Max 15 plant medical grow in an 8x8

I have an 8x8 tent set up in an unheated un air conditioned shed. Lots of power. Three high wattage 110 lines. In Washington State.

I've ordered a bunch of feminized seeds. Six different strains. I'm allowed to have Max 15 plants any given moment.

When I'm in continuous personal production, I want to have 6 mothers, one for each strain. Then a bunch flowering and a bunch of veg mode at all time.

The mothers and the flowers will have five gallon grow bags. Clone/ veg mode will spend time in 3 gallons until moved to 5.

There will be a 4x8 flowering chamber and two 4x4 mother/ veg chambers. Since the mothers will be way too big and produce way too many shoots for my needs, I'll keep them well trimmed.

I'll give away clones to people. I really miss not being able to get clones from the local pot shop (which I could do in Colorado), they don't have that in Washington. They finally started selling seeds, but only on the Indian reservation. I decided to mail order based on availability of particular strains I wanted. Plus it's better price. Plus the local seeds are not feminized.

I've used bubble wrap vapor barrier, mylar reflective surface, for insulation in my first 4x4 chamber. It can get really cold out here. I double it up on the exterior walls and it keeps the heat and light in really well. I'll cut through the ventilation ports as needed.

I've set up the heat environment. I bought several vertical tower fans which I like sweeping back and forth from the corners. I have a rolling air conditioner for the summer when it's needed. I've got a couple seedling heating mats on delivery for tomorrow. I've got a variety of seedling grow stuff. I bought a bag of mychorizia. I know how to prep the water and nutrients as needed. I can do pH.

I typically have a 5 gallon bucket of water bubbling in each 4x4 area. That keeps the humidity up and in the case of chlorine only gets rid of the chlorine. I have chloramine here which means I will actually have to use a chemical to have the chlorine and chloramine drop out since you can't bubble out chloramine.

I currently have 3 x 180 watt LEDs which produced a pound and a half in a 5x5 in Colorado. If I flower six plants, I'll probably need 3 more of these, for a total of six. I have a shitload of 31 watt LED strips that are ass kicking for vegetation and mothers, plus I can drop them down the sides of the flowering plants for side bud.

I don't care about smell. I have a high velocity disc airflow fan. I think I need a bunch more ducting though since this is a much larger area than I've ever used before.

I'll probably shut down flowering during summer time. I have no need to fight the heat with lots of AC and this is strictly for personal use plus gifting. So I'll just keep the mothers alive and start the clones in the fall.

Attached is the setup progress so far:

Wow sounds like a plan. Nice setup too.

whatcha going to grow?

what chemical can remove chlorine and chloramine?

Strains are in the link to the screenshot.

This will remove the chloramine.

MICROBE LIFE HYDROPONICS Premium Dechlorinator for Hydroponics Gardens, Chlorine and Chloramine Neutralizing Full-Function Water Conditioner for Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs, 16 Ounces https://a.co/d/3M2dH1S

testtime said:

Strains are in the link to the screenshot.

This will remove the chloramine.

MICROBE LIFE HYDROPONICS Premium Dechlorinator for Hydroponics Gardens, Chlorine and Chloramine Neutralizing Full-Function Water Conditioner for Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs, 16 Ounces https://a.co/d/3M2dH1S

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Thanks and sorry I didn’t click on the screenshot now that I did, I see

I would skip buying bottles of dechlorinators\conditioners, that will be used up way to fast. You should setup a filtration system instead if you are really worried about it, and will be mixing lots of reservoirs up. You don't even need a full on multi staged RO system to do it, as they make single garden hose adapted filters just for chlorine/chloramines. Just simply screw it right in to your faucet.

The filters will treat waaay more water overall than the chemicals can, saving money in the long run.

Chloramines are great for hydroponics IMO though. Running sterile reserviors especially. Unless you are trying to brew active compost teas, or have some super sensitive exotic fish, or into some crazy aquaponic\biological setup.. I wouldn't even be trying to remove it.. Filter to get rid of the chloramines if anything..

Drop That Sound said:

I would skip buying bottles of dechlorinators\conditioners, that will be used up way to fast. You should setup a filtration system instead if you are really worried about it, and will be mixing lots of reservoirs up. You don't even need a full on multi staged RO system to do it, as they make single garden hose adapted filters just for chlorine/chloramines. Just simply screw it right in to your faucet.

The filters will treat waaay more water overall than the chemicals can, saving money in the long run.

Chloramines are great for hydroponics IMO though. Running sterile reserviors especially. Unless you are trying to brew active compost teas, or have some super sensitive exotic fish, or into some crazy aquaponic\biological setup.. I wouldn't even be trying to remove it.. Filter to get rid of the chloramines if anything..

