the gingerdrobe

[gingermark]

After many years of smoking and months of extensive reading and lurking on interweb forums I’ve decided to give growing our favourite herbal remedy a go myself and see what happens. My original idea was either for a PC grow or a filing cabinet conversion but, after more research and a bit of mathematics - working out costings of materials and equipment - I decided that I might as well think a little bit bigger. In fairness, when the impulse buy 250w CFL bulb I ordered arrived, it kind of forced me to revise my plans upwards. It’s bloody massive – bigger than my head – and I had little option but to upscale slightly. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear... what a conundrum!

With my excitable head rushing with possibilities I compiled a list of things I needed off ebay and local charity shops/DIY shops and set about buying them:

- 250w CFL bulb - £29 each off ebay (I bought a blue spectrum for vegetation – in the future, next month, I’ll get a red spectrum bulb for flowering)

- A roasting tin to modify as a reflector for the bulb – 60p

- light fitting to mains - £7.50 inc P&P off ebay

- terminal blocks for the wiring of the lights and the fans - £1

- rolls of black duct tape - £2 each

- ph tester – still need to get one of these buggers

- analog timer - purchased on ebay for £7

- temperature/humidity sensor - £4 from china on ebay

- computer fans – I’ve got three in total i think, must root them out or buy new ones from maplin (eventually bought two new ones for £5 each)

- mobile phone chargers – I’ve got three or four knocking around

- a carbon filter - looked for tutorials on how to make one cheaply and efficiently on the internet, this is still something I need to sort out soon

- mylar roll/sheeting - got roll on ebay 45m for £5 – and mylar sheeting 3m length for £7

- velcro tape - for sealing light on corners/edges of the build

- a glue gun and glue sticks- £7

- a wooden cabinet to put this all in – maximum spend of £30, eventually I bought two identical cabinets for a total of £40.

I only hope there isn’t anything I missed out ...

My plan, thus far, is to build two (or three) separate chambers – one for vegetation and a (maybe a larger) one for flowering. I have two identical sets of old drawers and plan on getting an old wardrobe to match: ideally it would be one set of drawers for veg, one for mothers and a wardrobe for flowering. I'm struggling with linking to pictures currently but I have some uploaded to a gallery on my profile of the kind of furniture I'll be working with and my current progress on the build.

So, the vegetation chamber is a set of drawers converted for the purpose, which I’m currently working on. I’ll crack on with the flowering chamber when I’ve got this done and some plants up and running – there’ll have been another couple of paydays before I’m at that point and some small investments will be made ....

Right now I’m wondering whether it’s strictly necessary to have a carbon filter in the vegetation chamber or whether this is really only needed for the flowering...? I’m not going to be doing this on an industrial scale – I’m looking at 6-8 good plants at a time. And most importantly I want this to be as stealthy as possible – obviously my girlfriend knows what I’m up to but in all honesty I’d like to keep it at that. In the early weeks would the carbon filter make a big difference? I plan on getting a rhino carbon extractor when finances allow for the flowering cabinet but until I’ve got it all up and running with the veg I’ll hold off splashing the cash .... Though any advice would be brilliant!!

The 250w bulb I got doesn’t have a fixture yet – I bought a power cable and E40 fitting but I’m trying to fashion something out of wood and an old roasting dish to act as a reflector. This means that the light is pretty much going to be set in one place and it’ll be a matter of moving the plants towards the light rather than vice versa with this set up. A proper reflector is another big cost at this point and my budget is down to nothing right now ...

In terms of seeds – I have some coming from a mate of a mate, who’s had many successful grows. They might even arrive tomorrow, but then I’ll not have this finished for a few days methinks .... I know there are 2 feminised Pineapple Express and 2 feminised Bubblegum, so that should be enough to get cracking with. And apparently he's chucking in some others that I might be interested in.

I can honestly say I've never looked forward to the postman arriving as much as I have recently.

Edited June 18, 2011 by gingermark

[squirrel]

Hi Ginger, welcome aboard. Sounds like you are getting off to a good start.

