Stealth PC-case 100W & growreport

Got tired of dealing with dealers and everything that decided to build a stealth micro-grow for a few people’s sake.

It’s a Middle-tower PC case and is equipped with:
- up to 92W of main light + 18W auxiliary lights;
- a carbon air filter 3,5sm thick (~1,4 inches);
- quiet: 24 to 28dB;
- safe (heat-relay automatic shutoff, automatic circuit breaker;
- lamp controls: 3-light groups (2 – main lights; 1- auxiliary lights);
- fan controls (speed+power switch for intake, exhaust and circulation;
- temperature delta: 3-5 Celcius (can anybody tell me how to count that in Fahrenheit?);
- internal dimensions: Height 18,1inches (46sm), Length 12,6 inches (32 sm) for the plant and 6,7 inches (17 sm) for the pot, Width 7,5 inches (19,5 sm);

It’s lightproofed and is not visible in a dark room except for the exhaust fan. But you have really to peer into it to see some light.
Here’s some photos.






The strain is Fruity Jack Auto (Rastaman Seeds). A mixture of palm soil (pH 6,0-7,0) with perlite and vermiculite, drainage. Volume is 1,5l (0,4 gal).
Pokon Universal Fertilizer & Pokon Cactus and Succulent Fertilizer
Jar-cured tap water ph around 7,0-8,0 according the liquid aquarium pH-test.

The strain is Fruity Jack Auto (Rastaman Seeds). A mixture of palm soil (pH 6,0-7,0) with perlite and vermiculite, drainage. Volume is 1,5l (0,4 gal).
Pokon Universal Fertilizer & Pokon Cactus and Succulent Fertilizer
Jar-cured tap water ph around 7,0-8,0 according the liquid aquarium pH-test.
Photos are in post below.

As I am new to growing I would greatly appreciate your opinion and advise!

Wish you good stuff!

reserved

Fruity Jack Auto Day 20 Photos

Fruity Jack Auto Day 20 Photos

Day 20 from popping out.
Photo 1


Photo 2

Hi guys and gals who are interested in how things are going here!

First of all I’d like to excuse for a mistake in counting days that I made writing the previous post. The plant in those photos is only 13 or 14 days since sprouting, not 20! It’s looking a bit weak due to the lack of water – I wanted it to develop more roots. It was watered right away after taking those pictures.

Day 20, here we go!



Things are going flawless so far. Jacky (I do hope it’s a female, the seed is told to be feminized) is doing very well and is showing a rapid growth. Nothings seem to bother. I only water it with tap jar-cured water. Will start feeding Pokon Universal (NL) (NPK: 7-3-7) from next watering and will feed it for a few weeks. I’m going to repeat the previous grow scheme – using fertilizers ones in two or three times of watering. It’s funny to see how the plant switches into roots development when the soils starts to dry out and after watering it starts to build up greenery. Meanwhile, I’m very, very happy with the palm soil I have – it is the best soil I’ve ever seen (used to have flowers at home). Last grow the Blueberry has shown some microelements deficiency a month into bloom, so I consider buying some microelements fertilizer for this grow but haven’t chosen yet – all I’ve seen are for certain plants/flowers and most of them have NPK too. There’s a lot of ‘em, yet nothing to choose from.





As for now the plant hasn’t been watered for 4 days, still the soil is quite moist - I have heavily watered it last time (~1l for a 1.5l pot) and about 150ml of waste water came out of the drainage showing pH 7.5-8. I can’t be more accurate due to the cheap liquid pH test. The pot is still heavy but I can feel how the plant is utilizing water )). The pH is close to the upper limit, yeah? I’ve read that pH 7.5 and even 8 is okay for soil. Should I consider lowering the pH? Anyway, I’ll be careful using fertilizers – it’s better to underfeed than overdose, right?

I’ve started to bend her as you can see from the pictures. Some serious training is about to happen tomorrow when the soil would dry out a bit and Jacky will be more flexible . I’m going to LST it around the pot. Want to try to form the canopy “inside” the pot space with the main body (?) going spiral around the pot.
Until the last day only three main lamps of four were working (2x25W@6500K + 1x23W@2700K) at total of 73W providing enough light and a mixed spectrum. Yesterday I have switched on another 23W@2700K and now the box is running close to the full throttle at total of 96W. I have some heavy duty 2700K lamps (32W; 2140 lm) that I might use during bloom but we’ll see. They produce more heat and I don’t want to shorten their lifetime as they are quite pricy (local currency has fallen twice since Jan 2014 and it’s ain’t funny). The temp’s on the utility unit exhaust are in high 30s Celsius while the temp range for the lamps is [-10..40]*C and I’d prefer to keep it as far from the limit as possible.



