A is 4 PiMp's n00b cabinet grow

[Anti]

EDIT: So i just checked the cab now that the lights are back on. The temps are as follows:

Lowest: 77.7 @ 25% humidity
Highest: 92 friggin degrees @ 40% humidity!!! Although for the life of me I can't remember if I cleared the memory after I took all the books out, so I might be wrong about the highs.


Most definitely I need to get my temps under control ASAP, on the other hand, look what I found!

Telling you, homie. Remove your INTAKE fan. Increase your intake. If you have 6 sq inches of active exhaust, then try having 10-12 sq inches of passive intake.

Put your intakes near or below soil level.

Your temps will drop 8+ degrees.

Try it.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

You need some perlite in that soil.
What are you using for your mix?
The easiest is Promix BX, earth worm castings, perlite and powdered dolomite lime.
Foolproof.

 

[kayaN0W]

Telling you, homie. Remove your INTAKE fan. Increase your intake. If you have 6 sq inches of active exhaust, then try having 10-12 sq inches of passive intake.

Put your intakes near or below soil level.

Your temps will drop 8+ degrees.

Try it.

Listen to him!!!!! lol, man i remember my first rig (oooooo boy)...excited to see how ur grows evolve, and best of wishes on this one. Ill be lurkin around as usual

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

You need some perlite in that soil.
What are you using for your mix?
The easiest is Promix BX, earth worm castings, perlite and powdered dolomite lime.
Foolproof.

its just straight up Fox Farm Planting Mix

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

Another little update, I removed a little piece of fabric from some pantyhose (a ghetto light trap i made) from the intake fan and that helped the temps ALOT!

The temp for today was

High: 89.7 @ 40% humidity
Low: 73.4 @ 20% humidity

And this is with the window in my room open most of the day

Another little update I looked in the cab when I got home from work and saw this:

then I went to a friends place for a few hours then came back to this (i moved the middle containers for a better pic):

Im so excited right now! 4 of these ancient seeds (out of 6) sprouted in 4 days! I thought i was just going to have to run with the first 2 that sprouted since only like 3 of them had tap roots coming out when i dropped them in, the others were just cracked open


This is day 4 of 18/6

 

[PoisonedDart]

Try these light fixtures and as anti says, increase your passive intake area.

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

How big is the space in that pic?

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

A couple of thoughts.
Ditch the pop cans and metal cans and get some containers with drain holes. If you haven't already, put some drain holes in your existing containers and continue in them until they are big enough to transplant. If not, I'll bet you've got a quagmire in the bottom 3" of each container. They might look dry on the surface because your temps are pretty high, but my guess is the bottom is saturated.
Your soil looks way to heavy when wet which means no air for the roots. Get some perlite and dolomite lime before you transplant and avoid shit like Miracle Grow.
Peat based soil mix like Promix works well.
Cheers

 

[PoisonedDart]

2x2x4

Also beer cups are cheap. Go to Sam's Club or similar and get some 32oz cups. They work wonders.

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

A couple of thoughts.
Ditch the pop cans and metal cans and get some containers with drain holes. If you haven't already, put some drain holes in your existing containers and continue in them until they are big enough to transplant. If not, I'll bet you've got a quagmire in the bottom 3" of each container. They might look dry on the surface because your temps are pretty high, but my guess is the bottom is saturated.
Your soil looks way to heavy when wet which means no air for the roots. Get some perlite and dolomite lime before you transplant and avoid shit like Miracle Grow.
Peat based soil mix like Promix works well.
Cheers

Yeah about the watering, I was giving them a little bit of water in the morning and in the afternoon when the temps were still high (into the 90's) but i think I should lay off the water for a while, it was mainly because of my noobish impatience and i wanted to see some stuff grow already but I do agree with you

how big should i let them get in those containers before I transplant? I've been a little too nervous to even attempt it as they are still just getting started, i'm thinking around week 1 or 2 of 18/6?

2x2x4

Also beer cups are cheap. Go to Sam's Club or similar and get some 32oz cups. They work wonders.