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-52700-Flexible-Protector-Hydroponics/dp/B01N8TYQ9W

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Thanks. I'll get that when I run out of the current stuff.

Day 4. 9 out of 13 popped so far. Yay. One grew too much stem as it pushed the closed cotyledon around. Had to remove it by hand. That's ok.

I was shipped Hawaiian Snow rather than Maui Waui. They said they'd fix it but didn't ask for the Snow seeds back. Cool. But the Snow seeds seemed kind of dry and light and didn't pop yet. If they do, bonus. If not, oh well.

Okay, I have 10 out of 10 popped (ignoring the Hawaiian snow since that would be a bonus) but I have one disfigured baby. I'll kill it in a couple of days if it doesn't separate and sprout the leaves unless someone has some suggestions for it.

And as you can see I've been accumulating supplies for a while. So hopefully other than a couple cubic meters of dirt I'm done buying stuff.

This is probably the only new thing in this grow for me. See through trays so I can see the roots are ready to go. I'll put these in intermediary bags in a couple of days. A week or two later they will go into 3 gallon bags. The goal is to pack 15 of these (I'll pop a few more seeds but I'm waiting for the Maui wowie or I'll take a few clones to get it to 15 ) in a 4x4 space for the next 3 months because I don't want to insulate the rest of the tent for a while.

Okay, 8 transplanted. Killed two out of the 10 due to malformations even though they had strong roots.

Got the Hawaiian Maui Waui so I planted three of those, two of the Hawaiian Snow which I do not expect to pop, a Witch's Wedding and a Fuel dog. If they all pop and are transplantable that'll make it to my 15. If not, I'll take clones to fill it out in a month or so.

Got my tower fan going, rotating around so there will always be a varying breeze.

nice setup

Okay, some commentary on the insulation. I love it. This reflective bubble wrap is incredible to keep the heat in. Two layers is perfect.

The reason I know this is that the inner walls of the tent in the non-insulated space is covered with water. The condensation from the crack from the inner area has created into a little rainforest. That means internally, where there is no water on the walls, maintains that wonderful temperature and won't cost me an arm and a leg to heat.

I've ordered two more rolls to totally cover the walls of the rest of the tent. So when I flower in the winter the only heat I need is from the lights. I also ordered some fans and ducting to handle if the lights get too hot, but this is the first time I've ever been able to be happy with my temperature during grow.

testtime said:

Okay, some commentary on the insulation. I love it. This reflective bubble wrap is incredible to keep the heat in. Two layers is perfect.

The reason I know this is that the inner walls of the tent in the non-insulated space is covered with water. The condensation from the crack from the inner area has created into a little rainforest. That means internally, where there is no water on the walls, maintains that wonderful temperature and won't cost me an arm and a leg to heat.

I've ordered two more rolls to totally cover the walls of the rest of the tent. So when I flower in the winter the only heat I need is from the lights. I also ordered some fans and ducting to handle if the lights get too hot, but this is the first time I've ever been able to be happy with my temperature during grow.

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what about co2 ?

m1100 said:

what about co2 ?

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I'm going to accept that the air flow I do get will be enough. If not and I am able to detect it then I will set up some type of CO2 generation system. But to start off with I'm going to keep the heat in as much as possible.

I see CO2 measuring devices for around 40 bucks on Amazon. I'll probably pick up one of those.

The rotating fan points across the row of plants to the area where the door meets the frame and there is a crack throughout that. So there is definitely air exchange going through there. Enough? I'll find out.

testtime said:

I'm going to accept that the air flow I do get will be enough. If not and I am able to detect it then I will set up some type of CO2 generation system. But to start off with I'm going to keep the heat in as much as possible.

I see CO2 measuring devices for around 40 bucks on Amazon. I'll probably pick up one of those.

The rotating fan points across the row of plants to the area where the door meets the frame and there is a crack throughout that. So there is definitely air exchange going through there. Enough? I'll find out.

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Also, I'm going to have about 1800 watts of LED in there in about 2 months. So at that point the lights should be generating plenty of heat and I will actually have ongoing exhaust/ intake of fresh air.

testtime said:

I'm going to accept that the air flow I do get will be enough. If not and I am able to detect it then I will set up some type of CO2 generation system. But to start off with I'm going to keep the heat in as much as possible.

I see CO2 measuring devices for around 40 bucks on Amazon. I'll probably pick up one of those.

The rotating fan points across the row of plants to the area where the door meets the frame and there is a crack throughout that. So there is definitely air exchange going through there. Enough? I'll find out.

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Make sure it's a "real" NDIR CO2 sensor. Many of the less expensive devices are eCO2 (estimated) meters and are quite inaccurate for CO2 measurements.

