mini fridge grow box.

THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
Ok so this is gonna be my first shot at growing. Not really sure what im doing. I'm just kinda going by what i read over the internet and see on you-tube. The mini fridge is prob. 3 1/2 foot tall and 2 ft wide . As of now i have seeds,soil,the fridge,aluminum foil,h20,and a power source. Any help would be appreciated.
wish me luck...............
 
SpaceFace

SpaceFace

Member
Aluminum foils not great but if it's all you can use. Just need to figure out ventilation, light, and nutes. how much are you wanting to grow in this?
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
Ok well first off, aluminum foil is a really bad reflector. It tends to act like a mirror and can create "hot spots" on the plant due to the wrinkles. Matte White or Mylar material are far better for reflecting light.

The fridge sounds like a good choice for a small stealth grow box. For lighting you could use CFL's, Florescent lights, or even a small HID light, maybe 150w or even 250w. HID's would probably be the most effective and easiest to set up, but will create more heat than the other options. If you do decide to go with the HID setup, then I recommend a digital ballast as most can operate MH (vegetative) bulbs as well as HPS (flowering) bulbs.

Make sure the soil that you have has a decent amount of pearlite in it. Otherwise go get yourself a bit and mix it in before you start planting. You want lots of drainage in the soil. Cannabis plants are better fit to deal with lack of water, rather than too much water.

Next, you should go down to your local hydro shop and pick up some nutrients for your plants. I absolutely love the results I get from a 3 part Micro, Grow, Bloom type fertilizer. That way you can mix in portions that you find your plants like best. For instance Plants use more P and K and less N in flowering and need more N and less P and K in Vegetative growth. But again, you'll play around with it and find out what works best for you and your strain. I also highly recommended a ph tester, electric or the oldschool ph paper test kits. You'll need that and some PH UP & DOWN in order to get your water to the right ph level (6.5 in soil approx. depending on strain) in order for your plants to be able to absorb the right amounts of different nutrients.

Perhaps the biggest issue that I can think of is odor control. I have had good odor control with a carbon filter. You can get fairly small ones, so again, I would go to your local hydro shop and see what they have available for odor control.


Search up all these things I have mentioned for now and do some homework. If you do the homework and don't do everything half ass'd, you'll have something decent to show for it in the end. Anyways, that's all I can think of for now. Good luck man!
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
Ahh yes ventilation....

For something that small you could see if you can get a small vortex fan. They are the most efficient fans. But it also might be a bit overkill. You could probably get away with 2-4 axial fans. Some in the top for venting hot, stale air out, and some in the bottom to bring in cooler, fresh air.

Again, I love going to my local hydro shop with a wad of cash and doing some shopping. They are always super helpful and it's fun to see what new gadgets they have available.
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
biffchicken said:
Ok well first off, aluminum foil is a really bad reflector. It tends to act like a mirror and can create "hot spots" on the plant due to the wrinkles. Matte White or Mylar material are far better for reflecting light.

The fridge sounds like a good choice for a small stealth grow box. For lighting you could use CFL's, Florescent lights, or even a small HID light, maybe 150w or even 250w. HID's would probably be the most effective and easiest to set up, but will create more heat than the other options. If you do decide to go with the HID setup, then I recommend a digital ballast as most can operate MH (vegetative) bulbs as well as HPS (flowering) bulbs.

Make sure the soil that you have has a decent amount of pearlite in it. Otherwise go get yourself a bit and mix it in before you start planting. You want lots of drainage in the soil. Cannabis plants are better fit to deal with lack of water, rather than too much water.

Next, you should go down to your local hydro shop and pick up some nutrients for your plants. I absolutely love the results I get from a 3 part Micro, Grow, Bloom type fertilizer. That way you can mix in portions that you find your plants like best. For instance Plants use more P and K and less N in flowering and need more N and less P and K in Vegetative growth. But again, you'll play around with it and find out what works best for you and your strain. I also highly recommended a ph tester, electric or the oldschool ph paper test kits. You'll need that and some PH UP & DOWN in order to get your water to the right ph level (6.5 in soil approx. depending on strain) in order for your plants to be able to absorb the right amounts of different nutrients.

Perhaps the biggest issue that I can think of is odor control. I have had good odor control with a carbon filter. You can get fairly small ones, so again, I would go to your local hydro shop and see what they have available for odor control.


Search up all these things I have mentioned for now and do some homework. If you do the homework and don't do everything half ass'd, you'll have something decent to show for it in the end. Anyways, that's all I can think of for now. Good luck man!
Click to expand...
Thanks alot, this helped out a ton. What would be a right amount of plants to grow without being to cluttered together?
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
Well i just started on gutting the fridge. Everything worked as planned untill i cut the lines.....Freon sprayed everywhere lol. Im letting it air out tonight outside then i will get back to work asap.
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
THC=ME said:
Thanks alot, this helped out a ton. What would be a right amount of plants to grow without being to cluttered together?
Click to expand...
It really depends on the size of your plants. You could do a SOG(Sea of Green) and fit a whole bunch of short, lollipopped plants, or you could have one big, bushy, lst'd, topped plant, etc etc. There are many different styles of grow. I'll name some so you can google it and see what it's all about.

