Mr. Micro's PC3 : Big Box Lazy Organic

[jmn2dmb]

Mr.Micro.... the only thing i would suggest and remind you of is air is an excelet insulator, you have all of your case filled with those VHS tapes and your exhaust is only pulling out a small small volume of air, when the plants get bigger, your gonna be exhausting a much larger amount of air which will hold heat a lot better..... Just something to consider, I hope I made sense.

 

[Mr_Micro]

Indeed that does make sense! I recall when the case was completely empty (no VHS tapes or plants in it) the temperatures would run 5-9°F over room temperature. Now that the case is full though it runs about 6-8°F under room temperature.

So what I'll need to do is watch my temps as the grow progresses and the plants get larger and I remove VHS tapes to see what happens. If the volume of plant growth in the case stays relatively equal to the volume that the VHS tapes take up than my temps should stay quite low, meaning that I'd be safe to upgrade from a 70 to a 100 watt HPS system. But, if the plant growth doesn't take up nearly as much volume as the VHS tapes did and my temps go way up as the grow progresses than I'll know I'll have to stick with the 70 watt system.

Hopefully that made sense

 

[microRU]

Ahhh I think I understand what you mean Micro RU! My illumination won't be even because the area towards the back of the case and the area in the far front of the case will not receive as much light as the area directly in the middle of the case. Because the bulb and reflector are installed along the length of the case and not directly in the middle of the case, yes?

Yes. At me the same problem, under a lamp torch remarkable buds, and under a cartridge - small and air buds grow

I was going to ask though, what do you think about my idea of upping the wattage to 100 watts instead of my current 70? It would be inexpensive to do and since my temperature is currently only 69°F to 74°F (20°C to 23°C) I think I might be able to get away with it without having any heat problems.
Think this might be a good idea?

IMHO it is necessary to change only a throttle for 100 watt, and this lamp on 70 watt to leave. After that the lamp of 70 watt will shine on 100 watt.
I consider temperature to 30°C - remarkable, and to 35°C normal..

 

[kidkannabis]

IMO Mr.Micro, i would do a full run with the 70 watter and see if it pleased your needs (temps and yield wise). Then you can make the choice to keep running with that system or upgrade to the 100 watter.

Anyways.... you got seedlings already so this thread is only getting better!!! Keep us updated..

 

[RudieJ]

RudieJ - Heck yeah! I love the easy to open and close lockable doors and front panel on these Chenming cases. For my next case though (since this is just a temporary one until I can build another larger Nanomachine style 100% stealth box) I think I'm going with an Antec Sonata II case. It's pretty decent size without being so big as to turn heads like the server case I'm using now does, but it has the same style of lockable doors and front pannel as my Chenming case. There's a lotta options out there so look around a bit, but I think the best cases for growboxes are made by Chenming, Antec, and IN WIN.

Ok, this is getting really creepy. My current computer is in an Antec Sonata II and I'm looking for an oldschool putty colored monstrosity (I think they look cool) to move my components to so I can gut the Sonata.

 

[Mr_Micro]

Well Rudie, if you do gut your Sonata and don't need it anymore shoot me a PM about it. I'll be more than happy to buy it off ya for my next project

 

[Mr_Micro]

Update time!









It's now day 6 since the seeds first sprouted and they're coming along slowly but surely. I've actually been pretty surprised by how slowly they've been growing, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them at all so I'll just chalk it up to the fact that up until last year I was strictly a DWC hydro grower for 6 years... so I think I'm used to expecting really fast growth

Anyhoo, my impatience with the soil growth speed combined with my interest in tngreen's past few grows made me decide to switch the lights from 12/12 to 11 on and 13 off today, so from here on out the light cycle is going to be 11/13.

Also worth noting is that while the small one of two seedlings that grew out of the single Dutch Passion NL seed is still alive and growing fine, although it does look rather stunted compared to the rest of the seeds. You can see it in the upper right, it's quite a bit smaller than the rest. All other seeds (the two Skunk #1 on the left side and the 1 NL on the lower right side) are doing just fine though outside of a little stretching, but that's to be expected when growing seedlings under a HPS.

Still no nutes being given at this point, just plain PH 6.0-6.5 water. Temps still 70-75°F with the lights on and 67°F or so when the lights are off.


Well, I think that's about all for now!

 

[Mr_Micro]

I know I just updated with new pics yesterday, but...

A surprise guest has joined the party!










I was sitting around last night eating some take out thai red curry and thinking to myself, "Man... this soil stuff is just so slow, I really wish I had the space to do some hydro too."

And that was about the time that I looked down at my 1 quart takeout curry container and remembered the 1 Quart Hydro thread! So I finished up my curry and spent a good 20 minutes cleaning the container over and over until there wasn't a speck of oil left in it.
After that I just wrapped the container and the top of the lid black duct tape (leaving a slit on the side of the container to see the water level through), cut holes in the lid for a 3" net cup and air tubing, and threw some hydroton and a rapid rooter plug in the net cup. Then I filled up the container with tap water with 1.5 milliliters of PBP Soil Formula (it's the only nutrient I have on hand LOL), connected my airpump with a small airstone at the bottom of the container, threw a Dutch Passion Northern Lights #2 (Oasis) seed in the rapid rooter plug, and set it up in the case.

So now I have a nice 1 quart DWC single plant container to grow along with my soil plants! Lets hope the seed germinates properly and I get a good female out of it

This will be the first hydro grow I've ever done where I won't check the PH at all... just change the water once a week with tap water (since tap contains micro nutrients like calcium and magnesium that RO doesn't) with PBP in it at the recommended dosage (which usually brings the PH to somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5) and top it off with the same pre-PH balanced RO water I give my soil plants as needed in between water changings.

