Yo guys, I've scoured the forums for months and the result has been three successful DWC grows with tremendous yields. My next grow is going to be the first where I will be continuously growing (vegging 3 motherplants all year round, and flowering 2 at any given time). It is also the first time I'll be using a SCROG, and considering the ludicrous yields I've had without a SCROG my expectations are big. The Grow Setup I posted pictures below so you can check it out. Its a semi-stealth grow in my closet. I have a ton of extra space and privacy and security isn't a consideration. I built a 4'1 by 3' (6ft tall with 4 1/2' grow space) box out of 1x3's. I chose 1x3's because their cheap and easy to cut. The whole system stands free of the closet around it so worst case scenario I can yank the whole system in a matter of minutes. I'm using the bubble bucket (Thanks to Rump) with a few minor changes. For one I found these 5 gallon bucket lids with 6 inch net pots built in. And I used opaque buckets so I didn't have to tape them. Ventilation I don't know if you can see from the pictures but at the top of the box is a 3ft by 1 ft opening that I'm gonna use as a vent. Besides that the system is almost air tight minus cracks around the door I'm using. Lighting 1 400w HPS with chrome reflector ballast for 2 plants. Nutrients I'm using the Lucas Formula with water add-back and flushing every 10 days. I'm using distilled water with a PH of 6.7ish. Germination/Cloning Nursery I started germinating a handful of bag seeds from some crazy chronic I had a month ago. I bought this sweet little nursery at the hydro store by my house, it fits like 75 rapid rooter plugs. Right now there are 6 in there, all bag seeds, and 3 have sprouted so far. These are going to be transplanted to soil pots and any females kept as mother plants. I have access to a sweet ICE motherplant. I'm going to take a bunch of clones from that tomorrow and drop them in the nursery. I'll be using 2 of the ICE clones for the first grow. I'll be ordering more seeds so I can have a variety of mother plants by the time harvest rolls around. Concerns Initially I was counting on using the heat from the 400w lamp to heat the room (Its freezing here right now and won't warm up for another month or two). Once I actually built the box and got inside I started getting concerned about potential over heating. We're going to have 1 oscillating fan below the canopy, and 2 fans above the canopy. 1 of the top fans will be blowing upwards on the light and out of the vent while the other one will be slightly below the light blowing on the top of the canopy. Do you guys think this will be enough to keep the 400w HPS from overheating the grow box? (Initial room temperatures are between 68-72 degrees F). The other concern I have is CO2. I have never messed with CO2 boosting before but it is definitely something I want to experiment with in the near future. Do you guys think its something I should just man up and do now, or something I should wait till the second grow, with 1 harvest in this box under my belt? Thanks for everything you guys, this forum has really done a ton for me. I'm actually planning on setting up a WiKi for all of the great stickies on here. I'll have an update on that soon.
Here's a shot after I put the reflective coating up. I'll add one with an external view with the door we made in place once I transplant the babes into the DWC's.
Update #2 So I took 8 clones from a Nirvana Ice mother plant today. Pics below. 4 of them I know are feminine and the other 4 hadn't shown pre-flowers yet. This was my first time taking clones so I expect a few casualties but I feel pretty good about the whole thing. They're drinking water very fast, I sprayed them 4 hours ago inside a 100% humidity dome/nursery and I can already see most of the water that was on the leaves gone, clearly sucked in. Should I keep this up?? Also, should I keep the nursery vents open during cloning and at this point in the seedling growth? So far all 8 of my bagseeds germinated, 7 of which have sprouted at least partially and 5 are growing strong after 5 days. I'm loving these rapid rooters! Tomorrow I start with the ventilation system for the flower room. I'm going to use a Pyrex Bread Tube attached to a Dayton Squirrel Cage blower for my main exhaust. The flowering room's air will be sucked up and through the light tube cooling the light on the way out. With 3 8inch intake fans on the flower room my CO2 problem is solved as is my light/overheating issue. I'll post pics when I'm complete. I'm going to use 4 5-inch clip-on fans around the underside of the canopy and on top of the canopy to circulate air. Check pics below:
What I do is, for the first few days I be sure to spray both the top AND underside of the leaves on the clones only when they dry out. Maybe Once a day. BUT after I do it I also mist the inside of the humidity dome and keep the air vents closed. Then after maybe 4 days I start to open up the air vents a little. and keep spraying the clones and the dome once a day or every other day. Ive never had a clone not root for me. 100% success. Hope that helps. You got a cool setup. I like the DWC scrog idea. I want to get a few buckets started myself. (im using all soil now) But Im in the attic, and might wait till I get a better setup and just go all Hydro. Good Luck.
Thanks Vader, I had the airvents open overnight last night (their first night) and this morning the leaves looked pretty dried out. After a misting of both top and bottom of leaves an hour later they are looking better. I also closed the air vents, and will keep them closed for a few days. Will this effect the seedlings at all?
No theyll be fine. I mean your gonna want to get your seedlings planted pretty soon after they sprout anyway. You dont want to mist your seedlings at all. You want everything their eating to come through the roots right now ya know. Good Luck with them.
Yeah that's why I've just been using a small teacup to drip water on the clones so no water gets on the seedlings. How soon should I plant these? I'm still setting up my veg cabinet.
