Brand new setup...

Cidly
Looks like you have done your homework. Congrats on your start and we all wish you a exelent harvest.

I don't like peet pellets, the three seeds of Blue Mystic I tried with peat pellets, ended up rotting on me instead of sprouting, maybe too much water. I don't know, exactly why but use care if you use them.

Holy shit fellas!!!
I got this little "promotional" package in the mail today. I opened it up and it was some sort of canister. I ALMOST threw it away until i noticed it was slightly twisted on top, like a barely loose bottle cap. i unscrewed it and BAM! There were 4 beautiful packs of seeds; 3 Early Misty; and 1 Durban Poison.
When Nirvana said they package seeds stealthy they were NOT lying!!! I ALMOST THREW THEM AWAY!!!!! Well anyway i didnt thank god! so now all i am waiting on is my lights and next week I am building a door frame to put the door in and Ill be all set! Everything is coming together. I wish I really knew some of you.. id say come on over and lets smoke a Hog's Leg to celebrate!

July 9th update...
Got a ton done today on the room. I ran the electrical to the room which wasn't too bad. I got the circulation fan mounted AND got the sqrl fan married to the 3" dryer vent hose for my two story roof exhaust. Its ugly I warn ya. Its almost PG13 this marriage is but man does it work wonders. Hell if my college girlfriend would have blown like this thing does... I would have married her. Im attaching a couple pics Of my sqrl setup (not my college girlfriend )
I also found out that my lights will be here Wed! Im psyched!!! I think I am going to first grab my ladies from outside and put them in the room and flower them fist... then germinate the Early Misty seeds when i see what yield i get from my current outdoor grow. I have also decided to go a little larger with my grow. I originally was going to go with only 4 plants in 4 - 2gal buckets. I found that by decreasing the size of the buckets by half ; to one gal; I can theoretically increase my yeild by approx. 130%. so as you can tell in my pic from today I have now 11 buckets to grow from. Of course I am taking for granted that I will germinate all the seeds i want. (pray for my efforts )

Sounds like all you plans are coming together, hand in hand. Very nice mang!

Todays adventure was more of a technical one. I had to neatly hang my wiring to maximize the use and to keep it out of my way. I also live on the coast and we are prone to cyclones here so i wanted to install an APC (American Power Conversion) 500A... im only using this to condition the power lines due to surges and brown outs and give it sometime with power in case we lose power in the house, the lights will continue to work. If that is not enough juice to last the 400W system for a decent length of time I have a PowerCOM 1500 that I know will power them for an extended length of time. If that isn't enough I will daisy chain another powerCOM 1500. Power will not be the failure of my crop. My thoughts are "WTF I spend so much on my smoke anyway.. just do this right the first time and I will have an unending supply of some Dank!"
My other technical part of my day was how to anchor my door frame so that it will take a Mac Truck to break down this door. So i got it all figured out and not only pressure fit all the 2x4's together i also anchored them to an existing frame that was married to the concrete block that surrounds the room. I also will finish reinforcing the frame with corner braces.
The ballast will be fit directly under the APC 500A. Thats it for today fellas.... Ill check in with ya tomorrow when i get my lights. Check out the pics and leave me some comments if you want. Peace all

July 11th.
8:10pm last night the 10th of July, I germinated 13 Early Misty seeds. I'm anxious to see how many sprout. I used peat pellets and i will watch them carefully for the next couple days. I started a log on my wall of all dates so that i know what happened when to keep you all up to date with it.
Got my 400W MH/HPS setup in today from HTG. Sweet lil setup you get from them. I setup the light and ballast and all is perfect with the operation. I do wonder one thing... I am doing my "burn in" test (running the system for 24 hrs to iron out problems early) and am finding that my temp is about 87F. Is that going to be too hot. i have good circulation in the room, but will it be enough? Any ideas fellas? What are the constraints on temperature? Help me out. Thanks