Here are some search words for your reference: LST(Low Stress Training), Topping, Sea Of Green(SOG), Screen Of Green(SCROG), Lolipopping, Fimming

All of these different practices will produce different size plants with different characteristics. You have to do the research and find out what works best for you after a couple of grows and some experimenting.

I really really liked my experience with LST'ing, which I tried my first time recently. The plants look amazing. But again, this is all your decision to make after you'd done some math.
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
THC=ME said:
Well i just started on gutting the fridge. Everything worked as planned untill i cut the lines.....Freon sprayed everywhere lol. Im letting it air out tonight outside then i will get back to work asap.
Click to expand...
lol, It's all part of the project, haha. Make sure you wash it out really good before you put plants in there.
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
biffchicken said:
lol, It's all part of the project, haha. Make sure you wash it out really good before you put plants in there.
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yea it scared the shit out of me haha, but i believe im gonna try and grow two plants and if it becomes to crammed ill just go with the healthier looking plant at the time and just use one.

My main concern is fire hazard, anything helpfull with making this safe? Also im not sure exactly how i want everything inside, any ideas on the internals (set up)
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
For setup, just whatever works for you. I mean yeah, light on top, two fans, one on top one on bottom. It's a pretty basic setup. As far as fire safety, I was at my local hydro shop and they had this really neat product called "ELIDE FIRE BALL" which would be great for a small area like that. Basically it's a ball that if fire touches it, it explodes this white powder stuff and completely puts out the fire. Check it out, it's a fairly inexpensive and simple fire protection system. There are some cool vids on youtube.
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
biffchicken said:
For setup, just whatever works for you. I mean yeah, light on top, two fans, one on top one on bottom. It's a pretty basic setup. As far as fire safety, I was at my local hydro shop and they had this really neat product called "ELIDE FIRE BALL" which would be great for a small area like that. Basically it's a ball that if fire touches it, it explodes this white powder stuff and completely puts out the fire. Check it out, it's a fairly inexpensive and simple fire protection system. There are some cool vids on youtube.
Click to expand...
i now promote you to "grow master" haha
thanks alot man you have gave me some very needed info.
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
lol, I am no way a grow master, only on my 2nd grow now acctually. All I did was read for like a month straight before I started even considering buying equipment. Reading and asking questions is the only way to learn. Everybody had a different idea of how to do things. Just gotta find out what works for you. It's all trial and error. Live and learn. lol
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
biffchicken said:
lol, I am no way a grow master, only on my 2nd grow now acctually. All I did was read for like a month straight before I started even considering buying equipment. Reading and asking questions is the only way to learn. Everybody had a different idea of how to do things. Just gotta find out what works for you. It's all trial and error. Live and learn. lol

Proof that I'm not grow master lol, just a newb with the urge to learn and experiment:

My cloner that I built 3 days ago, and my tiny veg tent with 2 mothers.
View attachment 1374800View attachment 1374796
And this is the flowering tent with 4 blackberry's that are all LST'd, and two LST'd AND topped. First time LST and Topping, loving both! Look at all those nodes!!!! lol
View attachment 1374798View attachment 1374795View attachment 1374797

When you start your grow you should upload some pics. Even upload some of your setup and I try and help you out some more! I'm adding you to my friends list right after I press post.
Click to expand...
alright, ill take some pics today. Should i be concerned about the compresser on the back of this fridge....reason im asking is because i cant get it off haha.
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
well i went shopping today, i bought a few cans of spray paint for the outside of the fridge, i light with reflector around it. A 100 watt CFL , pad lock

will the 100 watt Cfl and reflector be enough for that space? I can raise and lower it as i please.
 
THC=ME

THC=ME

Member
ok im done half assing this set up so im gonna do it the right way, i ditched everything in the post above and went to my local hydro shop dumped a little over a hundred bucks into it. Im gonna grow with clay balls is what im thinking. I bought a large rubermaid , a sun system 150 watt grow light thats putting off 16,000 lumens,clay pebbles,eco plus air pump,tubing,3 inch plastic pots, and 8 inch airstone.

What im going to do is cut (3) 3 inch holes in the rubber maide.Insert the plastic pots which will be holding the plant and clay pebbles. Then insert the tubing which is connected to the air pump on one end and to the air stone which will be in the water under the plants on the other supplying the plants with oxygen and forcing water and nutrients into the clay pebbles. I will have a fan inside not sure where to get it or what to get, and the light above on a pulley where i can raise and lower as needed.
Also for nutrients to put into the water what should i get and where.

Ill have some pictures up soon.
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
I've been using a 3 part nutrient solution from Advanced Nutrients. It's worked well for me. I'm not a hydro guy so I can't answer your setup questions, just make sure you do your homework. Sounds like you got some good advice from your local hydro shop. Keep up the good work.
 
biffchicken

biffchicken

Well-Known Member
As for fans, just get a regular osculating fan and place it so that it blows air across the tops of the plants. That's pretty much all you need.
 
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