Update #3 Ventillation I ordered a 160cfm Dayton Squirrel Cage blower and just bid on a pyrex bake-a-round bread tube to cool the 400w HPS as well as act as the exhaust for the closet. I'm going to cut a hole in the wall about 4 inches below where I want my canopy and have that vent into the main room for my intake. I'm gonna cover it up with vent faces and then just patch the drywall before I move out. Light-Proofing I just spent an hour light proofing. I basically just went in there with mylar and a roll of reflective tape and closed myself in, taping away until it was dark. It's almost perfect, but I still have minor leaks around the door. Construction The door is just a big piece of shower-board (don't ask, but I have an excess of it). I covered one side in Mylar and the other will be convenient to use as a whiteboard (whiteboard and shower board are almost identical). I plan on recording growth, nutes, temperature, and humidity here. Plans for tomorrow: I'm gonna buy 4 door-magnets to place around the whiteboard and on the frame of the grow-box. Then I'm gonna pick up 2 closet-door handles and screw them into the whiteboard. So I'll be able to lift the whiteboard with the two handles and it will snap into place with the magnets. That combined with a negative pressure environment should cure the light leak... I hope. Also found my vegging chamber. I'm gonna stealth it in a bookshelf and bonzai the mothers to keep them small enough. I figure 6 cfls and a some computer fans could do the trick pretty decently. Questions How long should the clones root before I place them? After I gave them some water and closed off the nursery vents they are looking great. The leaves perked up and none are wrinkled at all. Is it safe to take the rapid rooter plug out at this point to check for root growth, if not when is it safe? Seedlings are going in soil in the veg chamber in 3 days (1 week from germination). Too early? Pictures You can see the first two pics with the whiteboard/door open and the second pic with it closed. Besides the cracks between the whiteboard and the 1x3 frame the box is light-proof and almost airtight.
Forgot to mention that the nursery is sitting under 2 CFLs... how long can this work? I can switch to the veg chamber as soon as tomorrow if need be.
Update #4 Construction Ok so I just spent an hour adding the magnets and handles to the whiteboard/door. The result is awesome, I used 6 magnets and it jumps into place air-sealing the box. Check it out in the photos. Electrical I also connected my pumps for the DWCs and the hygrometer and surge protected. You can see the wiring in the pictures, but once I get closer to transplanting I'll clean everything up nice and tidy with wire ties. Notice I put the pumps above the DWC's... that's because I don't have check valves and don't want the water backing up into the pump. Ventilation Tomorrow I'll actually start the ventilation. Once thats finished and the light comes in I'll be ready to flower! So excited... Questions Check out the space I have... I'm thinking I might want to add a third bubble bucket for the hell of it... is there anyway I can have one of my pumps split into two tubes and feed two buckets?? (one of the pumps is for a 5 gallon tub and the other is for 5-20 gallons, so I'm thinking there should be a way to split the more powerful one..)
You can see theres about a foot of space above the box... I decided I'm gonna put a carbon filter up there at the exhaust of my box... might as well if I'm already going through all this.
Ganja Ganja, I like how your setup is coming together. This is lookin pretty damn good. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see some green in there!
Update #5 Construction I set up my intake vents today. You can check the pictures below. There wasn't enough space between the two walls to use any sort of legit ducting so I just duct-taped between the holes till it worked. Also built a third bubble bucket, I figured we have the space so why not. Filter You can see my home-made carbon filter I put together using an old OG tutorial. I really don't care about smell I just figured I'd try it out for the hell of it. Veg-Cab Check out my book shelf-turned veg cab. Its pretty ghetto rigged and leaks a lot of light. I'm not sure if I'm gonna spend the time light proofing it or if I'm going to build a bigger cab myself. Something about having it on the ground makes me uneasy. Clones/Seeds The seedlings look like they're ready for transplant but I don't have soil or pots yet so they're gonna have to sit in the rooters for another day or two. The clones look great and are starting to give off a nice fragrance. Can't wait to transplant these clones into the grow room and get started already! Questions Is 1 full week too long to leave the clones in the rapid rooters? I was planning on buying distilled water and adjusting PH for the nute supply but now with three DWC's I'm worried about the cost running up if I keep buying distilled water by the gallon. What other options do I have to properly feed my plants??
Here's a quick picture update of the clones. Most are doing well, 1 looks iffy. Planning on transplanting monday (1 week from cutting). Also, I transplanted the seedlings into solo cups of fox farm/perlite mix. I don't have space for them so I'm giving them to a friend who'll be growing them out as mother plants under a cfl. peace
Killer ventilation system complete. I'm using a stanley blower modded to intake from the DIY Cool Tube and from the grow chamber itself simultaneously. This creates a negative pressure environment in the box which draws air in through the vent located at the same height as the buckets. The blower outputs through a DIY Carbon filter I hacked up. Most of my stuff is loosely based on DIY Tuts but I always seem to stray once I get the hang of it. I don't really care about smell but having it air/tight and smell/tight would be nice. I'm waiting for the bulb to come in to attach to my cooltube then I'll take pics. I really went all out on this one... I'm up in the $700 range for cost (had to buy some tools as well). I spend $600 a month on pot, so if I don't have to pay for pot anymore I'll break even in a month and change. I just gotta hope the ganja from this harvest lasts till next harvest. Lot better than their mama's home thats for sure.
Sounds like it's coming along ... you just need some plants and a light Heres cali: http://forum.grasscity.com/stash-jar/349890-first-homegrown-pics-macros.html