2.25 sq. ft carboard cab. 4 wks into flower w CFL's.

hey, I'm using my new cardboard cab now, got some decent bagseed goin. started with 12 and now left with 5 females and 1 hermie which i pulled the balls off of. the box is serious. its 2.25 sq. ft and is 35" tall. I have 8 soft white 26watt cfl's on top of all the plants using Y adapters and such and I just got a big soft white 300w equiv. 68w actual cfl. all together I have 17,400 lumens total which works out to 7,733 per sq. ft and a total of 268 actual watts. temp stays between 85 to 90 degrees and have one intake 4" fan down low and the same thing as an exhaust up top. I am left with 6 plants now all in dixie cups still and there doing really well. I have the big 68w cfl hanging down lower then the other cfl's and its hanging bout halfway down the plants right in the center. I have all my plants circles around the big cfl. Looks really good and I still have bout 10" of height to go before I'm maxed out. plants are 4 weeks into flower and 2 look really nice with lots of hairs and buds starting to form and the other 4 have just white hairs and seem to be taking awhile to get going.

anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Thanks everyone.

BTW I also just flushed them and using 15-30-15 nutes. feeding every other watering session.

I have lots of pics which will be up very soon from day 1 up til now.:rastasmoke:

PICS!!!

pics everyone.:thumbsup:

more pics:thumbsup:

I would cut back on the MG and transplant soon. Those things need more soil. Pop em out and look at the roots.

more pics with some from about 2 weeks old. will put more up of my first box and my second box and finally the box im using now. Plus got some pics from when they first germinated.

pics show my intake fan down low and exhaust fan up high. only have the exhaust fan on and the negative pressure automatically turns the intake fan but I dont actually need to plug in my intake fan. temps stay at 78 with just the one fan on.

Lemme know what you guys think. not bad for first grow ever. once the other 4 plants catch up to my other 2 then itll be even nicer. Got that other small plant there in the middle, it's about 2 weeks old and i started flowering it a couple days ago. hoping it'll stay nice and small sitting under that 68w cfl.

Hey jakester, thanks for the advise. I know MG isn't that great, so everyone says but I mix it with about 1/3rd vermiculite seed starter mix which I feel helps a lot. the root balls really aren't bad as you think they would be. I think I can easily finish these babies in the dixie cups but I def. wanna find plastic pots that are slightly bigger. I looked yesterday and all I could find where clay pots which I don't want and plastic ones which were slightly too big for my box. I'm looking for something no more then 2-3 times bigger then the dixie cups.

keep the comments coming. I'm open to all comments as long as your not hatin on my grow. :rastasmoke:

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Originally Posted by smallgrow1

Hey jakester, thanks for the advise. I know MG isn't that great, so everyone says but I mix it with about 1/3rd vermiculite seed starter mix which I feel helps a lot. the root balls really aren't bad as you think they would be. I think I can easily finish these babies in the dixie cups but I def. wanna find plastic pots that are slightly bigger. I looked yesterday and all I could find where clay pots which I don't want and plastic ones which were slightly too big for my box. I'm looking for something no more then 2-3 times bigger then the dixie cups.

keep the comments coming. I'm open to all comments as long as your not hatin on my grow. :rastasmoke:

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I don't think anything is wrong with the MG, it's just nutrients in a salt base. It's the build up I worry about. Your plants look yellow, droopy and on the verge of curling in some places. They look like they are being kept alive by artificial means and need some room to stretch out. I would be willing gallon pots, some decent soil and a little patience will up your yields by a bunch.

The way they are now you will have to feed them until the end. Then your flush will basically starve them really fast...maybe too fast to get em clear of buildup. It may be a long cure to get your smoke tasting right.

I hear ya. I was thinkin the same thing. I flushed them all to be sure no salt buildups occured and the whole curling under of the leaves is just bad on one plant for some reason. been like that for the last 2 weeks now, the rest of the plants are fine. I am going to go get slightly bigger pots tomorrow though and transplant them. Hopefully thatll help and make them increase bud size and be healthier. I will have it fixed tomrow pronto. Thanks a lot jakester

Hey did you clone any of them before flowering? Once you get this run behind you things will become way easier. I cannot imagine feeding with that range of nutes in a small pot setting. When you transplant if your able to snap a shot of the roots I am curious how they are handling it. I like the shot of your Y adapters and the vertical light kinda fun making things work in a small setting. What kind of water do you use?

