My Little Grow Shed

[Dirtbag]

Hey all. Thought I'd share a few pics of my grow shed. I put a lot of planning into the design and built it from the ground up on my own a couple years ago. Even taught myself how to do all the electrical install and run teck cable from my house. Many hours of work went into this thing.

It's an 8x12' shed. Flower chamber is 8x8'. Is set up somewhat stadium style with 2x1000w hortilux bulbs in the center. 10" Qmax fan and filter changes the air pretty quick, and it's set up on a digital temp controller to kick on at 26c and shut the fan off at 22c. Passive intake is 10" also with a backflow preventer and a 16"x 25" filtrete 1900 furnace filter outside. I ran all the intake ducting outside the shed to prevent condensation on the ducting. Dehu handles humidity during the dark cycle.

I also have a small cloning and pre-veg area in the 2x4' header house, along with all my nutrients and hardware, ballasts etc..

I place small totes under the gutter sections to collect runoff, and for the intake filter, there is normally another piece of plywood covering the open side so it draws from directly below and hides some of the escaping light.

Cheers

 

[The Jewels]

I take it, you have done a run or two in there ?
How many plants, at a time, do you flower in there ?

 

[Dirtbag]

I take it, you have done a run or two in there ?
How many plants, at a time, do you flower in there ?

It's on its fourth run now. I veg for a few weeks and then flower in there. I run 9 plants total in flower even though I could do 50 with my license. Humidity I control with the intensity of my lights. For higher humidity in veg I turn the lights down to 600w per light, and that gives me humidity in the high 60's, low 70's. Transition I ramp up to 750, and finally 1000 in full flower, and that will keep humidity in the 40-50 range. It has to do with how often my fan cycles on/off.

 

[The Jewels]

Humidity I control with the intensity of my lights

Slick .

I read, you are running dehumidifiers at night ?
Only asking, because I am learning,,,

Does that mean that you are hoarding heat at night ?,,,and is that because the air drawn in would be too cool at night/sundown/lights off ?

 

[Jack og]

Nice setup, use a washable filter instead of the pleated for outside, you can get those cut to size ones, reason, paper will harbor mold and allow it to populate the space, the nylon ones are inert and stuff doesn’t grow In them. You can always add a uv light source to that pipe (intake) hvac type . They run. About 120$ or so. If you are running high humidity, this is preventative advise!
Sweet setup though, I seen ppl spend thousands and not get to that level of control! So kudos to that

 

[Jack og]

Add co2 next run and see the wonders it does!! But you will have to seal it off , zero fresh intake air.

 

[Dirtbag]

Slick .

I read, you are running dehumidifiers at night ?
Only asking, because I am learning,,,

Does that mean that you are hoarding heat at night ?,,,and is that because the air drawn in would be too cool at night/sundown/lights off ?

Right, the heat from the Dehu keeps temps around 19-21c in the dark cycle. Sucking air would be too cold and require the heater to kick in using a fair bit more power.

 

[Dirtbag]

Nice setup, use a washable filter instead of the pleated for outside, you can get those cut to size ones, reason, paper will harbor mold and allow it to populate the space, the nylon ones are inert and stuff doesn’t grow In them. You can always add a uv light source to that pipe (intake) hvac type . They run. About 120$ or so. If you are running high humidity, this is preventative advise!
Sweet setup though, I seen ppl spend thousands and not get to that level of control! So kudos to that

Thanks! Yeah you know I contemplated that. I was originally going to use a dust shroom.. But I've not had any problems with the paper one yet, I just change it every 3 months. I also burn sulphur during veg and never have any mold or mildew issues. But a UV light in the tube is on the to-do list.

 

[Dirtbag]

Add co2 next run and see the wonders it does!! But you will have to seal it off , zero fresh intake air.

That's not gonna happen. I have several friends who run closed systems with Co2 and it's a PITA compared to my ventilated setup. One of my friends is a large scale producer and he is the guy who convinced me not to bother and just go straigh vented. We all grow the same strains and to be totally honest, there isnt really much difference if any with our finished product. And the running cost is a fair bit higher with an AC going constantly. I'd be looking at $1000-1500 or so to put in an AC, plus a Co2 regulator and control unit, tank or burner etc... Then the extra monthly cost of an AC going constantly... For me, its not worth it. Not for a marginal increase in yield.

