Gnz
Member
This is brilliant, will make a handy germ/seedling/clone starter box once quarantine duties are over.
Or throw a 20W LED in that sucker and grow the world's most portable sog!
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Designing a dual 150-watt CMH cab
- Thread starter ReikoX
- Start date
This is brilliant, will make a handy germ/seedling/clone starter box once quarantine duties are over.
Or throw a 20W LED in that sucker and grow the world's most portable sog!
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
2016.06.17
2016.06.17
Remember that trip to Denver to get clones? Well I left them with my brother. Here they are in his setup, they are the ones in the big pots. They are Tahoe OG, Agent Orange, and Strawberry Blues. I went by and took some cuts, so they should be in my garden in a couple of weeks.
2016.06.17
Remember that trip to Denver to get clones? Well I left them with my brother. Here they are in his setup, they are the ones in the big pots. They are Tahoe OG, Agent Orange, and Strawberry Blues. I went by and took some cuts, so they should be in my garden in a couple of weeks.
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
Making progress...
Making progress...
Had the day off today, so I got a chance to work on the cab. I cut out the ventilation holes. After five holes, I think I have finally killed my 4" hole saw. The intakes are rectangles and I used the jig saw.
Next I used the Kreg pocket hole jig to pre-drill my pocket holes.
After that I put the edging on. It comes with a thermal glue on them so you just attach it with an iron then trim up the edges.
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The joints are glued with melamine wood glue and held in place with corner clamps. Then everything is screwed together with the pocket holes.
Here is one box put together. This thing is solid. It also wont fit through the door, so its not going anywhere. I still need to caulk the interior edges and prime any exposed wood.
I got both other boxes cut, drilled, and edged. They will go together soon. I ordered some white plastic plugs for the pocket holes, and a 4" Vortex and speed controller. I didn't think the S&P was going to cut it. I also got the bigger filter, so might as well use it. With the Vortex I could run both sides at the same time if I wanted.
Still lots to do, but it's starting to come together.
Making progress...
Had the day off today, so I got a chance to work on the cab. I cut out the ventilation holes. After five holes, I think I have finally killed my 4" hole saw. The intakes are rectangles and I used the jig saw.
Next I used the Kreg pocket hole jig to pre-drill my pocket holes.
After that I put the edging on. It comes with a thermal glue on them so you just attach it with an iron then trim up the edges.
The joints are glued with melamine wood glue and held in place with corner clamps. Then everything is screwed together with the pocket holes.
Here is one box put together. This thing is solid. It also wont fit through the door, so its not going anywhere. I still need to caulk the interior edges and prime any exposed wood.
I got both other boxes cut, drilled, and edged. They will go together soon. I ordered some white plastic plugs for the pocket holes, and a 4" Vortex and speed controller. I didn't think the S&P was going to cut it. I also got the bigger filter, so might as well use it. With the Vortex I could run both sides at the same time if I wanted.
Still lots to do, but it's starting to come together.
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
Thanks man, I'm pretty psyched. I'll get you a better picture of my ballast later. That ballast is a sunpark electronic ballast from an aquarium light. It's small and suitable for recessed mounting. I got three with the light, as well as 4 3' T5HO ballasts (they each run two bulbs). All that for free. It's what started this whole project. That's an expensive free light.
Finding the matching bulb was tricky. I ordered the wrong bulb twice before getting the Phillips Colormaster CMH in 3000K. It's compatible with the ballast (ANSI M142), suitable for vertical mounting, and protected for open mounting.
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
Fit, filled, and painted
Fit, filled, and painted
I got all three boxes built, filled all the pocket holes, and primed any exposed wood. I got the edging on everything except the doors.
I ran into an issue with the ventilation holes. I transposed my measurements. It should have been five inches from the back and nine inches down. Well I cut it out at five inches down and nine inches from the back. I'll still have room for my ballasts, but the timers may need to be turned sideways or modified in some other way. I re-cut the back pieces out of some scrap pieces, so no worries.
Im in CA for five days, so no progress until this weekend. Next up will be getting the electrical figured out and ran. I'm going to build a themostat controller for my fan, so I'll take pictures.
Fit, filled, and painted
I got all three boxes built, filled all the pocket holes, and primed any exposed wood. I got the edging on everything except the doors.
I ran into an issue with the ventilation holes. I transposed my measurements. It should have been five inches from the back and nine inches down. Well I cut it out at five inches down and nine inches from the back. I'll still have room for my ballasts, but the timers may need to be turned sideways or modified in some other way. I re-cut the back pieces out of some scrap pieces, so no worries.
Im in CA for five days, so no progress until this weekend. Next up will be getting the electrical figured out and ran. I'm going to build a themostat controller for my fan, so I'll take pictures.
M
Mr. Sparkle
Looking go so far, it should be very productive once all setup
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
Thanks guys!
Thanks guys!
It's should produce enough to support my hashish making endeavours. I used to make QWISO in high school, then I graduated to BHO. Now I've got Bubble down and am "filling my dry sift quiver". I literally started growing to make hash!
