Building single-plant growbox, I want your opinions!

you can cut the wires on the fans that light the LEDs... and I would just tack a drye sheet over the exhaust and see how it works :) lol
 

Katatawnic

Well-Known Member
I was alright with it for a while but it's annoying being talked down to like I was born yesterday when the majority of the things I was told within the last several posts are things I already knew, and the things I didn't know were explained in the least respectful way possible.
If you think you experienced rude or "the least respectful way possible" then you must be used to everyone you know candy-coating everything they say to you. Gypsy is a "matter of fact" person. As am I, and many many other people. I can give you examples of disrespect if you need clarification. :twisted:

And if you just state something of course I'm going to question the background of the info before I decide to rearrange my setup to accomodate for it - You are mistaking my requests for verification for arguing.
When I want to know sources, I state that I'm curious as to the why, not just the how. Which is the truth. I don't absorb something enough to truly learn it if I don't know why something works a certain way. I've seen that many people embarking on growing don't want to know the why, just the how. And many experienced growers giving advice are used to this, so that's what they give: the how. They're probably tired of explaining why this or that, when most people seeking answers don't want to read more than they think they need in order to get by.

I just wish you [GypsyBush] were here here to help me without doing your absolute best to make me feel inferior and...retarded.
Look.... if someone asks for advice about something in which you're experienced, and you give it only to be challenged on each thing you advise, wouldn't you get tired of repeating yourself over and over and over and....?

Katatawnic - Point taken, but I welcomed friendly opinions I didn't want somebody to come tell me how stupid I am..
Did I miss something? I don't recall anyone telling you that you're stupid, or anything of the sort.

Maybe I'm just to sensitive
Finally, owning up to the problem!

For argument's sake though, on an anonymous internet community, how do I know who I can trust for reliable info learned from experience?
Read their grow journals. Read the advice they give others. Read what's happened due to advice taken by those others. You start figuring out who knows what when you READ.

I didn't realize Gypsy was a celebrity around here. That would explain the attitude towards me as a noob.
Gypsy has no "attitude" about newbs. He's fully aware that everyone's just started out sometime, including himself. Read his "first tree" thread going on right now.... he's taking in every piece of advice given him by his "mentor" and is beyond humble about it. Learning means being able to be told, "You're not doing that right," and taking it with a grain of salt.

I can assure you this though, I have read for hours every night and learned a ton, and it wasn't until I got reading that I began to battle the points that were given to me as advice. Once I had knowledge from the resources on this very site, I have people like you for example telling me otherwise - the people who tell me to read are also the ones always telling me what I read is incorrect. So it's really a viscious circle..
And that will continue. Yes, people have different ways of growing, to an extent. Vital things that are stated over and over again will stress or even kill your plants, however, are not "opinions" but truth. And even if someone tells you that if you do something differently will get you better results, but not necessarily vital for your plants' survivability.... they're only trying to help you have a better start than, just perhaps, they had. Treasure this!

The main point I would make is this: go back and look at your posts. Sometimes, literally within MINUTES of Gypsy or someone else posting something, you came back with a rebuttle.

Would you do that in a different sort of apprenticeship?
Excellent point! Apprenticeship isn't a very common thing anymore, and I'm beyond grateful that I've found it here. If I don't agree with advice given me, I either (a) thank the person for taking out the time to offer me help and move on to the next piece of advice that makes more sense to me, or (b) if I do "challenge" it, then it's with respect and genuine questions as to the how and why, because that's what I'm seeking: how and why, not whether or not I now feel "smart" because I might have been told that I'm wrong.

When I was a freshman I had no trouble with the ladies, I didn't seek help from the ones that have done it before, I made my own mistakes and learned from them and in the end had better results than they did, which makes me glad that I didn't ask them, and do as they did or I would have never discovered my own methods.
First, that was an analogy only. Second, if you want to learn from your own mistakes, then why did you come here asking for help?