 

[Dirtbag]

Lol, I should probably give a bit of context here.. this is my first personal use small grow space in a while. I had numerous small grows ages ago and I've been growing since the late 1990's. I've also managed some absolutely huge medi grows. The last one was 85 lights with a 480 plant prescription that I was DG'ing before my partner hooked up with a couple investors and started the Broken Coast cannabis LP here on Vancouver island. I have experience using Co2, I just choose to not use it for my home grow because, well... I dont need it.

 

[SnowshoeJoe]

It's on its fourth run now. I veg for a few weeks and then flower in there. I run 9 plants total in flower even though I could do 50 with my license. Humidity I control with the intensity of my lights. For higher humidity in veg I turn the lights down to 600w per light, and that gives me humidity in the high 60's, low 70's. Transition I ramp up to 750, and finally 1000 in full flower, and that will keep humidity in the 40-50 range. It has to do with how often my fan cycles on/off.

I'm struggling with maintaining humidity. I keep my fans running on low and have a one gallon humidifier in the tent. It's not making any difference at all. I'm in a room with baseboard heaters that I use to keep the temperatures around 18 degrees C. I'm in a 9 by 5 gorilla tent with two of the new gavita LEDs. I'm having a hard time getting those dialed in too.

 

[Dirtbag]

I'm struggling with maintaining humidity. I keep my fans running on low and have a one gallon humidifier in the tent. It's not making any difference at all. I'm in a room with baseboard heaters that I use to keep the temperatures around 18 degrees C. I'm in a 9 by 5 gorilla tent with two of the new gavita LEDs. I'm having a hard time getting those dialed in too.

Your extraction fan runs nonstop? If so, it can be extremely hard to keep humidity up.

I use an inkbird itc-308 digital temp controller on the extraction fan. It will only turn on when it gets to 26-27c in the tent, and shuts off at 22. This way, the lamps are used for their heat and light, and because it can take 10 min in my space for the temp to rise from 22-26 it allows for humidity to build up.

If heat builds up too fast, I dial the lamps down. Fan cycles less frequently.

I would not rely on your lung room for heat, let the lamps do that.

 

[SnowshoeJoe]

Your extraction fan runs nonstop? If so, it can be extremely hard to keep humidity up.

I use an inkbird itc-308 digital temp controller on the extraction fan. It will only turn on when it gets to 26-27c in the tent, and shuts off at 22. This way, the lamps are used for their heat and light, and because it can take 10 min in my space for the temp to rise from 22-26 it allows for humidity to build up.

If heat builds up too fast, I dial the lamps down. Fan cycles less frequently.

I would not rely on your lung room for heat, let the lamps do that.

I'm running LEDs and really don't have a heat issue. I was using HPS in the past and knew how to use that heat. I've been growing for a couple of runs now with a black dog phytomax 2 LED and had good results. I just recently switched over to gavita LEDs and having a hard time finding The Sweet Spot. I really like the quality of the Bud from the LED. They do seem to be stickier. I can't find much information online from anyone who's been growing with the new gavitas.

 

[Dirtbag]

I'm running LEDs and really don't have a heat issue. I was using HPS in the past and knew how to use that heat. I've been growing for a couple of runs now with a black dog phytomax 2 LED and had good results. I just recently switched over to gavita LEDs and having a hard time finding The Sweet Spot. I really like the quality of the Bud from the LED. They do seem to be stickier. I can't find much information online from anyone who's been growing with the new gavitas.

If temp is not an issue why not just put the extraction fan on a timer to come on for say a minute or two every 15 min-half hour? Youd have plenty of humidity then I bet.

 

[SnowshoeJoe]

If temp is not an issue why not just put the extraction fan on a timer to come on for say a minute or two every 15 min-half hour? Youd have plenty of humidity then I bet.

I'll give it a try. Plug the fan into timer and put it at 15 minute intervals.