Blynx! Glad you stopped by. I'm a big fan of your work, definitely an inspiration for me. Thanks for sharing your work.
My brother just picked up a 400W ballast and it is skinnier and a slight bit longer. Amazing how small they are getting. I can't wait to see it full of plants either. Hopefully it will be "soon". I'm stuck out in San Jose, CA for another week.
I can't wait to see it in action either.
I'm still debating how I'm going to run it. I originally planned to do a perpetual SOG like I did in my PC. That would mean I would have to trim, clone, and replant 6 or 7 plants a week. I know I can clone six a week and probably do different strains.
I've been reading a lot of older vertical threads from Bobblehead, Farmhouse Cat, Iccabod Crane, and Mister_D. DHF suggests in these threads that it is more productive to monocrop each flip room 4-5 weeks apart. Fill it with uniform cuts and dial that shit in...
But it would mean I have to take a LOT more clones at once.
Thanks guys!
It's should produce enough to support my hashish making endeavours. I used to make QWISO in high school, then I graduated to BHO. Now I've got Bubble down and am "filling my dry sift quiver". I literally started growing to make hash!
Blynx! Glad you stopped by. I'm a big fan of your work, definitely an inspiration for me. Thanks for sharing your work.
My brother just picked up a 400W ballast and it is skinnier and a slight bit longer. Amazing how small they are getting. I can't wait to see it full of plants either. Hopefully it will be "soon". I'm stuck out in San Jose, CA for another week.
I can't wait to see it in action either.
I'm still debating how I'm going to run it. I originally planned to do a perpetual SOG like I did in my PC. That would mean I would have to trim, clone, and replant 6 or 7 plants a week. I know I can clone six a week and probably do different strains.
I've been reading a lot of older vertical threads from Bobblehead, Farmhouse Cat, Iccabod Crane, and Mister_D. DHF suggests in these threads that it is more productive to monocrop each flip room 4-5 weeks apart. Fill it with uniform cuts and dial that shit in...
But it would mean I have to take a LOT more clones at once. 
HuffnPufferfish
Member
well tis mean to run a shitload at once, isnt it?
if i didnt have a plant limit that i have, that would be my pick for sure, saves a lot of work
if i didnt have a plant limit that i have, that would be my pick for sure, saves a lot of work
Gnz
Member
If you hated yourself you could run them 80 days and do one in/one out every night until the crazy set in. Even having to do it weekly sucks unless you make it a week night ritual, I ain't throwing away valuable weekend hours to garden.
I'd put a plant in every second pot of the first half of the cab, do the same in the second half at 17 days, fill the first half at 35 and then fill the second at 52 so you'll end up chopping every 2 1/2 weeks.. much more manageable to do 20 at a time than 40 IMHO.
I'd put a plant in every second pot of the first half of the cab, do the same in the second half at 17 days, fill the first half at 35 and then fill the second at 52 so you'll end up chopping every 2 1/2 weeks.. much more manageable to do 20 at a time than 40 IMHO.
Gnz
Member
If I could grow four plants legally; my house would be built of the lumber from stalks of harvests past and I'd hang a tire swing on one for the kids.
this looks like a rocken grow.
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
Decisions decisions...
Decisions decisions...
No progress has been made on this cab for a while now. I have had to work in CA for the last 3 out of four weeks. I have, however, been thinking a lot about how to run it.
At first I planned to do a perpetual SOG like I've been doing in my PC. The advantages here are I can have plenty of variety, I'm never more than a week from harvest, and I only need a small number of clones each week. I have the space for mothers and clones on that scale. The disadvantages are the constant work cloning and trimming, difficulty with canopy management, and having to mix nutrients for multiple plant phases and strains at once.
Then I decided it would be more efficient to monocrop each side and space them about five weeks apart (10 week cycles). The advantages here are less frequent cloning and trimming, better yield as I can dial in each strain, and only having plants in two different phases at once. The disadvantages are longer wait between harvests, larger work load trimming, and getting enough clones to fill the space. I don't have the space for taking that many clones at once unless I use my filing cabinet.
Finally I am considering a 13 week cycle. The advantage is having an area to clone/veg in. The disadvantage is loosing a cycle each year. I graphed this out, and it looks a little something like this:
To make this decision I must set some goals. The goal of this cab is to allow me to be self sufficient and maybe have a little surplus for gifts, extracts, and cooking. I typically smoke 1-2 grams a day, let's just say 14 grams a week. With the perpetual SOG, I would harvest seven plants a week (actually it's 6.66, but let's make the math easy). So that makes an average of about 2 grams/plant. If I did the 10 week cycle, I would harvest 30 plants every five weeks. So that makes an average of about 2.3 grams/plant. Finally if I did the 13 week cycle, I would harvest 30 plants every 7.5 weeks. So that makes about 3.5 grams/plant.
