New Grow Room In My New Houses Garage

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by growtender, Aug 8, 2014.

  1. #81 pop1, Oct 24, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 24, 2014
    I hope your clones make it. Did they not root, or is it from the PM? 
     
    If you need any help with cloning I can try to explain how I take mine. I have had good luck with the way I take my cuts. 

     
  2. Oh ok, I've heard about him. I'm interested to see how it works out! Nice harvest! How many plants were you running again?
     
  3. I think I got a little lazy about sanitation this time around. Gonna try to at least get two or three Afgooey clones to survive and then I'll just flower them and clone from them and the AK47 I'm about to flower.
    Just finished sweeping up the grow room. Gonna perhaps bug bomb it then vacuum and wipe everything down with bleach. Also I'll modify some stuff and hopefully I can get the AK47 flowering by Wednesday evening.


    -growtender
     
  4. I ran twelve this last grow by four top mainlining. Next I'll flower the one AK47 I have with scrog and get a couple clones from her to. Never done just one. Seems risky but I don't have a choice if I'm gonna start a flowering cycle soon.


    -growtender
     
  5. Got the grow room all sweeped out and ready to bomb, vacuum and wipe out. ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1414380457.664020.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1414380470.346708.jpg
    Also gave the clones some care. Only got seven left so cross the fingers! Used RO water at 5.5pH with some Superthrive to water the rock wool cubes. I saturated and squeezed each cube a couple times to get fresh air into the cubes.
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1414380599.914087.jpg
    The AK47 is looking good to! ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1414380626.080855.jpg
    Got a week of cleaning ahead of me, but I'm pretty hopeful :)


    -growtender
     
  6. I hope those little ones make it. I used the rockwool years back and I ended up having better luck with the root riot ones. Not sure why, But with the rock i would only get about half or so to take. After using up my brick of them I seen the root riot, I gave them a try and never looked back. I get a 100% or close every time. Maybe when you need more, you could try them out. 
     
  7. You know, I never had a problem before with rock wool. I'd only lose one maybe two. I think what happened was that I usually will use a sanitized razor to take the cuttings then I'll immediately stick them in water. This time I didn't and I don't know why. I think that's the problem because I probably by not immediately putting them in water ended up with air bubbles getting into the stem and causing problems. Definitely won't get lazy next time :)


    -growtender
     
  8. So down to only one Afgooey clone that looks healthy. The rest seem like they could make it, but probably not :( Booooo!
    The AK47 looks okay. Caught some powdery mildew on it, so I turned the damn thing upside down and dipped the whole thing in diluted H2O2 for ten minutes and put a fan on her. Hopefully that did it.
    Worst case scenario I'll get some clones from a grower buddy of mine. We'll see.
    On another note I finished building the scrog and cleaning the grow room.
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1414638762.924973.jpg
    Got legs that attach to the drain table. Hopefully it works well. Pretty big area (5x3') so I think I'll get a decent spread. I can adjust the height as well.
    I heard the ionic breezes generate unsafe levels of ozone, and I had one in my garage. Now I got the grow room sealed with that thing running and hopefully it'll generate enough ozone to kill anything else in there that I might have missed :)


    -growtender
     
  9. Well the AK47 is looking pretty good after a couple days now. No sign of powdery mildew. Whew! I think the one Afgooey clone is gonna make it. The others might, but I'm not too sure.
    I've had the ionic breeze kicking in the sealed grow room for about three days now. Peeked in there the other day and I could really smell the ozone permeating the air. Hoping it's doing a good job of killing and sanitizing everything.
    All for now....going to shoot for setting up the AK47 in there at the beginning of next week.


