Opening pandora's box..

1 week of building and 2 weeks of combing the internet.. here's what
I put together.



So lemme see..

Altogether she's (1800 x 980 x 700deep)
Main Compartment is (1600 x 800 x 700)
Mom's compartment is (1170 x 160 x 700)
Upstairs is (120 x 950 x 700)



-Main has a 400w HPS, 2x 240w intake fans
(old car fans.. hella powerful)

-Mom has a 23w (110w) energy saver

-Upstairs houses 2x240v extractors capable of moving 300 & 410m3
of air per hr respectively.. and my dinky little ionizer. (thanks Al)



I've designed it for a Vscrog system but as a first time grower I wanna
get a straight scrog or 2 under my belt first.. and the more I think about
it the less I think I need that little mother compartment. I might rip it
out to make room for more plants and just keep making new cuttings...
I'm talking about the little compartment on the right of the proceeding
image. The photo doesn't show it, but I can access it independantly of
the main unit.



Mom, I'm told she's Strawberry Skunk, showed up ready to flower
(so I'm told) and I thought the best thing to do was let her get to
budding while I get some clones ready to grow. Right now she's
on 24hrs of light while I get my shit together. The plan is to let
her grow this week while I get the screen in then go to 12/12
maybe a week or 2 after that. Here's Mom..



I've got a small chilly bin wih an aquarium set up (heat, pump etc)
which I plan to use for clones. Haven't cut them yet.. I figure it's
too early and well, the idea of cutting my baby still terrifies me.
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ow

Had Mom for a few days now and have just been watering her
as required. Detected some yellowing and curling on the tips
lower leaves so I fed her some guano with her water yesterday.
(mixed about 10ml to a litre)





Also found a nasty little split in the main stalk which I figure
happened in transit so I've patched her up with a pipe cleaner
for lack of any better ideas.



I'm trying to keep it organic and have picked up some guano
(supergrow) , some castings, and some rootblast for when
I put the clones into soil. I'm suddenly realizing I have no idea
how much to feed or when (don't overfeed..don't overfeed..don't overfeed)
so I'll stick to guano 2xweekly until I have a better idea. More
phosphorus during flower right.. hmmm now what's organic
and water soluble with a high phosphorus content?

Tracked down the final pieces required yesterday, digital
thermometer, hygrometer and a PH meter for the soil. They
won't show up till next week but I'm saving like $150 by
picking them up second hand so until then, it sure feels like
it's about 23deg in there.. but kinda dry (overkill on the
ventilation maybe?) so I'm misting the plant every day
and checking the soil's moisture daily. Figure I'll just have
to pay close attention until the gear shows up..

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So, what's the verdict? How'm I doin?

Ideally I'd like to see my unit putting out about 1/3 of what
this cat is doing.. damn that seems like a sweet little set
up he's got.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNNs68j8Ql4)

Then when I've got that down I figure I'll try Vscrog and see
how far I can push my yields. Probably a little ambitious for
a guy that hasn't raised his first plant yet, but what the hell...
it's just a weed right? Just a bloody fantastic marvellous
super fantastic little space travel enabling weed!

Looking forward to your advice,

Jzzz

Looks nice man, you can find some more on organics and mixing organic fertilizers here:
https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=576
https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=341
https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=575

The picture of circumcision scarred me for life, as did the Penn and Teller episode of Bullshit on Circumcision

Your setup looks very nice, excellent work and good luck.

One other cheap addition you might want to think of is CO2 supplementation with sugar and yeast, just mix about six cups of sugar with a half gallon of water and a tablespoon of yeast, let it sit for a day or two shaking it up every once in a while and it will start producing CO2, then just turn the fans off every once in a while and shake up the bottle and let them bathe in the extra CO2, hugely increases growth.

Thanks!
Got that recipe will get there... eventually.

One big thing I learned during this process, you don't need to
be a cabinet maker to grow!! If I'd got a prefab shelving unit
(armoir, whateva) and modified it instead of building everything
I'd have saved myself time and money.

welcome to the forum. I'm totally confused, maybe not high enough yet. Is this supposed to be your total grow cabinet or just your mother/cloning area? Look at your pictures. 4 plants the size of that mother will have it full, I assume you know that. And you did say you are going to expand. With the ventilation you have setup, I would say you are ready to expand right now dude.
In building this cabinet the way you did, you have what I wish I had built first. A good cloning/ mother area. I did what most of us probably do and concentrated on getting some plants into flowering as soon as I could. If I had benn more intelligent I would have realized the most important part of a grow operation is having clones ready to go into a flowering room.
You have what looks like a good mother, clone the bitch. Use the space above or below. I saw the reference to Al so I know you have seen the space he uses for 30 clones. Your cabinet is about as big as the space he uses for his mothers and clones. And since your going soil you won't need the space for pumps and reservoirs. Of course this all depends on how much room you have to expand. VV

Nice looking operation there, Jaz. How is it stealth wise? Does your cabinet allow light to escape? I see you are using white paper to line the insides (my grow area has white paper too). Did you decide to pass on the mylar?

indonesian bat guano is high in phosphorus and is also good for roots, not just flower. your mother should be pretty high in P so when you take cuttings from her, they will root more effeciently, too much nitrogen and you will have cuttings that take forever to root and stay nice and pretty. i use the stuff when i mix up my soil, i never watered with it, i would sprinkle alil on the top and mix in a couple inches or so. or disolve in water. good shit though lol

s this supposed to be your total grow cabinet or just your mother/cloning area?

