First grow in 8+ years... Is this TOO Micro for a PC Microgrow?? UK Based.

mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Hey beautiful people.

I did a grow some years back in a stealth cab, was 4x4x2ft, SCRoG with a 150w HPS. All Turned out a treat, but times have changed. A new flat, living with the gf, and nowhere easy to vent the box, plus she's really not keen on me having a big(ish) grow going on in the flat. Fair enough. So I'm looking into a microgrow.

Thing is I'm on a budget of practically zero. We're self employed and business is awful. Plus the prices of weed are rocketing around here, if n when you can get hold of it. I'm not looking to completely sort myself out with a regular supply. I'm not expecting miracles from a useless kit. I'm just after getting myself the odd free bit of homegrown, hopefully on a semi-regular basis.

I don't mind if it'll be hard work, I've got green fingers, and love workin the plants.

So, here's where I'm at.

I've inherited 5 fem'd Sensi 'Shiva Skunk' seeds, and also have just gutted an old PC. I've knocked up a diagram of what I've got so far, then I'll talk you through my thinking for how to get something out of it.

microbox.jpg

I know that the space is REALLY tight, but like I said... I'm willing to work for it... I was thinking of growing just one plant, and going into 12/12 as soon as I hit the first fan leaves. Then topping and scrogging as I go to keep things as low as possible. Pulling the air out with a single pc fan, and chucking it through a homemade carbon scrubber. I've got the box set up now, with the two lights in place. But haven't picked up any CFLs yet as wasn't sure which to use or where best to buy from (I'm in the UK).

I was then thinking that mid grow, I'd take a cutting from her, and see if I could put that back into veg, to keep rolling ready for when I crop this one, then repeat ad infinitum. Tho seem to remember you can come up against problems by taking a girl from flower back to veg... It's been so long, I've fogotten most of the do's and don'ts.

Like I've already said, I know I can't expect anything really worthwhile from this. But going any bigger means buying another case or finding something else to put it in, and I literally haven't got £5 to play with at the moment. Obviously most growers worth their salt are gonna tell me I'm on a losing battle here and to forget it until I can go bigger. But I'm looking for those one or two out there with a bit of vision and can help me pull a few buds from my freebie seeds and spare light fittings.

So, thanks for reading in, thanks again for making it this far... and I'll check back later in the day n see if anyone's got any new ideas.

Big love,
Mewk. x
 
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SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
So your priorities should be


1. finding perfectly sized, low brimmed, square cornered, untapered pots to get the absolute maximum amount of root space (think ice cream tub shape)

2. Figuring out how you're going to adjust lights to keep them as close as possible (whether moving lights or the plants)

3. Got a garden? even a shit one? COMPOST TIME. Nutes are (relatively) expensive even if you buy them in their component parts (which you should be doing, since weed nutes are a marketing scam), as is quality soil to a lesser extent. All your veg peelings and shit need to start being composted ASAP so they don't stink when you need to use them. Read up on composting, but for starters you can accelerate the process by mixing with a little soil

3. Personally i hate the idea of using chlorinated tap water for my babies. For me this means buying big bottles of mineral water from the shop now and then. If youre doing a single plant in a pc, a 5L bottle will last you ages.

4. Dont worry about carbon filter for now, budget is better spent elsewhere. Itll be weeks until your plant starts to smell.

5. Getting CFLs isnt hard though you will actually need some dolla. Theyre sold as "energy saving bulbs" in the UK, and I would suggest amazon (or any local DIY shop). 23w 2700k (warm white) is what you want.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Nice response SnotBoogie, cheers m8.

1. Okay, I'm on that, atch I've still got a bit of space taken up from the drive mounts, they look like they need to be drilled out tho, so I'll get onto that today and see if my mates dremel can sort it. Will also measure out the area and source myself the perfect tray.

2. I've been tryina figure that out today, as is, the lights are in a fixed position, so was thinkin that I could just stack up the tray until they're a nice height.. Which'd mean attaching the scrog to the pot... Which might be the best idea anyway as I could take it outa the box to train it thru the screen.

3. Nope, no garden. Well, not unless you count the 2 square metres outside that the little old ladies from upstairs use as their pride and joy. That's a serious no-go territory. As it is I was planning on going nute-free, just plain ol' water. Am I being ignorant tho? Do I *need* nutes in a grow this small?

