Hey everyone, I just wanted to post my little grow here as another example of how wonderful growing organically is! Many thanks go out to chunkdaddyo, LumperDawgz, btc2112 and bodhisattva. If it wasn't for all of your posts, I would not have such a good understanding of organics. I still have a ton to learn, but you guys have all helped me so much!!! This will be an on-going journal. I will update soon with more details... Soil, fertilizers, and a bunch of helpful links... I've been receiving alot of ?'s about where to locate many "hard to find" items in California. My goal is to provide all this information here. HAPPY GROWING GRASSCITY!!! SET-UP Anyhow, I have a very small space to work with. However, I have constructed a unique set-up to where I can have a semi-perpetual harvest all year long, and re-imburse myself some of the cost of cultivation. As you can see in the 1st photo, I'm working with a standard size closet with dual sliding doors. I still have the top shelf in the closet, which I use for storage. The exact size I had to make my 3 areas was 66.5" H x 67.5" W x 23.5" D. My veg box has a 250 mh and a 200 cfm exhaust. I use a stand fan outside the box to save interior space. I keep the veg box open 24/7, since vegetative state doesn't require pitch black night hours and it allows me to keep my alarm in the off position. You see, I have to set my lights to turn on at 6am. That way I can get some sleep at night. If I closed the box up, it would get too hot in the morning, and I would have to set my alarm to wake up and open it. Oh, and it's covered with a metal screen door. This is to keep the ladybugs in. I use ladybugs and other predators to handle any and all bug infestations. I've only had one minor infestation... Preventative maintenance is the key!!! Oh, and you must cover all fans with metal screen as well, to keep your predatory friends from getting chopped up... My cloning area is basically large enough to house the veg exhaust and one cloning tray with dome. I can hold three plants in my veg box, so that doesn't allow me to take too many clones... But, I definitely produce more than I can grow out. So with these extra clones, I take them too my collective, where there are always patients who want to donate for them. It's not going to get me rich, but I can at least reduce my costs this way and smoke/grow for nearly free!!! I built a light trap for the flower box, which also keeps the ladybugs in, since there's a strong wind being sucked through it. It has a 250 hps, plus 4 daylight cfl's for supplemental lighting and a 6" vortex exhaust fan. I have 2 fans on the inside for high/low circulation. I can flower one plant up to 45" tall at a time. I also have pictured my window ac unit. This is the key to everything!!! I've also located my drying area right next to the unit. This makes for great drying conditions... Since the best smoke has been dried for about 2-3 weeks at 65-70f and 30-40 humidity. If I could keep them in the dark constantly, it would be even better. And don't forget to slow cure for another 2-3 weeks... I've pictured my soil bin and tea bucket. I mainly did this to show how much you can accomplish with almost no space at all. Everything is one room, along with my wife, myself and all of OUR clothes. And last, my exhaust ducts exiting into the attic. I'm spreading the heat equally throughout the attic. On the veg side, notice the exhaust exiting through the cloning area and onwards up to the attic.
nice! i can't wait to read/see more of your grow. You may get a little more traffic over in the grow journals section. there is even a subforum dedicated to organic grows. you can pm a mod to move it, or just repost it over there. I just started my journal over there the other night, come check it out!
Hey thanks a bunch guys! I appreciate your kind words and best of luck to you both as well!!! Oh, and psnickers I just sent a pm. I meant to post this in the "Organic Grow Journals" sub-forum, but I completely spaced out... Hopefully, it will be moved there soon!
Hey all, I just wanted to show you my light trap. You can see it's pretty simple to build one. You just have to cut a cardboard box to size, and construct several passageways inside for the air entering to curve up and down. The point is for the air to enter freely, but trap all the light from entering. Very simple, takes about 10 minutes to make one. And secondly, I live in California... So, powdery mildew always tries to attack. Especially in the winter. With this La Nina pattern holding steady, I just had to bust out the heater this week again. This is a crappy old heater, but it does the job just fine on low settings. Attach a simple timer, and say f*$# you to pm... btw, I have been reading this thread in it's entirety... http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/650139-organic-higher-learning-lumperdawgz.html But, I'm mentioning now for it's relevance to the powdery miledew issue. So far, I've just used my teas for soil drench. I'm going to start using foliar sprays regulary, instead of just using neem oil/yucca spray. Will update soon.
I gotcha covered bro.......thanks for the props and kind words Melkor. Good luck on your grow bro! cheers, chunk