Cachagua
New Member
Greetings everyone!
This is my first attempt at an indoor grow.
A little history about me to start things off should give you an idea of where I am at and where I am coming from.
When I was young, I was surrounded by hippie, earth loving, caring people who loved the plant for all of it's amazing and wonderful properties, I grew up growing plants (actually watching my father and all of our friends grow), and learned to appreciate this amazing gift we have all been given with this natural herb.
I saw everything from a family with one plant to gigantic outdoor operations with 300 plants all at least twice as tall as I was at 17 years old, in fact on many occasions, I was tasked with "baby sitting" these huge operations as a teenager while the farmer and his wife went in to town for a nice evening together. Miles and miles away from the nearest neighbor, this was a right of passage for me and an honor I still cherish to this day, I am in my late 40's now.
Anyway, flash forward to today, I am brittle and broken from years of professional motorcycle road racing, married with teenage children and am learning to use the herb to improve my quality of life, and I must say it works amazingly well for me medicinally.
Now that I have introduced myself, please allow me to share my journal with you, I genuinely hope to learn and grow with you, I also yearn for your knowledge and support, I welcome any and all critique so please feel free to steer me down the path as you see fit.
The grow box:
I built the box with the intention of growing using the scrog method, and as such I oriented it in a way that allows me access on both sides of the box. The dimensions are 3' wide x 6' long x 5' high.
It is framed using 2x2 and sheathed with 3/8" plywood on the top, bottom and each end.
The sides were made with automotive interior vinyl with 1/4" aluminum ribs sewn into pockets horizontally to provide stiffness, and then layered with "space blankets" to provide reflectivity, and finally covered with panda plastic to ensure zero light leakage.
All 4 edges of each side panel have industrial grade 2" velcro sewn in place, and each corresponding edge of the grow box has the opposite (hook) portion of velcro stapled to it. The velcro is rubberized adhesive backed and is absolutely secured to both the box and the side panel(s), it is not coming off.
Electrical:
I pre wired the area where the box is located by running 2 separate 20 AMP (dedicated) circuits directly from my main panel, both of these circuits are GFI protected, I have a total of 32 receptacles (16 on each circuit) which are on opposite ends of the space where the grow box is located.
The reason for so many receptacles is (1) you can never have enough and (2) at some point I would like to try hydro. And (3) safety is paramount for me, I refuse to use power strips or tap multipliers.
Inside the grow box, I installed (2) "4S" boxes with 4 receptacles each, each 4S box is fed from a separate circuit, hard wired from the outside of the box.
All of this you will see in the pictures below.
Ventilation:
The box is well ventilated, at the top of the box there is a 6" vent, feeding an inline 380 CFM fan. this is my primary exhaust fan. It is currently running at about 25% using a fan speed controller.
At each end of the box there is a 6" vent, one is fed from a 6" inline "booster" fan which is 240 CFM, the other 6" vent is passive.
The 6" booster fan is plumbed into one of the main registers from the house so it draws conditioned air from the main house.
This serves 2 purposes, (1) cool conditioned air from outside the grow area, and (2) a higher source of C02 since we have a lot of pets and humans in the house at all times.
There are also (2) oscillating fans to keep air moving rather nicely.
Both the main exhaust fan and the cool tube exhaust meet at a 6-6-4 "Y" and are vented through the roof of the house to completely remove the heat and exhaust from the grow space.
Lighting:
Lighting is provided by (2) Lumatek 400w digital ballasts feeding (2) cool tubes I made myself using some of the info I found here on 420, I used the basic concept found here but ultimately did it my way based on my perceived needs and methods.
The cool tubes are cooled in series with a single 4" squirrel cage fan running at about 70% using a fan speed controller.
Now onto the grow:
I was not sure I really wanted to do a journal when I first got started, but since I learned so much by reading others journals here, I felt like I owed it to the community to give back that which has so freely been given to me, however, I do not have images from the beginning of the grow, so I will have to explain it, hopefully your imagination will take you back there with me.
It was really nothing special in the beginning, I actually sprouted my seeds BEFORE I had even purchased material, lights, fans or soil, in fact I had not even built the grow box yet.
Anyway, I sprouted some seeds I had from some bag weed that was given to me, I grew these seeds under 4' fluorescent lights for the first 3 weeks, leaving the little seedlings outside during the day, and under the lights at night for 24 hours of light per day.
After 3 weeks I switched to 18/6, had the box built and still did not have my ballasts or cool tubes built so I moved them into the box along with the (3) 4' fluoro's.
Everything seems to have worked out so far, and the plants seem to be doing nicely, they vary in age from 5 to 6 weeks as they stand right now.
I really have been confused about a few things and I have made a few mistakes for sure.
For example, I knew I was severely height limited, so I planned on doing a SCROG, but as you will see, I failed to absorb the information I read about SCROG'ng and flipped to 12/12 BEFORE the plants had reached the screen, I had thought that because the plants would double or triple in height during flowering that I would be able to train the growth into the screen as flowering proceeded. Then I re read the info on SCROG' and freaked out today and removed the screen before anything got tangled up in the screen, I also read today that a SCROG should be done using clones so you know you are dealing with females....something else I failed to absorb when I read it the first time.
