Hidden Cabinet Grow - 208w cfl's ---> 260w

I just planted 2 blue mystic seeds about 10 minutes ago.

Cab specs:
2 door plastic cabinet, about 3ft high maybe 2ft wide and 1ft depth or something.
2x120mm exhaust pc fans, about the same size opening for passive intake (still working on lightproofing)
8x26watt cfls currently 4 and 4 mixed (have 2 more flowering 26watters, will install them later) (208, will be 260w)
~7.5 gallon rubbermaid tub, miracle grow moisture control soil
inside lined with emergency blanket aka mylar

So this things hidden but not completely stealth yet (lightproofing!). With the 8 cfls (208 watts) it's running at 84 degrees F. I'm expecting adding the 2 others will boost it into an unfavorable range. Have 2 more fans tho (bought 4 pack) and can allways cut the intake larger (i've heard 2x exhaust, currently it's 1x exhaust size).

Anyways, have a couple drainage holes at bottom of tub, sitting on a tray to collect run off. I watered it till run-off (1 gallon of water, sat out for a couple days did the trick) and finger checked seed destination to make sure it was moist but not soggy or anything. Planted them, covered up softly. Now i'm stoked. It begins. Will try to get pictures or something when it sprouts.

How long do you think till sprout? I'm trying to only check this thing once or twice a week that's why i'm sticking with a big container i can water less frequently. And i don't want to become too obsessive (like some people posting daily shots), i'll try to keep myself sane by only seeing it every few days and leaving it the fuck alone lol.

pictures???

Sounds like a nice little setup, I just started my short riders about 2 weeks ago. One of the seeds popped in 24 hours and the other within 48. I did end up having one seed that didn't pop but I wasn't to suprised about that. I guess they could pop within 4 hours, just depends on the strain. Anyway good luck, have you picked up a thermometer yet? One of the biggest problems I've had so far is the temp, specially if your not going to be looking at it every day, you want to make sure to keep that under control. Come by and check out my journal if you get a chance!

Popped out of the soil in 24 and 48 hrs? Or they germinated (out of the soil) in 24 and 48 hours? I was expecting mine to pop out in 4-7 days but i dunno.

Yes i have a thermometer in there, tested it all out for a couple days turned on before dropping the seeds. My temps are running at 84 consistently with 208 watts so i think i'm good there, will have to do something when i add the other 2 cfls as i think it'll bump to 89/90 maybe.

Okay so it's been 4 days (pretty much by the hour) since i planted 2 blue mystic, non-germinated seeds. They're heads have hit the surface, ladies and gentleman, sprouts! I'm gonna smoke one, this is exciting.

That being said, i made 2 cardboard cut out boxes to cover my intake/exhaust vents and although they've reduced the light leaking considerably, have also upped my temp up to around 87 now from 84! I think it's the openings, which are smaller than originally without the light proofing. Also i have to move my plant container up towards the lights since they're stationary ... i'll have to get some books or something. Hope to get some pictures up soon!

Lance85 said:

Popped out of the soil in 24 and 48 hrs? Or they germinated (out of the soil) in 24 and 48 hours? I was expecting mine to pop out in 4-7 days but i dunno.

Yes i have a thermometer in there, tested it all out for a couple days turned on before dropping the seeds. My temps are running at 84 consistently with 208 watts so i think i'm good there, will have to do something when i add the other 2 cfls as i think it'll bump to 89/90 maybe.

Click to expand...

My bad, I didn't realize you responded back. Yea I was saying they germinated in 24-48. Took a couple more days for them to break ground.

Lance85 said:

Okay so it's been 4 days (pretty much by the hour) since i planted 2 blue mystic, non-germinated seeds. They're heads have hit the surface, ladies and gentleman, sprouts! I'm gonna smoke one, this is exciting.

That being said, i made 2 cardboard cut out boxes to cover my intake/exhaust vents and although they've reduced the light leaking considerably, have also upped my temp up to around 87 now from 84! I think it's the openings, which are smaller than originally without the light proofing. Also i have to move my plant container up towards the lights since they're stationary ... i'll have to get some books or something. Hope to get some pictures up soon!

Click to expand...

Congrats man, it is very exciting isn't it! I'm looking forward to seeing how this blue mistic turns out! I was actually thinking about doing the cardboard thing but my temps are holding pretty good right now and I don't want to screw anthing up.. I still might give it a try because my cab is so stealth until you see the light shooting out the back lol..

i think i will sub to this one... I am currently growing BM now as well.

Yeah i've been watching yours nothinbutthebest for good measure, but you moved them outdoors so i can't compare yields or anything now! Mine are gonna have to stay under 24" or so (from soil to light tips).

