150W HPS Cabinet LST Grow.

Hey team, I am fairly new to these forums and I thought It was high time I showed something for myself.

I have a small stealth set up using the bottom half of a set of shelves which have been blanked off. the total dimensions are 80cm high by 80cm wide and 30cm deep. Which keeps it interesting.

I have 4 18W 6000k Fluro tubes for the short veg stage and
I have sourced a 150W HPS light for flowering.

To get a bit of air circulation going in there I have 3 computer fans. A 10cm inlet, 8cm exhaust and a 6cm fan blowing on the plants. The inlet and exhaust fans feed to a air box on the outside with a odour scrubber. This saves the fans trying to push air through the scrubber directly.

So, the game plan.
I started with 6 plants from seed. Growing in potting mix. height was always going to be a issue so I have been using the LST method to good effect. The plants responded well to it and I have recently changed over to 12/12 light cycle with the HPS light and initiated flowering.

Of the 6 original plants one showed some male sacks so he got ripped out. Leaving me with 5 females. One of which was a bit of a runt and decided to cull due to the space issue.
This was a bit of a surprise because the seeds all came from a grow last year with a mate of mine where we stressed our plants during a tense flat inspection. Causing them to go hermie.
That was a closet grow and space was not an issue. The landlord however was.. We got rid of the set up sweet with none the wiser but the plants suffered.
Anyway. That's the story of the seeds. And we must have done something right as 5 of the six are females.

Through the veg stage I used house plant 'thrive' nutes.
I started using Budzilla when I switched to flowering.

I will start this journal 3 weeks into flowering.
Please feel free to comment, criticize, help, suggest, talk shit. I am interested in getting some opinions.

Here are a few pics of the grow, Day 19 of flowering.

Nice work man! The girls are looking happy in there. How is the temp? Ive got an old auarium 150 metal halide I was thinking of using for a veg area just need to find a spot. Im gonna subscribe to your gro so I can see how it goes in the small space you have. Looks like youll do awsome. Happy growing!

great looking start make sure that bulb stays at least 16 inches away from the tops

CyberSecks said:

great looking start make sure that bulb stays at least 16 inches away from the tops

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Are you talking about the 150w bulb or my 1000s? And do you know what your temp is on a normal day in your cab?

Hey team, thanks for the interest. This sounds real rugged but I have no idea where the temps sit at in there.
It is easter today (Happy Easter all) and all the shops are shut. I am making it my mission to go into town and get a thermometer.
Keep tabs of the temperature. The plants seem to be happy though so it cant be too hot?
The fans provide sweet circulation in there, but yeah ignoring the temp is not smart, time for me to wise up a bit.

I have the same question for CyberSecks, are you referring to my grow or quickrip with his metal halide?
I am about to drop the shelf the plants sit on down. It takes a bit of work to train the growing tips to stay the same height.
There are over 35 tips in total.. From 4 plants.. It is basically a scrog without the screen.

Thanks for the interest and subscribers guys, keep it coming.
Here is a few more photos, day 24 flowering. Must remember to drop resolution on my camera.

Hey again. Just went and brought a temperature gauge and put it in the grow room.
The temperature sits at 29 degrees celsius (85 degrees F). This is in the hot spot in the middle of the cabinet under the hps.
Is this too high?

Bagz said:

Hey again. Just went and brought a temperature gauge and put it in the grow room.
The temperature sits at 29 degrees celsius (85 degrees F). This is in the hot spot in the middle of the cabinet under the hps.
Is this too high?

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Youd be better off with it in the high to mid 70's maybe just a fan blowing across the canopy helps

quickrip said:

Youd be better off with it in the high to mid 70's maybe just a fan blowing across the canopy helps

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Cheers Quickrip.
I will reposition my 6 cm fan and see what that does.
It would be good to drop the temps a bit. Mainly just for the middle two plants.

Hey guys. Been busy lately and only just found my journal after the site had its makeover.

