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Quad's FrankenGrow diary

QuadShotz

QuadShotz

Banned
Ok, so it's official now.

What I have:

  • wally mart 4' light
  • 2 EcoLux 40w bulbs
  • An insane amount of aluminum foil
  • A $2 thermometer
  • Duct Tape (lots)
  • 18lb. test clothesline..since 18" chains won't cut it.
  • styro cups, seeds in 8.5, 16oz for later. rubber banded for drain.
  • cheep Hyponex soil (yes, I know)
  • TerraCycle Worm Poop All-Purpose Food (5-3-4)
  • lots of brain storming and a part of a old lawn chair..
  • A Siriracha bottle for watering..seems appropo.

I only have the three cups of the habs so far, but soon will have evile seeds of pain thx to HippySeedCo bro. ;-)


Here's pics so far:

The stuff:

S6300560.JPG


The FrankenGrow:

S6300567.JPG


FrankenGrow at Night:

S6300584.JPG


Cups:

S6300574.JPG


For the seedlings, just a sprinkle perhaps a tsp per quart of the soil..that I let air out a bit since it's so dam wet. They say tsp per 4" pot mix, so I dumb that down to just enuf to be fun.

It's been 30 years sine I gardened, but I was good at it then. This shall be fun :-)

My setup is crude, but flexible..the ropes are easy to adjust, and as they grow, so shall it. AND, once summer hits, that window gets about 8-10 hrs of pure sun a day since it's a SW face.

Pain pods, here I come.

-Q
 
Watch out with that soil. I'm using the same and for a while I had weeds and blades of grass pop up each day. Also, may want to look into getting perlite or sand or both to loosen up the soil. There is some hate with using foil as a reflective material, be careful and good luck!
 
Thanks, I am watching the soil, and letting it dry some before using it as it's pretty heavy. Seems pretty clean tho, I let it set a few days before using it to see if anything happened.

I grew up doing organic gardening, so this is a fun reprise for me.

I know I'm proly bucking what peeps think is right in some aspects..but I have thought it out. Once I see shoots, I'll lift the foil and let the window next to it give natural light..about 8-10hrs worth a day since it's a SW exposure. Temps are right, and I'm confident in my ability to adjust.

I didn't see another way to build a grow area with no budget. Irony is, the foil idea came from a user here.

This whole thing cost about $40..which is my spending money for the month pretty much. But, habs are $8.99/lb..so if all I do is get one or two plants that yield decent, I paid for it all. Not even counting the Naga's I'll plant soon that you can't get here at all.

Plants want to grow..we just need to give them the right conditions.

-Q
 
I love the lawn chair! What a great idea!


Have you tested with the thermometer to see if it stays warm enough inside the foil?
 
Thx, I tried to fig how to get the light close for seedlings, but have escape route for later. Silly light came with 18" chains..useless. I got a good mechanical resoning mind, so i found stuff that fit and didnt cost. :)

Ayup, it's settled at a comfy 87 degrees at the base of the cups just with the lights. About perfect I reckon. :)

Lights ben on about 5 hrs now, so this should be an avg. (dam, thermometer temp dropped liek 3 derees while it wsa out and waiting for my cam. It's like 60-ish in here atm.)

S6300590.JPG



The street sign wasnt just for funkyness, it's a damn good reflective and heat resistant surface, plus waterproof to keep my table from taking a dive.

Oh, case anyoen wonders why I got those bulbs..they are rated to live 9yrs on normal use @ 6hrs/day..so with my use, still will outlast cheep flouros and have full light range. Each bulb is rated for 20K hrs, and 1900 lumens each.

Plus, my mum ran the forebearers of those bulbs in the 70's for her african violets. ;)
 
POTAWIE said:
I love the resourceful setup, and like you said flexible which is important.:)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try to live up to it. Wait til I get the Nagas. :)
I do have a 'green thumb' even if this is my first go at peppers.

Olde celt I guess, we love things that grow. :D
 
Looks cool! I like the idea of using as much used/old stuff as possible (probably because I couldn't afford to buy new stuff :)).