And the teachers that were teaching me things I didn't know - I would show them another method to get the same results that they had never heard of before.
And there we have it.... the Genius Syndrome. Can't tell 'em anything they don't already know, much less without hearing how they can do it just as well their own way. I've been guilty of this myself, until life handed me a few pieces of Humble Pie. If I'm asking for advice, then I'm certainly in no position to tell those giving me that advice how to do it another way. If I don't need advice, then there's certainly no reason for me to be asking in the first place. Dontcha think?!

Ingenuity is part of my personality, arguing makes people smarter.
No. Discussing differences of opinion makes people smarter. Arguing them makes people angry. I can see why Gypsy unsubscribed.
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
I don't really want to re-hash your debate with Gypsy point-by-point.

Gypsy just won't spend time helping people reinvent the wheel is all, and, as you have said, you want to experiment.

Second, understand that your room temps/humidity/air flow are your primary concerns in growing, IMO.

You really need to re-think your entire design in my opinion. Which may seem like a slap in the face, it may seem to you like I am dooming your grow with no evidence or reasoning.

As I said before, I want you to succeed. But you are simply not going to be able to adequately cool the amount of light its going to take to grow a worthy yield growing in something that is designed to maintain whatever temperature you have it at. It will keep things hot or cold, depending upon what you put in it, correct?

Why not build yourself a little wood frame out of 1" x 1" pieces and make a double layer panda film tent. You can design it to be nice and small. You could grow with CFL's, use a little 4" inline fan hooked to a carbon filter with passive intake and vent the hot air out of the closet via a little DIY setup.

You have a great mechanical aptitude and I think you will be successful. I know you can grow weed in what you have, yes. Do I think the product is going to be worth the time, energy, investment, and care? No, I do not, and trust me I have learned the hard way from warm temped, poor ventilated grows that didn't produce what I wanted. I am just trying to save you from that.

Have you considered maybe a little 250 watt HPS setup? You could aircool the lights and everything! I bet you could invest around $500 and set yourself up to get 2x return on your first run. 3 plants under a 250 watt HPS setup could yield 4 z's total, at a consersative guess of $250 a zone, that's 1000 in medicane on your first run.

Sure, do this grow and learn. But take it from me, planning is the way to go.
 

littlegrower2004

Well-Known Member
fractus- gypsy already showed you his results and that is SOG straight clone to flower with no veg time. he gave you his heights and you should be able to figure off that hw big yours will get. if that doesnt work guess about 2 X maybe a lil more.
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
Ok, check this out, I have done some leg work for you. Consider this:

http://htgsupply.com/growlights.asp?categoryID=1&subcategoryID=101&typeID=92

For $183 (not including shipping), you can get a complete 250 watt HPS system. This includes the ballast, bulb, reflector, socket, power cord, etc. You might need to upgrade the reflector so you can air cool it, I didn't check which one it comes with standard.

Then, to aircool you light, AND eliminate the smell, you hook up this:
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=52531

For $120 (not including shipping), you get a 4" inline fan AND carbon filter. IMO, you can cool your light and exhaust your room through the filter with just this one fan. Some, including Gypsy, correctly believe that its not best to mix. To make this run PERFECTLY, you should spend another $80 and get another 4" inline fan and run the light exhaust and the room exhaust seperately. But it WILL work the other way. I know because I run one 6" fan and it cools my 1000 watt light to the point where I can touch the glass that its incased in and not burn my hand, AND it killed the smell of over 12+ ounces of fresh, dense nugs.

AND LASTLY, to control your temps, for $80, a 5000 BTU A/C that will cool up to 150 sq. Ft.
http://www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWeb/Product.bos?quantity=1&itemNumber=8025&type=Product

183
+ 120
+80
-----------
$383. This isn't including shipping or the perfect seperate exhaust systems. Or tax, if applicable, or perhaps a better reflector.

Let's say you get the fan, (80), and the shipping, (75, total guess), and a better reflector (60...fair guess)

That's 215 on top of 383 for a max (IMO) total of $598 for a kick ass small little setup.

