New Grower Waxy's Quantum Ikea Cab- White Widow XXL

[Waxer]

How's it hangin, friends?!

Seeing as this will be my first indoor grow (and first logged grow on AFN,) I figured I would go ahead and park myself next to everyone else in line to learn! We're already a few days in so lets get it started shall we?

So I'll start by mentioning a but about my set-up and game plan. I'm bound to hit some bumps along the way so I might as well lay everything out for all to see.

I started with a 60x60x200cm Ikea wardrobe. Made some holes, ran some electric, and smacked her all together. I thought about making a diy thread but time didn't permit me to do so, so throw any questions at me and I'll be happy to oblige.

I have a 4 inch extraction fan and CAN filter, 4 inch passive intake with dust filter, two small circulation fans and last but not least, HLG's 135 watt Quantum kit in 3000 Kelvin. The wardrobe has been sealed up with silicone and weather stripping so managing environment is going to be... interesting to say the least.

Please don't mind all the zip ties. That's my other hobby rubbing off on this one

 

[Waxer]

Medium and Such

I wanted this grow to be as low maintenance as possible but still give me a way to get a good footing indoors so I went the soil route.

I will be growing in a 17L cloth pot filled with a lightly amended seedling mix. The seedling mix is a local brand so I can't go much further into that but it is peat based with about 25% perlite. I then amended with about 10% biocharr, 10% earth worm castings, and about a half cup of Charge to the entire mix, which was light according to the dosage information. For those wondering, Charge is an insect frass amendment that I have had a lot of success with in the past with my tomatoes and peppers and such. I lightly watered the mix in and let it all sit for about two weeks before dropping a bean.

Other than all the goodies in the mix, I'll be keeping it simple with Green House Seed Co.'s Organic dry amendments this go around minus their Veg amendments. That leaves Bloom and Enhancer which made a little thread about here:
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/green-house-seed-co-bio-powder-feed.66426/

If the scenario arises that my mix plus, Enhancer waterings don't cut it until flowering is underway, I have some BioBizz Fish Mix I can feed in a pinch.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

nice neat set up good to see you mix it up with some different colour cable ties.
so what ya gonna grow ?
good luck n keep er lit

 

[Waxer]

Good Grief Waxer! Get on with it already!

Right!

So I had everything lined up and ready to go. Pot was packed in and ready to go. Got my environment (sort of) dialed. Lol

I took my one and only little Dinafem White Widow XXL seed and tucked her into her warm and moist paper towel, then into a small tupperware with the lid ALMOST shut, and then put it behind my Xbox where it's warm and cozy. There she stayed for 24 hours. (I don't dare leave seeds longer than this. Auto seeds have been proven to be quite sensitive when it comes to the tap root so I don't like test my luck.) After 24 hours, THE SEED HAS CRACKED!

She then goes into her new home, a nice damp Root Riot plug. The plug goes into a shot glass and is then covered with a clear cup, like so:

This I where I keep her for about 48 hours and I will explain why.

I love the plugs for what they do and that's provide a great happy place for the little seedling, however, I have noticed in the past that if I plant the seeded plug in the soil straight away, the capillary action in the soil pulls the moisture away from the plug and into the actual medium. Granted,the medium is also relatively damp but if the lights are on, it dries everything out with the quickness. I like to keep the plug in the shot glass, under the cup (with the lights on) to retain moisture AND heat. After about 48 hours the seed should be on its way out and about be gently nestled in to the soil. Also keep in mind, this is just how I do it. I have had good results this way, so I don't feel the needs to change it. If you have some pointers, I'm always willing to listen! Open ears, open mind.:smoking:

 

[Waxer]

nice neat set up good to see you mix it up with some different colour cable ties.
so what ya gonna grow ?
good luck n keep er lit

Thanks! I love me some cable ties. I am in the process of updating everything that has gone down in the past few days at the moment. Lol. It's going to be a Dinafem White widow XXL. Hoping to fill out my space but we'll see. No expectations but hoping for the best

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

if it aint broke dont fix it,keep on germing as you have been doing if it works for you
dinafem have some nice plants (blue cheese fav) i have only grown a few and all a fair size,xxl should get big for you.
good luck

 

[Waxer]

Now let's get some pics up shall we?

This is 3 days from putting it in the paper towel making Day 1 20/08 (Note to self). Possibly the fastest germ time I've ever experienced! Temps hovering between 79-82 and humidity between 55-75%. I'm going to try to keep as close to the VPD specs as possible. 'Try' being the keyword here

Looking happy so far...on day 1

Gotta keep that humidity in!

The solo cup will stay on there for the first few days until she has established herself. I pop every once in a while and mist the cup when it's dry.

Also, for those wondering, I'll be using distilled water for the first week or two. After that, I'll be aerating/bubbling my tap water with an air stone and using that instead.

Here's one more just for good measure.

 

[Waxer]

if it aint broke dont fix it,keep on germing as you have been doing if it works for you
dinafem have some nice plants (blue cheese fav) i have only grown a few and all a fair size,xxl should get big for you.
good luck

I hoping so! I got it as a freebie but Iwanted to give it a fair chance. I have seen threads where they also get a little TOO big so I figured beginner error + big genetics= stunted decent sized plant. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Waxer]

Day 5

Now she seems to be kicking into gear! I also realized that I didnt mention how im running my light with this one...shame! She's about 6cm tall and praying under a fully dimmed 135w HLG quantum LED panel. The light is hanging about 65cm from the seedling at this point in time. I did have it higher (80cm) just to be safe but she started stretching like a lunatic so I brought the ligh down a hair.

Watered her in with 500ml of distilled water after I took the pictures.

 

[Kaosgarden]

Great thread I love diy setups I did my first grow in a IKEA cab
All looks fine just one question , why don't you put the led driver outside the cab?