My poor mans grow tent

[RootsRuler]

I'm assuming you already provisioned water and electrical lines? Gotta love that guerilla spirit!

You can call it the "Love Shack"!

 

[Slim0317]

Gotcha. I'm in SoCal so it's never damp or cold, and my main need was light integrity and full environmental control since I have 2 finicky strains in my Gelato33 and MAC1 (caps cut).

 

[Slim0317]

I'm assuming you already provisioned water and electrical lines? Gotta love that guerilla spirit!

You can call it the "Love Shack"!

Yeah, gotta camper/trailer at the back corner of the property and 100' hose. And I'm an old Jarhead so I stay savage.

 

[RootsRuler]

Yeah, gotta camper/trailer at the back corner of the property and 100' hose. And I'm an old Jarhead so I stay savage.

HOOYA! Semper Fi! Thanks for your service!

What are your plans for the grow? Manual water and light or will you be automating those things?

 

[Slim0317]

I'm hands on. Enjoy the things that go into caring for these awesome plants. The only thing I would automate would be the lights to keep the schedule consistent. Right now they go outside when the sun comes up and in their current shed under blue spectrum until sunrise. My activities make subtle variations to thus like if I leave the house and know it'll be after dark when I get back then they go in early, or if I oversleep they come out late. It's hasn't seemed to stress them. On the contrary, they seem to be growing better since I started that.

 

[Slim0317]

It's usually a 4x4 pressure treated and infused with a copper mix. It's designed to not decompose. You would use it for fences or anything that sits in the ground. Or needs to be somewhere damp. Has a label on it. Usually says for ground contact. For the footings in you're not using blocks.

It's likely not going to experience the longevity to need that. I screwed scrap 2x4's to the bottom to level and skid it. This isn't that involved. K.I.S.S.

 

[Slim0317]

Can anyone help with placement height of the light I have to use? 120v in, 40w consumption is all the technical info I have. Non-tech, some of them are out, mostly on the ends, maybe 20-30 total. Not a clue how many lumens etc, but brighter than a 2300 lumen security light from the Depot.

 

[Aqua Man]

Can anyone help with placement height of the light I have to use? 120v in, 40w consumption is all the technical info I have. Non-tech, some of them are out, mostly on the ends, maybe 20-30 total. Not a clue how many lumens etc, but brighter than a 2300 lumen security light from the Depot.

Use a lux all and set to about 5000 lumen

 

[Slim0317]

Thanks, but let me be a little clearer. I'm not asking for advice on the best light to put in. I want to know how far above the plants should I hang the one in the pictures? Gotta 'run what I brung' and thus is it.

 

[RootsRuler]

Short answer is get'm as close as you can without burning them but since you'll be dealing with seedlings I would say if it's LED around 24" to start. Move them a little closer each day until they start to complain.

If it's fluorescent/CFL then you can keep them around 6" - 10" but, again, whatever they can handle is the real answer.

Really depends on the light you are using and how much power it puts out.

What Aqua is saying is you can download a lux meter app that will tell you the lux readings at different heights. He wants you to download the app and use your phone to set the light height when the lux meter reads 5000. In other words, 5000 lux for seedlings. As they get bigger you can increase the lux incrementally. Once they've sprouted 5 or 6 nodes you are entering the veg phase where you should be around 20,000+ lux. Production growers don't use lux as a measurement. They use Umol/micromoles or PPF(photosynthetic photon flux) as a way to tell the amount of light photons that are hitting their canopies. Lux will give you a rough idea as to the light energy hitting the leaves of your plant but is really a measurement of luminance rather than how much actual light energy is hitting your canopy.

Seedlings entering the vegtetative phase:

 

[Slim0317]

Thank you for the breakdown. I pretty much let the plants tell me when somethings wrong. So far I don't have any lingering issues. Now it may be me and my luck, or the nature of growing weed, but damn if I don't have to keep putting out the fires one right after the other it seems. And that's just with the 3 clones I started with. And the 2 clones that have rooted, the 6 that are in process of, and 3 unknown(strain, genetics, etc.) seeds that may not end up being any good, but they weren't duds. I took these pictures abou5 an hour ago just to get an idea of what im working with. I'll definitely check out the app. Thanks again

 

[Slim0317]

It needs proper ventilation and new lights, and I'm going to hit the few gaps there are with spray foam. Other than that, she's good for me.

