Bagseed DIY cabinet grow - Wonderberry - fall '09

[Here To Learn]

Hi everyone I am starting a DIY cabinet grow. I have been acquiring parts for this project for the last two years. It has been almost ten years since I have grown on my own but have helped friends out with their grows from time to time during that period.

I have payed a total of about eighty dollars to date for my cabinet. The original shed was abandoned near my property. I am not finished with this cabinet by a long shot but am tired of waiting for the rest of the parts to be found through Freecycle and Craigslist I will be upgrading things along the way if possible and will try to post pictures often.

Cabinet: galvanized steel shed.

inner dimensions: 4'x2'x4' plus a small peaked ceiling.

Reflection: gloss white metal paint (note: Galvinized steel may be primed with vinegar in place of sandblasting).

Lighting: 250 watt Hydro Farm Metal Halide (MH) integral ballast fixture. ($50)

exhaust: 3 inch inline fan scavenged from a popped queen size aero bed. (Note: will be replaced with a four inch in line fan).

Many light leaks are still in need of patching. this will happen before flower.

I scarified three bagseeds and soaked them for 12 hours before placing them in my very damp soil on Oct 28th.

Soil: Black Gold organic potting soil mixed with 30 percent ACE compost

Pots: 3 gallon black plastic

I am currently keeping the pots under the MH at night and in the sunlight during the day while misting the soil multiple times per day

Today the first seed broke ground and shed its shell. The cotyledons are out and soaking up the light.

I will keep the plants in the same pots for the entire grow and have not decided if I am going to LST them or ScroG them yet but one or the other will happen. To keep height down I plan to veg for 3-4 weeks before flowering.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions this will be a relearning project for me and a test of my box so far.

 

[Dain Bramage]

hello and good luck friend,do you know how hot it gets is the box and dose that light have a remote ballest?I am using a 400 watt hydro farm hps in my grow and want to exhaust the hot air threw the light.

 

[Here To Learn]

Thanks for the luck Dain Bramage.

The box is currently staying around 80 degrees with the light on and the fan off. After the plants grow a little I will turn the fan on as it is only off for humidity. With the fan and light on it stays around 75 currently.

The light does not have a remote ballast, it is built in. It is also not a vented hood. I have seen a lot of grows where the exhaust is pulled through the light and it seems to work fine.

I plan on sealing the peaked roof area and mounting lighting up there with a fan and vent for that area later. For now the light I have will have to suffice.

 

[Here To Learn]

do you have a grow journal Dain Bramage?

 

[Dain Bramage]

ya just stated one this week.I am also doing a confind space grow using a closet for seedlings/cuttings and mother plants and a larger space for flowering.The strain I am growing is T.H.Seed's S.A.G.E. a sativa dominant strain.

 

[Setting Sun]

Looking pretty good there HTL.

I would install the fan pretty soon because your seedlings will benefit from fresh air from the get-go even if you don't need it for temp control, which I'm surprised you don't unless your ambient temps are pretty cold.

You don't need to worry about nutes for at least a couple of weeks, but what are you thinking of using?

+rep for growing your own

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

+ reps and 5 stars to offset whoever keeps hitting threads with low ratings - looking forward to seeing your box in action!

 

[Here To Learn]

Thanks obxgardner + reps if I can. Stop by in the next week or two for more pics as plants sprout and grow.

 

[Here To Learn]

Thanks for the encouragement Setting Sun.

I have General Hydro Flora series Gro, Bloom and Micro. I am currently doing an experiment with these nutes and some radishes for a Plant Science class and am trying to use that information to determine how often to feed the weeds. so far the radishes are doing best with one feeding every other week. This is following General Hydro's nutrient calculator set for a one gallon run to waste system without hard water with a simple program level and a normal feeding schedule. The only variable in the experiment is how often they receive nutes and when one or two of the pots get fed the others get the same amount of water.

