Tokensmoke10's DIY PC Grow

[Tokensmoke10]

Hello all! And welcome to my first grow journal. Since I have never done one of these before (only read them) please bear with me through this, I know it'll be a learning process for me. Now lets get into a little background.

I've done one other grow with bagseed, 2 plants both turned out male (bad luck huh :rolleyes3) The previous grow box was a DIY rubbermaid tub that really didn't have enough time and effort put into it. I'm hoping this grow WILL be different as I've put over 3 weeks into building this PC grow box.

I started off by buying a full tower off ebay for 60 bucks and it all started from there. I can already hear you asking, "why would you want to grow in such a small space?" The answer to that question is personal choice, straight up. I probably do have room for a bigger space to grow but this is only for personal use plus the thought of a PC being turned into a grow box intrigued me.

Well let's see some pictures of the progress shall we, keep in mind I'm still not completely finished but will be very soon!

Just a basic side view of the PC with the 2 exaust fans on top.

Front view with the intake fan.

Top view with another look at the exaust fans.

Back view without being really covered up yet.

Exaust fans on (no way to really turn off the LED's without turning off the fan, believe me I tried ) but after asking around most everyone said that those LED's have very little power and shouldn't affect light's out period.

Intake fan on.

Inside view without sealing and mylar in it.

Well that's it for now folks, ill be working on this beast more today and will upload pic's when I'm done (hopefully). Feel free to ask any questions you might have and thanks again for stopping by. Hopefully this will be a winner!

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Sorry about the wait everyone but I got quite a bit done today. I added the mylar, organized the wires and sealed some of the light gaps (although I'm not too worried about light leaks). But one thing I'm having trouble deciding which way to mount my CFL lights.
1. attach a power strip with the socket adapters for the bulbs
or
2. hard wire the actual wires in the bulb in parallel

Any feed back on the matter would be great.

Anyway, heres a photo of the finished mylar inside with my cats checking out my work

 

[AmGrowR]

Wh@t @re you're pl@ns for keeping the pl@nts sm@ll?

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Wh@t @re you're pl@ns for keeping the pl@nts sm@ll?

I am planning on ordering Lowryder seeds but if worse comes to worse ill rig up a cheap SCRoG screen.

 

[obliviconsent]

Hope you get the lowriders. I am thinking of trying out the lowrider 2's. Good looking box.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Hope you get the lowriders. I am thinking of trying out the lowrider 2's. Good looking box.

Ya, if I've done the math right, it's about 50 or 60 bucks for 10 lowryder seeds. Theoretically I'll get 5 females out of those 10 growing 2 at a time hopefully aiming for 3/4 oz each harvest, which if I did it all right will be a great investment easily getting more for my buck rather than buying the same 3/4 oz.

Sorry if that made no sense at all, just smoked a goodnight bowl

 

[Tokensmoke10]

For some strange reason, the first of my pics disapeared

So here they are again with their captions:

Just a basic side view of the PC with the 2 exaust fans on top.

Front view with the intake fan.

Top view with another look at the exaust fans.

Back view without being really covered up yet.

Exaust fans on (no way to really turn off the LED's without turning off the fan, believe me I tried ) but after asking around most everyone said that those LED's have very little power and shouldn't affect light's out period.

Intake fan on.

Inside view without sealing and mylar in it.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Sorry, no work done today I've been lazy and had work but I will have an update tomorrow.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Free day today I'm going to try and get some work done. With the issue of lighting that I mentioned earlier, I think I'm going to go with a HO CFL like so:

and just to be sure lighting should be around 50 watts per plant right?
If that is the case then I'll probably go with a 125 actual wattage CFL

Here's also some info about the grow I'm going to do:

What strain is it? Lowryder
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Autoflower
If in Flower stage... For how long? Hopefully 8-9 weeks from seed
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? I'm thinking 45% FFOF, 45% FF Light Warrior, and 10% perlite. Any opinons?
If soil... What size pot? 2 8"x6.5"
Size of light? around 125 acutal wattage CFL
Temp of Room/cab? N/A
RH of Room/cab? N/A
PH of media or res? N/A
Any Pests ? None
Type and strength of ferts used? Soil should provide ferts for a while

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Update!

