Slowing getting there. I guess this will be the blog.

[Pasofol]

Okay so my clothing had to be moved out of this little wardrobe into the closet. It seems kind of small but hopefully it'll do for now.

Break down of what I've setup so far, not what I've bought. Spending too much, it was suppose to be a very simply setup but it's getting more and more so on.

The wardrobe is 28inch x 18in x 46in high from the inside.

Lighting:
Grow period:
6 x 15w daylight Philips which is 6500k not on package had to look it up online. Each one gives off 950 lumens.

2 x 27w Noma natural cool which is 4100k at least on the package. Each one gives 1600 lumens.

1 x 23w Globe soft white which is 2600k again online check hopefully correct. Each one gives 1600 lumes.

10500 lumes as of this setup. 197watts of power consumed.

One tube one specific for growth picked up at wally, for like 10 bucks 30watts doesnâ??t look bright at all. Lumes can't remember.

I can add couple more by adding more splitters which I have bought already, but donâ??t have any more high k for vegging/growth.

Caved in one night while drunk and ordered the 400watt HPS setup with MH converter bulb from insidesun. Not sure if I'll use it for after vegging or a whole other setup.
50000lumens for 400watts, bulbs at about 20-40 bucks made sense. Heat will be a major problem though.

Original plan was just to switch the cfl to 2400k for flowering, seemed cheapest that way.

Soil:
Probably not the best type but its the only type that I came across miracle-gro potting mix 0.14-0.14.-0.14 I'll get some nutrients so on hopefully that will improve the soil. Been looking for pro-mix but can't find locally.

Vent:
Making a homemade carbon filter, thanks to fellow member for the idea. Still need clamps 4in/6in, activated carbon, and cap. Fan (inline) not sure where I should buy one. There are some on eBay for cheap.

Seeds:
White widow, from bcbuddepot hopefully they'll arrive soon without a problem. I'll probably cave in and buy some locally like I should have.

Nutrients:
Bustan.ca will probably be the place where I pick up those since local homedepot doesnâ??t have much of a selection. Not sure which/what though for vegging/flowering.

Vegging - High first number I hear is good for this stage 5-1-1 or something but cant find on bustan that I'd be happy with.

I guess that's it for first blog, if I'm at error somewhere please point it/them out.

Water:
Got a brita filter that screws onto the tap, is that enough to clean the chlorine or should I still let it sit out. Ordered a ph test a cheap paper one but figured it'll do for a start. Ph reducer will get from pet store, those are good enough right? Said for aquariums only or something, but if it doesnt kill a fish it's probably good enough for a plant.

Wardrope:
Still need reflective lining, added some to the inside door but it was expensive and small. It was meant more for metallic finish for contour tops. Might pick up some white wall paper or something instead.

Questions:
How big of a container does a plant need? I think the one I got is large enough if I'm not mistaken for a plant or two per.

Thanks to bob for the cfl idea.

[Bree1978]

Two tips learned from experience: try not to use MG soil....You will probably have ph problems with this. You said it is the only thing you can find, isn't there a really cheap mix you can get ahold of (I am reading you shop at Homedepot...look til you find something else with NO nutes...or ask someone you know that has some laying around)? Then add pearlite....next tip, get some way to measure your ph of your soil and water. If you HAVE to use MG, look up Gardenknowm's thread about it, he had to use 8.0 water to compensate the 5.0 soil. Oh and don't plant seeds in the same pot. One foot of plant per gallon. This could save you from a lot of frustrating problems....From one newb to another...lol. S

[hairyboblovesthemob]

Keep the lights REALLY close to the plants or your plant will end up like mine (although it's fixable if it stretches, it's much easier to just have a plant who never stretched in the first place) See the first picture of this thread for what it will look like if you dont: http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=93700

[Pasofol]

MG soil...

Found cocoearth all purpose potting mix at bustan. I'll see if I can find more about it.

[Pasofol]

Well I may have found a promix supplier but only carries the promix ultimate container mix type.

[kdspecial]

Hey Duder...... well all duders..... I use bustan to get some major supplies for my Grow as well. they are extreamly nice and helpful. props to them...

However I have tried Coco 2wice now and haven't had too much fun with it. You have to add lime to bring the PH up to 7 and I just couldn't get a handle on growing in it. I think that is becasue with coco you need to add nutes almost right from the beggining of the grow because coco doesn't contain anything that can help the plant get started unlike Promix.

