Budget/Refrigerator grow

[Smurph]

I'm thinking about getting a rubber tub and cutting about six holes in the top (well bottom, but i'm imagining this upside down), wiring in 6 light sockets, and getting six light socket splitters so I can get 12 bulbs in there. It would serve two main purposes. One: the obvious, reflecting the light. I feel that if my light is 3-4ft from the top, that's 6-8ft that some of the light is traveling, Surely that can be reduced. The other purpose it would serve for me is to keep all of my lights more manageable and convenient.

Edit: on second thought, after reading that Text you linked to, I might skip the light socket portion of the reflector and just wire em in like that, who knows.

[bigtopsfinn]

You could mount all the cfl's like you explained if you did Scrog... otherwise you'd want them spread around. If you do Scrog + your tub idea, you can just use some chain to make the light tub height adjustable.

[Smurph]

Alright, we removed the fridge door properly (3 screws) and replaced it with a cardboard door. We plan to line it with mylar on the inside.

Why? Now we have ventilation. I took a heater very similar to the one in the pic below, opened it up, gutted everything, heating element, potentiometers to control heat and thermostat, put the fan portion back in it, wired it to power, now it's always on if its plugged in. Good enough for me. It is currently placed at bottom pushing air out.

Still sitting on 2 1600lumen lights, set to up that a lot on tuesday. We did manage to put a wall in to make the light not be able to travel as far, decreasing the area to about 1.5ft^2, and this makes me want to split the refrigerator into 2 grow chambers.




And here's a pic:
IMG00041.jpg (349 KB)

*note, we plan to grow about 3 plants. We're just saving room for failure/males.

[disrupt86]

Refriginator i found this ad in a old high times mag.looks like it could be verry helpfull resource for you

[jakezking]

I'd say the old fridge should work fine - I've seen crazier grow cabs before. As discussed above, just be sure to have proper ventilation; I would position the fan as btfinn described - at the top, to push the hot air out as the purpose of the fan is to eliminate heat. You can have a secondary fan in the fridge to blow on your plants providing better air flow and strengthening their stems.

Also, what color is the interior of your fridge? Mine is already a pretty highly reflective white, which based upon my knowledge of fridges - most others are also. If yours is white, I doubt you need to go to the trouble of lining it with mylar.

Glad to follow this innovative grow.

[Smurph]

It is white, as the pic shows. But since we took the door off, and replaced it with cardboard (for ventilation), we're gonna put mylar on the cardboard.

The fan is kinda loud where it is, I think I'm going to have to remount it entirely. Right now, it still looks like a heater because I used the plastic housing as my fan grille. It has a metal fan and i'm kinda afraid of it because its spinning pretty fast. But it is a little loud, too.

[Smurph]

Since I brought the light down to the plants, finally went out and bought some nutes, got the ventilation mostly taken care of, and used better soil, growth has been rapid.

Its me and a buddy doing this, we're kinda just anxious. We're just winging it. This will be alright if we don't get the best results, we are mostly looking for a start, and something to improve on.

I found some seeds from a bag with much higher potency and I'm about to put those in some soil, and see how they go.

Right now, I think the current crops are just past 3 weeks old. You can tell they've been deprived of some light, but that's slowly being fixed, as our trickling incomes will allow.

[BeFree]

Yeah smurph! Grats on 50 posts. Attach some pictures for us. :thumbsup:

I'm curious to see how this 'Ganjirator' works out.

beSafe:jointsmile:

[Smurph]

Quick update. I snapped a few pics. We're using miracle grow nutrients right now since its all we have and its better than none. We're still a little under-lit, so growth isn't the best. The cup in the middle has miracle grow soil in it too, the others are just another soil. I got a few more lights, just need to get em wired up.

I once saw a DIY post on how to take the base off of a CFL to wire them in parallel and save from having to buy sockets or splitters. Since then, I've searched for about 2-3 days and haven't seen the post again, does anyone know which I'm talking about?

Also, what seems to be the problem in pics 2 and 3?

[fluid69]

Quick update. I snapped a few pics. We're using miracle grow nutrients right now since its all we have and its better than none. We're still a little under-lit, so growth isn't the best. The cup in the middle has miracle grow soil in it too, the others are just another soil. I got a few more lights, just need to get em wired up.

I once saw a DIY post on how to take the base off of a CFL to wire them in parallel and save from having to buy sockets or splitters. Since then, I've searched for about 2-3 days and haven't seen the post again, does anyone know which I'm talking about?

Also, what seems to be the problem in pics 2 and 3?

I remember it too, I believe syde00 posted that link somewhere. maybe he'll drop by.

I wouldn't use the nutes yet, you'll burn your baby's up. i'd wait atleast 2 weeks.