Dual 150w Stealth Cab Build + First Grow (Pics)

Keep the faith Bork. Once you have your setup dialed in, the construction will stop and you'll be a regular in the "Grow Diaries" section. At that point, this will all be a great tale to share with trusted friends over a sticky bowl.

You are determined to succeed so you will. Can't wait to see your first harvest. You will be rewarded for all your efforts. Is the brother-in-law (???) / Niagara trip buddy having any success? Maybe you can USPS some clones to each other in the cooler months.

Nice choice of fans. Those S&P's rock.

Best wishes.

CoonHunter said:

LST looks good and your setup is very interesting. Im going to keep an eye on the thread.
Great read and see..

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Glad to have you along, and thanks, I'm very happy with the LST results so far, and I can't wait to see what it will look like in full flower.

GMT said:

Hi Bork, One tip, I can see one problem with your cloning method straight off, too much light. A clone just can't handle that much light as it hasn't got a root system to feed it the sugars that it'll try to use when given enough light for a small plant to grow nicely. For clones I use a 12w cfl around 8 inches away, and that'll clone many cuttings around it.

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THANK YOU! I'm guessing I can get the same effect by just putting them off to the side? Because I can't build another cab, lol. My method of cutting was flawed too. I'm going to try again, but I don't know if I'll bother with this first batch, I'm eager to put them into flower. But we will see.

igrowwitmatches said:

too bad about the first cab it was looking really nice. could you comment more about the two fans and how much noise/air they produce/move in respect of comparason, not numbers, also the size of your first cab and how much the filter reduced flow. would really like to know because ventalation is a bitch... as previosly mentioned ... i will keep watching to see how this unfolds

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First cab is still here, up and running. It's just a veg cab now though, instead of both veg and flower.

As for the fans....You are absolutely right, ventilation is a Bitch with a capital B....and the S&P TD-100...simply doesn't cut the mustard...And I have two of them

I don't think the next step up will either. It just doesn't move enough air (and keep in mind the size of this cabinet, and that i'm only running T5's) to keep the cab cool enough. I'm about 7-8 degrees over ambient with the lights on, in the shade of the canopy, hotter in the light. I don't think that's acceptable. In the medium to long term, I will be switching fans on this cab, AND re-doing intake.

They are not as quiet as when I first turned them on, which doesn't bode well. And they would need insulated ducting to be silent (which I have, and will be installing at some point in the future).

Putting a single layer of carbon air-conditioner "smell remover" filter material (which is NOT thick, and very porous) on EITHER the intake or venting fans was enough to raise temps several degrees more and fuck up the negative pressure in the cab.

It's just not powerful enough, and at first I thought it was

K.J said:

Hang in there Bork! We too had many of our own issues and things didn't quite turn out the way we thought we had planned them, but in the end it looks like we'll still have a good harvest of medicine as payback. Just study these boards as much as you can, ask lots of questions, take lots of good advice where it can be found and you'll come out on the other side a happy gardener.

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I am hanging, and shall continue to do so. With inspiration like your grow, and all the info on these boards, you know....I can already taste that first harvest.

Random said:

Keep the faith Bork. Once you have your setup dialed in, the construction will stop and you'll be a regular in the "Grow Diaries" section. At that point, this will all be a great tale to share with trusted friends over a sticky bowl.

You are determined to succeed so you will. Can't wait to see your first harvest. You will be rewarded for all your efforts. Is the brother-in-law (???) / Niagara trip buddy having any success? Maybe you can USPS some clones to each other in the cooler months.

Nice choice of fans. Those S&P's rock.

Best wishes.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Things are going .... interestingly for him as well, That's another story alltogether.

Unfortunately, I had to recant my earlier positive review of the fans, however.

---

Brief update / pics: Said I wasn't gonna do this before 100% operation, but I have to, cause I'm stoked again, so on with the show.



Here you see one of the top performers on the B-Team so far at Day 39, Mango x Bubblegum. I try to do the training before watering if possible.

