clean room, yea but how

curious.george · Dec 31, 2008

So I read stuff about keeping the grow room clean. I think stink bud writes something in his pound a week thread like "the grow room should be clean like a hospital, even cleaner" (not an exact quote). I have also read stuff about keeping organic debris off the floors and out of the flood tables. All of this seems like great advice, but how to actually do it?

For example my plants drop a lot of leaves by the end of the budding cycle, and I try to get them all but I cant keep up with it. So there are leaves kind of everywhere, it messy.

The grow space is fairly tight, a normal 4x3x10 closet with a top shelf 6" up. I have some LED's vegging up top, and the bottom stays on 12/12 all the time. So it is hard to make a day of pulling all the plants out and deep cleaning. I do sometimes but the debris builds up fast.

Anybody have tips for me to achieving this clean room goal? Or insight on how clean it really has to be? Maybe stink bud has leaves in the corners of the floor behind his reservoir too that never get cleaned and I am not actually as bad I think in comparison to others.

curious.george · Dec 31, 2008

oh forgot to mention, I have a ebb-flow system, a 40gal panda res fills most of the floor space, 1 2x3 flood table under the 400w HPS +200w t5 + a few CFL's + a few LED's in flowering area.
I have a separate clone box.
All this is inside a small room that stores all my supplies and where bud dries. There is 6 inch ducting running along the floor. Its crowded in there too.

OregonMeds · Dec 31, 2008

Just keep a lot of those sticky bug traps in there then because you have so many places for bugs to hide and breed even if you cleaned it all cleaning in your case may not be the most important thing.

I've also gotten to the point I don't wait to see bugs to spray for them, I spray and BOMB preventatively.

keep the humidity reasonable and air flow good so you don't have mold etc problems and just clean it as you can as best as you can.

bubblegumgreen · Jan 1, 2009

Just pick up the leaves that fall during the budding cycle and then do a deep clean in between harvets. I use Bio Green Clean and it works great. Bleach is a much cheaper alternative as well..

You have to make sure to keep your space fairly clean if not you will be sorry..

Good luck to you

panhead · Jan 1, 2009

I got two words for you,get a "shop vac" & an extension attachment,i use mine once a week through the entire grow,after harvest there is very little debris & im a soil grower to boot.

I dont go nuts scrubbing & cleaning either until after harvest,then i re-paint everything,i just make sure i have kick ass air circulation to guard against mold & my trusty shop vac,i have no problems with insects (knock on wood) or vermin of any type & never any issues with mildew or mold's.

greenearth5 · Jan 1, 2009

i wouldnt worry about it ... nature is messy as hell..and this is natural..just try and pick up the place and get the leafs before they start to decompose

curious.george · Jan 1, 2009

OregonMeds said:
Just keep a lot of those sticky bug traps in there then because you have so many places for bugs to hide and breed even if you cleaned it all cleaning in your case may not be the most important thing.

I've also gotten to the point I don't wait to see bugs to spray for them, I spray and BOMB preventatively.

keep the humidity reasonable and air flow good so you don't have mold etc problems and just clean it as you can as best as you can.

do you only bomb when all the plants are out of there?

chronickb247 · Jan 1, 2009

use this poision it can be sprayed on the plants and wont hurt them and it keeps all 130 plus different kinds of insects away for 2 months. its called Triazicide go pick it up at a lowes.

Old in the Way · Jan 1, 2009

curious.george said:
So I read stuff about keeping the grow room clean. I think stink bud writes something in his pound a week thread like "the grow room should be clean like a hospital, even cleaner" (not an exact quote). I have also read stuff about keeping organic debris off the floors and out of the flood tables. All of this seems like great advice, but how to actually do it?

For example my plants drop a lot of leaves by the end of the budding cycle, and I try to get them all but I cant keep up with it. So there are leaves kind of everywhere, it messy.

The grow space is fairly tight, a normal 4x3x10 closet with a top shelf 6" up. I have some LED's vegging up top, and the bottom stays on 12/12 all the time. So it is hard to make a day of pulling all the plants out and deep cleaning. I do sometimes but the debris builds up fast.

Anybody have tips for me to achieving this clean room goal? Or insight on how clean it really has to be? Maybe stink bud has leaves in the corners of the floor behind his reservoir too that never get cleaned and I am not actually as bad I think in comparison to others.

hhhmmmm, 12 square feet....a clear statement as to how it should be kept.......as to how.......a little effort is all it takes

curious.george said:
oh forgot to mention, I have a ebb-flow system, a 40gal panda res fills most of the floor space, 1 2x3 flood table under the 400w HPS +200w t5 + a few CFL's + a few LED's in flowering area.
I have a separate clone box.
All this is inside a small room that stores all my supplies and where bud dries. There is 6 inch ducting running along the floor. Its crowded in there too.

Its all relative, whether its a micro cabinet or a wharehouse, all grow spaces end up crowded......got to work to keep a sealed environment up to par

OregonMeds said:
Just keep a lot of those sticky bug traps in there then because you have so many places for bugs to hide and breed even if you cleaned it all cleaning in your case may not be the most important thing.

