Indoor/Hydro Virgin Exposed!

[Pullo]

Hello everyone,

I have posted in the newcomers section, but will re-cap a few particulars here as well.
I am a retired commercial farmer(Pumpkins and Sweet Corn), who is attempting his first indoor/hydro grow. In the hopes of having a additional successful grows, I will document everything that I do(everyone loves a good story with pictures).
It was time to ask myself three important questions,

1. "Where will I grow"? (Cabinet in basement)
2. "What method will I use"? (Hydroponic DWC)
3. "Light selection" (CFL's)

My first decision was where to place my grow. As I am sure the case is with many of us, my options for a grow room were limited. I decided to utilize a spare room in the basement.
Inside this room, I would convert a armoire into my grow cabinet. The armoire dimensions are 38" wide x 24' deep x 64" high. there is an upper portion of the cabinet also measuring 22" high, although this cannot be included as usable grow space since the divider between upper and lower spaces can't be removed(see pic).
If I may backtrack just a bit, the spare room in the basement has NO access to the outside air. The room has no windows, it is on an opposite wall as the basement windows, and is just too far away from any access point to run flex duct with any efficiancy. In essence, my room is like a set of Matryoshka(Russian nesting dolls), an armoire, in a room, in a basement. With this in mind, the first issue I feel the need to address is Ventilation and Circulation.
I assumed that using CFL's would negate any problems I might have with heat build up, I was WRONG.
Not having used HID before, I can't speak with any certainty that one, or the other generate more/less heat. I can say however, that five 85watt CFL's with self-contained balasts generate a lot of heat! Now add to that the heat generated by two circulation fans, one exhaust fan, one intake fan, three air pumps and two water pumps, place in a 32sq. foot grow space and you have yourself an "Easy Bake Oven".
My initial tests were recording interior temps. in the low to mid 90'sF. This was in my eyes, unacceptable.
I mounted a 10" turbo fan in the rear base of the cabinet to bring "fresh" air into the cabinet, and used a 120v, 4.5" cooling fan to exhaust the air from the top. This lowered the temps to the high 70'sF, low 80'sF. Cool.
Now, because I'm not an idiot, and have a better than basic understanding of thermodynamics, that I can't pump hot air out of one sealed room into the cool air of a second sealed room, without the ambient temp. of the second room increasing.
Without a "true" exhaust it is just a matter of time until the two temps equalize. The basement room had always held an ambient temp of 66F, this had already risen by 10 degrees. I needed to vent the basement room into the main basement to remedy this.

This is where I started to ask myself "What part of this is Stealthy?

With the heat and ventilation problems somewhat under control, lets move on to the grow. But first my room prep.
After deciding on the basement room as my grow site, the first thing I did was a complete cleaning. a basement is a perfect enviorment for Molds, Fungi and insects and mites. All non-esential items were removed from the room, then I vacuumed everything(walls, floor, cabinets and ceiling), then washed EVERYTHING with a light detergent solution followed by a rinse with a bleach solution. After drying, I used "Ortho Home Defense Max" to lay down a 12" barrier along the inside and outside base of the wall and door frame, as well as the edge of the drop ceiling. Once the armoire was in place I sprayed a perimitter around that also.

Next installment will be lights and hydro set-up.
Stay tuned!

Pullo

[Pullo]

OK, as I said above, I have decided to use CFL's for my lighting on this grow.

Lights

I opted for this based on power consumption and heat output.
I do know that the plants growth and flower production will be largely based on light intensity(average lumens) and PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), in short the amount of color specific photons the plant is receiving.
That being said, I wanted to keep the cabinet cool(knowing my ventilation restrictions) and my power usage near unchanged.
After studying what was available in CFL's, and applying the "Inverse Square Law" which states "the intensity of light changes in inverse proportion to the square of the distance". This told me that a lower output CFL placed very near the canopy(1-2"), will be emit the same number of lumans as a HPS bulb will at a distance.

I built a fixture (two actually) to house five 85watt CFL's.
3 6500K and 2 2700K.
The output for these bulbs is rated at 4200 Lumens.
5 x 4200=21,000 Lumens
A HID that emits 100,000 Lumens, produces 25,000 lumens two feet away.
I'm not here to debate the pro's and con's of HID vs. CFL's, I just wanted to let you know what drove my decision.

I initially made a fixture that housed the bulbs verticaly, three in domed reflectors and three without(I thought I would build for six bulbs for future expansion). The fixture worked well, but I thought it was trapping too much hot air under the fixture, so I ended up building a more open design 5 bulb horizontal fixture(see pic).

Camera
Just for ****s and giggles I installed a wireless camera(see pic) to keep an eye on my grow. Not surprising, between the 2mil mylar film and the radio interference from the CFL ballasts, the wireless camera didn't work very well, It looked like I was going to have to stick my head in there if I wanted to see them.

Hydro

After investigating different hydro systems, I thought that DWC was the best(safest) way for me to go, and the system I went with seemed to address my needs as best I could find.
It allowed me to get my feet wet using techniques that could later be applied to other methods of growing.
All in all it seemed like a good choice for the beginer.

Next installment...Seeds and Plants!

