Another BCNL Bloombox Journal 2013/2014

KhazidHea

KhazidHea

New Member
Hello Everyone,

New 420Mag member, I dig the mission statement btw, 1st post in the forums, may I say nice to meet you all, ahead of time. :) My its been a while since I have found a desire to be active on any type of forum, how exciting!

I am expecting my bloombox arrival inside the week of July 1st, seeds are already here. (Atomic Northern Lights) I have set up my membership/Journal space here and intend to make a complete journal, seems to be the most active forums I have come across while doing different google searches to answer questions I thought of.

When I was considering which grow setup to purchase I looked at tents, super closet boxes (I think they suck), and bc northern lights boxes which are quality but expensive. I unfortunately didn't see the stuff from HG or HydroponicsGroup. They have this thing called the master controller, which is EXACTLY all the same stuff from the bloombox, the computerized system and co2 stuff, all of it the exact same. I found out from my BCNL rep that HG actually got that stuff from BCNL initially back when they didn't make boxes and apparently said they weren't going to. Sucks for BCNL, but I'm the consumer and don't care about that. If you're a person who is looking at quality grow box stuff you're looking between those 2 companies in my opinion BCNL and HG.

Anyway its the 25th now, and I'll be rockin here soon, pics/videos to be posted. Later everyone.

- K
 
I'm going to be using the grow medium/nutrients package that comes with the BB until they're used up, but as I've considered things I think afterwards that I'll switch to all "hydropots", I'm not sure if theres another term for this type of pot its just what I saw it refered to as by bcnl.

Its a pot with a reservoir in the bottom fed by a 1.5" diamter tube that goes through your grow medium and sits above the top level. You fill from there and it wicks up from the bottom res through a hole somehow. It comes with a bouyancy stick that floats in there so you know how much water is in it and you fill it about every week or so. At least for a mother plant, maybe needs more if you flower from there, whatever. Thing is, if a guy could use an organic soil mix or semi organic mix like coco with some earthworm husks thrown in or something could bypass the need for so much bottled nutrients, and keep my number of growing plants to a minimum. (fewer/bigger instead of more/smaller/SOG) I figure thats a smarter way to go due to the way the law looks at number of plants by number and not size here in canada. Also no changing entire reservoirs of water every week just fill, and not as much suspicious waste material.

I'm thinking 1-3 mothers in the left hand side of the BB. I'll just grow 1-4 plants in the right hand side in almost all stages of growth, in cycles as I need them. I'm thinking that I will keep my number of living plants 5 or less, and will never possess more than a pound. Makes me wish I hadnt bought the hydroponics gear inside the BB, but whatever.

The box has a charcoal filter which I'm not sure how effective that is or anything, I've been looking at getting an ona breeze unit as an in-case measure but I'm about tapped out for now and I'll have to get a co2 tank inside the next couple months so.

Just some thoughts while I'm waiting for everything to come in, cant wait to get started I've waited years to finally do this and not just read about it all the time. xD
 
Hello ,I have had a bloombox and producer for 4 years ,let me know if you have any questions ,will be glad to help if you need it.
 
Have you had any issues with condensation due to the metal nature of the box? Just curious I heard something about that. I cant even imagine what the yield would be like rolling a producer on cycle jeepers heh. Whats your highest/lowest yields seen growing in your bloombox?

I just got an AC in the room Ill be putting the box in, hoping to have the BB in here on the 2nd I'm following tracking info, hopefully canada day doesnt delay too badly.
 
Yes... one time I had condensation inside of producer, called BCNL, they really didn't have a answer, so I just removed Filter off of back, opened the door and put a fan in front of box, as for yield , I don't keep track of that, reason being I grow a different strain every time... but the only way to get a good yield with these boxes is to start flowering from clones, I also have a 4x4 tent with a 600w that I grow mothers in, I have a cloning machine in side of bloombox, so I put 17 clones in producer and 8 in bloombox. I leave 1 empty in each box so I can check ph, ec or add water,makes it easier not to lift lid.... yield will vary, indicas can veg most of the time for a week maybe 2, before you switch to flower ...Sativa's I recommend go right to flower. and I never grow 100 % sativa,they will grow into top of box and that's not good. you will need to do some research on strains,look for shorter ones. 50/50 or less on sativa side will be best. they say you can use soil in these boxes, but I do hydro and have no issues with it, also heat will be a problem in the summer months ,I have them in a basement which does help, but not ideal . people often ask if I would go with these boxes again, they are nice ,but No I wouldn't.. I have to much money tied up in them not to use them... The height restrictions and heat are the main issues, BCNL reps are good guys, they try .... you can spend less with a tent and get a better yield but after I've spent the kind of money I did with BCNL , I'll make it work for me.... and after I harvest the boxes I'm much happier and high...lol . so good luck and let me know if you need anymore info. . be cool....
 
