The 1000W Mystery Box

[ydijadoit]

After 4 years of growing, I decided to try my hand at a sealed room grow. I built a 4x4x8'high cabinet in my garage, and set it up as I could afford to, over the winter of 2012.
I built in a 5k BTU A/C window unit, a 40 pint dehu, mounted on the wall, Co2, from a bottle, controlled by an Atlas preset controller. A recirculating Can66 knock off keeps things from getting smelly, and the Co2 is piped into the outlet for the scrubber, providing good distribution, and another fan in the room.
I added a second socket to my cheapo hood, so I can run this in the summer, with a 400 HPS, and a 250W Halide.
The hydro system is a hybrid DWC/waterfarm, that recirculates out of the cabinet, to a reservoir, and is pumped through 1/2" PVC piping via home made airlifters, back to the first bucket in the cabinet.
One frozen Gatorade bottle a day keeps things cool.
I am using 1/4" soaker hose from Lowe's for airstones. I have been running these for years, and won't be going back to airstones anytime soon!
The strain I have now, is Dinafem Shark Attack. There are 4 buckets, and I had considered doing a scrog, but ran out of time, and had to throw 'em in there wild (Long story).
The girls are 3 weeks into bloom now, and I hope like hell they are done stretching.
I am new to Co2, and the last grow I did in here, I was way underfeeding, and only at 80F for temps.
This run, I feel like I am getting the hang of it. I am trying Botanicare Kind nutrients, and have been running them exactly as instructed on the bottle.
So far, I am very impressed with Botanicare's latest offering. Other than a trace of tip burn, they are loving it. This strain would show severe deficiencies in hydro, when I was running the Lucas ratio. Not so this time!
Just wanted to show you what I have going. Any and all comments, criticisms, questions, or advice are welcome.
I won't be doing a day to day journal, but will update this as I can.
Thanks for looking!

 

[Born Loser]

Looks great! I am thinking of doing the same thing, so its good to see these kinda threads. I am sick of the girls taking up the master bedroom and want to move shop to the garage. Running sealed seems to be the best bet.
Plants look good, I'm gonna be watching this one..

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Born Loser.
This room was pretty straightforward to build from OSB. The trick was caulking every joint as it was being assembled. The doors took some thinking, but they work very well. I would say I have 99% sealing. Cords pass through a piece of silicone sheet (Aircraft engine baffling, but an old inner tube would work as well.)
The AC works great, but I did have to add a stack boot to the outlet, that directs the cold air straight up. It worked fine as it came from the factory, but once I had plants in there, the output blew right on one of the plants, and deflected the cold air back to the AC intake, making the unit short-cycle.
The only kicker has been finding an automated way to lower nighttime temps.
I don't have the $ to pick up a nice controller, so I just prop the door open a little, and remove the cap on the carbon scrubber outlet I installed, that lets it vent like a normal room.
Just FWIW, I personally think this is about as small of a sealed environment that could be considered practical. I think it would be much easier to dial in, if it was twice the size.
The actual material to make a box twice this size, would only be about another $75. Considering I have almost $1500 into this setup, as is, that's cheap real estate. I just didn't have the space, or really, the need.
Lemme know if you want more pics of the details.
Regards

 

[Born Loser]

I am just worried about temps. It can be 20 F or 80F during the winter. Big swings. Up to 110F in summer, hotter in the garage Im sure. I have A/C's, but don't want to run portable heaters...
I probably would have to insulate it very well. That's not a big deal.
Its so easy just to use a room inside, but I want my space back!!
Thanks, I'll put some thought into my needs and will keep this thread tagged.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

trust me when I tell you, heat will be a major issue.

I built a cab out of OSB, nothing like yours though, in a garage as well. whatever the temp was in garage it was 10 times more in the cab, and yeah I recorded temps of 115 or better during the summer. I consider it lesson learned.

ended up just sectioning off a part of the garage and keep an open grow room/mancave now. it aint fancy but be damned if it dont work for me!

 

[Born Loser]

Yeah, that's what I am thinking...

 

[ydijadoit]

@friendindeed,
Good point. There is no way I could run this unsealed, without AC. The ac unit in the cab keeps temps right in line, at 84ish degrees, with Co2.
I added a 18,500btu through wall window unit, to cool my whole garage. The hot air from my light cooling vent is also ducted up and out of the garage in summer. I will use the heat in the winter, to keep the garage warm. Just takes a little MacGyvering, but it can be made to work well!
I'd have a much bigger challenge running a standard ventilated cab.
Regards

 

[ydijadoit]

Well, it's been a week, and I've done it to myself again. Too much plant, too little space. Opinions are welcome, as to whether to do some more pruning, or let them go as is.
I have done some undergrowth removal already, but there is more bush in my cabinet than a 90's White House.
I am very impressed so far with Botanicare's Kind nutrient system.
The guy at the hydro store suggested running it full strength, per the instructions on Botanicare's feeding chart. I usually start off at 75% of the recommended dose, but this time, I just let her rip. 1200ppm, right out of the gate.
Previous grows with this strain have gotten severely deficient using the Lucas ratio, but I think I found what it needs in this new nutrient line.
Thanks for looking. Comments and constructive criticism, are always welcome.
Regards

 

[ydijadoit]

Guess it helps to actually add the pictures....

