oh boy, did i do it this time...

Hey everyone...new to the growing scene, long time enjoyer of the smokin scene....due to one helluva christmas present, im growin up a lil' girl in a converted cabinet. Its this way due to the presense of wonder-filled step-teenagers. all i'm interested in having is a plant that i can just keep to satisify my smoking wants...

So this is what i've got goin on...

the cabinet is roughly 36x30x about five and a half feet tall, lined with mylar...

i have 5 warm flouresent tubes; one in each corner,(corners are rotated 2 at a time cuz it gets hot in there) one on the door, also i have a 65watt flood gro-bulb 6 inches above the plant...(which i just started yesterday, had a 100 watt clf, but was told to try it...and i've seen an 1" difference since last night!!)

avarage temps run between 85 and 98 degrees, right now there is no type of ventalation( working on that today)

it sits in a 20qt plastic tote with a air bubbler in the water...

ive had her in this setup for about 3-4 weeks. Ive also beeen using miracle grow plant in increasing amounts when i switch the water...

I've already experiance algea covered roots(dont let light get to the nuits!) after coming home from a 1700 mile road trip...after reviewing some of the info on this wonderful wondeful site(h2o2 works wonders), algea is no more, just strong creme clored roots...

ealry on i made the mistake of clipping her lower leaves(duh!)
now i know that this process is high stress training...it definately stunted her growth(which in the end may result in mixed blessing's because of the size of cabinet)...

(this is my first posting so i'll figure out how to include photos later)


so back to the original point, the lil' girl is still kickin...The Lord has been good to me

So now i am at a crossroads....

any idea where i should go from here?

what should i stop or continue doing?

Thanks for reading and much more apprecation for responses,
the Ogre...


p.s. its been 3 days since i had posted this....eres an update....with the "gro-bulb" got way hotdried out the partially submerged rockwool and Fried up 75% of the leaves that it did have...the smaller undergrowth leaves actually remained unharmed...

so i have snipped all dried and fried leaves and stems, leaving anything that looked as it may have a pulse and put her in just water and replaced the gro bulb back with a cfl and plan on just letting her chill and redevelop her roots...

what else can i do?

i would get her into the cfl. .. this is a 2 part problem. one you need more light for better growth and regeneration.. but you have provent that the one you have is 2 hot!
i would go back to the cfl to regenerate whats left. and work on getting a fan put in to deal with the heat.. have anyway to do a cool tube?

Hey, 1nonlyogre. Good to meetcha. Just as "city" says, your heat and light are major problems.

This is a long post. It has to be to get some points across to you. Grab a cold one, sit back, relax and listen to what I'm telling you.

One of the problems with using CFL's is that their ballasts are enclosed within the unit itself. Ballasts produce way more heat than the bulb does. An advantage to non-compact flo's is that they can be wired with a remote ballast that can be placed outside your grow area. This is true with MH and HPS lights as well. Each of those can be equipped with a remote ballast that will take the heat from your cabinet to an area outside of it.

I see one potential problem; you have teen-aged children. Children as a whole, and teens in particular are very inquisitive, very resourceful and very determined people.

If you think putting your plants in a cabinet is going to fool your teens into thinking anything other than "Dad's growing Pot", you're deceiving yourself. There isn't one inch of your home that your teens aren't aware of and have investigated thoroughly while you've been absent. Those places that are locked are nothing more than an invitation to ingenuity. They will discover your grow. Have no doubt about it.

When my son was 11, he and I went for a walk one day and I told him I smoked weed. He looked me in the eye and told me "Dad, I knew that 5 years ago. Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

My advice to you is two-fold.

First, if you can't tell your children that you're smoking and growing weed, then just stop doing it before you become another statistic for DARE.

Secondly, if you can discuss it with them, do so. Make them aware of your grow and how it works with a long talk about security and what prison would be like for Dad. If, after that talk, you feel that none of your children (who have just as much right to not have you grow in their house as you do with them), will talk to their friends and tell them about their cool Dad's grow cabinet, then you can continue your grow with realism guiding you to a compete crop.

