Wardrobe Box Grow

HippySmoke said:

Yea the ghetto growbox has been on pause till just earlier today honestly. My main focus has been on the plant in the speaker box I have flowering that I got in there last week, but I forgot to look at my charts and realized it has a longer flowering period than I thought so I will be transplanting it to a 3 gallon smart pot pretty quick here before flowering gets more than 2 weeks in. I just need perlite for the FFOF I bought. I haven't been up on updates honestly because of two factors 1 I have been busy 2 and I am ashamed to show my growth at this point with such masters of ghetto growing around me. I have been growing for years but I am always learning some days more than others but always learning. Right now the 3 new clones plus the a few of the old clones that are doing much better after intensive adapation to the soil (which I will never buy again) there are tiny as hell but sativa dominant so long flowering period so put them on 12/12 this morning there are 6 in there for a many SOG if I can turn it around and show something prosperous I'll update but until then my shame shall stay my own.

(Oh wow sorry dude I just read what all I typed and found mass typo's... I do apologize for the semi coherency it is 2 am as I write this.)

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LOL, no worries Hippy, I understood everything you wrote. Looks to me like you have it right, that soil mix was causing you too many probs. I switched to the Roots Organic potting soil for my last few grows, seems to be pretty good, but there's always a learning curve when trying out new soil mixes trying to find a good one. I had mad problems at first, the plants didn't seem to like my new methods at all...then I started adjusting the pH of my water/nute solutions before watering and that seems to have helped a lot, especially with the nute solutions...I wasn't even checking the pH (since the battery was dead on my pH pen)...turns out I was feeding with nute solutions in the pH 4.5-5 range...got that fixed and now my girls seem pretty happy. Still, sometimes I think I should just go back to MG potting soil and nutes, LOL, they're dirt cheap and always seemed to work well in the past. Hopefully the FFOF + perlite will work out for you. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress, I'm sure you'll get it right.

xebeche said:

LOL, yeah, these wardrobe boxes are great. Very stealthy. I got one of those “Shorty” boxes delivered at the same time. Was thinking of converting it to a small veg box for clones and seedlings. I have my mother plants in a plastic cabinet I got from Home Depot a while back right now…it’s about the same dimensions as the Shorty box. I was thinking maybe six 26w CFLs (6500K). Not sure about that yet, since I won't be vegging 'em for too long if I'm gonna continue using this Grand Wardrobe box for flowering. The plants I have in there now were vegged for maybe 3 weeks at most...the ones in front for less than two. Might not be worth the time to build...but I might do it anyways just for the fun of it, lol. You got any pics of your "Shorty" setup?


Thanks for the recommendation for odor control. I’m not sure exactly what kind of air filter you’re referring to. Is it this? http://www.target.com/Filtrete-Carbon-Cleaning-Filter-FAPF00C-4/dp/B003FWNDWM/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&keywords=air%20filter&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-15&qid=1298100012&rh=price%3A1500-2499&searchRank=target104545&id=Filtrete%20Carbon%20Cleaning%20Filter%20FAPF00C-4&node=1038576|1287991011&searchSize=30&searchPage=1&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&frombrowse=0
[FONT=&quot]I ordered some Ona gel today. Figured I'd try leaving an open jar or two in the upper compartment where the exhaust fans are located. [/FONT]The smell is definitely getting stronger every day, but I really wanna allow this crop to go all the way, so I'll try just about anything to keep it contained.

Checked out you last grow. Nice job.

Hows that Sour D treating you these days?

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hey man, the link hippysmoke posted is right. also, here:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=true+air&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=398217694753314746&ei=9phgTayyK436swOLtsTHCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CD0Q8gIwAw#

it's a little fan with carbon filter. (not the one you linked). goes by several names: trueair carbon filter, hamilton beach, febreeze, etc. but it looks just like this.

the ona jar is also a good supplement and my sour d is still treating me well, thanks for asking! last few days i've been smoking "amnesia" from a dispensary, which is SWEET. it's one of the plants i'm currently growing. you should check out my "shorty wardrobe" grow, link is top one in my sig! peace bro.

