4twenty4all's New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains 2011

[4twenty4all]

I haven't done a journal in a while and figured I would try to make it a good one. I tried outdoor growing for the first time this year and it is going great, check out my recent gallery pictures!

I wanted to make a new indoor space for my plants so I could organize everything in one spot. Now, I wish I went bigger but I am only growing my legal maximum number of plants for myself so the space will do. The weight, on the other hand, I hope is a different story ;-) The space will be very tight but I hope it will work and be efficient. I am shooting for .8 - .9 gm per watt. I hope I achieve it! Actually, I hope to exceed it but we can all dream right?

First the room:

I built a new workshop (home) for the girls....
9ft x 7ft x 7ft tall flowering side
9ft x 3ft x 7ft tall entrance control room
Insulation R 38 on walls and ceiling
R 6.5 aluminum foam board on floor
Air Condition 12,000 BTU window unit
Heat — portable 1500w ceramic heater with thermostat. I have other options but don't think I'll need it.

"L" Shaped table 42" wide lined with 20mil rubber pond liner
½ in PVC 28" tall with tomato trellis netting

4 — 1000w 240v HID HPS 8" air-cooled lights
8" insulated duct between lights
2 — 8" 750CFM centrifugal inline fans for lights (one draws fresh air at beginning of the row of lights and the other is at the end sucking and exhausting out a different hole)
2 — 16' oscillating fans for plants
Restoration dehumidifier with humidistat (if needed) (draws 8 amps)

CO2 enriched 1450ppm — 1800ppm depending on stage of plants

Room temps:
80* lights on
60* lights out

Humidity between 45% and 55%

Setup, Strains and Environment:

5 plants per light

Soil:
10 gallon pots
30% Fox Farm Ocean Forest
30% Happy Frog
30% Perlite
10% Lava Rock (50% — 60% pulverized)

Nutrients:
Cutting Edge 3 part
Cal-Mag

Foliar mix for vegetative stage:
Molasses, Seaweed Extract with Iron, Super Bat Tea green label, Super Thrive, Dish Soap

Foliar mix for flowering stage (first 3 weeks only)
Molasses, Seaweed Extract with Iron, Super Bat Tea Bud Swell, Dish Soap


Watering:

I alternate my watering schedule in this order:

1. Plain tap water from reservoir. PH is usually 7.2

2. Tap water from reservoir with ¼ tsp/gal molasses and 10ml/gal Seaweed w/Iron (Superthrive used in veg only)

3. Tap water from reservoir with Cutting Edge following their chart. PH with nutes is about 5.7 — 6.3 depending on strength


Strains:

Banana Kush — Indica (clone I had for 3 years now)
Maui — Mostly Sativa (early finisher) (clone)
Grape God — Indica (clone from seed I planted last year)
OG #18 — Indica (clone from seed I planted last year)

No pests, yet...... 

I'll upload pictures this weekend. I'm finishing the electric and still have to set up the drip lines.

 

[Doc Bud]

Re: 4twenty4all's NEW grow room, soil drain-to-waste, multiple strains — 2011

NICE! I can't wait to see it!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: 4twenty4all's NEW grow room, soil drain-to-waste, multiple strains — 2011

sounds great man I'm in for this. You've been growing Og18 for a year now? What advice would you give to a first time grower of it? I have a seedling about a week and a half old.

 

[MSquared]

Re: 4twenty4all's NEW grow room, soil drain-to-waste, multiple strains — 2011

sounds like one great setup! Can't wait for the pics!
It is just great to see how much planning and organization you have put into this setup.
Nice Job

 

[4twenty4all]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

sounds great man I'm in for this. You've been growing Og18 for a year now? What advice would you give to a first time grower of it? I have a seedling about a week and a half old.