Now, if I want to hit 1 gram/watt, I would have to get about 5 grams/plant. Notice how the grams/watt doesn't take into consideration the frequency of harvests. This is one reason it's a bad metric, but let's chase the rabbit down the hole. If i do perpetual, I would harvest 6.66 plants per week at 5 grams/bud. That comes out to about 1733 grams/year (this is the same as a 9 week cycle). With the 10 week cycle, it ends up being 300 grams 5.2 times/year. That comes out to 1560 grams/year. Finally, with the 13 week cycle, it ends up being 300 grams 4 times/year. That comes out to about 1200 grams/year.
In conclusion, while the perpetual (or not) 9 week cycle may be the most work, it also gives the most yield over the course of a year. The 13 week cycle has the lowest yield, but solves the problem of where to run the clone factory. The 10 week cycle is in the middle yield wise, but will require a separate area to veg, thus loosing whatever flowering potential that other area has. With my filing cabinet empty, I can make up the loss in the 13 week cycle by flowering stuff in there. That can be used for my variety and head stash. My PC will probably be retired and/or used as a quarantine/breeding area.
Any other advantages, disadvantages, or options I should consider?
Decisions decisions...
No progress has been made on this cab for a while now. I have had to work in CA for the last 3 out of four weeks. I have, however, been thinking a lot about how to run it.
At first I planned to do a perpetual SOG like I've been doing in my PC. The advantages here are I can have plenty of variety, I'm never more than a week from harvest, and I only need a small number of clones each week. I have the space for mothers and clones on that scale. The disadvantages are the constant work cloning and trimming, difficulty with canopy management, and having to mix nutrients for multiple plant phases and strains at once.
Then I decided it would be more efficient to monocrop each side and space them about five weeks apart (10 week cycles). The advantages here are less frequent cloning and trimming, better yield as I can dial in each strain, and only having plants in two different phases at once. The disadvantages are longer wait between harvests, larger work load trimming, and getting enough clones to fill the space. I don't have the space for taking that many clones at once unless I use my filing cabinet.
Finally I am considering a 13 week cycle. The advantage is having an area to clone/veg in. The disadvantage is loosing a cycle each year. I graphed this out, and it looks a little something like this:
To make this decision I must set some goals. The goal of this cab is to allow me to be self sufficient and maybe have a little surplus for gifts, extracts, and cooking. I typically smoke 1-2 grams a day, let's just say 14 grams a week. With the perpetual SOG, I would harvest seven plants a week (actually it's 6.66, but let's make the math easy). So that makes an average of about 2 grams/plant. If I did the 10 week cycle, I would harvest 30 plants every five weeks. So that makes an average of about 2.3 grams/plant. Finally if I did the 13 week cycle, I would harvest 30 plants every 7.5 weeks. So that makes about 3.5 grams/plant.
Now, if I want to hit 1 gram/watt, I would have to get about 5 grams/plant. Notice how the grams/watt doesn't take into consideration the frequency of harvests. This is one reason it's a bad metric, but let's chase the rabbit down the hole. If i do perpetual, I would harvest 6.66 plants per week at 5 grams/bud. That comes out to about 1733 grams/year (this is the same as a 9 week cycle). With the 10 week cycle, it ends up being 300 grams 5.2 times/year. That comes out to 1560 grams/year. Finally, with the 13 week cycle, it ends up being 300 grams 4 times/year. That comes out to about 1200 grams/year.
In conclusion, while the perpetual (or not) 9 week cycle may be the most work, it also gives the most yield over the course of a year. The 13 week cycle has the lowest yield, but solves the problem of where to run the clone factory. The 10 week cycle is in the middle yield wise, but will require a separate area to veg, thus loosing whatever flowering potential that other area has. With my filing cabinet empty, I can make up the loss in the 13 week cycle by flowering stuff in there. That can be used for my variety and head stash. My PC will probably be retired and/or used as a quarantine/breeding area.
Any other advantages, disadvantages, or options I should consider?
ReikoX
Knight of the BlackSvn
The 13 week cycle is like what I do in my storage cabinet. I dry and then veg in there for a week or three. This is where I grow my medicine (50:50 THC/CBD). It has been meeting my needs, but is far from dialed in. The filing cabinet can do between 200 and 300 grams per year based on previous runs. I also have my PC that can produce 100 to 150 grams per year.
Gnz
Member
In that case, I'd run a 13 week cycle this time round to make things easier and then convert the filing cabinet into a clone prepping machine to feed the dual cmh cab ASAP.
I think at the end of the day the difference in work won't be major for the comparative gain in yield, plus it will be better to have an excess of clones and be able to pick the healthiest/best structure.
A good eventual goal might be to retire everything except for the dual cmh cab and filing cabinet to feed it (or a new, larger veg cab dedicated to moms, clones and the occasional auto). You'll be able to focus on really getting everything you can from those watts, which is what this build and grow style is all about right?
Even on a 10 week cycle, a more simple and efficient process is bound to be less work than running 4 separate grows too!
