RubeGoldberg's 8x600w Indoor Garden

[RubeGoldberg]

I haven't done a grow thread since 2002 on Overgrow.com, but after a career in commercial growing in North America and Europe and a few scrapes with the law, I now have a new small place and some free time, so I thought it would be fun to document a grow again



The Specs:

- Room Size is 10.5 feet x 12ft (There is an identical room next to this, so it may double in size and wattage soon)

- 8x600w Digital ballasts, running 4HPS bulbs and 4MH bulbs in a staggered pattern.

- Promix HP will be the growing medium with approximately 25% extra perlite added running in 3 gallon pots.

- For Nutrients I will be running Sensi 2 part bases from Advanced Nutrients along with their schedule of supplements.

- Environment will be a 10inch inline fan exhausting through a can-100 charcoal filter. Intake is a 6 inch inline fan, spread out to 2 x 4 inch ducts blowing cool air over the canopy on a thermostat.
(dehum and a/c will most likely be build in after winter)

- Plant Count will be 49, which is less than I like to work with, but its nice to be legal, so i'll abide by my license.


EDIT! IF YOU WANT TO SKIP AHEAD TO THE SECOND RUN IN THIS ROOM, IT STARTS AROUND PAGE 13-14

 

[RubeGoldberg]

This is the room prior to construction, it was basically a forgotten corner of a basement

First step after cleaning the space was to secure a treated lumber baseplate for the wall frame and pour/roll a nice thick epoxy floor on to the concrete, this is so that I can mop/sterlize the floor as needed.

I decided to order clones early so that I could get a running start once the room is complete. The strain is a local clone variety known as logger kush. In this pic I have them doing a pre-veg in some solo cups. I always like to have my medium drying out every 2-3 days, I find solo cups to be a good size container prior to transplant into 3 gal pots. At this stage I am feeding them 1/4 strength base nutrients along with beneficial microbes and b-vitamins.

Also in this pic, the frame is now up along with timer panel. I normally hate doing construction around plants haha

Poly is up, along with the frame for the drainage setup.

Here is the last pic of the pic dump and where I am at as of tonight (jan 7) I am putting in the table, it will be 7x12ft wide on a 2 inch slope for runoff. I plan on installing a raingutter system to carry the runoff out of the room.
I would have prefered to use ebb and flow tables for this, but in north america, the 4x8 sizes didn't work for my needs.

 

[BombBudPuffa]

Nice setup!

 

[starke]

This should be good!

 

[GastroGrower]

Nice setup. Good luck on this first run!

 

[RubeGoldberg]

So tonight I'm transplanting!

I chose promix HP for my medium because its consistent, its produced by a large AG company with good quality control.

I understand why people like amended soils, but the QC at companies like fox farm sucks and I also like feeding from the very beginning rather than waiting for the plants to feed off of the soil.

I also amend perlite into the mix, promix HP is fine on its own, but to keep the rootzone chemistry perfect, I like to get good runoff while also drying out consistently.

If you go the infirmary in ICMAG, half of the guys guessing what "deficiency" they have would have perfect plants if they just got decent runoff and pots that weren't too big.

1 week of veg time in the solo cups, i've very happy with the growth and root development. I'm hoping to top these all in about 2-3 days when they've recovered from the transplant shock, and then flip to flower exactly 1 week from today (jan 8)

I hate how messy this turned out to be, but space is limited, so i'm still building the room while transplanting. Its a bit chaotic, I cant wait to do a big clean after this is all done. You'll also notice the ugly tuck tape on the walls, it tends to be really functional as far as keeping moisture out. I told my grow shop to order the white version and stop selling the shitty red one

The plan right now is to veg them under 4 lights for the next week and then flip.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

Update time! (just realizing how handy having a grow thread is for referencing dates that I did things lol)



We finally got the exhaust properly installed, we opted for spiral duct which comes in 10 foot sections. We are pushing the exhaust about 38 feet, so the inefficiency of flex duct would have been working against us. I put the blower in a box of made of insulation foam and then filled the box itself with sound deadening rockwool.

