Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[MagicChef]

Im no master grower, but my first piece of advice is MOVE! If your really that eager about growing some herb, do it somewhere that isnt so heaty. Things can go wrong, power can go out, fans stop working etc and pretty soon you go some know it-all cop snooping around your pad. There is always some other time you could grow, with better odds to not get nabbed. But enough with the negativety, good luck with your grow!

 

[Dr. Purpur]

If You want to conquer odor, get a tent, a vortex fan and a quality carbon filter. Keep a negative pressure in the tent, and run all exhaust air through the filter. Have a spare filter on hand. I had one go out, with 2 years use on it. I had a tent full of GDP that stunk like crazy. I had police beating on my front door in the middle of the night. Luckily I looked out first, and didnt turn on the lights, and didnt answer the door.They left after 20 minutes. Turns out they were looking for a carjacker on foot and wanted in my yard. The Neighbor said, " Man when the cops were here I could smell Your plants real strong" I got a new filter the next day. All odor was gone.

 

[HempKat]

Hi all first post here!
I've had some difficulties finding any definitive answers on odour control:
would something like this (proxyfied link) be ok for 6 ladies in a closet?
Mind you, my goal is to have absolutely ZERO smell in the room, not just making sure the cop next door can't smell it.
Maybe some smaller ionizers would be ok too? I don't plan on growing 4K48 or any other strong smelling variety.

Also, I would like to know what is the min and max % humidity for safely growing the ladies, and if a DIY 40w TEC cooler glued to a metal plate should be enough to dry the air of a single room to acceptable levels or at least the closet (I'm planning about 45m3/hour airflow with a silent 12cm PC fan). Just so you know, outdoor humidity can easily go over 80% in here and I got no AC or heating (meh, I'm poor as fuck )

Thanks in advance.

Well what the link shows is an ozone generator which while they do work well at controling odor ozone does have health risks to humans from prolonged exposure. So personally I don't recommend them and have never used them. That being said some people do use them and say they work well. What I recommend is a carbon scrubber but a good one for your space might be a bit pricey and you've indicated you're poor. There are DIY options on the internet and in this site as well for carbon scrubbers that can reduce the cost. They're not terribly complicated. It's basically just an enclosed pathway for air that forces the air to pass thru a thick layer of activated charcoal which absorbs the odor. When matched with a proper sized exhaust fan for your room and the resistence the carbon scrubber creates, a carbon scrubber is very effective. I would say this though, growing next door to a cop is a risky game and if you're going to play it you should have all the right gear which requires a fair chunk of money. The generator may work and even a carbon scrubber may work but what if the ozone generator fails one day when you're not around? What if the exhaust fan fails? If I was going to risk growing next to a cop I'd want all the best equipment and I'd want back ups for anything that might fail so I could minimize how long I might be at risk when/if something fails. I would also want to be growing underground in a basement, preferably in a hidden room that's completely sealed so I can control exactly where any air from that room goes. If I couldn't do that then I'd either want to move somewhere safer if growing my own was that important to me or I'd want to find some place other then where I live to set up a grow room that was safer then next to a cop. I realize none of what I'm saying are good options for someone who is poor but if that cop finds out somehow and you get busted you'll wish you had done things differently and it'll cost you alot more then just money.

On to the humidity. Generally speaking I like to keep my humidity in the 50-55% range during lights on and 35-45% lights off. If the ventilation is right usually the humidity will take care of itself but if the humidity is usually high a typical dehumidifier will do the trick. I'm not familiar with the device you're talking about so I really can't say if it would do the trick or not.

 

[Asmodeus]

I see what you mean, If the Ozone gen. fails, I can't repair it quickly in my home, so while it's out for RMA I would be knee deep in s**t.
A carbon scrubber, on the other hand, seems a safe bet as fans are the only part that can fail and are relatively cheap and I already have various PC fans, including some powerful ones.
Now, that leaves me in need of the filter, would one of those replacements filters for kitchens do (they do are activated carbon filters, just in a different shape)?
And if I make one from scratch, would I need activated charcoal in powder form or in bigger grains?

