My second grow

So, here I go on my second grow. This is the clone/veg box I put together to get my second run off and running while I prepare to harvest my first run. I'm using Kellogg's all organic soil, mixing parts soil with one part vermiculite, and one part perlite. I haven't started nutes yet, but I will before long. My soil contains some chicken manure that may be making it a little hot and as a result, I have a little nute burn.

Seems like an interesting veg box. Do you have any holes for air? If not you really need to make 2 holes, one of them with a pc fan to blow air out.

valuablevariable said:

Seems like an interesting veg box. Do you have any holes for air? If not you really need to make 2 holes, one of them with a pc fan to blow air out.

Click to expand...

I just read this response and had to chuckle. Valuablevariable, you are absolutely right! I found out the day I put my plants in and took the pic. At first I thought I would use a pc fan to force air in, moving my plants, givivg fresh air, and venting through the lid, but I stopped and thought back to my physics class and realized that a fan PULLING air is much more efficient than a fan PUSHING air. So.... I cut 2 4" dia holes and attached an 85cfm pc fan to one and have got enough air flowing through to move my plants and it stays at a VERY constant 77-78 degrees. With an 85cfm fan I am replacing my air approx 25 time per min. I am very seriously considering building 3 more and using them start to finish on a rotating schedule. If I LST, I should be able to pull 1/2oz off each plant and harvest a run every month. Each container would be set up similar, but with different lights for flower obviously. 2 veg and 2 flower. Portable, compact, efficient, etc. I will be adding 4 more growlights for a total of 8 lights @ 17w ea = 136w. Flower would obviously be higher watts with cfl instead of tubes. What do you think?

Youre probably one of the few people who found out themselves that fan blowing air out is the right way to go.
You have experience with this setup as to how much yield it will bring or is half oz/plant a guess?

No, no experience with this one, I'm just giving an estimate based off what I have pulled off wy plants and the relative height I can achieve. I plan to LST and use the square pots with a "frame" made from recycles tomato cages. If I put them together in a piramid shape they will be much more sturdy, but if I put them together in a rectangular shape, I can get a lot more surface area. Each pot is 8" square and I have about 9" vertical to work with. If I LST and space 3" as I wrap the frame, I will have the equavialent of about a 5' plant. I figure I should be able to pull a 1/2, or I probably shouldn't be growing! Really though, onlt time will tell. Thank you for your post!

Have you grown with only tubes for lighting before?

No, though I am seriously considering it. I'm kinda up in the air right now because it looks like we are going to have to move. I'm thinking I will just buy a tent so I know my set-up regardless of where I grow.

I have heard SO many people say that flowering with fluoros or cfl's will give you air, weak bud but I was very satisfied with the results of my first run. It wasn't the tightest bud I've ever seen, but there isn't a whole lot of give when you squeeze it. At this point, I'm thinking I will get a 5x5' tent and either a 250 or 400w hps and use fluoros for veg and combination of hps and cfl's for flower. I just REALLY like the fact that you can stick a cfl anywhere around your plants and get excellent side lighting. I have all my cfl's hanging straight down so I have total control over where to place them.

So here I am, wishing I could veg faster! Unfortunately, I went out of town for a few days and had a good friend come over and water my plants. I timed my trip so that he wouldn't have to mess with ferts, tying dows(lst), or adjusting lights. ALL he had to do was water my ladies, wait about 15 minutes and drain the excess water, and enjoy the 1/8 that I left him for helping me out.

Well, long story short, he watered and then decided to try out the meds I left him. He forgot to drain the container and I came home to some VERY wet ladies that were letting me know that they were not at all happy! I put them outside to dry a little and emptied and cleaned their box, so I hope they don't punish me too bad for letting someone else be with them! They have definitely stopped growing so I hope to get them back on track!

Fluoros really dont give great results so if HPS is possible, Id go with it.
I still do like your setup as a vegbox very much though. If you do use it to flower then its always still interesting to see the results.

Yeah, I want to get them in my closet where I have 513actual watts of fluoro and CFL, but we adopted 2 dogs and I don't know if the landlords are going to let us stay or not. IF they do, I would like to add a 250w HPS, but I'm not sure I can deal with the extra heat. I will eventually flower in a setup like this, but not until I can do it and not hurt my med production. More of an experiment I guess, but I think I would have to cut the plants from 6 per box to maybe 2? I would also need more light, but as long as they are fluoro or CFL, I'm pretty sure I can add them without any heat problems.

Unfortunately, I have a LOT of growing ideas and questions that will be best answered through experimentation, but I'm on a limited budget for now. Since I just started growing I plan to invest some of my savings on medicine into my grow setup.