Losing My Virginity. Growing For The First Time.

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Too much humidity is because you have a ton of plants inside too :) Plants sweat! More exhaust will help, yup. More intake wont help, since that will hurt your carbon filter. Carbon filters always wanna suck air out of the box and too much air in means leaky air from box.

Anyhow, your plants look great. Keep up what your doin, you'll have top shelf nugs this harvest........
 

Sativus

Active Member
The humidity is slowly dropping. As the dehumidifier removes moisture from that side of the basement, the humidity in the box will drop as well. 75% in the box this morning when I checked. I am hoping to be under 70% when I check again tonight and be under 60% by tomorrow night. We'll see about that.
I wonder if I will actually be able to use that furnace blower next grow. I will defiantly try... I dunno what the cfm on that thing is, but I would guess it's about 1000. That would be great if it's not too noisy...
Thanks for reason 3 Kitty! Next grow I was thinking I would stick with 4 and grow them a little larger.
 

WubWubWub

Member
I read every word of your thread and I feel I have learned a lot from what you have posted. I am a beginner, much like you. I am an older gentleman that is tired of giving my money to the teenager "down the street", so I decided to grow my own crop. I have taken a lot of what was said in here and will be applying it to my box build. I have even purchased goods that was linked in this thread.

With all of that said, I am still a little unsure about your lighting. It looks like youre using only the T12 Florescent bulbs and it is working great for you. I have extended myself on my budget and I cant afford to get the CFLs for my first grow. I might be able to install them in the process, but for now I am not planning on them. Could you go into more detail of the types of bulbs you are using. Right now I have 40w, Cool White bulbs that produce 3200 Lumen. I thought only one light rail (containing 2 bulbs) would be enough, but I see I will need to purchase a few more. Any info on this would be helpful.

I also have some questions about your soil and nutes, but I will ask those questions when the time comes. I am still waiting for a lot of my supplies to arrive, including the seeds. Youre doing a great job, Sativus and youre an inspiration to me, so thanks for posting all the fine details you have and I hope you keep doing so.
 

HiImNick

Active Member
Too much humidity is because you have a ton of plants inside too :) Plants sweat! More exhaust will help, yup. More intake wont help, since that will hurt your carbon filter. Carbon filters always wanna suck air out of the box and too much air in means leaky air from box.

Anyhow, your plants look great. Keep up what your doin, you'll have top shelf nugs this harvest........
Right, you want negative pressure from your exhaust fans.. that is, you want more exhaust then you do intake.
 

Sativus

Active Member
Thanks for reading m8!
They are under 12 4-foot 32-watt flourescent tubes (6 dual light fixtures) using 384 watts and pushing almost 34000 lumens. The tubes are all 4100K and have not been changed the entire grow.
The plants are healthy, that is for sure... but I can defiantly say that next grow, all the lights that I am using currently will merely be side lighting. I'm thinking of adding a 5 bulb long (bathroom light fixture) with Y spliters to use 10 of the largest cfls I can find. That and growing in coco with all the proper nutes will be the main differences in this grow and my next.
I believe the T8's are better than the older T12's,,, but I am not certain on that.
Feel free to ask anything you like m8.
 

Sativus

Active Member
I dunno m8. Depends on how you position the clf's and the plants i guess... When I speak of using cfls for my next grow, it is because I will also be scroging... Keeping the cfl's very close to the canopy. Will you be using any type of training for the plants?
water does run off my plants. Into those tin baking trays. I then siphon the excess water out as much as possible.
 

WubWubWub

Member
Sorry, I guess I should be more specific. I am building a tub that all plants will drain into and under that, there will be a bucket all of that will drain into so I do not need to wait for the plants to drain. I am super busy, so for the most part, I need all of this to work on it's own, though I do see myself sitting and admiring my accomplishment quite a bit.

