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The Grow Box
I used a stereo box for my grow room, measuring 3 ft high 18 inches wide and
18 inches deep. It fits in the closet but doesn't use up all the space. If you
are stealthy enough and run wires correctly no one will even be able to tell
that its anything but a box. I put my lights on a ballast and hung them from
the inside of my box. I put the ballast on a rope so I could lower and raise
the lights as necessary. I covered the inside of the box in white stickers to
reflect the light. I am sure paint could be used or even Mylar but i used
stickers and it seemed to work fine for me. Occasionally some of the stickers
would yellow, I just put new ones over the yellowing ones and problem solved.
The lights
Buy the lights at Wal-Mart because if they happen to go out they will exchange
them for free. Keep the package the bulbs come in to make it easier to
exchange. I used "light of america" brand "white" energy
savers the twisted ones that use 32 watts and put out as much light as a 150
watt bulb. I am uncertain of the color "soft white or what color"
[probably 'soft white' 2,700k - bg] but they are at Wal-Mart and you cant miss
them. the packaging is yellow and blue. Any of the higher watt bulbs would
suffice, but make sure they put out at least 2000 lumens, more would be
preferable but could make the grow space far to hot. These lights cost between
6 and 7 dollars each at Wal-Mart. Keep lights no more than 5 inches away from
top of plants but no less than 2 inches to assure good plant growth and
prevent burning.
The soil and 'wick' watering system
For soil I used equal parts miracle grow potting soil, perlite, and vermculite
"use caution when handling vermiculite". I used small 3 inch pots
and took a 3/8 diameter rope about ten to 12 inches long, tied a knot in the
middle of the rope and dropped the knot end into an empty pot making sure that
the rope goes through the hole in the bottom of the pot to hang into the
nutrient solution. The knot keeps the rope inside of the pot without slipping
out of it, then I fill my pot with soil mix as stated above and I fill slowly
curling the remaining rope around and up the pot so it keeps as much of the
soil moist as possible.
The nutrients
I used Standard Peters 20 20 20 for vegging and Peters Super Bloom 10 50 20
for flowering. The first week I used half strength for vegging, second week
full strength. When switching to bloom formula flush the soil so the plant can
go to bloom. Don't be afraid to use both ferts at a half and half ratio for a
few weeks into flowering. It helps with nitrogen loss, then the same for
blooming, one week half strength then full strength up until one week till
harvest when I used plain water and I didnt taste much chemical at all in the
final product.
As far as the reservoir - I used the glad disposable tupperware, they have
blue lids. I cut a hole in the lid just big enough to fit about 1 inch of the
pot into it and be stable. Do not forget to flush soil every 3 weeks. Then
immediately back to nutes, this washes the excess salts from the soil but will
cause no deficiencies because you immediately go back to nutes. Cover the
reservoir with something so light can not penetrate it because this will cause
algae growth, then just top up the reservoirs as needed.
Ventilation
Use fans to pull air in and out of box. Pull air out of the top of the box to
remove hot air and a fan low in the box to pull in cool air. Make sure the
plants get hit by the air of the fan so that the stalks thicken and help keep
the plant strong enough to hold the buds that will eventually weigh down your
plant and could cause stem breakage. The fan size was 4 or 5 inches, you can
get them at Walmart for no more than ten dollars.
Temperature was a bit of a problem as sealing the box with the lights on could
send it well into the upper 90's but with the fan pulling air out of the top
of the box and another fan pulling air into the bottom of the box it became
easier to control temperature. I learned quickly to use lights at night for
flowering instead of during the day, that allowed the box to stay between 75
and 85 degrees. Humidity wasn't nearly as much of a problem since i was using
the wick method I didn't lose that much water to evaporation. My RH was almost
always between 30 and 50 percent.
Temperature can be a problem, these lights heat up and can easily kill your
crop if you do not pay attention. Another way to help with the heat is to take
a 1 liter bottle and freeze it, let it sit in the grow box while the lights
are on and when they come off you can refreeze it. Oh one more thing, make
sure that during the dark period that all holes are sealed. You cannot have
any light going in the box, take your time and you will be rewarded.
Co2 supplementation
I used the fermentation co2 method, by putting a small Tupperware bowl filled
with sugar, water, "purple jk" and yeast in the box in between
plants 4 and 5. I noticed a small change in leaf color but I am uncertain if
it did anything extra, my feeling was "better to have it than to not have
it." I refilled with a half cup of sugar every 5 or 6 days and went with
new ingredients every 3 weeks since the alcohol probably killed my yeast by
the 3 week period.
Odour control
Was done with a lot of febreeze. I did not have a lot of money and it could be
smelled but I found it effective enough, besides it was only five plants
sealed inside of a box for the dark period so it wasn't overpowering. Odor
will be a problem, especially deep into flowering but the alcohol scent from
the co2 helps a little bit but not enough. The lingering scent of skunk will
permeate through the room. lots of febreeze worked for me but it never
eliminated the smell.
The method
For the first three or four weeks I just gathered clones. I put my lights on
24/0 for a week to get my clones healthy. Starting with roughly 4 inch clones
the one week only gave me an additional inch or two. I then went to flowering
which took about 9 weeks to reach perfection. Covered in crystals and smelled
very skunky. Plants finished at between 12 and 18 inches tall.
Do not veg for more than 3 weeks because you will run out of room in your box
and the roots will be to large for the pot. this is only effective if you go
two weeks veg to stabilize the clones then straight to 12/12 for flowering.
Run lights at night to help with temp and use the days for your dark period.
If possible leave door to the box open so it stays even cooler but only when
lights are on.
The strain was probably from bag seed but i am uncertain. The flower to leaf
ratio wasn't as good as I would have liked. I received a clone but I would
assume it was an indica sativa mix due to leaf traits and the high produced.
My plants were set in the box like this -
1 2
-3-
4 5
Plant #3 was my biggest producer with roughly 14 grams, the other 4 each
produced about 7 grams each. Lights were hung so plants 1 and 4 got one light
and plants 2 and 5 got one light. this meant 3 was lit from both sides which
is why it produced the most. It was also my tallest and highest quality bud,
all were good but 3 was exceptional.
Conclusion
The few complaints I do have was that the buds were very airy. A quarter once
was almost 3 fingers across a ziplock baggie, I am sure that was due to not
enough light. It made for good bag appeal especially because it was covered in
crystals but I would have preferred more dense buds.
The other problem was that the finished pot wouldn't stay lit, so i couldn't
roll it, I'm pretty sure this was from too much K or to little, I read that
somewhere. If anyone knows what I may have done wrong I would like any tips
you may have on how to fix the problem. [It's actually from excess levels of N
in the finished bud, think about lowering N levels towards harvest more and
flush for longer than 7 days - bg]
I didn't really have an issue with stretching but I kept the lights no more
than 4 inches away from the top of the tallest plants. This is a very
effective method to use for a cheap box to use. I am sure that you could add
your own ideas and make a better box but I found it good enough to get a
decent result. Odor was a small problem, using a filter would be a good
addition, but for the size used "hell i could still use my closet and you
could have came in opened up my closet and probably wouldn't have thought
twice about the box in there or that I had five beauty's in it" it was
well worth it - good stealth grow.
42 grams from 64 watts of light says you were pretty successful Holefiller!