The Skunklab - DWC Stealth Cabinet and 4X4 Tent
- Thread starter phenob
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phenob
Active Member
alright so let's see. been really busy, updates - long.
harvest from the cabinet is crap. nothing over B quality, 80% of it not even likely to make useable hash. garbage. the cabinet has been cleaned and prepped with 2 more Hindu Skunks thrown in, exactly as before. i am considering trading out the cabinet for another tent setup, as i no longer need the stealth, but as of now plan is to make one more run. i will alter a number of variables, but the basis will be the same. same nutrients, same genetics. plants are flipped to 12/12 HPS as of first day in the cabinet. stalk density will be reduced, as will height.
looking at potential causes for this, the most obvious suspect is heat. interesting to note though, the best buds of the bunch came from the one plant that was right up nuts against the light. the top burnt to a crisp, but this allowed the buds just underneath some shade. these buds came out the most dense and sticky of the bunch, about contrary to what i would expect from the zone with by far the highest average temps in the cab.
caterpillar damage was much worse than i originally thought. that last fucker had chewed up about half of the big triple header's best pieces before moving to the stalk where i caught it and the others. i didn't see any further bugs of any kind, save a couple fungus gnats down in the rockwool that i bet weren't there before i took 5 days to harvest it all.
the CFLs underneath really helped too. i really like the simplicity of screwing a CFL into a socket right into any of the 1" scrog screen spaces. the plastic holds it perfectly, and it doesn't break the grid.
anywhere that received light (the top and bottom zones) in this grow produced at least a little bit of sticky. the shady parts are all complete garbage, no smell, no sticky, just glorified leaf. impressive looking from afar but otherwise a complete waste of time.
not going to bother posting pics until stuff is removed from my drying cabinet (a lateral filing cabinet gutted and string to hold buds on clips. a small 4" desk fan is mounted pulling air out of the cabinet from the slightly opened drawer.). I anticipate 2oz of even smokeable harvest at best, probably less. The scruff will lose nearly all of its weight as it dries, maybe 4oz, something like that.
man this strain will be nice if i can dial it in. the coloration on the buds is gorgeous, definitely a standout. something id find in a shop and be all like "heey that looks interesting."
tent is looking awesome, closing in on the end of week 6. opened up to find the blue dream has given up trying to carry its own weight and has enlisted the sfv for the job. i have obviously completely underestimated the power of the blue dream to take over. this is also paying the price for my being too lazy to put in cages before the grow. will fix this next time. first thing though, the aphid infestation in the tent must be addressed.
well it think they are aphids anyway. anyone who has read any of my previous journals will groan as i launch into another ignorant attempt to identify mystery bug, so i won't. these do look alot like the original mystery bug though. tiny little fuckers, slender and pale white-brownish with a darkened butt. hanging out en masse in veins and just outright on leaves, especially shaded leaves.
i really should have known. just like the caterpillars, lesson learned. i'd seen the "honeydew" traces for a couple weeks now but i thought it was just residue from my weekly foliar sprays. nonsense. i know what that stuff is now, and i will not make the same mistake again. this would have been much more managable were we not 3 weeks from the chop.
i have reinforcements on the way on the order of 1500 adult ladybugs. i cant imagine unleashing all of them into a 4x4 tent, but it would be pretty funny haha. really hesitate though, as i don't want ladybugs stuck in my very sticky icky. this crop looks awesome, i do not want to fuck it up any more than these critters already are.
also going to unleash a 20# bottle of CO2 into the tent. will do some calculations to hit a little over 10k ppm and leave it overnight. planning on the dark period for this, on the logic that the plants should take in far less CO2 at night, reducing risk of overconcentration. i have heard stories of people killing plants with too much CO2.
also note -
both cab and tent have been cooling lights with just one fan for this entire time. the big fan blowing into the tent light was blowing into nowhere. the reinforced 6" ducting had completely ripped apart. thanks hydrofarm. bad job by you.