Whats up Frostedwonder, I will def. take a pic when I transplant tomorrow hopefully and NO I didnt clone any of them. that little plant in the middle there was a seed I started just a couple weeks ago. I use well water that I let sit for a few days. I also sometimes use poland springs water. Thanks for the comment and input. I am very proud of my setup. I am getting some easy ryder seeds from the joint dr. and Cant wait to get them going in this same box. I am going to have 4 going at a time and then add 2 more seedlings after about a month or so. I'm going for a perpetual grow so I can at least harvest 2 oz's every month. I am also planning on having some auto fem seeds as well going outside. gonna start with 2-4 then start 2 new ones every month so I can have 2 or so plants ready for harvest every month. I did a little LST today to my plants and will include a pic. saved about 4-7 inches of head space. Wish I had started it earlier to have bushy low plants. OH well this is all a learning experience for future grows. I enjoy every minute of it and have def. learned a lot and done a lot of homework on everything.

Keep the comments coming please. thanks everyone and rep me if you view please.:thumbsup:

pics of minor LST. Will transplant to slightly bigger pots tomorrow.:thumbsup:

and.....

root balls of plants from couple days ago.:rastasmoke:

this ones for you frostedwonder.

Come on peoples. I know there's way more of you out there then 2 people. please comment or leave some feedback. thanks. Does nobody think my box is awsome? You have to admit that its one of the better looking and properly functioning(as far as more then enough light, good ventilation, reflective interior and sweet and stealthy) cardboard cabs out there.

thanks everyone for viewing.:thumbsup:

I am just curious as to why u seperated the roots from the plants:wtf:

good question viking as that would totally screw the plants over if that was the case, hahaha. Those are actually the root balls of the male plants which I had seperated from the rest of the females in another room. I had kept them for awhile and finally gave them the chop as of a few days ago. the males where the same size as the females though so the root balls are about the same size with the females. Just used those pics cause it was easier to take a pic of those rootballs which I'm disposing of rather then lift my females out of their cups to snap a pic.

Thanks for the post though.

Keep em coming guys and once again, thank you for viewing. Happy growing:jointsmile:

nice bro. i like the box. just curious of were u got that monster cfl though. i wanted to get the 150w 5000k full spectrum. the problem is finding it though

thanks Wyldeganja, The large cfl can be purchased at any home depot and I believe also at lowes. goes for about $15. def a good investment, adds lots of needed light and I like the fact that it sits right in the center of all the plants and is within a couple inches of them and helps the middle and bottom portions of the plant receive light that otherwise wouldn't get to those areas with just the cfl's on top.

I can't wait to get the easy ryders going in this box. I think it'll be a very good outcome and I am hoping for good yields with this box and that strain. I am also going to get the auto fem kush x lowryder #2. This box is stealth and once I add my diy homemade carbon filter to the exhaust fan, it'll be 100% stealth. in the meantime I use lots of dryer sheets and smell good air freshners to keep it under wraps.

Thanks for the comment man. keep em comin.:dance:

btw the 150w cfl can be bought online. they get kinda pricey and you usually need a mogul size light socket but I saw some nice setups with the reflective hoods and the cfl as a package deal. I would still take a bunch of 26-68w cfl's placed all over the plants rather than just a big 150-250 watter on top. From what i've seen, cfl's seem to work best when placed all around the plants as far as yield goes. plus I heard that the high watt cfl's tend to burn out quicker and its cheaper to get a bunch of 26-68w bulbs. Do what you think will work best for your situation though. I am finally happy with the amount of light and placement of my lights for my box. Good luck

I know it all seems wonderful now but after you have dried, cured and smoked some of your bud you may want to try an HPS to speed flower time, build denser and stickier buds and generally get your nugs more like what you want to see in a bag with less hassles.

