First Grow Room!

Well yet again I am starting my first grow room, hopefully this time it will get further than the development stages.

Right now here's the plan.

I'm going to build a box with a footprint of 3 feet by 4 feet, and it will be 7 feet high. I plan on making the walls out of plywood (what type and how thick depends on money) with a 400 watt HPS for the light. I am debating if I am going to use a DIY cooltube or just buy one, and a DIY carbon filter. Smell isn't that important, but I'd prefer to keep the smell out. For the exhaust I plan on either venting it directly into the basement or hooking it up to flow into the air exchanger.

As for what I will be growing, I have a northern lights bonsai that is definitely a female, pics will prove from the one clone I sexed and kept it growing.

I will be using a homemade Hydroponics system and probably be using Screen of Green Method.

Let me know on any ideas you might have, areas to improve etc.

More updates after Christmas! Things should start then!

Sounds great so far you might want to try drywall out instead of plywood.And get some mylar to line the walls with,Some good nutes and rooting hormone because if you know its a female you should take clones to keep it going plus its a great strain you got.Good luck with it and happy holidays

...... said:

Sounds great so far you might want to try drywall out instead of plywood.And get some mylar to line the walls with,Some good nutes and rooting hormone because if you know its a female you should take clones to keep it going plus its a great strain you got.Good luck with it and happy holidays

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Well so far for nutes I got general Hydroponics grow and bloom, and a ph meter for the system, what difference would using drywall make?

Hope your holidays are going good!

Nice looking girls Coldfire. Get rid of the tin foil could burn your plants but highly doubt it since you are using cfls right now. Also, try and move the lights close to the plant like 1-2". As for the drywall I would assume it would limit the heat transfer out of the room but not sure. Do you know how much Cfm the venting is? I was told a good rule of thumb the ventilation should fully recirculate the air once every five minutes but more is better. Happy holidays

Tidalwavedave said:

Nice looking girls Coldfire. Get rid of the tin foil could burn your plants but highly doubt it since you are using cfls right now. Also, try and move the lights close to the plant like 1-2". As for the drywall I would assume it would limit the heat transfer out of the room but not sure. Do you know how much Cfm the venting is? I was told a good rule of thumb the ventilation should fully recirculate the air once every five minutes but more is better. Happy holidays

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...I agree, get rid of the foil...very bad reflective material, some argue...but, look into it. Your better off painting everything flat white or getting some black and white poly aka panda plastic.
...get plants close to light!

...also, you should maybe look into the lucas formula for fertz....he uses gh micro, and bloom....that's it!
Here's the link >>> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/4387-lucas-formula.html

strain stalker said:

...I agree, get rid of the foil...very bad reflective material, some argue...but, look into it. Your better off painting everything flat white or getting some black and white poly aka panda plastic.
...get plants close to light!

...also, you should maybe look into the lucas formula for fertz....he uses gh micro, and bloom....that's it!
Here's the link >>> https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/4387-lucas-formula.html

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Will do. . . when I get my growroom built I plan on using a 5 gallon bucket painted black, then cover the top with either white or mylar, and use a bubbler bucket for it. I have to go out and see which I can afford, mylar or flat white paint. I should be able to start construction in the next few days.

Tidalwavedave said:

Nice looking girls Coldfire. Get rid of the tin foil could burn your plants but highly doubt it since you are using cfls right now. Also, try and move the lights close to the plant like 1-2". As for the drywall I would assume it would limit the heat transfer out of the room but not sure. Do you know how much Cfm the venting is? I was told a good rule of thumb the ventilation should fully recirculate the air once every five minutes but more is better. Happy holidays

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I still have a few clones I plan on vegging at first, that one in the picture was more of an experiment that I kept going. When the room is finished I'll use a 400 watt high pressure sodium light, venting will be decided after I finish construction.

Well a little update for now, I have worked out what I am going to do. It will take 5 sheets of 1/2 inch plywood and 5 lengths of 2 x 2 x 8's for the box, I'll sketch up some plans of the design so you guys can have an idea of what I'm going with, moneys tight as usually so I need to reach the 200$ mark to get something accomplished. . . I'll add another update later. . .