[Pullo]

I bought two different kinds of seeds, but am only trying one for the first grow.
Never having grown either variety before, I thought it was best to deal with one strain at a time.
For my first grow I picked a feminized "UK Cheese" from the Big Buddha Seed Co.
Here is a description from BBSC:

Introducing the UK's No. 1 strain ...
'The Big Buddha Cheese '

A backcrossed version of the Cheese, a clone only form plant which has been growing in various places in the UK.
The Big Buddha Cheese retains specific parts we loved from the original cheese, namely its sublime, distinctive taste, which, when tasted reminds people of the old skool cannabis they first smoked in the 80's when the first hybrids were developed, The high from the Big Buddha Cheese is also very special indeed, a no ceiling, uplifting, motivational, high, in fact we have had members of our crew smoke the BBC everyday for the past 3 years with little change in effect and quality of high.


I soaked the seeds overnight (about 8 hours) in water, then placed them between moist paper towel.
Most cracked within 30 hours, two never cracked and one was a runt, so 70% germ rate(80% if you count the runt).
When the sprout was 3/4 to 1 inch long I transplanted to small rockwool cubes until I saw root growth at base of cube.
Once the root had reached the base of the cube, I moved the cubes into netpots with Hydroton.

My system uses a pump with a feeder hub so there is a 1/4" tube dripping nute solution* at the BASE of each rockwool cube.


*No nutes were used in the seedling stage of growth, just pH balanced, Steam distilled water.


I meant to set a 18/6 photo-cycle, but somehow managed to set 19/5 so I just left it at that.

[Pullo]

I ended up keeping them in Veg for five weeks.

I'm not going to get into my nute usage unless it is the cause of a problem, (which it has not been so far), because it varies so much, with the user and method used to grow. For the record I am using a dry granular formula designed for the system that I'm using.

I'm sure with a better understanding of the strain I'm growing, and the hydro system and lights that I'm using, I may be able to better respond to the nutrient needs of the plant with other types of nutrients.

That being said, This first grow is an invaluable learning tool for me. I already know I have erred on the "side of caution" having never given my plants a full strength nutrient solution while in the Veg. phase, but I learned that lesson at little or no cost.

Here are a few pics of week 1 in Veg

[Pullo]

Week 2

They seem to be loving their new home, but on further inspection I realized the tank temp was too high and I had developed a pythium problem.
I drained and cleaned the tanks, added some H2O2 to the new solution, and used frozen water bottles to reduce the temp.in my tanks.
within ten days my roots were as white as a movie stars teeth.

[Hatch]

Pullo, Great Thread!!Very Well Done, Your Grow Is Coming along Nicely Aswell!!

Best Of Luck, Wishes & Karma, Cheers`;``Hatch`;`

[Pullo]

Thanks Hatch,

This grow has really taken up much more of my time than I had anticipated (and I planned on spending a fair amount of time on it).
I'm just getting around to posting my journal now.
Tomorrow will be the end of my third week in Flower. I am trying to get up to date my then.

Thanks again for the kind words,

Pullo

[The Alchemist]

Pulo,
Nice set up you have there, looking forward to your journal updates as thing go! Looks great so far!
Good luck.

[Pullo]

Week 3

Thought about doing a SCRoG, then decided that now was not the right time to experiment.

[Mr.Moonbiscuit]

very nice pullo very nice indeed, looking good, and hey maybe go scrog with a few try it out.

[Pullo]

Week 4

Still chugging along

[Pullo]

Week 5

Last days of Veg. Cycle

[Hatch]

WOW Indeed Bro, They Are Very Healthy & Are Kicking Major-A**, What Are The Root Structures Looking Like?, Bet They Are Filling Up The Pod's.

[Shinningwind]

Great Journal. Great first grow. You certainly did some research on your new hobby.
Plants are looking super healthy. Great job all around. Thank-you for sharing with all..

[The Alchemist]

Wow bro!
You got it going on! Sweeeeeet 1st grow.

[Pullo]

While the girls were in the Veg. cycle, I got to work on a new cabinet that I will set-up for triple use, Clone/Veg./Mother.

I used a pre-fab cabinet by "ClosetMaid" and purchased at Home Depot

• Assembled Depth (In Inches) : 20.5 In.
• Assembled Height (In Inches) : 71.75 In.
• Assembled Weight (In LBS) : 0
• Assembled Width (In Inches) : 48 In.
• Color / Finish : White
• Depth : 20.5 In.
• Energy Star Compliant : No
• Height : 71.75 In.
• Size : 72x48x20
• Width : 48 In.

I'm going to use the top portion of the cabinet to house my cloner and Veg. tank, then one half of the lower section to hold a Mother plant, and the other side will hold my resevoirs.
Everything is still very dynamic at this point, and I am sure there will be some changes down the road.

[Pullo]

I drained and cleaned the tanks again, replenished with "Bloom" nute solution, changed the timer settings and put them to bed for the night.
Here's what I found in the morning, and few pics from the rest of the week.

[Pullo]

Week 2 of Flower

Everything seems to be going well.
They are thirsty little devils though, they have been going through a little over a one gallon of nutes per day/per tank.

[Pullo]

Week 3 of Flower

I've got nothing but good news to report.
All seems well to me, I am almost out of head space though.
OK, this brings my journal up to date. I will try to post my updates in a more timely fashion in the future.

[Pullo]

Originally Posted by Moonbiscuit

very nice pullo very nice indeed, looking good, and hey maybe go scrog with a few try it out.

I am going to try a SCRoG for sure.
I wanted to learn more about the habits of this strain first, and I think 5 plants in that size area is too many for a SCRoG.