That is impressive right there, if I were to just go ahead and buy some perlite and get some of these 32oz cups, what ratio should I use when mixing it with the fox farm planting mix?

Does 3 parts fox farm to 1 part perlite sound about right?

 

[PoisonedDart]

how big should i let them get in those containers before I transplant? I've been a little too nervous to even attempt it as they are still just getting started, i'm thinking around week 1 or 2 of 18/6?

try around week3 just for that particular set of plants as they may need to recover a bit.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Robot Chicken... "It's alive!"

Sorry to echo the intake fan. It's causing more problems than it's worth. You mentioned three exhaust fans. Is that all the intake you have? Doesn't matter how fast the rpm, only so much air will flow through one orifice.

Your vacuum cleaner doesn't have active intake. It's all passive and sucked out the exhaust.

Even if you get sufficient, active intake, you'll risk positive pressure. This is where more air goes in than comes out. Smell will leak through the crevices of you cab and stink.

It would take the math to equalize intake and exhaust pressure. You're still going to risk starving the exhaust fans and or stink.

No intake fan(s) and 2x passive will solve your problems. You can close your window and only have trouble in hot summer, if that.

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

I've been meaning to address that, on the passive intake: If I were to just cut out a section of the backboard lets say 4 inches by 4 inches and slap some cloth over it for a semi light trap to kinda dim the light and still be pretty breathable would that still work?

I don't really want to make a passive intake + light trap that extends out the back of the cab because I don't want it to stick out too far from the wall, because then I would have to fix the rest of the light leaks on the back

Light leaks aren't a MAJOR issue as nobody comes in the room with the cabinet when the lights are off, even then you have to look hard for it.

 

[PoisonedDart]

Just use a black 4" elbow...

http://www.heyokasolutions.com/Black_plastic_squeeze_90_degree_elbow_p/prmx-eb4x90.htm

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I've been meaning to address that, on the passive intake: If I were to just cut out a section of the backboard lets say 4 inches by 4 inches and slap some cloth over it for a semi light trap to kinda dim the light and still be pretty breathable would that still work?

Yep, I would remove the intake fan and cut the existing hole 4 x 4 inches. An elbow that size will rob 10" or more between the cab and sheet rock wall.

I'd cut a 12 x 12 piece of plywood. Use 1" standoffs (wood blocks or wood screws) to the board on each corner. Attach the 12 x 12 board to the back of the cab, centered over the intake hole. You can push your cab against the wall and it won't block airflow. Wasted space between cab and wall, is ~1". You can even pull it away from the wall a bit for aesthetics if you want.

I don't really want to make a passive intake + light trap that extends out the back of the cab because I don't want it to stick out too far from the wall, because then I would have to fix the rest of the light leaks on the back.

All purpose caulk will make quick work of crevices.

Light leaks aren't a MAJOR issue as nobody comes in the room with the cabinet when the lights are off, even then you have to look hard for it.

It's good you don't have strong, direct lighting outside the cab area. But it only takes a leak through a tiny crevice and indirect leaks are enough to give a nanner-happy strain all it needs to screw up your harvest.

 

[Anti]

Pimp, you don't like good advice? Ditch the intake fan! It's hurting you. Do some reading in the micro section... nobody uses them except for BIG grows.

My cab is exhausted by 3 pc fans... nothing more! My intake is a big fat hole in the floor of my cab. My cab temps are low-mid 80s when it's on.

For watering, I suggest you look into submersion and you know, cut holes in the bottom of your containers so there's no standing water.

And I like my mixes to be about 30% perlite.

(1 equal sized bag of perlite to 2 equal sized bags of soil.)

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

Yep, I would remove the intake fan and cut the existing hole 4 x 4 inches. An elbow that size will rob 10" or more between the cab and sheet rock wall.