Anyway, if you are still with me here (thank you), lets move on to the pictures, first some of the box and space, then some of the plants.
The top of my box, vent, outlets, fans, and the legal docs required.
The interior electrical::
One of the cool tubes:
Electrical outside the box:
The "tent" like panels I made up, I just roll them up and hang them open when I need access:
Both sides open so you can see I have access to both sides of the box:
My ballasts and one of the fan speed controllers (the one that controls the cool tube fan) I hung the ballasts to help keep them cooler:
The 6" exhaust vent, both sides open for your viewing pleasure.
Cool tubes in action:
The SCROG before I freaked and took it down:
Top of SCROG lights out (long exposure, painted with a flashlight):
This baby grew up through the SCROG during nap time, had I left the scrog I would have obviously kept this part under the screen a while longer.
Another look at one of the cool tubes, SCROG in place:
Scrog removed, light on, you can see that some of the plants are scrunched from hitting the scrog, I am sure they will be fine in the morning:
Top down view, no scrog, lights on:
A little LST, everyone of my plants are tied down, I use 18 ga. wire, holes poked in the pots and tie them at 90 degrees, I actually started tying them down when they were less than a week old.....did not have a clue, just did it cause I thought it was the right thing to do.
More LST:
Still more LST:
Even more LST:
Severe LST:
Does this look like it could be a female in waiting? I am only on my 3rd day of 12/12, please let me know what you see here:
How about this? is this possibly a female too?
Is this female stuff happening?
This looks like male stuff to me? what say you?
Could this be male as well?
Anyway, thats all for now, we are at 6 weeks for the oldest plants, 5 weeks for the youngest, they have been on Fox Farms Grow Big since about the 3rd week, I have been using the recommended 1 tsp/gal ratio until tonight when I did a "heavy feeding" of 3 tsp/gal, they all appear to like it so far, no real surprises, no weird colors or nute burn evidence.
Thanks for sticking with me here, I would love any and all advice you can give me, thanks for having me.
I know this is a bag seed grow and may not be as interesting to some of you as a thoroughbred strain might be, but I figured I would learn as much as I could with bag seed first time around, and also, since this is an attic grow, I wanted to see if I could keep temps in check. So far, I am 80f lights on and 77f lights out pretty consistently so I think I should be ok for a summer/attic grow with no supplemental A/C.
Cachagua.
This is my first attempt at an indoor grow.
A little history about me to start things off should give you an idea of where I am at and where I am coming from.
When I was young, I was surrounded by hippie, earth loving, caring people who loved the plant for all of it's amazing and wonderful properties, I grew up growing plants (actually watching my father and all of our friends grow), and learned to appreciate this amazing gift we have all been given with this natural herb.
I saw everything from a family with one plant to gigantic outdoor operations with 300 plants all at least twice as tall as I was at 17 years old, in fact on many occasions, I was tasked with "baby sitting" these huge operations as a teenager while the farmer and his wife went in to town for a nice evening together. Miles and miles away from the nearest neighbor, this was a right of passage for me and an honor I still cherish to this day, I am in my late 40's now.
Anyway, flash forward to today, I am brittle and broken from years of professional motorcycle road racing, married with teenage children and am learning to use the herb to improve my quality of life, and I must say it works amazingly well for me medicinally.
Now that I have introduced myself, please allow me to share my journal with you, I genuinely hope to learn and grow with you, I also yearn for your knowledge and support, I welcome any and all critique so please feel free to steer me down the path as you see fit.
The grow box:
I built the box with the intention of growing using the scrog method, and as such I oriented it in a way that allows me access on both sides of the box. The dimensions are 3' wide x 6' long x 5' high.
It is framed using 2x2 and sheathed with 3/8" plywood on the top, bottom and each end.
The sides were made with automotive interior vinyl with 1/4" aluminum ribs sewn into pockets horizontally to provide stiffness, and then layered with "space blankets" to provide reflectivity, and finally covered with panda plastic to ensure zero light leakage.
All 4 edges of each side panel have industrial grade 2" velcro sewn in place, and each corresponding edge of the grow box has the opposite (hook) portion of velcro stapled to it. The velcro is rubberized adhesive backed and is absolutely secured to both the box and the side panel(s), it is not coming off.
Electrical:
I pre wired the area where the box is located by running 2 separate 20 AMP (dedicated) circuits directly from my main panel, both of these circuits are GFI protected, I have a total of 32 receptacles (16 on each circuit) which are on opposite ends of the space where the grow box is located.
The reason for so many receptacles is (1) you can never have enough and (2) at some point I would like to try hydro. And (3) safety is paramount for me, I refuse to use power strips or tap multipliers.
Inside the grow box, I installed (2) "4S" boxes with 4 receptacles each, each 4S box is fed from a separate circuit, hard wired from the outside of the box.
