New Grower My third attempt at hydroponics and first grow journal

[Mañ'O'Green]

The COB’s sound like the way to go Man O Green. Checked out the chilled grow lights website and seeing that they had some interesting items there but as of right now a bit out of my budget range. Doesn’t mean I won’t be setting up a goal for them just not at this time unfortunately. I also checked out the orca grow film and I couldn’t believe the price for a 54“ x 25‘ roll at $50 on Amazon. I’m thinking that using a couple of white trash bags would be just as effective in reflecting the light underneath as the orca grow would be. What do you think?

So I started another grow with a single Jack Herer. I’m using an old file cabinet I used for my first grow in soil. The light fixture I’m using I made with five 5W x 12 LED bulbs with heat sinks for a total of 300 watts. Using a 5 gal bucket with a 6” net pot lid connected by a 1 1/2” ABS pipe to another 5 gal bucket for a reservoir for easier H2O and nute changes. I’ll be using GH Flora Nova grow and Flora Nova bloom for the nutes. I have four 140 mm fans in the cabinet. One for ventilation and three for exhaust. I’ll post pictures with my next post update so that anyone who wants to comment with advice may most certainly do so. Until then, keep on growing!

No a white trash bag is not the same as Orca Grow film. My yield went up when I started using the Orca grow film. See my thread "Mañ'O'Green's New Grow Room". Yes it is expensive but worth every penny. IMHO a simple piece of white styrofoam sheet would work better than a plastic bag.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

So I checked out about a dozen different websites on orca grow film to find out what was so good about it. And you are definitely right Man O Green, It is the best out there. I’ll have to figure that into my budget as well. I read your entire post on your grow room build and I am in awe of you. You are a Grow God! I detect that you have a construction background in your work history, plus a bit of the MacGyver in you. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m renting my house I would definitely build a grow space in it. And I would use yours as an example to build by.
Anyway, I will add orca grow film to my wish list.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

So I checked out about a dozen different websites on orca grow film to find out what was so good about it. And you are definitely right Man O Green, It is the best out there. I’ll have to figure that into my budget as well. I read your entire post on your grow room build and I am in awe of you. You are a Grow God! I detect that you have a construction background in your work history, plus a bit of the MacGyver in you. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m renting my house I would definitely build a grow space in it. And I would use yours as an example to build by.
Anyway, I will add orca grow film to my wish list.

MacGyver yes grow god NO! Thanks for the vote of confidence. The shape and access to my grow space are the biggest problem at 4x6 I cannot reach the back plants to tuck, defoliate look at etc. I would definitely change that if my room had allowed it 3x8 would have been better but just would not work in the spare bedroom. Other then that it performs very well. Orca Grow Film is an amazing product. I love its performance.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

