First grow. [600w 4x4 tent] [Jack Herer + Blue Dream]

Hola,
This is my first grow. Growing in a 4x4x6.5 tent with a Lumatek 600w dimmable and 36"x36"x22" SCROG net. I am growing 3 Jack Herer and 2 Blue Dream from clones. I really don't have any goals for yield, I would just like to produce my own medicine so that I stop paying rape prices.

Temps in my city go as high as 88F and as a low as 40F at night time. The temps inside the tent are not completely dialed in since I haven't received my hydrofarm 6" fan but have reached as high as 122F with the 600w on the super lumens feature.

Here are some pics.


Scrog Screen

For the time being (until I buy these in a week, http://www.amazon.com/Rope-Ratchet-Heavy-Duty-Hanger/dp/B003VB2G66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339361264&sr=8-2) my hood is ghetto rigged



The three jacks

Two Blue Dreams and a Sour Diesel I'm holding.

I don't know what the heck is up with this baby jack. The leaves are all droopy and it looks like it might not make it. There are no roots showing through the bottom of the little plastic container. I think there are TOO many leaves on the clone that it isn't allowing itself to root, but then again this is my first grow. I put a plastic sandwich bag, which was sprayed with water over it to make a dome. Hopefully the higher humidity promotes root growth but we shall see.

These are currently on 18/6 and while it is daylight for them the tent has been kept open because temp rises quickly in there.

I plan on using General Hydroponics' General Organics line which includes BioThrive Grow and Bloom, BioRoot, BioBud, BioWeed, BioMarine, CaMg+ and Diamond Black. I also plan on picking up some sort of flusher for the final flushes.

thank you guys for your time and for checking out my journal. Any tips tricks or suggestions are always welcomed.

That clone is way too exposed to the elements there. You said that the heats were getting up to 122 in there?

Clones are gonna do best in the 75 -85 degree range... if you live in a house with AC your house is probably in that range, much more suitable environment for a clone.

Also, don't put your plants into that kind of stressful environment until you have everything running. Is there any fresh airflow in here at all without the 6" fan?

In the meantime you'd be better off getting a flourescent or two for your vegging plants and taking them out of that heat trap. Try not to exceed 90 degrees if you can on an indoor vegging plant, unless your sure the genetics can handle he stress.
I hand made my tents for my veg plants and they never exceed 81 degrees with flourescent lighting fixtures and airflow to and from the surrounding house.

Hope that helps, message me if you have any questions

Intake some fresh air directly underneath that light w/ a small duct fan... Temps will go down big time.
If you are only vegging for now, take that 600 out and switch the fluro like hacker suggested.

Nice seeing you are leaning towards the organic philosophy...
GH/GO is a good starter line.

At the moment I don't have any other lights but the 600. It is turned down to 300w on the ballast. The temp with the ghetto rig fan and 300w is only about 79F, NOT 122F lol. The 122F is only when the ballast was at 600w with the super lumen setting and no ventilation. The way its set up now, there is a window near the tent which is left open. The fans pull in cool air from the window into the tent. There is however no exhaust other than the vents towards the bottom of the tent.

You need to vent your light. My ballast is attached to my fixture and I needed to cool things down. If you haven't already and can, move your ballast outside of your tent area. This is how i did it. I have 285 cfm exhaust fan, an 85 cfm fresh air intake fan, and one small osculating fan for the canopy.

Thank you Pixi, I am awaiting my 6" Hydrofarm inline fan (400cfm) from UPS. It should be here in the next day or two and that will hopefully keep temps in check, where they should be. I do keep my ballast outside the tent on a porcelain toilet lid to help with heat. I also have all the ducting and clamps for when the fan gets in. This portion was rushed a bit due to the fact that it was the only weekend I had off and had a ride to pick up the clones. I hope they will be fine, Id hate to lose a baby jack this early

My god it has been a complete BITCH trying to control heat these past 24hrs. Temps rose up to 90F inside the tent. I went to wally world and picked up three lasko u12100 which are rated at 350cfm. Two are set up for intake and one for exhaust. The temps were at 85F and now that it is about 45F outside the tent is at about 71F. I am worried that the 400cfm fan that I am awaiting on will not be enough to vent the tent. Any ideas or am I just tripping? My babies are wilting and starting to curl and I am very worried I will lose them. Help!

Side note, the ducts on my tent will require 4 inch ducting and not the 6 inch I thought, bummer.

As a quick note n31, to cool a 1000w efficiently you just need 200 CFM of air pulling over that bulb (assuming the air is a decent coolness) so your fan should be good enough to pull the hot air off that bulb quickly. (Don't put too many kinks in the ventilation tubing)

Thank you l337, it makes sense. These extreme heat issues at ONLY 300w make me think that 600w will cause trouble but if need be I can always run ventilation to the tent with one of the lasko's.

