***Construction Update***

Date: January 21, 2010. 1:56am

Status Report: Light, fan, and stealth system installed and functional. Gravity drip system yet to be set-up.

Wide-view of Closet set-up (thus far):


I hung one of my light fixtures on Tuesday. Today, I bought another, smaller reflector because after reading this quote from thread "number of CFL's", quoted from a post from Sirius...

Quote:

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Sirius said:

"I think you're going to want at least 100 watts for one plant (the CFL wattage, not the incandescent equivalent).
More the better, definitely"

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....I knew my 1 - 42 watt CFL wouldn't be enough after reading this quote by the planet man. Also, I noticed that the color temp. on this 42 watt was 2,700K called "Cool White", which is good for budding but not vegi-growth. So, I went to Homey-D and looked for a 42 watt in "Daylight" color temp., which is typically 5,000K+.

The problem is that I could only find a 27 watt model in the "Daylight" color type, but they were *really* cheap at $1.50 a 2 pack, which as nothing short of awesome!

Here's the deatils on the actual package:

^ Color temp. info is in the top-left corner, wattage on the right (the large "100" is the equivalent, NOT the actual wattage).

I also bought another reflecting dish, but this one is smaller at 8.5" diameter. I got the smaller one because these "Daylight" bulbs are smaller than the larger 42 watt CFL's I bought. I installed both 27watt "Daylight" CFL bulbs in the the lamp clamps, then hung them up using construction string.

After about 0.5 an hour of running green string and power cords, I created my lighting system thus far:

^As a stand-in, I'm using a dead tropical plant I had living but died when I went on vacation. I'm hoping this plant I'm using for demostration doesn't become a metaphor to what happens to my *actual* M.J. plant that I attempt to grow.

I used metal hooks to interface with the weird rail bar in the closet for hanging my support strings:


Here's a cool top-view of the strings and lights:


Since the lights were in place and functional, I could now work on stealthing it.

I used 2 large black garbage bags, a tri-pod and some duct-tape to cover some of the light hitting the window in the room.

This is what is looks like from the back:


It works pretty well, even thou its really simple and doesn't cover much.

Here's the effect it has on the stray light coming from the closet:


^ As you can see from the photo, the light is *not* on the window, but around it. This small light-blocker works perfectly! I'm glad it was easy to set-up and didn't cost anything (since I already had the materials for it). I'm happy with it so far.

-> My seed search.

I've found a website and company close to the Pacific Northwest that I have been searching for hours looking for the right seed (they have A LOT of seeds). I will not speak of the website name (in case that's againist the law), so the company shall remain nameless.

However, I will discuss some of the statistics they provide for the seeds I'm interested in getting.

Here's my critieria for my first plant:

- Short vegi-time. (1 month prefered. 2 months max)
- Shortest flowering time possible (about 6-7 weeks, because I'm moving out of here in about 5 months or the end of June)
- Has to be feminized (because its sexy...no because I don't wanna waste time messing with dude plants)
- near 100% Indica (because Indica's have the shortest flowering period. If I had more time, I would go 100% Sativa)
- Cheap. $10 a seed or less.
- Compact Size (because this is a small closet grow)
- Semi-good looking budz (no standard, looks-totally-generic-budz. Wouldn't be as fun or interesting.)
- Easy to grow Indoors (can't be touchy with nutrients and lighting. has to be for beginners (because I don't know what I'm doing))
- Can't stink too much (that means No AK-47, Skunk #1, or any other potent-smelling strains)

(^this list makes me sound kinda like a lazy, way-too-picky grower who doesn't have the patience for good budz...oh well.)
>>> My Top 3 Choices for my First Grow <<<

1) "Flower"

"Flowering time: 7 weeks/49 Days – 8 weeks
Indoor yield: Up to 100 gr indoor with 35-45 days of veg."

Cost: $7.25 per Feminized seed

2) "California" 

"Indoor yield: Up to 80 gr indoor with 35-45 days of veg

[iFlowering time: 6.5 weeks (45 days).

Cost: $7.25 per Feminized seed"

3) "Speed Devil Automatic"

Type: Automatic Flowering
THC: 15%, CBD: 1,2%, CBN: 0,5%
Yeld: indoor 300-450 gr/m2, outdoor 15-50 gr/plant
Flowering period: 5 week
Harvest time outdoor: 60 days

Price: $15.03 CAD per Feminized seed

^ I like this one a lot, but the seeds are a little pricey. But, because Its got a lot of good qualities, I may reconsider, especially with that *very short* 5 week budding period and the fact its an auto-flowerer. I wonder how they make it auto-flower, that almost seems like genetic-splicing or a madd-scientist made it. How do you breed for that trait?

Thats all for now. its 2:45am, and I need to go to sleep now.

Thrusday I will buy a small tropical plant (that I forgot to buy on Wednesday) and install the gravity drip system so I can see if my system can support plant life.

To be continued...
~ TrueHerbCrystaL ~

Thank for the kind remarks Harry_Ba11z and you too Inbred_Gimp.

I was touched (but not in a gay way, in a MANLY way) when I read your quote: "a very interesting person Mr. Crystal, but you're also very thorough which is doubtlessly the most important thing for finding success in this hobby. " I tend to be pretty detailed with everything I do, and this new hobby is no different. Also, by being thorough with my project step-by-step, I hope to inspire or encourage someone who wants to do something similar. Not that my method is revolutionary or unique, but I hope it gives some ideas and insight for anyone doing a semi low-budget project from my success/failures.

Its funny you recommended that 2-way spliter, because just today I thought "Those reflector fixtures are expensive, and I need more bulbs for my plant since 50 real watts of CFL is not enough. What If I bought one of those spilters I saw in another grow journal at the Growery. That will really make use of those reflector dishes!"

And that's what I did. And there so cheap too, it would be silly not to do it. Also, since it puts the bulbs at 90 degree angles, it gives the plant more even lighting instead of just straight top-down lighting like I have right now. There was only one in stock, so I got it. I'll get another one later when I actually have seeds.

Here's the splitter and *right* CFL bulbs. The splitter is a cheap version of the one you pictured, but it should work OK.


^As pictured above, I also found some excellent 26watt 6500K color temp CFL at the store today. I've been reading that during the Vegetation stage, plants like about 6000K color range or above, so I'm going to use a combo of a 27Watt 5000K and now one 26watt 6500K on a 2-way spliter socket connected to one reflector lamp. I hope that makes sense, bascially 2 different bulbs hooked up to one lamp clamp.

To Inbred_Gimp,

Quote:

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You said:
Why not just put a measuring jug under the drip system for a day to see how much it drips out? Then you can see if that's enough for a marijuana plant each day.

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