Cidly said:

Holy shit fellas!!!
I got this little "promotional" package in the mail today. I opened it up and it was some sort of canister. I ALMOST threw it away until i noticed it was slightly twisted on top, like a barely loose bottle cap. i unscrewed it and BAM! There were 4 beautiful packs of seeds; 3 Early Misty; and 1 Durban Poison.
When Nirvana said they package seeds stealthy they were NOT lying!!! I ALMOST THREW THEM AWAY!!!!! Well anyway i didnt thank god! so now all i am waiting on is my lights and next week I am building a door frame to put the door in and Ill be all set! Everything is coming together. I wish I really knew some of you.. id say come on over and lets smoke a Hog's Leg to celebrate!

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LOL i like how nirvana packages their shipments.
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Good Luck with your grow dude.

Check out my log I live in South west florida, temps where I am are 85-100 everyday. Todays heat index was 115,but thats just me bitching lol. My plants seem to be growing just fine with the heat, they were in a grwbox outside with 3, 90CFM pc fans ( 1 intake, 2 exhuast ) and the heat deff did NOT stop them from growing. Photosynthesis continued on at what I would think to be fulll force considering they were LST'ed all to hell, and still had to be taken out of the growbox, because they grew so high that they were about 2 and a half inches from my 400W HPS. Turned them almost a see through yellow. But didnt stunt growth...maybe just tough ass plants but they are doing loverly, except for not flowering on schedule due to light leaks! Good luck mang! Oh yea, if you add CO2 to your set up, photosythesis will be more effective with the higher temps then w/o CO2.

Whats the temperature of your intake air? Ya know the air going into the box. A/C duct? Other room?

recvryjst42day said:

Whats the temperature of your intake air? Ya know the air going into the box. A/C duct? Other room?

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The intake air is about 77 maybe. The ballast and the lamps are in the grow room and definetly is what is causing the heat. i am also trying to bring in air from the top and "suck" it to the bottom with a powerfull Sqrl Fan (see earlier pics) and my 12" ocillating fan. I may have to redo the sqrl fan position to the top of the room. Im not sure but the temp is staying pretty constant. i think/hope/pray I will do fine with those temps.

You should be fine with those temp's. Is there anyway to move the ballast out of the room? It has a 10ft cord right?(prolly not an option huh? after working on those indestructable doors lol) last thing, If you can bring air from the bottom to the top, you would be much better off, cold air sinks hot air rises, why fight it, plus, your light is up top, why push more heat from the top towards the plants(bottom)? unless of course that isn't an option for you either, but there are some suggestions for ya! Keep up the updates man, really liking the log so far! And no plants yet! Nice.

As you already know(if you have been keeping up with my grow log)I got my lights in today and have them up and running and I'm getting solid temps in the 85-88 F range.it turned out sweet! I'm trying to figure something out... should I start my grow with a MH bulb for veg 18/6 and switch to HPS and a 12/12 schedule after 4-5 weeks of veg? I have heard you can actually do the whole grow with the MH but your buds will be fluffier and not as dense.

I have another idea on the door to my grow room. I am going to make a "false door". i am going to panel a section of custom frame i built and add 3/4" plywood for a good backing with a wood decorative panel over the top and make it look as if it is part of the existing wall. i have to find a door opener like the ones on the stereo cabinets. Maybe a little heavier duty but the same concept. You will have to push the wall and have it "pop out" to grab the edge and open it to gain access to the room. Kind of a James Bond kind of wall if you get my drift. Ill also add molding to make it look perfect! Perfectly hidden. For now i have two thick blankets covering the doorway. They are nailed in and look pretty decent but since I have 13 of my Early Misty's germinating in Jiffy peat i figure i better get some sort of temporary "door" in place.

recvryjst42day said:

You should be fine with those temp's. Is there anyway to move the ballast out of the room? It has a 10ft cord right?(prolly not an option huh? after working on those indestructible doors lol) last thing, If you can bring air from the bottom to the top, you would be much better off, cold air sinks hot air rises, why fight it, plus, your light is up top, why push more heat from the top towards the plants(bottom)? unless of course that isn't an option for you either, but there are some suggestions for ya! Keep up the updates man, really liking the log so far! And no plants yet! Nice.