Here are only two members of the C-Team at Day 35. Both are mystery South African seeds, both look like nice, stocky Indica's, in my amateur opinion.

South African Mama getting transplanted into 3 gallon pot.

The effects of nothing but water for a week + being pretty severely rootbound (she's looking better now)?

I'm HOPING HOPING HOPING this will be my G13 x Hawaaiian Butterscotch Mommy! She fricken STINKS, and is squat, broad, beautiful, just the pheno I read to look for!!!

Compare that to this scrawny weakling. Should I even bother keeping this alive?

------

So two days after I took those pictures, I took out that G13xHB I said I wanted to be a keeper, and it's got friggen dingleberries all over!!!



Damnit all to hell. I immediately removed and pulled him. Don't have any place to keep a dad....them was some good genes too.

Anyways, that got me to thinking tho...that plant was only like 40 days old, and then had very clearly defined boy parts. I've also read that boys show sex, in general, earlier than girls. In short, I'm hoping this means good news for the rest of my crop.

Unfortunately, this leaves me without any attractive looking GxH at all I think I still have a few of those seeds left...maybe I'll save those and give them another shot down the road and forget it for now....because....

THE A-TEAM MANGO X BUBBLEGUM FINALLY SHOWED, AND IT'S A SHE! I sat down with my jeweler's loupe and started staring and staring and examening and examening....and the same thing happened to me again, all of a sudden, boom, I see a hair! And immediately, now I see hairs all over that I couldn't make out just 10 seconds earlier, lol.

So somehow, someway, after the fucking neem oil disaster and everything, they are both girls! I'm so stoked, and I've got a few other good looking plants coming up too.

All in all, things are good. Box for the big fan is getting built, and WILL be mounted and installed next Tuesday / Wednesday, and by Wednesday night at the latest (I hope), I'll be putting these into 12/12!!!! As a rough estimate, that would put harvest in the mid August range, I'm guessing, but realistically, I have no clue.

At that point, they'll be 68 days old since planting, so they should...wow...they'll probably get pretty big, huh?

Oh, and P.S....planning a trip to Amsterdam with friends, just because I want to god damnit. Possibly August, hopefully October.

Oh, and p.p.s..I found the pistils on MxB after I transplanted it as well, and boy, it was rootbound worse than the S.A, which I have named "BurnOne Einsten", for the soil recipe, and for the disaster.

Here are both the mama's in their new, big pots.


Bork

I feel you on the construction man. It's not for everybody. I tried one cab, then another and now working on a tent.

Good luck from here on out!!

Welcome aboard growMEDS, catching up on your journal now!

So it's been a while now, and boy do I have a tale to tell.

First: FRAK YOU, VENTILATION! FRAK YOU SOUTHERN FRAKING HEAT! FRAAAAAK YOOOOOOU!

/'breathes

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. See, thanks to this grow op, I've now nearly lost my life! Well, that might be dramatizing things just a -little-.

I broke my toe. Yes, that's right, I broke my toe. But I'm getting way ahead of myself.

First off, here's what I'm currently smoking. First impression when I grabbed the bag and looked at the buds: HOLY SHIT!

Second impression, after smelling them: WHAT THE FRAK IS THIS SHIT!?




They smell absolutely terrible...I don't know how to describe it, except, not good. Kind of rotten, I guess. They don't taste as bad as they smell, but they don't taste good either. It's smokeable, but it takes a lot to get it done, and while the buds were huge, they were airy as hell.

/shakes head

Can not fucking WAIT until harvest, if I ever get there alive.

Here is the male G13xHB that I had to pull, check out the roots. I think these plants are a-ok with the soil and nutrients. This was a STRONG sonofabitch, and I wish it had been a she, but there would have been a HUGE odor problem in that veg cab.





Here are both of the A-Team Girls (Now, officially, Burn One Einstein South Afrikaaaaan, and Mango x Bubblegum #1) at day #67.




Here is the second Mango x Bubblegum that I'm desperately hoping is a girl. Top performer on the B-Team, and should be showing sex any day now.




