redesigning my cab AGAIN

[thehappyguy]

so...here we are again. after thinking about it for a long time, i'm finally going to do what i probably should have done in the beginning.

in these pictures, you can see my new lighting set up. it's not painted yet, but it will be. everything below will be white (including behind the lights) and everything above will be black. directly under the lights, i'm going to attach a piece of glass and seal it off, making my lights air-cooled and getting rid of most of the heat which is one of my biggest problems. for the bottom, i'm going to attach a fan/scrubber and hopefully find a way to make my intake leak less light.

in this last picture you can see how much light it really lets out of that bottom hole. the top will hopefully be much more dim and i was thinking of putting some kind of dark thin cloth over the whole back just for good measure (on the inside). the back is actually a false back and leaves about 1/2" all the way up and down the back for air intake/exhaust. i would also like to separate the intake and exhaust so im not getting hot air in my intake, but haven't come up with a solid idea yet. could do something wonky like use styrofoam.

there are still problems, but i'm not ready to start a grow quite yet. i should be ready to go in a week or two. i'm excited to start again. hopefully this will be my best grow yet.

if anyone has ideas on my airflow separation problem, a good low-profile carbon scrubber (think under 1/2") or a good intake idea, spit it out! i want to hear what everyone else thinks!


also shoutout to BC Chronic and ScrubNinja for being inspiration!!!

p.s. i lost the charger to my camera (got high, misplaced it) so it's cell pictures for now!

 

[thehappyguy]

alright, took a lot longer than planned. my last few weeks of school and finals were hectic, i hardly worked on it. here's what i HAVE done, though...(lights are off in this pic)

so here's the new back...the inside is now painted, bottom white and top black, and i also have these 'light baffles'

they direct most of the light up to the top. as you can see, much of the former light leaking out is contained/dealt with.

next,

got a glass layer in there. temps are like 5 degrees over ambient and i don't even have my fan/carbon filter in the bottom chamber yet. i'll probably just put a wire rack over the bottom.

there are still light leaks out the front, but i am thinking about making a frame around the front and weatherstripping to take care of that. who knows, i still have a while to work before i should be putting living things in there.

even though no one is watching right now, i suspect that i'll get some followers as the grow goes on....

 

[thehappyguy]

which way do you guys think i should hang my lights?

there will be 3 bulbs in two fixtures totaling 6x 26w CFL+ 4x 36w PL-L. to do this, i will probably have to remove the fan and switch my fans to both just pull. since theyre the Scythe Slipstream fans (110cfm? i think) i should have enough air movement to keep it cool inside.

i'm probably going to increase the wattage due to a low wattlant ratio...i have no more than 8 plants going in just under 36w PL-Ls right now. probably inadequate, as someone else pointed out to me.

 

[thehappyguy]

they're alive! 6/8 seeds have made it; one suffered a bad case of severed taproot (no idea how) and the other seed never popped.

11-ish weeks to go?

 

[GrowBox420]

Always good to see green inside a cab, good luck dont make noob mistakes like I did and dont be afraid to ask questions lol

 

[thehappyguy]

plant 1

it's big, but it didn't perk up when i watered it, and the leaves (starting from the bottom) are starting to yellow.

plant 2:

same age as the big one (all of them are the same age, that one just grew to be big, the rest are all the same size ish)
strange light green color, browning on the leaves, they seem stunted to me.
plant 3:

this one is on it's 3rd/4th leafsets and is still very small. what gives?

my plants look fucked up . i fear a calcium deficiency (even tho my soil has had dolomite lime in it for months and months) or perhaps hard water/sodium in the water? i haven't used any nutes yet, i would feel okay doing it monday or tuesday, perhaps. could it maybe be the heat? temps are around 85 almost at all times. some look a bit burn on the tips and are pointing more up (45* angle) than at their normal flat curve.

help, anyone?

