Hi, anyone that might be interested,
<will edit in photos of all tomorrow morning>
For some background on us and the background of our entry to the farming world then read our Intro
This grow is our first, sorta, you'll see in a bit why the "sorta" there are a lot of moving parts/plants. This is designed to be the first grow of a multi tent perpetual grow aiming to have seedlings, veg, flower and dry/cure stages on the go at all times. Full disclosure - we don't smoke but I love edibles, 6 hours of huge fun that my mate makes and sells. Its a commercial grow so the investment is not small but it is different from just hobby. I also am fortunate to have the advice of one of my best mates who has been doing huge farms for 30 years, this is fun for him becasue he's never grown in anything as small as a tent!
SAFETY
We have a nice house and a small kid, a medium kid, a dog, a cat and fish (that manage to kill themselves quite happily) and thanks to @Bill284 I had a second think about safety. The previous are more important than anything else. We have a smoke detector outside the main grow room and one inside the room. We have a 15LB fire extinguisher outside the room, another one coming tomorrow. I really wanted to buy the environmentally friendly one just because its bright green but they're twice the price! The construction style here in Thailand is basically all concrete, there is a false ceiling in the room made of fire retardent material but no wooden construction. The voltage here is 220v. We had 5x double three pin sockets installed by a qualified electrican on four seperate fused circuits at the height of 2.2m well away from any moisture.
Circuit One - Light Timer Bank #1
Circuit Two - Light Timer Bank #2
These run to a separate control box pictured below, breakers and timers with manual override.
Circuit Three - Inline fan and internal power to the back half of the grow tent
Circuit Four - Internal power to the front half of the grow tent.
Inside the tent there is a a four plug construction grade fused extension cable mounted at high level for fans and sensors.
None of this is worth it if its not safe. This is why this section comes first.
LEGAL
We have a government issued license to grow more plants than we will ever be growing at anyone time. The Thai decriminalisation/legalisation is still unclear but we've taken advice and believe what we are doing is legal. Please don't ask me any more - honestly your guess is as good as mine as to how it ends up here in 12 - 24 - 36 months.
SEEDS/GROWING MEDIUM/NUTES
We're going to be kicking off with a bakers dozen of Girl Scout Cookies (Garden of Green) bought from @Herbies Seeds and shipped super promptly. We got 4x Gorilla Glue and 4x Gelato Autos for gratis so gracias to them (these we're going to try an outdoor grow with 2 of each and donated the others to friends) They report it as being 50/50 and up to 28%. The yield is on the upper end but not the biggest. Its as much no one else has it here apart from my friend who is still in construction and the smoke comes highly recommended. Herbies also seemed to have a very good rep.
We're growing in coco coir (local but sanitised) that comes loose not bricks and it goes in linen grow bags.
Nutes - we're going to be using mixes made locally in Thailand, a newish company called Exotic Chilli Plants Thailand I've bought chilli plants, sauces and soil from the owner before and the man can grow. He also supplies some big commercial farmers of weed here - the fact its local and hasn't been shipped around the world is important too, the electricity is important to us too....
EQUIPMENT
Haha - lots. Following on from above we are installing a 50KW solar inverter and I think 40KW of panels in January/February. We were going to install about half that anyway but just doubled up. We get lots of sun even in rainy season, the Thai government is saying they are going to make it easier to link to the network but they say a lot of things (Again - as with the legalisation path don't ask - your guess is as good as mine, its Thailand) we'll be aiming to have the lights on during daylight hours as much as possible (its 12/12 here in the tropics all year) so batteries etc aren't required. There is a split A/C unti in th emain grow room.
Basically 90% of everything is @Mars Hydro They have a warehouse here with most of their products. (please if you read this can you get me a cloning machine to buy direct off you!) I read loads about differenttechnical stuff (Its what I do for a living really) but they were always at the top anyway, the fact it was shipped locally was a huge plus, there was no other choice really and what has arrived so far has been great.
SEEDLING/DRYING TENT
In the garage ground floor.
Mars Hydro 1.2x1.2m with a no brand 320W LED Samsung 201B controller.
This is just basic with some little USB Xaiomi USB fans.
VEG TENT
Mars Hydro 1.2x2.33m tent. Yeah you read that right! Of course my grow room is 2.33m wide and the tent is 2.4m wide! We made it work. Angle grinder, all that, carbon fibre fishing rod chopped up for additional support
In here we have a 6" Mars Hydro Thermostatic controlled inline fan.
Lights are 2x Mars Hydro FC6500's
For LST each plant in there now (more later about those) has 4" USB Xiaomi USB fans that just tickle them constantly.
There's a CCTV wireless camera going in this evening and the 7-1 wifi enabled air sensors arrive tomorrow.
