tennesseetoker
Member
So in two or three weeks i can switch them to 12/12?
Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?
- Thread starter HempKat
- Start date
This is my first summer grow . And from past experiences, i've learned that heat can be you're worst enemy.
I'm doing a 5 foot long X 3 foot wide 400w grow . Might throw some fluros in their for extra growth. On the 400 watt light is a silverstar hood with 6" ducting. For this I purchased a nice exaust fan that sucks mad CFM. I'm considering investing 40 dollars for a custom piece of glass to make it air cooled.
Other than that, my biggest concern is the heat. Its already 95 degrees and its June, and to combat that i'm also goin to be growin this in the garage. I'm 98 % sure that a portable AC unit, or a window unit is goin to be neccesary to keep the grow area in the range it needs to be. Any recomendations for the amount of BTU i'll need? I'm not too familiar with how AC units work. Do they have an opening to suck hot air ( from the garage) and than convert it to cool clean air pushing it into the space ? ..
My design was studded and wrapped with plastic ( cheap bastard i know) , Bought a zipper for an opening, and will be puttin some fans in to keep the air circulating..
any advice? I'll post some pics tommorow when i go over their
I'm doing a 5 foot long X 3 foot wide 400w grow . Might throw some fluros in their for extra growth. On the 400 watt light is a silverstar hood with 6" ducting. For this I purchased a nice exaust fan that sucks mad CFM. I'm considering investing 40 dollars for a custom piece of glass to make it air cooled.
Other than that, my biggest concern is the heat. Its already 95 degrees and its June, and to combat that i'm also goin to be growin this in the garage. I'm 98 % sure that a portable AC unit, or a window unit is goin to be neccesary to keep the grow area in the range it needs to be. Any recomendations for the amount of BTU i'll need? I'm not too familiar with how AC units work. Do they have an opening to suck hot air ( from the garage) and than convert it to cool clean air pushing it into the space ? ..
My design was studded and wrapped with plastic ( cheap bastard i know) , Bought a zipper for an opening, and will be puttin some fans in to keep the air circulating..
any advice? I'll post some pics tommorow when i go over their
This thread will tell you what you need to know about AC unit use.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=95491
greetings from italy 
Yeah that sounds about right. I don't know if you have to train them that tight but yeah just keep training them as you go.
Now this part isn't a requirement but an extra step you can take is this. As a result of the training you get more grow tips. This will present options to take one or two of these extra grow tips and turn them into clones. That way when the plants they come from do show sex you'll know what sex the clones are and you discard any males so that you'll know what you have is female and therefore will give you buds. Males are only good for making seeds otherwise they have no smoking value to speak of. If you're desperate you can get a mild harsh unpleasent tasting buzz off of smoking the leaves but that's about it.
Yeah or you can switch them now if you want. The only thing is they're really not ready for flower so they'll struggle to get ready and this usually causes the plant to stretch and be weak. It'll still flower though it just may not be all it could be. But yeah in two or three more weeks the plant should be fully mature and may even start to show pre-flowers. Even before you switch to 12/12.
Well you can still keep the cheap, studded, wrapped in plastic design you'll just have to incorporate into the studding an appropriate framework to mount a window unit to (your cheapest option). Given the size of the space you should be able to get away with using the smallest window ac's out there which usually sell at places like Walmart or Home Depot for under $100. Also so far you're talking just a 400W light. Now the need for ac would only be needed if it has to be in a place that isn't airconditioned such as a garage. Now if this studded and plastic room is completely within the garage like a big box then the widow ac is going to make the garage hotter. Window AC's don't really exchange the air as much as the cool and recirculate the air within a space. What blows out the back of a window ac is mostly the heat it took out of the air on the other side. So really you would need some sort of ventilation for the garage such as a window fan set to blow air out. That's provided of course odor control isn't a problem/issue.
A somewhat more expensive option but less problems is the portable AC option. Again if you just want to cool the growing space the smallest size should do. The last time I checked those out they were running about $300 but that was 2 to 3 years ago. What's nice about them is they do exchange air in that it gets hooked to an outside source of air cools it as it passes thru and then blows the cool air out wherever the unit is. This way you could just put it in the room, cut a vent for the intake which is usually a flex tube and just intake the air from the inside the garage.
Now if this room could be moved to an indoor spot that's part of a building cooled with a a central AC system like in a home then you probably could manage the grow space with just fans and ventilation. That would be because the intake air would already be cooled. You could even keep things in the garage maybe if you can duct in cool air keeping in mind that the longer and more bends and turns in your ducting the stronger your fan pulling air thru that ducting needs to be.
Ultimately the best thing to do is try to cover your needs well enough thru the fall/winter and early spring, that you can take off from growing during the late spring and summer.
The only thing I see that needs adjusting is either your light size or your room size. 5' x 3' is a bit much for one 400W. I'd want to use two to cover that long a space or maybe one 600W. Otherwise one 400W is only really effective for a 3' x 3' foot print or smaller.
Hey HempKat, love the thread.
Before I go too far... are you comfortable answering Q's pertaining to organic grows? Using FFOF medium with a tinge of organic nutrients to feed the soil... curious on a few things but didn't want to bark up the wrong tree.
Depends, if it's something that's specific to Fox Farm then probably not as I've yet to use any of their products. Not for any particular reason though, I just haven't, then again there's lots of stuff I haven't tried. Now if it's more just organics in general then that I may be more helpful on that but I'm no organics expert or guru.
tennesseetoker
Member
Thanks hempkat, very helpful, i might be switching to 12/12 in a week depending. Also would it be bad to clip some five bladed leaves even if there's nothing wrong with them to let light in to the lower branches.
tennesseetoker
Member
you still with us HK?
