Alt0's Grow (1st timer)

Hi all
Decided to give this a shot and I am quite excited about it all.
First off I need to thank everyone here for the wealth of good info.

Set up:
Hydrofarms "Emily's Garden" passive wick hydro.
well constructed and solid system low cost 89.98 USD
came with grow medium, nutes, extra bubble stones, and PH test kit.

Starter light, Sun Systems New Wave T5 2' x 4 bulbs.
purchased both the veg and bloom bulbs but plan on getting a 400W HPS for flowering stage.
(staying at 400W due to electric bill concerns, and limited space)
Also have 4 150W CFLs to use as side lights during veg after plants gain some height.
Total at the Hydro Shop 303 USD

1-Here are some early shots of the space and initial setup.
This is looking into the room toward the veg box, box consists of a 36" high 4' x 4' shelf with about 4 feet above it.
2-This is a front view of the "box"

the vent next to the hydro has been installed in the shelf to allow for some air flow once the curtain is up
(curtain will cover front of box to separate from bloom area. I used velcro and 2 sided vinyl)

next post will be blooming area

1-This is the opposite side of the room
(where the HPS will hang)
its about 4' x 4' with 8' height
I intend to build another shelf here but much lower to allow for plant height.
Seeds
I have ordered seeds via Dr Greenthumb in Canada (not to sure about this one), and Golden Seed in the UK.
This one [Golden Seed] seems very good! received several emails regarding my order and according to the tracking number its almost here!
From Dr Greenthumb I ordered Grenadine 10 seeds 125 USD with 25 USD being for faster shipping (expensive but was the first thing I did to get this hobby started)
since then I read some more here at RIU.org and decided to order again from a more reputable supplier.
So from Golden Seed I ordered the Mega Mix pack (30 seeds) 80 USD
I wanted to try several seeds to see what will grow here best and what I like best for cloning.
Hopefully I will be able to re-veg the plants I like (to clone) and keep a good variety going.

A bit about me:
I am a pretty decent gardener with outdoor plants,
and have some nice things going on in my yard.
I also worked in a commercial greenhouse with flowers,
and on farms growing vegetables. (Sweet corn and Tomatoes mostly)
My Grandparents lived on and ran a farm all their lives,
so its been in my system since birth I guess.
I look forward to applying some of what I know to this
but I am sure to learn a lot as well during the process.

Next post will be seed delivery. =)

I'm subscribing to this one. Your setup looks well planned out, you did your reading! You doing tall plants or SOG? I'll be in touch!

I don't have any experience with doing a screen grow (yet) so I will stick pretty much to basics for the first time out.
I like the idea of a SOG grow and I will certainly try it next round.
From what I have read it would make sense that the clones from this batch would be better suited for that anyway (tend to stay smaller and bushier)
we shall see.

This weekend I am hiding the "room" with an artificial wall. I will of course document that as well.
Got to have something to keep me occupied while I wait on seeds =)

Getting stoned always seems to work , if not take some regular bag seeds and practice germing until they get there

Heh

Hiding the room does wonders for wife faction.

she doesn't know your growing? And I thought hiding it from the cops was hard lol!!

toolage said:

she doesn't know your growing? And I thought hiding it from the cops was hard lol!!

Click to expand...

Ahh no she knows quite well, its just she will worry less if its stealthy =)

OK
Yesterday was a busy day.
I built the wall to conceal my growroom.
I should say the room itself is concrete block and cement that is situated under my driveway. The outside dimension of the house would never give away the fact there is something further on out, and the wall I built (dimensionally) matched the rest of the interior walls of my basement.
(give or take a few inches) God only knows why the original homeowner had this room constructed? But it was in use as storage when I purchased the house.

1-This is the room (door open) before I started. You can see some 2x4s I placed prior to starting to get a feel for if there were any obstructions to deal with. And there were. I had to move the "wall" a few inches in closer, but that helped it blend in with the other walls of the basement so a win situation in the end, and much easier than re-routing plumbing =)
2- This is the exhaust vent tubing coming out of the room that ties into my dryer vent. (yes the in line carbon filter comes UPS this week) I hit it with some dark paint to reduce any reflections that may give it away. It is hard to see in this photo, but thats the idea right?
3- Here you can see my progress, I used stained wood panels and 2x4 lumber to do the main construction.
4- This is the wall almost completed with the door open. I used 1x3 lumber to trim out the panels so as to hide the hinged door more than if it was a small panel amongst larger ones.
5- this is a shot of the wall almost done (a few pieces of trim left to go) with the door closed.
Who would ever suspect there was a room full of hydro behind this wall?
Hopefully not the authorities =)

Today I will stain the trim lumber (not as dark to keep the nice pattern visible) it will then match the rest of the finished areas of the basement.
Still no seeds delivered, but I am patient.
I was a little disappointed nothing came today, I did pay for the expedited freight from Canada , but as I said earlier, that one is a bit dodgy at best.
I am sure my Mega Mix from Golden Seed will arrive soon tho.
Well, I'm of to paint a little, and clean out and prepare my water containers for pre mixing nutes in.
I have a nice 10 gallon rubbermaid dog food container (with lid) that should work out just fine.
And I can't let the rest of my weekend chores slack off either can I?
*snickers to himself*

next post will be finishing the wall!

