Three Small Tents in One Small Room

[LoveGrowingIt]

I had tents in two different locations in the house when I decided to put them all in a spare bedroom. I didn't start any new plants after my last harvest so I could make the move. I'm thinking it will be more efficient to have them all in the same room. As I begin this thread, I have three plants growing in two tents. The third tent is the one that moved, so it's taking a little longer to get going.

Tent 1 is a 2x4 from AC Infinity. The light is a 250-watt ViparSpectra XS2500. It has a 6-inch exhaust fan with a carbon filter and two circulation fans.

Tent 2 is a 28"x28" from Spider Farmer. The light is a 130-watt S22 from AC Infinity. It has a 4-inch exhaust fan with a carbon filter and one circulation fan.

Tent 3 is a 2x3 from AC Infinity. The light is a 225-watt Diablo X from HLG. I don't have an exhaust fan for it yet. It has one circulation fan.

I used the 4-inch fan from Tent 3 to make an exhaust for the room. I used a window adapter made for a clothes dryer for the output. The idea is to create negative air pressure (relative to the house) in the room. It's currently pulling air directly from the room, but I'm thinking about pulling it from one of the tents. That, I believe, would still create the negative air pressure as well as venting the tent. I'm concerned about putting too much load on the fan, however.

I removed heaters from the tents and am using one 600-watt heater for the room. It is controlled by an old Inkbird controller currently set to 75º. I'm considering replacing it with an AC Infinity controller that can control both the heat and the room exhaust.

Each tent has a humidifier. There's also a dehumidifier for the room, but I'm not using it now.

I have what I call a fan filter, which is a DIY filter made from a 20-inch box fan and a MERV 11 filter for a home HVAC system. It works well. It's a prototype that I plan to improve when I have the time to do it.

The room is on a 15-amp circuit, so I need to pay attention to how much power is being used. That's why I decided to use only one heater. Each of the tent heaters used 500 watts, so if all three were to run at once there would be a good chance of opening a circuit breaker. The heater and the dehumidifier use the most power.

I plan to grow wider plants in Tent 1. There are a Special Queen 1 and an OG Kush in it now. I plan to grow taller plants in Tent 3 and am sprouting two Amnesia Haze for it. The plan is to grow autos in Tent 2 and there's a Purple Lemonade in it now.

So... I think that's the whole story. I'll add more if I think of anything. I'll also add pictures. It's still a bit of a mess, though.

 

[Galgrows]

Well congrats on the dedicated weed room. Is it a upstairs BR? I used a spare upstairs BR at my old place had a 4x4 & 3x3 and grew both autos & photos. Really loved doing a perpetual grow indoors until summer outdoor grow then i shut them down. I still don't have heater for the room but my house is under 900sq ft and my house is well insulated and i put in a new HVAC system 2yrs ago rooms are about 68-70f which is fine in winter. I also had my electric box upgraded to 220 so i didn't have to run outside to the garage and flip the switches when i ran multi plug in units.

Good luck with this current grow and working out the kinks.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Well congrats on the dedicated weed room.

Thanks Gal! It's not quite dedicated. The closet is still a closet, and I have a computer and a router in there.

Is it a upstairs BR?

Nope. It's downstairs. It'll be nice to have all the tents in one place. I still mix the soil and nutrients in the garage.

Good luck with this current grow and working out the kinks.

Thanks again! So far, it's going well. We haven't had really cold weather yet, though. We've just heavy rains and high humidity. I've used that room for years, but never with three tents and the tents had their own heaters. I should've mentioned in my first post that this is the most I've focused on using the lung room.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

This small grow room of mine is still very much a work in progress. Nevertheless, I decided it's time I posted an update to the thread.

Recently, I am, more or less, getting the room's environment controller setup. It's an 8-port AC Infinity controller. I have four devices attached to ports 5 through 8. By port number, I have 5) a heater, 6) an evaporative humidifier, 7) an exhaust fan to the outside and 8) a DIY air filter. Ports 1 and 2 are reserved for a humidity dome that isn't being used now. Ports 3 and 4 aren't being used yet. I don't know why the image is so lousy.