    -growtender
     
  10. #90 growtender, Nov 10, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 10, 2014
    Well it looks like I wasted a lot of time and money on the whole outbuilding grow room construction. Should have listened to the forum advice about not using an outbuilding. Tried to use a space heater and ended up not having any luck with getting the temperature up in there. All that effort to end up with high hvac costs, unstable temperatures and humidity, and powdery mildew.
    So back in the basement I go! Convinced the wifey to let me install the grow in the utility room again. At least now that room is dry as a bone with no mold because I cleaned the shit out of it after moving the grow out months ago. Didn't cost a dime more to do either, which makes me happy because I'm done spending money on this. Got to the point where it went from being a fun enjoyable hobby to a constant moneypit of frustration. Here's the new digs complete with some nice reflective bubble wrap material I had around the garage:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1415642667.359043.jpg
    Got the T5 over a new crop with the HPS ready to go. Had ten Purple Mazar feminized autoflower seeds from a purchase a while back and decided to try them out. Sprouts up as of yesterday. Even managed to salvage one Afgooey clone that's doing alright and I'll grow her out to clone.
    Kicking myself in the ass for wasting all that money and time. At least now I don't have to lug buckets of RO water out there, won't be subject to the elements, no tracking powdery mildew in the grow from outside, power bill won't kill me, and can spend time in the basement where it's warm :) Temps in the new grow room are staying between 75 and 85 with 30% relative humidity and not much of a change between lights on and off. I'm loving it!


    -growtender
     
  11. Space looks awesome
     
  12. Thanks buddy! Yeah I feel a lot better about it. Only thing I have to add is an intake vent so I can get some cooler air moving through. Currently just drawing through the floorboards and cracks and the temps are just a tad too high for my taste. Plus I think the negative pressure is affecting the boiler and water heater ventilation, which makes me nervous :/



    -growtender
     
  13. #93 growtender, Nov 18, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2014
    Well the little seedlings are at just about halfway through week one (12 days since germination). My temps are between 75 and 88 degrees and the humidity is really low - between 9 and 20%. The problem stems from the fact that the grow room is in the 90 sqft utility room with the water heater and boiler.
    Life's funny. Built a really nice grow room in my shed only to find HVAC, humidity management, and labor costs to be too high, then moved it to the basement only to find temps too high and humidity too low!
    I did cut out an intake vent from my office into the grow room. Nice thing about my house is I have four zones from my boiler system: two zones upstairs and two zones for the basement. One half of the basement that includes my studio and living room is on one zone while the office, bathroom and laundry room is on another. I can turn that stat off and even close my office and open a small window to cool the office down so air pulled from there into the grow room is a little cooler. Not my favorite option as I do like to actually use my office within some standard of comfort :)
    The boiler and water heater stacks are drawing fine with the 400CFM exhaust fan and the door shut, so I don't think the slightly negative pressure is interfering with the stacks. I installed a CO detector in the room to make sure I'm not getting any dangerous CO levels.
    Here's my dilemma. I'd like to get the temps down to 70-80 and humidity up to 45-50%. I'm thinking about either an evaporative cooler or installing another intake vent and actually running a duct directly from that vent to the oscillating fan, bringing the 66-8 degree 45%RH air from the office to the grow without giving the air a chance to mix with the existing air. Or both solutions. Not sure and wanted to see what you guys think. Here's a diagram:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416314509.961433.jpg
    I hear evaporative coolers (or swamp coolers) work very well when conditions are very hot and dry. Thinking about building one myself - either the bucket or box fan styles.
    Anybody have success with these solutions under similar circumstances?


    -growtender
     
  14. How often do you mean when you say regularly?
     
  15. On the left. Those ones are perfect height to flower for hydro. I tried to flower mine at 18 inches and they ended up being 5ft tall.
     
  16. Okay so after dealing with humidity and cold in my shed, moving the grow to the basement, then dealing with high temps and really low humidity, I think I finally have a solution!
    I decided to reverse my exhaust from to the outside to into the house, conserving heat and bringing cold air into the grow. Here's the schematic:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588143.070142.jpg
    So I have two intakes now: one from the adjacent office and one from the outside window complete with a damper for balancing between the office and outdoor intake air mix. The exhaust goes into the office and warms that side of my basement. Also have a CO detector directly under the exhaust vent for safety since my water heater and boiler are also in the grow room, although I did a smoke test on the stacks and they're drawing very well:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588286.617233.jpg
    Some of that exhaust air gets recycled back into the grow and fresh air comes from the dampered outside intake:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588336.433559.jpg
    Just have to build a light blocking box for the office intake:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588400.550444.jpg
    It's working really well! I have a Titan fan controller working to keep the temps between 70 and 78, and after a day no problems. ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588476.786784.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588486.884889.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588499.650331.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588513.050766.jpg
    The little Purple Mazars seem to finally be picking up a little as well. Lost three to stem rot, but I'm over it :) Just about at the beginning of week two. And my surviving Afgooey is putting out some leaves finally. ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588593.167181.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588605.436248.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588615.967155.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416588627.250231.jpg
    Very happy that I found a solution that keeps the room where I want it and saves heat! Boiler isn't kicking on as much so I know I'm conserving that heat.
    Let's here it for grow room ingenuity! Couldn't have done it without all the forum goodness.