I've also gotten to the point I don't wait to see bugs to spray for them, I spray and BOMB preventatively.

keep the humidity reasonable and air flow good so you don't have mold etc problems and just clean it as you can as best as you can.

Bugtraps, airflow and RH at optimal levels are all great.....but why leave organic matter around. Its fodder for insects and spores of all kinds.......take away their food thats the best preventative measure

bubblegumgreen said:
Just pick up the leaves that fall during the budding cycle and then do a deep clean in between harvets. I use Bio Green Clean and it works great. Bleach is a much cheaper alternative as well..

You have to make sure to keep your space fairly clean if not you will be sorry..

Good luck to you

Well....this is a person you should listen to, except for the "fairly clean" part.....should be "keep your space like grandma's house, if not you will be sorry"

panhead said:
I got two words for you,get a "shop vac" & an extension attachment,i use mine once a week through the entire grow,after harvest there is very little debris & im a soil grower to boot.

I dont go nuts scrubbing & cleaning either until after harvest,then i re-paint everything,i just make sure i have kick ass air circulation to guard against mold & my trusty shop vac,i have no problems with insects (knock on wood) or vermin of any type & never any issues with mildew or mold's.

Yes, another good nugget, put a hepa filter on the shop-vac and get crazy with it!!

greenearth5 said:
i wouldnt worry about it ... nature is messy as hell..and this is natural..just try and pick up the place and get the leafs before they start to decompose

mmmmmm, nature has limitless space to process its wastes.......we are all working in sealed (to some extent) environments.......may want to give mother nature a day off and do the housework for her in a 12 sq.ft. area

curious.george said:
do you only bomb when all the plants are out of there?

chronickb247 said:
use this poision it can be sprayed on the plants and wont hurt them and it keeps all 130 plus different kinds of insects away for 2 months. its called Triazicide go pick it up at a lowes.

Lots of good products out there....a clean space will give you less problems.........I cringe when I see your interest peak about a product to solve a problem you don't yet have.......cleaning thouroughly is less time consuming and cheaper than most trips to the hydro shop or box store........I would rather blaze and clean than load up, drive to the store, find the product, stand in line, pay for something I don't need, drive home, spray as directed......see the point, cleaning takes 30 minutes of effort......

Never bothered to take pics of the floor, in corners and of every nook and cranny......but look closely, the only leaves on the floor are fresh off me mums......otherwise you......ahhemmm, closet needs to be at least as clean as you see here

Before.........

After............

curious.george · Jan 2, 2009

Old in the Way said:
hhhmmmm, 12 square feet....a clear statement as to how it should be kept.......as to how.......a little effort is all it takes

Its all relative, whether its a micro cabinet or a wharehouse, all grow spaces end up crowded......got to work to keep a sealed environment up to par

Bugtraps, airflow and RH at optimal levels are all great.....but why leave organic matter around. Its fodder for insects and spores of all kinds.......take away their food thats the best preventative measure

Well....this is a person you should listen to, except for the "fairly clean" part.....should be "keep your space like grandma's house, if not you will be sorry"

Yes, another good nugget, put a hepa filter on the shop-vac and get crazy with it!!

mmmmmm, nature has limitless space to process its wastes.......we are all working in sealed (to some extent) environments.......may want to give mother nature a day off and do the housework for her in a 12 sq.ft. area

Lots of good products out there....a clean space will give you less problems.........I cringe when I see your interest peak about a product to solve a problem you don't yet have.......cleaning thouroughly is less time consuming and cheaper than most trips to the hydro shop or box store........I would rather blaze and clean than load up, drive to the store, find the product, stand in line, pay for something I don't need, drive home, spray as directed......see the point, cleaning takes 30 minutes of effort......

Never bothered to take pics of the floor, in corners and of every nook and cranny......but look closely, the only leaves on the floor are fresh off me mums......otherwise you......ahhemmm, closet needs to be at least as clean as you see here

Before.........

After............

Thanks, this is very inspirational, actually. I can see the space behind the blocks supporting the table and there are no leaves behind them.

The thing is that some people are naturally neat and tidy and others need to work at it. Unfortunately I am not the naturally clean kind. For me to actually get it done I think i need a sort of checklist. Maybe one for every day and one for 1 time a week. My guess is with the looks of your area you do not need to look at a list that says:
1, sweep
2, vacuum the leaves out of the flood trays
.
.
.

Any chance you would jot it down as you do it and post it? Or somehow help me get my check list together. While buying shop vac's, & bug spray may be a good idea, those things may not be at the core of my problem. Clearly the only difference between my messy grow space and your clean one is not a shop vac, (but I will gut one).

One problem I have is I know how to do the full deep clean that takes all night and involves pulling everything out. But most days I have 30minutes in the morning before I go to work, and in the weekend I can spend a few hours on it at night.

Having my lights on at night is great for stealth, and heat, but it makes it hard to get a lot of time in there.

clean room, yea but how

curious.george

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curious.george

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OregonMeds

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bubblegumgreen

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panhead

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greenearth5

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curious.george

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chronickb247

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Old in the Way

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curious.george

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