also found the that one fan that had been cooling both lights, a soler and palau td-200, had a bit of tape paper backing stuck in it. pulled it open to clear it out and found a plastic part of the fan had come out of place. dont know how the fuck that happened, got everything taken care of and airflowe easily doubled. stuff is now rigged so tent pulls through big filter/fan from room, into light, then outside. cab pulls from and blows back directly into the room. i changed it up to see if it would make any difference in the cabinet temp. it makes zero difference. cooltube is anything but.
what does make a difference though, a clogged air filter coming into the cab for fresh air. removed the filter and the temp with vent fan on immediately dropped by 3 or 4 degrees. running it right now with a simulated clogged vent i get over 93f with vent fan on. wow! removing the restriction i get about 88f, which is room temp +10f.
what this means is that, to acheive under 85f average temp, we need a room temp of no more than 68-70f. (vent pulls temp down to 80f, then cooks with CO2 up to about 87f max, then recycle). so what we have here is a stealth cabinet that is best used in a central air setup or otherwise cooler climates / months of the year. again, will test this on the next run by correcting the problems identified above and seeing how the cooler weather coming up does.
harvest from the cabinet is crap. nothing over B quality, 80% of it not even likely to make useable hash. garbage. the cabinet has been cleaned and prepped with 2 more Hindu Skunks thrown in, exactly as before. i am considering trading out the cabinet for another tent setup, as i no longer need the stealth, but as of now plan is to make one more run. i will alter a number of variables, but the basis will be the same. same nutrients, same genetics. plants are flipped to 12/12 HPS as of first day in the cabinet. stalk density will be reduced, as will height.
looking at potential causes for this, the most obvious suspect is heat. interesting to note though, the best buds of the bunch came from the one plant that was right up nuts against the light. the top burnt to a crisp, but this allowed the buds just underneath some shade. these buds came out the most dense and sticky of the bunch, about contrary to what i would expect from the zone with by far the highest average temps in the cab.
caterpillar damage was much worse than i originally thought. that last fucker had chewed up about half of the big triple header's best pieces before moving to the stalk where i caught it and the others. i didn't see any further bugs of any kind, save a couple fungus gnats down in the rockwool that i bet weren't there before i took 5 days to harvest it all.
the CFLs underneath really helped too. i really like the simplicity of screwing a CFL into a socket right into any of the 1" scrog screen spaces. the plastic holds it perfectly, and it doesn't break the grid.
anywhere that received light (the top and bottom zones) in this grow produced at least a little bit of sticky. the shady parts are all complete garbage, no smell, no sticky, just glorified leaf. impressive looking from afar but otherwise a complete waste of time.
not going to bother posting pics until stuff is removed from my drying cabinet (a lateral filing cabinet gutted and string to hold buds on clips. a small 4" desk fan is mounted pulling air out of the cabinet from the slightly opened drawer.). I anticipate 2oz of even smokeable harvest at best, probably less. The scruff will lose nearly all of its weight as it dries, maybe 4oz, something like that.
man this strain will be nice if i can dial it in. the coloration on the buds is gorgeous, definitely a standout. something id find in a shop and be all like "heey that looks interesting."
tent is looking awesome, closing in on the end of week 6. opened up to find the blue dream has given up trying to carry its own weight and has enlisted the sfv for the job. i have obviously completely underestimated the power of the blue dream to take over. this is also paying the price for my being too lazy to put in cages before the grow. will fix this next time. first thing though, the aphid infestation in the tent must be addressed.
well it think they are aphids anyway. anyone who has read any of my previous journals will groan as i launch into another ignorant attempt to identify mystery bug, so i won't. these do look alot like the original mystery bug though. tiny little fuckers, slender and pale white-brownish with a darkened butt. hanging out en masse in veins and just outright on leaves, especially shaded leaves.
i really should have known. just like the caterpillars, lesson learned. i'd seen the "honeydew" traces for a couple weeks now but i thought it was just residue from my weekly foliar sprays. nonsense. i know what that stuff is now, and i will not make the same mistake again. this would have been much more managable were we not 3 weeks from the chop.