Well still no luck on the materials for the growbox yet, I'm still trying to reach the goal of 200 dollars to spend on it, but for your viewing pleasure the clone that I sexed and kept going is soon going to be finished, it's nothing impressive but it's my first plant that I flowered and I think it's not going bad. I hooked up the high pressure sodium for the last little bit of the grow. Some of the pistils have started to turn orange so I am going to switch to molasses water today I think. Does anyone know how long it takes them to change with northern lights? Do I have a week of grow left, or maybe two? I didn't plan on keeping this one going and didn't mark the date I put it into flowering so everything is pretty much guesswork for me and looking for signs in the plant. I have some pics taken, close up of the buds and such, sorry for the bad quality, but my camera isn't the greatest at closeup pictures. Some turned out pretty decent all the same.

Well it's still growing, and hopefully will be done soon, I'm still wondering just how long, I don't have a magnifier to see up close and personal, but I have a few pictures that show some of the trichomes. I may have started my flush a little too early, but this is my first plant I ever had in flowering, so its quite a learning experience, the next one I grow will be done properly.

Looking good. Do you know how long it has been since you flipped it to flower? The plant has not started to autumn off(leaves turn yellow) which happens towards the end of its life if nutrients are used correctly. I would think that its around 60 days to be finished but some sativa's can take up to 13 weeks. In the end if your happy about the product that's all that matters. Happy growin

Tidalwavedave said:

Looking good. Do you know how long it has been since you flipped it to flower? The plant has not started to autumn off(leaves turn yellow) which happens towards the end of its life if nutrients are used correctly. I would think that its around 60 days to be finished but some sativa's can take up to 13 weeks. In the end if your happy about the product that's all that matters. Happy growin

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Its supposed to be Northern Lights, but the source wasn't a quality one, so who knows what I could be growing, I'll find out when I get the big plants growing. This one getting pretty yellow. Is it normal for some of the leaves that stick out of the bud to turn yellow too?

I'll upload some more pictures later on today or tomorrow.

Well it was harvest time at last, I noticed they started to turn amber. . . fluffy buds, and not that impressive, but it was a good start and a fun experiment, so now its on to the building of the grow room and some quality plants. I still haven't got the designs finished but I will soon.

I'll let you know what they are like after I dry and cure them.

Well they are dried and the total weight was 10.8 grams, not a great harvest, but I'm not complaining. It's a pretty good smoke, but whenever I get a grow room on the go, I'll try for something a little more impressive. So far any extra money I had is going towards wisdom teeth removal so I'll be trying to cut a few corners. I've heard lots of bad things about using MDF, such as the way it warps when it gets wet, but I was wondering, if it's all covered in mylar would it be alright? Should I still hold out for plywood or can MDF be used?

Yea MDF expands when water hits it making the piece weak and brittle. I am using some Panda Film or Poly film in 4.5 mil cost 1.45 a linear foot that is 10 feet wide. It has a black side and white side to keep in light. But if you cant afford that I would use plywood and paint it white. She looks amazing almost the entire plant is a bud looks crazy. Props on the Grow Im glad I subscribed. I wish I knew how to +rep still a noob on this site.

Hmmm, despite reading about poly film, I never thought about using it, but I just may. If I do then I can probably use a low grade plywood and then just use the poly film to make an airtight tent in the inside of it. I have to look into it and see what is the most cost effective. Thanks for the response again Tidalwavedave, to be honest I could care less about rep, its the info I'm after and you've already given me a few new ideas. I'll upload a few pics of my mother and the clones I have, it's all pretty low budget, but it works. I also did my frame up in google sketchup, but the measurements arn't adding up in it, there seems to be a few glitches in it so I'll do one up by hand. I'll throw it all up on here anyway so everyone can at least see where I'm heading.

nice job with what you were working with. You can build a simple frame out of 1"x2" studs and then wrap it in the poly for a great cheep "room" that does not lose any light.

Heres some pictures of the veg chambers I've been using, as well as my NL bonsai, and a clone I plan on using next that's more or less 4 in one.

COgrow said:

nice job with what you were working with. You can build a simple frame out of 1"x2" studs and then wrap it in the poly for a great cheep "room" that does not lose any light.

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I would do this but unfortunately I have cats in the room where they would be grown, and would shred it in a heartbeat. Would it be airtight as well? I'm trying to avoid all scent from escaping, and have been torn between having the HPS in the box with it, and just use bigger fans to ventilate, attempting a DIY cooltube with medium fans, or sectioning it off and using a glass plate underneath and hooking that box up to my air exchanger, then ventilating the lower part with small fans.

So which do you think would be the better choice to go with, A or B?