This is going to be my Journal for my new grow tent. This will be a perpetual grow as soon as I get my plants up and producing and find some suitable strains to work with. This is not my first grow, but it is my first grow in a tent with so much control over growth factors. In the past I have had cruddy light sources and light reflectors, but this tent will hopefully work out well. I got my 55" x 55" x 79" tent and most of my supplies for this grow over a few months from HTG Supply as well as some Amazon stores. The tent as very easy to assemble and put up - 1 person job and I am right at 6 feet tall. Here are my current supplies: - "Big Tent" for flowering (55" x 55" x 79" tall) - "Mother Keeper" for seedling/vegging (51.5"W x 22.5"D x 48.5"H) - 3 x 400 watt HPS lights (2 with Lumatek dimmable ballasts, 1 with magnetic ballast) - 2 Airflow Reflectors (20" long x 24" wide x 8" high) - 1 Maxwing Reflector (19⅜" long x 16½" wide x 5⅛" deep) - 1 box fan - 5 gallon buckets for flowering stage pots - solo cups for seedlings or clones - All organic light blend soil (no pieces of bark; mix that is airy yet still allows water retention) - all organic amendments listed in Subcool "Super Soil" recipe - 6" inline 435CFM centrifugal fan (with speed controller) Intake - 6" inline 435CFM centrifugal fan (with speed controller) Exhaust - 8" duct fan (supposedly 300 CFM, but I estimate ~200CFM) Exhaust - Advanced Nutrients My water source is just tap water out of the faucet. I checked it once and it was around 220ppm or so. However I let it sit out for a good 30 hours before using it on my plants or mixing it with any nutrients. I am using all organic amendments according to Subcool's Super Soil recipe. The bottom half of each 5 gallon bucket gets Super Soil and the top half is just normal light organic soil. I water with Advanced Nutrients SensiZym, Voodoo Juice, Tarantula, and Carbo Load on day 1, day 7, and day 14 of flowering (pure water in between these waterings). On week 4 (28 days) I add about 4 tablespoons/Liter of dried bat guano and mix it thoroughly with my water and let it sit for a good 2-3 hours with some oxygen stones pumping through the water to aerate it. I also add 2ml/L of Nirvana. Every 2 weeks until the last 2 weeks of flowering, I will throw in a tablespoon of 50% humic acid/50% kelp to keep the micronutrients in check. The last 1.5-2 weeks I use only pure water----usually I go buy Ozarka brand pure spring bottled water for the final flush period instead of using tap water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the list of my upgrades coming soon: - 1 Lumatek dimmable 400 watt ballast - 1 air coolable fixtures for the 400 watt light with Maxwing reflector - upgrade the crappy box fan inside the tent to 2 rotating fans to help air circulate over the whole canopy as well as underneath My next post will be of the plants I am putting in the tent
your exhaust fan could easily pull a passive intake but i will b keeping an eye on this grow thats with a scrubber as well but cool cool i just save every penny i can
Here are some pictures of what the tent looks like inside with 4 plants added all in 5 gallon pots. I'm sorry for not having any Vegetative stage pictures for these plants. Just got a camera about 2 weeks back and these are the pictures from Sunday March 11 which is day 14 of flowering for all 4 of these plants. The 4 strains I have in the tent are TGA Vortex, TGA The Third Dimension (3D), Greenhouse Big Bang, and Greenhouse El Nino. In the 3rd picture which is zoomed out, front left is El nino; front right is 3D, back right is Big Bang, and back left is Vortex. Note that right now since my tent is not full I am only using 2 of my 3 x 400 watt lights. This is also due to heat at the moment. I will try to update with pictures every Sunday night **PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST/COMMENT AND POST IN MY JOURNAL!!!** Day 14 Flowering - March 11 In the last picture that is zoomed out labeled "Grow 033" front left is Big Bang, front right is 3D, back left is Vortex, back right is El Nino
I just got through ordering some stuff that will help me make this more of a perpetual grow. Since the 55 x 55 tent is my Flowering (12/12) tent, I decided to buy a "Mother Keeper" tent off of htgsupply.com just for my vegging plants and mothers as well as any clones I may produce. I also have on hand a 4 bulb T5 fixture which will fit well within my new Mother Keeper Tent (51.5" wide x 22.5" deep x 48.5" tall). Ended up getting just an 8" duct fan to mount on top of the mother keeper tent for ventilation.....t5's don't produce that much heat Also, I was lucky enough to order from the Attitude seed bank during their 5 year anniversary birthday celebration and picked up some great deals!!!! Ended up starting 6 new seeds 3 days ago on March 13: 4 x Greenhouse Green-o-Matic Automatic (Feminized) 1 x Reserva Privada OG Kush #18 (Feminized) 1 x TGA Pandora's Box (Regular) They all popped within 24 hours of each other.... had 3 greenhouse and OG pop on the 15th and 1 greenhouse and TGA pop on 16th Nothing too fancy with the pictures I'll be sure to post some good pictures once my Mother Keeper tent gets in! And stay tuned every Sunday night for more pictures of the 55 x 55 flowering setup!
