Cleaning up in the shower

[MrAwder]

opinions wanted

opinions wanted

So I want to start planning my next additions. Even though I planned on taking a break from projects and construction for a while, I'm already bored watching my plants water themselves. I really want to find a way to add another 1, hopefully 2, small flower areas. The problem is my space is limited, and oddly shaped.



It is not framed yet but that is the rough dimensions. The back and left walls are structural. I would just be adding the ~4ft section and door. The door is on an angle so I will have space to work at the sink.

I come from micro growing so I feel a need to use every square inch effectively and efficiently. The goals for these additional space(s) would be for pheno hunting and/or 14-18wk sativas. I feel like I am missing out on something very special by never having grown/smoked a true, well grown sativa. Just that nasty shit that comes over the border.

General plan would be single bulb vert walls of weed. The main thing is getting the footprint as small as possible. I would like to stick with 600's so all my bulbs/ballasts are compatible for backup purposes.

So the obvious solution is to attempt 2 3x3 spaces on the left wall. This will not leave much remaining space for veg/moms. I think the best way to do veg/moms is to ditch the tent and install a shelving system and do long narrow shelves of moms/veggers under CFLs.

The other thing is if I stick with a single bulb, how short do you think I can go? I should not to use the full 7' of room height so hopefully I will have room for elevated res', fans, etc above the added flower chambers.

So I am looking for non-obvious answers and new suggestions. Any ideas, just toss them out there. The main question I suppose is how small of a footprint (and height) do you think it is possible to do a single 600W donut in.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

If you could mount the ballast on the door it may free up some over head room. The cords have the flexibility to let you swing the door. Just make sure you can get past them without getting burned. You may also be able to mount them above the door, but I don't know how much room there is there.

You may also be able to put a shelf above the sink and put your clones there with your moms. Or you could get some wire shelves and put them on wheels and roll them out of your current flower area to work on them where your veg tent currently is. Stick some floros on here and you can use them as a veg area.

 

[MrAwder]

Thanks Ichabod. The sink area is actually outside of my intended grow space. The green and blue area is what I intend to have closed off. The door being on the angled part of the wall and opening outward. Access to the current flower area (green) is through the blue area, not from the sink as it may appear. Should have labeled the door for that.

The way I am envisioning it is you walk through the door into the blue area, and then have access to the new flower chambers, the current flower chamber, and veg/moms. The sink is outside so it can still be used for non-grow related things, but near enough that I can open the door and run a hose in to fill res' and such.

The usable height of a 600W is about 3' for maximum lumens? So I could probably get by with 5' of vertical space. 1' for the pot, 3' maximum penetration, 1' leeway. I'm not worried about the Sativa stretch/height as I will be bending and training to screens.

 

[MrAwder]

garden day

garden day

did a bunch around the garden today. bunch of pics in the next few posts.


first lets hydrate some coco



after rinsing with tap and mixing. run 5-10gal of RO and 1/2 strength cal-mag through



had the bottom of a bag of perlite laying around. mixed that in because why not



more interesting stuff up next

 

[MrAwder]

stable

stable

okay time to clean up the veg tent

everyone laid out.



going to up pot 8 keeper moms to 6" squares. up pot the 6 testers to 5" squares. took 4 clones of Deathstar, 4 clones of afghani mango, 2 clones of each of the 6 new plants for sexing.

6 testers and assorted clones



8 moms bonsai'd, trained, up-potted

 

[MrAwder]

more

more

did some more training. hard to tell even with before/after shots. cannot wait to start defoliating

today is day 12 of 12/12

before



after, also lowered the light



one more post...

 

[MrAwder]

satori

satori

woke up this morning and there was some nice natural lighting

satori cured for about 5 weeks






alright that's all for now. watching a documentary on netflix called Fresh. anyone interested in sustainable farming/agricultural should definitely check it out.

 

[benzo]

looks good! super frosty.

im still following.. this is a great thread.

 

[bobblehead]

Very nice and clean!

 

[MrAwder]

more nugs

more nugs

some more nug pics on this gorgeous sunday morning

SSH x BS2.2


G13 x NL


Candy

 

[MrAwder]

Outdoor SLH, pulled early. Smells like heaven




And my latest batch of BHO. This was made with trim from the G13 x NL. Reclaiming my oil piece and getting it nice and clean. Nice fresh dabs for the Browns game today!

 

[wildgrow]

Really nice setup and well thought out, MrA. Ive got a SLH about 5 weeks from pop and its really short. Did yours start out this way and then started stretching late in veg, or was yours stretchy to begin with?

Looking at your room diagram, Id say that 6' wall thats unused is where youre going to have to set up your new grow spaces.

Just really nice man.

cheers

 

[Tyga]

Lookin good man. That SLH looks mighty tasty....

 

[MrAwder]

Really nice setup and well thought out, MrA. Ive got a SLH about 5 weeks from pop and its really short. Did yours start out this way and then started stretching late in veg, or was yours stretchy to begin with?

Looking at your room diagram, Id say that 6' wall thats unused is where youre going to have to set up your new grow spaces.