ozric420 said:
Yes... one time I had condensation inside of producer, called BCNL, they really didn't have a answer, so I just removed Filter off of back, opened the door and put a fan in front of box, as for yield , I don't keep track of that, reason being I grow a different strain every time... but the only way to get a good yield with these boxes is to start flowering from clones, I also have a 4x4 tent with a 600w that I grow mothers in, I have a cloning machine in side of bloombox, so I put 17 clones in producer and 8 in bloombox. I leave 1 empty in each box so I can check ph, ec or add water,makes it easier not to lift lid.... yield will vary, indicas can veg most of the time for a week maybe 2, before you switch to flower ...Sativa's I recommend go right to flower. and I never grow 100 % sativa,they will grow into top of box and that's not good. you will need to do some research on strains,look for shorter ones. 50/50 or less on sativa side will be best. they say you can use soil in these boxes, but I do hydro and have no issues with it, also heat will be a problem in the summer months ,I have them in a basement which does help, but not ideal . people often ask if I would go with these boxes again, they are nice ,but No I wouldn't.. I have to much money tied up in them not to use them... The height restrictions and heat are the main issues, BCNL reps are good guys, they try .... you can spend less with a tent and get a better yield but after I've spent the kind of money I did with BCNL , I'll make it work for me.... and after I harvest the boxes I'm much happier and high...lol . so good luck and let me know if you need anymore info. . be cool....
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Thats good info man, have you seen the stuff from HG too then? They ripped off the bcnl control system and have higher height boxes working with it that are collapsable and such. More work out of the box but I find it pretty comparable quality vs price, some pros/cons with each. I didnt see their stuff until I had my BB ordered and they told me I would get a big restocking fee if I cancelled. I'm not crazy dissapointed, I still think the BB is a good product and I dont have crazy high needs for yields just curious. I considered the box when selecting my strain somewhat, will be growing atomic northern lights, its a 60/40 indica/sativa I think and hopefully wont have too much issues with the height. The example pic was 2.5 feet or so. I iust set up an ac in the room where the box will be yesterday, I figured that would be needed. Pretty excited hoping to have the box and start germinating inside the next 3 days.
 
KhazidHea said:
Thats good info man, have you seen the stuff from HG too then? They ripped off the bcnl control system and have higher height boxes working with it that are collapsable and such. More work out of the box but I find it pretty comparable quality vs price, some pros/cons with each. I didnt see their stuff until I had my BB ordered and they told me I would get a big restocking fee if I cancelled. I'm not crazy dissapointed, I still think the BB is a good product and I dont have crazy high needs for yields just curious. I considered the box when selecting my strain somewhat, will be growing atomic northern lights, its a 60/40 indica/sativa I think and hopefully wont have too much issues with the height. The example pic was 2.5 feet or so. I iust set up an ac in the room where the box will be yesterday, I figured that would be needed. Pretty excited hoping to have the box and start germinating inside the next 3 days.
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Yes ,I found them after I ordered too,lol ,but I did end up ordering some replacement parts from them ,and they where cheaper too, its funny BCNL sent the stuff to them ,then HG sent them to me and it was still cheaper from HG ,then from BCNL, and I spent a lot of money with BCNL and could not get a break on price. plus since I live in the states ,customs always opens the package, and that gets on my nerves, plus very high shipping rates. yeah don't kick yourself over this,the box will work fine, just I now know that I spent way to much money for what it is and I learned 3 years ago that I could spend a whole lot less and get more... live and learn I guess....i'm here to help if you need it..have a great day....
 
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I will be germinating by sunday latest, had to take the family camping lol.

Hmm.. need a good way to post pics...
 
KingJohnC said:
off site web hosting is not allowed on 420Magazine but here is everything you should need to know to post full size images in your grow journal.

Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos
Click to expand...

Weird, I'm using the ipad app they recommend to use and thats the only way it will allow me to put pics from app itself. Am I allowed to just provide links to the pics as I edited my first post to do? Those links work.. I might just be doing a bunch on a youtube acct once i get going here.
 
