KolorBlind
Member
High again ICMag lurkers and members!!
I am somewhat settled into my house and I have chosen a closet worthy of becoming my next grow room. I have decided to break down and purchase a 250w HPS to flower with, as well as 4x42w 6500K CFLs to help out in my veg/mom/clone area. The strain I will be using can only be described as an Apollo11 "mutt" or sorts. Long story short, they are seeds from a grow outdoors involving multiple Spice Bros. strains, the bulk of them being a delicious Apollo11 cross.
I had 16 total seeds left, and of the last 6 I planted I only got 1 female so I decided all or nothing here, and germinated all 16. 2 of them would not develop tap roots more than about 2mm long and once planted, never surfaced so I have 14 beauties left. They are all 23-24 days old and still currently in veg. I sort of jumped the gun on this run, as I usually do, so things are really pieced together and rigged up at the moment. Please excuse the crudity of my setup, I am really quite embarassed.
In fact, the only reason I am starting a log finally is to give me some motivation to work on my setup as needed. See, I have foud that grow logs are excellent for many things. One of which being the demand for more pictures and updates. I always like to try and contribute something with my updates and pictures in general, so hopefully if there is any demand for more, it will inspire me to continue making improvements
I only have a few pictures at this point, but Ill go ahead and share what I have with some descriptions. First off, i snapped a picture of the closet before and after i raised the top shelf. I plan to make the lower section where you would hang clothes the flower chamber, and the middle shelf the veg chamber. The top shelf will be used for power strips, 250w HPS Ballast, timers, etc. Eventually I will enclose the veg chamber in with a panda film roll down door attached with velcro. I plan to use a pull down light blocker shade for the "door" to the flower chamber. It will not be light tight but as long as the veg chamber and closet door are it wont matter.
Before
After raising the top shelf. Originally there was only 15" between the 2 shelves, I raised the shelf 8" giving me a total of 23" of height to work with.
The dimensions of my grow "cabs" are as follows:
Veg/Mom/Clone (LxWxH): 43.5" x 15" x 28"
Flower (LxWxH): 43.5" x 17.5" x 59"
The light, hood & hangars with the light int he top position occupy the top 8" of the flower cab. I will be growing in 3gal grow bags measuring 13" in height giving me a total of 38" or 3'2" from the top of the soil to the bulb. That should be a very doable height restriction.
Considering I started germinating the seeds before I even finished moving into my house, I had to make due with what I had and rig things up later. I started all of them out in my old reliable cab I made out of my wifes old 2 door walmart cab under 8 23w 6500K CFLs. Here are some pictures of their time spent in the cab.
I consider this day 1 for the whole bunch, even though only about 6 are poking through the surface. Its hard to tell int he picture, but the 6 on the left side are all barely above soil. The date was 12/19/09.
4 days later all but 2 have sprouted and are after those CFLs like white on rice! The 2 on the left are the ones that never surfaced
At 1 week most are starting their 2nd set of leaves and some their 3rd. All looking mighty healthy.
OK, now here is where I really hit a snag. Well....more like a few snags. When you live somewhere that the only local options for growing supplies are Walmart and Home Depot things get pretty hairy around winter time in the lawn & garden departments. My local nursery stopped carrying Sunshine mix till spring time so I have had to settle with my own mix of Miracle Grow Organic, Perlite, Peat Moss & Blood Meal. So far it has worked great, but I still prefer the sunshine mix for its lack of nutes and for the fact that I dont need to add peat moss to it. Also, I only had nine 6" pots and everywhere that sells them here is out. I will eventually buy some nice 6x6x8 square pots for vegging, but for now 5 of my ladies are STILL in 16oz cups.
I simply rigged a couple porcelain fixtures and Y adapters up in the back of the cab. i think eventually I will install them in the top of the "ceiling" of the cab but I am worried about height restrictions. I still have all my plants on a couple laptop boxes raising them 4.5" off the shelf, so I may be alright moving the bulbs to the ceiling.
Here they are at 9 days old, 9 of them in new 6" pots and 5 still hanging on in their 16oz cups. My 42w CFLs still hadn't arrived so i was using a conglomeration of Y adapters and 23w CFLs.