I just added an evaporative humidifier for the room. It holds a gallon of water. It used a whole gallon during the first day of use. An evaporative humidifier can use tap water without putting minerals into the air, avoiding the problem of mineral deposits everywhere. It has a mechanical control, so it can be operated by a controller. With it, the tent humidifiers don't have to work as hard. I wish I had thought of this years ago. It cost $50.

Now to the tents and what's growing in them...

Tent #1 is a 2x4 with a ViparSpectra XS2500 250W light and has an OG Kush on the left and a RQS Special Queen I on the right. The Kush was topped a few days ago and I'm hoping it will start branching better. It's also getting some potassium silicate to help its branching. The Special Queen, on the other hand, has been branching well. I've mostly decided to let it grow without topping it. I'm curious to see how it grows, because I have more seeds and expect to grow this strain again soon. So far, I like growing it.

Oh, yes. The one in the middle is a Purple Lemonade autoflower that flowered way too soon. So, I decided to put it in this little pot and let it finish here to make room in the tent it was in. It's just about done and I'm hoping for a few grams to sample.

Tent #2 is 28"x28" with an AC Infinity S22 130W light and has a White Widow in it along with a pepper plant that sprouted at the end of the summer season, even though it was planted in the spring. IDK why. I put it in the tent because I didn't want to let it die. It hasn't produced any fruit. Anyway, I read that peppers (and some other plants) make good companions for cannabis, so this is a bit of a test to see if it matters. The White Widow got off to a slow start but has been doing better recently. I don't think I gave it enough light at first. That's fixed now. This strain is a favorite of mine, so I'll make sure it finishes well.

Tent #3 is a 2x3 with a HLG 225W light and has two Amnesia Haze in it. This strain also a favorite of ours, so we've grown them many times. We're very happy with how well these are growing. Oddly, the one on the left sprouted first and was the larger of the two until recently when the one on the right decided to get going. Usually, it seems the plants that sprout first grow best, but not this time.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

^ Those last two pictures weren't supposed to be there. It's too late to edit them out, so please disregard them. Thanks.

 

[Greenadian]

I cant unsee the last picture!!!

What is it!? Looks super advanced

 

[JIMKSI64]

^ Those last two pictures weren't supposed to be there. It's too late to edit them out, so please disregard them. Thanks.

To late.
I saw unloomed wires from an IT center and now have anxiety as I can not fix it.
Thanks.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I can't unsee the last picture!!!

What is it!? Looks super advanced

I don't know if it's advanced. There are three computers, a managed router and two managed switches. There are also three UPSs for backup power. There are two gigabit network uplink modems in a link aggregation configuration. The system has about 40 terabytes of storage in four RAIDs.

So... I suppose it's somewhat advanced. It's a hobby and just sort of grew.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I saw unloomed wires from an IT center and now have anxiety as I cannot fix it.

I know the feeling.

The whole room was a reconfiguration project I started last August, after the last harvest. I couldn't grow for a month or more while doing the reconfiguration work. That included moving a tent from another part of the house. Everything fit, but it's a tight fit.

The idea is to create a dedicated grow room. Unfortunately, I haven't found another room for the computers. That means managing the humidity carefully. Having a Controller 69+ for the room helps a lot in that regard. I'm currently running the room at 48% RH and the tents at 50%. That seems to be working well. The tents have their own humidifiers that don't use much water because of the humidity contribution from the plants.

So, being a work in progress, it's still a work in progress. The wires I had were too short, so I had to order more. Part of the project has been to upgrade all network cables to Cat 6, and I needed to order a few 30' cables. Being eager to start growing again, I did, but that makes working in that space more difficult. I have the necessary parts now, so maybe I'll try to get that done to relieve you of your anxiety.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I haven't written much about the plants in the room. There are five of them. A White Widow, two Amnesia Haze, an OG Kush and this one.

This plant is a Special Queen I from RQS. It's close to two feet tall. This is the first time I've grown this strain and I like it a lot. This one hasn't been pruned at all. I sometimes let them grow just to see how they like to grow. So far, I expect to grow this strain again. That'll depend on the quality of the weed, though. I like how this one has branched out quite well without any encouragement.