You can get ProMix BX at the Herb collective on young st. They are about young and bloor. look for the THC torontoHempcompany they are 2 blks up form that store and affiliated with them. You can get lots of stuff specifically for growing green there.

However I question some of the advice I get from certin employees. Anything I don't have to buy from them I get from bustan/. bustan doesn't carry ProMix. they push the Coco. Young st is pretty far for me to go so I get ProMix at Crappy Tire... Yes Canadian Tire. It isn't BX but its decent and has worked so far. Its regular commerical ProMix. I add perlite to it and so far it works better for me than Coco and its not as messy when it drys out.

If your not checking PH of your water Coco isn't the way to go unless your adding Lime to help with buffering the Ph up to 7 or just below.

im not too sure what the difference between ProMix BX and the commercial ProMix is I have used both and they are similar I think BX has a few more micronutes in it or somthing to stop fungas.

I grow in a cabinet very similar to yours. I have done ok so far but am still learning much like you will as well. I hasd this samne issue when I started, so I thought I'd pass this info off to ya seeing as we live in the same area it would seem.

if you want gopod seeds go to Kensinton and go to the 420SeedBank they have great seeds. Don't get anything From RoachO rama I have tried 3 packs of seeds from them only one pack was good the rest were to premature. The seeds were bright green and didn't germ it was like a 3 to 7 ratio. I was very dissapointed. Go to 420 seed bank...

and check this web site and check their grow guide great tips for easy growing. and the best part is its local so hes talking about out indoor conditions and our city water.

happygirl.ca

he own the seed bank in Kensinton. nice fellow who without even thinking gave me lots of info on what I was doing wrong. hahahahah well still doing wrong hahahah

Good luck

kd

[kdspecial]

Caved in one night while drunk and ordered the 400watt HPS setup with MH converter bulb from insidesun. Not sure if I'll use it for after vegging or a whole other setup.

Seeds:
White widow, from bcbuddepot hopefully they'll arrive soon without a problem. I'll probably cave in and buy some locally like I should have.



I would set that HPS as your flowering Bulb and Veg in you cab there. HPS good for flowering CFL good for VEg...

Seeds: prepare to wait for 2 months for those seeds A friend actully had to email them 5 weeks after order they gave an excuse and then he got them 4 weeks after that.

Go down to 420 he has some great selections and they are good priced 60 to 80 bucks can't beat that. And hes got good varity Sativas and Indicas

plus you might wanna make some mistakes with cheepe seeds than the widow to start... just an idea though maybe do half and half

kd

[Pasofol]

Thanks kdspecial for the info, tried crappy canadian tire for the last couple months and the ones around me in the west end dont carry promix just other crappy soil. Might be wrong time of year I guess for soil hunting at these chain stores.

Thanks for the warning about roach was going to pick up my seeds there instead of the 420 since I dont like to wait 2months for bcbud(was expecting two weeks), 420 is right next to it.

I'll try to hit the stores today if I wake up in time.

[kdspecial]

They just opened a new Canadian tire At dundas and Bay st. thats where i grab stuff,, Yes winter ins't the best time. They also have another brand of potting mix that is available at alot of Stores and its pretty decent stuff. It comes ina ziplock style bag its a bit more pricey but it still works well. I thinks its called Premiere or somthing. YOu can even find this stuff at some A and P stores. But crappy tire always stocks it I am gonna try the Tropical plant mix next time because it has added HUmas and compost. which are good for Ph balance.

No matter what you grab add some perlite to it, I would recomend against Coco you just have to add to much stuff. Lime, Perlite or hydroton rocks.

yeah dont grab any seeds from Roach O Rama go to 420 seed bank.. Its way better, and that guys grow guide is pretty good. Also you can geta drink there too now, and chill and talk to Mark about growing.

I wish I had a car to do a run to a good store to get some quality soil. I really need to get to a farm to get some compost and humas.

kd

[Pasofol]

I wish I had a car to do a run to a good store to get some quality soil. I really need to get to a farm to get some compost and humas.

kd
Same boat, still trying to figure out how I'll get some of that soil home, 4 cube feet of perlite, and 25kg activated charcoal. I've done similar stuff before on the ttc :-) but this will be one of those pushing it things.