It's been almost a year on the OG18 and I ended up with two phenotypes. One was more of a sativa mix and wasn't nearly as pungent as the other one I kept. This one is very dark green and kush-like. The smell and taste are exquisite I promise, and it is stick as hell. The more indica one I have now can handle the high nutes and responds very well to being topped or FIM'd. Indoors I know she finishes early, about 45 - 50 days five or take... Outdoors, she is further along than everything else and may go another week or two at most. I hope that helps....

I finished the electric today and fired her up. Here are some pics:

This is the entrance to the 'hen house' looking to the control panel on the left. I have a 120/240v timer controlling the 4 - 240v lights. I am adding a contactor to handle a 110v circuit for the exhaust fans so they will be on the same timer. The co2 will sit out here too.

This is the view to the right where I installed a sink so I can wash everything inside. The reservoirs will sit under the sink.

This is the front view to the zipper door of the flower room.

This is the view of the flower room when you open the zipper door

This is light 1 and the beginning of the 8" fresh air intake for the lights.

Lights 2 and 3

Light 4 and the exhaust for the lights. Each end has a 750cfm fan, one to pull one to push.

Under light 4 is a view of the drain-to-waste table with 10 gallon pots and the 28" pvc frame for the trellis.

Drain-to-waste table under lights 1 and 2

A/C and temp/humidity gage and 6" intake from control room. The fan is to circulate air between rooms so heat does not build up in control room.

This is the door leaving the flower room and looking into the control room.

This is the fresh water intake on bottom left.

Now to some outdoor plants

Group shot:

SAGE

Sorry it's sideways.... Banana Kush

Crazy crystals and still a few weeks to go....

That's all the pictures for now, I have a lot of work to do to get this room done. Gonna go smoke some bud and awesome oil. Peace!

 

[OG13]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

Looks like a nice setup, good luck. Outdoors looks good too, how does the meter reader get to the meter behind the plants?

 

[4twenty4all]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

Thanks! I'm almost sure they read it remotely. I've only seen them out once in about 5 years. But, I do have my license just in case.

 

[MSquared]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

everything is looking just great. The trichs on the picture is outstanding! You should be from ear to ear!
Nice work and keep it up!

 

[4twenty4all]

I LOVE Mother Nature but sometimes......... Ugh. We had a storm last night and the taller plants took a beating. Only one bud bent all the way over which I was able to fix so I guess it wasn't that bad. But, I did spend about 1.5 hours staking the large colas and tying the larger side branches. At least I was doing something that I really really enjoy doing
All staked up...

I'll have pictures of the cuttings I took last week up by this weekend I hope.

 

[4twenty4all]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

Here are the pictures of the moms and the cuttings. I took the cuttings 7 days ago I think and some are showing roots but not all of them yet. Please don't judge their home, it's not great but it's all I have for now.

I will only keep the moms for a few months and then send to flower after taking some cuttings to keep the strain going but keep the space the moms consume small. I'm looking for some new strains so I am also growing a few strains from seed so I will need to sex out to find new moms.

They are all under one 600w mh

 

[4twenty4all]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

I'll post some pics of the room completed. I straightened up some last night and got the drip lines set up too.

Check out how air-tight my room is. The CO2 level in the room was 577ppm when I entered. I kept the door closed and after 15 minutes from my breath it rose to just above 1500ppm. After an hour it was 3100ppm. I'm sure I'll be using very little CO2 since none seems to be escaping, woohoo!

I'm going to test the drip system now....

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

thats a bush man, do you top them a lot to achieve that level of bushiness?

 

[4twenty4all]

thats a bush man, do you top them a lot to achieve that level of bushiness?

If you are talking about these moms they are extra bushy because I took the cuttings from the outside plants just as they hit flowering. When I brought them inside I had them under 24hrs of light, so the stress of it reverting back to veg AND the change of light schedule makes them bush out like crazy, usually 6 - 8 colas. They take about 10 - 14 days longer to start vegging again but they do produce a crazy bushy plant.


Okay, so it is tighter than a gnat's ass in here but it should work perfectly.

I still need to put a hole through the wall for the CO2 hose, but that won't take but a minute.

