Room + Atmosphere: 400 sq ft Garage It was a bit of a project to insulate the ceiling and seal the garage door but totally worth the sealed environment. Home Depot has a good deal where you get the blower for free with the purchase of 1k yards of r13 attic insulation. I definitely recommend doing this even if you dont grow. It lowered my summer electric bill noticeably for the short time before turning on the lights. I Sealed the garage with a basic insulated false wall. Baffled the noise and insulated well enough for air conditioning. 10x10 Grow Tent Bought it for $300 still in box from a guy on craigslist who got it in a storage locker auction. I couldnt pass up the deal... 5 Ton 13 Seer Trane Split AC Unit Another craigslist buy. If youre patient, you can find pretty much whatever you need in good condition. This AC was removed from a repo'd commercial building in like new condition. The air handler wasnt even dusty. Could I have gotten away with a smaller unit? Sure. Gen-1 CO2 Generator Compressed CO2 is better for heat but with 5 tons, I didnt think I was going to have a problem and went with gas, which lasts me longer. PPM-4 CO2 Controller Not the most accurate but definitely the cheapest and gets the job done. Active Air 150 Carbon Filter with 12" Fan Was the biggest filter in the store and smell was a real concern of mine. The filter and fan are standalone and serve only as an air cleaner and circulation. Angled specifically to blow across the ballasts to help displace any heat(probably not a big deal but if I'm moving air, might as well make it usefull). 2 x 8" Fans and 100' of 8" ducting So this was a tad creative suggestion from a friend. Each fan serves two purposes. First purpose is to circulate the air from the tent, back into the room. Second purpose is to cool the lights. So in order to accomplish both, each fan is ducted to two reflectors with an 8" duct splitter at the end. An AC duct is attached to each splitter with the 3rd port of the splitter left open inside the tent. So for the 1-5 minute rule of thumb for grow room air circulation, this is total overkill but for light cooling, it's right on the money. Two additional AC ducts are routed to the tent floor for bucket and pump cooling(this is HUGE!). By using the chilled air this way, the cool air circulating through the buckets drops each bucket temp to 68 Degrees. Plus it helps keep the pumps from getting hot. Lighting: 4 x 8" Lumii Vented Reflectors No functional reason for this specific brand. The local store had a good sale. 4 x 1000 Xtrasun Adjustable eBallasts Same as the reflectors, these were on sale. The sales girl is actually really honest when it comes to the products they offer and she highly recommended. Given the more expensive items she was steering me away from, I figured I could trust her suggestion. 2 x HPS and 2 x MH Auto Pilot 4-Way Light Controller I heard the 8-Way has two switches, allowing you to flip the lights on in stages. I've heard this helps, and I've heard it doesnt matter... You decide... Hydro Setup 19 x 5 Gallon Independent DWC Buckets Picked them up from Lowes w/ buckets for cheap. Add the elbows, gromets, blue hose for water level, 5.5" heavy duty net pot, and a 4" air stone. Wrapped in mylar bubble wrap to help with light. Left these independent to get a little more accurate from plant to plant. 6 x 600GPHish HydroFarm Air Pumps Went with the smaller size, solely for the purpose of redundancy. If one fails, I can add the 3 still water buckets to 3 of the other pumps until I can get back from the store with a replacement. 4 buckets per pump is not 100% but its safe. 4' x 4' Scrog Screens I have 4 but using only 3 this time and comparing vs free standing Nutrients Mainly General Hydroponics Flora series with a touch of a few others here and there. Clones 15 x Bubba Kush 1 x Holland Haze Harijuana 1 x Blackberry Cheese 1 x Jedi Kush 1 x Blackwater 1 x Harijuana OG Started at 600w each for the first week. The clones had been under T5 for about a week and the mother was also T5
So jumping to the week of planting. We picked up the clones about a week and a half late, so the Bubbas had already started outgrowing their 3x3 cubes. However, they all looked healthier than I could have hoped for. The 5 individual strains are about a week and a half behind the bubbas.
After the first week. The plants were responding amazingly. Roots were looking perfect and no signs of shock or stress. Decided to bump them up to 750w for week 2 and see how things worked out. Watering the cube once per day with about a cup and a half of water if the cubes were dry enough. With the bubbas being a little more mature, they obviously were drinking a bit more.
End of Week 2: The plants showed a bit of stress from the lights for the most part of the week. On top of the light stress, the bubbas began showing signs of nutrient deficiency. Magnesium to be specific. However I just watched for signs of it getting worse but never did. Be the end of the week they seemed to have gotten over their stress from the 750s as well as roots were now reaching the water.
End of Week 3 and that sad drooping from the light is all gone and not a single sign of nutrient deficiency. My only guess with that one is, that once the roots finally had access to the nutrients in the bucket, they had everything they needed. Now that they've been in the water, they've also started to show some impressive growth.