Can't seem to find a inline duct fan cheap though.
Might get one off ebay http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-IN-BOX-6-INLINE-DUCT-FAN-SUNCOURT-INDUCTOR-250-CFM_W0QQitemZ160058967291QQihZ006QQcategoryZ43555Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[kdspecial]

I think you may mean activated carbon? For a carbon filter?

Did you go to the Herb collective they are on Young and they have promix. and I'd bet the have fans and stuff but yes Ebay much cheeper.

I use computer style fans I get from Bustan for 30 bucks, Or I started with fans from Active surplus they are the same thing and cost 15 bucks. 5 or 6 inch Fans, (they are on Bustans web site) However after half a years use they started to get a bit noisy. they push about 100 Cfm when they got noisy I replaced them with ones from Bustan same design same size just better quality. or quieter ball bearings

if noise aint a problem for you grab them from active surplus on queen st. 15 bucks each cant go wrong.

yeah how much soil do you really need>? thast alot of perlite and soil for the size box, You really just need 1 bag of perlite and one of soil. I carry that in my hands or on my bike. well my bike before it got stolen..

take it easy...

If you give me you safe email adress I can help you with your seeds situation.... I recently harvested some....

kd

[Pasofol]

Same nick at gmail.com

Yeah going to make an air filter, dont need that much but been only able to find the stuff in large quantities. Might just sell the rest on ebay in small packages or keep it for future grows. Was going to make couple extra filters and sell them basically at cost to members here.

The cab is only a meter or two away from my bed, so hopefully a relatively quite fan would be nice. I'll probably add a controller to adjust the it for times I sleep.

Didnt make it out since had to repair someones computer. I cant sleep right now and should otherwise the night shift is a killer.

Thanks for the help kd.

[kdspecial]

I will give youa email later tonight. I may be able to meet you half way on those filters. I do need one soon. I was just thinking of buying a air purifyer.. Less heatbag and no assembly required.

But your not looking for Charcoal,, you want activated Carbon. Right?

Ill email you later tonight when I get home from work..

take it easy!

kd

[Pasofol]

Correct Activated carbon which is also known as activated charcoal or even actiaved coal if I'm not mistaken.

I really should get out and visit the stores downtown for some supplies. :D

[Pasofol]

Alright figured I'd start small germinated two seeds. Both of them broke the shell and starting growing a little tail ~40 hours. The dish got a little dry while I was at work hopefully it didnt do too much harm.

First pot is pro-mix plus perlite which I watered with 6.5 using the droplet water tester and colour chart. Got the cheap soil tester and depending on where I poked it was from 5.8 to 7. Mixed the soil by hand got more constant results of 6.3 figured that's good. Next day did some poking and for some reason the bottom of the pot was reading 5.5 or 5.6 which freaked me out. In a desperate attempt to off set this I added two more fills/jugs of filtered tap water. Which didn't seem to do much, so finally added a ph up solution which finally gave the soil of 7 readings. It's over watered and drained some water from the bottom.

Second pot is pro-mix plus perlite with just tap water not ph'd down or up and fish mix nutes. The soil reading in this one is 6.7 or so depending on where it's poked. Might be too dry since it seems if I pour water it only stays in the area applied, might want to spread out the watering abit more. It absorbs it like a sponge.

Might be the extra perlite or maybe meant to be this way for the BX type.

Planted the seeds after the 40 hours and been waiting about 30 with no signs yet. Iâ??m sure I messed up couple things but Iâ??m hoping to see some signs of life before I start over.

How long does it take for the plant to reach above the soil, it was planted about a inch below.

[Pasofol]

Well things aren't going too well.
Replanted the one that wasnt doing too well with the better one. (My phing must have gone wrong since the roots werent going at all after inspecting the sprout.) Two in one pot I know its a no no but its a big pot and I'll replant once its abit stronger.
The one that's doing better has a very weak stem so added a pencil for support. For something that's had a fan blowing on it, it should be stronger.


Heating problem, around 30-31 after adding a fart exhaust still need work on heat control. (With doors closed, left them open until now with an open window to cool down) Not sure why it's so hot for a cfl setup. Noticed that the noma cfl run hotter than others, well the base does not the actual bulb.

