First Grow-Aero-Stealth Box

[Skybound]

Partial update, rest to follow tomorrow with some pics.

I visited my new space today. The drive was murderous with a few less than convenient detours. When I got there, I noticed the structure was pretty far away from anything and nestled nicely against the edge of a forest. The foot print I will get to work with is 7'6" x 8'10" and a sloped ceiling from 8'4" to 6'5". This is IMO great for me to stretch out 2 sexy bitches in flower, about 6-8 in veg and even a spot to put a 55 gallon drum for the RO water. I'll have to trench in the water and power, plus insulate and sheet the insides and Panda Film everything to get it nice and cozy, but being so close o the elements in the northern winters, I really feel good about maintaining optimal air and water temps. In spite of all the $ I will sink into this project, I don't expect to use the location more than once maybe twice. Ultimately I'd like to get into something I can call my own for when my state goes green, I can have a fighting chance getting into a business that I'd actually enjoy doing,and hopefully that is far enough out for me to get good at this.

Last night, I was inspired by a thread to dd vinegar to my res to get my ph down, but when I added a capfull, the ph of my res plummeted to 4.3, so I added some ph up to a half filled solo cup of res water, and poured it into the drain pipe to the res. Cycled the system and checked the ph, 5.3. repeated this process again and it hit dead nuts 5.8. Upon returning from my journey today, I opened the closet for a sneak peak and noticed everything everywhere was a pretty stable shade of green. Nute burns appeared to have went into remission which is great. Tomorrow will be the last feeding before the lights go off for 30 hours, then back on to 12/12. I want to completely suck out the old res with my 550 GPH pump and replace everything in that system, but I want to flush it first with just water and H2O2. Would it be ok to do this with tap water? Also will probably flush the soil mix as well as I have been feeding it 50% gro and bloom, 100% micro, 100% silica and 100% H2O2 as of recently. Maybe it would be best to enter everyone into flower with cleaned roots.

Oh, the root in the hydro don't look so hot. They have a slight yellowish brown tint, well the site nearest the door in the pics. I assume all plants show this way though as they share the same space. Research has shown me that ALL plants have pythium, but if cared for properly, this can be kept in remission with no symptoms, which then tells me I'm not doing everything right. I will get some pics tomorrow of everything and post back.

 

[stealthgrow]

looking forward to the rest of the update sky.

 

[AfricanGrower]

Damn, a full cap of vinegar is comparable to 2 teaspoons at the least; I have only added .3125ml (1/16th Tsp) to my 1 gallon of nutrients lowering my pH from the high 7.8s to right around 5.8-6.0. But as we both know using vinegar doesn't stabilize pH for an extended period of time. Maybe this is due to the vinegar evaporating, I don't know? I'm in desperate need of some hydro labeled pH buffers. That at least would be optimal for my system to run without my presence.

One other tip from one grower to another, I tend to mix a small cup full of water and add my amounts of vinegar to concentrate that solution with an acidic pH. Then I usually can get more leeway when adjusting pH by just pouring small amounts at a time to the concentrate. But like you said if you get to low, just add the original water source.

Wow, good find there Sky. You got nearly 66 sq ft of space there, and 8ft should be plenty of room if you plan on putting a screen up or training her. Are you going for a closed space grow with the generator contained or are you just going to let the grow fill the the whole 66sqft of space? Hopefully your state passes a pro-cannabis legislation!

As for the roots, I would want to see a picture of them before making any judgements. But from what I have studied, healthy roots should always have a 'white' to 'cream' color to it.

 

[Skybound]

I made a pic of the floor plan, but the server must still be glitchy. I clicked upload photos again and it said I have 1 photo in queue.

Here's the thread about vinegar. #19 said to use sulfuric acid and RO water to make a stable ph buffer. Don't know the validity of that, but it definitely warrants research IMO.

Using Vinegar For Lowering pH

 

[AfricanGrower]

Yea, I had to wait a couple of hours and I re uploaded them even though I had photos in queue!

Yea that is pretty interesting, although I wouldn't go for the sulfuric acid method of keeping my pH down. I'll stick with vinegar until my buffer kit arrives.

 

[KingJohnC]

I would use pH adjusted tap water to flush your system.

 

[AfricanGrower]

>>>I would use pH adjusted tap water to flush your system.

We were brainstorming on the best way to keep pH from fluctuating. Even when adjusting pH of tapwater to flush, it will eventually start fluctuating due to the short life of the vinegar.

 

[Skybound]

I still have and use this ph up/down. It's just a pain in the rocks to drop, drop, drop to get it just right, then have it wander off point a few hours later. I saw AG mentioning ph buffers, don't yet know what that is, but soon will! Thanks John for cluing me in. didn't want to waste $3 on jugs of distilled just to flush, cuz that would literally kill my budget this week.