Anyways, i've been checking them every day ... so much for once or twice a week lol. I'll get over my OCD though after a lil while, no use checking them constantly i can only do so much. Going to water them tommorow as the top couple inches is getting dry. Still have to cover up my clear container tho! It's nice to see the moisture level of the soil so clearly.

I just bought a small fan for a breeze in the inside. Can this lower the temp at all? I'd imagine not since it's blowing the same air around. This thing is strong tho, i was thinking about cutting a hole in my side and mounting it as another exhaust lol.

Anywho, things are going good. Priority right now is lightproofing the exhaust as it's the biggest give away. Was thinking of framing a cardboard 90degree turn, and wrapping it in black garbage bag. What you guys think?

Okay update. Lightproofed exhaust with a pizza box on the inside, it was horrible and raised temp big time. So i took a shoebox and put it over the fans .... and just slit the bottom corners! Perfect! And the shoebox was about the depth of the fans so it didn't affect temps, unlike the small restricted airflow pizza box was.

Anyways, i'm now just shy of 2 weeks from sprout. I have a big container and it takes a while for it to dry so i've haven't watered it in like 8-9 days now. Bought a moisture meter to make sure, and as i thought, the middle is good still and the bottom is soaking wet. So i'm gonna let it sip it all up before watering again (unless i see signs it needs water). Otherwise thing looks great! Thick bushy plant! Had a rust like spot on a couple leaves which within a few days withered and died ... but the growth has more than surpassed what was last and they look healthy. Maybe it was nute burn, maybe it was a deficiency, i dunno. First grow but seems to be moving on.

My lights are fixed on top and i have to raised my plant to the light. Limitation is my plant isn't as close as i'd like to the lights. It's gonna have to grow a few inches before it can be 'super close' and hopefully get that boost.

I'm high and rambling holy shit i better get outta here.

Took some picture phone shots and couldn't find my god damn cord to upload em! I may have to mcguivar something and make it happen

Okay finally some pictures, just figured out how to use picture mail.

The plastic cabinet closed.

The plastic cabinet open.

Open again, close up of lighting/exhuast.

Picture of the babies. 2 blue mystics, sprouted 2 weeks ago.


And that's my grow right now, at 2 weeks. I'm thinking of Fimming at week 3, then letting it grow another week before flowering.

After reading buds for less, i'm also torn to just let it go all natural, and start flowering it in a couple days. The plant in his book was flowered at day 18 i believe and it grew 3oz's ... of course he was able to surround it with cfl's though whereas mine are all on top.

Nice dude, look like your on your way.

I can't believe how fast these are growing now. I'll be shocked by Sat night when i post new pics at 3 weeks. Seems like they're growing an inch or two a day now

Okay i'm about to FIM and water these plants. They're 3 weeks from sprout tonight. I'll take pics and upload them tonight, going to FIM, veg another week, then throw into flowering. First timer here and one of the plants appears to have 2 or 3 main tops clustered right on top of each others, so it'll be interesting trying to FIM the right one. The other plant's main tip is more distinct. I'll take pics of the before and after too for other beginners.

I'm hoping to have a veg box put together by the end of the week so i can either:
take a clone off these before flowering (which would probably lead to another week veg time to recover)
plant another couple seeds and flower the current grow (starting new plants and getting the cloning going)

Either way i'm looking to go perpetual. Anyways, one step at a time i'll have those pics up within a couple hours hopefully.

First thing I noticed is all the light seeping right through your plastic cabinet. When I was adding the emergency blankets to the interior of my grow box, I noticed that with a single layer you can see through it. Also that blanket material does not handle well to heat, keep your eyes on the area closest to the bulbs. Your young plants look great, did you have the smaller plant under the 2 bulb side for a bit? Not tryin to hate but it kinda looks like a Japanese Paper Lantern...


Is that plastic rigid or more fabric like? If it is rigid then you might want to think about painting it flat white. It would provide your plants with better reflection than the current. Hey what is plugged into the 2 bulb power-strip, is that a power-adapter for the fans? I would remove anything from the power-strip sockets that is not a bulb/bulb-setup. If that is a power adapter its heat output is helping raise that temp. Removing may drop a degree or 2... might help out.

Might be to late since you say you are FIMing/pictures now. But you could wait a few till you have a few nodes an top, then clone your topping. fyi

Okay here they are at 3 weeks from sprout, before fimming. They're drooping a bit (for the first time! Let them dry a lil bit this time to learn to read them!) but on schedule and i watered them well afterwords.

Here they are right after Fimming. Exciting!