All of this you will see in the pictures below.
Ventilation:
The box is well ventilated, at the top of the box there is a 6" vent, feeding an inline 380 CFM fan. this is my primary exhaust fan. It is currently running at about 25% using a fan speed controller.
At each end of the box there is a 6" vent, one is fed from a 6" inline "booster" fan which is 240 CFM, the other 6" vent is passive.
The 6" booster fan is plumbed into one of the main registers from the house so it draws conditioned air from the main house.
This serves 2 purposes, (1) cool conditioned air from outside the grow area, and (2) a higher source of C02 since we have a lot of pets and humans in the house at all times.
There are also (2) oscillating fans to keep air moving rather nicely.
Both the main exhaust fan and the cool tube exhaust meet at a 6-6-4 "Y" and are vented through the roof of the house to completely remove the heat and exhaust from the grow space.
Lighting:
Lighting is provided by (2) Lumatek 400w digital ballasts feeding (2) cool tubes I made myself using some of the info I found here on 420, I used the basic concept found here but ultimately did it my way based on my perceived needs and methods.
The cool tubes are cooled in series with a single 4" squirrel cage fan running at about 70% using a fan speed controller.
Now onto the grow:
I was not sure I really wanted to do a journal when I first got started, but since I learned so much by reading others journals here, I felt like I owed it to the community to give back that which has so freely been given to me, however, I do not have images from the beginning of the grow, so I will have to explain it, hopefully your imagination will take you back there with me.
It was really nothing special in the beginning, I actually sprouted my seeds BEFORE I had even purchased material, lights, fans or soil, in fact I had not even built the grow box yet.
Anyway, I sprouted some seeds I had from some bag weed that was given to me, I grew these seeds under 4' fluorescent lights for the first 3 weeks, leaving the little seedlings outside during the day, and under the lights at night for 24 hours of light per day.
After 3 weeks I switched to 18/6, had the box built and still did not have my ballasts or cool tubes built so I moved them into the box along with the (3) 4' fluoro's.
Everything seems to have worked out so far, and the plants seem to be doing nicely, they vary in age from 5 to 6 weeks as they stand right now.
I really have been confused about a few things and I have made a few mistakes for sure.
For example, I knew I was severely height limited, so I planned on doing a SCROG, but as you will see, I failed to absorb the information I read about SCROG'ng and flipped to 12/12 BEFORE the plants had reached the screen, I had thought that because the plants would double or triple in height during flowering that I would be able to train the growth into the screen as flowering proceeded. Then I re read the info on SCROG' and freaked out today and removed the screen before anything got tangled up in the screen, I also read today that a SCROG should be done using clones so you know you are dealing with females....something else I failed to absorb when I read it the first time.
Anyway, if you are still with me here (thank you), lets move on to the pictures, first some of the box and space, then some of the plants.
The top of my box, vent, outlets, fans, and the legal docs required.
The interior electrical::
One of the cool tubes:
Electrical outside the box:
The "tent" like panels I made up, I just roll them up and hang them open when I need access:
Both sides open so you can see I have access to both sides of the box:
My ballasts and one of the fan speed controllers (the one that controls the cool tube fan) I hung the ballasts to help keep them cooler:
The 6" exhaust vent, both sides open for your viewing pleasure.
Cool tubes in action:
The SCROG before I freaked and took it down:
Top of SCROG lights out (long exposure, painted with a flashlight):
This baby grew up through the SCROG during nap time, had I left the scrog I would have obviously kept this part under the screen a while longer.
Another look at one of the cool tubes, SCROG in place:
Scrog removed, light on, you can see that some of the plants are scrunched from hitting the scrog, I am sure they will be fine in the morning:
Top down view, no scrog, lights on:
A little LST, everyone of my plants are tied down, I use 18 ga. wire, holes poked in the pots and tie them at 90 degrees, I actually started tying them down when they were less than a week old.....did not have a clue, just did it cause I thought it was the right thing to do.
More LST:
Still more LST:
Even more LST:
Severe LST:
Does this look like it could be a female in waiting? I am only on my 3rd day of 12/12, please let me know what you see here:
How about this? is this possibly a female too?
Is this female stuff happening?
This looks like male stuff to me? what say you?
Could this be male as well?
Anyway, thats all for now, we are at 6 weeks for the oldest plants, 5 weeks for the youngest, they have been on Fox Farms Grow Big since about the 3rd week, I have been using the recommended 1 tsp/gal ratio until tonight when I did a "heavy feeding" of 3 tsp/gal, they all appear to like it so far, no real surprises, no weird colors or nute burn evidence.
Thanks for sticking with me here, I would love any and all advice you can give me, thanks for having me.
I know this is a bag seed grow and may not be as interesting to some of you as a thoroughbred strain might be, but I figured I would learn as much as I could with bag seed first time around, and also, since this is an attic grow, I wanted to see if I could keep temps in check. So far, I am 80f lights on and 77f lights out pretty consistently so I think I should be ok for a summer/attic grow with no supplemental A/C.
Cachagua.
