177W CFL Closet-Box Microgrow - Platinum OG 12/12 from seed

Mini update: So she looks good and healthy, her new nodes have come in nicely and she's once again, reaching strait up toward the sun. (Got her out a little late today, she only got about 4 hours of sunlight instead of the usual 6-7)
Temps were 84F when I awoke (an hour and a half late >_<)
I'm betting they would have been fine had a got up on time, but i'm learning from my mistakes. Like taking the old bottles out before adding the new ones. The warm water in the bottles traps heat inside the box, as well as saps the cool from the frozen bottles added around 4-5AM (when I go to sleep). So i'm VERY close to working a system that keeps her happy and cool during her entire awake period.

I now currently have 1 regular fan blowing as intake, and 7 PC fans working as intake and exhaust. 5 exhaust, and 2 intake.
Got em wired up great, but wire management has NEVER been a strong suit so... it's sort of a mess of wires right now. (real safe, right? )

Anyway, that's about it. I just put her to bed so... no pics today. Probably some later tonight.

This must be what parents feel like... I just wanna wake my girl up so we can play.
I like looking at it, and I want to work on the grow box!

Alright, gave my baby some water today (Superthrive added), and a little spritz of pH balanced water with a little superthrive for her.
I also found a good way to cool the box. I buried my fan in clothes to kill the noise, ran a duct to the window, and another to the box, so it pulls cool air from outside, and blasts it into the box. So far, so good.

And here's some pics. Here she is approx 15 days old.

I'm really hoping smell isn't going to be an issue for her, since I don't have a carbon filter.

Really, i've done too much to the box. I need to replace it with a new one.
More then likely. I'll be assembling a new one, and i'll line it with mylar. I'll cut some fan holes in her. And put them all in a line, rather then spread out all over the place like it is now. Despite moving a ton of air, it's just a huge pain in the ass to keep it cool in there. Damn desert heat. -_-

Smell is always an issue. Mind you, you have time to worry. I hear Ona Gel helps but that stuff masks the smell which means it's still there. Carbon filters trap the smell in the carbon and will eventually need to be cleaned and/or replaced at some point down the road. A proper carbon filter is absolutely the best way to go if stealth is a concern.

Yeah, i'm already on the path to a DIY can filter attached to my ducting. If I run a normal little fan in my room, it completely masks the sound of anything going on in the closet.
It's tough to see, but with the door closed, it's completely stealth. Unfortunately, I have ducting running to the window to bring in cool air at night, prevents me from completely closing the door at the moment. It works brilliantly, keeps temps in the high 60's actually and all, which is a little cool for her, but it helps keep it from getting too hot once it's disengaged... But in any case, i'll have to sort something out to get the door closed properly.
I remember the first plant I ever grew (a TOTAL joke, some reggie mexican sativa seeds) in my closet before I had my grow room (which i've subsequently lost) I got a nice female and while she was stretched, and absolutely a horrible specimen to anyone who knows how to grow. She had little smell, so it was never an issue. But for this one i'll def be sorting something out to take care of it. It's only the one plant, but she's far more potent then ol' stretchy.

I have a pic of her here somewhere...

Ahhh, here it is. lol



She netted me about 3.5 grams and a LOT of knowledge.
I learned a lot from her. Learned of lot of things NOT to do mostly.
Made it so that my next grow, consisted of this;

View attachment 3024349View attachment 3024351

*sigh*
Oh how times change. I miss the girls more then I miss my ex-fiance.

dajosh42069 said:

Alright, gave my baby some water today (Superthrive added), and a little spritz of pH balanced water with a little superthrive for her.
I also found a good way to cool the box. I buried my fan in clothes to kill the noise, ran a duct to the window, and another to the box, so it pulls cool air from outside, and blasts it into the box. So far, so good.

And here's some pics. Here she is approx 15 days old.
View attachment 3024292View attachment 3024293View attachment 3024294View attachment 3024295
I'm really hoping smell isn't going to be an issue for her, since I don't have a carbon filter.

Really, i've done too much to the box. I need to replace it with a new one.
More then likely. I'll be assembling a new one, and i'll line it with mylar. I'll cut some fan holes in her. And put them all in a line, rather then spread out all over the place like it is now. Despite moving a ton of air, it's just a huge pain in the ass to keep it cool in there. Damn desert heat. -_-

Click to expand...

Hey! Subbed for your log =D I'm nearly halfway there on mine, it's a stealthy PC grow, you might pick up a couple of tricks! check it out!

Wow 7 fans is a lot don't they make a ton of noise? And a little tip on the pics, try not to get water bubbles on you plant, it might seem like a good idea but the bubbles can act like a sort of mini magnifying glass and burn your plants! It doesn't always happen but it's something to keep in mind.

Good luck on your grow and peace

NerdGrower said:

Hey! Subbed for your log =D I'm nearly halfway there on mine, it's a stealthy PC grow, you might pick up a couple of tricks! check it out!