I like it. I'm hoping to do something similar for my first op. I like how efficiently you've used the space. Opening up that little door is like opening a portal to Pandora. Its jungly in there.

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Originally Posted by smallgrow1

btw the 150w cfl can be bought online. they get kinda pricey and you usually need a mogul size light socket but I saw some nice setups with the reflective hoods and the cfl as a package deal. I would still take a bunch of 26-68w cfl's placed all over the plants rather than just a big 150-250 watter on top. From what i've seen, cfl's seem to work best when placed all around the plants as far as yield goes. plus I heard that the high watt cfl's tend to burn out quicker and its cheaper to get a bunch of 26-68w bulbs. Do what you think will work best for your situation though. I am finally happy with the amount of light and placement of my lights for my box. Good luck

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I totally agree with this. I would much rather have the coverage and the longevity of 26-68w. My local grow shop said that 150-250w go out on average of 3-4 months!!! $$$$15-$20 a pop can add up.

I should tell u how glad i am to hear that those were just the male root balls!!
My heart sank when i first saw the pic. Your setup looks great by the way.
I am subscribing to this thread.:D

Well for the height of the plants pictured I figured it would be more root bound then the male roots pictured. The plants are just needing light and some soil probably to look right in my mind. The price of bulbs can get a pocket smaller for sure but if you compare just the cost of cfl replacement to HPS or MG and somehow work lumens and overall yield you will most likely end up at a hps for flowering and keep the cfl for side lighting, at least you didn't go and spend a bunch right away not really knowing what your style of growing will evolve into. I wish I would have got the 600w ac setup I was orig looking at vs the ac 400w I now have. I would only use CFL tho in a cardboard cab tho out of risk of fire. Oh and most people that have been on here for 0-6 months see tons of setups and to post to all of them would be a chore vs a pleasure so don't freak when you see 10,000 views and 50 responses. Try answering "what kind of bud is this" a few hundred times and you will understand.

Jakester-totally agree with you man. HPS are by far better then cfl's as far as yield goes but i figured for this box and my current needs I decided that cfl's would be best for me. I don't like the idea of a hot hps in a small cardboard box. maybe when I get a secret jarden grow tent then I will def. switch and get a 250w hps. I wanted to see for myself though that its possible to grow good nugs with just cfl's. It def. is harder and takes more technique and I figured if I can do it with cfl's then I can def. do it with hps. thanks for the comment though.

Elduderin- thank you so much for your comment. I am very proud of my box and if you do something similar you will not be dissapointed. very easy, cheap, small and stealthy. I dont know why more people don't build quality grow boxes out of cardboard. If you need any help or have any questions about setting up your grow box just let me know and I will try my best to help you and point you in the right direction. I am fairly new to this whole thing but I def. feel comfortable and can say that I know my stuff. After this first grow under my belt I think I will have quality problem free grows.

irishviking- HAHAHA, I imagine how you felt when you thought those were my female root balls. The female root balls arent much worse than those in the pics. Thank you very much for your comments and for subscribing to my thread. Keep the comments coming and lemme know if theres any other pics or info you would like to see/know bout my setup.

Frostedwonder- haha I totally agree with you man. I understand that not many people will post on this thread but its cool. As long as people view it and appreciate the work im putting into this setup. def agree with you on the hps in a cardboard cab. thats the main reason i strayed away from getting a hps light. I def. am happy with how I slowly bought things as I needed them and didn't go crazy like a lot of people seem to do and go spend a bunch of money on a setup and end up changing it halfway thru. I haven't purchased one thing that i am not currently using. I got the fans and cups for free which I had just lying around.


