Project Pale Ale; an 11g DWC (8)42w CFL Dresser

[irie4i]

Single plant, with more detailed pictures to follow. Today marks the very, very first day(and few hours) of the project. A few details in the build remain unfinished! First, the top cabinet needs vent holes for the back; until then the "drawer" remains off and I have two t-shirts draped over to stop some light. Also, the empty holes on the top of the lights will be filled with 80mm fans soon, and the 6 inch fan in the utility cabinet is being replaced with two 120mm fans attached to a DIY carbon scrubber. Some weather stripping on the inside of the cabinet needs to happen also; but I've been grinding this cab out for 5 days straight so I'm happy leaving it how it is until tomorrow. This clone has been on 24/0 for probably around a week or more now; clearly she was stressing about having no root space but she should perk up quickly! Untill the two 80mm fans are added only 4 bulbs will be run; though eight 42w CFL's will be the sun for this space. The res is holding 11g, and uses two 10" bubble bars with lucas formula floro nutes. Water temp is down around 70-71 atm; though temp in the cab is anyones guess since I didn't buy a thermometer(oops). More detailed pics, progress, and more declassified information will fill this space; welcome to Project Pale Ale. ScrOG is the eventual(soon) configuration for this grow.

(Edit: re-post of pics to a public album, oops)

Door closed

Utility cab, exhaust, wiring, etc

Door off; higher quality pics on their way

My lil' lady in "recoup" mode

 

[ScrubNinja]

It sounds great but when I click to see the full pics it says Invalid Album specified.

 

[irie4i]

Still figuring out this forum a little bit-- making the album public would be a good start.

Thanks for watching everyone; questions are welcome.

 

[Agent-Smith]

Looking good so far man! The cab looks alot better now that something is in there and growing That Rosetta Stone girl should be twice that size in 2 or 3 days....after that, here comes the pain! Let's just say you are going to get a good lesson in scrog and LST with this girl

I can't wait to see how you do, good luck!

 

[irie4i]

Tonight at midnight starts the first day of 18/6; should be interesting to see her growth!

 

[ScrubNinja]

Looking good! That'll be so great with a full scrog screen!

 

[irie4i]

It's been just over 24 hours, in the middle of a 6 hour night period. We'll see what I get when I wake up!

 

[DresserDweller]

good luck, i have a similar set up but no dedicated electrical area.those pc fsns should do ok for exhaust. yes lst will be your friend in there.and you will end up with some great smoke..

 

[irie4i]

Well, things are pretty good. Temp in the cab hovers right around 84-86 with or without the light on, at the moment 50-60 RH%. Water temps are freaking me out, frozen bottles seem to be melting really fast, when I checked after I got home and later when I woke up both times water was at 80 or above. How serious is warm(~80*F) water for the roots; I really need to think of something....

So far good root growth. Little bits of brown(sediment?) are on the root tips; I just assume this is my nute and not to worry about it. The yellowing leaves on the bottom might just have to get cut off. but new leaf growth on the top is deep green; very lush looking.

I think I'll be okay-- right now I'm really worried about the temp's. Hopefully once the PC fans arrive in a few days I things will be fixed and I can start running some more watts.

 

[irie4i]

Hydro is tricky; yellow tips on all the leaves at the moment. Worried sick about root rot. Most of the roots are still very white, but I don't have enough experience to detemine if the roots are moist and sticking in tiny clumps of if the space in between them is "clear and phlegmy". The lights are coming on for a few hours before switching to a 6 hour dark period in the middle of the afternoon; maybe keeping a dark period during the hottest part of the day will start to fix this...

 

[Agent-Smith]

They sound like they should be alright, and your dark period during the day idea is a good one Don't worry about the tips so much, just watch the new growth as it comes in to determine the health.