 

[HempKat]

I see what you mean, If the Ozone gen. fails, I can't repair it quickly in my home, so while it's out for RMA I would be knee deep in s**t.
A carbon scrubber, on the other hand, seems a safe bet as fans are the only part that can fail and are relatively cheap and I already have various PC fans, including some powerful ones.
Now, that leaves me in need of the filter, would one of those replacements filters for kitchens do (they do are activated carbon filters, just in a different shape compared)?
And if I make one from scratch, would I need activated charcoal in powder from or in bigger grains?

If you're talking a small room or closet I don't think PC fans are going to cut it. Nor is anything meant for taking cooking odors and the like out of a room. For the scrubber itself you should be thinking along these lines.

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AOCCF0090&eq=&Tp=

And an exhaust fan something like this:

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AEFCF04&Tp=

PC fans are for just moving air around within a room at best, although I prefer using a oscillating fan for air movement in a room. To use them for ventilation you really need a much smaller space like building a grow space inside a wardrobe closet you buy at the hardware store. Even then it's not the best choice. Really I'd only use PC fans for a grow space not very much bigger then a PC.

 

[Asmodeus]

I see what you mean (I think), BUT, my grow closet would be about 0.8m3 (or 28 cubic feet).
That means that a fan that can effectively circle that through the filter twice in a minute should do the job. (or 2 or 3, did you know more than one fan can be stacked to effectively increase the static pressure?)
Also, are the bigger sized filters less restrictive, and therefore more likely to work with "quiet" fans (I'm talking about 1800RPM 120mm)?

Am I making any sense? Or am I completely off.

Please tell me how it is because I don't just need stealth, I need my stealth to be stealth.
If odour cannot be taken away silently, then I can't grow, but it looks weird to me that everybody grows with insanely noisy fans turned on 24/7?

I hope I don't look too stupid or arrogant if I'm insisting or less powerful fans, or no noise solutions such as ionizers and ozonizers, but really that would be my only option.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

I see what you mean (I think), BUT, my grow closet would be about 0.8m3 (or 28 cubic feet).
That means that a fan that can effectively circle that through the filter twice in a minute should do the job. (or 2 or 3, did you know more than one fan can be stacked to effectively increase the static pressure?)
Also, are the bigger sized filters less restrictive, and therefore more likely to work with "quiet" fans (I'm talking about 1800RPM 120mm)?

Am I making any sense? Or am I completely off.

Please tell me how it is because I don't just need stealth, I need my stealth to be stealth.
If odour cannot be taken away silently, then I can't grow, but it looks weird to me that everybody grows with insanely noisy fans turned on 24/7?

I hope I don't look too stupid or arrogant if I'm insisting or less powerful fans, or no noise solutions such as ionizers and ozonizers, but really that would be my only option.

My indoor grow is 25 sq feet. I use a 6 inch vortex fan ($175.00), and the filter was $100.00. I use a speed control on the fan to slow it down a bit.
If You are renting your place next to the cop, move. If Your in California get a card and dont worry about the cop. The only reason I was worried, was, I was over on My plant limits at the time.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

One other thing..... Dont grow OG Kush, or any plants from the Chemdog family, or GDP, or any other ultra stinky plants. There are plenty of good strains that dont over do it in the reek department.

 

[gsmoked]

hemp what you mean by sog ? or whatever lol i am using a tent 1x1 2 m high im going to try some more of dutch passions or maybe easyrider or auto ak47 and yea large soil pots organic grow but looking for best yeild if u can help

 

[HempKat]

I see what you mean (I think), BUT, my grow closet would be about 0.8m3 (or 28 cubic feet).
That means that a fan that can effectively circle that through the filter twice in a minute should do the job. (or 2 or 3, did you know more than one fan can be stacked to effectively increase the static pressure?)
Also, are the bigger sized filters less restrictive, and therefore more likely to work with "quiet" fans (I'm talking about 1800RPM 120mm)?

Am I making any sense? Or am I completely off.

Please tell me how it is because I don't just need stealth, I need my stealth to be stealth.
If odour cannot be taken away silently, then I can't grow, but it looks weird to me that everybody grows with insanely noisy fans turned on 24/7?

I hope I don't look too stupid or arrogant if I'm insisting or less powerful fans, or no noise solutions such as ionizers and ozonizers, but really that would be my only option.