I am going to build the diy carbon filter tomorrow and transplant my plants so I will post up pics of everything when I'm done. should come out good hopefully. Hoping my little 2.5 wk old plant will show signs of being a female soon. I like the idea of a small budding plant in a dixie cup. it'll be more of an experiment and photo shoot then caring bout getting max. yeild.:rastasmoke:

in my honest opinion cardboard boxes are not stealth by any means
i build mine out of wardrobe cabinets from the furniture store they cost a bit of money but they don't stand out like a cardboard box light shining out and blankets on top still do what you can within your means the cheaper the better
it's all about cost right grow cheap smoke cheap but with quality

micsog- totally agree with you man. having a box in a room is def. weird looking but it's something I can easily take down, fold up and hide away if need be. I would love to have a nice cabinet instead of a cardboard box but as far as spending money goes, I like the fact that I didnt spend more then a dollar on the box. When I come across a very cheap or free cabinet that is good size for my needs I will def. switch over. btw, no lights shine out of my box when its closed with my sheet over it. plus I put a few things on top of it which makes it seem like a bedside table. you wouldnt think it was a box with all that stuff in it. Thanks for the feedback though.

hey everyone, got some new pics. here my dilemma, I got a hermie which looks nice and all and I keep ripping the balls off of it. out of about 20 balls I took off only one had actual powder pollen inside. the rest had just green plant material with no pollen. I am debating keeping this hermie and harvesting it but at the same time I kinda wanna just get rid of it. here are a couple pics of it. I currently took it out of the box and placed it in another area under a 4ft flouro tube, warm white of course.

U guys think I should just chop it or you think I should just let finish and make the best out of it?

pics of hermie

pics of one of my girls that's pretty far along. let me know what you guys think. I tried to get some bigger pots today but couldn't find any. I'm gonna go look more tomorrow so I can transplant these ladies. In one of the pics you can see that some of the bigger fan leaves are yellow with some weird brownish/purpleish color spreading from the center of the leaf outwards. Anyone know if this is normal in flowering or is this cause I need to transplant? Maybe a deficiency in something? please help. thanks.

also from the last pics I posted of one of my females. Can anyone maybe fill me in on perhaps a strain that it looks like it might be? sativa/indica hybrid? what do you guys think it is? I think that it might be purple haze as I did have a few seeds which I was told were from purple haze but idk if that's true.

Also, how much longer you think I got before harvest time with this plant? How much of a wet/dry yield do you think I might get from this plant knowing I am going to be transplanting into larger pots? Any input would be good. Thanks guys.:thumbsup:

A little more info might help you guys answer my previous questions. Vegged for 3 weeks and its 5 wks into flower. total of about or a couple days over 8 weeks old. thanks

someone.......anyone.....help me with my questions??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smallgrow1

pics of one of my girls that's pretty far along. let me know what you guys think. I tried to get some bigger pots today but couldn't find any. I'm gonna go look more tomorrow so I can transplant these ladies. In one of the pics you can see that some of the bigger fan leaves are yellow with some weird brownish/purpleish color spreading from the center of the leaf outwards. Anyone know if this is normal in flowering or is this cause I need to transplant? Maybe a deficiency in something? please help. thanks.

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don't transplant while flowering:stoned:

hey buffallo soldier. I though that transplanting isn't recommended during flowering but seems to work out fine when people do it. my other plants are very early in flowering and only have a few white hairs. no batches of buds forming or nothing like that. just like 2-8 white hairs at every location. I thought that since they were so early and need more space so bad if anything transplanting will only help and make for more yeild and healthier plants.

you should be in an appropriate container before flowering....so as not to stress the plants

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smallgrow1

hey everyone, got some new pics. here my dilemma, I got a hermie which looks nice and all and I keep ripping the balls off of it. out of about 20 balls I took off only one had actual powder pollen inside. the rest had just green plant material with no pollen. I am debating keeping this hermie and harvesting it but at the same time I kinda wanna just get rid of it. here are a couple pics of it. I currently took it out of the box and placed it in another area under a 4ft flouro tube, warm white of course.