Wow 7 fans is a lot don't they make a ton of noise? And a little tip on the pics, try not to get water bubbles on you plant, it might seem like a good idea but the bubbles can act like a sort of mini magnifying glass and burn your plants! It doesn't always happen but it's something to keep in mind.

Good luck on your grow and peace

Click to expand...

I'm well aware. Typically, I never mist my babies. But I had done it before the lights went up, and put a fan on her to dry it before they were.
Thanks though.

She's showing some inward canoeing on her biggest leaves. I need to investigate, please.

Don't quote me on this but canoeing leaves tend to indicate wrong Ph levels, not sure though you already have 2 grows under your belt I'm on my first

NerdGrower said:

Don't quote me on this but canoeing leaves tend to indicate wrong Ph levels, not sure though you already have 2 grows under your belt I'm on my first

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's my conclusion too. Either that or too much N, which is hard to do in veg.
I may have to flush her out and regulate the soil pH. But only if the problem doesn't correct itself within the next 48 or so hours.
I'm using reclaimed FFOF soil rom a previous grow. I kept it moist, and tried to revitalize it, but i've never done or tried that before. :\
I'll check the pH or my runoff next time I drop some water in her.
I'm wondering if it isn't the superthrive in too high a concentration. But.. more research is required.

But, I also forgot to mention, welcome! Glad to have you!
Wanna drop me a link to your grow so I can check it out?

https://www.rollitup.org/stealth-micro-cab-growing/791757-nerdgrower-micro-stealth-pc-growbox.html

Bout 26 days in

Alriiight, so with the new ventilation system I have running in there, the temps have been WAYYY down, so as a result, i've been able to pack more CFL's in there. I'm not running about 287 true-watts of light. I have 7 23W 6500K CFL's, and 3 42W 2300K CFL's running in there, with reflectors and such.
Her clawing still doesn't look great, so i'll check the run off pH as soon as I can, but she doesn't need water now, and I don't want to over water her. So i'll give her a couple days and see if she improves at all.
Anyone want pics?

I would like to see how you got 10 cfl's in there

You got it.

So here's a shot of the box from the outside, all closed up;
(stealth my ass )


Here's some shots into the open box;


And the breakdown you asked for, of where the lights are;




And lastly, inside the box looking up. No real good shots here though...;



Oh, and aside from having the mylar blankets (which I WAS going to put up, i've decided to get some plain white printer paper and put that inside instead. Should be fairly effective.

Nice setup!

Beware of putting paper so close to your lights though. Mylar is fireproof in most cases!!

Cheers!!

Thanks man! Interesting point. It's just that i've made so many changes to the box, it'll be insane trying to cut the mylar just right to accommodate the large number of fans. This has sort of been cobbled together 1 bit at a time, improvising where i've had to. I intend upon making a new box for her wednesday most likely, and when I do, I can find better and easier places for the fans, and a better system of lighting.
Unfortunately, it's gonna be really hot here in no time, and just running the fan and night like i'm doing won't cut it.
But... i'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Be sure to stay tuned to see what's next.

*sigh*
She's looking worse then she did this morning. I'm going to flush the soil with 6.5pH water to try to fix this problem. I have a feeling my soil pH is off. Gonna test the runoff and see what she's lookin like.

Wow... some serious acid drainage.
Hope I got her all leveled out.
I added a little soil to the pot too, some Miracle grow (blasphemy I know! ) But i've had decent results with it before. I only wish I had a little more perlite.
Oh well, I mixed it decently, and flushed it well. With any luck, i'll soon see some improvement.
I'm just worried her growth has been stunted.

Hope your lady isn't too scarred from the early acidness would be a shame with so much power shining down on her ;d

And indeed that first pic is as stealthy as a clown in an army base hope you don't get busted again!
I wish you good luck dealing with smell leaks with so many fans and holes p:

I water my plants with rain water, which has naturally balanced ph but then again you said you live in a dry region so that might not be an option. Rain water also contains healthy stuff for your plant And it just falls out of the sky every now and then I love it!

Good luck on balancing your ph and peace

I use Miracle Grow soil with great results. Don't jump on the bandwagon cause it's where all the cool kids go. MG is perfectly fine potting soil. My second grow hermied cause of low pH water and flucuating heat temps. I hope you caught it early enough.

She's gonna look a little worse before she looks a little better... :\ Just trying to be patient. She looks terrible right now and I hate it. I should have never used reclaimed soil. Foolish idea at its best.
Hopefully the flush will have done it's job. I flushed until I was getting a reading of 6.5. But my very last reading (like 5/5) after 160oz of water was acidic as well. :\
And yeah, she's only 17 days old so far. But if it stunted her growth, she's gonna look pretty measly soon.
I miss my Master Kush clones... they were bulletproof.