 

[Born Loser]

Id prob thin some of the fans and see if it opens up...Im lazy and hate thinning/tossing..
That's a lot o bush for sure.

 

[ydijadoit]

Yeah, I likely will have to crawl around in there and defoliate a little. This strain is hermie proof, if there ever was one, so I'm not worried about stressing them too much.
I'm with you on the lazy. I love every part of growing, except harvest. My wife calls me the Bear, (Or sometimes just "Asshole"), when harvest time comes around
I'll do some pruning this weekend, and post update then.
Regards

 

[surfguitar]

Very nice setup. I'm thinking about doing something similar to this soon but as you said double it 2000watts to make it a little more economical. At the same time I'm a little hesitant to go sealed as I got the environment so dialed in as it is currently running cold air from under the house, the problem is I'm a perfectionist and you can't really super dial in a room without it being sealed with Co2 for the most part haha

My main concern with letting it get that bushy in there is mildew, if you're familiar with the strain and it's pretty resistant the bushier the better imo haha. Just thin some fans so more bud sites get light like born suggest.

Got this thread tagged, looking forward to updates!

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks Surf,
If this strain holds true to form, and I do my part, it will have incredibly dense colas, that do invite mold. I've been spraying with Actinovate, and have doubled the air movement in the cab. I think I will do some strategic clipping this weekend, and lose as much of the suckers and old, lower leaves as I can.
I always feel like I am losing yield, and stressing the plants, but it sure beats a mold infestation!
Regards

 

[surfguitar]

I would check out https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=251621 many people cut off tons of fan leaves with no apparent negative effects and maybe even some positives

 

[ydijadoit]

Good call on the defoliation thread. I've read a ton of it in the past, and done a fair amount of leaf/sucker removal in the past. This is week 4/5 for these girls, and from what I have read, that's about the time to give 'em a haircut.
One of the first plants I grew after getting my med card, was an mystery bagseed, that I was unknowingly PH'ing the water and nutes to around 8-8.5 (Meter was a cheapo, and I didn't know any better.. It said 6-6.5!)
Long story short, every single leaf that wasn't buried in a bud yellowed, and fell off. The only correctly PH'd solution it got, was a week of flushing, after I replaced the meter.
I pulled over 6 zips of rock hard nugs off that plant. It proved to me that defoliation works, at least for that strain, in the extreme.
I won't go caveman on these, but some major trimming is in the offing, starting tomorrow. Pics to follow then.
Regards

 

[surfguitar]

Can't argue with those results

Looking forward to some updates!

 

[ydijadoit]

Well, here we are at the end of week 4.. This strain is enough to drive a man to drink. (More, that is)
Last time I ran it, it did something weird, and the clones were stunted, as far as rooting. The plants grew very nicely, but were fairly small, with almost zero stretch. Made my last attempt at SCROG look a little foolish. This time, no such problem. These things have exploded into a bushy mess. Exactly what I have been trying to avoid!
I just trimmed a pile of fan leaves off, as much as I dared for one day. This got some more light into the canopy, but I will have to keep doing it, a little at a time.
One disadvantage I have found in my setup, that I foolishly hadn't considered, is access.
I have a wide open door on the front of my cab, but can't contort my self to the back plants very well. If you are thinking of building a cab like this, and have the room, take the extra hours and $50, and build yourself side and rear access doors!
My cab is tucked into a corner, so I can't do that, but it sure would be nice.
When I ran this cab with soil, life was easier, as I could move things around. A fixed hydro system eliminates that option.
I'm getting signs of a toxicity, or deficiency, or???
I studied the plant problem pictures, but I always wind up thinking "OK, it looks like that one, a little." Then I scroll down, and go "Damn, what if it's that one?". I got frustrated, as usual, so I figured I'd throw some pics up, and see if any of you know what this is. Where the discoloration is on the leaves, they are crispy and brittle. I have had some very minor tip burn this run, but this is the first bad news to effect the entire leaf.
Most leaves look fine, and the problem seems to be dispersed randomly up and down the plant.
The only known mistake I have made, was spraying Actinovate on them, without letting it dry completely, before lights on. Any help would be appreciated!
I will start a thread in the plant problems section, using the proper format, also.
Stay tuned, these are gonna be monster colas, if I can keep mold at bay!
Regards.

 

[ydijadoit]

The pictures...

 

[ydijadoit]

Couple more...