3 (again :P). Totally agreed. I used to just leave a pan of water over night, but seeing as the grow's gonna be that much smaller, I think I'll take your advice and go the way of bottled water.

4. As for tha carbon scrubber I've almost got it sussed. I've got a fixing that'll attach perfectly to where the fan is going, so all I'm thinkin I really need is a some carbon, something to keep it in, assuming nylons as that what most diyers are usin, and maybe some gauze or somethin to keep it all in place. That seems very doable on an almost zero budget.

5. Okay, lights. Thanks for the info, I've got a couple quid I can use through paypal at the moment, the 2700k's you've suggested... They're for 12/12 right? Just double checking. Also would I notice much difference if I was able to squeeze in a third bulb?

Thanks so much the quality response!
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
1. cool

2. Stacking is probably easiest, and attaching scrog to pot seems good if you're set on doing a scrog (sounds like a fine idea to me esp. if you did one before)

3. Bummer. Maybe the little old ladies have a compost heap or some other way of fertiziling your pride and joy? You can only do water-only if the nutrients are already present in the soil (i.e, compost) - i'm afraid they're essential. Maybe you better splash on some good quality soil or at least some plant food.

3b. cool (derp) oh yeah, theres a brand called "aqua pura" which i often see in the corner shops, its cheap, has the ph (6.1) on the bottle, and has a bunch of minerals that your plants need in it.

4. one method if you have an old case fan the same size as your scrubber fan (prefably broken), gut the actual fan out of it, buy some dust covers for case fans off ebay (like a quid each probs) and use it to make the box for your carbon.

5. Warm white = flowering yes. You will probably only be vegging for a few days so no point in getting different bulbs. if you can deal with heat effectively get as many bulbs as possible in there mate. Also start thinking about DIY reflector (turkey basters/silver takeaway boxes/coke cans for example) the reflection doesnt gain you that much, really, but it saves your eyes when you're working in there.
 
Dragon311

Dragon311

Well-Known Member
Rather than topping and scrog, I'd look into LST for a PC case. It's easy enough to do, and will easily maximize the space you have. I used LST on my PC grow and trained the main stalk to grow horizontal and it responded very well to it. I vegged mine for about a month before I flipped to 12/12.

There's some great DIY carbon filter guides in these forums. I used one on my PC case and it did reasonably well.

Here's a link to my grow, if you want to see what I was able to do with CFLs, LST and a PC case.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Nice one Dragon, some lovely pics there, you've really given me some hope... Was that seriously 60+grams I read?!? Hell, I'd be chuffed with a couple free 8ths. Lovin your Boba Fett size references too! What lights are you usin? I've found a bunch of 2500ks, going cheap... But i've been recommended 2700's and don't really know if that'd be worth holdin out for. I'm still pretty certain I'll go 12/12 from seed. But I am tempted with lst for sure, after seeing those photos. Tho I do love the constant attention that a SCRoG entails, and still kinda think that a nicely maintaind scrog can out perform lst. Tho twist my arm and perhaps I'll give it a whirl. What dimensions were your box, only I think mine are a little smaller than recommended. I'd go bigger but it'd mean buying a case. So far the setup has literally cost me nothing. I inherited a nice strain of feminised seeds, the box was layin around, the light fixtures were to hand and I've even got some paint lyin around to coat the inside of the box with.. Also got spare pc fans to rig it up, plus we keep fish, so the carbon's easy to come by. The only think I've gotta lay out is a bit of nice soil which is 'dirt' cheap :P and the right lights, which is why I'm stalling over buying the cheapo 2500ks in case they're not right for me, and I could spend my money on 2700's to payout in the long run.

Have you started your next grow yet? I'd be really interested in tagging along n reading the diary.

Had my first smoke in about a month tonight, courtesy of a mate who's just landed back in the UK after a few weeks in thailand... So on a good roll at the moment.

Right, my ramble is over. Take it easy n thanks for the link... if you can link me up to the diy filter you used, that'd be well handy.