Check your local wally world too mine has em for $13 bucks.

HippySmoke said:

Check your local wally world too mine has em for $13 bucks.

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Cool...thanks for the link, Hippy. I'm still waiting for my Ona to arrive. If that doesn't work, I'll be sure to check out that Febreze gizmo.

Well, we're at 51 days into the flowering light cycle. Not much to report, since the ladies still look pretty much the same. Maybe they're gaining some weight since last week, maybe not...too hard for me to tell. None of them appear to be very close to finishing yet, so I decided to feed them with my standard bloom formula once more on Sunday. The buds on one of the Early Widows looks like they COULD be ripening, but the trichs are still ALL clear as far as I can tell, so I'll continue to watch and most likely will chop that one first...but I still think it has at least another week to go, maybe two. Tried to take a good photo of these buds, but it came out blurry, so I won't bother posting it. Here's a current pic of the whole setup.



Like I said, hard to tell if anything's really changed since last week, but I haven't encountered any problems (other than the smell starting to creep into the house on occasion), so I'll just let 'em go for a while longer. I've got plenty of product left over from the last run, so no need to chop early this time...which is good since I had to shut it down early last time so I never really got to try a "properly" grown and cured sample of any of these strains.

Here's a pic of my next batch of clones and my two newer girls...White Rhino and Cali Orange. Doing just fine. I like to put them out in the backyard whenever I can...and supplement with a few hours under 26w CFLs to keep 'em in veg. The stalk on the WR is a bit wimpy, and I've had to prop the plant up a few times since putting it in soil. I only bought one seed of this strain, so I hope she doesn't continue to be a "problem child." In contrast, the CO hasn't had any problems and is looking very strong. I have at least one more female CO seedling, and I'm waiting to see if any of the seedlings from the five old "regular" CO seeds that I had laying around will survive. Not looking all that promising atm. I wouldn't mind making some seeds of this strain...since these beans are pretty pricey, imo (considering how old the strain is), and I haven't been able to find a source for regular CO seeds online lately.

Just one pic of the cab at the 63-day point. Didn't take any close-up bud shots, since I didn't have much time. I'll post proper pics when I harvest.



Unfortunately, none appear to be ready to chop yet, as the trichomes are still mostly clear - very few cloudy. But the buds definitely appear to be ripening, so I'm hopeful that another week or so will be enough. I stopped feeding them last week, so only water from now until harvest. I put most of them into 12/12 after only vegging for about a week or two, so I'm guessing that's why they're taking longer than they're supposed to. Can't really afford to let 'em go much longer, since I have a new batch of nine clones that were re-potted this week and all of them are already 8-10 inches tall. I'm afraid that they'll end up overgrowing the cab if I let my current crop veg much longer. My plan is to put these young gals (3 of each strain, again) into 12/12 almost immediately after I chop the current plants (and do a quick clean of the cab).



I should also note that the Ona gel I bought a few weeks ago is working GREAT. I just placed a little bit in a few small dishes and left them in the top compartment of the cab (right near the exhaust fans). No more skunky smell (although the Ona certainly has a scent of its own) in the garge OR the house...and thus far I've only used about a third of the jar of Ona, so it seems to be a pretty simple and economical solution for my current setup.

how many oz jar?

HippySmoke said:

how many oz jar?

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Bought a 32-oz jar of Ona-Pro (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/134265). Works great

OK, so we're officially at 64 days of 12/12 light cycle as of today. Unfortunately, nothing's really changed in the three whole days since I last updated, lol. Well, actually, I think I'm finally starting to see some cloudy trichomes on the one Early Widow plant (see poorly focused bud pics below)...but the other two strains are still showing all clear trichs, and still look to be at least a week (probably more like two) from harvest. Most of the buds are looking quite frosty, however...definitely looking forward to smoking this batch. Just have to be patient for a little while longer...

