First grow in Cab with CFLs - Cali Orange

[side00]

So I decided it was time to give a grow a shot indoors... I built a cab last week to do it in.

The cab measures in at 30" x 28" x 58" - not huge, but assuming I'll have a couple males and prob transplant 1 or 2 outside the cab right now has 6 26w 6500k lamps with parabolic reflectors, though I will be adding either more CFLs w/o reflectors or maybe some flouros.... lights are mounted with chains to adjust the height... only thing I haven't sorted out yet is ventalation... I have the fans for it, just need to buy the ducting supplies.

24 hours after starting germination 2 were showing taproot so I planted those. I;m starting the seeds in 2 different kinds of soil, 3 will be in Hortibec Premium Nature Mix - Seedling Starter Mix which is made up of Peat Moss, Perlite and Compost (not sure of the ratios)... the other 2 are in Hortibec Premium Nature Mix - Vegetable Garden & Herb Mix which is made up of Peat Moss, Compost, Humus and Sand... not sure of the ratios of either of them though...

I plan on using the VGH mix only once I do the first transplant, but I am thinking of adding Perlite to it.

Anyways, heres some pics!

Edit: the seeds are Nirvana - California Orange Bud btw

the first is the 5 seeds germinating with the 2 showing their taproot

the second is the first seed going in the pot

the next 2 are pictures of the cab setup.

Plant 1 & 2 had their "Day 1" as Apr 12 and plant 3-5 had their "Day 1" on the 13th... for the sake of simplicity, I;m going to say Apr 13 is day 1 for all of them.

any suggestions are welcomed! :thumbsup:

side00 Reviewed by side00 on 04-17-2009. First grow in Cab with CFLs - Cali Orange So I decided it was time to give a grow a shot indoors... I built a cab last week to do it in. The cab measures in at 30" x 28" x 58" - not huge, but assuming I'll have a couple males and prob transplant 1 or 2 outside the cab right now has 6 26w 6500k lamps with parabolic reflectors, though I will be adding either more CFLs w/o reflectors or maybe some flouros.... lights are mounted with chains to adjust the height... only thing I haven't sorted out yet is ventalation... I have the fans Rating: 5

[side00]

Day 2 - # 1 & 2 popped up out of the soil so they have now gone into the cab and under the CFLs while the other 3 remain upstairs so they don;t dry out fast by being under the lights

First pic is of plant #1, odd its much smaller than #2 already and #1 popped its taproot first!

first pic is plant #2

last pic is them under their CFL's - i've also adjusted the neighboring CFLs to point at them while we wait on the other 3 plants

[side00]

ooo looks like #1 is actually a little bigger than i realized, just took a closer look at it a few hours later and I could see that the stem was actually coming up out of the soil and then curled back under it with the first 2 leafs forming... i carefully scraped a bit of the dirt away from where it was going back under to help it pull those leafs up out of the soil a bit

[KillerBudG]

You should go to your local hardware store and get a few of them Y adapters for light sockets. 1socket+Yadapter=2sockets.:jointsmile: Soil looks kinda rough No offense but I would not want you to grow me if I was a seed lol.:jointsmile: Good Luck man I would go with them Y adapters tho twice the lights


~One~:rastasmoke:
~BudG~:rastasmoke::rastasmoke:

[side00]

Yeah, i've been thinking about the Y adapters, i took a look for them in home depot the other day but they were sold out of them.

the soil looks kinda rough because the mix uses compost as a natural fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers which gives a soil somewhat similiar to what you'd dig up in a forest... has lots of small biodegrading sticks and its very crumbly when its dry... its quite damp in those pics which makes it a little sticky.... i suspect thats why the first plant had a little trouble popping the seed leafs up out of the top... now that i freed them a bit they are starting to stand up and open

the 2 are growing great in the seedling starter mix so far... i can see noticable growth as i keep checking them every couple hours to make sure they aren;t getting too hot from the lights being so close to the soil

[KillerBudG]

Ya I figured that it had some compost or some other mixture to it but I could not be to sure as I am steady smokin an drinkin. Ya dig?



~One~:rastasmoke:
~BudG~:rastasmoke::rastasmoke:

[side00]

Wow, I just realized I screwed up when Day 1 was..

Day 1 for plant 1&2 was actually the 15th, and plant 3-5 was the 16th... so going to call the 16th day 1 for all of them.


Anyhow, its now Day 3, so not much has happened, but been thinking about improvements too...

The first 4 seeds that germinated have all popped up.

the 5th one i can see just starting to push through the soil.

been thinking about the lighting situation as well... I think what I am going to do is re-make the centre mount that hangs from the chains to be slightly smaller and mount some fixed ceiling brackets on to it... then I;m going to cut some wood and screw some straps between the verticle posts inside the box at varying heights inside the cab... those straps can then be used to attach the clamp-mounted parabolic reflector lamps which i can i aim a little better from there to get at the lower sections of the plants while the suspended lights hit everything from the top.

Also... I should have mentioned before... but once I goto flower I;m planning on swapping out all the bulbs with 46w (150w equiv) w/2600 lumens each @ 2700k where as what I am running right now for veg is 26w (100w equiv) w/1600 lumens each @ 6500k.

I;m going to think about the lighting situation a bit more before I do that though... not like I even want super intense light just yet as my seedlings are still very very tiny and the soil will get too hot with more light anyways.

[KillerBudG]

Remember ventilation is a key idea with a little fan blowing on them when they get a decent little size.:jointsmile:


~One~:rastasmoke:
~BudG~:rastasmoke::rastasmoke:

[side00]

Yep

I still gotta sort out the regular cabinet vents... might do that today i have some old relatively small industrial fans that i'll use 1 or 2 to pull air out the top from some vent holes in the bottom... I just need to go and pick up some some cheap ducting so I don't create any light-leaks in the process. I also have a small oscilating desk-size fan that will be going inside the cab once the actual cab vent is sorted out

I;m not *too* concerned about that at the moment though... i have a regular upright fan oscilating into the box at the moment through the front door... but that is creating some light losses having the door open.

For the afternoon today though I've pulled the seedlings out of the cab and they are catching some sun-rays infront of a window... wanted to put them right outside but its too cold today (about 60F).

today is day 4 and things are still looking good, plant #5 has its seed leafs stuck together still... hopefully they will pull apart on their own soon.

right now I have the plants on a 24/0 light schedule, but I may pull back to 18/6 later on.. haven't decided yet. right now the CFLs being so close to the soil is causing me some dryness problems... my soil seems to be getting dry very fast from the lights being so close... and i;m sure the parabolic reflectors are making it alott worse having them so close to the soil...

hopefully they'll enjoy the day in the sun :rasta: might grab some updated pics of them later today

[side00]

Just a quick day 4 pic update

the first is just the plants/lights in a new layout while they are really small... once they grow up a bit the lights will be in a new configuration

the second and 3rd pic are just a couple macros