Basic 150 Watt HPS micro setup

[DrZin978]

Hey guys,
I'm new here, and relatively new to growing. I decided to set up this micro grow after I got a medical marijuana recommendation. I started with a 2 by 4 frame, 18 inches square by A little more than 6 feet tall:

I put it on wheels and put hooks for a light. I ended up lining this with reflectix and building a hinged door with a latch out of 1 by 2s. The finished product looks like this:


I have it vented with a 70 cfm bathroom vent fan. This rests on top of the unit and pulls air out of the box through a hole in the reflectix ceiling.

The duct goes into a panel in the window frame and blows the exhaust out of the building thru some thick pressure treated plywood with an array of small holes drilled. I have a jar of Ona Gel for the smell, and I'm planning on getting a charcoal filter for when she gets big and stinky...

Intake was initially passive thru an open floor covered with half inch wire mesh to keep cats out. I ended up putting a box fan beneath the unit for better intake:


Here's the inside- 150 Watt HPS light, 3 gallon cloth pot with a tray. There's also a mini fan in there blowing on the plant all the time.


Anyways, that's my setup. Its pretty conspicuous.. I have to keep guests out of my home office. Other than that and the fact that my reflector has no glass and gets the small space in there pretty hot, it does the job well. What are your thoughts, guys?

 

[im me]

I think its a great little grow space. One suggestion i do have is ya might wanna gwt a stronger vent fan. Welcome to ic.

 

[canna woop!]

hi there, looks good. i trust you are growing medical sativa to fill the space? just cant imagine a indica too happy with a narrow cab like that. welcome to the forum, and keep posted!

 

[fatigues]

While it is possible to use a powered intake, it can screw up your negative pressure pretty quickly. Better off to rely upon passive intake and increase your CFM on the exhaust.

Moreover, a need for a light trap on the bottom intake is obviously a potential issue...though I presume you have something in mind for that.

Show us some more as it progresses!

 

[DrZin978]

Thanks for the tips, guys! The current vent fan pulls like 4 or 5 times the volume of the box thru every minute. I wanted a better one, but this was what worked on my budget. Otherwise, Fatigues, You're right that the intake fan could mess up my negative pressure. I happen to know, however, that my out fan pulls in a lot more air than my in fan pushes. I just put it there because temperatures were getting a little high for my comfort.

I see the need for the light trap- I haven't been too worried about it thusfar because I'm on an 18 hour light cycle, so when the HPS goes off the lights in the surrounding room are already off. Once I get to the flowering stage, however, I'm going to need something to keep light out. I was thinking of using some black felt, or maybe some of my left over reflectix.

Finally, CannaWoop- Its a hybrid, Green House Seeds Jack Herer. So hopefully it doesn't get too overgrown in there. We'll see.

I was actually considering a ScrOG technique for when the plant gets bigger to deal with the fact that my closet is a little small...

Anyways, thanks for your input, guys, I'll post more as I have it.

 

[DrZin978]

Here's what the plant inside looks like right now:



This is after two weeks in the soil, plus a couple days. It is already getting pretty bushy.

I'm Watering it with a solution of General Hydroponics FloraSeries mixed according to the side of the box for drain to waste, on the very low end of the recommended concentration. The soil is Fox Farm Happy Frog.

So its getting real bushy real fast. I'm definitely going to have to trim it up at this rate. Does anyone have any recommendations on that? Like I said, I was thinking of doing a Screen of Green to maximize my yield; at the same time this is my first grow and I sort of want to see how this plant looks without turning it into a banzai tree.

I probably should at least top it or something tho, huh?

 

[fatigues]

Here's what the plant inside looks like right now:

View Image

This is after two weeks in the soil, plus a couple days. It is already getting pretty bushy.

I'm Watering it with a solution of General Hydroponics FloraSeries mixed according to the side of the box for drain to waste, on the very low end of the recommended concentration. The soil is Fox Farm Happy Frog.

So its getting real bushy real fast. I'm definitely going to have to trim it up at this rate. Does anyone have any recommendations on that? Like I said, I was thinking of doing a Screen of Green to maximize my yield; at the same time this is my first grow and I sort of want to see how this plant looks without turning it into a banzai tree.

I probably should at least top it or something tho, huh?

I'm not a soil grower but... (somebody who IS jump in here please)...

I don't think you need to use Flora nutes! If you are using FF Happy Frog, I am pretty sure you don't need to feed your plants unless some specific deficiency appears. Food is already all in the soil. That's why it's so damned expensive!

 

[DrZin978]

Ya know, I don't need them, but I want to feed it some kind of nutrients. I was initially going to do a hydroponic grow, but I did things the wrong way and it didn't work out. I had these nutes left over, and I wanted to fertilize somehow to get a better yield. The guy I bought it all from said these should work fine, and that the soil would become depleted as the plant grew and took nutrients out of it.

It hasn't shown any signs of nute burn yet...

 

[DrZin978]

... Still going strong. I built a screen of green to fit inside the closet. It is a frame of 1 by 2s with eyelets screwed into the inside at 2 inch intervals. I threaded pink synthetic string through the eyelets in a grid. It is held up by a set of tension curtain rods. looks like this:



Still feeding her GH nutes according to the box (drain to waste chart). No signs of Nute burn yet.

 

[DrZin978]

Hey all:

More updates on my Micro grow. Its been about two weeks since my last update. I switched over to flowering, so in order to keep light out of the closet when the light in the surrounding room is on, I had to lightproof the edges of the closet and the bottom with black felt:



Meanwhile, the Plant itself is looking like this:



As you may be able to see, there are about ten branches with tops extending out. I had these all tied down to the screen of green for stretching/spreading/training. One (the largest), grew too fast for where it was tied down and snapped itself. I made a splint for this branch, however, and after a few days it is still alive! I may still have to snip it in the long run, but for now I think I'm going to keep it around.