Looking for a HPS/MH and ready to drop the cfl setup. Not much light and bills starting to add up.

Still hunting for a proper inline fan. Might buy off ebay since my local home depot shops are dismal.

A 1000w hps would be over kill for a 3.5 sq foot closet? Maybe I'll be able to cramp more in there.

[doco]

I thought I had read that you already ordered a 400w HPS light? If you use a cool tube ($60) it will have minimal heat - maybe raise the temps 5 degrees. Youll need the tube and a fan to move the air through it.

I gave up on CFLs for the same reason - in the wattages needed to get good light, they DO produce heat contrary to what everyone says. If I am gonna combat heat problems, at least I want good light from it.

[Pasofol]

I thought I had read that you already ordered a 400w HPS light?

Did/had until the vendor in question did a 180 and claimed they dont ship to the neighbour up north. After quesitoning why order is taking so long got an answer I'm not getting it.

So I'm looking once again.

[Pasofol]

My seeds from bcbuddepot arrived today just over a month. Okay stealth, nothing to identify where it came from, nothing written inside that says whats inside just brown on something containing the seeds and thats it. I got 13 seeds, ordered 10 I just hope they are WW.

I managed to cause heat stress for one day for my babies during new years. I seperated the babies into two pots which required more lighting and so the extra lights raised it to 30 celcius degrees which seems to be enough. The sides of the leafs started to curle up.

Last day of last year I did what I hope my last wasteful spending online and ordered a nice mh/hps switchable 400w ballast and bubls for each. The mh is a 6500k specific one which has lower lumens but costs alot more(hope its worth it.) Also got the t5ho 2feet by 4 tubes, interesting to see how they pan out.

So a homemade cooltube will be in order and some other stuff I'll have to due when the ups arrives. I brokerage fees/taxes will be 20-30% of cost of stuff, friggen rip off.

[Pasofol]

Figured its time for some updates.
Okay this first one is at about 1 week just over can't remember exactly.
There were two different pots but one wasn't doing so well so added to the one doing well. The sick one isn't even visible since it's too small.

[Pasofol]

Okay week 3.5.

Can see that the sick one picked up and gave in some growth.
It's still smaller that the big sister but at least is showing life.
Soon after this picture the plant started dropping it's leafs, thought it was the nutes so flashed it out. 3 days later it look better leafs started stretching out to the light again.

[Pasofol]

Added t5ho 24w times 4 tubes 6500k.

The plant seemed to have liked the light since it went from this state to a more healthy looking one. Sry no pic of it being better.

[Pasofol]

Editing expired so I'll post week four again.

Added t5ho 24w times 4 tubes 6500k.

The plant seemed to have liked the light since it went from this state to a more healthy looking one. Sry no pic of it being better. Wait found one but blurry, leafs spreading like I like.

This is what i mean by the plant dropping.

Also got word that in spring I'll have a full building inspection.
So switched the light to 12/12 was hoping to veg for at least one more week.

Still had the hps/mh switchable ballast I ordered and 400w things.
That was intended for flowering.

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/97780-just-want-review-plantlightinghydroponics-com.html

[Pasofol]

Well it's been a week with flowering under tubes. I've added a diy cool tube for the HPS, and the vortex 6inch fan was too much for the cabinet. Had a 50cpm fart fan that did nothing. Kept the window beside it open and couldnt close cab without over heating that's with cfl even + fart fan.

Bought the vortex one with a fan controller even with lowest setting it was too much for the cab. Created a vacuum and made things inside shake including the leafs. Next day went bought a wall mount fan controller and made it myself for half the price of the premade one. One along is too little resistance but the two working together slows it down enough. It's just running slow enough not to stop and pulls enough air.


The plants started dropping again since I've added the vortex and now the hps. (new setup almost done) There are some signs of nute burn so I'll flash again but haven't added any nutes since last flash. The smaller one doesn't show signs of nute burn but so is dropping aswell. Not sure why it's stressing outside it not being use to the new environment.

I normally add nutes to one and just water the other to see if its the nutes the problem or some other cause.

[Pasofol]

Looks like it might be 2 for 2 male.
The sick one that I pushed through to survive is male I'm pretty sure.

The taller healthier one might still be a female, primordia is still hard to tell or so I'm telling myself. I'll wait and see.