Stratlogic's Hydro Closet ScrOG Grow

[stratlogic]

Welcome playafly. I would recommend looking through all the threads on this site because there is a lot of great info on scrogging. I would also recommend checking out LST because that is similar too. But in a nutshell, the screen holds back the canopy and allows more buds to get more light and also allows me to grow a bigger plant in a smaller area.

 

[Need2FreeWeed]

fantastic stuff, but questions of course... the cfls... how are you positioning them over the plant exactly? and is there any way you could take some pics AS you're skirting? In the past I've had a tendency to get a bit over zealous and it would be nice to see it done by someone else. One last thing... when did you SC exactly? I know you said it was accidental, but it seems to have been rather beneficial...lol. Keep up the great work man, subscriber for life now.

(+rep)

 

[stratlogic]

Need2FreeWeed - I have some pics from when I was building my box of how and where I set my CFLs. I can't take any new ones since I got one in the oven at the moment. I drilled two screws and hung the power strips with the holes on the back on the screws. I put another set of screws slightly higher for when the plant gets taller to keep the lights right on the plant throughout vegging.

As for taking skirting pics, that ship has sailed so I can't take any pics of that but I read here on this site that a good rule of thumb is to skirt the lower third of the plant to start with. (It's been a while but I believe Kickstart is the dude that gave me the idea to skirt.) Any bud sites that aren't going to make it to the screen I also remove. I do most most of my pruning while the plant is stretching because that is when things start getting out of control but do it in moderation over the course of the second cycle. If you're unsure, just take it slow.

I will take some pictures of some of the branches that I supercropped in the next few days for you so you can see what a difference it makes. I wish I did it more now that I have seen the results.

 

[Need2FreeWeed]

Need2FreeWeed - I have some pics from when I was building my box of how and where I set my CFLs. I can't take any new ones since I got one in the oven at the moment. I drilled two screws and hung the power strips with the holes on the back on the screws. I put another set of screws slightly higher for when the plant gets taller to keep the lights right on the plant throughout vegging.

As for taking skirting pics, that ship has sailed so I can't take any pics of that but I read here on this site that a good rule of thumb is to skirt the lower third of the plant to start with. (It's been a while but I believe Kickstart is the dude that gave me the idea to skirt.) Any bud sites that aren't going to make it to the screen I also remove. I do most most of my pruning while the plant is stretching because that is when things start getting out of control but do it in moderation over the course of the second cycle. If you're unsure, just take it slow.

I will take some pictures of some of the branches that I supercropped in the next few days for you so you can see what a difference it makes. I wish I did it more now that I have seen the results.

I think I had the CFL question before I saw the pics, sorry about that. I've been trying to decide between soil and hydro and I honestly think this set it in stone. Are you still going to make a new box? I'm curious as to what you would do differently to keep it completely stealth. I noticed that outside of the box fan, you really didn't have anything moving the air inside the chamber, just the squirrel fans pulling exhaust... I might suggest some sort of intake fan for the chamber itself, the stems respond really well which in the long run helps support growth (not that you have any problems at all with that right now) but I think maybe your temps wouldn't have been quite so high if you would have had something to move the air around in there. If you did cover this somewhere in the thread I apologize in advance, I just smoked a couple of bowls I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to the pics of the SC branches... I didn't see you say what size or where you could get that particular screen that you used, and is there any way you can show/describe how that's secured to the box? sorry for the long post man, let me know if you start a new thread.

 

[stratlogic]

Need2FreeWeed - Here are two branches that were supercropped.

This branch produced a bud that is almost a foot long.

The knot where the supercrop took place is at the very bottom of the picture and you can kinda see it.

To scale. It still has some filling in to do but has the potential I believe to be one massive bud.

Here is the second one. This supercrop produced the buds in the pic below.

Here is an example of supercropping & LST in action.

One big happy family!

This is my first time supercropping so I'm still learning how to do it but I'm confident next time around will be even better since I have a little better of an idea of what to expect.

I'm pretty sure the supercropping has worked because this is the first time I've had to lower the screen to keep the buds from touching the glass. I've had to lower it three times already by loosening each corner of the screen and gently pull it down and re-fastening it. I've had to attach a bungee cord for the first time as well to the center of the screen and hooked it to the bucket to help lower the center of the screen.

Here is how I fastened the screen.

The screen is some sort of temporary fencing I bought at Home Depot. I was only able to find 1"x1" holes so I cut it to make the holes 2"x2". It came in a roll of 2'x50' or something like that. Here is the best picture I have at the moment from a previous grow of what the screen looks like after I made the cuts.

 

[McBudz]

nice! how much for the roll of screen? Thats stuff looks pimp to work with.

 

[Need2FreeWeed]

brilliantly simplistic, I'd rep you again if I could.

 

[stratlogic]

Are you still going to make a new box? I'm curious as to what you would do differently to keep it completely stealth. I noticed that outside of the box fan, you really didn't have anything moving the air inside the chamber, just the squirrel fans pulling exhaust... I might suggest some sort of intake fan for the chamber itself, the stems respond really well which in the long run helps support growth (not that you have any problems at all with that right now) but I think maybe your temps wouldn't have been quite so high if you would have had something to move the air around in there.

I am still planning to build a new box to better fit the closet I have currently have but have had to put it off for now. For a protoype, this box worked out pretty well and I definitely learned quite a bit of stuff to improve my next box. I used to have little fans mounted inside the box to help move air around but eventually got rid of them when I realized it was just too hot with it all sealed up. When vegging I don't seal up the box at all, I just leave a box fan a foot or two off the ground in front of the plant all day so it gets plenty of air while blowing on the plant pretty good. When flowering, the box is only sealed up when it's lights out. Lights on I open it up and hang the box fan in front of the plant giving it plenty of air flow. I like to leave the fan on medium which might be too much by some people's standards but these plants can take a lot more abuse than people think and I agree that it helps strengthen the plant.