At 17 days old they have grown nicely and are looking very healthy. Even the ones in the cups have shot up quite a bit. The biggest challenge was turning them at least once a day as most want to grow more over than up due to the odd light placement.
Here is a shot I took just before posting this at day 24. The tallest one it the one front and center, standing a nice 9.5" tall. The ones in the cups are looking good, but not great. They all have some brown edges on most lower laves and even some new growth. I imagine its form being in that crap soil mix in such small containers for so long. I whole heart-idly expect them to make a splended recovery once transplanting to 3gal grow bags. I also got my 42w CFLs in finally.
I am ready to make the switch to 12/12.....well at least emotionally I am. Physically I have been somewhat of a .... oh what are the words....oh yes, lazy ass, that's it! I need to get 14 3gal grow bags ready for transplant and I have never used them before. They have holes on the sides near the bottom, but none actually in the bottom of the bags. Is this normal? Should I punch a few holes in the bottom of each bag?
I had a great friend that also used to be an electrician hook me up with a recepticle in the ceiling of the closet, as well as one up in the attic directly above the closet. I will hook my S&P TD-100x 100/135Cfm fan up in the attic and hang it with bungee cords. This way the fan will hopefully not be noticeable form inside the house. Previously I had been running an extension cord under the closet door and needless to say that wasnt going to fly for long. I have drilled a 4" hole in the ceiling and its all I can do now to keep the temps above 70F. Soon, under the 250HPS, it should be better.
So thats about it for now. I am so glad to be back in action. This hobby is 1,000 times more addictive than the drug ever could be, and I have been needing my fix BADLY!! I always appreciate any comments or criticism, just dont troll my log please. If you dont have something kind or constructive to say, please just continue to lurk.
If anyone has any interest in my previous grow, I grew out 8 Diesel Ryders in a gutted mini fridge using a single 150w HPS. The results were more than I even hoped for honestly, but the smell of the strain and size restriction lead me to a larger space this time around. The link is in my signature.
Peace
KB
I am somewhat settled into my house and I have chosen a closet worthy of becoming my next grow room. I have decided to break down and purchase a 250w HPS to flower with, as well as 4x42w 6500K CFLs to help out in my veg/mom/clone area. The strain I will be using can only be described as an Apollo11 "mutt" or sorts. Long story short, they are seeds from a grow outdoors involving multiple Spice Bros. strains, the bulk of them being a delicious Apollo11 cross.
I had 16 total seeds left, and of the last 6 I planted I only got 1 female so I decided all or nothing here, and germinated all 16. 2 of them would not develop tap roots more than about 2mm long and once planted, never surfaced so I have 14 beauties left. They are all 23-24 days old and still currently in veg. I sort of jumped the gun on this run, as I usually do, so things are really pieced together and rigged up at the moment. Please excuse the crudity of my setup, I am really quite embarassed.
In fact, the only reason I am starting a log finally is to give me some motivation to work on my setup as needed. See, I have foud that grow logs are excellent for many things. One of which being the demand for more pictures and updates. I always like to try and contribute something with my updates and pictures in general, so hopefully if there is any demand for more, it will inspire me to continue making improvements
I only have a few pictures at this point, but Ill go ahead and share what I have with some descriptions. First off, i snapped a picture of the closet before and after i raised the top shelf. I plan to make the lower section where you would hang clothes the flower chamber, and the middle shelf the veg chamber. The top shelf will be used for power strips, 250w HPS Ballast, timers, etc. Eventually I will enclose the veg chamber in with a panda film roll down door attached with velcro. I plan to use a pull down light blocker shade for the "door" to the flower chamber. It will not be light tight but as long as the veg chamber and closet door are it wont matter.
Before
After raising the top shelf. Originally there was only 15" between the 2 shelves, I raised the shelf 8" giving me a total of 23" of height to work with.
