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"Pirates Cave" (and a Perpetual Sea Of Green)

Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
Ahoy there Scallywags !!!

Welcome to "Pirates Cave". (A 9000 Watt Perpetual SOG)

Here's were we are going...........Now read the whole thing to see how we get here !!!!!!!
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OK.........for those still wanting to go for a ride..............Here we go...........
I've been lurking about for a little over a year now. Some of you know me, some of you don't.(well, not really know me but you know what I mean) I consider all of you my friends (until I get double crossed and then..........watch out !!!)............ AAAAARRRRRRR !!!

Anyway, Lets get on with it shall we?

Ive been running a SOG for a couple years now and I thought it would be fun to share it with you all. I started in a small closet in a townhouse and it was so much fun that I decided to move to a larger home with a bit more room for expansion. I was stunned when I found a place (the very first place I looked at) way up in the mountains with good privacy, a little bit of land and an outbuilding that had a back storage room. My mind went wild with the possibilities.

Here's what we got:
An outbuilding that is 30 feet long x 13 feet wide. has its own electrical panel, water a propane heater. A portion of the building was walled off in the back that was 9' x 13' with a 12 foot peaked roof. (I'll draw a schematic for ya later) The back room had a private entrance on the outside of the building. I closed that door off and concealed it. Now there was no way to get into the back room. From inside or outside.........you would never guess there is another room there.

My brother KNEW there was a grow room here but could not even find it. I eventually had to show him "The Cave"

With no way into the back room I needed to create a secret passage way for access. Here is my solution:

Standing in the workshop area you see these storage shelves packed with crap and tools:

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One of them has wheels attached for swinging out:

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Here is the entrance door to "The Cave" I cut into the back wall of the workshop behind the shelving:Everything is insulated for sound proofing, stealth and climate control.

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Wipe your feet please !!

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This is "Pirates Cave". Please.........Come on in:

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I am under construction AGAIN so my Mothers aren't their normal size. I wanted to swap out strains and am in the middle of a transition. I recently got rid of my big mommies (flowered some of em. I'll show ya later) to make room for the new ones.

Current Strains: Serious AK47, Mandala Speed Queen & Satori, A cross I made called Berry OG which is a (Hashberry x OG Kush), and finally an SR-71 cut Purple Kush.

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Here is an older shot with a full mother cab:Most of these where cloned and then killed or flowered. (bloom room later in thread)

Old mothers:

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Lets continue the tour:


Standing in the entrance to "The Cave" you see this:
Lower section = Mothers with 800 watts of light. 1 MH & 1 HPS (400W each)
Upper Left = Pre-Flower area (1 - 400 watt MH on a mover)
Upper Right = Clone Shelf ( holds 200 clones in rooter trays, Floros light and heat mats)
Ventilation is a 8 inch Vortex sucking from the Pre-Flower. I have the air traveling from the mother cab, through the clone cab and out the Preflower where the vortex is mounted. It then exhausts outside. I do not need odor control at this time. (maybe later for kicks and giggles)

Veg, Pre-Flower & Clones:

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Here are a couple Pre-Flower and Clone cab shots:I do have an HPS light in there temporarily. Normally its a MH but I needed it in a Jardin DR-120 tent. (I'll show ya later)
Pre-Flower is almost ready !!

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Pre-Flower again:


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Clones Anyone ???

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And again:

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Oh Boy !!! Roots at 10 Days !!!:yoinks:
That's what I'm talkin about.


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I Love my Clones. (but apparently not enough to wash my hands first) SHEEESH !!

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Ok, I think thats a good start for my journal. I'll be back over the next couple days to complete the tour. This will not be a start to finish thread. Its an ongoing.........never stops.......Perpetual SOG Garden. However, I will do a few strain starts and bring them through flower. ( I have seedlings of new strains right now and I'll get to that later) (they include: more AK47, White Widow, Hashberry, Mandala #1, Chronic, and some sort of Deisel(freebie). Yeah I know...........I got to many going. I'm searching for the perfect mother. AGAIN !!