High level power sockets as discussed in SAFETY above. There is an A/C unit in this room.
FLOWER TENT
OK, this is where it gets a bit funky. In about a month we're going to put in the same room a Mars Hydro 2.4x2.4m for flowering - obviously we'll need to make it 2.4x2.33 but actually this is only 4 tent poles to cut. The now 1.2x2.4m again tent will go down to the garage where my cuttings from the first grow will in theory be ready to veg. The Flower Tent we're putting 4x Mars Hydro FC8000 lights in. Extraction not sure, maybe 2x 4" or an 8" I don't see Mars do an 8" so maybe another brand. I have an 8" Carbon filter and just seems like its too deep, two 4" might be a better option. I think we'll probably need a dehumidifier in this room for sure which is fine, I've been using them for years at home anyway otherwise in the other SE Asian country I live in - all your clothes fall apart every six months if you don't!
GROW STYLE/MISC
We're going to go sea of green/sog/scog - umm we're going to cross that bridge when we come to it in a couple of weeks. Pen testers, etc, the basics consider it done. The aim is to harvest every 45 days.
ADDITIONAL "SORTA" PLANTS
I bought a couple of Bruce Banner clones from a mate about a month back. "Seeds Genetics" seeds. I flipped them to 12/12 two days ago. They look amazing to me as a first timer. Used Dutch Pro A/B on them during veg under the 320W NoBrand light. One at 36cm (14") and one at 33cm and they are now under a single FC6500. These are our training wheels, everything is in range. They look "pretty good" according to my pro advisor, (Photo to follow) I may when the GSC's are ready to flip put the BBs outside, the weather should be good for that by them, they are great for learning but I don't want them to distract from the main event.
NEXT STEPS
Add the pictures to this post of course!
Tonight we're going to plant the GSC's Straight into coco in plastic cups with some loose cling wrap on top to add a little humidity. Will post that next.
SUMMARY
We are in no doubt as to the complexity of what we are attempting! "In at the deep end," "all the gear, no idea." But this is a serious exercise with a lot of thought and time devoted to it. Our expectations for this first grow I think are realistic (don't burn the house down or kill the plants, that's all we're after) Apart from my IRL mate advising I feel like we are "Standing on the shoulders of giants" becasue these forums seem to be able to answer nearly every question we have, just by the power of the search function! So thank you!
DeeBeeBee
<will edit in photos of all tomorrow morning>
For some background on us and the background of our entry to the farming world then read our Intro
This grow is our first, sorta, you'll see in a bit why the "sorta" there are a lot of moving parts/plants. This is designed to be the first grow of a multi tent perpetual grow aiming to have seedlings, veg, flower and dry/cure stages on the go at all times. Full disclosure - we don't smoke but I love edibles, 6 hours of huge fun that my mate makes and sells. Its a commercial grow so the investment is not small but it is different from just hobby. I also am fortunate to have the advice of one of my best mates who has been doing huge farms for 30 years, this is fun for him becasue he's never grown in anything as small as a tent!
SAFETY
We have a nice house and a small kid, a medium kid, a dog, a cat and fish (that manage to kill themselves quite happily) and thanks to @Bill284 I had a second think about safety. The previous are more important than anything else. We have a smoke detector outside the main grow room and one inside the room. We have a 15LB fire extinguisher outside the room, another one coming tomorrow. I really wanted to buy the environmentally friendly one just because its bright green but they're twice the price! The construction style here in Thailand is basically all concrete, there is a false ceiling in the room made of fire retardent material but no wooden construction. The voltage here is 220v. We had 5x double three pin sockets installed by a qualified electrican on four seperate fused circuits at the height of 2.2m well away from any moisture.
Circuit One - Light Timer Bank #1
Circuit Two - Light Timer Bank #2
These run to a separate control box pictured below, breakers and timers with manual override.
Circuit Three - Inline fan and internal power to the back half of the grow tent
Circuit Four - Internal power to the front half of the grow tent.
Inside the tent there is a a four plug construction grade fused extension cable mounted at high level for fans and sensors.
None of this is worth it if its not safe. This is why this section comes first.
LEGAL
We have a government issued license to grow more plants than we will ever be growing at anyone time. The Thai decriminalisation/legalisation is still unclear but we've taken advice and believe what we are doing is legal. Please don't ask me any more - honestly your guess is as good as mine as to how it ends up here in 12 - 24 - 36 months.
SEEDS/GROWING MEDIUM/NUTES
We're going to be kicking off with a bakers dozen of Girl Scout Cookies (Garden of Green) bought from @Herbies Seeds and shipped super promptly. We got 4x Gorilla Glue and 4x Gelato Autos for gratis so gracias to them (these we're going to try an outdoor grow with 2 of each and donated the others to friends) They report it as being 50/50 and up to 28%. The yield is on the upper end but not the biggest. Its as much no one else has it here apart from my friend who is still in construction and the smoke comes highly recommended. Herbies also seemed to have a very good rep.
