Using a homemade grow box to grow ILGM Strawberry Kush
There are many advantages to using a homemade grow box in growing marijuana. A homemade grow box can be customized to fit your space. It can also be fitted with the accessories you need to have a successful harvest from lights to ventilation. It’s also more affordable, giving you the ability to save hundreds of dollars.
When experimenting with new grow techniques and customized grow boxes, Strawberry Kush is one of the ideal strains. It’s easy to grow, and resilient enough to handle whatever experiment you decide to perform on it. It’s also resistant to molds and mildew. It’s also a rewarding plant because it will produce up to 18 ounces per square meter when grown indoors.
Finally, Strawberry Kush creates a solid high which will make you happy and keep you feeling uplifted.
This grow journal will show ILGM Strawberry Kush’s capability to grow in a homemade grow box.
Grower: TxGrowman
Yield: 2.1 ounces
Location: USA
Seeds: Strawberry Kush
February 3rd
This grow started out with the following:
Soil – MG Soil in Aero-Pot grow bag
Size of space – 17” x 18” x 48” (inside dimension)
Light system – Mars Reflector LED Watts
Ventilation – 4-inch fans at 190 CFM
Type and strength of nutrients used – None for veg, pH Perfect Sensi for Bloom, 400PPM
Temperature – 76 to 78 degrees Celsius during daytime, 66 to 70 degrees Celsius at night
Humidity – 40% to 55%
The homemade grow box is made out of 1×2 and 1×4 framing and 5/8-inch interior plywood that is painted white on the inside. The door is across the entire front of the box and has weather stripping around it. All holes for cords and hangers are as small as possible.
The bottom left side has holes that are covered by a filter that pulls in colder air. The exhaust fan is centered 10 inches below the top on the other side to release hotter air.
Finally, the bottom has furniture casters on it to accommodate moving it across floors.
Here are some pictures of the homemade grow box.
Here is the plant just before she started flowering. She is 30 days old when this photo was taken.
And this is a photo 2 days after flowering.
The Strawberry Kush acclimated to these new surroundings pretty quickly. It started out in a 3-gallon aero pot and received 2mL of Sensi-Bloom pH and 1mL of Golden Tree. This combination seems to make it grow faster and fill out the leaves better.
February 6th
Today is flowering Day 5. The plant continues to grow quickly. She grew two more inches today and the lights had to be raised accordingly. LST was started yesterday to keep some of the stronger under top canopy flowers.
February 8th
Here are new photos today. The plant is short in stature but has a lot of bud sites despite its size. As you can see, the growth is green and lush. The top sugar leaves were removed to allow the buds to develop underneath. So far, there doesn’t seem to be any stunting from the trimming.
February 10th
It’s only the 9th day of flower but she has to be the most green and the most lush cannabis in the history of this grow tent. The nutes were increased to ¾ strength for today’s feeding. The Golden Tree seems to be doing its thing. She’s also thirstier now, almost requiring water in-between feedings.
This aero pot also deserves some props. It’s draining well and the roots are strong because of it.
February 13th
She grew by about an inch and a half last night while everyone else was sleeping. The flowers are much more visible now. This is how the canopy looks like on her 13th day of flower.
February 15th
She was bone dry this morning. There weren’t any signs of dehydration on the leaves yet so it was good timing. It’s good that she’s using water at a greatly accelerated rate now. It’s a sign she’s developing quickly.
Today’s feed was composed of Sensi Bloom A and B at 5mL each, Golden Tree 2mL, CalMag 3mL, and Humboldt Bloom 3mL. pH Perfect keeps the pH at 6.5.
February 17th
The young lady has definitely picked up in size over the past couple of days and her flowers are starting to show pistils. The bud sites are bigger and looking more like a flower now.
Check out some pot porn photos below!
February 25th
Here are a few photos of the stems and buds on the 25th flowering day. Some of the upper canopy leaves need to be trimmed to let in more light. She’s so thirsty that earlier this morning, her grow pot was light as a feather and it took a lot of water to cure her thirst.
Trichomes are starting to show. However, on closer look, she’s showing a little burn at the tips. Maybe the nutes need to be dialed down a little.
February 28th
Check her out on the 27th day of flower. She’s getting a little lighter in the upper canopy around the bigger buds. They are looking a little weak and might have a little problem with Calcium. This calls for an additional Big-Up tomorrow with feeding as well as incorporating some CalMag to the Sensi-Bloom.
March 3rd
Despite a current problem of a Calcium deficiency, the plant is awesome. It didn’t take long to discover the amount of water running through the pot may very well have brought on the deficiency. So much fluid was used to flush that the soil is more like a hydro media.
Calcium was added yesterday and it is starting to look better already. Tomorrow is feeding day. She’s been watered every 2 to 3 days with large amounts of water and feeding it at 800 to 1000 PPM.
Time for some pot porn with more risqué shots from under the shots.
Not too shabby for a plant that only spent 30 days in flower.
March 10th
Growth hasn’t slowed down still. The buds are working hard to get bigger. She’s been watered with no food. She’s being fed every two or three days.
Unfortunately, doing LST caused one of the buds to snap off completely. Rookie mistake!
Without any way of cloning it, it’s being dried for a taste of things to come. At least the 12-inch tall plant has 11 more buds left. Keeping her short worked well because she is filling up the 18” x 16” space completely and then some.
March 16th
The girl went into darkness today! 48 hours and counting before she gets cut up and dried.
Currently making a dryer rack to hang in the grow box so the house maintains no smell. The temperature is about 72 degrees. Humidity was 50% last night. She will go down in the box when all the water is evaporated. Now, the challenge is keeping the humidity is 45%. It should be a good place to dry.
Got a bunch of mason jars that have good tops on them to age or cure the buds.
March 18th
Tomorrow is harvest day! If the bud that broke off was any indication, the result should be great. Can’t imagine how awesome they would taste when dried and cured properly.
March 19th
It’s harvest day!
Opening the door will release a fruity smell. There were a bunch of small “popcorn” buds underneath that weren’t even visible until the plant was taken apart. The main stem was pretty strong for a small plant. This species will lend itself to topping very well.
Finally, built a rack for the grow box that looks like it will work out great. All stems from the plant were removed and some of the leaves were trimmed off. They’re now hanging in a grow box upside down with no light and the fan on high to keep the air circulating.
March 20th
Opened the grow box today to see how the drying is coming along. Some of the leaves are already drying out and the buds are looking good. RH is about 47% – just a little above the planned 45% for drying. Boveda 62% is used for curing.
March 25th
The buds are pretty dry now and the final weight is about 2.1 ounces.
These are favorable results. It was not as hectic as previous grows. The fabric pots worked wonderfully and it’s a wonder why people grow using anything else. Strawberry Kush’s leaves are as lush and green as any ever seen. It’s a very strong plant.
A few unconventional trims were done during flowering to make the results even better. A lot of the sugar leaves were taken off the top to allow light penetration and that method worked well.
Overall, the ease and results of this grow is satisfactory.
Grower: TxGrowman
Yield: 2.1 ounces
Location: USA
Seeds: Strawberry Kush
A homemade grow box can do wonders if you invest the effort into maximizing its potential to meet your grow’s needs. Strawberry Kush was also strong enough to endure the new changing setup.
For future reference, Strawberry Kush grows branchy and this grow could have benefitted more by using a Sea of Green method. When grown indoors, it is shorter but becomes significantly taller outside.
Do you think you’ll ever use a homemade grow box?
Happy growing!
I would like to have a go at the strawberry lush grow box