A bunch of stupid newb questions - cupboard growing

[Budman2012]

Hi Bigbowl ,

Yes , Ya can Scrog , and tip and tie down to keep the height decent ..

Yes , Ya can grow with even cheap 20-25W CF's , won't yield heaps , But ya might be surprised ... I'd try and rig up at least 4 small ones tho .. and these give off little heat , A bit of fresh air and a small ocsillating fan in The cupboard would be good , you definatly need airflow ... It's important ..

Yes , There'll be a bit of a smell , Unless It's really necessary this might not be much of a worry , and you could always get a Pot Pourri mix or an electronic air freshner or similar for your room to disguise any slight smells ...

So ...

A couple of Pots and trays - $cheap

Bag of Premium Potting Mix - $pretty cheap

CF Lights and small fan - $not too expensive

 

You could almost get away with just these things ...

 

But Maybe Some Perlite to mix into the medium , Some growing Nutrients - maybe Seasol -(Seaweed Emulsion Fert. , if ya wanna keep it organic(ish)) , A small extract fan maybe in the top of the cupboard sucking the warm air out (shouldn't be to hot with CFs) ...

 

But I recon You could get all you need for about $50 ...

 

If the inside of the cupboard is white , this will help , It should be nice and reflective .. you could get some flat white paint , Or yah can use the diffused (dull) side of Aluminium foil with tape ($cheap as) , or some proper reflective material (not worth it for such a small space IMO) ...

 

O.k. let me think .. oh yeh , I think a 400w would be way overkill for that space ... too much heat to try and shift .. and that is not cheap .. and the smell would be greater aswell ...

 

And also , You could maybe have 4 small plants in that space , 4x9Inch Pots should fit easily I think ... Or you could grow 2 or one plant over a slightly longer period and do some 'Training' on them ...

 

Anyway , I don't wanna bore ya , so I'll finish there ...

Any Questions , feel free to ask

 

Budman

[bigbowlowrong]

Thanks for that budman, my prospects are looking up.

Will probably be ordering seeds in the next few weeks to my address (which is a shared house) under a previous tenant's name via money order. I won't be at the house when it should delivered (I'll be on holidays overseas) so I guess this would work out? Does that seem safe or should I always send to an address which is in no way associated with me? I could send to a previous shared house I lived in as well and I DEFINITELY am not going to send it to friends or family. Could look around for empty lots as well I suppose...

That is, unless some kind soul in this country who reads this wants to help an aspiring grower out? Just kidding. Or am I?

[pipeman]

I'd go along with others and say you need a 400watter to make it worthwhile, and the cupboard you got now is really a bit too small for it (although possible with an enclosed aircooled hood or cooltube). But really, you'll do much better if you get a bigger cupboard or build one yourself. If you look around for 2nd hand cupboards you can find em pretty cheap, like under $100, and the one off expense will be well worth it. Or you can build your own, some sticks of timber and some panda film make for a cheap growspace of whatever size you want.

 

Absolute minimum dimensions for a 400watt setup would be about 450mm deep, 600mm wide and 1600mm tall. Ideal dimensions would be more like 600mm x 900mm x 1800mm.

[loylty gets u nothing]

the ideal cupboard imo is 1200 x 1200 x 2200

thats the dimensions im going

with 16mm white board its settin me back $220

for the m,aterials then ill make her meself

then i know i have ample room etc

and the whole thing dismantles in 15mins

peace

bil

[bigbowlowrong]

Hahaha, guys, I'm really sticking with the CFLs. Yes, this won't get me a high yield (one ounce would be an absolute bonanza for me). Yes, the plants may not be quite as robust. Yes, they may take longer to grow.

BUT it's the avenue I'm going with so you'll just have to live with it. I have done some reading on this and it appears FEASIBLE if not DESIRABLE. If it fails spectacularly then I'll consider moving on to something more advanced.

Thanks!

[Tom]

Well said bbw.

 

[torture]

ya... ummm i think chippy gave me a place that sells them 130 cfl's for a good price... http://www.simplegrow.com.au/

 

i do highly suggest the ultra blue's for vegging... just from my own personal experience

 

keep us updated i want too see when you get em under the reds and start flowering... might get a mini cupboard of my own and put them lights into use again hehe

[bigbowlowrong]

I promise when I get some seeds after Xmas you guys will be the first to know. Starting a grow right now is off the cards as I'm going away for a month from December 10.

 

Also, thanks for the link!^^

Edited November 13, 2006 by bigbowlowrong

[Lollygag]

I've seen some pretty nice grows done under flouros in my travels round the interwebs. Buds won't be very dense, but whatever you grow will still beat paying for commercial buds hands down.

 

That "equivalent to n watts" doesn't mean a thing as regards growing under them, the lower number is the one to take notice of. You'll want at least 200 watts to make it worthwhile. I used 8 x 23W cfls for the first 3 weeks of veg, it worked nicely. The 23W energy savers are only $7.95 ea at K-Mart, Bunnings etc. Growth was a good bit slower than under the hps, but nice tight nodes. Although I'm under a hps now, the cfls were a good investment for a future clone/mother room, whatever you spend here will still be useful in the future if you decide to upgrade to a HID later.

 

The long shop lights seem to be more highly regarded than the cfls, but the cfls work too. The 23Watters use standard lamp sockets which can be got nice & cheap at St Vincents, Salvos stores, op shops, garage sales etc, shouldn't set you back much if you shop around. For veg I think you want a 60:40 ratio of blue:red light bulbs.

 

From what I've read (nb the following is all hearsay, I've never flowered under lights before, i just read a lot )

 

For the first few weeks you could start with 3x 23W cool white & 1 x 23W warm white, gradually buying more as the plants get bigger & need more light, till you've got maybe 5x 23W cool whites & 3x 23W warm whites (depends on how many plants). When flowering time comes around you could splash out on a 130W red (or whatever wattage takes your fancy, more is better). This way would stagger your costs nicely over a few months.

 

Even with just the 184W from the 8 x 23Watters & a 130W you'd have a total of 314W, you should get something smokeworthy out of that. My advice would be don't pay for seeds unless you're going to get some serious wattage, it wouldn't be worth it for the yield you'll get, if you can't source any seeded bud yourself, a word in the ear of 1 or 2 very trusted big smoking friends should yield you some free seed.

 

Anyway, just some ideas for you to ponder, have a good holiday mate.

Edited November 14, 2006 by Lollygag

[bigbowlowrong]

Thanks lollygag, the info you provided will come in handy.

In other news, I stumbled across a convenient, safe (and local!) source for seeds. White widow/celtic berry/a few others will be in my sweaty little hands within the week if all goes to plan.