Got the sink area set up. The reservoirs barely fit under there. I have the heaters and pump plugged into the power strip.

My 6 port air compressor for the reservoirs sits in the flower room on the other side of the wall.

I tested the drip lines and the work perfectly, all dripping the same amount, yippie!

So...... I ended up having to put in that BIG ASS dehumidifier, now it is tight in here. The RH went to to 77% when I filled the reservoirs so I had no choice. It is a restoration dehumidifier and does not have a humidity setting, it will take it all the way down to 0% so I had to attach it to a plug-in humidistat in order to control the levels without killing the plants.

I hope to have the plants in here in the next week or so, hopefully.....

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

rooms looking real good man, Can't wait to see some plants in there

 

[4twenty4all]

I know I'm probably adding too many pictures of the setup but I keep adding and changing things slightly, don't hate

I cut holes in the covers for pump and air hoses to keep the humidity down. I also covered the entire floor in the rubber tiles, it's great!

I decided to go with a bigger shelf. It barely fits but I need all of the shelf space I can get.

I added another circulation fan to cover the entire room. Now its tight.

Does anyone have advice about running a window AC in the winter? Will it work? I do have a 12,000btu portable AC I can use if I have to and vent it up in the ceiling. I just don't know where I will put it. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[OG13]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

Man, that is a tight space, but I love it. You are ready to rock and roll now.

 

[4twenty4all]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

Thanks OG13, it is tight indeed. A little too tight for the wattage I have in there I'm afraid. I may need to scale it down just a tad. Internal size is approximately 7 x 9 and I have 4 - 1000w lights. The temp got as high as 83 in there today with all 4 lights on but I would prefer under 80. The A/C did cycle on and off but was mostly on. I am testing it tonight to see how hot it gets.

If needed I can exchange 2 lights for 600w lights and see how much that drops the temps. I may do every other light or put one on each end. If night temps are much better I don't need to worry about it. But, I may just have to garden at night again, ugh... Maybe another roof vent?

Any advice? I think I just have too many watts for the space. We'll see.....

 

[OG13]

Re: 4twenty4all’s New Grow Room - Soil Drain-To-Waste - Multiple Strains – 2011

How many square feet of table/plants do you have? What are you really lighting?

 

[Doc Bud]

Thanks OG13, it is tight indeed. A little too tight for the wattage I have in there I'm afraid. I may need to scale it down just a tad. Internal size is approximately 7 x 9 and I have 4 - 1000w lights. The temp got as high as 83 in there today with all 4 lights on but I would prefer under 80. The A/C did cycle on and off but was mostly on. I am testing it tonight to see how hot it gets.

If needed I can exchange 2 lights for 600w lights and see how much that drops the temps. I may do every other light or put one on each end. If night temps are much better I don't need to worry about it. But, I may just have to garden at night again, ugh... Maybe another roof vent?

Any advice? I think I just have too many watts for the space. We'll see.....

Add Co2 and you've got perfect temps. Don't cut back on the lights......good lighting is a blessing.

 

[4twenty4all]

How many square feet of table/plants do you have? What are you really lighting?

My tables are 3.5 ft wide and I have they are about 3 feet apart, so they are close. I came up with 52.5 sq ft. I hope to have a completely full canopy with no dark spots I guess 4000w will do that. WOW! Thats 76w per sq ft. Did I do that math right?

Add Co2 and you've got perfect temps. Don't cut back on the lights......good lighting is a blessing.

I agree that with co2 I can run temps higher, mid to higher 80's is fine. I just wish the A/C would take a break during the day.

Tests show that the night was much better. I have the A/C set for 79 and it was 79.6 when I walked in this morning. I shut off the lights and the A/C shut off less than 2 minutes later. Now that's what I'm talking about ;-) Hmmm....... The real test will be when it is 90+ degrees outside then I can switch to nights if it is bad.

Outside crop is getting close too! The OG18 may need to come down late this week or early next, still watching her closely. The others are also getting close.