Click to expand...

It's the total cabinet. I was given the mother (on mother's day no less) and told she was ready to flower. Instead of waiting for clones I figured I'd grow her (I'm outta bud) while I wait for the clones to be ready.. that's why there I've got my only plant in the grow cabinet. I put in the little side compartment for mothers and clones, but I haven't started cloning yet.

you did say you are going to expand

Click to expand...

Was planning on 6 plants in the main compartment when she's in full swing. Gonna get a scrog or two under my belt but I designed the unit for a Vscrog.. I have 5 square feet of grow space as is, will have almost 18 if I run her vertical.

With New Zealand law the fines are relatively low if you're busted with 10 plants or less.. that's pretty much where I want to be, but I wanna really push my yields.

I saw the reference to Al so I know you have seen the space he uses for 30 clones.

Click to expand...

Haven't seen Al's setup, but he was kind enough to tell me the ionizer I was given is a piece of shit and to keep it in the exhaust where it can't damage my plants.

How is it stealth wise? Does your cabinet allow light to escape?

Click to expand...

A little bit, I built the front door outta cheap ply and it's bowing a little in the middle. Gonna have to rebuild it at some point, for now she's 95% sealed.. was hoping that having more air flowing out of the unit than coming in would pull the door shut a bit but it doesn't seem to be doing so.



It's in a locked place where nobody needs to go so I'm fairly sweet. The fans are a little noisy for my liking but only noticeable when you are in the room. I've got some egg cartons and some foam to put up in the exhaust cabinet, that should help too.

Really though, if someone asks you what your 6 foot locked cabinet is and why it hums what the fuck are you going to say? It's my machine for space travel? I had some time on my hands so I built myself a big warm plywood fridge? The best excuse I can come up with is I'm brewing ginger beer in there.. nobody knows how to brew ginger beer.

A friend recently told me that his mates put an old bar fridge outside the grow room and everyone assumed that was where the sound was coming from.. that sounded clever.

Luckily for now I have zero odor, she's almost air tight (door issues) and I'm venting it into a great little spot. Once I start flowering I'll hustle together a bucket fan set up and look at carbon filtering if req'd.

good shit though lol

Click to expand...

chur chur..

Thanks for your comments..
Jzzzeazy





grow you little bitch grow!!

entering screen phase one..



surveillance unit deployed..

jazer said:

So, what's the verdict? How'm I doin?

Click to expand...

Jazer PMed me:

jazer said:

Just the basics, am I screwing up, anything I'm overlooking, can a preying mantis eat your plant, that kinda stuff..

Click to expand...

I've never had a preying mantis in my grow op. What's google say about what they eat? If they eat children, send me a few.

The side compartment in your cabinet looks kinda small for a mother. I'd have at least 3-400mm square for a single mother. Could be a good candidate for a 1-plant veg grow hidden inside a couple hollowed out old stereo speakers stacked on top of one another.

150mm wide might be big enough for a few clones, but I think you'll have a hard time finding a seedling/clone heat mat to fit the floor of that space.

I can't see any ventilation in the side space. Fans in there yet? What & where?

Fluoro lights need to drop right down, perhaps within 50-100mm of the tops of your clones. If you use that space only for clones, it could be half the height it is.

I'd be taking cuttings off the plant you have and keeping that one as a mother and flowering the new clones instead of trying to flower that big plant in that cabinet space.

However, if you are already flowering it, the choice is kinda made if it's been flowering for more than a cpl weeks. Tough to get cuttings to set root off a plant fully into flower.

You said something about 'clones being ready' - do you have more plants coming?

You've said you're going to do organic in soil... I think the yield would improve significantly if you go hydroponic. It's not as hard as you think. All you'd need that you don't have is a nutrient meter and a pH meter for liquid nutrient solutions (the sort of pH meter for soil won't do in liquids), a medium like rockwool, nutrient solutions and a small bottle of pHDown.

You don't have a lot of vertical space, but you do have enough to do just about any sort of system, when you consider that a reservoir tank has to go under the tray the plants live in.

You could do a bubbler, a small flood/drain, or you could do a pumpless wick system. The wick would be the most newb friendly.

The side compartment in your cabinet looks kinda small for a mother.

Click to expand...

I was worried about that. Will lose the side compartment and
put the clones on a shelf. I like the speaker idea, would it
require ventilation?

Fluoro lights need to drop right down, perhaps within 50-100mm of the tops of your clones.

Click to expand...

Hadn't picked that one up yet, cheers.

I'd be taking cuttings off the plant you have and keeping that one as a mother and flowering the new clones instead of trying to flower that big plant in that cabinet space.