Now onto the Secret Jardin, which is now...I think....100% ready to go! Correct me if I'm wrong.

Here is the connection from the filter to the exhaust. I am not convinced that I was supposed to use 6" ducting with this tent, lol...I fracking struggled for what seemed like forever getting the intake and exhaust ducting through, hahaha. I'm very surprised that the tent didn't rip, actually, A+ for construction.



Here is the phat 6 x 16 filter.



Light, with clip on fan! Hope this works (and it seems like it will!)



Top exterior, exhaust ducting + Galaxy 250w Digital Ballast



Exhaust going into ceiling



Double intakes with jiggarigged filters.





A-Team girls on day.....umpteen....no, just day #74, lol.



I added elevator type lifts on the upper portion, makes adjusting the light height a breeze. Good purchase, unfortunately the econowing reflector is too light for them to work on the HPS



So, that's the flower tent. 100%, like I said....so why are my girls still vegging? (BTW, two more confirmed girls! Both of the additional South African plants show girliy girl parts. They've been named "Kiwi Noir" and "Ice Queen", respectively.

So yeah, why aren't the girls in the flower cab you ask?!

Because ventilation fraking sucks, that's why.

I've been waiting on my contractor, because I seriously needed his help, and I had been travelling. Everything was delayed. But he got my fan box built to spec, and because my entry into my aforementioned "crawlspace" is so fraking small, the box had to be disassembled, and re-assembled INSIDE the crawlspace. Even then, there isn't enough room to rotate the fucker!

Not to mention the fact that the box doesn't do enough to help!!! THESE FANS ARE F'ING LOUD, DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU ANY DIFFERENT!!!!

UGH!

And don't give me that "it's the rushing air" BS, cause it ain't, it's the fraking fan! Ecoplus 6in...geeebus.

On the upside, with the box on, up in the attic, with the entrance closed, it is NEARLY acceptable. The sound isn't -too- bad, but it is noticeable, and out of place.

I used silicon putty in a jar to make some rubber feet for it (HAHAHAHA NO ROOM TO HANG IT FROM FRAKING BUNGEES, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *FALLS OVER DEAD OF FRAKING HILARITY*), oh, there's yet another thing that smells so bad it nearly makes me yack. Let that cure outside for a few hours before bringing it back in. Hopefully that helps.

Also sprayed in some of the expanding foam. As a last resort, I may either fill up the box with this shit, either that, or fiberglass. Going to do a DIY muffler as well, but it's not nearly as urgent, because the actual air exhaust doesn't sound too bad.



Here is the ducting leading off into the scary dark towards the closet. Not a lot of headroom. Like 2 feet in the center, I think.



The sound in the room / tent is minimal, very happy with that. I bought some duct sleeves as well that I may try in there as well. Definately going to put doors on the closet now, which will take care of what little noise there is. Veggie cab will be moving into the closet as well.


Oh shit, I nearly forgot to tell my tale of nearly fraking dying for this grow. My bad.

So I'm standiing on top of this crappy ladder, upper half of my body in the attic, wrestling with the fraking muffle-box, trying to get it turned around, having it completely wedged stuck, slammed my hand (still smarts), when all of a sudden, WHOOPS, clank goes the ladder, and I start falling.

Keep in mind, both my hands are holding the fucking box when I start slipping/falling.

I let go of the box and manage to slow my descent, scraping and bruising the fuck out of my arms as I dump out onto the floor, feet first, and hard onto the tile.

First thought: I didn't land on my head, yay!
Second thought: OhfuckIbrokebothfeet!

After I hobble for ice and get on the couch, I decide I broke my right big toe, and a bone in my left foot. Shortly therafter I decide no, my left foot may be ok, but my right big toe is definatley broken.

When my neighbor saw it later, he disagreed. But today you can definately tell, it's broken, hahaha. It's all blue and purple and red and not bendy.

GARHARKAHFBNB!@!N

Daddy's had enough, and just wants to smoke.

REALLY really really really REALLY can't wait for all this constructionizing to be done with, and to just be growing. Sigh.