Big love,
mewk. x
 
Dragon311

Dragon311

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the kind words man. Yup sure was 60+g :weed:. On that grow I used 3x 23w 5000K for veg and 2x 55w 2700K for flower. I recently got 5x 105w CFLs for flowering my next grow 8-)

As for the DIY carbon filter, check out this thread.

I'm not sure on 2500K for flowering....I know for veg people tend to use 6500K or 5000K but not sure if there's wiggle room when it comes to flowering. You could always just post a thread with that question, and I'm sure some of the more experienced growers will be able to answer....maybe the CFL forums?

You're probably right about the potential of a scrog to out perform a LST, but I don't think that applies in a confined space. I could be wrong though *shrugs*

Just something I'll throw out there too....I love coco for my growing medium. It's extremely forgiving as far as watering goes you can't overwater with it. It only holds so much water, and any excess just runs thru the medium. Plus its nice and airy so the roots get plenty of air and they grow like crazy. You treat it like soil as far as potting goes, but when it comes to nutes you treat it like hydro.

Yup, I have my next grow going now. I had some bumps in the road, I was trying to be too slick, heh. But it's underway now. I'm doing two plants this time to make up for lost time. I'm doing one fast Auto Sweet Mango, alongside a longer flowering Super Lemon Haze. I'm in the process of building a new flowering cabinet that I'll use for the SLH. I'm gonna keep the Auto in the PC case since it should only take 75 days from seed. Here's a link if you wanna keep up with it, I'll tell ya now though there's nothing exciting going on yet :P The girls are only a week old now.

Enjoy the night and the high mate!
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Sorry Mewk: after my initial flurry of advice i completely forgot a bout this thread. :P

2500k's should be absolutely fine.

edit: did i miss any unanswered questions?
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
Nope all is fine... Getting ever closer to the 'go' moment now.

I've just got back from the big hardware store and was treated to three 23w 2700k's, so all is gravy and no need to worry about the lights anymore. I've also got the lights rigged up, it's all a bit ghetto, but it doesn't really look it. I'm painting the inside of the box white, not going for anything reflective, white tends to bounce light pretty well on its own imho. I've also cut down and fixed up an old herb garden tray that was lying about unused, and it now fits into the box *perfectly*. Then I dremmeled a bunch of holes all along the edges of the tray and threaded some speaker cable through there to make the mesh of the scrog. I wanted to put some fine plastic thread through there, but the closest I could find was strimmer thread, and I needed to buy 30m worth of it. But I'll upgrade to that when I can.

I'm gonna rip the bathroom fan out of my old HPS cabinet, and see if I can jig that up into the pc, to output thru a diy carbon scrubber. I picked up some compost today too, so that part's sorted. AFAIK the only thing holding me back now is the activated carbon and the filter design... waiting for the inside of the pc's paint to dry... and double checking and testing the electrics of the lights.

One unasked question, that I could do with some support on is that... The electrics... I've wired up the three cfl's in parallel to a 3pin mains plug. I've wired up the earth to each one too, just as an extra safety measure, and I'm also gonna wire the pc case into the earth too. I'm not a big fan of mains electrics, gimme electronics any day, so I am a little apprehensive about plugging it in a blowing the three bulbs. Anyway, the question, would three cfl's wired in parallel be okay when plugged into the mains. There's a 3amp fuse in the plug.

After that, it's just a case of getting a girl germd. I hate the germ phase, almost always screw it up.

Anyone got any fullproof suggestions? I've not got an airing cupboard or somewhere that's constantly warm... On top of the fridge mebbe, but I don't think our fridge even gives off much heat.

So there's the progress update. :)
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
I don't see any problem with having them in parallel, but i always just put each bulb on a seperate plug when i used CFL. I also don't know about the earth as i wired with 2-core. :P

You could probably germ now if all youre waiting for is the CF. you will not have a noticeable smell for like.....4 weeks after germ, minimum.

With quality seeds i think everyone makes germ needlessly complicated. soak overnight (12hr or so) in your bottled water, then just wet the soil in your final pot and put it in, about 1cm or so. Just dont make it really shallow, or really deep.

Tamp down the soil nicely so that if you need to re-moisten the soil (it should always be a little moist until the first shoot pokes up) you won't wash the seed up to the surface. I also make sure theres no big debris in the soil above that will get in the way. I have 100% success in the few i have done.