Maybe $50 max for the panda film and wood, another $20 or so for excellent ducting and clamps....

I mean man, how long do you wanna smoke for free? Its up to you...Can you get together this much cash? If so, and you plan it right, and do it...then you can never pay again....

Or do you like paying for something that God gave us to grow in the ground??

Not trying to be a smart ass. It's medicane for me. I just want you to do well!

:peace:
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Katatawnic, to be honest this whole thing is getting rather monotonous and if you wouldn't mind I'd like to divert the attention back to the thread topic. I don't mean to brush you off or anything because you clearly spent a fair amount of time analysing every word I said like it's a piece of lyric poetry or something and took things way too literally and way past what I intended. But for what it's worth I get your point and I took it to heart. Lets just let this one go now.

Why not build yourself a little wood frame out of 1" x 1" pieces and make a double layer panda film tent. You can design it to be nice and small. You could grow with CFL's, use a little 4" inline fan hooked to a carbon filter with passive intake and vent the hot air out of the closet via a little DIY setup.
This is not a bad idea at all, it just requires a bit more construction with tools that I don't have on hand, I don't have a drill or a saw in my apartment, that's one of the reasons why I went with styrofoam. But since I'm running into problems maybe it would be worth the time and effort to find another plan. I have all the things I need for a new design though if I had nother box. I may still double mine up for a day or two just to see if it works any better, simply because it will only cost me 8$ and take half an hour to do. And if that solves my problems then I may not need to search any farther. But if I don't like what I see I'll be on the lookout for another design.

Dude I can't believe you just went through all that for me.
As far as HPS I'm not sure if that's the solution for me. I really don't want to be growing anymore than one plant at a time, and since I'm not doing it to make money I'd be investing 500+ in a personal project. I would kinda like to stick to CFLs for this one. I spent less than the price of an oz for everything I have purchased so far though, and the supplies are good for more than one plant of course :) It's just not really practical for me to have kind of a system in here. But I really like the idea of separate light and plant compartments and separate cooling, that would solve everything. Gimme a few minutes I think I'm onto something, I'm going to draw a little demonstration of something I just thought of in Paint and post it here.
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
I don't make money off what I do either, DO NOT misunderstand. I have never, nor will never, sell anything. I don't even share to be totally honest, at risk of sounding like a prick.

But its a way to put a $ value to something.

Why wouldn't you want to grow more than I plant? In Canada, the penalties for 1 are the same as for three. Do you only smoke once a week or something?

I did a total run with over 850 watts of ACTUAL CFL watts, not the incandescent conversion total. And I had six plants that vegged for over 2 months and flower for 77 days. Guess my yield? Just over three ounces. Not worth the time, money, electricity, water, nutrients, etc, etc.

So I ask, how much would you ideally like to be able to smoke, per week, in terms of weight. A dub? An 8th? A gram? You tell me.
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
To be completely honest, it sort of just falls into my hands because I have lots of friends that call me because they want someone to smoke a joint with and they buy and they share and it happens all the time, not because I'm cheap, but because I'm good stoned company and it's always a good time :P Never a dull moment. This is just my project and I'm looking forward to having a taste of my own harvest that's all. This is my first plant ever in life, not just weed, any plant! And for me I think it's just much easier to conceal one plant in a cooler than 3 under an HPS setup in my closet, maybe when I move out of this apartment I'll be looking into that :D

So far I have under 150 watts in the box generating over 10 000 lumens, and my optimistic goal is to get a half oz from it. My little diagram is done btw haha. You may laugh at my drawing but I want you to actually focus on the concept and let me know what you think. The blue arrow is the intake air from the outside of this....thing. The middle shows a plant inside a transparent cylinder/dome of some sort - made out of whatever.. The red arrows show that air would be vented past the plants and then over the lights and out the exhaust by means of the pull from a single fan, would this work just similar to having two cooling/vent systems, one for the lights and one for the plant? Could it save in ventilation costs if people just vent past the plant first and then use that air to run past the lights? The design could look like whatever you wanted to and I definitely wouldn't build one like this, I just drew this to demonstrate the idea. Notice I only vented one side of lights, I was getting discouraged with my Paint performance and just gave up there heh.