The charcoal can is mounted vertically because we have to get the ducting on the right side of that ducting from the building, normally the charcoal would be horizontal and right on the ceiling for the best heat capturing.

Just getting the timer board and ballasts all wired in.
I had to pop a 40amp breaker into the building's main board, which is one of my less favorite parts of setup. Now I can run everything from this panel.
Exhaust is running on a separate circuit as a redundancy.

The plants are all nearing about 1 foot tall now, they were transplanted into the 3 gal pots about 5 days ago, and transplanted from clones into the solo cups around 16 days ago.

I want to see a tiny bit more branching now that they've been topped, and then I will flip to flower.

Right now, they are using 4 of the 8 lights and taking up around 60% of the growing area. So i feel they will stretch out nicely one they are spread throughout the 8 lights

 

[Ru5tyNaiL]

Nice work man, can't wait to see it full speed.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

Nice work man, can't wait to see it full speed.

Thanks! I'm just as excited, dialing in a new room seems to always have some teething issues the first run. I'm really curious to see how it turns out.




learning a new strain is always a hassle, I only have enough ceiling height for maybe 3 times the current height of the plants.

So I think I'm gonna trust hearsay about this strain and flip them tonight or tomorrow. The leaves look like its mostly indica dominant but its supposed to get tall after the flip.

Considering I bought them as tiny clones only 16-17 days ago, I'm very happy with how they've vegged. been spraying them with the AN B Vitamin/kelp product and some cal/mag (not to correct deficiencies, but just to bypass the rootzone and deliver nutes right into the leaves)

 

[surfguitar]

looking good brother! gonna be a jungle in there soon!

 

[Bmac1]

Tuned in for this one. Best of luck.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

Update time!

Flipped to flower yesterday and spread the plants out over 8 lights, currently troubleshooting some environment issues, turns out relying on passive intake won't work because its kicking on the furnace in the building.

The plants have a bit of space between them, but im feeling safe they'll stretch together to form a decent canopy.

Tomorrow they will get their first flower nute feeding, I am letting them get a little extra dry so I can saturate and get a bunch of runoff, which I've so far been lacking since the transplant to 3 gal pots.

 

[noyd666]

good vibes in here, good luck.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

looking healthy

thanks

They should hopefully stay that way as long as I can get good root growth before it slows down after the stretch.

I think i'll apply some type of preventative pesticide before the buds form. I want to avoid neem or anything that leaves a sheen on the leaves, so I might even just release some beneficial bugs and let them hunt the room

 

[moses wellfleet]

Knock us out Rube... Bring the fire!

 

[BombBudPuffa]

That's one incredible looking garden.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

6 days into flower now, blasted them with a full strength nute feeding on thursday and they'll ready for a feeding again tomorrow (as long as I get good runoff, i won't water until the final flushing)

Plants are filling out okay, i was hoping for more stretch, but they're gaining a lot of density. (just looking at the pics from a week ago, you can see they filled out quite a bit, but didn't get much higher, if you use the tape on the back wall as a reference point)

Temps are pissing me off though, im hovering around 79ish with the lights at 75% strength, so I might have to put in another intake, but i'm hoping i can resolve it. Temps before the lights came on were 77, so the exhaust has to be over-working my furnace. If 100% of the room's intake comes from outside the house, this should stop the furnace from freaking out.

lol I just hope the gas bill isn't too crazy already.

 

[Ashin Kusher]

Great thread , Hope you don't mind if I pull up a seat.

 

[MrBungle]

Looks like I spotted this one just in time! Nice Work!

 

[Mikell]

Fuck yeah. Just lookit all the Kernadians in here.

Everything looks gold, although rather disappointing not to see incredibly convoluted solutions to simple goals.

Surely you can incorporate a candle that burns a string that releases a weight that hits a springboard that launches it through an extended slinky, rolls down a chute and hits a button to activate a cat petting machine. I see a bit of room if you toss out some of those plants.