[Speed of green]

Whats up icmag, This greenhouse was built on the lowest budget possible and is a prototype to test a few theories before i take things full scale.

First thing's first, this greenhouse is located in a heavily populated area, my neighbors aren't really cool with weed, there is also an ordinance in my city banning outdoor cultivation, the greenhouse un-permited I'm sure in violation of some code.

My goals are to be able to grow year round, i want to be able to harvest 4 times a year. i also have to contain the smell.

THE STRUCTURE
25x15x7.5

2x4's pvc and wiggle wire. very simple and cheap construction, it took one weekend to build.

the greenhouse is air tight, on one end there are 3x 12" canmax fans 1700cfm each. there are also three 6' carbon filters.

on the opposite end of the carbon filters there are 2x 20x30 house filters that act as passive intakes.

with just one fan running there is plenty of negative pressure and hopefully i will be able to control all the smell.

the temperature stays within 2deg of the outside temp with one fan running, i expect on the hotter days i will have to run all three fans to maintain the ambient temperature.

My main worry at this point is if the carbon filters will fail under humid conditions.

the greenhouse has already survived a ver strong windy storm and seems to be anchored properly.

The greenhouse plastic is 60% diffused plastic, it is translucent.

the dep tarp is 12mil reinforced poly.


The plants.

50 blue dream
30 backwater OG
3 Original Glue
3 mendo breath
3 girl scout cookies
3 training day
3 cherry pie
3 xxx OG

the plants are all in 2 gallon pots
promix HP is the medium, Im hoping the plants won't get root bound in these small pots. my goal is 1/4-1/2lb per plant.

100 GPD R/O

Jacks 5-12-26
Calcium nitrate 15-0-0
PEKacid (drip clean)

Right now I'm feeding with every watering with runoff.

ph is 6.1-6.3 This may be a little low for promix, Any suggestions?
ec 1.2-1.4

i use a milwaukee TDS PH combo along with a truncheon, and a bluelab PH pen to double check all my values and make sure i don't make stupid mistakes. having both meters reading the same ph and ec values gives me a lot more confidence.


The plan is to set everything up on a drip system and trellis the entire greenhouse, hopefully the plants will be trained/pruned well enough that they won't need much assistance once they grow through the trellising.



Any input is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Dreambig]

If it's totally sealed you'll run into humidity problems especially in flower.

[HillMizer]

It's not fully sealed and you're in Socal so I don't think you'll have humidity issues during the normal season.

It's probably still going to get really effing hot. The cover being only 60% transmission should help. I would consider adding carefully monitored evaporative cooling if you plan on running this summer.

I hope you can hit your goals of 1/4- 1/2 lb per plant but it sounds high for that size container, 2 gallons are going to want to dry out. I suggest at least 5 real gallons. I often use a 30 gallon to get those types of numbers. It just sucks to over estimate yield.

I would say anywhere from .5 to 1.2 oz per square foot of canopy is a good estimate. 1.2 is REALLY crushing and .5 means you really need audit your systems. 11-30 lbs. Hopefully about 20lb if you FILL that thing.

Good luck!

[Lester Beans]

First thing's first, this greenhouse is located in a heavily populated area, my neighbors aren't really cool with weed, there is also an ordinance in my city banning outdoor cultivation, the greenhouse un-permited I'm sure in violation oF some code...

So how do you plan to deal with city inspectors or neighbors? Seems awful sketchy to me. Aren't you afraid the city will stop by and ask to see your permit for the structure or neighbors may get curious or blow you in?

[HillMizer]

Originally Posted by Lester Beans

First thing's first, this greenhouse is located in a heavily populated area, my neighbors aren't really cool with weed, there is also an ordinance in my city banning outdoor cultivation, the greenhouse un-permited I'm sure in violation oF some code...

So how do you plan to deal with city inspectors or neighbors? Seems awful sketchy to me. Aren't you afraid the city will stop by and ask to see your permit for the structure or neighbors may get curious or blow you in?

No concrete, no permanent wiring , no permanent plumbing. It's small, it's a temporary structure. Cross your fingers, keep it neat,have your paperwork & legal representation in order, bring your neighbors cookies and don't have parties or anything to draw attention. There's usually bigger fish to fry, in CA anyway. I've been violating ordinances my whole life.

[Speed of green]

I have (3) 1700 cfm fans = 5100 cfm - by the time i put ducting and carbon filters on these fans... I'm probably looking at 3000 cfm MAX.

the greenhouse is 2700 cubic feet. so i should be able to exchange the air 1x per minute, while filtering all smells.

i would totally do a swamp cooler, but the greenhouse is literally right on the ocean so its not dry enough.

I've already had a 77 degree day and the greenhouse was at 80 mid-day with only one fan running, i think with the air exchange 1x per minute ill be able to match the outdoor temperature.

The hottest it gets here (san clemente) is a week of 90 degree weather, most of summer it stays in the 80's, worst case scenario i have to open up the sides during the hottest parts of the day.

I talked to my neighbors and even and showed them my scripts, they understand its all legal and that they won't be able to see/smell anything, i feel like they are receptive to the idea, like i said this is a trial run to see what happens. if it smells and my neighbors have a problem then i told them to come to me first and i would do everything in my power to fix the situation, including cutting the plants down.

I have no experience with promix, from my understanding it can be used like a hydro medium or a soil medium depending on how you treat it. the drip setup will be able to do multi-feeds daily like coco, I've seen one pound plants come from 1 gal coco pots fed 5x a day. i understand that this isn't coco though, possibly next run ill try that if i can't get the yield i want from this promix.

I realize its damn near impossible that we will pull 50lbs from this tiny greenhouse. realistically i think 20 would be cool, any more than that and we are stoked.

The main reason i decided to do this grow is because i was planning on throwing 12 DE setups in the garage with a 5ton ac. instead of putting 15k into that venture we decided fuck it lets run a $1500 greenhouse and see what happens. if we pull one harvest the ROI is killer.

[Speed of green]

The plants are all about 30" tall, they have been topped once, ill probably top them one more time and start flowering in 1-2 weeks, whenever the plants fill in the trellising.

I wouldn't consider the greenhouse a beautiful structure, but i don't think its an eyesore either. everything is clean and tidy, no parties, i think everything should be fine as long as the smell is contained.

[HillMizer]

Looks and sounds good. You might do pretty well with the coastal weather. You got this.
I'd transplant those if it were me. If you're gonna set em up to water multiple times per day and treat it like hydro then maybe it's fine.
Good work!

[Lester Beans]

One pound plant from one gallon of coco??? I'd have to see that to believe it.

Sounds like you have a solid plan! Nice greenhouse BTW! Good luck with your grow!

[JJ Lowe]

I live in socal coastal as well. I built a shed 120 sq ft. with a solexx greenhouse top, works great in the winter and early spring months. I tried scrubbing and exhausting like you and the fans just couldn't keep up in the summer. Have you looked at the heat activated vent arms? I ended up adding a 24k btu window shaker with co2. Power bill went up around 500$ in the summer.. I ended up taking everything indoors with Lec's.
Good call on the jacks.. some good stuff..
The BD worked the best me as they seem to tolerate the fluctuations in temps and humidity well.
Good luck!