Well, good news and bad news here...the good news is that I actually saw a handful of amber trichs on one of my plants today; the bad news is, all the other plants look to be at least another week (probably more) before they'll be ready. Dunno, maybe things will change faster than they did since my last post 8 days ago....I really thought I'd have a few of these ladies harvested by now, since they're all supposed to be done in 7-9 weeks.

Anyways, the few amber trichs I see are on one of the Early Widow plants. This one was about 5-6 weeks old when it went into 12/12, and ended up at about 24" tall (hardly stretched at all). Buds are nice and frosty, but definitely less dense than when I grew them under HPS. Still, I don't think I'll be complaining while I'm smoking 'em. Overall, I'm seeing about 50:50 clear:cloudy on this one, so I'm gonna continue to be patient...at least until I can't anymore, lol.




I have three more of this strain, but they seem to be about a week behind the first two....probably because they were clones that were put into 12/12 with only about a week of veg time, so they might have been a little immature. They're clearly different looking -- they ended up only growing to be about a foot tall (and one is only 9"). They did grow out pretty well in the 10" deep pots, though, with some decent-sized buds. Trichs are still maybe 50:50 clear:cloudy, so I'll probly leave them for another week at least.



Finally...here's a few random shots of the Maui Waui and one of the two Sweet Tai plants. All of these are maybe 20-30% cloudy trichs, so I'll probably do the same with these -- try to let them go until AT LEAST 50% cloudy trichs, and then maybe still let one or two go further just to see if there's any noticeable difference in the quality of the high. I dunno, we'll see...the waiting on this grow to be finished is really frustrating -- esp since I have another batch of clones ready for 12/12 anytime.

Anyhoo, I also threw in a pic of the interior of the cab (for anyone interested) -- since I finally got a chance to clean it today.

Happy growing!

Chopped down two of the Early Widows on Fri...the largest one (vegged for about 4 weeks prior to 12/12) and a smaller, single cola plant that was only vegged for about a week. Both had about 50/50 clear/cloudy trichs...which is good enough for me, since I noticed the presence of spider mites early last week and I'm not willing to spray anything on my buds at this point. It's already been >11 weeks, seems like it should be enough. I plan to chop a few plants every couple of days this week, so all should be down by Fri and I can start prepping for the next round.



Judging the results of this grow so far, I'd say the CFLs worked out alright, and pretty much what I expected (based on my readings of other CFL threads here on RIU). The buds are definitely not as tight as what I got from hps with the same strains. Not sure about the yield, as I just started my harvest...but I didn't weigh the results from the last grow (since it was cut short out of necessity), so I really won't have a direct comparison to make based on final yield. I got some nice tight Maui Waui nugs from the hps grow, whereas the buds from this round appear to be quite a bit lighter and fluffier. Then again, I haven't chopped 'em yet, so we'll see how the final product compares after they're cut, dried and cured for a while. In the final analysis, the high's the most important thing to me...so I'll definitely be testing some out as soon as it looks at least partially cured.

Already getting excited about my next grow, too I originally planned to run one more round of these three strains, but now I'm leaning towards running one each of Cali O, White Rhino, and Neville's Haze Hybrid instead, since they've been topped already and should be good to go for flowering in the next week or so. However, I also have three clones each of the current strains that would also be ready, so if I do decide to run the new strains, I'll probably end up having to dispose of most of my current clones. I hate to kill off perfectly healthy plants, but I just don't have the space for them, and I'm anxious to try something new.

Decisions, decisions...

Cut two more (Sweet Tai #1 and Maui Waui #1) yesterday. Three left....been in the dark for 40h, will chop tomorrow afternoon. Clean up time after that, then new plants into cab next week and start 12/12.