I'd clip the lower branches, bottom 1/3rd
tennesseetoker
Member
thanks gold123 i might i really just lst'd the shit out of those leaves thanks anyway
Hey Hempkat!
You give me (and everyone who asks) some useful advice and I just wanted to pop in and share my results thus far.
My cab has two 17"x17" chambers which are each 23" tall. Each chamber has six 42w 2700k CFLs (252 watts) behind glass. I have 6 random bagseeds in each chamber, plus my single Serious Ak47 seed that was female for a total of 13 plantlets.
(L to R): Left and Right Chambers on day 79 from seed (48 from 12/12), AK47, Magical Mystery Plant #6
100x Detail of Magical Mystery Plant #6 (purple) and AK47 (green)
Also... if anyone can tell me if my purpling is a result of some cool (and beautiful) genetics or the result of some kind of bungling nutrient issue, I'd appreciate it. The purple plant was from a random bagseed... so I have no idea of its lineage. Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.
You give me (and everyone who asks) some useful advice and I just wanted to pop in and share my results thus far.
My cab has two 17"x17" chambers which are each 23" tall. Each chamber has six 42w 2700k CFLs (252 watts) behind glass. I have 6 random bagseeds in each chamber, plus my single Serious Ak47 seed that was female for a total of 13 plantlets.
(L to R): Left and Right Chambers on day 79 from seed (48 from 12/12), AK47, Magical Mystery Plant #6
100x Detail of Magical Mystery Plant #6 (purple) and AK47 (green)
Also... if anyone can tell me if my purpling is a result of some cool (and beautiful) genetics or the result of some kind of bungling nutrient issue, I'd appreciate it. The purple plant was from a random bagseed... so I have no idea of its lineage. Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.
tennesseetoker
Member
nice set up and plants impressive! As for the purp wait for hempkat.
Yeah, just waiting for someone to ask a question
Oh wait, you did ask a question but I missed it somehow. Let light thru to what? You maybe, just started flower so you couldn't have any buds going yet. I personally say no, do not trim away leaves. Buds can photosynthesize some which I think is why people like to let the light get to them but the fact of the matter is they're not really meant to be the main source of photosynthesis. That's what the leaves are for. They collect the energy that goes towards making the buds grow, they also serve as storage sites for water and nutrients. So when you remove them you are actually weakening the plant's ability to do what it's supposed to do.
Hey Hempkat!
You give me (and everyone who asks) some useful advice and I just wanted to pop in and share my results thus far.
My cab has two 17"x17" chambers which are each 23" tall. Each chamber has six 42w 2700k CFLs (252 watts) behind glass. I have 6 random bagseeds in each chamber, plus my single Serious Ak47 seed that was female for a total of 13 plantlets.
(L to R): Left and Right Chambers on day 79 from seed (48 from 12/12), AK47, Magical Mystery Plant #6
100x Detail of Magical Mystery Plant #6 (purple) and AK47 (green)
Also... if anyone can tell me if my purpling is a result of some cool (and beautiful) genetics or the result of some kind of bungling nutrient issue, I'd appreciate it. The purple plant was from a random bagseed... so I have no idea of its lineage. Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.
Nice looking buds.
It's hard to say for sure what the purpling is from. If everything was relatively normal and stress free then it's probably just the genetics. I doubt it was a nutrient issue unless you give different types and amounts of nutrients to each plant. If they're all getting the same thing and the purpling was from the nutrients then all of them should be purpling. There is however a nutrient deficiency, and sorry I forget which one it is, that can cause some purpling. Now another possiblity although unlikely at this time of year is cold. Some plants when exposed to colder then normal temps will purple, although usually it's a darker less attractive purpling then what's in the pics.I'm leaning towards it being the genetics.
tennesseetoker
Member
Thanks Hempkat, as usual your knowledge is very informative. i didn't trim any fan leaves to get light to the branches/ new colas. I switched to 12/12 two days ago i caint wait till they start budding. Also if i didn't get any nutrients such as foxfarm big bloom for flowering, what, organically, would be a good substitute? i've been using organic soil and fertilized them with ecogrow a week b4 flowering.
Appreciate the quick response!
All plants are fed with the same food and at the same time, so I guess we can cross nute issues off the list.
My place has central air and it's kept at 72 degrees F. There is an A/C vent on the floor near where my passive intake hole for the cab is, which helps keep temps inside my cab in the low 70's during "daytime" and as low as 67 or so during night time. Is that cold enough to cause the purpling?
3 of my 13 plants are doing it, but it's only on the upper few sets of leaves. Lower leaves and new growth are still green. But the bud itself has that deep, pretty purple you can see in the trich pics. It looks awesome! But since I have very little experience, I didn't want to sit and gawk at my plant's beauty if that beauty is really a cry for help.
Well in flower you want a NPK (Nitrogen, Phospherous and Potassium ratios) of 10-30-20 or a 1:3:2 ratio. Meaning you want things rich in phosperous and potassium. In raw organics that usually means things like bat guano, seagull guano, also one of the meals either blood or bone ( I always confuse them) is richer in phospherous and potassium then nitrogen. I wouldn't go about using them as something I add like traditional ferts. If I were going to use raw organices like that I'd do so in a soil mix so it was already in there and I just had to add water and light. Otherwise I'd go get me some premixed, liquid organic fertalizer such as Foxfarm brand or whatever brand you fancy. Just be careful you're not getting something formulated for hydro if you're in soil since hydro requires a more acidic ph then soil grown plants can tolerate.