 

[thehappyguy]

here's an idea i have for a redo to my cabinet. lights are fully aircooled from an intake in the bottom (currently my intake is up top) and there will be a separate flowering area with a small PC fan pulling a small amount through a carbon filter (there should be a very small amount of heat with the aircooled lights). i constructed this with the help of redgreenry's ventilation thread. i just need a little bit more wood and glass and i can construct this.

i hope i get a job soon

what i really, really want to do is build a whole new cab to specs that i like by doing it all myself, but the problem is my limited income and limited toolset. all i have is an old rotozip with the zipmate attachment, a drill, and a handsaw. i can't afford a miter, table, circular saw, and i don't want to have lowe's/home depot cut my wood because it can't be as exact as it needs to be to build a good cabinet. does anyone have any advice on what i could do? i would like it to be a similar design to my current cab, just a little bit deeper. i would modify my current one so that it fits this purpose, but that would require me getting all new pieces of wood, so i might as well try to build my own. i am getting really tired of this cabinet always being too hot, not being big enough, or being fucked up somehow. frustration!!

i got high in the middle of making this edit, and i don't know if i was going somewhere else with this, so i'll end it here.

 

[thehappyguy]

remedied the problem with some new soil. it's a sphagnum/peat/vermiculite mix with dolomite lime.

picture 2 days ago (right after transplant)

picture today (watered with approx 1/2 strength nutes last night)


they're back to growing. the biggest one in the big pot has been topped.
i also have two more seeds germing because i thought i was going to have to start over. oh well, the more the merrier (and the better chance of getting a good mother)

 

[thehappyguy]

whoo! they're lookin really good.

i think this one is askin for some Nitrogen

whoo they look normal...got a couple more seedlings in the ground, they're about to be up. everyone else is looking normal; the discoloring has gone away and growth has been constant and much more noticable than before. temps are good too. humidity is probably like 20-30% right now, but it is what it is.
wonder if anyone is watching.

 

[sso]

nice grow have fun

 

[thehappyguy]

growth is becoming consistent. 2 seedlings have sprouted. the older plants are begging for nutes, but i think i will delay it until tomorrow.

 

[thehappyguy]

 

[#1cheesebuds]

Looks like there starting to take off.

 

[thehappyguy]

mother cabinet, working on lightproofing. getting close. wires are a mess, but it's not permanent.

detail of the box in the top right corner from the bottom:

everything is unsealed, just screwed in to make sure it fit. should be lightproof around the edges when i finish

door is lightproof on the tops and bottoms now, but this is how it looked a few days ago in the dark

 

[thehappyguy]

I'm 2/5 on clones right now! there are lots more in the cloner as of right now, some have been in it for over a week, some were just thrown in Tuesday.

i've had to cull a few males as well; i have 4 guaranteed females and two more that i'm waiting for preflowers on, and then i'm working on cloning. i can't wait to have a bunch of clones hangin out!

I switched to FFOF and my plants are growing much better right now. I want to find a cheaper soil though. hopefully if I get this job I can just buy some bulk and make LC mix or something.

 

[thehappyguy]

so...my clones have been propagating (still successfully and i'm getting better), and my mothers have been forming. here are pictures of them.

group shot so you can know the size of them


mothers from best to worst...there are so many clones just begging to be taken from a few of these. some of the plants are small, but they also were very sick a month ago and are recovering and showing lots of good signs. i don't need this many mothers, anyone want one?

 

[Maddhatter]

why sure i will!!!!


::holds hands out::

 

[trichrider]

just wait till you have so many that you'll be throwing them out...
did ya get another camera?
if so, some more pics. if no, wing it.
what strain?
what was your soil/medium before switching to FF?
how old when you first nuked em?
keep it green!

 

[thehappyguy]

just wait till you have so many that you'll be throwing them out...
did ya get another camera?
if so, some more pics. if no, wing it.
what strain?
what was your soil/medium before switching to FF?
how old when you first nuked em?
keep it green!

i'm already at that point, haha.
i bought another charger.
bagseed.
i used a seedling starter mix from a random local nursery. turns out it had gnats and was burning my plants. i want to go with LC's mix or something
approximately 2 weeks old...

i'll take some new pictures sometime in the next few days, probably some before and after cloning/pruning

 

[ScrubNinja]

Looking forward to new pics!