And here they are back in the box, Fimmed and watered. Will get another shot in a week.


I just checked them out (it's been like 12 hours since i Fimmed) and they BOTH allready have new growths going on! Looking good!

I realize my smaller plant has issues, but they're not bad. There's been some leave discoloration for a while on that plant (and very lil bit on the bigger one) but they've continued to grow well and i'm not worried about it.

Cransi- Yes i could use a little bit more reflection/light proofing on the doors but the rest is pretty good. It's hidden VERY well but yeah i will get that finished at some point. Good point about turning the box around due to more lights on one side. I was hoping more light on the smaller one would help it catch up but maybe it's the opposite.

The plastic is rigid (enough), definately not fabric like. It's a little late now but i guess i could have just painted it. I'll have a lifetime of grow boxes/set ups to live out so this is just a start! It's almost more fun building the set-ups then even growing!

The fans are plugged into my light strip which i plan to change. When i move to flowering i have to change the electric to add my timer and what not. I'm going to move things around, take the fans into their own power strip, etc. Just not there yet.

Toughest thing about this grow as it's hidden. I literally have to crawl deep into a crawl space, very late at night (when everyone's sleeping) to work on this thing. Once in a while i'll get lucky and have the house to myself for a bit so again i'll crawl in and work on things. It's a 3ft crawl space and my box is 3ft high so you can imagine the hard work i put into this thing over a couple months just a little bit here and there, stealthily, quietly, when i can. And what a pain working in such a tight space!!!!!

Damn, ok that paints a better picture of your set-up/situation. I feel for ya having to crawl like that. Dedication does pay off though

lance85 said:

It's almost more fun building the set-ups then even growing!

Click to expand...

That is to true, I wonder through HD/Lowes with the mind-set of how can I improve my grow! I find so many items on clearance that way, helps out so much.

Did them leaves on shorty get any soil on them during a watering? Trying to figure out whats up with them. Is that pot divided between the two plants? If not you are going to want to put something there to divide. Don't want any roots to tangle together, an fight for nutrients. Want them roots soaking up all they can with no stress.

hey man. Those are tight bushy lil suckers. Im not too sure how close your lights are, but the plant looks burnt in some way, heat seems like it to me. judging by how close those nodes are, Id say the light is intense and baking them a lil. Id throw a small fan close to the plants or back the lights up just a lil.
I was also noticing your fans...symbols same way....are they both intake? how hot does it get in there at 6ish hour mark?
I know you're using cfl's and they have minimal heat output, but they still have heat out put. Seems like a pretty legit set up for the most part though. : ) I give it a job well on its way.

Well my thermom stays at around 83 or so, but in the light (radiant heat) by the plant it'll get hotter (like 89). Those are 2 exhaust fans, and a passive intake on the bottom right. As i lower the plant i'll have more room for a fan which is in there but just blowing up to get some airflow

"Did them leaves on shorty get any soil on them during a watering? Trying to figure out whats up with them. Is that pot divided between the two plants? If not you are going to want to put something there to divide. Don't want any roots to tangle together, an fight for nutrients. Want them roots soaking up all they can with no stress. "
- Yeah i know it's not recommended but i didn't divide them. Hell everything's not recommended but works. I'm growing in Miracle Grow for christ sakes, the devil's soil! hahaha and they're growing great IMO. I started in big pots, in hot soil, and didn't pre germ. They both sprouted same time at 4 days. Oh and no, the leaves shouldn't have gotten any soil on them (maybe dust from my moisture meter at the most) at any watering time ...

"Those are tight bushy lil suckers. Im not too sure how close your lights are, but the plant looks burnt in some way, heat seems like it to me. judging by how close those nodes are, Id say the light is intense and baking them a lil."
- I looked into heat burn and i'm pretty sure that's not it. Found this in a sticky:
"Heat Stress

Look closely, and you'll see the brown leaf edges that are indicative of heat stress. This damage looks alot like nutrient burn, except it occurs only at the tops of the plants closest to the lamps. There's only one cure for this...get the heat away from the plants, either by moving the lamps or moving the plants."

The browning/nute burn damage or defic or ph or whatever it is lol has been happening from bottom up since about 1 1/2 weeks in. It's happening to both plants, but the more vigorous one seems to be unphased by it (slight dmg lowest leaves, still growing like an animal).

Cransi said:

When I was adding the emergency blankets to the interior of my grow box, I noticed that with a single layer you can see through it. Also that blanket material does not handle well to heat, keep your eyes on the area closest to the bulbs. :

Click to expand...

What do you mean it does'nt like heat? Just curious, thanks..

Your grow looks good lance.