You won't need a pH tester unless you are planning to go the hydro route. I'd recommend doing at least your first grow in compost. All you need for that is some pots, a bag of multipurpose compost from the garden centre for three quid, and one bottle of nutrients for the flowering stage.

You might be able to get away with no carbon filter for the veg unit, depending on the strain, but they can start smelling a little before the flowering stage. Once they go into flower they absolutely reek. Have a look at the DIY kit forum, several people have published designs for homemade filters. However, this is an area where you don't want to take any risks.

PC fans can be useful in microgrows, but won't be powerful enough on their own, certainly not for a six plant grow, and not to pull air through a carbon filter. Invest in a Ruck or RVK fan, and a Rhino or Phat carbon filter. Plenty of air is absolutely vital for the plants, the filter will keep you safe, and it will all pay for itself in one grow, out of all the money you won't be giving your dealer.

Best of luck with it.

e2a You need to have a look around uk420 and get used to the different forums. You posted this in Growroom Photos, where it is customary to post, er photos. Here is a link to the list of Growroom design forums. Most general design discussion is done in the first one, Design and Location. Enjoy.

Edited June 18, 2011 by squirrel

[gingermark]

Thanks for the squirrel - sound advice. Is there a way of moving this to the appropriate forum? I can't seem to work out how to post the pictures I've uploaded directly onto this thread so maybe it needs to shift to somewhere else.

Also, I intend getting the fan and carbon filter you mentioned for the wardrobe when I get that operational. It makes sense in the long run and will lower my stress levels in the future I imagine!

GROWROOM PHOTOS HERE

Edited June 19, 2011 by gingermark

[gingermark]

Right – I’ve now completed chamber number one and it’s up and running (as a test). I got a light fitting and reflector for £20 from a local hydro shop I discovered less than two miles from my house (the joy!) and some extra mylar (the stuff I ordered online still hadn’t arrived and I was itching to get cracking - I completely finished off the mylaring and it’s fully reflective now.

The light fitting and reflector is godsend – I was planning on making my own and had started on it but it wasn’t really going very well. Then my light fitting broke and I gave up on it. Twenty quid isn’t a bad price and it saves me a lot of stress and frustration trying to fashion something that would feasibly work ....

I then added a hinge on the door, popped my newly purchased thermometer/hygrometer in, wired up the fans to an old 12V external hard drive lead and ....

Switched her on!!!

It was a moment of pure delight for me, it’s possibly the proudest I’ve felt in a couple of years.

I plan to start working on the second chamber over the next few days, just following the same process as with the first but this will be for flowering. I’ll get another bulb and light fitting when I get paid at the end of the month and start thinking about a carbon filter then too... I’ve got a mate who’s on the lookout and might be able to procure one cheap, so fingers crossed. Ultimately I’d like to do this with a full size wardrobe for the flowering stage and have these two chests of drawers for vegging and drying at the end but that plan might have to wait for now until I’m properly up and sorted ....

I’m still waiting on my seeds to arrive – they’re at the post office waiting for me to try and get them under an assumed name as my mate foolishly sent them recorded delivery to a name that isn’t mine. I’ll have to try and blag it best I can, without any ID ....

However, I have four plants that, looking back, have had the worst start in life. They were from a baggie of White Widow I bought and I kept hold of them in my box before popping them in some soil and trying to grow them in the cold frame in the garden, along with the tomatoes, chillis and radishes that me and the missus tried growing. This was before I started reading up on how to actually grow weed! After a few weeks I moved them inside to the living room windowsill and they’ve really sprouted since then. As far as I can tell they are all females, three of them are thriving (considering) but one of them is a little bit buggers, much smaller than the rest of them and actually doesn’t even look like any of the others. I think I’ll get rid of that one and pop the others in the box and see what happens. I’m not sure what stage they are at yet, given that I have given them so little attention and love and quite possibly the worst conditions to grow in .... the fact they are alive is astounding so I’m prepared to give them a go now! If anyone has any advice or ideas on what I should do with these for now then please don’t be shy....

GROWROOM PHOTOS HERE