Unklerawb
420 Member
Hello all! New here but looking forward to being a active member. From Seattle and have done a few grows there. Did hydro and soiless there. Where I'm at now, I can't disclose, but it's much hotter, humid and I'm trying my hand at soil. Ok, so I started by drawing up plans for a DIY grow tent. I bought 14 PVC (only ended up using 12 but the leftovers were good for creating my veg chamber and an extra hanging mylar barrier to jeep the light out of the flower area) rigid water pipes that are 1 1/4 inch in diameter. I cut the ends off that allow them to be joined. I then cut 13 x 6' and 7 x 3' pieces for the frame. I had to the cut the 7 x 3' in half to accommodate the t joints in the centers. I cut the 6' pieces in 2 places for the t joints as well. Four way t's are too expensive where I'm at so I MacGuyver'd it to make them join with 3 ways only. Adding the 3 inches on either side of the 3' lengths and another 6 inches for the middle t's, I ended up with a 7' tall by 4' wide by 7' long frame. I wrapped it in black tarp and a blue tarp for access. I lined the walls with mylar blankets. I then made a chamber in the back that is 2' x 4' for my veg and cloning chamber. The whole tent is up against a window in my spare bedroom which I cut a 3/4 inch square of plywood to cover. I cut a portion out that is inside the tent and installed a inverter type AC to keep the tent climate controlled. It gets hot and humid where I'm staying now so the AC keeps the temp between 72 and 78 degrees with an average humidity of 50 to 68%. I have no other exhaust system installed but have a duct running from the AC in the flowering chamber to a temperature switch with duct fan into the veg. When it reaches 79 degrees in the veg chamber, it cuts on until the veg chamber is cooled to 74 degrees. I have a center PVC pipe running down the length of the tent that I hang my lights and co2 bag from. In the flowering chamber I have 1500w full spectrum LED that is very bright with great coverage. In the veg chamber is a 1000W full spectrum LED. I have some small LEDs and daylight florescent lights hanging above my DIY clone/seedling box. Have a couple of small circulating fans, one in both sides, that I use from time to time for extra air movement. Flowering some Purple Lemon Skunk, Acapulco Gold now and a couple more PLS in veg. My starts are Amnesia Haze, some mystery beans, and a Gorilla Glue. Germinating some Blue Dream, Orange Pineapple, Gorilla Glue, and GSC. Using my own soil mix but must be getting something a bit wrong cuz I'm seeing signs of nutrient deficiency on some lower leaves. Going to start foliar fertilizing soon. I have 3 throw away I put outside to see how they would do in the shorter days, hotter more humid weather here. Those I have to check daily for spidermites, which seem to be a real pain in the A here! Also made a real cool drying box with cardboard, gardening twist wire and a laptop cooling unit, for exhaust, for next to nothing. Any constructive criticism or info on how I could improve grow will be much appreciated!
to the forum. Good luck with the soil. I think I'll keep the dirt outside 
since it's legal to grow your own here in the Great White North. Indoors, I'll stick with coco/perlite, since I've been getting good results with that.