Billy the Mountain said:

Make sure it's a "real" NDIR CO2 sensor. Many of the less expensive devices are eCO2 (estimated) meters and are quite inaccurate for CO2 measurements.

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I just ordered this one:

Indoor Air Quality Monitor, 3 in 1 Carbon Dioxide Detector Portable, NDIR Sensor, CO2 Monitor Rechargeable, 400-5000 ppm Temperature(°F) and Humidity Meter for Home https://a.co/d/fQKtntg

It's a bitch wandering through the reviews and trying to figure out which ones are the obvious promotional bullshit versus which ones are real. This one seemed to pass the smell test in that the CO2 was accurate. All the other things it measured were not, so there were lots of complaints about the other portion while acknowledging the CO2 seemed accurate.

testtime said:

I just ordered this one:

Indoor Air Quality Monitor, 3 in 1 Carbon Dioxide Detector Portable, NDIR Sensor, CO2 Monitor Rechargeable, 400-5000 ppm Temperature(°F) and Humidity Meter for Home https://a.co/d/fQKtntg

It's a bitch wandering through the reviews and trying to figure out which ones are the obvious promotional bullshit versus which ones are real. This one seemed to pass the smell test in that the CO2 was accurate. All the other things it measured were not, so there were lots of complaints about the other portion while acknowledging the CO2 seemed accurate.

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Probably fine for growing purposes although the price seems almost too good.
A Sensiron SCD41 CO2 sensor module is $40-50 alone; no display, no case, no microprocessor, DIY required.

Anticipated lighting:

I have three of these being delivered on Saturday.

EnjoYield DIY-240 Full Spectrum Grow Light, Extensible LED Bar Grow Lights with Dedicated 660nm Red & UV Light, 2x4ft Dimmable Plant Growing Lamps for Indoor Plants Veg and Flower with Daisy Chain https://a.co/d/fPEBXHf

90 bucks each when coupon applied.

I have previous experience with this manufacturer and I have four of essentially the same model but without the center light bar that has the fancy reds and UVs. Those lights in a 5x5 with six plants shoved in tight produced about a pound and a half total. Now I'm working with 6 to 8 flowering at the same time with a lot more space. So I got those three. Plus, I got one of the following:

YAIYAN LED Grow Light - 2023 Newest UV IR Separately Control for Plants Growth 240W Dimming Daisy Chain Full Spectrum Grow Light for Indoor Plants Veg Bloom Growing Lamps for 2x4|3x3 Grow Tent https://a.co/d/g8YhUbI

I just had to try it. About 100 bucks with coupon applied.

The price performance of LED lights blows me away. There was a time I daisy chained 600 watt HPS and MH lamps in a tiny closet space. A quarter of this production with a shitload of heat. I love modern times.

I have a watt meter so I will be able to tell how much each one really draws.

I also have 2 of these arriving for airflow/ ventilation when needed.

iPower 4 Inch 230 CFM Inline Ventilation Fan Quiet Vent Blower with 8 Feet Non-Insulated Flex Aluminum Ducting for Grow Tent Air Circulation, 2 Clamps Included https://a.co/d/ewCKDds

Four of the possible 7 seedlings have popped and I really only expect one more. I'll take clones to fill out my final 15 in a month or so. I'll make my decisions on what becomes a mother or what goes to flowering with the goal having at least one of every strain flowering and at least one of every strain is a mother. Since I have six strains, I'll have to pick and choose amongst those to maximize bud production.

I'll be topping in a few weeks and double topping a few weeks later. I'm no good at fimming.

I have fed no nutrients yet other than what was mixed with mycorrizia. I will start half strength nutrients on the next watering for the previously transplanted plants.

Light update:

The YAIYAN is the 1st light I ever got that actually draws the stated amount of wattage. Actually it draws 10 watts more, 250 watts. It comes with daisy chain dimmer controls and includes the telephone style patch cable. The dimmer control is very accurate and has printed gradiations that actually match the wattage draw when you turn it down. When you turn the IR and UV on the wattage draw does not change. It seems it draws power out of the constant total and the white lights drop a slight bit.



The Enjoyield was a slight pain in the ass to put together. Each white bar pulls 88 watts and the UV and red pull about 20 apiece for a total of around 216, with the quoted wattage being 240. It has separate power cords for the white versus the red/ UV which I find annoying. The dimmers are on each bar, two for the red/ UV, and feel a bit kludgey with the dial range not feeling like it matches the watt draw. The instructions claim a single dial will control them all but the light did not include the actual communication cable to join them together.

Simple update. Happy seedlings /getting into veg mode.