The last few weeks were quite cold here but today the temperatures got high. The cabinet is shaded by some English Walnut trees but in the direct sunlight it was 92 degrees. The box got up to 90 degrees while I was drying bubble hash under the light with the fan off so I turned the fan on and the temps dropped to 78 while humidity dropped to 20. Does anyone know of a cheap way to make a fan muffler? I have a long piece of 4" electrical conduit that I can cut up and drill holes in. I was thinking of getting a plastic paint bucket with a lid and cutting holes on the top and bottom to fit a piece of pipe. Then drill holes in the piece of pipe where it will be inside the bucket. slipping the pipe in holding it in place with epoxy after filling the cavity with cotton. Any suggestions to improve this idea or better cheap suggestions?

 

[Here To Learn]

Update time.

Yesterday I bought a new bulb for my light because I do not know how many hours are on the bulb I had. I paid $30 at Home DePot, it is a Philips MH250/U
specs:
20,500 lumens
250 Watt
65 CRI
4000k color temperature

The light color is defiantly more orange/red than the old bulb

old bulb:

new bulb:

The plant that broke ground on Halloween is doing quite well and is just beginning to grow it's second set of true leaves.

I had one other plant break ground and shed it's seed coat on Sunday but it has yet to open it's cotyledons. I will give it a few more days to see if there is going to be any change.

The third seed still has not broken the surface. I will give it another four days. If there is no progress I will start germinating a couple more seeds.

Does anyone have any experience using Diamond Nectar with soil? I was given a bottle by a friend and the info I have found on it says it is for hydro but no mention of using it in soil.

 

[Here To Learn]

Does anyone know why the pics are not showing up in my last post? I posted them the same way as in my first post to this journal.

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

^^ you need to click on the thumbnail pictures to get a larger view, then copy the properties for that, and paste it to the picture insert tool.

 

[Here To Learn]

Thanks for the help OBXgardener. +reps if it will let me.

 

[Setting Sun]

sounds like things are moving along well HTL!

Your old bulb looks like a metal halide from the bluish light, and your new one looks like an HPS from the yellow tint. Either one will work, although an MH bulb in veg cycle will keep your plants from stretching less.

you're doing great!

 

[Here To Learn]

Thanks for the encouragement Setting Sun.

The old bulb and new bulb are both Metal Halide. The old one is an AgroSun bulb the new one is a Philips. I changed the bulb because I bought the hood/ballast assembly used with the used AgroSun bulb. The person I bought it from had gotten it with the same bulb and the plant that is growing right now was looking like it was stretching so I figured it had passed it's prime.

The plant is getting trained right now with a stick I stuck in the soil. I started training now because the second set of true leaves are appearing and the stalk is still quite flexible.

I still have seen no growth on the one seedling that popped out of the soil and shed it's seed coat. The cotyledons have not opened and the stalk seems to be loosing it's green hue so I am going to start germinating another seed to replace it soon.

 

[Here To Learn]

2 days later

 

[Here To Learn]

Woo Hoo, I made two pages.

 

[Setting Sun]

Lookin' good HTL!

 

[Here To Learn]

Little update,

Today's pictures:

There is only one plant alive as the other seed that popped up never spread it's cotyledons and the third seed never popped out of the soil. As this is the case I soaked three more seeds for twelve hours and then put them in soil this morning.

The main problem I am having today is that I have a few whiteflies. I am going to see if Home DePot has lady bugs later today but have already put up a fly strip. I will take the fly strip down when I introduce the lady bugs.

I am still waiting to hear if anyone has used diamond nectar in soil before and if so what their feelings were about it. I recently made a list of all the nutrients that were given to me by a friend who I have lost touch with and in addition to the General Hydroponics Flora series and Diamond Nectar I have Floralicious Plus, PH Up and PH Down. I also have Advanced Nutrients PH Down, Revive and Organic Iguana Juice Bloom. I have Botanicare Sweet, Liquid Karma and Cal-Mag Plus. Does any one think that I should add any of these nutrients to the Flora series nutrients? If so why?

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[didimauw]

hey there, ur plant is lookin healthy! our plants are about the same size! keep up the good work!