OK, all my buds have been pretty much dried and placed in jars for curing. Final weight looks to be around 84g, so including the few grams I've already toked that puts the yield at right around 3 oz. The best producing plant turned out to be the Sweet Tai that was vegged for about a month prior to 12/12 - and flowered for 11 weeks (much longer than expected)...got nearly a zip from that one plant alone.



Overall I'd have to say that the CFLs did better than I initially expected. Generally, the buds appear to be significantly "fluffier" than the same strains grown under a 150w hps...not so much with the Early Widows (got some nice sticky buds from those), but definitely for the other two. I can't compare overall yields for the two grows, since I had to cut the hps grow early due to a mite infestation, so that one only went eight weeks, and I never got a final weight either (I fiddled around with water-curing a portion of that harvest...and also made some brownies with some of the worst-infected buds). If I had to estimate, I would say the yield was noticeably higher with the 150w hps...but I can't say for sure. With respect to quality of the final product, the samples of cfl-grown bud that I've tried thus far are certainly comparable (and possibly better)...the nugs aren't as dense, but the "medicinal quality" seems better. Could be just because this grow went to maturity, not really sure. In any event, I'm pretty satisfied with the final results.

So, if I had to start over building a cab for flowering, I would probably go back to hps. I think a 150w hps could easily be run in a box this size. But I've got this one already built, it runs really well (no temp problems whatsoever), and it's pretty stealthy, so I've already set up the next round (and I'll be experimenting with different methods for controlling spider mites this time around). I've got one Cali O, one White Rhino, one (small) Maui Waui and three Early Widows (which have already been on 12/12 for eleven days). Probably could have fit one or two more plants in there, but this Cali O (on the left side) seems to be a pretty stretchy gal, so I wanted to give her a little bit more room. I'll be doing some lst on them over the next few weeks as they get settled in.

Hmmm...it's been a while since I updated this thread. Things been kinda hectic on the homefront lately.

Anyways, fed my girls yesterday and trimmed off a few toasted leaves. Unfortunately, I had to remove my one Cali o girl last week, as she was just getting too big to keep. She stretched a LOT, and I just didn't have the headroom to contain her...or the lateral space to pull her down outta the lights and tie her down. So, I just took four cuttings and killed her. I hate destroying a perfectly good plant, but didn't have any other ideas given my space and time limitations. I do have the four cuttings all rooted and potted up in Solo cups now, so I actually still have a total of seven Cali O females of varying sizes, all in veg now and just waiting to figure out what to do with 'em. The cab's pretty darn crowded even without her. The extra two weeks of flowering time from my last grow really messed up my schedule...I really wanted to put these girls into 12/12 much earlier, so they simply got a lot bigger than I planned for while they were in their "holding pattern."

No major issues with the ladies yet, they just keep chuggin along....with buds on all of 'em now. I'm loving the hot shot no pest strip, too...I haven't seen a single mite since I put it in there. I'll probly take it out soon, though, since I'm not convinced that I wouldn't get any carcinogenic contamination from the hot shot strip. I've got a twenty pack of CO2 cartridges, a nitrous cracker and a bag of balloons ready if the mites show up later on. My plan would be to turn the fans off and fill the box with carbon dioxide via a balloon attached to a syringe needle or some vinyl tubing. I calculated that one 8g cartridge should get me up to 10,000 ppm...but I'd likely try two just to be sure. I almost hope I see some mites in a few weeks just so I can try my CO2 suffocation experiment..I would love to gas a few just for fun, ha ha ha, I hate those little fockkers.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Got a few pics for anyone that's still following along. Couldn't get any bud porn shots today since it's already lights out time for my girls, so I'll try taking some in a few days.

Here's the cab as I usually store it in the garage. It's on wheels, so I spin it around 180 degrees to get at the door. Blends right in with all the boxes stored in there...only the small amount of noise from the fans could give it away, but so far so good.