Here's a pic from last night, as you can see some were wilting and the baby jack from earlier posts is still shriveled up and looking like it might not make it, BUT I believe in my ladies

Nice lil set up you got, you are gonna need at least a 6inch inline fan for sure though. you will have no issues with heat with one of those and a nice fan or a space a/c unit, not only will it give you more control, and i also feel that good air circulation helps strengthen the stocks why you are vegging. Also with the inline and stronger cooling unit you will be able to move your light with in stay a 6-12 inches maximizing efficiency when you are running it. Your plants look like they are hot with proper air flow and temp control should put them right. if your tight up for cash hit me with a PM i may have 4inch inline I can pass on to you its loud and not pretty but could help a bit.

RedbullGivesYouWings said:

Nice lil set up you got, you are gonna need at least a 6inch inline fan for sure though. you will have no issues with heat with one of those and a nice fan or a space a/c unit, not only will it give you more control, and i also feel that good air circulation helps strengthen the stocks why you are vegging. Also with the inline and stronger cooling unit you will be able to move your light with in stay a 6-12 inches maximizing efficiency when you are running it. Your plants look like they are hot with proper air flow and temp control should put them right. if your tight up for cash hit me with a PM i may have 4inch inline I can pass on to you its loud and not pretty but could help a bit.

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I hope youre right lol. I CANNOT wait until my 6inch inline fan gets in! I do have a couple of fans for circulation. One 4" clip on and a 6" honeywell fan, those of course will be put to good use.
The baby jack that was not doing so good is starting to perk up and so are the other babies.
Thanks guys.

n31 said:

Side note, the ducts on my tent will require 4 inch ducting and not the 6 inch I thought, bummer.

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You can always use a reducer to run the 6" into the 4". However you may need more air flow than that in the long run.

I had mine reduced from a 8" to a 6" until I got larger reflectors. Once I did this I ran 8" all the way through and the difference is VERY noticeable.

st0ned said:

You can always use a reducer to run the 6" into the 4". However you may need more air flow than that in the long run.

I had mine reduced from a 8" to a 6" until I got larger reflectors. Once I did this I ran 8" all the way through and the difference is VERY noticeable.

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There are three ducts in my tent, two of which are 4" and a 6", however the 6" is more like a 5". FML.

Nice avy, I've always thought Nancy Botwin was hot

If everything is vegging, you can just keep all the flaps open until it's flower time to help cool things down too.

n31 said:

There are three ducts in my tent, two of which are 4" and a 6", however the 6" is more like a 5". FML.

Nice avy, I've always thought Nancy Botwin was hot

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Yeah I hear you. My 8" was more like 7" I had to squeeze that fucker through but at least I know it is tight and not allowing any light to leak in during the dark period.

But yeah if you have no other options a reducer will work just fine.

Thanks! Yeah she is pretty hot. I enjoy the show and liked the picture so I figured it should grace my avatar.

KAL EL said:

If everything is vegging, you can just keep all the flaps open until it's flower time to help cool things down too.

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Yeah I do this as well. Not completely open though as to retain some of the light inside. I generally unzip the top corner and flap it down a bit.

Sooooooooo I finally got my hydrofarm 6" inline fan in. After having a hell of a time doing duct work my temps remain at around 85F WITH the lights off. I'm shitting bricks now because I dont want them to die on me .

Because A/C is not an option for my home, is there any other thing anyone can think of? I know I can run Co2 to cool the temps a bit but that is a very expensive solution for me. I was reading about possible adding another fan to draw air into the tent, 1/3 of the size of my current fan, correct?

ANY help or input will help at this point. Thanks people.

[Moar ghetto riggin' until my hangers come in]


[As you may be able to tell, my room where the tent is a loft so the air gets exhausted to the ceiling of the living room where doors and windows are open, might this be a reason air temp inside the tent isnt going down?]


[Vents inside tent are flapped open]

You have to get your ambient down and I would shorten those long runs of ducting

Somthing like that should do the trick, it oscillates, few different speeds. I Picked one up at costco last week for like 50 bucks. I too shorten the ducting, all of it the duct from the fan to hood could be shortened, as well as the ducting outside the tent.

Really WTF the fuck last night I posted a picture of a cheap A/C that would help cool your babies room, and some advice I on what I would do with your room to help cool it down but mods must not of agreed thats sucks sorry man. Shorten the ducting every where you can though, it like like you can at least save 6inches from the fan to the hood. and If your wanna know about that fan PM me it was like 50 bucks from costco