So, in short, right now, I still can't run the system (though i've run all parts, and it's all working).

Going to let the foam and the silicone cure until tomorrow. Tomorrow night I will try the fan again. HOPEFULLY it will be quiet enough at that point that I can run it. Even if it's not ideal, I have a Variac on it's way, and should be here in a few days. The filter needs the fan about 40 rpm's slower than it's rated. If the temps can handle me running it at 75% or so, I will, and hopefully THAT will be enough to keep it quiet enough.

This has been a real struggle of a long weekend, and my toe fraking hurts.

Waah.

On the plus side, I'm guessing these ladies are going to be HUGE, and crowd control will be an issue in the tent. I am debating what to do. Letting some grow outdoors is a possibility.

That's all I've got in me at the moment. That should keep you busy for a while.

Yer quite the engineer BorkBorkBork! And yer taking care of business. I loved the cabinet. Wish I had one of those but it looks expensive.

Nice update man!

Just a small update.

Going full bore with the expando-foam in the box. Also have found hope that I -might- be able to hang in by bungee after all (just barely)


I also updated my spreadsheet (which I have been putting off, for obvious reasons). Keep in mind, this includes everything I could find a receipt for, and stuff that I could think of, but I think it's very accurate, maybe a few dollars short of actual cost. It includes cost of seeds, dirt.....EVERYTHING but electricity and water costs

$3618.57
I think I'm doing it wrong.

wow they looken super super great.

whered it all go?

the money that is

Cheese, thanks for taking a look!

sleepyrz said:

whered it all go?

the money that is

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I wish I could tell you....

That's right, I can!

The big expenses were:

Seeds: $350
4 in Fans: $160
T5 x 2: $244
Filter + fan: $330
250w light setup: $250

The big ticket items I listed only add up to: $1334

The rest of the list just adds up quickly on supplies, nutrients, soil, panda film, screws, nails, some tools, etc. Just...stuff.

A -lot- of it I used horribly inefficiently, so I had to buy 2, 3, or 4 of that item, when one or two would have been enough if I knew what the frak I was doing. It also includes some item

The good news is that I think I have everything I need for at LEAST two or three harvests, possibly more. This includes all the soil and nutrients I will need, and an extra HPS bulb.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

/yet another slow, triumphant fist pump

The tent is OPERATIONAL!

I've spent aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall frakking evening up in the attic, screwing down straps, and attaching bungies, and balancing, and generally trying not to kill myself.

In short, at the moment, the fan situation is rated as: good fucking enough for now.

It's all expando-foamed in, enclosed, and supported by bungies, and it's quiet enough that I feel I can run it tonight while the house is empty, so I can dry-run the tent and make sure the temps are ok

/crosses every single finger and toe

If they're not, I'll probably hang myself.

Tomorrow, the Variac gets here, and that should take it from "good fucking enough for now" to "good enough".

Tomorrow, I am going to move the A-Team into the tent, and kill the light for 24-36 hours, then they go on 12/12 under the HPS! And not a moment too frakking soon, jebus h christ on a popsicle stick, this has SUCKED BALLS!

There's still a -lot- of work left to do at this point, but I am finally what I would consider "in production".

Some of the things that need to be done are to do a little bit of a patch job on the veg cabinet. This will only be a bandaid, as my medium range plans at this point are to enclose the closet, put locking doors on it, and most likely construct a new veg cab for the closet. This will dedicate the closet to the herb, and I will, ironically, need to get a new wardrobe to put my clothes in, lol.

Oh, and drying will (hopefully) be a few months out, and that needs to be taken into consideration at this point. My plan on that is still to convert one of the bedside drawers into a drying cab.

I'm just stoked that I think I'm 99% there, and I'll be able to get the big girls out of the cab tomorrow, which will give me the room to transplant the B and C team girls, since they DESPERATELY need it.

Good to hear you got the tent working man!

What's your reasoning for the 24-36 dark before going to 12/12? Haven't heard it before.