So....a few updates this past week for my whole setup---I purchased the following (all should be here by next Sunday's update)-- -- Mother Keeper tent (51.5" Wide x 22.5" Deep x 48.5" Tall) - for my sprout/veggie and mother plant setup. This will have a 4 foot 4 tube T5 fixture with two warm color bulbs and two cool color bulbs. -- 8" Duct Fan (~200-250CFM) for exhaust ventilation of the Mother Keeper tent -- 6" ValuLine Centrifugal Inline fan (435CFM) along with a speed controller. This is going to go along with the 6" Valuline i have already in my 55x55 tent. One will be for exhaust and one for intake. -- 2 x Airflow Reflector with 6" flange. I couldn't afford the 3rd one, so I am keeping one fan in the open air MaxWing fixture, but the two other 400 watt lights are getting transferred to the Airflows and getting vented with the exhaust 6" inline fan. -- 10 x 5Gallon Phat Sacks I won't be able to use these on the 4 flowering plants obviously, but once the baby plants get more mature they will be going in these "breathable" pots/sacks Anyway, what you all came to see...the pictures I went ahead and turned on my 3rd light because 3D and Vortex and VERY large plants compared to both Greenhouse plants which are more Indica dominant. Anyway, Vortex has a 400watt and 3D has its own 400watt while both greenhouse plants share a 400watt. Happy 80F temp so far with open air fixtures. Can't wait til the Airflow fixtures get here so I can drop temps down to the mid 70's. Day 22 Flowering 050.jpg-Big Bang; 056.jpg-El Nino; 075.jpg-Vortex; 096,100-3D
yea I gotta make sure everything stays cool....I live down south where it is very hot and very humid in the summer....and this grow is located in my garage where I can't put an A/C so gotta keep the air flowing to keep the temperature in check Right now, my temp inside the tent with all 3 lights on is 85 with the outside air around 80. But today I got my second 6" Inline fan in, and I am using it as exhaust, so my temps should hover only a degree or two above ambient temperature I am hoping
Very clean n tidy nice . im up north n the Napa valley when summer hit's i will prob need intake fan then as well . my flower room will b as hot as the air outside n summer but i do vent my light's and stay easy 72 degrees with 6'' in line exhaust passive intake and a scrubber, fan half speed do u blast that box fan on plant's in lower left corner i saw one just curious i have same one but felt it was to much wind if not ill slap it back in my room i have a 12 fan swaying above canopy between lamps so just figured it was enough
Well last night was the first night with the second 6" inline...both are same brand and same 435CFM rating. I got the same fan controller on both of em right now, but soon i will have a fan controller for each. I'm prolly gonna end up putting a splitter on my intake fan so that it doesn't just blast that one corner like you said. Right now its not a problem, because I don't have a plant in that one corner where the air is blasting, but soon I will. I was thinking of getting a 6" to 2x 4" splitter so i can hoist that intake 6" inline fan up high with some ratchets and just have two 4" vents coming down opposite sides of the wall for better airflow on both sides of the tent. With both inline fans going half speed and a box fan inside the tent going half speed, outside temp was 78 and inside was also 78....powerful ass fans hahaha. Anyway, today I got some goodies in from HTGSupply Will get pictures of the Mother Tent up on Sunday's weekly picture update! Can't install these Airflow reflectors yet because my ratchets are coming in a different order off Amazon.....plus im not gonna fire them up until I get my 2 Lumatek ballasts (along with Lumatek digital 400watt HPS bulbs) that I decided to get to upgrade 2 of my 3 magnetic ballasts with to make things a bit cooler as well as save about 50-100 watts on power usage...... - Mother Keeper Tent - 2 x Airflow Reflector - 5 gallon phat sacks - 8" Duct Fan (for Mother Keeper airflow)
**** From now on, I will refer to the 55"W x 55"D x 79"H tent as the "Big Tent" and the smaller 51.5"W x 22.5"D x 48.5"H as "Mother Keeper" **** I got my Mother Keeper set up easily within about 15 minutes this past Friday. It was easy to put my 4bulb x 4feet T5 light fixture in this tent. For ventilation I keep the vents open on the bottom with a inline duct fan that does around 225-250CFM on top for exhaust which goes into my attic. I also have a small clip-on fan in a bottom corner that blows towards the little plants and mostly is aimed towards the light bulbs to keep them cool. I keep the fixture 2-3" above my seedlings. Now that they are rooted I have seen nice growth, and I will be transplanting them within the next week into bigger containers. In the Big Tent, I have noticed nice bud formation this past week. Stretch is done finally for both Vortex and 3D. El Nino and Big Bang didn't stretch too