 

[Skybound]

Here in the floor plan of my next space. I picked up a roll of insulation yesterday and the guy already had some OSB and studs to use, and since he's a carpenter, I left him to do the clean up and hang it all. I plant to insulate all the walls and ceiling as it's just a tin roofed shed. I'm thinking once buttoned up nice, maintaining temps in the mid 70s during winter months with cooler res temps will be achievable. Once again, this is way out in the country, so security is less of a concern. I will divide the space by having a dedicated flower room and separate veg room. I am wanting to have a 3 panel sliding door on the flower room, but b/c space is very tight, I don't think I'll be using a studded wall off the inner hallway which would make that tricky to accomplish. If anyone has ideas on how to make it so I can access the entire front edge of the scrog from the slim hallway in the design, please share your idea as I'm drawing a blank. I found out that a 55gallon drum has a wider diameter than 24", so I'll be extending that corner area into the veg room a bit, but still keep it 24" off the exterior wall.

 

[stealthgrow]

Good morning Sky.
You could make another little isle in between the 2 plants maybe just a foot or foot and a half wide just so you can get in there. Once the plants have grown you can train them over the gap and then crawl underneath the canopy to get to the back of the plants if necessary.

Just thinkin out loud.

 

[Skybound]

That would be good, thanks bro!. Realistically I want the scrog to be a foot off the lowest wall in the picture and that isle space will work till the nets go up. I'm thinking about building a subfloor for plumbing and use a creeper to wheel around by the root tubs for defoliation and lollipopping. But the plan is to veg them long and top a lot in the beginning and let them stretch in flower for 3-4 weeks before the lollipopping and training into the screen. I want to do a lot of cutting, but only like 3-4 times in e plants life total.

 

[B A R]

I still have and use this ph up/down. It's just a pain in the rocks to drop, drop, drop to get it just right, then have it wander off point a few hours later. I saw AG mentioning ph buffers, don't yet know what that is, but soon will! Thanks John for cluing me in. didn't want to waste $3 on jugs of distilled just to flush, cuz that would literally kill my budget this week.

I didn't know it changed. I never checked the PH again once I balance it.

 

[stealthgrow]

I'll sub for sure when you get that grow going.

 

[Skybound]

Soil is different and more stable so less of a concern. Hydro, especially with a res as small as mine and 6 sites feeding off it is very volatile. If they drink but dont eat the ph dips down, if they eat but dont drink it spikes up. Usually it goes up and I've found the bottom res can drain out fast due to evaporation and consumption. Most likely after this grow I will repurpose the Sky Grower into a bubble cloner just to have some use of the 3" pots, other than that, it's too involved for me.

Edit: Next res will be upwards of 30-60 gallons

 

[Skybound]

Today is the last day of Veg. Today I will flush both systems of any salt buildup and replenish the hydro system with about 60-70% of the transition feeding schedule.

I'm thinking about 6ml of each of the 3 part and hopefully that's in the 600-800 PPM range, plus the silica which I will dial back to about 75% strength so as not to pull the pH into the alkaline so much. Tomorrow the lights will stay off all day and I will turn them back on from midnight to noon and so forth. This is a better time for me to work in there anyways as there is a slimmer chance of having company over to visit my room mates, plus cooler PM temps make it easier t maintain lower temps and humidity. Here's some pics I just snapped before the wash out. I may take a few later, but we'll see on that. I'm really liking how the hydros are starting to catch and compete with the 15-16 week old mom. The clones are doing fantastic and 2 of the 4 seedlings are beefing up nicely as well. I really hope the seedling behind the union does not turn out to be a dude cause that will be the hardest site to access to cut out if need be.

 

[stealthgrow]

looking good Sky, some of the plants look like they have a little nute burn, but nothing major. I would suggest maybe a slightly lower PPM than suggested on the feed chart. Try for between 700-800 IMHO and add 100-200 PPM every week until flush.

 

[Skybound]

Here's the pics of my roots. Not looking so hot, but the growth above looks good, so hope I got to it in time with the H2O2.

Also, while mixing the nutes, after I mixed in the H2O2 and took off my gloves to adjust ph, I started to get a tingly feeling on my thumb and pointer, looked down and my skin was bleached from the H2O2. So now I gotta wear these chemical burns for a week or so till it goes away.

In the voice of the great Homer Simpson ...... "DOOOOOOPPPPPE"

 

[Skybound]

Ok, the flush is complete, I let the system circulate for about 3 hours (on/off twice) and brought the pH down to 5.8. I also flushed the soiled plant with distilled water, 100% silica, 100% H2O2 and bought the pH to 6.5. And just now I swapped out the four 6500k bulbs and replaced them with four 2700k bulbs equaling six 2700k bulbs in the CFL reflector. Each bulb is 23 watts x 6=138 watts of CFL and I think that 2' T5 strip is 20 watts. It's also in the 6500k color spectrum.

Edit: I will let the plants finish tonight @ 10:00PM and I will unplug the lights completely till tomorrow night @ midnight, then it's 12/12 from there on out.

 

[stealthgrow]

good luck with flower my friend, less work I find in flower, but fun to watch.
I forget what strain your growing but those are some FAT indica leaves.

 

[Skybound]

7 plants, 5 mystery strains and 2 maybe 3 possible genders. the next 3 weeks I expect will answer most, if not all of these.

Bagseeds, all of them.