$3618.57

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holy crap
However I understand completely about costs piling up little by little until large amount. And it is good to see you're 99% done, you have a ton of work into this project.

growMEDS said:

Good to hear you got the tent working man!

What's your reasoning for the 24-36 dark before going to 12/12? Haven't heard it before.

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Several places, including Jorge's book, and most recently, I just read a thread today full of people praising the technique of 24-48 hours of dark before starting 12/12. It's supposed to kickstart the flowering.

nnnnghhhhgnnngh said:

holy crap
However I understand completely about costs piling up little by little until large amount. And it is good to see you're 99% done, you have a ton of work into this project.

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Yeah, when you look at it as a whole, it makes you say "holy shit", but, like you said, the little stuff just piles up. A bunch of $20, $30, $100 items, ya know.

The real bitch is that almost every dollar was paid in cash, because I'm a paranoid android.

Fortunately, just covering my personal smoke, it will still pay for itself in around 6 months. Daddy smokes lots of 'spensive meds.

But yeah...it kind of makes me pucker up my sphincter and utter your username.

Everything is looking super duper man, keep up the great work!

hey bork

hey bork

hey man i like your set ups, i see that you have run into some temperature issues as well. i was wondering if u could check out my grow cab and gimme some suggestions because im running out of ideas, any help would be greatly appreciated

im pullin up a seat

Just finished reading thread again.

Not many people invest literally blood, sweat and tears into this project.

Well, blood and sweat are documented. But you can tell us if you cried a little bit. Manly tears.

RadaRada said:

hey man i like your set ups, i see that you have run into some temperature issues as well. i was wondering if u could check out my grow cab and gimme some suggestions because im running out of ideas, any help would be greatly appreciated

im pullin up a seat

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Hey bro, thanks for watching.

I took a look, and I'll be glad to give you some advice, but that redgreenery dude seems to know his ventilation shit!

InRainbows727 said:

Everything is looking super duper man, keep up the great work!

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Thanks, and nice username, that's one of my heaviest rotation albums of the last year (yes I even paid for it).

nnnnghhhhgnnngh said:

Just finished reading thread again.

Not many people invest literally blood, sweat and tears into this project.

Well, blood and sweat are documented. But you can tell us if you cried a little bit. Manly tears.

Click to expand...

I did. A little bit. It wasn't even very manly.

I don't remember if I updated on the toe or not, but it wasn't actually even broken either cause I can bend it (I'm such a sissy), but I'm also hoping I didn't permanently damage it.

It's still kind of swollen, and I can't really 'do' anything with it, like use it to take the sock off my other foot, and trying to step into a shoe without using both hands and shit is waaay too painful to even think about.....

.....should I go on bellyaching, or have we all had enough?

UPDATE TIME BITCHES (and hos)!

Good news/bad news here folks.

Good first:

I <3 my fucking secret jardin so much I could cry even more un-manly tears.

The fan has yet to burst into flames, and is somewhat quazi-suspended from bungies and braced with silicone enough that you have to be right near/under it and know what you are listening for to hear it.

Operation I Can't Believe It's Fucking Working is in full production mode (well, 90%, since it's not perpetual yet)!

I've got good weed again.

Plants are healthy.


The Bad News:

IT'S GETTING FRAKING CROWDED IN HERE!




Fortunately, my goal is variety, not yeild, but I can already tell how hard this is going to be to manage.

Once I put them under 12/12, the MxB started STREEEEEEEEETCHING like a mofo, going CRAZY, and I've had to do some major, major (to me anyways) trimming of lower shit on both the A-Team girls so it doesn't just rot under there.

Even so, it kinda feels like I should trim a lot more.

I'm going to have to get my hands on a better camera for some better plant shots, so maybe I can get some advice on it.

MxB#1 has also gotten some major chiropractic work and is now twisted like a pretzel.

