From planning a grow room to harvest, a noobs indoor grow

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Well it's been about 2 months since I found this site. Haven't had time to post much, but I've been reading a lot. I still have questions but I am far enough along to start a journal. I really want to say thanks to the people on here for sharing what they know. I did a google search and found this site, I haven't been to any other site. I don't see a need to.


I'm tired of buying half assed meds that don't work. When I get a good sativa there are no aches, pains, depression or anxiety. I want to grow my own med and get what I need.

I started out by reading A LOT. You should to if your new and reading this. You can find most of your answers if you just look a little. I started out thinking I would do some auto's in a cabinet. I even brought one home. I realized I own my house and have room so I decided to build a small room for a couple of plants. I'm a bit long winded so I will try to edit my posts to be readable. This may get long I just don't know.:holysheep:

The first thing I looked at when looking for a space to build was LOCATION. I knew i would need to have acess to electricity and room for a fan. I found a nice little 3'x3'x68" area. 9 square feet and Just under 54 cubic feet. It had 3 walls ready to go, one is concrete block. I figure that will help keep temps down. I added a few studs to the walls to even them up and built a frame for the door. (Pic 1) I also added bracing in the ceiling, to give more support for the light.

Electrical. I'm not the greatest with wiring anything. I'll just say that selfhelpandmore.com is a great site. I ran a 20 amp breaker just for the room. (I figure I will add a small veg room in the future for clones,to save time.) I put 3 outlets in the room and one outside. I'm going to add one more outlet outside the room closer to where the ballast and fan will be. 2 ceiling fixtures for green lights or a screw in plug adapter if I ever need to plug something in up high. Pics 2 and 3. I'll get a picture of the room with the door on soon.

Light. I really was unsure about this for a while. I wanted to run one light, not a bunch of cfls. I really didn't want to mess with a MH bulb either.(I plan on making a small veg room for clones.) After some reading, I ran across several people who said they noticed little or no difference from MH to HPS for vegging. The other decision was to go with the minimum 400 watt or a 600. A 400 watt would give me 54,000 lumens or 6000 per square foot. The jump up to 600 was pretty big 95,000 lumens or 10,500 per square foot.

Everyone says the more lumens the better, so I went with the 600 watt digital ballast. I also spent the extra money for a cool tube. I'm waiting to see what the temp is in the room without a fan running. My light and fan came from HTG supply a couple of days ago. Shipping time was fast 4 days. Great people, best price I could find. I had placed my order later at night. After I was done I did some more reading and realized the air cooled hood I chose was not going to cool as well as the cool tube would. I called them the next morning and they changed the order for me with no trouble. I upgraded my fan as well just to be sure.

I need to hang my light and work on hooking up the fan. I will make new posts from here so the date is in line with what I'm doing. I want to be able to read this as well. I'm sure I'll have mistakes to correct, lol. Thanks for reading.

 

[phatpharmer]

Glad to see grabbed the bull by the horns and decided to grow your own! It sounds like your well on your way, you can't go wrong with proper planning most people just jump right in not planning a thing so your 1 up on most newbies! As far as your growing space is concered I believe its 9sq/ft 3x3 the hiegt of the space isn't calculated when trying to figure out light need per sq/ft. Goodluck with your grow, and what sativa strain you thinking about growing?

Phatpharmer

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Thanks Phat. It really didn't take long to get most of the info. needed. It took a bit of rereading for me to make sense of some of it. Yeah I meant 54 cubic feet need to change that. And add square footage. I'm going to narrow down the seeds soon. My light just came and I'm looking at getting that up and running soon so I know my temp w/ light on.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

The light is up and running. Temp is at 95 degrees with no fan and no intake. The room outside the grow area is never over 75 degrees, unless is leave windows open. I bought the 424 cfm fan from HTG. I have 54 cubic feet of space to grow in. I plan on using a speed control to draw enough air through the cool tube and carbon scrubber to cool the room down to the 80 degree mark.

I have a few pictures of the room. I chose to caulk the corners rather than tape them. I also caulked around the outlet boxes and ceiling fixtures. Just trying to control the air intake better. Still need to get a shot with the door on. I'll work on the fan this weekend. I have a few questions about the duct work. I need to do some looking and reading.

Sorry Phat, missed your question.
Now time to finish looking at/for seeds. I think I will go with the Mandala Satori and possibly one other. From what I read it sounds like a good strain for a noob like me. I really like the way a good sativa will help with aches and anxiety/depression. Any reason not to go with the Satori? I'm still open for other reasonably priced seeds. ( I just don't see paying 8$ per seed at this point.) As I mentioned earlier, I am really looking to get a mother plant or 2 for clones to save time and hassle of sexing.
thanks for reading.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Well, in the last 2 weeks I have had my computer crash 3 times. (if you see Bill Gates, push him down the stairs and tell him Vista sucks imo.) Also had a minor accident (fender bender) of course the guy had no insurance. Had to replace the oil pan gasket on my ride. Oh and the post office decided it would be cool to shred my paycheck into a hundred pieces, put it in a bag with a note that said oops. Did I mention the 25 minutes it took to get my car running the other morning. Meh we have all been there before.

I have managed to get my fan installed, and my seeds are here. I've also been working on some shelves and covered a wall to help with stealth.

I went with the 424 cfm fan from HTG. Works very nice, pretty quiet for such a big fan. I need to insulate a box and cover the fan. I am also going to make a box to let the exhaust air into. Trying to keep the noise down as much as possible.