Yes I know you can stack fans to increase the impact on air movement. Air movement is not really the issue, air extraction is what I'm more focused on because that's where your risk of odor detection happens, when you pull the smelly air out of the room. To effectively do that and to make use of carbon scrubbers and things like cool tubes (a housing that allows you to air cool your light, you need to be able to pull that air into some sort of ducting, thru the scrubber and any air cooling devices and blow it out of the room. Unless these fans are way different then your typical PC fans (besides performance stats) then I just don't see how you're effectively going to use PC fans to move the air thru the ducting. If odor wasn't an issue and you just wanted to sufficiently ventilate the room by putting a whole bunch of PC fans in certain places sucking air out of the room then yeah that can work but to direct it the way you'll need to direct it you'll need something with more power then a PC fan.

You say your space is 28 cubic feet. Well if you were relying totally on your exhaust to cool the room then you would need to exchange the air up to 5 times per minute (btw an exchange rate that high would probably help alot with high humidity levels). So to achieve that you need a fan rated for 28cf x 5 = 140cfm which is about the rating of the fan I linked up as an example. Now that's without factoring any resistence which you'll get from the carbon scrubber as well as the ducting especially if you use alot and have it set up with alot of bends and turns in the path it follows. Anyway I'd estimate with a scrubber and a cool tube and ducting in place you would maybe need a fan rated more for around 160cfm. Now if you can pull in cold air from outside (during Fall/Winter) or you can cool the room with an AC then you might not need 5 exchanges per minute. Ventilation does two main things it controls temps by extracting the hot air out before it can build up much and raise the room's ambient temps, and it also exchanges the air which provides a steady source of CO2 that's naturally in the air. The exchange rate to sufficiently replenish CO2 levels is one room change for every 5 minutes. So if cooling were not an issue then you would only need a fan rated for 28 / 5 = 5.6 cfms which a PC fan could easily handle. You'll need something to cool the air though if you're going to be using HIDs, they put out alot of heat.

 

[HempKat]

One other thing..... Dont grow OG Kush, or any plants from the Chemdog family, or GDP, or any other ultra stinky plants. There are plenty of good strains that dont over do it in the reek department.

You sound as if you have pretty extensive experience with a wide variety of strains, what would you reccommend as potent low odor strains? Most of my experience has been with homemade crosses with some things like Chemdog or GDP coming in now and then from friends. All the low odor strains I can think of in my experience, aren't strains others can find on the market. So it wouldn't do me much good to suggest them but I would like to know some good low odor strains to reccommend to other that might need that info.

 

[HempKat]

hemp what you mean by sog ? or whatever lol i am using a tent 1x1 2 m high im going to try some more of dutch passions or maybe easyrider or auto ak47 and yea large soil pots organic grow but looking for best yeild if u can help

SOG stands for Sea Of Green. It's a grow style where you take a bunch of clones and plant them in relatively small pots. Small enough to get anywhere from 6 to 9 plants per square foot. You don't veg them very long after they root but rather flower them almost immediately (maybe give them a week or two of veg first). The plants being fairly small, close together and with little veg time, will end up being fairly short plants (2-3 feet tall). You'll also trim off most to all of the side branching such that ultimately you end up with a small plant that's all cola, some people call this lollipoping it's also been called an apple on a stick. The goal is to have a harvest of nothing but nice fat colas which most people consider to be the best most potent part of the plant. Because the plants stay short and because you work with clones you end up with a low fairly even canopy which allows you to keep the light in an optimal position in relation to the canopy. In other styles you might have more variation in plant size making the positioning of the light more challenging.

There's a similar style called ScrOG which stands for Screen of Green. In this style you take just a few plants grow them in normal sized pots with normal veg times but you grow them with a screen not too far above the plant when it starts out. The screen will have big holes like 2"x2". As the plant reaches the screen it will be forced to spread out and as it does you help train it such that you have a grow tip/bud site at every hole in the screen you then flower it once the screen is full and at ever hole each bud site should grow a nice cola sized bud because using the screen also allows for the canopy to be low and even so you can have optimal light placement. It's good to use clones or at least feminized seed for this method because you don't want to go to the trouble of training a plant into a screen only to end up with it being a male. Being trained to the screen will make it more difficult to get rid of.

Both these styles are ideal for maximizing your ouput in a small place.