much and they stayed really bushy. You can tell they have more Indica influence while both TGA strains show more Sativa with lanky stems. I've been fairly diligent on training all 4 plants to try and maximize harvest. You will notice that I now have one of the Airflow fixtures in the tent. I absolutely love this fixture because it maximizes the 400watt light area while still providing plenty lumens per inch. My light meter shows great lumen output in the whole area that the fixture takes up (2 feet x 20"). Unfortunately, my other fixture arrived with broken glass I contacted htgsupply but since it was the weekend I haven't heard back yet. I'm hoping to get that replaced by next Sunday's update Anyway, what you all have been waiting for...pictures... Day 28 Flowering / Day 10 Seedling Img1323 - Big Bang; IMG1346 - 3D; IMG1354 - El Nino; IMG1374 - Vortex In IMG1387: front left Vortex, front right El Nino, back right 3D, back left Big Bang
This week I focused on the seedlings a little more, readying me some new soil for the upcoming transplant for the babies. I ended up finding a good price on some organic soil about 3-4 weeks back from a local nursery and got 8 bags for right at 50 bucks with tax. 4 bags went towards the Super Soil (Subcool) and the other 4 were left as is. After mixing up the super soil according to Subcool's recipe about 2 weeks ago, it was ready for planting. This time around, instead of using 5 gallon buckets, I am using 5 gallon felt grow bags that supposedly allow more oxygen to get to the roots. We will see with time how they compare to the 5 gallon buckets. The seedlings were transplanted on day 15 of their life above ground. Pandora's Box, OG #18, and the healthiest looking Green-o-Matic plant were transplanted to 5 gallon felt grow bags, and the other 3 Green-o-Matic were transplanted to 2 gallon pots. In their new pots/bags, the 6 seedlings barley fit in my Mother Keeper. However, I plan on giving away two of my Green-o-Matic seedlings soon to a close friend which will open up some space. As for the Flowering tent, my tempered glass for the Airflow reflector just shipped out and should be here by the 4th or so. Temperatures have not become an issue yet, although I have completely given up any hope that we will have temperatures below 70 again until October now (damn where the hell was our Spring????). The high temperature during flowering is about 80 and that is just with one light being air cooled so far. The buds on all 4 plants are packing on weight nicely now! I am gonna have to get me some fishing line to tie up 3D's long branches because of the explosion of bud I am seeing formed every day. One last note before the pictures...I am hoping to have all 4 of the plants in the Flowering Tent done by the end of April, so I will be popping 3 more seeds here in the next day or so....keeping it perpetual Day 35 Flowering / Day 17 Seedling 1396jpg-Big Bang; 1413-3D; 1431&1437- El Nino; 1454-Vortex In mother keeper, big pots all labeled, all small pots are Green-o-Matic
I moved all of the Green-o-Matic plants to my Flowering tent where they are getting 12/12. I know autoflowering plants yield best under 18/6 or even 24hours, but I believe that 12 hours HID light is better than 18 or 24hours CFL. I planted 3 new seeds 2 days ago: Serious seeds AK-47 (hasn't sprouted yet), TGA seeds The Flav (hasn't sprouted yet), and DNA genetics Cataract Kush (sprouted above soil surface but hasn't lost seed hull yet). We will see how they do. I am using different soil and it seems to be more compact, which I found out after I had planted the seeds :\ OG #18 and Pandora's Box are coming along nicely in the Mother Keeper tent. They are now at day 22 vegetative under 18/6 -- 20,000 lumens of T5 light. As soon as I harvest 3D (around the 22nd or so I am thinking) I will be moving OG #18 and Pandora's Box into the Flowering Tent. Here's a look at everything Thanks everybody for stopping by---leave some comments!!!!! Day 42 Flowering/Day 22 Vegging 1495.jpg-Vortex; 1501-3D; 1508-El Nino; 1521-Big Bang; 1526- All 4 are Green-o-Matic
This update is in two sections. Mother Keeper: Pandora's Box is a flourishing bush that is now 30 days old. Gonna let her veg until I chop 3D in my flowering tent (about 5 more days). Planted 2 new seeds: Green-o-Matic (sprouted 4/16) and Greenhouse AMS (not yet sprouted). The Flav, Cataract Kush, and Buddha Tahoe OG are all vegging nicely. I have heard that both The Flav and Buddha Tahoe OG like to stretch a bit once induced to flower, so they will be getting about 15 more days of vegging time then will be moved to flowering. I plan on vegging Cataract Kush for a good 30 days. Flowering Tent: The big 4 are on day 49 of flowering and all are looking great. I started leeching 3D with tons of pure water and plan on chopping it April 19. It has about 5% clear, 15% amber, and 80% cloudy trichomes. Based on looking at the other 3 plants' trichomes under my microscope my harvest schedule is looking like: 26th- El Nino 29th- Big Bang and Vortex As for the other plants, All 4 Green-O-Matic have flowers forming. On 3 of them, I have been training them to spread their branches out for maximum lighting. One Green-o-matic in a 2 gallon pot seems to be a nice 1 cola plant so i am letting it just grow tall without any pruning. OG #18 has also been trained and has had some large top fan leaves removed to let more light penetrate to the bottom. I don't seem to be finding any pre-flowers yet on OG but only quickly glanced. Day 49 Flowering 1557.jpg-Vortex; 1564-3D; 1577-El Nino; 1582-Big Bang; 1603-OG#18; All others Green-o-Matic in Flowering Tent