 

[irie4i]

Yessire; dark period during the day seemed to work pretty nicely! Temps are down around 74-76 at the moment; water temp was about 74 when I woke up, not terrible but it looks like I'm going to be recycling some more plastic bottles. Removed the side "skeleton" particle board from the bottom of the cab; this seems to let way more cool air in from the outside(you can feel a pretty immediate difference).

Today the roots look SEXY! No brown no nute particulate! Gotta start getting a photo record going.

 

[irie4i]

Day 7 is here, pretty much dialed in for my water and cab temps. Added two 80mm fans to the lights and installed the 4 other bulbs with good results. Cab temps remain 76-82 depending on the time of day; res temps are 72-74 whenever I add frozen bottles. Rosetta has responded well to my LST, and my ScrOG is done! The final remaining steps involve weatherstripping the sides of the door for lightleaks and assembling the carbon scrubber once my 120mm fans get here...

Anyways, on with the show!

with the door off

day 7

day 7

day 7

day 7

Eight 42w CFL

 

[Agent-Smith]

She is looking really really good in there with no signs of tip burn. And your LST looks top notch. Those roots are taking off man, just wait, you are gonna be amazed in a couple weeks, and they really go nuts the first few weeks of flowering. Sounds like a great grow is coming your way.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Impressive! Really well done irie. I run my lights from 9pm thru to 9am. Turned me into a real night owl.

You've put a lot of research in on this and it shows.

 

[irie4i]

I'm so proud If I hadn't mentioned it, I've never attempted any kind of grow before; so everything I do is for the very first time.

About a week or so from now I hope to have the right side training and hopefully within 2 weeks be growing at my screen. I'm not sure what kind of growth RS has with flowering but I think I know someone who does--

Things are looking awesome, yellowing is pretty much 100% gone. I'm worried I had some cigarette's on my hands when I touched her once because there's a very tiny(size of a pin) clear hole in one of fan leaves. Just gotta keep a good clean regimen even if I'm popping her open just a 2 second glimpse. Otherwise thanks for the views and I'll keep updating this space

(also as a side note, some of you might notice that my lighting shelf doesn't have any reflective property where the surge protectors are mounted. I thought about doing this, but aluminum tape is a pain in the ass. Chalk it up to being lazy.)

 

[Agent-Smith]

Yes I will vouch for that. Me and irie have talked in private many times and he is one of the few new growers that actually researches and reads before just throwing something together and asking questions once it all goes wrong. He listens very well and has a real knack for getting things done and done right. You should see his hammering skills now!!

Once she starts getting a little bigger, you will need to remove a grow rock or two from time to time to give the stalk more room, she's going to be a monster. Also, be prepared for her to triple her size in flowering since she has about 4-5 weeks of stretch. I think once the cab is like 2/3 full you should flip 12/12. She'll fill the rest of the screen in the first week and then it's all height from there. I'm excited to see her SCROGed out

 

[irie4i]

Sweet, so my flowering stretch is gonna be tall enough to warrent putting the screen about where the lights are now? That's what I recon. If I can get the middle down on the right side about where the left is now, I can let things grow up from there and let it flower just under the screen(stretch can be nuts aye?).

Thanks for the props smith; I'll get pics of my screen up later(pro looking scrog imo)

 

[rave420]

hey, i am growing with the same sized lights in a box (check my sig), and i tell you, they produce great buds!

Only thing: GET A THERMOMETER. I know that my 8 42 w bulbs made by Silvania heat the box to 95f degrees at 69 ambient, using one 80cfm exhaust. That's the only thing i shall "criticize", otherwise, looking great. This is what i plan for my future grow, only using a 150hps, so i'll keep my eyes on this

 

[irie4i]

Thanks rave; I actually looked at your grow a few times for some idea on what I can get out of my cab. My thermometer is a little sensitive and cheap, but more or less I determine that my temps around the plant don't go above 84. Two 80mm fans exhaust air from the top of my light shelf to what is at the moment open space. Right now a 6" desk fan is pushing air out of small exhaust; soon it will be two 90cfm 120mm cpu fans build into a plastic bin scrubber.