 

[gsmoked]

wow hemp thats impressive s*it but as i am using autos most prob dutch passion or ak47 i tihnk maybe 3 or 4 plants would be the most i can use as using large pots for maximam yeild not sure what are best autos for yeild :S

 

[Dr. Purpur]

You sound as if you have pretty extensive experience with a wide variety of strains, what would you reccommend as potent low odor strains? Most of my experience has been with homemade crosses with some things like Chemdog or GDP coming in now and then from friends. All the low odor strains I can think of in my experience, aren't strains others can find on the market. So it wouldn't do me much good to suggest them but I would like to know some good low odor strains to reccommend to other that might need that info.

Theres a whole bunch of lower odor strains Brother Kat. I grew some great Mexican plants two years ago that were mild in odor. Many Sativas, Probably Thai, My worst problems were with OG Kush, and Grand daddy Purple. Orange Crush/ Salmon Creek Big Bud was pretty stinky too. This run Im doing now will be very telling. It is mostly Hazes, Haze Hybrids, and old school Sativas

DP

 

[Dr. Purpur]

I havnt grown AK47, but isnt that one stinky? Ive heard that lowriders (auto flower) are often very wiffy. (Stink)

 

[HempKat]

wow hemp thats impressive s*it but as i am using autos most prob dutch passion or ak47 i tihnk maybe 3 or 4 plants would be the most i can use as using large pots for maximam yeild not sure what are best autos for yeild :S

Well SoG would not be the best choice for you because of that. Like I said SoG is done best when done with clones and auto flowering plants don't clone well if at all. ScrOG, as you can see by the example picture can be and usually is done with 2-4 plants.

As for which is best for yield, well true autoflowering plants are based on ruderallis which is a class of marijuana just like you have sativa and indica. The auto flowering trait likely evolved because ruderallis is native to more temperate climates that usually have a shorter period where conditions are suitable if they flowered based on how long the days and nights are. Ruderallis generally produce short plants. Two of the more well known auto strains based on ruderallis, Mighty Mite and Low Ryder are both strains that produce plants around one foot tall. Crossing with sativa or Indica can improve size but even auto hybrids tend to be on the shorter side. I'd say ask around of people that grow auto flowering plants which ones they think are best. I've never grown them myself because another trait common to ruderallis is low potency.

 

[HempKat]

I havnt grown AK47, but isnt that one stinky? Ive heard that lowriders (auto flower) are often very wiffy. (Stink)

The AK47 I grew had a pretty good odor but it wasn't skunky in my opinion or one that anyone would instantly recognize as marijuana, it seemed to be more on the piney side.

 

[Billy Burroughs]

The AK-47 I've grown out was super stanky man that was a long time ago just won some serious seeds AK-47's can't wait to start them up

 

[Skidbone]

Whoa, I can't believe it. I am an Old Fart too. I think this is the first time this has happened to me. Sheesh.

Okay, I will run with it and try to put my advanced age and superior knowledge (snicker) to work for good right here.

I like CanFans / CanFilters. I exhaust right next to a multi dwelling building and there is no smell I can detect.

 

[HempKat]

Whoa, I can't believe it. I am an Old Fart too. I think this is the first time this has happened to me. Sheesh.

Okay, I will run with it and try to put my advanced age and superior knowledge (snicker) to work for good right here.

I like CanFans / CanFilters. I exhaust right next to a multi dwelling building and there is no smell I can detect.

Well let me tell you the story of where the term old fart came from and how the qualifications for old fart got set so low, it might make you feel a little better?

Back when OverGrow.com was around there came a time when there was this big mixture of both young and older growers. The younger ones being full of the vigor and enthusiasm of youth behaved as younger folk do and some of the older folk found this annoying at times and wished for a place where the older more mature crowd could hang and not have to deal with the younger crowd as much. So the Over Forty Forum or OF Forum for short, was created. Well at some point someone inquired as to what OF stood for and someone quipped that it stood for Old Fart and everyone found that sort of amusing and so it just kind of stuck. So now it is possible to be an Old Fart much younger then before, used to be 40 was just Over The Hill and you didn't get to be an Old Fart until 60 at the earliest. I blame the Internet damn thing shrunk the world and accelerated aging. You know, we need an Old Fart smiley