Anyway I have just past day 40 of flowering and thought I would throw a few more pics up of my 4 plants. All is going well. The temps are still a bit high, sitting at around 30 degrees c but the plants dont seem phased by it at all. They are developing very nice little colas and are staying at a nice even canopy without any further training needed. Just water them once every couple of days and they are happy. All four females are shooing white hairs from their colas and starting to form what I think are buds.
The lst training has worked a treat because they are still no where near their max height. The shelf they sit on can still be lowered more. I am very pleased with this as it is the first time I have used this set up and was worried about the hight restriction.

Here is where I would like some help, I have never managed to grow straight females before, these four are my first (fucking hermies) and I am interested to get some feedback on the bud formation happening with these plants. It all looks right to me but I am far from an expert. Any advise tips questions would be appreciated.

Enjoy the latest photos, Day 40 Flowering I am loving plants 2 and 3..

The grow is looking really good man! I love how well you lst'd those girls. I would recommend that you rotate the plants everyday it looks like the middle two are hogging the light. When I say rotate Im talking about switching plant 1 to plant 2's spot 2 to 3's spot and so on. I think this would make the buds more dense on the outside plants for you if you arent already doin this. + rep for the nice lst Bagz.

Good idea Quickrip. And thanks for the comment, it is good to get some more feedback and interest here!
I will start moving them along like a conveyer belt tomorrow. Plants 1 and 4 are not as nicely packed as the middle two. I could have been a bit more tight with my lst on those two but it is my first time using the method so I am stoaked. They all fit in there nicely.
Any idea on how much taller they will get anyone? I have another 6 or so inches to play with so I should be right.
And can anyone give me a guess just from looking how much longer I can expect from them? I am in no rush at all, just interested. Especially as I don't know the strain. I call it H1N1
Hell I don't even know if they are Indica or Sativa! Any ideas there?

Bagz said:

Good idea Quickrip. And thanks for the comment, it is good to get some more feedback and interest here!
I will start moving them along like a conveyer belt tomorrow. Plants 1 and 4 are not as nicely packed as the middle two. I could have been a bit more tight with my lst on those two but it is my first time using the method so I am stoaked. They all fit in there nicely.
Any idea on how much taller they will get anyone? I have another 6 or so inches to play with so I should be right.
And can anyone give me a guess just from looking how much longer I can expect from them? I am in no rush at all, just interested. Especially as I don't know the strain. I call it H1N1
Hell I don't even know if they are Indica or Sativa! Any ideas there?

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Im not all that experienced but id say indica. It doesnt seem to me that they stretched that much so prob not sativa. Lookin good though. At this point they wont really get any taller but they should get denser buds and start to swell a bit. Remember the more lumens you have the better production will be. So maybe a way to benefit on the next grow would be to run a 24" floro on the back wall and give them some more light. It will help in the end. You would then want to rotate like I mentioned before and spin 180 as you go to give kinda an even coverage over time. would be a cheap way to get better yield if theres room.

Great lil thing u got goin on ere Bagz +rep man
i got a similar grow on but mines 400w mh ready to go 12/12 sunday with 400w hps...
really likin the way u've lst'd them bitches aswell man , i think il be seein this journal through to the end .

Keep up the good work dude

peace

Hey team. That is a good idea quickrip, I actually have a twin 18 watt fluorescent tube fitting that I may try out in there now.. Got that for my last grow and I used it to veg these plants under. So I may put the 2700k tubes back in and see if it can fit against the back wall without blocking the fans. I may have to put the shelf with the plants on to the very bottom which will mean the plants are further from the HPS.. That could defeat the purpose?
And the temperature in there is quite high now. 30 degrees c. The fluros could mean too much heat? I struggle to keep temps down now. I might give it a try for a day seeing as I have the setup already. It would be sweet if it worked, it's a good idea getting some more lumens in there. I actually have a few more fans I can get my hands on so if that works out I might solve the cooling problem.
I think you are right with the Indica strain It will be interesting to see how much taller they get. I have a bit more space left in there. I hope they swell out well, wonder when that will start happening? What day of flowering are your plants in Quickrip?