I'd cut a 12 x 12 piece of plywood. Use 1" standoffs (wood blocks or wood screws) to the board on each corner. Attach the 12 x 12 board to the back of the cab, centered over the intake hole. You can push your cab against the wall and it won't block airflow. Wasted space between cab and wall, is ~1". You can even pull it away from the wall a bit for aesthetics if you want.

All purpose caulk will make quick work of crevices.

It's good you don't have strong, direct lighting outside the cab area. But it only takes a leak through a tiny crevice and indirect leaks are enough to give a nanner-happy strain all it needs to screw up your harvest.

Hows this, I found an old cell phone box

it measures 5 inches wide, 5 and 1/2 inches tall, 3 inches deep and if I were to cut it out like so:

(the red lines are where the box has been cut, i'm no artist with MS paint lol)

Do you think that would suffice as a decent passive intake/light trap?

I have an even bigger box that measures 7 and 1/2 inches tall, 5 inches wide, and 3 inches deep if the one pictured above is too small

Pimp, you don't like good advice? Ditch the intake fan! It's hurting you. Do some reading in the micro section... nobody uses them except for BIG grows.

My cab is exhausted by 3 pc fans... nothing more! My intake is a big fat hole in the floor of my cab. My cab temps are low-mid 80s when it's on.

For watering, I suggest you look into submersion and you know, cut holes in the bottom of your containers so there's no standing water.

And I like my mixes to be about 30% perlite.

(1 equal sized bag of perlite to 2 equal sized bags of soil.)

I was planning on making some holes in the containers today but the lights are about to go off any minute now so I will have to wait until they come back on around 5pm this afternoon.

While i'm waiting i'm going to pick up some perlite from the local hydro store lol.

Doesn't submersion watering only work best with stuff like coco or soil + perlite and vermiculite combos and all that?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

A is 4 PiMp, you're pretty ingenious, never considered that. Give it a shot and see if lights bleed from the back of the cab. Could it possibly get attention from the wrong visitor? If light bleeds from your cab, the possibility for interior leaks is there too.

Here's another trap idea. Ever seen exterior, aluminum, dryer vent-hoods? They're usually mounted on the exterior wall of the house. If they're too small for your setup, you can make one from roof flashing. If you know your local roofers, check them out for scrap. That way you don't have to buy the roll and never use it again, lol.

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

A is 4 PiMp, you're pretty ingenious, never considered that. Give it a shot and see if lights bleed from the back of the cab. Could it possibly get attention from the wrong visitor? If light bleeds from your cab, the possibility for interior leaks is there too.

Here's another trap idea. Ever seen exterior, aluminum, dryer vent-hoods? They're usually mounted on the exterior wall of the house. If they're too small for your setup, you can make one from roof flashing. If you know your local roofers, check them out for scrap. That way you don't have to buy the roll and never use it again, lol.

Thank you lol all the designs ive been thinking of up until this morning were too complicated and would take up a bit of space, i'm going to hack up the box now and put it in the cab later today after the lights come on.

I just got back from the local hobby store and bought a yard of this black fabric (and some supplies for some cheapo homemade c02), its pretty breathable and blocks a decent amount of light if I fold it over once, i was planning on putting it over the side of the box with the opening on the inside of the cab just to keep out dust and bugs (just in case)

The reason light leaks from the back aren't that big of a deal is that they aren't massive amounts of light coming through the fans and I have a black sheet (folded over twice) thrown over the top of it, the cabinet is in the corner of the room next to the computer desk (almost touching the computer desk)

If you were to walk in the room (at night with the lights off) and look towards the corner where the cabinet is you can see just a teeny little glimpse of light, its from the intake fan and you would probably think its the light from the powerstrip going to the cab

 

[A is 4 PiMp]

So I made the passive intake, the highest its been (and what its at now) is 86.9 @ 36% humidity.

There's alot less light leaking now, the 1st one that sprouted is really taking off...unless thats normal but then again this is only the 2nd time i've tried to grow (got busted the 1st time) and this was about 7 years ago.

I'm thinking if the other 2 don't sprout by next wednesday then I will take them out and keep on rolling with the 4 that did