    -growtender
     
  17. All that shit got wiped out by powdery mildew. Only survivor is an Afgooey I've managed to keep going.


    -growtender
     
  18. #98 growtender, Nov 24, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 24, 2014
    Temps are staying between 68 and 83 degrees and humidity is climbing to 36% at times. They seem to be growing pretty fast now. ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416791058.602009.jpg
    Ruderalis seems to have wider leaves as well. ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416791093.134316.jpg
    Gonna be picking up some Blue Cheese and Fire Alien Strawberry clones from a friend tonight, set up a veg table in my laundry room and get this perpetual grow back up and running!


    -growtender
     
  19. Okay so I've had two Purple Mazar seedlings mysteriously wilt over night and die. They will all look fine then the next day one goes.
    Upon inspection of the roots I can't find anything wrong. They look off white and feel firm with no sliminess. Here's the pics immediately after pulling the plant and rinsing the roots:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418136969.492083.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418136980.423881.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418136989.935365.jpg
    The other Purple Mazars, like which the previous dead ones looked before they wilted overnight:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137067.340525.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137078.292099.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137089.829808.jpg
    And just for reference, here's the Afgooey clone that's been vegging with them:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137120.977998.jpg
    As you can see she's pretty happy.
    Here's the specs:
    T8 four bulb fixture at 18/6 about twelve inches over the canopy.
    Top drip recovery hydroponic system growing in coco coir/perlite.
    Reservoir at 72 degrees with two airstones and a recirculating water pump for good aeration.
    1487ppm (started with 400ppm and worked up to current) and 5.77pH (held there for the most part since germination) using RO water (starting at 14ppm) with Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Grow, Fox Farm Big Bloom, Silica Blast, CalMag Plus, and General Hydroponics pH UP and DOWN when needed.
    Watering cycle is every three hours for 30 minutes each starting at lights on (last watering cycle ends at 3.5 hours before lights out.
    Temps in room stay between 69 and 82 degrees consistently and humidity stays low between 10-20%, which I know is a little low, but I don't see how that could cause wilting like that considering my watering schedule.
    All these environmental factors have remained constant for the four weeks since these plants germinated.
    Don't know what to think about this...please help!


    -growtender
     
  20. Looks like I'm losing yet another:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137363.924107.jpg
    I took the other one that died and put it in a little dwc setup with nutrient water and an air stone:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137390.314947.jpg
    I figure if the problem is salt build or overwatering that this plant should perk back given the coco coir is now ruled out. If it doesn't then only a couple problems are left:
    1. It could be over feeding.
    2. Bad genetics.
    In an attempt to solve those issues I changed my watering cycle to twice a day for thirty minutes: once at lights on and once ten hours before lights off, allowing more time for the soil to dry out.
    I also added more RO water to the reservoir, lowering the ppm by 300, and hopefully this will offset any over feeding that might be happening.
    I'm skeptical that it could be salt because the dead ones' coir looked very clean upon examination.
    Don't think it's over feeding because I would most likely see signs of toxicity in the leaves along with the wilting. And the Afgooey is loving it.
    Also don't know about overwatering because I've read that coir is really hard to overwater and I've never had this issue in the four grows I've done with this same coir/perlite mix....it's all the same brand to!
    I'm at this point thinking it might be bad genetics. Seems ridiculous that these guys keep dropping and I never really liked the way they grew in the first place. Not fast at all. The stems were weak and the leaves are heavy and dark green:
    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1418137416.525193.jpg
    I'm gonna wait this one out for a week or two and see if at least some make it, but if not I'm gonna scrog the Afgooey up really big and cross my fingers!
    Please if anyone has had this issue or has a suggestion if love to turn this around. Already spent the power bringing them this far i want some Purple buds goddammit!


    -growtender
     

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