What do I mean about realism? Easy. There is no way you're going to hide a grow cabinet from those who live in the same house with you unless you padlock them from the room you have the cabinet in. Even then, a quick peek in the room and the children who might even be members of this group or another just like it, will see the "Mysterious Cabinet" and figure out why it's in that locked up Fort Knox when it wasn't there before.

Like I said, children are very smart.

Now, back to your grow. Heat is not your friend. You have to deal with it by either putting a hell of a exhaust system in the cabinet or getting those heat making ballasts out of the cabinet. Even if you do get them out, you still have to deal with the heat from the bulbs.

That takes electricity. The minute you plumbed electric into that cabinet, your children noticed it. "Hey, Dad's got juice running into that big azz box...Hahahahaahaha, and he thinks we're so stupid we don't know why!"

We're right back where we just left.

Part of the consideration of having children is respect for them and teaching them respect for others. If your children don't like pot and don't want it in their house, (yes, it's their house too), then stop growing it until they are old enough to be on their own. There's the rub. You have to respect their lives as well as demanding that they respect yours.

Let's say they say to you, "Dad, we know you're growing and we don't care. We like it too".

Then, I would plumb that electric into the cabinet, keep it as low profile as possible so if the Neighbor Jonesy glimpses in, he sees only a box...No cords or light.

Put a 400 watt HPS into the box with a flow-through air exhaust to the attic and make yourself some weed.

I would ask a lot more questions before going much further than you have. Growing without learning is a very rough road full of holes.

For what you have now; vent it somehow. Get that heat down to no more than 85 MAX at any time.

Cover your water/nutrient from any light hitting it. Take that Miracle Grow and throw it as far from your weed as you can and buy some decent marijuana nutrients for your weed. While you're waiting for them to arrive, ask questions about how to use them.

Take pictures. Show us your cabinet and your crop. We can't give you very much accurate advice until we can see your plants and your setup.

Right now, it's like asking a blind guy how to grow. He can offer advice based on his knowledge of growing, but he can't see what you have going.

Get the teens involved or quit growing. It's just not very smart other-wise. If you continue like you are, practice looking through a picket fence at the world. That way it won't surprise you when you get that type of view later.

Pardon my bluntness. I hate to see people lying to each other in the same house almost as much as I hate seeing Dad's put in prison by their own children.

POTUS said:

If you think putting your plants in a cabinet is going to fool your teens into thinking anything other than "Dad's growing Pot", you're deceiving yourself.

First, if you can't tell your children that you're smoking and growing weed, then just stop doing it before you become another statistic for DARE.

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I have to agree with POTUS. . . My dad has been growing for over 11yrs and I just recently started growing with him about 1yr ago. . .It might sound like a wacky family but we have grown closer in the father son relationship. . Take it how you want . .

aaonehundred said:

I have to agree with POTUS. . . My dad has been growing for over 11yrs and I just recently started growing with him about 1yr ago. . .It might sound like a wacky family but we have grown closer in the father son relationship. . Take it how you want . .

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I think what Potus is refering to, is that some schools let DARE have a kids program. thats states if a student turns in anyone for drugs that they bust, they get like a 1000 buck, some schools are less. Kids have been turning in the Parents. for the money and because DARE is still spewing liturature about MJ right out of the Movie "Refer Madness".
good one with this one buddy. hope your kids like ya!

city said:

I think what Potus is referring to, is that some schools let DARE have a kids program. that states if a student turns in anyone for drugs that they bust, they get like a 1000 buck, some schools are less. Kids have been turning in the Parents. for the money and because DARE is still spewing literature about MJ right out of the Movie "Refer Madness".
good one with this one buddy. hope your kids like ya!

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D.A.R.E. stands for: Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It's website is setup like a cartoon page for the kiddies. Among other things, it has a links page for all the police forces that the kiddies can contact about drug related incidents. In the classroom, police piggies teach the kiddies that turning someone in is actually HELPING them. It makes you a good little kiddie. It's brainwashing at it's finest.

I think that parents should teach their children to watch police and report to their parents every time they see a cop car turn without signaling, speeding, driving unsafely, harassing someone, using foul language or spending time parked behind some building somewhere eating doughnuts.