i have reinforcements on the way on the order of 1500 adult ladybugs. i cant imagine unleashing all of them into a 4x4 tent, but it would be pretty funny haha. really hesitate though, as i don't want ladybugs stuck in my very sticky icky. this crop looks awesome, i do not want to fuck it up any more than these critters already are.
also going to unleash a 20# bottle of CO2 into the tent. will do some calculations to hit a little over 10k ppm and leave it overnight. planning on the dark period for this, on the logic that the plants should take in far less CO2 at night, reducing risk of overconcentration. i have heard stories of people killing plants with too much CO2.
also note -
both cab and tent have been cooling lights with just one fan for this entire time. the big fan blowing into the tent light was blowing into nowhere. the reinforced 6" ducting had completely ripped apart. thanks hydrofarm. bad job by you.
also found the that one fan that had been cooling both lights, a soler and palau td-200, had a bit of tape paper backing stuck in it. pulled it open to clear it out and found a plastic part of the fan had come out of place. dont know how the fuck that happened, got everything taken care of and airflowe easily doubled. stuff is now rigged so tent pulls through big filter/fan from room, into light, then outside. cab pulls from and blows back directly into the room. i changed it up to see if it would make any difference in the cabinet temp. it makes zero difference. cooltube is anything but.
what does make a difference though, a clogged air filter coming into the cab for fresh air. removed the filter and the temp with vent fan on immediately dropped by 3 or 4 degrees. running it right now with a simulated clogged vent i get over 93f with vent fan on. wow! removing the restriction i get about 88f, which is room temp +10f.
what this means is that, to acheive under 85f average temp, we need a room temp of no more than 68-70f. (vent pulls temp down to 80f, then cooks with CO2 up to about 87f max, then recycle). so what we have here is a stealth cabinet that is best used in a central air setup or otherwise cooler climates / months of the year. again, will test this on the next run by correcting the problems identified above and seeing how the cooler weather coming up does.
hopefully she treats you bettter this go
phenob
Active Member
released somewhere around 250 ladybugs into the tent today, during nighttime hours. Heard you should give them some water on the plants before releasing so I added a little SSU to that water and did the weekly snow storm ultra foliar. hopefully the ladybugs don't mind the additive.
got them from gardeningzone.com for $6 for 1500. I see now they have a $4, 300 package that would probably be easier. Just stick it in your grow and open it up, they'll figure it out.
if anyone is after ladybugs, above site offers 10% off with code: ladybugsrock
Stuck some outside on the hibiscus where I know there are always aphids, and on my few small plants outdoors. Really cool to watch. They jump in and take the fuck over, immediately going after anything they can find. Ants, gnats, aphids, whatever .. if it's in their path, it'd gonna get eaten. I did not see them go after spiders, and neither did I see the spiders go after them. (lots of jumping spiders on the property, they had a very obvious "WTF?!" when the ladybugs dropped in, jumping around to get a better view. really cute.) There's one spider who has spun a little nest web down in the blue dream outside. I don't think it's a threat at all, curious to see how he gets along with his new neighbors.
Man i hope these don't make a mess in the tent! If they don't I think this will work out great. Holding off on the CO2 gas attack until I see how well this works out. Will check things tonight at lights on, and will likely release more tonight or tomorrow. I got the 1500 pack and have tons left.
got them from gardeningzone.com for $6 for 1500. I see now they have a $4, 300 package that would probably be easier. Just stick it in your grow and open it up, they'll figure it out.
if anyone is after ladybugs, above site offers 10% off with code: ladybugsrock
Stuck some outside on the hibiscus where I know there are always aphids, and on my few small plants outdoors. Really cool to watch. They jump in and take the fuck over, immediately going after anything they can find. Ants, gnats, aphids, whatever .. if it's in their path, it'd gonna get eaten. I did not see them go after spiders, and neither did I see the spiders go after them. (lots of jumping spiders on the property, they had a very obvious "WTF?!" when the ladybugs dropped in, jumping around to get a better view. really cute.) There's one spider who has spun a little nest web down in the blue dream outside. I don't think it's a threat at all, curious to see how he gets along with his new neighbors.