Just really nice man.

cheers

Yes the one I am growing now did stay pretty short in veg. I also have 220W *right* on top of them so that helps. The outdoor one was just a clone I did not have the heart to cull. Threw it outside in early Sept. and never got more than 2 foot. Have not run this pheno through fully in any indoor system.

So did some more planning work. It's going to be tight but I think I can meet all of my goals for production and variety within this space I am planning. When completed it should keep me happy and fully stocked indefinitely and hopefully put me on the road to be financially independent (debt free) by 30, 5 years. School loans are killing me.

Here is another sketchup of the space with more exact dimensions. Red areas are flowering.




I figure I need space for vegging up to 16 plants at any time. Here is my idea for experimental vertical lit veg "beds". Basically a 6"x4' rectangle box that can hold 5" square pots, 8-9 of them. Mounted directly to the wall. The lighting will be 3 T5's per shelf, mounted horizontally in a strip fashion behind the plants, lighting them vertically. 16" of vertical growth space per plant.



I will still need to find room for clones (easy) and moms (not so easy).

Another image to illustrate the new flower space(s):



66" x 33" x 5' total. Either split into 2 33" square chambers with 600's on a flip/flop or run as 1200W system. The yellow column is a 13" radius circle representing optimal light distance from the 600. Canopy management will be the tricky part here, keeping everything at least 8-10" from the bulbs.

The good news is the entire space (all flowering areas and extra space) is well under 700 cubic feet. I should be able to scrub the entire space with a 12" fan/filter combo. I will then use 6" or 8" fans to exchange air in the flower rooms with no filtering. Return all air into the "common space" and then scrub and out the window from there.

Probably looking at $2000 or so for the whole deal. Framing, electrical, res'/plumbing, ventilation, filters, additional ballasts.

 

[MrAwder]

pics

pics

day 21 of flower

2-3 posts worth of pics.

up until tonight's pictures/defoliation it had been 7 days since i touched the system 6 of which i was out of town for.

back 5 plants



left close up



right close up



comparison shot within a day or two from the last run




more coming...

 

[MrAwder]

the front 3 plants i took out in order to work on stuff. pics give a better idea of plant structure and size. the screens are 3' x 1.5'

Iced Grapefruit #1 front



IG #1 back



IG #2 front



IG #2 back

 

[MrAwder]

finally made a smaller screen for the front g13 x NL. it was just trained to stakes

before



after



edit: i should have taken the pic from an angle to show how decreased the depth/profile of the plant was after attaching to the screen


so i'm really happy with how things are coming along so far. tomorrow will be a nute change and i think ill be adding some Kool Bloom. About to do some reading on the subject to refresh my memory on proper dosage/timing.

overall the plants are smaller than the last run at the same age, but only very slightly. the screens, regardless of not being entirely full, along with the increased plant numbers have resulted in a much denser and more "efficient" looking canopy.

tonight was the first night of defoliation and it will continue for a week or so. next round of pics will show the results.

some observations: the SLH (back corners) have HUGE fan leaves, giant. the IG's looked identical the entire time until stretch. IG#2 just shot past #1. I kept back clones of both so we'll see if they smoke any different.

 

[DHF]

All about that perfect sideways canopy with bare bulbs hangin Bro......and....

Looks like yas got things well in hand , so as said above start that fan leaf strippin once stretch is completely over and they`re in full hormonal change swellage mode gradually till all that`s left are the fans juttin out the colas themselves and you`ll be golden......

Good job Mr A......Keep dialin......

Peace....DHF............

 

[MrAwder]

Thanks Fred. I appreciate you dropping in my thread and just wanted to say I've learned so much from your posts here.

Last time I was impatient and did 100 percent defoliation over just 2 days. I'm in no hurry this time and trying to do everything by the book to get the best idea of what the plants, system, and myself are capable of.

I've realized that building cool shit is at least half the reason I enjoy doing this. Watching my plants grow is too boring. I cannot wait to start on the next round of improvements but as usual I need to get more cash on hand. The holidays usually stretch my budget tight as it is. Also saving up for a ticket to Vancouver in March to check out Whistler mountain.

 

[MrAwder]

Added back 20 gals to the res last night:

60g MaxiBloom
30g KoolBloom
75ml SM-90
20ml Drip Clean
30ml Silicate

Left me at 1.6 EC and 6.0 pH. There was about 10 gal left in the res from last time reading at 1.1 EC and 5.5pH. Usually the pH does not drift that low so this time I added an extra 10ml of Protekt.

More defoliating was done. It also looks like my clones from 6 seedlings have taken root so I should have them sexed soon. These are the 3 Killing Fields and 3 GHS Chemdog x Emerald Jack. Funny to say but I am hoping for at least 2 males as I don't want to use up 6/8 slots for pheno hunting the next round. At least with KF I know I am looking for the purple pheno (despite green maybe being a bit more potent). The Chemdogs I will need to really evaluate on smoke, the Chemdog bud I got the seeds from had that baseball-bat to the face effect that puts your ass on the couch and a smile on your face. It was grown by a friend and accidentally pollinated by an Emerald Jack freebie.

Back over the weekend with defoliated pics