So we'll see how it works out, the PH might just be too unstable to give me any good growth in this small container, but hopefully it'll go well and I'll get some good results and a nice side by side comparison of organic soil versus DWC!

 

[RudieJ]

oh yes, that would be very rad... I was thinking about making the switch to hydro but I wasn't exactly sure how much faster and bigger the plants get

this will be pretty interesting (very resourceful, by the way)

 

[Mr_Micro]

Happy 4:20 everyone!

Today is now the 11th day since the seeds first sprouted and growth seems to have slowed almost to a halt. Not sure why really... Light is good (70 watt HPS - 11/13 cycle), ventilation is good, temps are good, soil mix is fine, using good PH balanced RO water and not over watering. So I'm a little baffled as to why growth seems to have screeched to a halt.

Also, it seems my Dutch Passion NL #2 (Oasis) seed that was dropped in the rapid rooter plug in the 1 Quart DWC tub began to germinate and then promptly died. I think I'm going to contact Seed Boutique about this, since out of 6 of the Dutch Passion seeds I've only been able to get 1 of them to germinate, so I think I got a bad batch since I've never had this kind of trouble with any of my other seeds.
On the upside though I changed the water in the DWC tub with fresh tap water with 1.5ml of PBP Bloom Soil Formula added and threw a Sensi Seeds Skunk #1 seed in the rooter plug, so hopefully it will work better on the second try.







But anyhoo... It's 4:20 today and to be honest I haven't smoked any herb in about a year (since I got some nasty anxiety attacks the last few times I smoked). I thought I was out of bud but when I looked at the bottom of the jar that used to have my DJ Short's True Blueberry (grown hydro-organic DWC) in it from last year I discovered a nice little bud at the bottom! So I whipped out the bud, threw it in my old Protopipe, and smoked it up in a single hit.
Damn it tasted good... and then about 5 minutes later it hit me! Euphoria like I haven't felt in ages! It was seriously wonderful, totally soothing, and everything was great in at least 17 different ways No anxiety, no stress, just pure positive feelings and relaxation. That was about 2 hours ago and I'm still feeling it pretty nice. Just that sweet gentle feeling of your brain drifting along on it's own little cloud.

Damn... life is good.

That little chunk of True Blueberry was the only herb I had, so I'm dry until the next harvest... but hey, good things are worth waiting for.



Happy 4:20 everyone!

 

[wishbone420]

Damn... life is good. thats what it is all about happy 420

 

[Connoisseur300]

I can't wait to see what that little system can do. I think you'll still get faster growth even without checking ph. Very cool test. Let's see how often you have to fill it compared to watering the soil.

 

[RudieJ]

yeah man, I used to get really bad anxiety
I hadn't smoked in 6 years until I started my grow. I smoked a hit a few weeks ago and another hit a week after that one. The first time I got a little bit of anxiety because I was anticipating it, but it lasted for about 30 seconds and the rest was good times.
I hope I stay a one-hit wonder forever... then micro grows make more sense for me.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Nothing like a good curry to inspire the imagination

 

[Mr_Micro]

LOL I hear ya guys, I'm pretty excited about the 1 quart hydro experiment too! The Skunk #1 seed I threw in the hydro tub just germinated today so I'm thinkin' that within the next few days it should sprout and then the real fun will start.

I'm getting really worried about my soil plants though... I'll admit I'm not the biggest expert on soil (always was a hydro guy until the past few grows) but I'm totally befuddled about what is going on with my soil plants. It's been 13 days now since they first sprouted and they look no different than they did on the 3rd day of growth.
It's like growth has just stopped! They're not dying and they look perfectly healthy, but they're not growing either... it's like they're just frozen in time.

I can't think of anything I could have done to shock or stress them, but this one has me seriously baffled and rather worried. Any advice soil growers?

 

[ScrubNinja]

I used to use "dolomite" which we also called "lime" which I'm assuming is the same as "dolmetic lime" when I was a kid on the vegie patch! I noticed you say you use it for PH balancing but is there actually a need? I've never used that Fox Farm stuff but I see it mentioned a lot so it must be reasonably good stuff as is?

The perlite is not going to affect the ph to my knowledge, so I don't see the need for the lime. And if it is the same lime I was using, I would think the amount you're giving it was a very high dose. So I've done an awful lot of assuming, but....perhaps the ph is way out? Do you have access to a test kit?

 

[Mr_Micro]

I do have a PH test kit and I just tested the run off after watering a few days ago. It was exactly 6.5 so I think my PH is fine. All in all I'm pretty puzzled about why my soil plants seem to have just stopped growing.

Perhaps the FFOF soil or Rapid Rooter plugs somehow went bad after sitting in my closet for about a year and a half or so?

 

[RudieJ]

I'm interested to see how this turns out since I have some FFOF that will be sitting in my closet for a good long time.

 

[rcknrllmothrfck]

Yikes, I have no idea what to tell ya!

I wish I was having the same problems though, mine are only at a week and a half but can't seem to keep the damn things down, so I'm already having to LST.

 

[ganjaPeople]

man you suprise me every time, mr. micro...nice job indeed, i like the way you implemeted glass for heat protectoin, i did something similar in my box and it works like a charm... i was wondering is you box noisy? does the vent used to cool hps is automaticly turned off when the lights are out?