Keep it Green.

I'll be back.
 
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Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
I'm Back !!

How about some general set up info consolidated into one spot? (some of this will be or is repeated)

Location:
The room is 9 wide x 13 long. I split this down the middle to make a Veg / Mother room of 6 x 9 and a Bloom room of 7 x 9. The ceilings are 12 feet high ! so I came up with the idea of two levels. (Stacked). This basically doubles the entire growing area.(see photo in first post)


Every single structural item in "The Cave" was build from scratch. The whole room was an empty shell with open stud walls, no plumbing to the back area, no electric, insulation, lights or anything. The entire operation needed to be built inside the shell of 4 shitty looking walls and a ceiling. (90% of all growing systems are DIY as well, Ventilation, hydro tables, aeroponics, etc.)

Ya just gotta have vision !!

Veg Room:
1) Veg contains all mothers, clones, and pre-flower.

2) Veg also contains a work area with a sink, water hose, drawers holding supplies, cabinets, shelving, reference materials, record keeping, etc.

3) Lighting is 800 watts total for mothers on a flood and drain table that is 6x3 x 6 feet tall. I use coco for my mothers a I flood 1 time per day at lights on. Lights run at 18/6.

4) Pre-Flower is STACKED over top of the Mother cabinet and is 4 feet by 3 feet. I use a DIY Aeromist type system. Each unit will hold 50 clones for pre-flowering and I have 2 unit for a total of 100 Pre-Flowers.

5) Lighting in Pre-Flower is 400 watts of MH running 18/6 on a light mover. The addition of the light mover made a HUGE difference in the quality of clones heading into bloom.

6) Clones are also stacked over mothers and is 2'w x 3'h. This cabinet holds 200 clones. I usually only cut 100 to 125 though. There are two shelves in this cabinet. Each shelf has thermostat controlled heat mats and its own lights. I run my clone lighting at 24/0 until rooted the switch to 18/6.

7) The space above cloning cabinet is reserved for ventilation equipment the services all 3 cabinets. (Mothers, Pre-Flowers and Clones)

Bloom Room:

1)The bloom room can hold up 400 clones for flowering on 4 tables that are 3 foot x 6 foot.(100 per table) The tables are stacked as in the veg room. 2 lower and two upper. (you'll see in a bit) I run DIY Aeroponic type units with 2 inch net cups. Each table is lit by 3 - 600 watt HPS with air vent-able hoods

2)There are 2 air conditioners in the bloom room. 1 portable and 1 through wall. I also have 1 intake fan not including the lighting vent fans.

3) I run the bloom tables on rotation in a SOG set up and harvest every 2 weeks.

4) My wish list includes, a real climate controller (CAP Fuzzy Logic), a water cooled propane CO2 burner. A MO Betta dehumidifa (the one i use sucks)

Here is a quick run down of my 2 week schedule:Every 2 weeks I:
Harvest a bloom table, Move pre_flowers to that harvested table, move rooted clones to Pre-Flower, take 125 clones. All this DOES NOT happen in one days time. It might be one day or more for each of those items. On top of that is the weekly, daily, hourly maintenance of the entire operation.
Its a freakin 24/7 job and requires constant attention.

Shall we continue our tour?

Standing in the doorway to "The Cave" you would see the Veg area and to the left of that is the Bloom Room door.This is the partition wall I built, splitting the whole area in half to create the 2 rooms.

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Welcome to the Bloom Room:
As I said earlier, I am in the middle of a transition and the room is NOT running with its normal set up right now. The Rain-Forest and small aero tub you see are temporary. I need to flower my mothers and this let me do it. Normally you would see a 3 x 6 table to the right.

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And again:(tall shot)
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Enter room and look left: Table 1

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Same Table, looking back towards the Veg Room: This 1/2 of table 1

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Entering the Bloom Room and looking right: Again......this side is a temporary set up during my transition
Normally it would be a 3x6 table:

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Same Table After a change I made last night This table contains AK47, Chronic, Mandala #1, White Widow and some sort of diesel freebie. Like I said before.......I'm looking for another mother.