You can see that the side auxiliary lights are on. Those are 9W (560 lm) CFL’s that are supposed to help small buds to mature during late bloom, but now these lights came in handy providing some heating – it’s cold outside (about 15*C, 60F) and I don’t want the soil to cool down that much. Temps inside are about 22*C (71F) which I’m pretty happy with. The day/night regime is 19/5 since day 4 (24/0 day 1-4), lights are going OFF at 5p.m. and ON at 10p.m.
The pot is standing on a 4” box to keep it away from the cold floor and closer to lights. There’s a glass separating the lamp department and the grow chamber, so I can keep the plant as close to the lamps as the glass allows.

The plant began to smell recently. I can feel it when I open the case. The smell is light, though a nose familiar to this kind of smell would definitely catch it, you know. I can't feel it outside the box, however. Will see how it’d be when the soil dry out and the lights go off. On the prev. grow these were the moments of the most severe odor attack.
To take some decent photos I have to switch the circulation fans off, as they cause the plant to swing – good that there’s a switch for each fan (excluding the scrubber fan – it runs around the clock and doesn’t have a switch, but a fuse).

Thnx for watching!
Any input on the topic is greatly appreciated; comments good or bad are welcomed.

Take care & stay safe!

Day 25, stress

Day 25, stress

Well, here is a little update and some news.

Day 25.

Who’s that newb who was boasting about the flawless grow??? I have probably stressed the plant 23 days into the grow with my own hands… Have been working with the grow box during the dark period (the plant was in another box) and switched the timer to “manual ON”. When the “morning” time came I moved Jacky back in her grow box and closed it leaving timer in ON mode. Thus, the next dark period never came. I’ve noticed it the next day only, so the plant was exposed to light for 43h (forty three hours). In the beginning of the next “night” I have sprinkled her with water and watered in the “morning”. Hope it was of some help for her.
What do you guys think about it? It is the Auto Fruity Jack feminized, three full weeks old. What kind of negative consequences can follow?


Another disturbing thing is that there is a few necrotic spots on some of the oldest leafs. It is kinda burned from inside but I can’t recall any reason for it? Could it be because of sprinkling it when the lights were on? I don’t do this anymore, only after the lights go off to let the drops dry naturally. Here’s a picture. What could it be?


As mentioned earlier I started to feed fertilizer. By now I gave her 50% dose of Pokon Universal (for vegetation) 2ml/0.8l of water. Next was one watering with plain water (after the stress). Now I’m puzzled about the next question: I’m going to leave town for 5 days, how should I water the plant?
My plan is to water it well the day I leave, cover the soil with foil and leave only 3 lamps working (back to 73W). The soil mix has quite a bit of vermiculite (10% aprx) and it helps a lot to keep moist. I will also place the pot an inch or two lower. At the same time I’ll add some fertilizer again. Thinking about how much should I. Or it’s better not to fix if it ain’t broken? What would you suggest about it all? I'd be happy to hear what do experienced growers think...

Meanwhile it is growing well and seems to do even better than Auto Blueberry. I’m pulling leafs away from the new branches and pulling those to the top out from the shade. While the soil is moist I can fell odor only when I take care of Jacky.

Some extra photos in the next post - still looking for a way to attach more than 5 pictures to the post.

Some extra photos:

If it is an auto it doesn't need 12/12 light schedule so no harm done with 40 hours light. A longer day period will let it grow more. Some true autos flower under 24 hour light.

Nice micro grow.

Lookin good man.
Nice healthy looking plant ya got
Wish i could help answers some questions, but that would be the blind leading the blind

I do have a few quedtions for you though..
Is that can lookin thing in there? And how long are you planning on letting it go before flipping to flowrt

Looking really nice!

You're right about those burn spots. If you get water/nutrients on the leaves with lights on, the water droplets can act like a magnifying glass burning those areas.

I always water right when lights come on. I try to stay close to the soil and pour slowly until done, never flooding the container with too much water at a time. Plants never get wet.

