get some feminized seeds of a known strain.
 
Po boy

Po boy

Well-Known Member
i'll be checking in - this could be interesting. as stated above, if u can get some quality seeds, do it. you won't regret it. GL
 
Smokeagram420

Smokeagram420

Member
fridges are insulated so make sure you have good fans, you want to be able to clear the air a couple times in a minute.

And if you put a HID light in there it might cause heat problems, so you might want to get a cool tube which means trying to cut a hole in the side of your fridge...

i can see alot of humidity and heat problems with growing in a fridge, id just get a 50-80$ cabinet at walmart and grow inside of it. less work and alot cleaner.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
I'm currently doing a micro grow in a mini fridge and it's working well. The insulation of the fridge works well for keeping things quiet-all my fans are mounted inside the fridge and from the outside, it sounds like a normal refrigerator. If you do not have adequate ventilation, then the it won't matter whether you're using a fridge or a cabinet because it's going to get too hot for your plants inside. I learned this by killing a couple houseplants from the grocery store lol. I'm using a 100W LED lighting. In addition, there are two 92mm AC fans in series pushing air through my home-made carbon scrubber, and one 80 mm intake fan. There are 2 80mm 12V DC fans moving air around inside the fridge. It's not the best grow box in the world, but it seems to be working well for me.

With a regular size refrigerator, I would obviously use larger fans, probably 120mm. I was able to work around cutting holes in the metal of my fridge by utilizing the space where the compressor used to be, and the back of the refrigerator where there is no metal casing. There, I was able to easily cut holes through the inner plastic and foam insulation for my intake and exhaust purposes
. back.jpgtodays_whole_view.jpg

The exhaust fans aren't visible in the pic, but they are in the back right of the fridge. This is a Critical Jack auto that is getting nice and frosty:) The plant is far more extensive than it appears in the pic, as it is growing horizontally along the back of the fridge.

Good luck man!
 
reku

reku

Active Member
CCFL's are cheap put out low heat and will veg the plants nicely, but in flower an HSP will add desnity to the buds and you will get a better yeild but at that point you better have some kickass venting going on I agree with Smokeagram420 heat would be an issue unless you are will to spring for a couple on nice fans and spend the time getting them just right. I thought about using a fridge if you could have a veg area in the frezzer part and a flower area in the fridge part BUT I figured it could be a real bitch trying to set it up, I am better with wood than metal and plastic.
 
W

willy0405

Active Member
Hey all,

appreciate all the responses. I ordered 5X white widow X big bud feminized seeds today so this should make it all a bit more interesting. At this stage i'm looking at using a 250w HPS and using coco-coir as the medium. still debating on whether or not i can squeeze in 4 plants if i use the vertical layout. I plan on ordering a couple of decent fans soon and then cutting out some holes with an angle grinder.

Female_seeds_WhiteWidow_BigBud.jpg
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
I think it was a good decision to get some feminized seeds over a random bagseed:) In my experiences so far, the plants grew a lot larger than I initially expected. My first grow had too many plants inside the box(only 2-it's a micro grow), and I had to harvest one early due to space constraints. I wanted to stagger the plantings so that I could get one finishing every month-6 weeks, but I planted the second seed too early and it overgrew my space before the first could finish. It was a different strain with different growth characteristics, so I blame myself.

I know that your fridge is a lot bigger than what I'm using, but it seems like I learned a universal lesson about growing in confined spaces....

Good luck with your project!
 
W

willy0405

Active Member
Ordered a 250w hps and mh along with a reflector timer and everything else light related. Now looking to purchase some fans. I was thinking 120ish cfm for outtake and 100ish cfm for intake. Would this be ok for 7-8 cubic feet of space?
 
kingramo

kingramo

Member
And you should of started with soil. Im using 100% perlite and it seems im always battling yellowing leaves bc I don't have any experience with a soiless mix. Keep it simple man and your results will be almost guaranteed!q and don't forget DO NOT OVERWATER!
 
W

willy0405

Active Member
Lights and seeds have arrived. Planning on ordering fans today/tomorrow. I'm still unsure if I should start with coco or soil.... At this stage I'm leaning towards coco but I just want something easy for a first timer
 
kingramo

kingramo

Member
You can use whatever u want man just make sure what ever u pick u know the pros and cons are. Im on my first grow and im went with 100% perlite and hempy bucket. What a hempy bucket is is that u measure 2 inches from the bottom and drill a hole in the container. So whenever ur watering the bottom will get filled with water and anything over 2 inches the water will flow out. Its kinda like a soil/hydro grow bc wwheneverthe roots stretch out to the bottom they start growing reaaaaallllllly fast!
 
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