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This shot brings us full circle to the very first picture in the thread. Now you know how I get to this room. Its a Panoramic shot I made by splicing 2 photos together. Its not as cramped in there as the photo makes it look.

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But wait........Don't leave..........There's more !!!
 
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Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
Alrighty then........

Having only 6 linear feet of grow space for each side of the Bloom Room (Poop Deck) I needed to devise a method to double that space so I built a stacked system. I had a 12 foot ceiling to play with. Now I have 2 - 3 foot x 6 foot tables on the lower deck (poop deck) and 2 - 3 x 6 tables on the upper deck (the Crows Nest) Each table takes 3-600 watt hps with vent-able hoods and has close to 6 feet of head room per table. (minus, rez space, table support and lighting space. There is 36 inches of actual plant grow space which is more than enough for a SOG. ( stay at 24 inches or below. (usually) The tables are DIY aeroponic units (I'll show later in thread) and take 100 Bloomers per table on a perpetual rotation. Being a SOG the plants are 5 inches apart on center. Its basically a stick with a bud on top. STALAGMITES. (in a cave, get it?) So now we have 4 - 3 x 6 tables with 2 lower and 2 upper holding 100 Stalagmites each with each table in a varied stage of growth. (2 weeks apart or close to it) I stick to the 60 / 65 day strains for my rotational requirements. This gives me 2 harvests per month. One every 2 weeks.
Example:
Lets start by adding plants to table One. In 2 weeks I add plants to table two, 2 more weeks = plants on table three. By the time I get to table 4, I have 2 weeks till Table 1 is ready to harvest. In the mean time, I am taking clones 30 days BEFORE they are required in bloom. This gives 14 days to root and 14 days to Pre-Flower (develop a strong root system, harden off to HID lights & grow between 8 to 12 inches in height) Now there are four 3x6 tables full of bloomers, 1 Pre_flower full of rooted Clones and 1 Clone cabinet with freshly cut clones taking root. When Table one is harvested.........Pre-Flower goes to bloom, Rooted clones go to Pre-Flower and new clones are taken. Repeat indefinetly for each bloom table. Mothers have 14 days to grow new Clones between cuts. As long as they get enough light and food and I keep the roots trimmed.....This is never a problem.

If you want to start up a similar perpetual system it WILL take 2 months MINIMUM before you'll get a full house. NOT including getting your mothers up and ready. especially if growing your mothers from seed. Now your talking SIX months.

Anyway, I got off on a tangent.

Here is the Port Side of the Crows Nest (that's "Left" for you landlubbers)

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Adding the second tier gives me 24' x 3' of PURE GROWING POWER in the Bloom room alone !! And I love it.:laughing:

Lets take a trip up the mast to the Crows Nest Watch your step..........I can't afford a law suit

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Here is a view taken from standing in the Crows Nest Looking Starboard (that's "Right" for you Scallywags)

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I thought long and hard about the second level in this room. I needed some way to be able to share the Climate controller / AC/ Dehumidifier / Intakes / Future CO2 Etc. If I put in a wood floor I would then need DOUBLE everything. My solution was to to use 3 foot long x 2 foot wide plastic storage shelving that has the open RIBS. Its Just like a Factory Cat Walk. I looked into steel cat walk but that shit is not cheap. This cost me about 40 bucks total (US). Air and CO2 can pass right through so its still only one room. I used L channel mounted to the edges of the table support bases so the Cat Walk slides back and forth and is removable for maintenance or whatever. It supports a 200# Pirate with no problem.