Last pic is the open cab with three early widow (left side and back), one white rhino (center) and one maui waui (on front right). The white rhino grew much taller than I expected...I had to tie her branches down a little since she started to grow into the lights. The maui, on the other hand, is downright puny. Not really sure why she's still in there, I had to trim her up substantially since she was outgrowing the space too.

Finally, the rooted Cali O cuttings from my sacrificed lady. Damn shame that I had to lose her...but her legacy lives on in these lovely young ladies

Well, looks like I'm gonna have to end this thread (for the time being at least). The landlord officially gave us notice to leave by the end of May. He's been hinting for several months that he's anxious to move back in to his house, but I was hoping to have just a little more time so I could finish another round in the cab. We still have nearly six weeks left, so I could possibly finish it, but the timeline would be awfully tight and it's just not worth the risk...especially since he's kinduva dick and there's a chance that our interactions with him in the near future could become "less than friendly." Problem is, I can't be sure that he hasn't seen any evidence of my growing mj in his garage over the past year or so...after all, he cuts the lawn himself every week or so, and could have gone into the garage any time that we were out. Don't wanna take any chances, so I'll chop the ladies down tomorrow or Tues and start cleaning/packing things up in the garage this week. At this point I do plan to salvage as many clones as I can...but if need be, I'll ditch them, too. I've got plenty of beans to start fresh in our new residence...wherever that may be.

Anyways, it's been fun...and I'll def post up a new thread as soon as things settle down again.

looking forward to your return best of luck dude!

Thanks, Hippy. Just chopped my ladies and hung 'em to dry. Never really had to shut down a grow so early before, so I'm not sure what to expect from the small amount of bud on the plants now...but I figured, why waste it when I still have time to at least dry it out and stick it in a jar?

Not too worried about the transition, since I really never thought I'd to able to finish this one out. This past harvest produced more than I expected, so I doubt that I'll be running out of herb anytime soon. In the meantime, I'll still be here on riu regularly (at least for the time that I have internet access)...might not be growing for a while, but I can still live vicariously through other folks' experiences

summer is coming too, do you grow out under the sun at all?

Oh, man, I would love to grow some mj outdoors, but haven't tried yet. There's lots of vacant lots and open spaces here in SoCal - and I've seen plenty of spots with good potential for a guerilla grow even where we are now (which is more city-like, for the most part). In fact, if we weren't having to leave soon, I woulda definitely tried growing a few in the canyon park just down the street...but since most likely we'll be moving to a different area probly 25-30 miles away from here, I figured it really wouldn't be worth it to plant something around this area right now. The weather's really dry here in the summer, so I'm sure I'd have to show up to water pretty regularly. For sure though, you'll def see me post an outdoor grow at some point in the future. I think I'd really like the challenge of stealth growing...and while I'd prefer to do it legally, I believe I'd need to build a greenhouse or enclosed structure of some sort in order to comply with the regulations here. If we end up buying a property with the space for one, I'll def consider building a structure at some point.

For the immediate future, though, I'm actually pretty satisfied with my results using CFLs. My entire wardrobe box setup runs about 140w total (lights and fans), according to my kill-o-watts meter...and cost about $180 to build (including extra stuff that I bought and the found out that I didn't really need). Got three oz out of it for the first grow, so it seems pretty economical to me. If I had to change anything about this cab, I'd def add more headspace. While I can work with four feet, I think five or six make it a lot easier to do the things I'd like to do. Once I'm in a more permanent living situation, I'll probly start working right away on building a new cab with more height (maybe slightly wider as well, and with a different ventilation system so I can control odors better)...but I will def consider using CFLs for my lighting system in the future. And I'll certainly use this wardrobe box again for keeping mother plants (assuming it doesn't get banged up too badly during our move), since that's what my intention was from the beginning of the build, and it seems to work really well for just growing five or six plants.

How about you? You grow outside at all?

Great stuff man! Those buds looked amazing. I'm excited to hear how the smoke was. I am sub'd and thanks for stopping by and all the advice you've given in my thread. +rep once I can give it again haha