Finally got going with this, germinating 10 seeds in 1 inch rockwool cubes. I was a little annoyed that I received a bunch of nutrients with the package but no ph up or down solution. I had some tap water that was sitting from before I went camping with the rockwool cubes in it, had to use some lime juice to lower ph from 8 to 6. I took a bunch of pics can be seen here:

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43 hours, no seedlings yet, had the 1" rockwool in total darkness for 36 hours before turning on the cfl in the box, the seeds arent very deep so didnt want the light to shine through but its on now on 18/6. I didnt want to mess around with moving split seeds from paper towel to rockwool, wondered why ppl would do that, but now I get it lol. The waiting to see which/if any of these are actually going to sprout is killer. Probably just worrying for nothing but waiting sucks lol.

Some initial impressions on the BB, and I dont plan on taking it at all easy on them at the price point they charge:
- Reasonably turn-key "out of the box", though they didnt include any phup/down which a guy likely needs right away. Still, given the amount of time it took to setup the BB, I think the budster or whatever its called from HG would take quite a while in comparison.
- The HG boxes needing assembly does mean you'll be able to bring it through any doors though, where as the BB is real big, think like one of those old rear projection tv's lol. 54" by 51" tall by 29" deep. They say 28 on the site, doesnt include the collar on the back for attaching carbon filter, collar cant be removed and should be included in depth measurement. The depth of the box is its worst point, I would be willing to give up growing space inside for not so deep because of moving box through doors and stuff.
- The control system is kick ass, HG has the same one though
- Its loud as fuck, the hg one likely not much better if at all, fans and air pumps are loud never perfect, I'm realizing and accepting. (No air pump running, another point in going soil for me I think)

Hmm, thats all for now methinks. Hoping to see some seedlings inside the next couple days.
 
I have always put the seeds in rockwool, I soak rockwool with ph balanced water 5.8 , and covered hole with small piece of rockwool, and keep in dark space, don't let rockwool dry out, no light until seed sprouts , may take a week or so.... also If I was you I would only plant a couple ,pick a mother and clone, this will work better , when I got my BB I planted all seeds and wasted time and money ... just my humble opinion ....
 
ozric420 said:
I have always put the seeds in rockwool, I soak rockwool with ph balanced water 5.8 , and covered hole with small piece of rockwool, and keep in dark space, don't let rockwool dry out, no light until seed sprouts , may take a week or so.... also If I was you I would only plant a couple ,pick a mother and clone, this will work better , when I got my BB I planted all seeds and wasted time and money ... just my humble opinion ....
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Thanks for the input, I just turned the light back off for a bit longer based on what you said there. I kind of mussed up the hole above the seed like I have seen done on youtube and stuff, was careful as could be but simply putting a loose chunk of rockwool on top the hole sounds like it would have been a better idea. I germinated all 10 simply cause I want to get as many females as possible into the first crop but I'll be selecting a mother down the road. I went and got some ph down and ph up today and drained as much water out of the tub and cubes as I could and rewatered with bottled water with a tiny (less than a drip) amount of nutes and ph balanced to 6.0. Couple of the cubes are showing a small white shoot on top which i hope is top growth and not roots going the wrong way heh. Maintaining patience :)
 
KhazidHea said:
Thanks for the input, I just turned the light back off for a bit longer based on what you said there. I kind of mussed up the hole above the seed like I have seen done on youtube and stuff, was careful as could be but simply putting a loose chunk of rockwool on top the hole sounds like it would have been a better idea. I germinated all 10 simply cause I want to get as many females as possible into the first crop but I'll be selecting a mother down the road. I went and got some ph down and ph up today and drained as much water out of the tub and cubes as I could and rewatered with bottled water with a tiny (less than a drip) amount of nutes and ph balanced to 6.0. Couple of the cubes are showing a small white shoot on top which i hope is top growth and not roots going the wrong way heh. Maintaining patience :)
Click to expand...

Should not use nutes at all with germination , regular water 6 ph is fine for this, always plant seed pointy end down, did you get reg seeds or fem ?
 
ozric420 said:
Should not use nutes at all with germination , regular water 6 ph is fine for this, always plant seed pointy end down, did you get reg seeds or fem ?
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They're not feminized seeds no. Another one just starting to show tiny bit on top this morning, its been about 60 hours since planted (pointy end down) I turned the cfl back on but also put a couple of paper plates on top the clone dome to cut the light down.

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