I did a test run of 3 hours with the fan and light on. Temp stayed at 75 degrees with a RH of 51%. I do have an issue with the duct work pushing the light off to the side. I may run the light corner to corner in the room. I still need enough room for a carbon filter. I'm going to finish up all the little things this weekend. I have some pics I will post when I get done reinstalling the software on my computer.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

All the work I have done, reading and building has been fun, but still a lot of dicking around. That all seemed worth it when I ordered my seeds. I've done a ton of reading and looking around. There are so many strains that look like they would be fun to try. I needed to stay focused on the fact that this is my first grow and I want results first. Picking a stain that may need some tlc or advanced knowledge on nutes, not to mention a keen eye for problems, won't help me learn. I was looking for a sativa dominant plant, for my main choice. I also wanted an Indica that was easy to grow, but wasn't considered a couch lock type high. After reading THG's post about how she liked Mandalas satori, I hopped over to their site and had my decision made rather quickly. From what I have been able to read, Mandala seems to have some good genetics. The satori was listed as easy to grow, heat tolerant and requires minimal nutes. Perfect for a noob like me. My second choice was the Speed Queen. I didn't read much for reviews on the seed, but the Mandala description sold me on this one.

High: the “surfers” choice - a stimulating, and balanced indica buzz that does not put you to sleep. Pleasantly relaxing yet leaves plenty of energy for social activities and is a great daytime grass. No nervous side-effects (racy heart, etc.); suitable for regular med users.
Medical potential: this strain shows potential against anxiety and depression.

I also recieved two freebies from attitude. Roadrunner auto flower and a blue hash seed. Both feminized from dinafem. I'll keep those for a later grow.

I need to get a contactor, timer and combo meter (or just ph meter). I also need to get some hydroton, I think I am going to grow these in hempy buckets. More to come, thanks for reading. Any suggestion or comments good or bad are welcome.

 

[HippyInEngland]

Hello Smokey

Nice set up.

How much has it cost you so far?

eace:

 

[smokingjoe]

:watchplant:

 

[Locked]

Very nice job...doing your research first always pays off in the end...good luck with the grow when you decide to pop your beans... I will pull up a seat

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

HIE, did my wife pay you to ask that?:shocked:
600 watt w/digital ballast, cool tube and 424 cfm inline fan was just under
$400.
The breaker, wire, outlets and misc electrical $50. or so
2x2's, osb board, caulk, hinges, clamps and ductwork, $40. I had some of the wood at home.

Temp-humidity gauge. $12.

I still need to get a contactor, timer, ph meter, hydroton, nutes and make a carbon filter. The budget is getting stained by all the other ** happening in the last few weeks. The only item that will be a problem is the ph meter, I may have to get by with a less expensive one for my first grow or two.

Just over $500 so far. I figured 7 so it should be about right. I did figure $125 for a meter.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Thanks Hamster. I am hoping to start germinating late this week. I need to get a few more things to get started.
I'm about a month behind but its not worth rushing. I will be growing soon enough. I still need to make a list of "must do's" to remember things like having enough water ready ahead of time, checking ph at the right times etc. I want to have a good program to follow so I get good habits right from the start.

 

[smokingjoe]

The only item that will be a problem is the ph meter, I may have to get by with a less expensive one for my first grow or two.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-EZIPLUG-DIGITAL-PH-TESTER-PEN_W0QQitemZ220407138924QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics?hash=item33514a0a6c&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

I purchased one of these and it works very well, and has done for the last 6 months or so, it would certainly get you out of trouble.

I have also bred African Cichlids, which are normally very fussy in terms of pH, using only the manual test kits. The ones you add a few drops to the water and match the colour on the strip.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

I went to the closest hydro store, about 30 miles away. Picked up Hydroton and some mini grodan cubes for germinating. As soon as I get some free time, I'm going to germinate the Satori. Heres a few pics of the light and fan hook up. Thanks for reading, more to come.

 

[Locked]

This is were I got my PH Pen...hxxp://www.eseasongear.com/ph600.html
Change the xx to tt... 22.50 us dollars...works great...those strips can be a pain in the butt...

 

[smokingjoe]

This is were I got my PH Pen...hxxp://www.eseasongear.com/ph600.html
Change the xx to tt... 22.50 us dollars...works great...those strips can be a pain in the butt...

My browser doesn't require the change rather automatically parses the URL. I concur on the strips, but if the budget is real tight it will do until the other can be afforded.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Joe-hamster. Been a long week, just had a chance to look at those. That will definetly make the budget work. Thanks for the help.!! I have seen the Milwaukee brand before. I'm going to order one this weekend. I need to get a humidity dome and then its time to get crackin.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

Just a quick update before I head off to work. I got my ph pen in the mail on friday. Sunday I soaked 4 Satori and 4 speed queen seeds til they sunk. I put them in rockwool cubes and have them in a dome at 77-79 deg. FINALLY, I'm getting started.
Hamster, hard to beat e-seasongear's pricing, I ordered a ppm pen from them last nite. It should be here on friday. Damn I hope I don't kill these, lol. More to come thanks for the help.!!!

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

I took a few pics for what its worth. The first picture has one REALLY important item in it. Can you tell which one?

Second pic is the seeds taking a swim. One of the speed queen ( circled) sunk like a rock when I put it in. A few minutes later it came back up.

Third pic is my cookie storage bin humidity dome. Meh should work. Oh the baking temp/timer works great. 77-79 degrees is the best I could do with 4 layers of towels over the heating pad.
I didn't want to deal with putting the seeds in the rockwool after germination, so I decided to just germinate in the rockwool. Anyone see any problems with the way I did it?

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

I came home from work to find the last 2 had sprouted.:farm: :ccc: All 8 are under the cfls for now. Should the cfls be on 24-7? Or do I go to 18-6 right now.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

I've got one that is having a hard time shedding the shell. May have to look up Thg or Hie post about club soda, I think softening the shell. Heres a pic of the set up and the small fan I have on them.