If I do happen to get the plants wet, I just give them a quick *flick* of the stem and water droplets gone.

Looks like burn from the light rather than deficiency

Day 27

Day 27

A brief update.

Thanks to everybody answered – you have really helped! I’ll take time to answer when I’ll be back since I’m literally on the run.
Dead head jed – if you’re asking about the white cylinder (to the right of the pot) with a metal strip over it – it’s a filter and a fan that is pulling air through. There’s an exhaust hole in the floor under the fan.

This is how the plant looked like ready for a 5 lonely days. Watered well (1 liter) with a 50% doze of the fertilizer. Leaving three lamps on and placed the growbox in a cooler place. The utility and lights units ventilation is on the max, the grow chamber mixing fans are on min. Foil on the soil )) and some more bondage for Jacky.

Here’s the photos.


Wish you the best! See ya soon!

Day 32

Day 32

Hi!

iTarzan, thank you for your alleviating comment and kind words. You made me leave in a better mood about the plant. So far it seems to be just fine. I promise not to be such a dummy again )).
Dead head jed, thnx! I’m waiting for an update in your thread man!
Texan, thanks for stopping by! Yep, I’ve got this watering thing. Now I sprinkle the plant after the lights go off, water before the lights go on and avoiding leaving drops of water on the leafs.
Jaytoker, yes it looks like that. If it was a nutrient burn it would be on the edges not in the middle, right?

Now it’s time to see what has happened while nobody was around )).

Day 32.

While I was away Jacky wasn't loosing time – I was quite amused to see how much she has gained. Compare it with the day 27 =).
Here’s a photo as seen when I opened the growbox.


There are a lot of new stems and I’ve counted 6 main of them (longer than an inch, some of them are 5 inches long) and the main cola. There are a lot of smaller stems appearing here and there. I wonder how many of them should I keep? Wouldn't it be better to leave just those 1+6 main stems and cut off all others?
The soil was dry though the plant was OK. I’ve bended and trained it, added some more soil mix and watered it well adding a 100% doze (5ml/1l) of fertilizer (NPK: 7-3-7). The leafs are dark green and show no bad signs as far as I see. Next time I’ll water it with plain water.

Top view before LST-session.


Top view after LST-session.


Main stem.


Under the canopy.


Should I insert the thumbnails with links to the originals, or it's better to post originals?

Wish you nice grows!

If you can finds a slightly bigger pot to transplant into that will help your yield a bit. In any case it looks very healthy!

Day 39

Day 39

Hello, ppl!

Not much time to hang out, but here’s an update of this humble little grow.

Jaytoker, thnx on kind words – the plant is shining with health, yeah. Very happy about it. As for a larger pot – that’s a nice thought, though I think I’ll leave it as is. This plant is growing better than the previous one and has so many colas that it is already a challenge to fit it in the box. And it’s going to double its mass yet. Let it grow in that 1.5 l pot, I’ll start to beg it to stop growin’ soon ))). The prev. grow was taken under a 70w hps and Auto Blueberry gave 28g (1oz) of dried buds that are still being smoked. This growbox has ~20w of light more and the strain is said to be a fruitful one. If it gives around 25g I’ll be satisfied, though it might hit 30g easily IMO.

Day 39.

Okay, here the update comes!
This is how Jacky looked like when I opened the box. It’s blooming for 2, maybe 3 weeks already.


The temps are about 21-23C on the ground level and about 26-28C in the very top of the box (above the left circ. fan).
The main cola is near the air scrubber, so I’ve put on the auxiliary light on that side. The main light set now is such: 2x25w@6500K, 2x23w@2700K. The aux light is 9w@2700K.
Since last post here the plant has been watered twice – once with plain water and the second time with 50% veg fertilizer. It started to drink ferociously - a liter/2days. As it is the 6th week I’m puzzled how to feed her further?

Questions time.
The plant has so many burgeons that I’m about to start cutting them away. Here’s a picture of the 10th and 11th burgeons. I consider leaving only 9 of them (those that are situated down the stem) and cutting off all that are higher and the minors that are an inch or less long. So, I'll cut off those I hold on the photo and upper + all the little ones. That would leave 9 colas + the main one and give all the power the plant has into them. Or should I cut a few more and leave 7-8 colas + main cola? What do you guys think?