Went to the local hydro store today and spent 120 bucks!
My shopping list:

* 125 watt warm CFL
* Fox Farm Ocean Forest
* Bag of Perlite
* Fox Farm Big Bloom nute
* mogul socket for the light
* Ona gel - must have
* and 4 pots ( 2 of 2 kinds, Im going to put up pictures later of each and tell me what ones would work best)

 

[didimauw]

hey tokensmoke! ive always been interested in computer grow boxes. someday i will set one up my self. im doin the rubbermaid technique like u mentioned earlier. im definetly going to be watching this one!!! did u end up getting a bulb like in that pic?

good luck bud! cant wait to see how this turns out!

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Hey Didi, thanks for stopping by. I'm sure your rubbermaid box will do alot better than mine I've read about some pretty tasty bud being grown in some, I just didn't put enough time and work into mine.

And to answer your question I did get the bulb, a 125 watt CFL

It's huge, almost didnt fit in the case long wise! But I think I could guide a ship in fog to shore with its brightnes

It took me a little bit of trial and error on how to mount the light and ended up going with the acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid) and help it up with zip ties (after testing to make sure they wouldn't melt against the bulb of coarse)

Stupid me forgot to get AAA batteries for the therm/hydrometer today when I was out shopping so I won't be able to find out the max/min of temp and humidity, but tomorrow that won't be a problem.

Also, on the thing I said earlier, here are the pictures of the 2 types of pots I'm trying to decide to use:

Solid Pot

Pros
-No mess for soil or roots to escape = less messy

Cons
- about 1.5 in. taller = less height for plants to grow

Mesh Pot

Pros
-Shorter = more height for plants to grow
- Wider = more space for plants to grow

Cons
- All the holes can let soil and/or roots out

Anyone have any ideas on what to use? On the bottom of the PC box I have about a 16in x 6.5in area to grow with.

Any input would be great!

 

[didimauw]

hey there, how much did that bulb cost ya? im thinkin about gettin one

 

[didimauw]

and i would just use the regular pots, cause wouldnt u get dirt everywhere with the mesh ones?

 

[Tokensmoke10]

The bulb alone was 45 bucks (from a hydrostore though so that jacked up the price) but I'm sure you could search online and find one for half that.

The only problem with the regular pots though is that they are taller and thinner so I lose in height and width so I was thinking of using good ol' electrical tape or something else black to cover up the sides but leave the bottom open for drainage.

 

[didimauw]

ohhhhh okay see there ya go, that sounds like a great idea actually. did u get some seeds?

 

[greenblood]

That's a nice space to work with man! It looks clean and I like the mylar. Let's see your light hookup! The other nice thing about an enclosed space, it means kitty can't get to your hard work.

I've heard someone else use that kind of soil and ratio, it sounds good to me. How much did you end up paying at the hydro store, and how big were the bags? Obviously we don't need much in a PC...

 

[Tokensmoke10]

That's a nice space to work with man! It looks clean and I like the mylar. Let's see your light hookup! The other nice thing about an enclosed space, it means kitty can't get to your hard work.

I've heard someone else use that kind of soil and ratio, it sounds good to me. How much did you end up paying at the hydro store, and how big were the bags? Obviously we don't need much in a PC...

Believe me, my light hookup is no technical marvel its only help up with those wire zip ties but It seems to be working!

I also forgot to mention that I changed my mind on soil, I thought about it and wondered if I should grow autos in seedling soil??? So I decided to pass on the Light Warrior soil and just ended up going with 45% FFOF, 45% coco coir, and 10% perlite. I just love coco coir, it's neutral PH for the most part, it allows air into the soil while retaining moisture, and best of all ITS CHEAP!! So Ill just use that soil mixture that has some seedling nutes in it with the FFOF and I'll just add my FF big bloom nutes after a couple weeks from the seeding breaking ground.

The bags I bought are 1.5 cubic ft I think (except for the perlite which I just bought a gallon bag) and I realize that's quite a bit but I plan on doing multiple grows so I've got plenty for the future!

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Finally got around to finding out the highs and low temps in my growbox.

As you can see it gets up to 87 degrees right next to the light and gets down to about 75 or so lights off. So do you goes think 87 degrees is too hot? Since I am growing with CFL I'm going to need to keep the plants close to the light.

Again, any tips or comments are always appreciated

Thank guys!!

 

[greenblood]

I want to know how to get a PO box with a different name, I suppose you need to have different ID?