 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
I think you should re-evaluate your assumption that 3 plants wouldn't be easy to hide. I have had an apartment inspection and passed with flying colors, and I have a 1k system and, well, more than 3 plants :-)

But, to your design....I won't laugh, I think the graphic is better then I could do....props there.

But the design itself is flawed. Growing without a strong light source directly over the canopy with mean large fan leave that protrude a large amount from the plant and create a lot of shade for busites, which is not ideal.

If you insist going with CFL'S, design a DIY refletor that you can fasten bulbs to and suspend over the plants, not around, If you spend the $ and get a proper 4" exhaust, a passive intake and you should be good, provided your source air is cool enough....this is where the ac becomes needed if its not...
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
All excellent points! In that case maybe what I should do is pull all the lights out of my box, leave the plant inside that strofoam cooler because it serves as a nice plantpot lol, plant 2 more plants in with it, one on each side, I think there is lots of room in there for it if I were to remove the light fixtures in the sides, and then build myself another box, air-tight with good intake/exhaust setup, lights all with reflectors overhead on some makeshift lowering system, and have my styrofoam cooler inside this growbox, instead of having my 2-in-1 growbox-pot that has been found to be flawed in so many ways lol. Or even a small 50$ cabinet from walmart would do the trick.. I'm not kicking myself for what I've done though because my plant is growing like there is no tomorrow and I only spent 8$ on my cooler-pot.

I looked up PAR, I knew a bit about this before but I didn't realize that was the proper term for it haha. I knew that the blue range is for veg and the red is for flowering, which is why I invested in both sets of bulbs, but I just use them in combination instead of all one or the other. I read about people doing it like this and had great results, but I also saw people use all 6500k for veg and then 2700k for flower but their buds/plants weren't any bigger or better, so to speak. After further investigation I saw that the blue light isn't for "vegging" lol it's actually for leaf growth, I don't see why you would want to slow down leaf growth during the flowering stage by removing all of the blue light.. Do you think that perhaps if using them both simultaneously, the blue light helps produce the leaves that will also be taking in red light to flower and bud? Maybe with more blue light the leaves get bigger and capture much more red resulting in bigger buds even.. I'm just rambling now but it was an interesting train of thought lol. This seems like one of those places where there are two right answers but most people are a firm believer of either one option or the other.
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
I think a tent is still your best bet. You can grow the plants in the cooler if you want it wouldn't hurt.

As for light spectrum. Blue light encourages thick, dense, green, radient growth with, very importantly, short internodal lengths. Red spectrum light during veg promotes root and stem growth and makes a plant stetch and grow spindly. I am currently vegging out my next grow under 1000 watts of 7200k metal halide and seeing amazing results. I have gotten 5-8" of growth in 3 weeks on my current clones, and I got them in bad shape, with nute defs and poor leaf structure.

I would say all 6500k if you can. This is the ideal light for veg. I made my own 9x 23 watt CFL reflector and added two 2700k bulbs just for variety. It doesn't hurt to mix it up a little.
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
That sounds like a sick setup you have going! I really don't want to go through the hassle of buying and shipping a tent here + I'm a DIY kinda guy, I'm gonna go looking for creative FUNCTIONAL growbox ideas that I can use my CFLs in. Speaking of which, I did a bit more browsing and learned some useful stuff. Here is a diagram I found of the useful wavelengths to the different pigments of the plant during photosynthesis:

Notice that the most useful wavelengths are in the 450nm(blue) area and again in the 650nm(red) area.
These peak wavelengths directly correspond to the temperature rating in Kelvins using an equation known as Wien's Law.
It states: Peak wavelength (nm) = 3,000,000 / Colour temp (Kelvins)
Of course most bulbs are full-spectrum, but they are rated in Kelvins according to its temperature, we just often refer to it as colour because the thermal radiation put out would have a colour (e.g. 6500 is deep blue, etc).