See......it removes in 1 second

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Another wonderful view:

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Here is a shot taken from laying down on the floor and looking strait up: I am 6'-1" and have full standing head room so there is no ducking or wondering if I'm gonna whack my head
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Lets talk processes shall we:
The day after a table is harvested I clean and prep for the next set to come in. This might take a whole day at times.There is a lot to do. Sometimes my WENCH will trim the harvest while I clean and prep so we can kill two Parrots with one musket shot. Usually, the next day if I work alone, I transfer 100 Pre-Flowers to the empty bloom table and prep the now empty Pre-Flower table for rooted clones that were cut 14 days earlier. After I transfer the rooted clones (that are now called Pre-Flowers), I prep the cloning cabinet, trays, etc for taking 100+ new cuts (now called clones).I always take a few extra just in case. But may last batch was 150 clones and only 4 did not root. Damn I'm good.....AAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

As it stands today, I'm pulling about 1.25 to 1.5 pounds per table every 2 weeks. But that is changing. I expect at least 2.5 to 3#s per table with some major changes and upgrades I've made recently. And I see no reason why I cannot hit that mark very soon. Its taken allot longer to find the right Mother and get it all set up. And FAR more gold pieces than I ever thought it would.

Its been a long arduous journey from a single White Widow in a closet that at one time satisfied my need to grow. The sojourn has been a learning experience like no other. (Thanks Partly to ICMAG and its members)

I Started out thinking I was gonna yank 5 pounds per table right from the get go. HA !! Yeah Right. I don't think so.

Possible? Maybe. Practical? Probably not. Fun trying?

You better fucking believe it !!!!!!!!!!
 
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Che

Active member
Veteran
I'm pulling up a chair. I like your setup! The wall is genius, I can't wait to see your sog!
Any pics of the Berry OG? Sounds juicy!!
 

Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
Holy Shit !!You guys are fast. I just freakin posted it.

Let me guess.........You were reading it AS I TYPED? :nono:

Thanks for the props. I'll be getting the whole thing up within a day in full detail. I have hundreds of photos to share.

BERRY OG for ya:

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YUMMY !!!!
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R

Re51n8

yum yum, your berry OG looks delicious! im currently growing dna kushberry, still in veg. hopefully it turns out fire.
 
G

greenhornets

hey pirate love the new place . i like the secret wall . looks like you have thing under control . i got my chair and popcorn ready . on with the show !
 

L~B

Member
ahoy Thar maties...... top notch pirate!!! Looks like were cut from the same sail.... and i see tanks you scallywag pirate don't need tanks I use puffer fish my self!!!
 

Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
I presume you are referring to my scuba tanks? Gotta love scuba !! It's like going to the moon. 100% out of your environment. A total and completely different world that you would never know existed until you've been to it. Photos or TV does scuba no justice. Ya just have to do it for yourself. (and snorkeling doesn't count) !!

Do you dive?
 

obZen

Member
This is a very "professional" looking setup, with that loving DIY touch.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your setup, mate!

Keep up the good work! MacGyver would be proud.
 

delane1

Member
Nice Cave Pirate nice and neat! Good to see the room behind the Advise. WTF that Berry OG is just what I'm looking for. That thing is sick WOW!
 

Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
LOL !! Thanks everyone. Its appreciated.

Over the next couple days go back and read posts 2 & 3. I am bringing them up to speed. That's why I reserved those spots in the thread. Uniformity.

Nice Cave Pirate nice and neat! Good to see the room behind the Advise. WTF that Berry OG is just what I'm looking for. That thing is sick WOW!
I am trying to stabilize her. She stretches a bit during flower. Once I can get it down a little I will introduce her to the community as a cut. If she takes off then you just might see her in a "theater near you" someday.

Note to all:
PLEASE don't ask for a cut of anything through PMs. :noway: That will not happen for security reasons.
 

Pirate

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death !!
Veteran
I am right in the middle of a huge transition and am swapping things around as well as having to keep up on the 2 week perpetual plan. I said that to say.........I will be back a bit later tonight to upload some photos and update the journal.

"The Cave" is calling out to me............"Piiiiiiiiirrraaattttee" "come take care of me".
 

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