OK stained the trim and hung up the tools (rakes and shovel etc.)
bottom two are the finished wall. The door is the panel behind the hammer.
Cleanup time, and hockey game on in about an hour =)

next up is water containers

absolutly beautiful!!! i just can't wait to see this whole OP in action. Keep u the good/hard work!!!

Thanks Toolage =)
Its a labor of love friend, looks like its just you and me for now.
I guess others will have something to say once there are pretty plant pictures to look at Heh.
Tracking at UPS tells me my Air Filter is out for delivery today so the prep never ends.
And I found a new Hydro shop very near my home that I am going to check out after work.
Got to love Google =P
I Ph tested my tap water last night while washing off the hydroton and it comes in at a whopping 7 so I need to
get both a new Ph meter (being this may require more close monitoring than I expected) and a few GALLONS of PH DOWN
lol
I will post what I end up finding at the new shop after work later.

Well Goldenseed came thru
Ordered a 30 pack called Mega Mix
got 45 beans. yay!
Now the real journal can commence.
Below is an image of the seeds on a plate along with the
envelope they came in (of course covered to not show address etc.)
and the lovlet (actual photograph) that cam along with them.
On the back it says:

It was great meeting me, remember this scene and hope to see you again this year
XXX
Miss you

Click to expand...

then some garbled signature
Haha

The second image is a syringe I got from work that is 10ml
Its perfect to measure Hydrogen Peroxide for the pre-soak and to adjust the PH of my water.
I have em soaking now (picked 6 that don't really match)
more as they pop =)

In my excitement I almost forgot
I also received my carbon air filter today
I will take some photos and share how I installed tomorrow.

OK today I had only 1/2 day to play.
I had to go into the hospital for some routine tests (I am over 50 ya know, and colon cancer runs in my family) but that was this morning.

This afternoon I
[img 1]installed the carbonair filter with some 2x4s left over from the wall above where the HPS will end up for the flower cycle.
[img 2] started to presoak the rock wool cubes.
[img 3] rinsed and filled the Hydro setup, I want to let it run a while to settle any issues it may have (leaks and such) before trusting it with my babies. and
[img 4] started a heater under the veg area.
I decided to run a heater for the germination process being it is still a bit cold where I live.
I have the room temp at 75 now, but will drop it to about 65-68 for the beginning of the sprouting / veg period.
I have an aquarium heater to keep the nute solution in the hydro tray at a bit higher temp. (I read somewhere that about 70-75 is ideal). I may be wrong.
and finally
[img 5] I installed a small fan for when they start standing up tall on their own. You can see it attached to the wall in the left side of the image
I settled the PH of my water last night its sitting at 5.8 on the button =)
Thats about it. I will get some images once they crack and start the process of becoming my best friends

OK little guys busted, sorry I didn't get any pics but was so happy I plopped them into the pre-soaked rock-wool already lol.
I will start photos once they sit up and say hi for the first time.
In other news, I bid on a sweet HPS 400W system today. I have a top bid of 125 USD. I priced that same system at 303 USD "out the door" as the guy at the hydro shop put it.
I just missed a can fan that sold for 57 USD. my top bid was 55 and I would have gone to 60 but I was in bed when it ended.
Auction sites are fun and can save some real cash if it is something you intend to get anyway.
I keep watching them all for a good deal on a combo meter.

sweet bro glad to hear everythings going well! they look so innocent when they first start off! Can't wait to see the pics!

yeah they sure do =)

I won the auction so I have a brandy new 400W HPS with a MH conversion bulb included headed my way, total with shipping 148.50 USD.
Nice considering I priced one at my local hydro shop and he said I could have it for 303.00 Thats with no shipping and no conversion bulb.

It also has the air cool (4" which matches my Carbonair filter) flanges and the safety glass already attached! I just have to move my vent duct a bit and I'm all set.
I turned off the heater now in the room as it was about 80 and they had already sprouted so no need anymore. Once I get that light going it will be more a matter of cooling than heat anyway.

If I peer down into the rockwool I can see their little white heads =)
I will take some pictures tonight when I get home from work with my better digital camera. (it has a macro setting) I have been using my phone camera so far.

Yeah, this looks sweet.

I'd love to have a basement and nice super stealth room.

One day...

Yeah atavistic it is pretty cool.
I Don't have any idea if it would really work should the "man" want to look around, but it will keep me from getting paranoid.
Thanks for stopping in BTW.
I should have some pictures of actual plants before too awfully long, so stop back if you get the chance.

your setup looks good hope everything works well