Dylans first Grow - unorthodox grow box

[cabooservb01]

Hey guys. this is gonna be my first time growing ever so im kinda nervous. im only growing right now just to get some practice and gett good at growing it before i start to grow more plants and bigger plants. I just started germinating some seeds. i hope that you guys on here will be able to help me out alot!

First thing i need advice on is my grow box. as you can see in the pictures, its definately quite ghetto. its a rubbermade storage bin. the grow light is a 15 watt plant grow light that i bought at Lowes. In the picture the light looks rather white but its actually a light violety-pinkish color. with the light theres only like 14 inches of height from the bottom to the light...so im quite aware that my plant is going to be tiny, but yield isnt that big of an issue right now because im just growing to get experience in it.

the cover and the inside has been completely lined with aluminum foil, and i think it reflects the light very well, but then again im a complete noob to this.

i have 2 minifans that i got from radioshack, one fan is blowing air into it and one is blowing air out of it. the exhaust fan is inside the box connected to a toilet paper roll. and inside the toilet paper roll is some dryer sheets to help the smell (although im pretty sure it will barely do anything lol)

one of the things that i would like to ask this community is what should i do about the soil? should i use a pot or should i just pour soil into the whole thing? and if so how much? or will this grow box not even work...?

Im am very new to this and this community's advice would be much appreciated, so what do you think guys?

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[socaltay12]

If that is tinfoil, then my first piece of advice is get that stuff out of there, it will create heat spots and burn your plans. Use mylar or paint the sides with glossy white paint, its more reflective and less harmful believe it or not. As for your fan, if that is a computer fan your battery will die pretty quick, here is a post I gave for someone else on how to power a computer fan

"DO ALL OF THIS WITH EVERYTHING UNPLUGGED!!!) <-----DISCLAIMER

Most computer fans are 12v, you can find that on the tiny label on them. They each have a positive and a negative wire, splice these so there is some raw wire showing (usually copper or silver).

Now the other half, the power supply. Like most people, Im betting you have an only phone charger lying around the house. These convert 120v outlets to either 12v (like your fan) or 6v (under the max amount for your fan, so still okay) These as well have one positive wire and one negative wire. hook them directly to your fan but make sure they dont touch so your fan doesnt short out. You should connect one wire, electrical tape it, and then connect the other one and tape it as well, that way you lessen your chances of two active wires touching.

After they are connected, plug it in. It should run perfectly normal and be silent as ever, I am currently running 3 of them off of one phone charger, gotta love it. Have fun"

[cabooservb01]

its not tin foil its aluminum foil...soo hopefully theres a difference besides the metal lol? and yea i was actually thinking about changing it to mylar, but isnt it really expensive?? and the light actually creates almost no heat (i left it running for at least 8 hours and it was only slightly warm to the touch) so do you still think it could cause a problem?

and thanks for that advise on the fans. yea they are both 12VDC minifans. i have plenttyyy of phone chargers at my house!! so i could just take the charger wires and like solder them to the fans?? how do i know which wire hooks up to which?? lol

[bigsby]

What he said. Dump the foil. Get yourself some white spray paint for plastic. Flat white is best, not glossy. Glossy will create hot spots too, though nothing to be concerned about like with that foil.

[malus69]

its not tin foil its aluminum foil...soo hopefully theres a difference besides the metal lol? and yea i was actually thinking about changing it to mylar, but isnt it really expensive?? and the light actually creates almost no heat (i left it running for at least 8 hours and it was only slightly warm to the touch) so do you still think it could cause a problem?

and thanks for that advise on the fans. yea they are both 12VDC minifans. i have plenttyyy of phone chargers at my house!! so i could just take the charger wires and like solder them to the fans?? how do i know which wire hooks up to which?? lol

Tin foil, aluminium foi, same shit brother. Get rid of it and either use mylar or just paint the inside a flat white. There are some special reflective paints too but any flat white will do 10 times better than any kind of foil ;) As for the power supply of the fan, yeah any 12V old charger that is around 1A (1000mA) from any mobile phone / old router etc will do. Route your wires properly and choose a strain that will actually fit in that box such as lowryder or something. As for your soil debate someone with more experience in ghetto grows should elaborate on that.

Peace,
:hippy:

[thundertd11]

would using jiffy as a starter soil be good?