You have a great set up and I was never once knocking it.
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Right, you want negative pressure from your exhaust fans.. that is, you want more exhaust then you do intake.
That is exactly correct. More air exhausting than intake. If more air intakes, it leaks. If more exhausts, all the stink goes to exhaust, which is exactly where his carbon scrubber is, which is exactly what he wants. :)
 

Sativus

Active Member
LOL, no worry m8, I didn't take it like that. I just never mentioned prior to that how I removed the excess water ;)
I love to watch them, I check on them usually 30-60 minutes a day. ;) I swear, I sing them a little song and they smile at me ;) hehe.
Yes, negative pressure in the box.
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Ok, I think I may return all of the lighting I purchased and get 3 of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100181328/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

And wire them up for 5 plants. My box is similar to yours, Sativus, but I (will) have a place for water to run off of the plants to help control moisture levels.

My question- Do you think 3 bars, with 12 CFL's total, will be enough for 5 plants?
For the same amount of money after you buy bulbs, I suggest:

http://goo.gl/04eRX

The link is to a google shopping search, for the C.A.P. 150w HPS fully enclosed system. $60 for 16,000 lumens of flower power. It's going to give you way better performance. Just plug it in. Bulb included. :)
 

Sativus

Active Member
That light gives slightly more lumens per watt than my tubes and is defiantly cheaper. Maybe I will scrap the cfls and throw 2 of those little suckers in there next time...
 

WubWubWub

Member
For the same amount of money after you buy bulbs, I suggest:

http://goo.gl/04eRX

The link is to a google shopping search, for the C.A.P. 150w HPS fully enclosed system. $60 for 16,000 lumens of flower power. It's going to give you way better performance. Just plug it in. Bulb included. :)
This is so awesome. Ok, I am surely buying one of these!!! Will I need to change bulbs or will the same bulb work in all phases for 5 plants?!!

I think I may go with 2 plants. I might be getting a tad greedy, haha. Depends what the light can produce.

With the light linked above by Kitty, 2 drop lights with CFL's and this timer:

http://www.google.com/m/products/detail?oe=UTF-8&source=search&client=safari&q=outlet+timer&channel=products&hl=en&cid=4660515660824538202#prd:o

Should I be good on lights for 2 plants?
 

Sativus

Active Member
I can say that 6 is a little crowded for my box lol... I was a little greedy too I think. Could probably get the same yield with 4. And I am even thinking maybe 4 is too much for the super scrog I am going to do next grow ;) 3 might be the ticket for me...
But ya, 2 of those lights would likely do well for 2 plants.
What sq. footage would those lights be good for Kitty?

Edit: I just got back from Home Depot. I purchased some more vapor barrier (plastic) and I cut the size of the "grow room" in half. I will now have to deal with much less volume of air and my dehumidifier should have no problem keeping the humidity in the 40-60% range. I have it set at 45, but previous to cutting the room in half, it had never gone down past 58, but has been removing as tonne of water. Tonight I will report on the temp and humidity in the gow and room, and I will also update on whether or not the increased nute level has caused further burn on any leaves. I may also find that I will need to begin watering them every 3rd day instead of every 4th day. Tonight is the 3rd night, so I will find out if they are getting thirstier. I am still getting white hairs, and the buds are developing nicely during the past 3 weeks. I am also thinking of a way to increase the air flow in the grow box.
 

Sativus

Active Member
Using 10" 1.5 gallon pots at the moment, but I would suggest larger square pots. Next grow I will be using roughly 12-14" square pots. The deepest ones I can find.
 

mijola3

Active Member
Using 10" 1.5 gallon pots at the moment, but I would suggest larger square pots. Next grow I will be using roughly 12-14" square pots. The deepest ones I can find.
yeah try going in the storage/organization isle in walmart, look for plastic totes, they are great, square (or rectangle) just drill holes in the bottom and the best part is they have handles for easy moving.
goodluck



CFL's our T5HO Flouros are best for veg. I keep about 250 plants under 1400 watts of veg lighting (1 1000w mh 4x6 big reflector and a 400w T5HO). The 150w HPS is best for flower. Its designed for both your size grows......

Curious on how many plants will work?
nice link , wow you are full of goodies
id rep you if i could lol
 
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