I’ve noticed yellowing and tips burning on one of the young stems – wonder what could it be? To me it looks like a long-time K deficiency, but I’m not sure at all. How could that be?? Other stems are fine so far. What do you think it might be?


The view after LST


In a box + a flashlight.


Have a nice time watching!

It's getting crowded in there.
While I'm not a big fan of defoliating, I have found that those giant fan leaves really don't help. They take a lot of energy from potential bud sites.

I'd either remove some or cut the fans in half so they aren't as large and don't shade out too much other bud sites. I think if this plant was in a larger area I would cut them down, but since this is such a small area, I would remove them if it were me.

Yellowing might be from lockout of some sort.

Day 45

Day 45

Hi!

Day 45.

Blynx, thanks on your input! Your comments lead me to make some changes and they seem to help. Gracias!

Well, it’s day 45, temps are about 25C (77F), lights 19/5. Plant is already in bloom (you remember, it’s auto strain) for 3 full weeks, drinking a lot of water (1l/33oz in 2 days). I’m feeding her every other watering. Started mixing fertilizers for vegetation (7-3-7) and flowering (4-7-7) 1:1. I’ve read that excess of Nitrogen can make buds less dense. I’ll completely switch to flowering formula in a week or two.

The pH of water used for watering is about 7.5-8.0. After blynx mentioned that a lockout is possible I decided to lower the pH. Used kitchen vinegar to correct the pH to 6.0-6.5. Watered with such pH corrected water for three times and it seemed to help. The cola that was showing yellowing and burning tips is recovering. From now on I'll try to keep water pH at about 7.0 (just a dew drops of vinegar per 1 liter of water).

Have put scissors into operation taking away young burgeons that were not going to receive light and cutting or removing a number of fan leafs. Did all this in three attempts giving the plant each time a day or two to recover.

It doesn't smell. Only when I work with her and rub a stem or a leaf I can feel the smell. Wonder if it would smell further into bloom. The filter has been tested several times (a week or so with AutoBluberry in her last weeks) but I’m interested how it will work throughout the cycle.

LSTing her every day – she’s growing ferociously! CFL’s seem to be better for plants than HPS (if comparing 70w hps with a good reflector and ~100w cfl with a poor reflector). The soil is the same; the temps are few degrees lower than under the hps light. We’ll see what we get, anyway. Already dreaming about a fulltower with 2x70wHPS – sketches done.

Changed the lights – now there’s three 23w@2700K and one 25w@6500K in the center. I’ll replace that last 6500K bulb with a “warm” one in a few weeks.

The growbox is working very well, not a single thing to mention. No faults, temps okay.

Photos!

Out of the box.


Untied.


Tied her down.




That same bud that had burned tips.


Grow safe!

Budshots. She’s maturing ))).


Took her for a walk in the Sun )).

I can't add more than 5 pic (smiles as well) and can't edit my posts... Does anybody know why? How do I post 5+ pics in a single post?

What’s wrong with this grow??? Couldn’t check out the plant last night and it happened to be the third day after watering and ambient temps raised significantly – all at the same time. It’s now 26-27*C ambient and about 28*C at the root level and 30 under the glass. The plant suffered drought and looked quite poor when I opened the box. It was a pain to see this.





Have watered her immediately adding 2ml (~50%) (NPK 4-7-7) nutes. Next morning she was looking good. Part of the lower leafs were lost but I was going to cut them away so that's not a loss. Here’s photos:





Changed the lights – now there are 2x23w + 32w, all are 2700K. A bit less light, though still a lot for this footprint and cooler both in the growchamber and the lamp department. Have retied her and cut a lot of leafs last week and now all the colas are under the direct light. Happy to see Jacky recovered and in good shape. Hope it didn’t harm her much and she is not stressed a lot. Lesson learned.

I think it’ll take her another 3 to 4 weeks to get ready (about 70-80 days from sprouting). Want to have more high effect. I’ll feed her one more time with 100% nutes for bloom (Pokon for Succulents: 4-7-7) and then 50% two, maybe three times and start flushing before crop in 20s June.

Planning a massive upgrade for the growbox but that will take place after crop only. I might put her for a week to the hps pc box after the final defoliation and do upgrade Mark 1, if I'll have where to veg the next plant. I think it's worth making a little and simple veg box. Something 5'x5'x8' running about 30-40w@6500K or 40-50w white LED.

A few more pics in the next post.

A few budshots (around day 47) for your pleasure.