What compost did you get?
 
Dragon311

Dragon311

Well-Known Member
I've germ'd two different ways so far, both successful every time. My first grow, I just did it au natural. I planted a seed 1/4" deep then watered, and let mother nature do her thing. Since then I've tried the shot glass method, and have germinated 4 seeds using that method. Which is to soak a seed in distilled/RO'd water in a shot glass for 12-24hrs or until it sinks, then plant 1/4" deep and let mother nature take over.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
The box is really gettin there now. So thought I'd upload a couple pics for some feedback, in case I'm missing something.
DSCN8563.jpgDSCN8560.jpgDSCN8561.jpgDSCN8562.jpg
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
@Dragon: Ive only ever germed successfully by using the straight into soil mother-nature route... But it;s always been hit n miss... What bothers me is that I've only got limited seeds... I might well try the shotglass route, if you've had success with it... What temp n light situation was the shotglass in when you had the seed in there? Does it make a difference?

Also, is there a way to easily distill or RO your own water? I used to just leave the water out for 24hrs before using it, but not sure if that really equates to distilled.

@SnotBoogie: Thanks for the advice, only just noticed your post up there, seems you're saying pretty much the same thing re germing. So that'll be the route to take. As for compost, I picked up 'Multipurpose Compost. Peat free compost for growing most types of plants, seeds & cuttings' I had someone offer to pay for it for me, so I didn't go for the ultra-delux, as that mighta seemed like i was taking the piss.

Oh, also found a box of tomato feed... I think a mate of mine musta bought it when I lent him my hps box, but I'm imagining it'll probably do more harm than good. Am I right?
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Im starting to think scrog might not be the way to go for this case, as i think you will be wasting quite a lot of light having them vertical like that.

I dont understand how you will train into that screen, as its attached to the pot?

With the vertical light placement, i bet you could have awesome results LSTing the plants in between the lights.

Also remember you can't grow 2 plants in same pot. They'll fight. you could still use that pot fine - glue in a partition or something maybe.

The tomato food will come in handy later, VERY DILUTED, as a flower nute most likely. you'd need to check the N-P-K and recommended dose then do a fifth of that at the most. (on this subject i bet you could pick up a bottle of cheap veg food at the garden shop for pennies).

You should also have a good look at your bag of compost so you understand what your soil does and doesn't have in it (and in what amounts). It might have nutrients added already, for example.


edit: i might need to put the pipe down but just an idea.... I was thinking maybe you could put a sorta "trellis" type structure up the back wall of the case (from the photos perspective..) and doing a weird vertical scrog.

Oh and you could post up pictures of the back of your compost, if you wanted help deciphering it. :D

edit2: and the other option is to mount the lights horizontally of course. Still dont understand how your scrog screen works, though.
 
mewk69

mewk69

Active Member
@SnotBoogie.
Okay man, I'll have a good read up on lst again, it's been a while. As for the training, I was just gonna go with the theory that anything that comes above the screen, will get looped over and pushed under the next hole, until I've filled up the whole screen, then just be careful with removing an excess fan leaves and letting it lay a nice carpet of bud. I am out on a limb here, as I'm just going by the theory of my first successful scrog, but that was working with an area about 5-6 times the size. I'm still very much bending towards scrog, but I will definteiyl pour a bit more time into thinking about the lst potential too. As for two plants not working well in one pot, that's cool, there's only gonna be one plant in there... and it's gonna go straight to 12/12 as soon as it's head is above soil.

As for the soil itself, it's here's a link. It's a bit vague with no 'ingredients' label, just mentions enough nutrients to sustain a plant for 4 weeks.

Just a thought, but the lights are held there by a few rare earth magnets, so I could probably attach them to the side of the case. You really think there's a big loss in light from having them vertical as aposed to sideways?
 
Dragon311

Dragon311

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't use that soil for the seedling. You want a "plain" medium when starting off otherwise it may harm the seedling. I killed 2 seedlings with coco that was lightly charged with just cal/mag. As for shotglass, I didn't pay attention to temp or light...just dropped them in a glass and left em in the cupboard.

As for water...easiest way to get distilled or RO if you don't have a system, is your local grocer I'd imagine.
 
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