Man i hope these don't make a mess in the tent! If they don't I think this will work out great. Holding off on the CO2 gas attack until I see how well this works out. Will check things tonight at lights on, and will likely release more tonight or tomorrow. I got the 1500 pack and have tons left.
phenob
Active Member
anti-fungus gnat nematodes released into the tent reservoir system. clipped a bit from the sponge and stuck it into some water, left it for a bit to warm up, then used it to hand water the larger pots in the colosseum, as well as the new acquisitions. tossed the partial sponge into the tent res afterwards.
also released around 20 ladybugs into the colosseum.
also found a spider ducking out from beneath the tent to wrap up a slain ladybug. guess they taste fine from the inside out.
also released around 20 ladybugs into the colosseum.
also found a spider ducking out from beneath the tent to wrap up a slain ladybug. guess they taste fine from the inside out.
phenob
Active Member
they kill the aphids they find, wherever they end up. i hope! haha. i imagine the bulk of them will end up dead in the tent. there are a few flying around in the room now but i think they are making their way into the (currently filterless) cabinet fresh air intake.
so far they completely ignore the little fuckers. these aphids may well be too tiny for the ladybugs to eat.
so far they completely ignore the little fuckers. these aphids may well be too tiny for the ladybugs to eat.
phenob
Active Member
i dont know about them getting hungry, but they sure aren't eating anything. they walk right over the aphids, which just dodge out of their way pretty quickly. I've not seen one ladybug even take notice of an aphid.
Going to experiment with a few things. May well try those no pest strips. Would like to give CO2 blast a shot but would rather not drop an entire tank of CO2 on it. Maybe a Doom bomb as a last resort. Something's got to kill these fuckers.
Will probably do a foliar today with nematodes, just for kicks. Doubt it will do anything but won't hurt.
Going to experiment with a few things. May well try those no pest strips. Would like to give CO2 blast a shot but would rather not drop an entire tank of CO2 on it. Maybe a Doom bomb as a last resort. Something's got to kill these fuckers.
Will probably do a foliar today with nematodes, just for kicks. Doubt it will do anything but won't hurt.
phenob
Active Member
also a note on the hindu skunk - this last batch came out lacking smell and sticky, but have confirmed it's definitely not the strain. One teen placed outside in soil is already happily budding, sticky as can be, covered in trichs on the buds, and can smell it 15 feet away.
the decent buds from the harvest still aren't even close to dry. It hasn't been particularly humid @ 60%, but it's been a bit cooler with the new ac, especially with the drying cabinet directly under the ac unit. no mold, no problems, just taking forever. just now at the point where i'm able to vape some earlies. it's alright. not great by any stretch, but at least it'll keep morale up while we defeat those godamn aphids for a killer tent harvest next month.
now some overdue pics.
the decent buds from the harvest still aren't even close to dry. It hasn't been particularly humid @ 60%, but it's been a bit cooler with the new ac, especially with the drying cabinet directly under the ac unit. no mold, no problems, just taking forever. just now at the point where i'm able to vape some earlies. it's alright. not great by any stretch, but at least it'll keep morale up while we defeat those godamn aphids for a killer tent harvest next month.
now some overdue pics.
phenob
Active Member
LEDs make kick ass pics! Couple of those there show the tiny aphids, and you can see the honeydew trails in many of them. From looking into the tent, the immediate left front corner is the center of the infestation. I don't see any bud damage but the honeydew is ridiculous, as are the little fucking crawlers everywhere.
These pics are all at about the end of week 6. Tent is in week 7 now.
The green ones are the outdoor plants, a blue dream and hindu skunk, both very small, maybe 18" tall.