Check out my little splint:


I want to start snipping some of the fan leaves to give more bud sites access to the light. Does anyone have any advice on that?

Otherwise, I really appreciate any feedback you guys have. This is my first grow, so any knowledge I can glean from you all I much need and thank you for!

 

[dddaver]

I use a 150 but my cab is much shorter than yours.

IMHO snipping stresses and slows growth too much. To get more light to bud sites I'm in favor of tucking and tying, even tying with twist ties to other branches. With minimal big changes at this point. Again IMO, with SOME experience.

 

[DrZin978]

Thanks for your insight ddd.

I'm posting on another forum as well, and an experienced grower there from is giving me similar advice- tie down the big leaves near the screen beneath the bud sites, and only trim the leaves and the tiny bud sites beneath the screen.

I think you were right in making your cabinet much shorter. I built this guy before having ever grown, so I was anticipating the height they said on the seed store website and the seed company's videos. I also didn't settle on the screen of green until after building the closet. Oh well. Maybe I can use the negative space above for additional growing or something. We'll see.

I'm thinking about building a second closet with a 400 watt light in a cooltube reflector to house two additional plants after this one gets harvested. Any thoughts?

 

[dddaver]

Growing is addictive. You look for tweaks every grow. I have tried two different expensive LED lights but was disappointed by yields with each. Good for vegging, not so much for flowering.

I have thought about going 400, but I am shy about spending more on something I started out more as a lark and growing good organic bud on the cheap and knowing exactly what is in it. That I do. That said I might go 400 to get those yield numbers sometime but that would probably mean getting a tent and bigger fan, pots, everything.

I think that your tall cab might be good for a 400 but even without a stronger light you might need that height if you ever grow a lanky sativa or haze cross. And my cab is in a closet. More light, more heat, BIG issue in a closet. Open room is better for heat dissipation like you have set up. I have inquisitive grand-kids and need my setup hidden, another drawback to going 400 for me personally.

One more thing. Instead of whole new cab and going 400, since you aren't using a lot of the space you have now, consider making it a perpetual cab, 2 spaces, top for flowering, bottom for vegging for example. You seem to have some construction skills. Putting a cheap bathrroom vanity bar on a shelf you built in would be easy. I started with one, splitter and 8 and CFLs in it. Or even a small fluorescent bar lamp might be good, vegging doesn't take a lot. You already have a vent system set up. New cab, new set pfroblems. You might have to goose that fan a little, but florescent or CFL doesn't produce nearly as much heat as HPS.

 

[DrZin978]

Thanks DDD,

I'm strongly considering your idea with making a veg room downstairs and a flower room upstairs with the closet I already have. This would be the perfect way to keep a mother plant and get a few going at the same time at different stages.

I still want to build another, larger Cabinet as well, however. I smoke a lot. I know even with a good yield on the one plant I'll still be buying more. So I want to be sure and grow enough for my regular regimen. I don't think a 400W light would fit in an 18x18 space either.. That would be asking for a fire.

That being said, I have made one more upgrade to my setup: I got a glass lens and a vent flange for my light from the manufacturer. I then attached a computer fan to the flange, powered it with a MOLEX DC adapter. It looks like this:



The plant itself is looking great. I tucked all the fan leaves under, and trimmed away the leaves that were coming out beneath the canopy. Lots of little fuzzy baby buds coming in:



I'm not sure about trimming the budsites under the canopy. I don't know how to do it without damaging the branches. Any thoughts?

I'll leave you with this nice photo of a flower:

 

[dddaver]

You're right, an 18x18 space would be too small for a 400. Could you hear my brain fart there?

I always assumed that snipping the lower buds meant branchs as well because the intent is to force the plant to focus it's energy on the canopy. But I always have used these small sharp hair trimming sheers.

BTW, she's looking yummo. Good job for newbie. I personally fumbled a lot before I got it dialed. Pat yourself on the back. 20/20 hindsight. I tried to cheap-out on soil. Finally bought some Fox Farm's Ocean Forest. Haven't looked back since.

 

[killerweed31]

lookin good there, im tuned

 

[DrZin978]

Thanks guys! I'll keep sharing updates. I have tried growing once before, but it was hydroponics and I was making some basic mistakes so I say it doesn't count.

Anyways, I'm pumped it is going as well as it is now. FoxFarm HappyFrog plus General Hydroponics FloraSeries = a very happy camper in my closet

I really appreciate hearing back from you all tho!

 

[tino1013]

Looks good DrZin,

I like the vent fan on top of the reflector! should help your exhaust out, and thus your temps as well.

To split your cab would be the best way to max out the work you have already done and have multiple plants in different stages all in the same cab. Peak efficiancy!

A few words on defoliating and removing sucker branches:

It is ok to remove some leaves that either cannot be tucked or are just generally in the way. You really just dont want to remove too many at one time, it will stunt your lady.

When it comes to removing sucker branches, just use a nice sharp scissors or razor blade and slice off the offenders that you can already tell aren't going to produce(especially underneath the screen you made). If youre really on your game, you can take these "suckers" and turn them into the next generation through cloning. Some people prefer to do this when a plant is already starting to flower to kill two birds with one stone. Another added benefit is that you don't need to keep a mother, just a small space on the bottom of your cab to root the cuts you made from the sucker branches.

happy growing!

 

[DrZin978]

Thanks for the tips, tino! Once I build a lower cabinet to house vegging plants, I"ll definitely clip clones from the bottom leaves/branches. I think my first real plant isn't going to yield any clones, however. Once I set up the veg chamber, I'll definitely get clones/mothers going so I don't need to keep buying seeds!

 

[#1cheesebuds]

so how are they looking now?