U guys think I should just chop it or you think I should just let finish and make the best out of it?

pics of hermie

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the pollen sacs will pollinate your females, decreasing the quality because the plants put energy into creating the seeds. If you were able to separate then i'd say yea keep it but if not, then harvest what you have and get rid of it. Pulling off the sacs could have also caused pollination, the sacs are delicate and you shouldn't be messing around. :chainsaw:

...the hermie is what can also be caused by a late transplant(flowering) or just stressing the plants. The plants seem to handle stress better if it happens early in the veg cycle...

create as perfect an environment as possible and just hope for the best.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smallgrow1

hey buffallo soldier. I though that transplanting isn't recommended during flowering but seems to work out fine when people do it. my other plants are very early in flowering and only have a few white hairs. no batches of buds forming or nothing like that. just like 2-8 white hairs at every location. I thought that since they were so early and need more space so bad if anything transplanting will only help and make for more yeild and healthier plants.

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well, if u must........do the transplant, but in the future you really should avoid this issue:D

The space is way too small for that many plants. not enough lights either. You will never get close to the full potential out of what you have.

Bigger cab, more lights.... Use several 23w CFLs, split them between 2800K and 6300K so you have full spectrum for the entire grow cycle. A 4 inch muffin fan is not near enough.. the cab temp should be around 80F. Definately transplant, and for future reference, top the plants at the 3rd or 4th node, and in turn top the branches at the 3 node also. 18/6 on lighting for veg, then 12/12 for flower. MG potting soil (non moisture control) works very well, but can be a bit strong on the ferts for very young sprouts and seedlings. I attached some pics to show you the difference. BTW, I can't grow more than 3 plants at a time even though my cab is an 8ft tall, 6ft triangle. Most of the strains I grow are 4 months from seed to harvest.

buffallo soldier-i agree with you on the whole stressing the plant out and stuff but I know that I've kept a really low stress grow from the very beginning. I think I just got the 1 hermie out of 12 plants cause its from bagseed and I think it was gonna be a hermie no matter what I did. I am just going to transplant some of my females that are still early in flowering(only have a few white hairs) and see what happens. I think it'll be fine and in case it screws them up, I wont do it to all so I'll still have half my crop which won't be transplanted.

mississippi- I've done the math and think that for my grow space I have more then enough light. I think 7,300 lumens per sq. foot is plenty but your also right that more is better. I know my plants are small and all but I dont want an 8ft tall cab and I dont want plants that are very large. The point of my grow was to keep them small and within the amount of space I have. I know that my plants arent gonna be anywhere near their full potential but I feel like everyone has their particular needs and I know what mine are just as you know what yours are. This is my first grow and I learned a lot. My next grow is gonna be 4 easy ryders in this same box with 1 gallon pots each. I don't sell this stuff and only do it for my own medicinal purposes. As long as I have enough to smoke and not have to go waist my money on something that comes naturally out of the ground, im happy. Thanks for the input though. Your plants look AWSOME man!!! What strain are those? I am hoping that at some point down the road I can go bigger and better but for now I am under a lot of restraints and am happy that I am able to grow what I have. Oh and as far as sayin to use some 23w cfls. I dont know if you didn't notice but I have a total of 268 watts in a 2.25 sq ft area. I am using 8 26w cfl's that are hanging over the plants within an inch or 2 and I also have the big 68w cfl hanging in the middle of all the plants to get the side lighting and mid section. I also did some minor LST and my plants def. love it. I have every piece of the plants getting direct light.

ONly regret was that I wish I transplanted into slightly bigger pots and I wish I had started LST earlier to get low bushy plants. My box will be perfect for the easy ryders though. Can't wait.:thumbsup:

oh also, mississippi,

dont know if you read my post from the beginning but you seem to be missing a few things on my grow. I have 2 cpu fans but their not your reg computer fans. these are bigger industrial fans that move 49.4 cfm and runs only at 28 decibels. I have one up top above the lights and another down low and I only need to turn the top one on to get a constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The lower fan spins without power creating a nice breeze inside the box due to the negative pressure created by the top exhaust fan. everything in this box is good. lights, ventilation are very good and exceed the minimum requirements as well as having highly reflective Mylar interior.

enough said bout my box. I know its good and have strived to make sure it has what it needs to produce good plants. I dont want to use an hps light in my box and I dont want a bigger box.

Keep the comments and input coming guys and thanks to all that have posted.:D