Click to expand...

huh? wot? What problems I am going to have
putting her in to flower in a big space?

Also, I can't understand why waiting for the clones to take
root and go through veg would be preferable to my current plan of..

-cut 7-8 clones now and in 3 weeks or so they are ready to veg.

-While they are taking root my current plant starts putting out bud.

-When she finishes budding I transfer the clones to the main cabinet and grow them.

-When they are ready to flower I put one aside for a new mom and flower the rest.

I've got the same total grow time and I'm smoking again within a month.
I thought I was being smart, have I overlooked something? Am I trying
to pull too many clones off the girl?

However, if you are already flowering it, the choice is kinda made if it's been flowering for more than a cpl weeks.

Click to expand...

She's still on 24 hrs.. was going to give her another week
so and go to 12/12 once those secondary and tertiary bud
sites get up to the level of the screen. They're about 1"-2"
beneath it at the moment.

do you have more plants coming?

Click to expand...

No, in fact I thought I was just getting a couple of clones
to start with. Imagine my surprise when my mate comes
through with a whole plant and tells me she's ready to flower.
Got lucky there.

go hydroponic..

Click to expand...

Didn't realize it improved yeild, definitely something to
consider. Still planning on learning to crawl before walking..
or swimming.. or spending more money.. know what I mean?

Thanks for the reply Al.
Jzzzzr

Being a carnivorous insect, the mantis feeds primarily on other insects.
However, it is not uncommon for larger mantids to consume small reptiles
and even small mammals or birds. wot? How big are your kids Al?

The world's largest praying mantis was recorded at 45cm (18") long,
in Southern China, in 1929.




gotta love wikipedia

Gotcha... seems the side cabinet is fairly useless.. I thought that might be the case.

Ditch it and I've got room for 8-9 full plants in the cabinet. Need to set up a 2nd box for clones and Mom..
fuck it if I'm setting up a 2nd box I'll go for seperate veg and flower cabinets 8 in each. It's about 6 more
plants than I wanted to have on hand but that's a fair trade for twice the harvests. I was reading on
the norml site last week - dude got busted with 22 plants plus seddlings + + and he got off with under
$2500 (NZD) in fines + community service. Sweet deal considering budz $300 an Oz down here.

Unfortunately we also have the 2nd highest rate of cannabis busts per capita in the world.
(USA has highest.. surprise surprise)

Will have to sketch up a new box, 8 plants + mom.. whaddya reckon?
1200 x 600 x 800 (tall) cover it? Maybe I can find an ammunition chest that'd suit.


Jzrrrr

did somebody say sketch? oh sorry, ummm old dresser, cabinet, kitchen cupboard, lots of things can be put to good use. or buy some timber, panda/poly plastic, stuff like that. take apart an old microwave cart. lots of things. risk to reward ratio is what i live by ..lol...your off to a great start and have some great advice going, i will be watching! happy growing

jazer said:

Will have to sketch up a new box, 8 plants + mom.. whaddya reckon?
1200 x 600 x 800 (tall) cover it? Maybe I can find an ammunition chest that'd suit.

Click to expand...

Well, if you do SoG instead of SCRoG, all you need is a small clonebox sorta like mine and a small wardrobe, cabinet or other space to veg a mother (1200mm tall x 300 x 300 at a minimum). However, bigger is better and so is having more than one mother plant- at least two. I wear out a mother in about 6-8 weeks. It's good to have a new mum vegging up to replace the one you're primarily taking cuttings from at the moment.

The veg area for SoG is only for the mum/s and need not be very large. You do not need to veg clones which you intend to SoG, so you need no veg area floorspace for them. They'll get all the vegging they need while they are in the clonebox. SoG is nice for a lot of reasons not the least of which is the fact that most of the floorspace in the op can be devoted to flowering and very little time and electricity is spent on vegging clones which will be flowered.

If you have not seen my "harvest every 2 weeks" thread, go have a squizz and see if you can scale down some ideas in that for your op.

That set is pornographic.

oh, and BTW- if you want to know a bit more about corona discharge ionisers, even instructions on how to build a 50,000 volt monster, have a look here.

The only internal components to corona types are a shitload of diodes and capacitors. This is why they're so cheap. Add some more diodes and capacitors to yours if you like.

I could get soo wasted in the time it would take me to learn that...

Finally got my thermometer/hygrometer/ph meter. Although the plant isn't showing any yellowing or burning up top seems I was frying her at 30ºC. Dropping to 19ºC at night. That can't have been good. I was right about it being a bit dry in there, and storing my water in the unit prior to using seems to have helped a bit. Looks like I'm coming in to the "fiddle with things" stage of things..

Got to have the metering. Good onya for getting the gear.

Set your temp for 24-26C. Best done by installing a thermostat on the exhaust fan.

Hey, I got news for ya- it's ALL 'fiddle with things'. Setting up a grow op can be tricky because there's so many variables. It's impossible to hand a person some lights and an exhaust fan and be able to forecast exactly how the installation will perform. There will be some tweaking with any brand new room to get the temps and humidity to stay in range, but you'll get there.