This one is growing next to an OG Kush from RQS. I usually don't like to grow different strains in the same tent. Next time, I won't. This being a bit of an experiment, I made an exception to that rule.

Just yesterday, I noticed some interveinal chlorosis, so I lowered the light power a notch. I just fed it, so it shouldn't be a deficiency. It could be because I changed the nutrient mix in preparation for switching to 12/12. I might have got the mixture wrong for this strain. I used the same mixture for the OG Kush, and it looks like it might have slightly excess nitrogen. I'll also check the soil pH to see if that could be the problem.

By the way... This grow, I've been using 16/8 light schedule. The tap water pH is adjusted to 6.5. I also check the soil pH. The VPD has been running between 1.2 and 1.3. I'm using Gaia Green nutrients plus dolomite lime, Azomite, Recharge and Potassium Silicate.

 

[TerpBeans]

Have you flipped to flower yet? Unless growing from clones, even the same cultivars will at times grow at different rates and sizes. Your set up allows for variety!!

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Have you flipped to flower yet?

Two tents are flowering now. The plants are OG Kush, Special Queen and White Widow.

We're going to let the Amnesia Haze tent go longer and we're not sure how long that will be. They'll get some pruning to get them ready for flowering. Then they'll get a couple weeks to get new growth going.

Unless growing from clones, even the same cultivars will at times grow at different rates and sizes. Your set up allows for variety!!

Sure. Growth rate will vary. My thinking about growing the same strains in a tent has mostly to do with nutrients, watering and VPD. Growing is easier when the plants' needs are similar. I discovered that the OG Kush and Special Queen sharing the same tent have quite different needs. The OG Kush is forgiving, while the Special Queen is not.

 

[TerpBeans]

That can be a pain in the ass for sure!! I also find different pot sizes makes watering AND nutrient uptake different too!

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I figured it's time for an update. The plants are growing. I used a 16/8 light cycle for the vegetation stage for this grow.

I had some trouble with the plants in tent 1 (a 2x4 with OG Kush and Special Queen 1), and I'm still not sure what happened. Clearly, it's nutrient related, because it looks like excess toxicity. We also had a water problem at the same time. The tap water pH jumped up over 8.0, when it's always been a reliable 7.6. Repair work on the mains was being done at that time, so I suspect the pH change had something to do with that. I also fed them a mix of Gaia Green nutrients, but that's how I usually add nutrients. After adjusting the water pH to about 6.2, the plants recovered. So, it was probably the water that caused the problem. Many older leaves died during the week or so till I figured out what to do. The buds look good, so we should get a harvest.

In tent 2 (a 2x2), is a White widow that stretched a lot more than I expected--almost up to the light. It looks healthy, though. It's past the stretching stage and is budding nicely.

The two Amnesia Haze in tent 3 (a 2x3) are still in vegetation and I'm starting to defoliate to grow out the branches for flowering. I decided to try supplemental lighting for this tent. An AC Infinity S16 is supposed to arrive today. I hope to install it either tonight or tomorrow. The plants are tall and narrow with short distances between nodes, so I'm thinking the branches will grow out nicely with more light from the sides. I figure maybe about two weeks of vegetation with the side lights before switching to flower should do it. We'll see how it goes.

Tent 2 has a HLG light and it's the first time I've used one of their lights. So far, the plants sure seem to like it. I've been keeping the light at 24 inches by measuring and adjusting its height frequently.

As for the lung room experience...

Learning about how to manage environment controllers that are inside another environment controller has been interesting. It's quite a change.

The tent humidifiers are using very little water. The room humidifier, however, needs water about twice a day. It has a one-gallon tank. The humidity in the tents is set to 50%. The room humidity is set to 47%. Because VPD affects the growth rate, I'm learning about controlling it more precisely. I've been testing at that 3 percent difference, which is nothing more than a wild-ass guess.

The room controller also runs an exhaust fan, which I'm cycling for now because I haven't thought of a better way to do it. That will get some modifications when the weather is nicer.

Using one heater for the whole room instead of individual heaters in each tent works well and saves energy. It's one of those radiant, oil-filled heaters and it's controlled by the room controller. I also keep a pan of water on it to add a bit more moisture to the room.