 

[RootsRuler]

Don't get too caught up in making your chamber pretty. As long as it's light tight and you install the correct ventilation and use a good light that's all you need. Looks good to me, Maybe some heavy duty plastic on the floor to keep things clean?

 

[Shaded_One]

Found some osb that basically has aluminum foil on one side

Be careful with this - there is a reason why we use Mylar and Panda film for our grow rooms. You may get a really nasty hot spot using these OSB's something to keep an eye on.

You'd honestly be better off just painting the interior flat white.

 

[RootsRuler]

Be careful with this - there is a reason why we use Mylar and Panda film for our grow rooms. You may get a really nasty hot spot using these OSB's something to keep an eye on.

You'd honestly be better off just painting the interior flat white.

Better yet just do it all up in panda film.

 

[SmokinJo421]

He's just referring to "treated lumber"
It's green & wet af!! I'm glad to see you abandoned the tent. I'm not too sure why that plant started to flower on you when you had it under the light either. Kinda weird.
Is that the plant thats in one of the last pics?
It sounds like you really want to grow weed & be successful at it?
While your learning from your own trial & error
Can I recommend asap picking up the Medical Growers Bible by
Jorge Cervantes
It's a total life saver & so much info on so many diff aspects of growing.

 

[Ponky]

We used to have the green stuff. But the new copper infused stuff is brown. Supposed to be stronger and last longer.

 

[Slim0317]

Be careful with this - there is a reason why we use Mylar and Panda film for our grow rooms. You may get a really nasty hot spot using these OSB's something to keep an eye on.

You'd honestly be better off just painting the interior flat white.

I've been going in there several times a day to check on things and with the fan on, it's warm, but not overly so, humidity seems ok since nothing has dried out nor rotted. The really cool thing is how it holds it at night. Holding out for a Cloudline 6 since I'm not currently having issues, but good ventilation is next must have. Just picked up 2 more lights. 3 $30 selectable 24" LED. They have been loving the blue light and I just found out why.

He's just referring to "treated lumber"
It's green & wet af!! I'm glad to see you abandoned the tent. I'm not too sure why that plant started to flower on you when you had it under the light either. Kinda weird.
Is that the plant thats in one of the last pics?
It sounds like you really want to grow weed & be successful at it?
While your learning from your own trial & error
Can I recommend asap picking up the Medical Growers Bible by
Jorge Cervantes
It's a total life saver & so much info on so many diff aspects of growing.

They sometimes do "scheduled power outtages" from 10pm to 6am that we don't hear about until everything goes dark. And I would say one night, or even a few wouldn't be enough, but I'm reading that MAC #1 is very temperamental with her environment. And she's proving to be. They all got too close one day and took a hit. The SC and Gelato33 lost an entire branch each and ain't bothered to so much as check up. MAC lost A LEAF, and has been droopy and hit the pause button. I figure she'll come back in another week or so. They're in the most stable and consistent environment yet so I feel pretty good about it. SC has 4 clones rooted in HF right now and one for sure, maybe 2 more showing roots. Gonna put a couple bonsai in the house. Wanna top and scrog one, couple gifts to old friends. And to whoever said it, I don't want to be successful. I am successful. Guaranteed lack of experience will result in some loss. 11 clones and 9 seeds so far if anyone's counting, and if those numbers don't change then I'm lying to you.

 

[Slim0317]

So the new 'accessory structure' is really working well. It softened the plants as they can't take direct sunlight anymore, which is ok for real because they've been easier to care for and I've had less issues than outside. Picked up another light at HF and they have responded quite nicely. The supplemental blue light have promoted shortened, bushier growth, as advertised. I suspect that when I flip to flower and red that I'll see proportionately amplified stretch. The humidity that I had been proclaiming to be magical dropped so low and so fast the other night that by morning everything not in dirt was dead, one of the seedlings' roots already brown.

 

[Slim0317]

A little closer to finished.