I don't know about your neighbours, but they might get the wrong idea about what you're growing when seeing that thing at night (because it's next to the window). Maybe you should move it outta sight!? ;)
 
Well, I'm on the 3rd floor, so it's minimalized risk..plus another reason I used the foil. ;)

My bedroon is just right of there, so ya, i wanted lightleak to a minimum...not just for the plants sake..lol

Aye, I think freegan...I'm poor as the dirt the peppers grow in..and it's $2 a bag..lol

Reason I wanted to post is, to show that ANYONE can grow peppers. Regardless of money or space. I always wanted to, and thought I couldn't.

Until I did.

Seeds = free and good prices thx to good bros
Gear= $40-ish
Time= Your own
Growing your own chillis = Priceless
 
LOL! What's with the horse in the first picture?

Great set up,. I was trying to think of how to do a lighting fixture like that and kep thinking of bamboo. Never would have thought about the graden lawn chair idea. Thanks!
 
Just curious about your drainage. I'm still new at this and I'm using styrofoam cups as well. How does the second cup + elastic help with the drainage? The only thing I can think of is that you have holes in the top cups and then the second cups spaced further down to catch any overflow. Is this correct? Pretty ingenious!:lol:
 
imaguitargod said:
LOL! What's with the horse in the first picture?

Great set up,. I was trying to think of how to do a lighting fixture like that and kep thinking of bamboo. Never would have thought about the graden lawn chair idea. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Thanks!
It's just materials I had on hand...when plants get tall, I'll prolly just hang the lights normally. Suspended ceiling from the 70's is a PITA though.

The horse is on a blanket on the back of the couch...about as close to having animals as it gets in this building. :)

Sydtunes said:
Just curious about your drainage. I'm still new at this and I'm using styrofoam cups as well. How does the second cup + elastic help with the drainage? The only thing I can think of is that you have holes in the top cups and then the second cups spaced further down to catch any overflow. Is this correct? Pretty ingenious!:lol:
Click to expand...

Yep, thats how it's working. top cup w/ dirt has four holes punched in the bottom with a pencil, and a big rubber band around it to give separation from the bottom cup for drainage. i.e., it can't go all the way down.

It's not a new idea around here..I saw a lot of people using cups stacked like that and at $2 for 50 cups..well.. ;)

*ha, finally figured out how multiquote works..lol*

-Q
 
QuadShotz said:
...Yep, thats how it's working. top cup w/ dirt has four holes punched in the bottom with a pencil, and a big rubber band around it to give separation from the bottom cup for drainage. i.e., it can't go all the way down.

It's not a new idea around here..I saw a lot of people using cups stacked like that and at $2 for 50 cups..well.. ;)
Click to expand...

That's pretty brilliant and cost effective! I must try it... Thanks
 
Pepperfreak said:
Great setup and very creative. I can't wait to see the baby pictures...
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Ya, I swear it's like torture waiting for those things to pop up.

I think I will need to do something about that soil..it's just not very good. I wanted soil that didn't have chemicals/fertilizer in it and that's all they had..but it's pretty crappy.

Hmm..perhaps sand/perlite time. If I don't see shoots coming up after a week or so I'll scrap the lot and start over with better potting soil. I think it'd be ok for mature plants, but seedlings I doubt it atm.

Really, I'm just experimenting at this point until I get the Good Seeds in the mail so it's all good. :)

~Q
 
My suggestion would be to start the seeds in peat pods, or start them in a paper towel/coffee filter and then transplant them into soil once germinated.
 
Yep, that's what I'm doing.

Seems to work well to get them started, I just worry about the soil being too dense for seedlings. I've been manually and carefully irrigating the soil around where I planted with a screwdriver about once a day to try and keep it broken up and consistant.

Now, the waiting part...

~Q
 
Ok, long time no updates, so here's the prelim stuff ATM:

Broke down and got a 72-cell Jiffy. And got a bag of better soil from my uncle who'd had it laying around. Yay!

I only have room to grow so much, so starting with 2 each of all the kinds I have. That leave extra pellets and seed just in case.

s6300777.jpg


Amazingly, the thing fits in my "light tent" just perfectly. :)

Now to wait some more.

~QS
 
That's really ingenious.

Be careful with the foil. It can create hotspots on the seedlings that can burn them. Using white paper prevents that, although with that setup, I'm not sure it wouldn't be a fire hazard.
 
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