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No real chance for that BUT I MAY be able to put a small vent in the other wall at floor level if need be. I do have lots of circulation so there are no "hot spots" per say and it is all the same temp. Yea i was in that class to that taught you about hot and light air .. didn't they use the balloon as the teaching prop that day . I appreciate you keeping up with my log. The good stuff follows from now on. The door will be in next week and my seeds are germin!

Impressive set-up, Cid. Looks like your planned this out well. One observation: remember that Sativa is going to be a tall mofo, especially once flowering begins. Plan now on either making available height space, LSTing or FIMing. I'll be following your grow. Good luck!

Cidly said:

I'm trying to figure something out... should I start my grow with a MH bulb for veg 18/6 and switch to HPS and a 12/12 schedule after 4-5 weeks of veg? I have heard you can actually do the whole grow with the MH but your buds will be fluffier and not as dense.

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I think it would be worth it (you might already have the HPS bulb i dunno ), to get the HPS bulb for flowering. The metal halide(blue light) promotes tight internode spacing, and is great for veg growth. The hps(red) obviously is going to strech it a bit more, but is used more by the plant during flowering. I use a HPS all the way through, only because I dont have the cash for the switchable ballast . It will come though! So my answer is, Yes I think you should use MH for veg, and HPS for flowering.

recvryjst42day said:

I think it would be worth it (you might already have the HPS bulb i dunno ), to get the HPS bulb for flowering. The metal halide(blue light) promotes tight internode spacing, and is great for veg growth. The hps(red) obviously is going to strech it a bit more, but is used more by the plant during flowering. I use a HPS all the way through, only because I dont have the cash for the switchable ballast . It will come though! So my answer is, Yes I think you should use MH for veg, and HPS for flowering.

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Right on Thanks! I thought that is what i should do but i wanted to make sure... yes i have a switchable ballast and i do have the HPS. I have a post for you guys tomorrow on my plants sprouting. Stay tuned bro!

Can't wait to see the progress you make. You really seem prepared should be a good grow that we can all learn from. Good night

Hey Fellas! Thanks for tuning back in for another fine episode of Cidlys Grow Shack. Today I have some great news for all of..... well...me. Got two of my Early Misty's to germinate and i am waiting on the other 11. I began the germ July 10th 8:10pm. I cant believe the two sprouted already and none of the others have shown up yet. Could they be bad seeds? Nirvana seeds? Im not sure... but at least those two are growing.
I also got the grow room door complete. I have yet to complete the seals around the edges but i will work on that later tonight or tomorrow. I have added some pics of how i built the door. When I am done with it you wont even think there is a closet there... i think I am going to say the air handler for the A/C system is in there and it can only be accessed by the attic. I dont know but im hoping no one even wonders or thinks about it. I built a 2x4 frame and added 1/2" plywood to it then covered that with some wood paneling that matches the rest of the room. When you knowck on it .. it seems like a perfectly normal wall.
I also added the PowerCom 1500 to the setup... it can power my lights without too much trouble it seems. It does make a buzzing noise when it does go to battery mode... does any one have an idea on that one? The battery backup can power the lights on from a cold state, so I dont think it is a power throughput or amps/wattage problem... just not sure though.
I would also take pics of my babies but i know darn well all of you have seen baby pot plants... and mine look exactly like those you have seen before... so what is the point? Anyway any of you that are keeping up with my log here I welcome all of your comments, thoughts, helpful tips and even your critisizm. So let it fly this way and lets get this grow started off in a "Stony" way.

you have your light connected to a battery backup?