This means that anything between 7500K and 6500K is hitting key points of the spectrum (deep blue) with the most intensity and also giving off some of all the other areas as well. At 4500K the peak wavelength is at 666nm which would be very useful for the pigments in the plant that promote flowering. However at 2700 the peak wavelength is above 1000nm, which is beyond the visible colour spectrum and relatively useless to a plant, seems pointless to feed a plant light it can't use doesn't it? Theoretically, 4000 to 5000K bulbs should be more effective than 2700K for flowering, unless there is an error with my math.. Here is a graph to help illustrate my point, just notice the Kelvin line intersecting the highest in the red zone:

This also shows that 6500K is the most effective range for vegging, 7200 is actually higher than it needs to be, but still great and very effective. This info also puts a 4500K bulb's max intensity at a 666 nanometer wavelength, ideal for producing the red part of the spectrum that will most effectively stimulate the pigments that cause flowering. Anyway, I'm rambling again, just thought I would share what I think I learned tonight lol, and if this is incorrect someone please point it out because I would hate to correct a lighting setup for these numbers if I have been misinformed lol! Now I feel like I have a genuine knowledge for lighting vs. plant usefulness :) Maybe there is already a thread about this that I managed to overlook, I just googled these images and read a few smart guys' physics sites lol.
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
Gypsy's tent is bad ass!

Tents are easier to control than grow boxes. Keep this in mind. You can make a tent a box. You are assuming I think you should buy one. I don't. Make the sob! Cheap!
 

littlegrower2004

Well-Known Member
thundercat has an amazing DIY cfl reflector that has like 8 cfls in it. do a search on his name then click his thread called thundercats grooooooow and you will see the reflector on the first pg.
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Gypsy's tent IS bad ass but i'm looking for something much more primitive. I know for less cost it's probably not possible to make anytrhing more effective and efficient than that tent but it's just a lot bigger and more complex (and more expensive initially) than what I want to do. Although I really might get some ducting and a 4inch inline fan because it looks badass.

I checked thundercats reflector, pretty sweet really. There are so many ideas running around in my head now I just need to decide on one or a few and get reative but sticking to the rules of growtents/boxes.
 

KaleoXxX

Well-Known Member
i was kinda waching this cooler grow to see how it worked for you. before you switch it out you wanna update some pics on the plants growth?

i agree that upgrades are needed when you start off simple, humble i should say. but the plant will thank you for it.

as far as keeping your plant in the cooler or planting 2 more in there; dont bother. you should actually transplant that into a pot if your gonna build a more conventional growbox before the roots reach all the way across the bottom of the cooler and are a mess to keep together.

good luck fractus keep us posted
 

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Well actually it was working fine, I'm switching it up because I can't walk properly... or something like that.. Jk haha! I just know that I can do better so I'm going to see what else I can come up with. Here's a couple pics I took 15 minutes ago so you can see where it's at.

Remember 40 hours ago:


And now:



You can see it better when I cover up the lights with a book or something, my Razr camera isn't the greatest lol.


But it's getting so big now that it's getting close to the lights and I can see that the leaf edges are starting to curl, it's time for change. I could double stack the coolers today and it would be great for a while but I think I'm gonna try something other than styrofoam instead..
 

usuf

Well-Known Member
Hey man this has been a good post, definitely an interesting read. I totally understand what you are trying to go for, a cheap & easy way to grow personal.. I was in the same boat and went with a rubbermaid setup, you should check it out. Now that is only my vegging setup, I've got a really small closet with a 250 watt hps, but the theme is still simplicity. BTW, can't wait for Starcraft 2 bro! ;P
 
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