Rubbermaid Grow-Box/First time grower Help...

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Hey guys, I am new to posting here but I've been surfing around for about 2 weeks so far. I really LOVE the information on this site, and of course the beautiful pictures of mary jane . This as well will be my first grow, probably only 1 or 2(max) autoflowering females and I could use some advice. It has to be stealthy and this picture show's what I've come up with:

It's pretty basic...two rubbermade bins stacked on top of each other, but the top one upside down. I figured I can use a lid from one and cut & glue it to the top one upside down so it can "snap" onto the bottom one? It has to be stealth, so the fan has a carbon scrubber on the bottom (placement is not definite yet). I'm thinking of buying just one 250W 2700 spectrum CFL bulb since I plan on only growing autoflowering strains as of now. I'm not sure if I should do that or buy a bunch of lower watt ones...I saw a journal where the grower grew 3 very healthy, very tall lowryder #2s with the same bulb and got about 2.5 Oz from it. Around the CFL is a homemade reflector that I'll need to figure out how to make (any advice would be great!)...I'm going to put books under the plant so I can take them out/put them in to adjust the plant height and not light height. The plants will be no less than 2 inches below the light at all times. On the bottom right I planned on just having some holes for a passive intake. The one question I have about that is since it's passive intake, will any of the smell leak out of that? My main stealth concern is smell...Do you guys think the smallish carbon scrubber will work with only 1-2 plants? I don't have any diagrams of the wires/sockets/etc because I really have NO IDEA how to do that, help would be appreciated lol. I just came up with this idea. Do you guys think it would work? Give me some advice on what you guys think of this design/what could be improved as it would be greatly appreciated thanks!

 

[sintwin]

i just started my growwith two containers stacked open ends together. i have a four light vanity and im using 40watt clfs. my girls are two weeks now and looking great. right im using only two bulbs in the inners two sockets. at week three im going to put in a third bulb and then put the fourth one in when i go to 12/12. i dont wanna shoch them with going from two to four bulbs so ill do it graguly. i think i spelled that wrong. keep your fans and exhaust running 24 hours, that way they are always pulling in air and none will leak out. i have to be very stealthy too. i built my own carbon scrubber and it works grat with four plants. to raise my plants i built and little table that was 18"x11" and 8 1/2" tall and then i took a 2x4 and cut it into 3 1/2x3 1/2 inch squares. i then stacked five of themon top of each other and duct taped them together. that way they stay together and then when i lower them i do it 1 1/2 at a time. it works really good for me. at first i used cardboarb boxes but im afraid that when water runs off the pots and it gets the cardboard wet it might get mold. maybe it wouldnt matter but i dont want to take chances and kill my plants. im new at this too, this is my first attempt, but i have read so much, hours and hours, and i think i know whats going on with this so if you have question let me know.

 

[sintwin]

the five blocks of wood on top of each other and the table put the top of the plants about 2-3 inches from the lights.

 

[sintwin]

my exhaust is four inches and my intakes are two 3" and one 2". you want your intake to be 2x the size of you exhaust.

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Thanks for the advice sitwin!! I definitely think either the one 250W or multiple lower watters will be enough but I'm just not sure what to do yet....Probably whichever's cheaper haha.

I thought the exhaust was supposed to be bigger to force more air through the intake? I could be wrong though. Thanks for your help!

 

[sintwin]

no problem. the lights i used i got from home depot for six dollors for four bulbs 40 watt clf cool white 2700k. are you growing in your house? im growing in the garage and i live in so cal so i have temperature issuse to deal with. what part of the world do you live in?

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Yea, the cool 2700k are the ones I'm looking for since I plan on growing autoflowers. I live in south florida, but I plan on doing the grow inside where the A/C is on.

 

[sintwin]

what are autoflowers? i have heard of them but i dont know about them?

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Autoflower strains are strains that aren't dependent on a change in the light schedule to begin flowering. They flower when they are a certain age and you can give them as much or little light as you want (18/6 is recommended). They're just so easy I couldn't pass up on trying them. I saw a journal on here where a member grew three lowryder plants that yielded about 2.5Oz total with one 250W cfl.

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Bump...I'm actually not able to find the 250W bulb as cheap as I did earlier...so I'm planning on using regular CFL bulbs. What wattage should I use? I can buy 10 or so 26W bulbs for around 15 dollars from the home depot, anything high would cost around 8-10 per bulb, would that be fine? Also, has anyone tried autoflowering strains? What are the best in terms of smell (while growing/after harvest), beauty, potency, quick growing etc.?

 

[BoomBoom]

I live in south florida, but I plan on doing the grow inside where the A/C is on.

What up neighbor! I'm in Homestead

I'm still working in my first grow as well on here all the time reading and watching. I'm waiting on 2 guys to pay me back some borrower money so I can buy my supplies.

I would go with the 250w 2700k over several CFL's because I would prefer less wiring. There's a few threads on the inverted Rubbermaid grows that are awesome!

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Oh nice! haha, I probably should have said South-west Florida . Tampa area. I totally wanted to get that 250w but it was on ebay and I only wanted it because it was cheap (around 40 dollars plus whatever shipping). Unfortunately that auction ended :-\. So unless I find another I'm probably sticking with several smaller wattage cfls. I was then planning on buying some y-splitters and hooking them up to extension cords or something really simple. I'm really not trying to make this complicated since it WOULD be my first grow...However any advice is great! Also does anybody know if any of the cheaper items offered here: http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=65 are good? I'm talking about the under $60 items lol. If they're too small (or if they would be a good addition, note *addition*) then let me know, thanks!

 

[kannubis]

walmart has the 42 watt lights of america warm whites for .98 if you can find them in all the stuff

the 99 cent store or dollar stores usually have 4 packs of the 26 or 28 watt bulbs cheap too

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Oh wow that's cheap! Do you think they'll have soft whites? I would only need them since I'm only planning on doing autoflowering plants for now. I'll have to search that. Do you have personal experience with those lights? Those are really cheap for 42 watts! haha

 

[kannubis]

Only had warm whites which are more the red spectrum for flowering. Here is a pic of what they look like. The plants were Sour 60 from MDanzig. Cut at 58 days from germ.

I got them in January. Had to add some striplights to the corners though.

You will learn as you go. Good luck.

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Thanks a lot man! Those beauties look great. I was actually looking into buying them but 60 bucks for 10 reg seeds was too much. I want to just get two fem seeds to start off. Different strains too probably. Have any strain suggestions for potency/yield?

 

[kannubis]

Sour 60 in hydro got me about 32g in 60 days. Nice head shift, neck relaxing strain for me. Lowrider 1 - 3 plants gave me 21g in the same amount of time. Diesel Rider, Russian Rocket Fuel, and auto AK are strains I have heard good things about.

enjoy the process

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Sweet. I have been looking into getting an auto afghan kush and the diesel ryder. They seem like pretty good strains

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Could anyone possibly comment on some very potent/high yielding autoflowering strains? I've been looking into afghan kush and diesel ryder. I'm only looking into female seeds and single seeds sold at worldwide marijuana seeds. Thanks for help!

 

[SmokaDaGanjaMan]

Sorry to keep bumping but does anybody have any more advice? Anything is helpful, really!