Looking good so far. By air cooling all the light will help you temp a bunch. You can cool more than one light with one fan. If you are unable to get temps down your fans may be either not be exhausting or drawing ing enough air. If you ballast are located in the grow room that will also raise the temps slightly. I run my flowering lights at night when the temps are cooler and electricity is cheaper. My lights turn on at 5pm and off at 5am. If you are still worried you could run CO2 which would allow the plant to tolerate higher temps.
Yea I am gonna get that last open air fixture replaced with another Airflow reflector once harvest the first 4 big plants and make some cash off of them. The temps have been absolutely great so far...hovering around 75-78 most of the time with lights on. I've hada few hot days at 82 or so, but that's fine. I'm not worrying about temps until summer really gets here and I start getting 95F nights and stuff like that hahaha. I might have to cinsider an A/C or CO2 once the real deal summer gets here. And yea I'm running my lights at night as well....8pm -8am
Here are some nug shots of 3D. So sticky I decided to wear gloves during the trimming. I estimate around 3-3.5 ounces but no way to tell til its dry...not bad for 53 days.
Well, ever since I put the 3D buds up Thursday morning to start drying, we have had relative humidity around 40-50% outside, and my drying room has been right around 45% at 74F. Took one of the biggest buds that was still left on a stalk, and the stalk was just only slightly flemsy. Outside of all the buds feels dry but not brittle. So, needless to say, PERFECT time to take the buds down from drying, snip each little nug off the large stalks, and start the curing process in mason jars! So I just got finished with that and the results were good I always trim off the large stalks and leave no stem or petiole on my bud if at all possible. Anyway, final weight was 89grams. Just a bit over 3 ounces like I predicted! I'm sure it'll lose a gram or 2 in weight after the burping process of curing is done within the first 7-10 days, but I am very happy!!! Nugs are absolutely covered in trichomes and the smell in the jars after an hour of being closed is VERY tropical smoothie smelling with some hashy undertone. Just got done smoking a 0.7g nug and I was impressed. It got me just as high if not more than some supposed "OG" that my homie sold me on 4/20. I'll do a full smoke report around the first of May after it sits in the jars a while. Meanwhile, here are some pictures!
Well here is the 8 week mark for the 4 plants I started this thread off with! Only 3 of the original 4 remain now: Big Bang, Vortex, El Nino. El Nino is getting chopped down for sure this week, because it is showing mostly cloudy and now some amber trichomes. Vortex and Big Bang are still kinda iffy on when to chop, so I'm probably gonna wait another good 10-14 days on them. Vortex is really putting on some weight and still has plenty white hairs. Same thing goes for Big Bang...buds are swelling greatly these last few days. El Nino is just putting on more and more blankets of resin; think it's done throwing on weight. As for the newer additions to the Flowering Tent.....OG#18 (now on day 12) has yet to show sex still. No pistils, no hairs, no balls...still just growing. Pandora's Box (day 2 flowering) has also yet to show sex. Here is a breakdown of the Green-o-Matic Autoflowering plants: 5 gallon one is doing great; it is starting to expand more outwards instead of growing taller and it is budding well. The other 3 in 2 gallon pots: one is doing GREAT! it is the one in the back right next to Big Bang. It has the most bud of the green-o-matics. There is one plant that has splotches all over some of the leaves that you can see in the pictures; not sure what's up with it. It is getting same care and nutes/water as all other plants. Seems to be a runt plant; but it is putting on bud. And the last green-o-matic in the 2 gallon pot is doing pretty much same as the one in the 5 gallon pot beside it. Here's some pictures 1677.jpg is the picture of the green-o-matic that has weird splotches on it....hard to tell from picture, I know. 1678.jpg is the green-o-matic that is looking best.