The parents could call that into the station and ask the station piggies if they know what the road piggies are doing.

We could call it: PIGBIE (Protecting Innocent Girls and Boys from Idiotic Education)

The PIGBIE program could teach the boys and girls how the PIGS are becoming more and more like Hitlers Storm Troopers and now have too much power to tell anyone: "Show me your papers NOW!"

Any parent that allows their children to attend DARE classes needs Parenting 101. Do not let other people brainwash your kids.

Potus you are wise beyond words my friend. Dare was started in a town I used to live in. My #1 was 5 and came home telling me I was a drug addict because I smoked cigarettes. Needless to say, the police and I had a few words about the program and how it resembled the Hitler Youth of 1938. I raised my 2 sons after my divorce and I quit growing for 15 years because...you can not hide growing from children. I started growing again after my #2 son went off to college. Even then, they knew I was growing when they came home for the holidays. They could smell it. They couldn't find it, but they could smell it. So now I use a carbon filter.

DARE is awesome. I remember when they came in and did their whole thing when I was in 7th grade. The guy even had 2oz of bud with him so we could "see what it looked like and smelled like so we can tell people no"

Thats when I found out about drugs, and how cool they were. Not to mention, how dang good bud smelled!

Umbra, howd you hide it so well? Or were they not looking for it? Im guesing they wernt into it, cause, if my dad grew, id help.

the best place to hide something is in plain sight.

POTUS said:

D.A.R.E. stands for: Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It's website is setup like a cartoon page for the kiddies. Among other things, it has a links page for all the police forces that the kiddies can contact about drug related incidents. In the classroom, police piggies teach the kiddies that turning someone in is actually HELPING them. It makes you a good little kiddie. It's brainwashing at it's finest.

I think that parents should teach their children to watch police and report to their parents every time they see a cop car turn without signaling, speeding, driving unsafely, harassing someone, using foul language or spending time parked behind some building somewhere eating doughnuts.

The parents could call that into the station and ask the station piggies if they know what the road piggies are doing.

We could call it: PIGBIE (Protecting Innocent Girls and Boys from Idiotic Education)

The PIGBIE program could teach the boys and girls how the PIGS are becoming more and more like Hitlers Storm Troopers and now have too much power to tell anyone: "Show me your papers NOW!"

Any parent that allows their children to attend DARE classes needs Parenting 101. Do not let other people brainwash your kids.

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All I have to say is LMFAO, I read this to my wife

WOW! thanks so much for the post and Freakin Awesome advice...much apologies for taking so long to update.....

As to "Betty"...

after i sat back with a few cold ones while reading Potus's first hella long post and pondered...
i decided i needed to smoke and reread what i just read....and got into action...

Got hella fresh water, pH'd it, threw the bubblers in there for a while and transplanted her to that for about 3 weeks.

Her roots LOOK GREAT! Her leaves have reguvinated and were bright green...

yes i said were... as of the last couple days they have started to yellow(lower leaves first)

so, i went out got some 10-15-10 food and this stuff call SuperThrive(anyone heard of it??) and changed her water, put in only the recommended amount for 1 gallon(my container is 3 and half gal)...this was yesterday around noon and i dont see any difference...

...should i keep her in there and just keep an eye on her? Or change it?


P.S...thank you again Potus for the wise and enlightening words, also the concern for the kidslol the "Cabinet" i have the setup in looks like a dresser or safe when i thro a blanket over it, and before i brought it in the house i told them "i need something in the house that i could lock up my personnal things like guns, knives, money, bazookas and any other weapons of mass destruction that i may or may not own. So forget we had this conversation and go on living, get in my stuff and ya wont" lol so pretty much its a mute point and they've never asked bout it again.

But i'm not an idiot in thinking they wont snoop, they've already found my porn stash lol...also i,ve moved it into my bedroom so i dont have to worry as much about them snooping....

and im still procrastinating getting pics up, will try to soon
thanks for reading
Ogre

Wow I thought you ditched us.. kinda need a pic to see what's up with the leaves.
Good to hear they were doing well.
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