Also noticed with these plants, zero stretch. This HS that grew literally 7 feet in the stretch indoors has not gained but maybe two or three inches.
phenob
Active Member
Next hindu skunks into the cabinet. Roots out of the pot before going into the res is super cool. It typically takes a week or longer to get to this point once in the res. This was accomplished by sticking these net pots into 6" cheapo self watering plastic pots with a layer of hydroton on the bottom, then running the drippers off-center so the sauce ran below rather than directly onto the rockwool. This is not a good method. This is asking for fungus gnats or worse. I will come up with something better, but for now, surprisingly effective. Still two in the colosseum in pots like this and the stagnant water is not good, but the roots on these look even better than the ones in these pics. Utterly white and fishboning out nicely.
Going to take those CFLs out of the cabinet and dangle them into the tent later tonight. There's a shady side that could use help because of how i've got colas blocking the light, leaning against the fixtures (see above).
phenob
Active Member
Hindu Skunk from the cabinet, last harvest. This went just about 11 weeks, and it sucks. Don't know how the pics tell the story, but once all the lowers were removed we had 10 good sized colas to chop. Of those, 3 were B grade. The rest is very disappointing, and despite one or two others telling me it's not as bad as I see it and can be sold for cheap, it'll probably become shitty hash, which will in turn eventually be thrown away. Perhaps some form of punishing myself for my own failures as a grower? I think so, 'cause I'm smokin this stuff for the next month at least!
Highly motivated to evolve and improve.
Looks much better in these pics than it came out. Try to imagine the smell of your lawnmower while viewing.
Nice size though as always from the cabinet.
phenob
Active Member
Okay one of these "aphids" just full on springtail jumped away from me.
Can an aphid move quicker than a ladybug?
Is this even honeydew, or just straight up leaf damage?
Is it time for my semi-annual forget everything i thought i knew moment?
...
Moved the lights in tent up another 3 or 4" at the most, butted up against the filter now as high as I can cram them. This immediately caused the blue dream stalks to collapse so spent the next 2 hours using twisty ties to hoist them back up, tying the stalks to the tent supports. works great but it's a pain in the ass. cages next time for sure.
everytime i lifted a layer of blue dream, i found a layer of blue dream. it went down a good 4 or 5 levels before i could find the sfv. this won't be a bumper crop of sfv, but there will be a decent amount and great quality.
i am sticky with resin from head to toe after doing all this work. more resin on my body now than on that entire last crop of hindu skunk.
Can an aphid move quicker than a ladybug?
Is this even honeydew, or just straight up leaf damage?
Is it time for my semi-annual forget everything i thought i knew moment?
...
Moved the lights in tent up another 3 or 4" at the most, butted up against the filter now as high as I can cram them. This immediately caused the blue dream stalks to collapse so spent the next 2 hours using twisty ties to hoist them back up, tying the stalks to the tent supports. works great but it's a pain in the ass. cages next time for sure.
everytime i lifted a layer of blue dream, i found a layer of blue dream. it went down a good 4 or 5 levels before i could find the sfv. this won't be a bumper crop of sfv, but there will be a decent amount and great quality.
i am sticky with resin from head to toe after doing all this work. more resin on my body now than on that entire last crop of hindu skunk.
phenob
Active Member
That woody OG i picked up is going insane with growth. She's in one of the cups on the bottom, where the drip system drains out and usually floods everything. no problem, she soaks it right up and loves it. very agreeable so far.
watch out for those bugs from my clones. maybe those aren't springtails? i have no idea yet again. i've not seen any damage, anything at all like what's on the leaves in the tent, but the bugs look like the exact same ones.
definitely give that hindu skunk a chance. it's going insane outside, smelled it from the back door this morning! it's a small plant out there but it's really blowing up.
watch out for those bugs from my clones. maybe those aren't springtails? i have no idea yet again. i've not seen any damage, anything at all like what's on the leaves in the tent, but the bugs look like the exact same ones.
definitely give that hindu skunk a chance. it's going insane outside, smelled it from the back door this morning! it's a small plant out there but it's really blowing up.