 

[stratlogic]

nice! how much for the roll of screen? Thats stuff looks pimp to work with.

The screen costs something like $10. It would be even more pimp to work with if it just came in 2"x2" so I wouldn't have to cut it. I've been really lit and cut the wrong place screwing it all up but it works and I have quite a bit of it too so I try to make the most out of what I got.

 

[Need2FreeWeed]

medium for that fan on those plants is perfect imo, I didn't realize you were removing the plastic during the day for that kind of airflow... THAT explains those stems! I'm just trying to figure out a way to get THAT much airflow into the box sealed... I'm sure that would stabilize the temp in there... you could even use LEDs and CFLS for your flowering.. that would eliminate just about all of your heat issues... if you can do that, this thing is completely self sufficient outside of adding water to the bucket and the LST/SC activities


p.s. I see those squirrel fans are being put to good use...lol

 

[stratlogic]

One common misconception many people have that I've noticed is that people often think that CFLs don't put off any heat, they do. Just not as much as a MH, but they do nonetheless. In fact the hottest my room gets is during vegging when I have 6 100w(comparable) CFLs going. The reason why that is is because I can't seal them off separately like I do with my 400w HPS because of the fact they need to be all up in there on the plant.

And from what I have seen, I'm not a fan of LEDs. If they can be used without supplemental lighting from CFLs of HIDs, then I would be more interested. I think it's still too early for them to really give HIDs and CFLs a run for their money today. I believe LEDs do have much potential in the future. Like any new technology(LEDs in a grow application), just give it some time and the bugs will eventually get worked out.

I do believe it is possible to build a box completely stealth like. The biggest problem is noise from the necessary fans needed made it difficult for me when trying to build this box on a minimal budget. The gear is out there to be able to do anything you want, but often times at too high a price for me. I think that over time and with enough tweaking of my setup, some day I hope to have that issue tackled. And that has always been the fun part for me: trial and error, research and development. Grow on.

 

[tgadfgadgf]

Hey Strat what was the yield on your last plant? I'm about to start a dwc. After you germinate the seed and place it in the rockwool block; when you place the rockwool in the bucket do you put it on the bottom of the bucket and then put the hydroton(natural clay pebbles) around it or underneath it?

 

[stratlogic]

That last plant yielded 152.4g/5.43oz and the one before was 145.2g/5.19oz. On average it's actually 5.3oz (not 5.5oz like I said somewhere on here the other day).

When I put my germinated seed in the net pot, I fill up some of the pot with hydroton up to the point where the top of the plug (I use those root plugs) is below the edge of the rim of the net pot. Then I put more hydroton around the plug and a single layer on top. I'm not sure how correct that is but it has worked out for me so far.

 

[Jkush]

dude, thats a sweet setup, and you get quite good yields, im so jealous. good job bro

 

[tgadfgadgf]

Strat if you don't mind me asking, what is your nute feeding schedule like? I'm trying to do something similiar but I don't want to mess nothing up. Thanks.

 

[stratlogic]

playafly - Here's my feeding regimen in a nutshell but this is only going to do you any good if you use r/o water and the exact same nutrients I have been using. It probably isn't going to work out the same if you use other nutes. Here's a pic so you can see what I'm using.

When vegging I start out with only plain r/o water until about week 2 . The I use 1tsp of Grow A and 1tsp of Grow B to two gallons of r/o water. Each week I add one more tsp of Grow A and B and max out at 4tsp of Grow A and 4tsp of Grow B during the first cycle.
During flowering I've been adding no more than 6tsp of Bloom A and 6tsp of Bloom B to two gallons once a week for eight weeks and top off with water to keep the pump submerged. Then I flush after that until I think she's ready.

 

[rastaherbman]

This thread kicks ass man.

 

[bigdeal101]

gotta start a new build thread when you start the new box, Strat. Big Up as always kid.

 

[stratlogic]

Thanks rastaherbman and bigdeal101. I've been sketching up the new plans for the new box. It still has some more work but it's definitely in the process of happening.

And now the bud porn. Day 67 of flowering. I've been watching very closely and harvest is within days from now. I couldn't decide which pics to post so here they all are. I figured no one would mind.

Group shot!

This is the one that is nearly a foot long! It's Big Foot!

Check out Big Foot on the far right of these next two pictures. What a beast!

These four buds are from the same cola that I supercropped and positioned horizontally under the screen.

I almost can't wait any longer because it's only days away. My first harvest yielded 138 grams and second 152 grams. I'm hoping to carry on the tradition of a personal record breaking harvest with this one.

 

[DoItToIt]

Stratlogic, how is the smell outside your box? Did the Carbon Filter/dual squirrel cage setup work out? I'm flowing in 8 days and have my blower (Dayton 72CFM), I'm about to run out and start on a Hardware Cloth/Carbon filter. I can't be having this stuff smelling up everything around it, though.

Also, do you have any humidity issues? My box stays at a strangly low 20-25%, and that's sitting on top of the res. under the plants. I was thinking about just rigging up a coffee maker with a heating tray that I can just brew hot water and have that steam for a good while, and should raise it up a bit.

I'm also screening today, going to use a temp. fence, probably cropped to my liking. One last question for you.... I have a similar DWC system set up and to maintain the res., I need to move the top (And plants) about 4 inches... if I anchor my screen to the sidewalls, instead of the top of the res so everything works together, can I snap stems when I need to get into the resevior?

Thanks for all the great threads and info, man.