A good Monday to all my fellow growers! Today is day 36 in my adventures in growing. Thought it was about time I started using days instead of weeks for the age of the girls. The girls are looking pretty good and getting bushy. The CO2 experiment seems to be working well but I’ve made a modification to it by adding a small 120V tire inflator in the mix to pump more of the yeast produced CO2 into the plants. I have it set on a timer twice for an hour during their dark time. As well as putting the exhaust fan and the two circulating fans on a timer as well in the off position during the time of CO2 dispersion so as not to waste any. What’s the worst that can happen, right?
Seen the first hairs on them a few days ago so changed out the tanks and added Big Bud and Overdrive to the mix today. Looking forward to them flowering.
Got my first grow cabinet up and running again. It holds only one plant but it works. Made it from a hardwood filing cabinet that normally would sit lengthwise on the floor. But after gutting it out, I sat it on end, added four 140mm computer fans, 1 for vent and 3 for exhaust, with five LED full spectrum, heat sinked bulbs w/ 12 five watt bulbs each. Since I went on the cheap to make this cabinet I lined it with mylar emergency blankets that I purchased from Amazon for only a few dollars. I know it isn’t the greatest type of mylar but it worked for the other plants that I grew in it. This time around I’m doing DWC instead of soil as before. I’m using two 5 gal buckets, 1 with a 6” net pot lid the other to be used as a reservoir for easier H2O changes, both connected by a 1 1/2” ABS pipe with 2” grommet seals so the nute water can flow from rez to roots on its own. I’ll be using Flora Nova Grow and Flora Nova Bloom from General hydroponics for nutes. I am germinating an Auto Jack Herer seed in a Rapid Rooter peat pod, then transferring to a 4 inch rock wool cube that has been treated with a mild dose of Voodoo Juice.
As always any advice or constructive criticism will be welcomed. Pictures to follow. Have a great grow!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Tumbleweed59 Plants do not use CO2 at night time. You are just wasting it. The needed conditions for your plants to utilize added CO2 are 50 watts per square foot of light, 90°F+ and PPMs of CO2 ~1500 max. I have met these conditions in past grows and the gains were marginal if any. Growth was a little faster but it is much easier to control this with the genetics you choose to grow. I have a CO2 bottle setup with all the bells and whistles. It certainly was not worth the time and effort. It takes a lot of monitoring and control inputs to keep it running. Heat build up in the small space was the biggest problem. If I had a 2 ton split AC for my grow space I might try again but until then I have stopped using it.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

Thanks for the info @Mañ'O'Green. First, I’m doing it backwards. And second, I need to meet certain conditions in the grow environment for the CO2 to be somewhat effective. As I’ve said this is an experiment and if it doesn’t work it, doesn’t work. As long as my plants are not harmed during my experiments I’ll keep trying new things. That’s what learning is all about. My current set up has 16 sqft/120 cuft. The temperature ranges between 88° and 92° with 52-56% humidity as the summer wear’s on. I have two 300 W output CFL’s and 900 one watt LED lights in the four panels. I’m not expecting a double the size
kind of growth, that would be way overboard on expectations, just a little something extra to increase my yield a bit. With what I have just described, do you think I’m within the parameters for CO2 usage? I know our atmosphere is about 400 ppm of CO2 but I couldn’t say what is in my tent as I don’t have a meter for that. Any thoughts or advice you have is greatly appreciated Man. Thanks!!!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

10% to 15% additional growth is all a commercial operation tries to accomplish with CO2. A shorter time frame is actually more important to them. You can shave a week or two off a grow with careful CO2 management. A home grower can accomplish the same thing by growing another plant. After all the added inputs for one plants fertilizer do not mean much to you. It really adds up on large scale. Once your space is full that is the most you can grow.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

So what’s happening AFN friends! Day 47 of my grow. Both the American Pie and Northern Lights/Big Bud are 20 days into their budding phase and are starting to take shape. Did my final LST on Monday and I think I have a fairly even canopy give or take a few inner branches that have minds of their own.

American Pie

It seems that my phone isn’t allowed or unable to let me upload my photos more than once per post. Or I would be posting the pics of the NLBB. So I’ll post one more time with those pictures as well as an update on my Jack Herer Auto.

Thanks to @Mañ'O'Green for the CO2 advice. I really appreciate it. It helped having more knowledge about the CO2 then I had when I started. In the end it was more work than it was worth.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

So here are the pics of the NLBB after I defoliated and LST’d for the last time. The pic at the bottom is my seven day old Jack Herer Auto newly planted in her new home:

I’ll post again next week with an update of how the girls are doing. In the meantime, keep on growing!

 

[richykn]

So here are the pics of the NLBB after I defoliated and LST’d for the last time. The pic at the bottom is my seven day old Jack Herer Auto newly planted in her new home:View attachment 940083View attachment 940085 View attachment 940086


I’ll post again next week with an update of how the girls are doing. In the meantime, keep on growing!

Hi mate great job with your girls keep it up , would love to see some root pics on your next update how are they doing ?