My first microgrow

[lovergrow]

Hey guys, i'm the newbie here (in this forum), and i want to introduce to you my little microgrow.


This is my small ambry where i keep them


I have 2 Auto white widows and both are 7 days old.


I'm preparing a homemade charcoal DIY filter, do you have any recomendations?


regards

Sorry for double post, but:

Vegetative growth - 120w (6500k,6500k,6500k)
Flowering - not defined (3700k,3700k,3700k)

 

[exploziv]

hello lovergrow, welcome to IcMag! You can find some DIY charcoal filter tutorials and much more interesting things in the link-o-rama.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

 

[fatigues]

Hey guys, i'm the newbie here (in this forum), and i want to introduce to you my little microgrow....

I'm preparing a homemade charcoal DIY filter, do you have any recommendations?

If it is vitally important that your filter reliably works (and for many people, it is) I recommend that you buy a 4" Phresh filter instead.

If you must make one, Look at the DIY and modify those as required to use these holders as your base parts.
You should try to use two mesh pencil cup holders of different sizes. The two in this picture are 3" and 4" diameter holders. Wal-mart used to carry them and you can find them online if you search hard. You'll want to use one of each of these. The 3" holder should be zip tied in place so that it remains in the center of the 4" holder:

Unfortunately, the 3" holder is a little too short for optimal placement. If you can find a 1/2" tall, 3" diameter lid from a jar, you can glue that to the bottom of your 4" cup in the exact center to reduce the part of your carbon which is not going to be used very efficiently. It's probably safer just to pack more carbon on the bottom so that the top of the 3" is level with the 4" though.

Be sure to install a polyester filter on the inside of your 3" cup and secure it in place with 2 hose clamps. You will want to do the same on the outside of filter, too. Zip ties should be fine to hold that one in place.

Another issue is settling of your carbon in terms of how well it is packed. This is a MAJOR issue with home made filters and is the primary cause of failure in most of them.

Ideally, you want your carbon grain size between 2.3mm and 4.7mm is size. If you can find a pair of screens where you can sieve your carbon so that you can reject and remove grains smaller and larger than that -- awesome. (By the time you get that sophisticated in your build, you may be wondering why you just didn't buy one)

Lastly, when you pack the carbon you should use a vibration table on the packed canister for 10 minutes after the initial packing, then top it up with more carbon, as required. Vibration tables are used in plaster casting to get rid of air bubbles. There are a number of vids on Youtube on how to make them for use in plaster casting. They will work just as well for packing your filter. IF you don't have a "back massager", your wife or GF might have an Hitachi magic wand you could borrow for 10 minutes.

If you do all of that -- and do it well - it will probably work without a problem, provided that your fan is a)pulling not pushing through your filter so that you give your fan the best chance to work; and b) has sufficient power under static pressure to do that. PC fans are notoriously poor when operating under static pressure so that's probably not a realistic expectation for both cooling and filtering your grow chamber. You might get away with it using a blower fan or a few of Delta's most robust PC fans, but most are so loud you are unlikely to be happy with the results.

A far safer bet is to use a quiet 4" inline fan like the S&P TD100 to ensure proper scrubbing and cooling of your grow.

BTW, your box looks like it is falling apart on the top right by the hinge! You might want to tighten that up a little and then add some weather stripping to the door and some silicone sealant or aluminum HVAC tape along the insides of all the seams of your box to ensure you have no light or odor leaks. Generally speaking you want to avoid a powered intake and go passive as a ratio of 2:1 to the area size of your powered exhaust. (You will also need light traps on your intakes which I cannot see if you have built or not.)

 

[lovergrow]

Which is the ideal height for the plant to start training her?

Thank you for all your answers, i'm gradualy building the odour filter

 

[fatigues]

Which is the ideal height for the plant to start training her?

Thank you for all your answers, i'm gradualy building the odour filter

Depends on where it is growing, where the lights are, and what method you are going to use.

Whatever the case, given the look of your seedling -- you don't need to worry about LST or scrogging for at least 4-5 weeks. This is a newborn baby. You don't need to worry about teaching it to ride a bike just yet

Generally speaking, with an autoflower, there tends not to be enough time to use any scrog techniques. Some LST can be employed, but that depends on the grow space and what you want to accomplish. At a minimum, it's 4 weeks off, ok?

 

[exploziv]

don't forget this is a microgrow, so he should start training a bit early compared to someone with a bigger grow. I'd say in about 15-20 days..
besides, the plants look alright for 7 days old.

 

[lovergrow]

Ok, so i'll let them grow a bit more and only later i'll start with the LST. Thank you all for your hints

 

[compulsive]

like it... i'll follow you!

 

[lovergrow]

Thank you


How do i know when to change the timer clock from 18/6 to 12/12? Do the plants "show" me any signal?

In my case i have autoflowering plants, is it still needed to change the photosyntetic period?

 

[lovergrow]

10 day

 

[exploziv]

18/6 is good light schedule for autoflowers. you can keep it to the end. more energy = more buds!

they are growing up nice! good luck with them!

 

[lovergrow]

Thanks exploziv_gbb



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11 Day

 

[lovergrow]

The girls here are 13 days old

Hello boys and girls, i have some bad news. Something bad happened with the light support and everything was going mad, including a short-circuit. Thanks to it, one of the lamps burned and i only have 90W running on vegetative. They still look pretty but i definetively need to do a deep maintenance and also buy a new lamp.

 

[lovergrow]

Good evening my friends.

Today i applied my homemade carbon filter, it isn't perfect at all but i think it will solve the smell problem, i tested it with a strong perfume being sprayed to the inside, and from the outside part where the carbon is we could still smell it but only when we get realy close to it. It is also normal that with the filter, the microgrow will have a small increase of temperature (1 or 2 degrees Celsius).

My ladies started to enchant me with their sweet aroma, and the flowering period has not started yet.


15 day

 

[lovergrow]

While training the plants one of them was set good but the other one broke the stalk. I checked the small cut and poured some saliva on it, just to see if it helps to heal, but i don't know if she is gonna survive it.

 

[lovergrow]

Hello buddies,

My ladies are 20 days old, i've been away from the room where they are for nearly 5 days, today i went there.

The one who's hurt seems to be recovering, some leaves were slightly burned by the lamps, i don't know if it was a consequence of bad trainig or the lamps that are too close, or even both.

Then i dropped another 10cm's from the lamps to the plants. This closet will only be used for this grow, it's causing me problems with the lamp system, wich seems to have short-circuit, so i'll leave it until the end of this grow, and the door is broken.

 

[lovergrow]

Day 22,

The plant on the right is the one that "is hurt", since it broke a bit while training, but seems to be recovering.

The one on the left is looking good even with my faulty training.

Peace

 

[lovergrow]

I've been away from this grow because of my daily life routine, and when i returned , one of the plants was grabbing the lamps with her branch, luckily it didn't burn.

The grow temps are now 29ºC, previously they were near 26.5, is it because of the filter that i applied?

Thanks

 

[fatigues]

The grow temps are now 29ºC, previously they were near 26.5, is it because of the filter that i applied?

Thanks

Very likely, yes.

 

[lovergrow]

There is some traditional way to reduce the temperature within the grow?