chip douglas
Member
So this is my second grow. [Note: My first grow was in a bucket using various different aeroponic setups. My first grow failed due to reservoir-temp issues and clogging/failure of the watering system. So I basically made an entire new grow room in my closet (which is what this post is about) trying to remedy the 2 problems I had with my first grow: H2O delivery and temperature.]
But this new grow will go much better!
For this grow, Everything is in a steamer closet (see pic). I have 2 eco plus 185gph in-line pumps attached to the tote (tote means big square bucket apparently). I am running them in-line because in my first grow I had the pump INSIDE the reservoir, which caused huge heat problems. So this time I have the pump outside of the reservoir, which cuts down reservoir heat problems significantly.
I basically have both pumps connected to PVC fittings and pipe inside the bucket, with yellow sprayer heads coming off of the PVC. They are attached to a 15-off/15-on timer.
I am going to replace one PVC sprayer "manifold" with a drip-system manifold. I have trouble getting the water on the roots of the seedlings with the sprayer system. I figure dripping directly into the hydroton from above is pretty fool proof.
So the oldest girl here (the biggest) started germing on Jun 12th and is a White Widow (fem). The rest I started germing Jun 19th. The other 4 in the pics are a combination of WW, super silver haze, and himalayan gold. They got mixed up while germinating. All of my seeds are feminized non-autoflowering.
Walls of the trunk are covered in mylar (emergency blanket from wal mart $3). The black fittings on the tote are called bulkheads ($3). Find them at hydro shop or boat shop. The fitting on the top (outlet) of the pump is a 3/8" fitting. Side of the pump (inlet) is 3/4" fitting. All other fittings used are 1/2" PVC.
I am also going to add my fog system in a while. So eventually I will have sprayer heads spraying the roots, fog filling the reservoir, and H2O dripping from just above the lid of the reservoir
I am using Botanicare Pro series and Hygrozyme. I keep about 4 gal purified H2O in the reservoir. When I put big chunks of ice in the res, the H2O temp is managable (60 to 75 fahrenheit). But if I have to leave the house for 12+ hours, it will heat up to my house temp (which is about 82 right now.) I am going to put reflective styrofoam (from home depot) on the lid of the tote as well as insulating the sides of the tote.
For the medium I'm using hydroton in net cups. The actual plants are being supported inbetween butterflied-open aerogarden grow plugs. Then the grow plugs are in the hydroton. My CFL hood is actually an aerogarden hood. I removed the hood from the unit, cut the neck off, and mounted my 125W CFL on it with hose clamps and L-brackets. So the aerogarden bulbs give me about 50W. So total 175W. Yes I know -- it's not much at all -- but I am poor, OK? I'm doing the best I can with the experience and resources I have available to me. I can't just go to the store and buy a 400W MH setup. My lights are on a 18on/6off schedule.
The Oldest WW is looking good to me -- a few sets of leaves and nice white roots (see pic).
Note: When the res heats up too much, you can really smell the plant food cooking. So if you walk into your grow room and it's warm and you can smell that stuff -- you probably need to cool your reservoir. P.S. the reservoir temp and water-deliver system is my main focus for this grow, since they were my 2 problems last time.
Basically with this grow I hope to end up with a decent yield, learn a few things myself, and hopefully share my lessons-learned with others as to improve the knowledge base.
If you have suggestions that would be reasonable for me (a guy with a limited budget) to attempt, please go ahead. Thanks! I will try to post pics regularly. By now I have a handful of various pumps and bags and boxes of PVC and other fittings -- so if you want me to try and build some off-the-wall watering system, just throw some ideas out.
I have a USB "logging" thermometer coming which I can drop into my reservoir tank and then make graphs with on the PC. Hopefully I can record my temperature-changes after I put ice in it to give people some scientific data about cooling your reservoir (havent seen this anywhere yet).
Please reply to this, guys! I want some feedback. What did I do well? What did I not do well? What am I missing (other than bigger light)?
But this new grow will go much better! For this grow, Everything is in a steamer closet (see pic). I have 2 eco plus 185gph in-line pumps attached to the tote (tote means big square bucket apparently). I am running them in-line because in my first grow I had the pump INSIDE the reservoir, which caused huge heat problems. So this time I have the pump outside of the reservoir, which cuts down reservoir heat problems significantly.
I basically have both pumps connected to PVC fittings and pipe inside the bucket, with yellow sprayer heads coming off of the PVC. They are attached to a 15-off/15-on timer.
I am going to replace one PVC sprayer "manifold" with a drip-system manifold. I have trouble getting the water on the roots of the seedlings with the sprayer system. I figure dripping directly into the hydroton from above is pretty fool proof.
So the oldest girl here (the biggest) started germing on Jun 12th and is a White Widow (fem). The rest I started germing Jun 19th. The other 4 in the pics are a combination of WW, super silver haze, and himalayan gold. They got mixed up while germinating. All of my seeds are feminized non-autoflowering.
Walls of the trunk are covered in mylar (emergency blanket from wal mart $3). The black fittings on the tote are called bulkheads ($3). Find them at hydro shop or boat shop. The fitting on the top (outlet) of the pump is a 3/8" fitting. Side of the pump (inlet) is 3/4" fitting. All other fittings used are 1/2" PVC.
I am also going to add my fog system in a while. So eventually I will have sprayer heads spraying the roots, fog filling the reservoir, and H2O dripping from just above the lid of the reservoir
I am using Botanicare Pro series and Hygrozyme. I keep about 4 gal purified H2O in the reservoir. When I put big chunks of ice in the res, the H2O temp is managable (60 to 75 fahrenheit). But if I have to leave the house for 12+ hours, it will heat up to my house temp (which is about 82 right now.) I am going to put reflective styrofoam (from home depot) on the lid of the tote as well as insulating the sides of the tote.
For the medium I'm using hydroton in net cups. The actual plants are being supported inbetween butterflied-open aerogarden grow plugs. Then the grow plugs are in the hydroton. My CFL hood is actually an aerogarden hood. I removed the hood from the unit, cut the neck off, and mounted my 125W CFL on it with hose clamps and L-brackets. So the aerogarden bulbs give me about 50W. So total 175W. Yes I know -- it's not much at all -- but I am poor, OK? I'm doing the best I can with the experience and resources I have available to me. I can't just go to the store and buy a 400W MH setup. My lights are on a 18on/6off schedule.
The Oldest WW is looking good to me -- a few sets of leaves and nice white roots (see pic).
Note: When the res heats up too much, you can really smell the plant food cooking. So if you walk into your grow room and it's warm and you can smell that stuff -- you probably need to cool your reservoir. P.S. the reservoir temp and water-deliver system is my main focus for this grow, since they were my 2 problems last time.
Basically with this grow I hope to end up with a decent yield, learn a few things myself, and hopefully share my lessons-learned with others as to improve the knowledge base.
If you have suggestions that would be reasonable for me (a guy with a limited budget) to attempt, please go ahead. Thanks! I will try to post pics regularly. By now I have a handful of various pumps and bags and boxes of PVC and other fittings -- so if you want me to try and build some off-the-wall watering system, just throw some ideas out.
I have a USB "logging" thermometer coming which I can drop into my reservoir tank and then make graphs with on the PC. Hopefully I can record my temperature-changes after I put ice in it to give people some scientific data about cooling your reservoir (havent seen this anywhere yet).
Please reply to this, guys! I want some feedback. What did I do well? What did I not do well? What am I missing (other than bigger light)?