Hey RollingStoned, Thanks for checking this out. I will definitely be following this through to the end. You should throw some pics of your grow up here. Good to se someone with a similar setup.

subbed, very nice cab!

yeah bags, you would have to do 2 more holes if you want to try v12's idea, intake on top of one side and exhaust on top of other side. but I think v12's setup would work for you. i am putting that 7" square cooltube this weekend. i will post a pic for you when I am done. it will take the whole weekend, if not longer, with setup time and all. nice setup and them girls look good.

drop them to the bottom shelf and raise them individually to get closer to the light. its a pain, but it must be done in some cases. i hate making the decision on whether to move the plants or the lights. i think raising the plants is easier than lowering the lights in grows like yours cause you have multiple plants which may need special attention to get each one close enough to the lighting. hope that helps.

Hey gumball, Yeah I have some 4 mm perspex I am keen to try make a square cool tube out of. With both an inlet and exhaust fan from it. should help the temp problems I am having. I am just not sure if perpex will work with the HPS. It would be sweet if you could throw a pic of your set up up here. Any new ideas are much appreciated, it takes a bit of effort to get the setup that works for you but it's worth it.
The canopy of all my plants is fairly level so dropping the shelf as they grow has bee working for me.
What are you growing in Gumball?

Thans for the compliment Trifase. I hope the cabinet serves me well. First grow in there and first lst grow so I hope I pull it off. It has been a very cheap setup so far.
I have also just got my hands on a large speaker box that will fit my twin 18 60cm watt fluro tubes. I may use this as a cloning and veg box and get a perpetual setup going.

looking good bro!

Cheers man. Do you have any experience with this kind of set up? This is all new to me so keen on learning all I can.

Phase420 said:

looking good bro!

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Bagz said:

Hey gumball, Yeah I have some 4 mm perspex I am keen to try make a square cool tube out of. With both an inlet and exhaust fan from it. should help the temp problems I am having. I am just not sure if perpex will work with the HPS. It would be sweet if you could throw a pic of your set up up here. Any new ideas are much appreciated, it takes a bit of effort to get the setup that works for you but it's worth it.
The canopy of all my plants is fairly level so dropping the shelf as they grow has bee working for me.
What are you growing in Gumball?

Thans for the compliment Trifase. I hope the cabinet serves me well. First grow in there and first lst grow so I hope I pull it off. It has been a very cheap setup so far.
I have also just got my hands on a large speaker box that will fit my twin 18 60cm watt fluro tubes. I may use this as a cloning and veg box and get a perpetual setup going.

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i looked up the perspex, and it is rated up to 80-85 c, here is the link http://www.lucitesolutions.com/remote/viewdocument.cfm?documentFile=236_-_Glazing_Solutions_-_En_copy1.pdf. i dont know if you are in the us or uk, but I had a hard time finding something which would bond this. what i ended up using was this http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-84115-PermaPoxy-minute-Plastic/dp/B000ALBZK8, and I got it from autozone locally. works great for the need.

i have deleted all my pics once i post, i used a shared computer. but my grow is in my signature. here is some of the pages with setup pics
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/300659-mix-plant-stealth-indoor-cfl-6.html
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/300659-mix-plant-stealth-indoor-cfl-10.html
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/300659-mix-plant-stealth-indoor-cfl-12.html
if I think about it I will take a pic or 2 for u right at lights on, which is 8 EST. i put the first side of my tube on today and it is clamped and rigged into place. should work out good. i am using a Suncast C3600 utility storage cabinet. it took a little work keep light from glowing through the plastic, and I stuffed every orifice with socks, or foam, or something to seal it off. it makes it very discreet cause i have 2 of them stacked and one is actually storing my tools, and my stash!!