Anyways, the two A-Team girls would honestly, probably be enough for the tent. A couple of things became a factor though:

• I am predicting that the Mango x Bubblegum is going to be a slow finishing Sativa. This is just my amateur guessnostication.
• Kiwi Noir started really, really, smelling. Since I can't filter the veg cabinet with the fan I have, all I can do is use Ona, and it does NOT do the job. Plus she is beautiful, and I don't want her to get too big and unwieldy before I flower her.
• I ran out of prepped organic soil, so I had to report Ice Queen in a small container. Want to see what effect flowering in such a small container will have on the final result.

So, in went Kiwi Noir (looks like an Indica, like B1E) in a 3 gallon pot, and Ice Queen (appears to be a Sativa, like MxB) in a 1 gallon pot.

I received the Variac speed controller, and connected it, and if I remember correctly, I have the fan running on something like 60-70 volts, which made it quiet enough to run.

Even at this speed, the tent is maintaining great negative pressure, and is keeping the canopy temp at 4-6 degrees over ambient! Even with filters on the intakes!

/does a happy dance

The Phat filter seems to be doing it's job admirably, no complaints at all so far. Especially now, with Kiwi Noir in there, the dank stank is starting to hit me in the face when I unzip the door.

In case you hadn't noticed, I kinda just went on and on with good news, pretty much.

Now for the not so good news:


My clothes need to come out of the closet, like yesterday.

Ironically, I now need a wardrobe, JUST like the one I destroyed to turn into a grow box which didn't work well. I don't think it's salvegable at this point.....it's pretty tore up. I'll be keeping my eyes open for a deal.

I need to spend more $$$.

Well, "need" might be a strong word. By "need" I mean "really should". Here's what I'm thinking.

Get another DR-60 or similar tent. Install a small two level wire-rack, and mount the T5's. Use the out-take from that tent as the intake to the flower ten, crank up the fan a notch if need be, and voila!

This would also allow me to enclose the closet, and install a locking door, having EVERYTHING contained within, and re-claiming the rest of my room, and bring my paranoia level waaaaaay down, as everything would be passing through the industrial strength carbon filter.

So, I think I'm looking at something like....$200 more in expenses or so. Well, that, plus the cost of the framing/doors/locks and crap is probably AT LEAST $200 more on top of that.

/sigh

It will probably wait for at least a few weeks.

Oh, and I meant it when I said it's crowded in that tent, cause it's crowded in that fraking tent, lol. I don't know how this is going to turn out...it's going to be wooly, that's for sure.

HAND WATERING IS FOR THE BIRDS! Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. I need to find a way more elegant solution than what I am doing right now.

Gardening in general is taking too much of my free time. This little project, combined with my regular house work has left me with too many 1 or 2 am nights before I can even think about hitting the hay.

Work is crazy, and has involved (and will continue to involve) a lot of travel for the foreseeable future.

In general, I'm burning the candle at both ends. It's now midnight, and I should be doing a lot more, but I'm wrecked, and going to bed shortly, relatively early for once.

Oh, I'd taken a bunch of individual plant shots, but they managed to get zapped in the process of me unplugging my thumbdrive or something, and I was too lazy to take them all back out again tonight. Here are a couple of shots I did take tonight tho.

This is Kiwi Noir (from last night, actually...I think..I don't know, I'm so friggen tired )




And this is the closest thing to bud-porn I have so far, lol. It's the main top of the Burn One Einstein plant.




I'll take some more pictures when watering this weekend.

Peace

Lookin nice and crowded! Tents look good that way

Plants are looking great, BorkBorkBork. Keep up the good work!

Thanks guys.

Little round of pics.



Ice Queen - 12/12 Day 4

Mango x Bubblegum #2, Day 67 since planting, STILL NOT SHOWING SEX!

Tent

Ice Queen, Day 5

Mango x Bubblegum #1, Day 9 of 12/12

Burn One Einstein, Day 9 of 12/12

B1E has a SERIOUS stem

Tent tonight

=)

I think I see boy parts on MxB#2, and I'm kind of hoping it is, so I can pull it and put that cab out of commission for the time being.


Should know for certain soon, but I've been saying that for weeks.

Really need to upgrade my camera.