The dimensions of my grow "cabs" are as follows:
Veg/Mom/Clone (LxWxH): 43.5" x 15" x 28"
Flower (LxWxH): 43.5" x 17.5" x 59"
The light, hood & hangars with the light int he top position occupy the top 8" of the flower cab. I will be growing in 3gal grow bags measuring 13" in height giving me a total of 38" or 3'2" from the top of the soil to the bulb. That should be a very doable height restriction.
Considering I started germinating the seeds before I even finished moving into my house, I had to make due with what I had and rig things up later. I started all of them out in my old reliable cab I made out of my wifes old 2 door walmart cab under 8 23w 6500K CFLs. Here are some pictures of their time spent in the cab.
I consider this day 1 for the whole bunch, even though only about 6 are poking through the surface. Its hard to tell int he picture, but the 6 on the left side are all barely above soil. The date was 12/19/09.
4 days later all but 2 have sprouted and are after those CFLs like white on rice! The 2 on the left are the ones that never surfaced
At 1 week most are starting their 2nd set of leaves and some their 3rd. All looking mighty healthy.
OK, now here is where I really hit a snag. Well....more like a few snags. When you live somewhere that the only local options for growing supplies are Walmart and Home Depot things get pretty hairy around winter time in the lawn & garden departments. My local nursery stopped carrying Sunshine mix till spring time so I have had to settle with my own mix of Miracle Grow Organic, Perlite, Peat Moss & Blood Meal. So far it has worked great, but I still prefer the sunshine mix for its lack of nutes and for the fact that I dont need to add peat moss to it. Also, I only had nine 6" pots and everywhere that sells them here is out. I will eventually buy some nice 6x6x8 square pots for vegging, but for now 5 of my ladies are STILL in 16oz cups.
I simply rigged a couple porcelain fixtures and Y adapters up in the back of the cab. i think eventually I will install them in the top of the "ceiling" of the cab but I am worried about height restrictions. I still have all my plants on a couple laptop boxes raising them 4.5" off the shelf, so I may be alright moving the bulbs to the ceiling.
Here they are at 9 days old, 9 of them in new 6" pots and 5 still hanging on in their 16oz cups. My 42w CFLs still hadn't arrived so i was using a conglomeration of Y adapters and 23w CFLs.
At 17 days old they have grown nicely and are looking very healthy. Even the ones in the cups have shot up quite a bit. The biggest challenge was turning them at least once a day as most want to grow more over than up due to the odd light placement.
Here is a shot I took just before posting this at day 24. The tallest one it the one front and center, standing a nice 9.5" tall. The ones in the cups are looking good, but not great. They all have some brown edges on most lower laves and even some new growth. I imagine its form being in that crap soil mix in such small containers for so long. I whole heart-idly expect them to make a splended recovery once transplanting to 3gal grow bags. I also got my 42w CFLs in finally.
I am ready to make the switch to 12/12.....well at least emotionally I am. Physically I have been somewhat of a .... oh what are the words....oh yes, lazy ass, that's it! I need to get 14 3gal grow bags ready for transplant and I have never used them before. They have holes on the sides near the bottom, but none actually in the bottom of the bags. Is this normal? Should I punch a few holes in the bottom of each bag?
I had a great friend that also used to be an electrician hook me up with a recepticle in the ceiling of the closet, as well as one up in the attic directly above the closet. I will hook my S&P TD-100x 100/135Cfm fan up in the attic and hang it with bungee cords. This way the fan will hopefully not be noticeable form inside the house. Previously I had been running an extension cord under the closet door and needless to say that wasnt going to fly for long. I have drilled a 4" hole in the ceiling and its all I can do now to keep the temps above 70F. Soon, under the 250HPS, it should be better.
So thats about it for now. I am so glad to be back in action. This hobby is 1,000 times more addictive than the drug ever could be, and I have been needing my fix BADLY!! I always appreciate any comments or criticism, just dont troll my log please. If you dont have something kind or constructive to say, please just continue to lurk.
If anyone has any interest in my previous grow, I grew out 8 Diesel Ryders in a gutted mini fridge using a single 150w HPS. The results were more than I even hoped for honestly, but the smell of the strain and size restriction lead me to a larger space this time around. The link is in my signature.
Peace
KB