 

[JIMKSI64]

It sure would be great if as indoor growers we did not have to spend 75% of our environmental control money on the 10% of the time the environment is hosed due to weather.
Yup weather sure effects my indoor grow.
Lung room would be at 25% right now if I did not have stuff to fill it in. Then later I'll get 55% when it rains and is above freezing until I throw $300 bucks of dehumidifiers at the problem.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

It sure would be great if as indoor growers we did not have to spend 75% of our environmental control money on the 10% of the time the environment is hosed due to weather.
Yup weather sure effects my indoor grow.
Lung room would be at 25% right now if I did not have stuff to fill it in. Then later I'll get 55% when it rains and is above freezing until I throw $300 bucks of dehumidifiers at the problem.

That's so true about the weather. It was one of my biggest surprises when I began growing in tents. This is my first grow in the new lung room, so I haven't been through four seasons yet. It took a few weeks for it to stabilize and I wasn't expecting that. The addition of a room humidifier helped a lot. I have humidifiers in the tents for young plants and as backup.

The air in the lung room comes from the house and is then exhausted out the window. I figure that way, the mammals in the house will provide some CO2. It's working okay, but I have some improvements in mind. I may pull in outside air when the weather is warmer.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

The supplemental lights arrived and I have them installed. Installation went well. I don't have any open ports on that tent's controller, so I had to use the small controller that came with the lights.

Setting the light level is another wild-ass guess. I figure it's best to start low and adjust upward as I get used to using them. I also am running them an hour less than the main light, so they're on a half hour later and off a half hour earlier.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I began using the side lights two weeks before flipping the tent a week ago--so about three weeks ago. At first, I ran them about two hours less than the top light. A few days before the flip, I changed the side lights to be on the same schedule as the top light, except I used the sunrise/sunset feature that changes the intensity gradually.

The plants seem to be doing fine. The leaves are dark green and only a few are complaining. The plants haven't stretched much yet. I'm thinking the side lights may have provided enough light to compensate for the reduced DLI. These plants didn't start with side lights. Next grow, when the plants will have had side lighting from the start might be different.

One thought I've had about side lights is to wonder how the sideways direction from the light sources would affect pruning. I'm thinking less pruning would be necessary because the leaves, branches and flowers compete less for light.

So, I'm thinking about adding side lights to another tent.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I switched tents for the Special Queen with the White Widow because the White Widow was stretching too much for the smaller tent. I also accidentally over fed the Special Queen so most of its leaves are necrotic and falling off. It's finishing okay though, and I expect to harvest it in about 3 weeks.

I decided I like side lights, so I plan to add them to the other tent for the next grow. The plants in the tent that doesn't have them should finish in about a month.

With the current crops nearing harvest, I'm thinking about reconfiguring the room--again. The new plant involves removing the 28"x28" tent and putting the 2x4 and 2x3 tents side by side along the same wall. This would allow me to vent them both directly to the outside. Our electricity bills have been huge lately, so one less tent should help. I'm also thinking of selling some of my hardware. Folks in the Seattle area might be interested in some of what I'll be selling.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Three of the five plants we were growing have been harvested.

• The Special Queen I was first in came in at about 30 grams dried. That was better than I expected because the plant struggled during the grow. We'll grow that one again because we liked the way the plant grew and the highs are excellent.
• The OG Kush was next and came in at 60 grams. We've grown it many times and this probably was our best yield.
• Then we harvested the White Widow that was 54 grams. This was the third time we grew it and also our best per-plant yield.
• We still have two Amnesia Haze that are a few weeks away from harvest.

I've begun reconfiguring the room. I'll start a new thread for that because it will be very different from this one. I can't do most of the changes until after we've harvested the Amnesia Haze. I was able to change that tent to exhausting to the outside. That's improving our inside air quality. After the change, both tents will exhaust independently to the outside. Both tents will have side lights for the next grow.

Meanwhile, it'll be about a month till we can start our next crop. That means the conversation has begun about what to grow. I want to try that Special Queen again and we might grow Royal Medic again because it has become a favorite here and thus is going quickly. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. Northern Lights is on my list.