We're growing in coco coir (local but sanitised) that comes loose not bricks and it goes in linen grow bags.
Nutes - we're going to be using mixes made locally in Thailand, a newish company called Exotic Chilli Plants Thailand I've bought chilli plants, sauces and soil from the owner before and the man can grow. He also supplies some big commercial farmers of weed here - the fact its local and hasn't been shipped around the world is important too, the electricity is important to us too....
EQUIPMENT
Haha - lots. Following on from above we are installing a 50KW solar inverter and I think 40KW of panels in January/February. We were going to install about half that anyway but just doubled up. We get lots of sun even in rainy season, the Thai government is saying they are going to make it easier to link to the network but they say a lot of things (Again - as with the legalisation path don't ask - your guess is as good as mine, its Thailand) we'll be aiming to have the lights on during daylight hours as much as possible (its 12/12 here in the tropics all year) so batteries etc aren't required. There is a split A/C unti in th emain grow room.
Basically 90% of everything is @Mars Hydro They have a warehouse here with most of their products. (please if you read this can you get me a cloning machine to buy direct off you!) I read loads about differenttechnical stuff (Its what I do for a living really) but they were always at the top anyway, the fact it was shipped locally was a huge plus, there was no other choice really and what has arrived so far has been great.
SEEDLING/DRYING TENT
In the garage ground floor.
Mars Hydro 1.2x1.2m with a no brand 320W LED Samsung 201B controller.
This is just basic with some little USB Xaiomi USB fans.
VEG TENT
Mars Hydro 1.2x2.33m tent. Yeah you read that right! Of course my grow room is 2.33m wide and the tent is 2.4m wide! We made it work. Angle grinder, all that, carbon fibre fishing rod chopped up for additional support
In here we have a 6" Mars Hydro Thermostatic controlled inline fan.Lights are 2x Mars Hydro FC6500's
For LST each plant in there now (more later about those) has 4" USB Xiaomi USB fans that just tickle them constantly.
There's a CCTV wireless camera going in this evening and the 7-1 wifi enabled air sensors arrive tomorrow.
High level power sockets as discussed in SAFETY above. There is an A/C unit in this room.
FLOWER TENT
OK, this is where it gets a bit funky. In about a month we're going to put in the same room a Mars Hydro 2.4x2.4m for flowering - obviously we'll need to make it 2.4x2.33 but actually this is only 4 tent poles to cut. The now 1.2x2.4m again tent will go down to the garage where my cuttings from the first grow will in theory be ready to veg. The Flower Tent we're putting 4x Mars Hydro FC8000 lights in. Extraction not sure, maybe 2x 4" or an 8" I don't see Mars do an 8" so maybe another brand. I have an 8" Carbon filter and just seems like its too deep, two 4" might be a better option. I think we'll probably need a dehumidifier in this room for sure which is fine, I've been using them for years at home anyway otherwise in the other SE Asian country I live in - all your clothes fall apart every six months if you don't!
GROW STYLE/MISC
We're going to go sea of green/sog/scog - umm we're going to cross that bridge when we come to it in a couple of weeks. Pen testers, etc, the basics consider it done. The aim is to harvest every 45 days.
ADDITIONAL "SORTA" PLANTS
I bought a couple of Bruce Banner clones from a mate about a month back. "Seeds Genetics" seeds. I flipped them to 12/12 two days ago. They look amazing to me as a first timer. Used Dutch Pro A/B on them during veg under the 320W NoBrand light. One at 36cm (14") and one at 33cm and they are now under a single FC6500. These are our training wheels, everything is in range. They look "pretty good" according to my pro advisor, (Photo to follow) I may when the GSC's are ready to flip put the BBs outside, the weather should be good for that by them, they are great for learning but I don't want them to distract from the main event.
NEXT STEPS
Add the pictures to this post of course!
Tonight we're going to plant the GSC's Straight into coco in plastic cups with some loose cling wrap on top to add a little humidity. Will post that next.
SUMMARY
We are in no doubt as to the complexity of what we are attempting! "In at the deep end," "all the gear, no idea." But this is a serious exercise with a lot of thought and time devoted to it. Our expectations for this first grow I think are realistic (don't burn the house down or kill the plants, that's all we're after) Apart from my IRL mate advising I feel like we are "Standing on the shoulders of giants" becasue these forums seem to be able to answer nearly every question we have, just by the power of the search function! So thank you!
DeeBeeBee
Crazy how cheap everything is out there too!