I think I want to see what it produces more than anybody else. Haha. Saw yesterday that the Harijuana OG hermed out. Caught it as soon as it was showing male signs so its been pulled :/ Although my expectations of the Bubbas are high because Ive seen what this strain can do, my expectations were low with the other 5. They were freebies I was asked to try out for a friend of a friend. We werent given much info on them, just the names of each... The bubbas respond empressively well to scrog. Bending the branches over, they all seem to react as if being topped. Generating additional nodes rather than growing out. This was an unexpected result but im not complaining haha. BY FAR the most impressive is the Blackwater. Being cloned nearly two weeks after the bubbas, it has already surpassed most of the plants, excluding only a few bubbas. So far all ive gathered is its indica/sativa mix. Growth characteristics are a bit odd but definitely pleasing. Main branch is beefy and tends to like branching out on its own without the help of the scrog. The additional branching means they arent as thick as some of the bubbas however with the screens its not as big of an issue. More branches=more buds Ill have to see how bud production turns out but I think Ill be pulling a clone of this to make it my second mother plant. The Holland Haze Harijuana is in a distant second of the 5 unique strains. Again, it looks to be another indica/sativa that prefers branching independently. Cant say im disappointed nor impressed with it yet. Its just... growing lol. Its alive still so Ill be happy about that. Blackberry Cheese being in 3rd it took forever to take on but once it did, its beginning to look better. Half indica/half sativa, it both wants to branch out but still stay close to the main... its a weird plant... Just given the size of it, I dont expect it to produce much, but im hoping for good quality. The Harijuana OG WAS in 4th till it hermed. It was a weird plant from the start... the fact it hermed as a first generation clone is disappointing. Mother was from seed too. Jedi Kush is in last. Its sadder than charlie brown's xmas tree. Doesnt drink much, doesnt grow much, and just generally reacts as a weak plant. I've checked everything and cant seem to find an answer other than its the lame duck. Again, just hoping for quality becuase quantity is no longer an option... Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Sorry 2 hear bout the herijuana og bro. But @ least ull have some bubu to smoke wen its all said n done sent from cloud 9
By my guest sir. Stay as long as you like. Im also working on a chiller project at the moment. Converting a window unit to a sort of split unit style water chiller. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Well please share. I am needing to embark on the same kind of project. Im lookin forward to it. BD Green
Brief details: Replacing all copper cooling components with stainless as to not contaminate nutrients. Wall ac would remain outside like a traditional split systems heat pump would. Copper line is routed into room as typical split system would. Instead of your typical interior or attic kept air handler, coiled stainless tubing is sweated to the ends of the copper lines to put in its place, stainless tubing is submerged in 55 gallon RO reservoir. All the existing controls would just need extended wiring to follow the lineset into the room. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Heres end of week 4... forgot to post it a few days ago. Decided to build a vertical scrog for space purposes. It moves the two larger free standing bubbas near the wall easier and cleaner. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
If you thought I was a liar after seeing this photo, I wouldnt blame you. This is the blackwater exactly 4 weeks and 5 days from clipping. Just massive! Bumped this screen to 1k and ill be upping the other 3 throughout the next week. Blackwater is the closest and the rest are bubbas Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
So week 5 is finished and the screens are filling up. One more week...ish and the lights are getting flipped. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Great setup! I'm gonna check this out for sure, love me some bubba kush. And that is an amazing deal for the tent. 300 bucks for that room damn what a deal.
Looking amazing token. Wish I could run in that kind of space here. I am stuck in my 4x4 for now until we make the move. After my current run is over, I am planning on grabbing a 600, and running a one plant scrog in a 30 gallon tub. Shooting for that coveted 1 gpw next go round. Anyhow, keep up the good work bro. Cant wait to see them in a month or so!!! BD Green -------------------------------------First DWC grow. 400 watt Blueberry Buddha from Beanboyz Genetics. http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1231874-400-w---DWC.--Blueberry-Buddha-from-Bean-Boyz-Genetics
Thanks man I appreciate it. Side note... I know I havent talked much about my nutrient schedule much yet but I have noticed something a bit alarming. Everywhere I read, people are saying anything over an EC of 1.5 is high, and over 2.0 sounds like its certain death. All of my plants are 2.8-3.5 and there isnt a sick leaf on any of them. That level has sat static since about a week after planting and I've got no plans of lowering it. Ive also read a lot about some crazy PH levels which seem nuts as well. Ill post my average reading for the bubbas and you guys tell me what you think Ph - 5.9 EC - 3.2 Water temp - 69F Room temp - 74F Humidity - 40% General Hydro Flora Series Hygrozyme CALiMAGic Aussie Tonic W8 Finisher H2O2 Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app