First non tent indoor grow

[Norcal86]

Wanted some basic feedback on my first indoor non tent grow and any possible new things to add.

I am running J1 genetics ( jack herer X Skunk1) from clone which i have had for at-least 2-3 indoor cycles. I ran it outdoors in Norcal and it was fantastic and frosty.

Conditions:
5 Gallon buckets soil ( 40%FFOF, 40% Black Gold, 20% Perlite) garden stones in the bottom for drainage
8x8x7 room insulated with 1.5 inch Rtech insulated Foam on all sides except floor
6 inch Elicient 150B intake fan on ground level
6 inch hydrofarm vortex exhaust fan at bulb level
600 watt Apollo Horticulture MH/HPS combo in 6 inch cooltube w fins
floor is 3/4 inch plywood board
Dehumid is 50 pints per day running 24/7 (set to 55%)
600/900/1500 watt oil based radiator heater for night (on 3pm to 6am)

Temps daytime is about 72-77
Night is about 59-65

Watering Schedule:
Regular RO 30ppm water 1.5 gallon per plant
about 4-6 days later , water with 700-1100 ppm every other feeding ( [per 5 gal] 60 ml big bloom, 30ml Grow big, 5ml superthrive, 15 ml calmag)

Frustrations:
plants not growing as fast as when in tent( assume temp flux is the cause vs 4x4 tent)
slight fungus gnat issues
plants slow to respond to bending method to keep canopy height the same. (branches turn back upwards in about 48 hours)


Things I want to add:
indoor Sentinel Controller
insulated floor
ebb and flow trays


Thoughts?

Photos to come shortly.

 

[Norcal86]

Before finishing the room and bending for height.

 

[KryptoBud]

Slow growth could be caused by your temps and lack of light. A 4x4 tent is a lot smaller/closer with reflective sides so plants get more light. I would cover the walls with something if you haven't done it yet. I use panda film works well easy to clean or replace. I would consider another light if your gonna use all that space which I assume is the reason for ditching the tent. Your plants look good nice and healthy good luck with the room.

 

[Norcal86]

running pretty steady with slightly warmer temps w some of the walls in place. have been bending over the tops and main shoots to get an even canopy height.

How long should i let them rebound before flipping them into 12/12?

Worth putting them into an absolute dark period for longer than 12 hours between light durations?

Immediately switch to my HPS?

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

A week should be sufficient for recovery before switching.

 

[shorelineOG]

View attachment 3586204 View attachment 3586205

running pretty steady with slightly warmer temps w some of the walls in place. have been bending over the tops and main shoots to get an even canopy height.

How long should i let them rebound before flipping them into 12/12?

Worth putting them into an absolute dark period for longer than 12 hours between light durations?

Immediately switch to my HPS?

They can rebound under 12/12. I prune lower leaves during flowering, just not all in one day. You need more light. Add some other spectrums like a metal halide and t5 power veg with uv, your plants will love that. The branches will grow towards the light if you bend them down. You can keep plants short by topping them a lot. I have tall sativa that look like bushes because I take clones off em.

 

[Oregon Gardener]

Before finishing the room and bending for height. View attachment 3586059

I get free oddball size pallets (2x3) and other odd sizes that truckers can't use, from behind a couple of hardware places. Gets your girls off the floor and allows excellent air flow. I love bucket grows. Make sure you monitor which color grows better, green or orange LoL
Anyway those are some good look'n girls and that insulation tightened it up. I'll be watching your progress with that 600 Apollo. I hope you get some fat colas with that. I just got a couple of new ones (HPS) and I've never ran digital or 600s. Just 400s and 1000nds. I've been posting in Club 600 thread. I haven't fired them yet but it's just around the corner. New learning curve. Good luck, I be watching this thread.

 

[Norcal86]

So I've got the temps dialed in at about 73-77 during the day with an autopilot day and night timer seen below (set to cool mode so it kicks on to lower temps to set point). I have both the intake and exhaust fans on the same timer so they cycle together to increase the rate the air changes temps in the room.

For night time heating I took a seedling heat matt thermostat which regulates Max temp connected to a 300/600/900 watt oil based radiator style heater on the floor.

Two oscillating fans are going 24/7 and I finally installed backdraft dampers on the intake and exhaust to prevent unwanted bugs and heat/cold loss when fans are not on.

Humidity is all controlled by the dehumidifier unit itself with its built in sensor.

my only really remaining questions are below:

Is it worth running a perpetual cycle with smaller plants to increase overall yield and decrease energy consumption only running 12 hours on? (have small veg tent 2x4 for other 18 hour plant needs, currently running 5 gal pots and I have eight plants mature)

Would it pay off to purchase a "brain" or master greenhouse controller? (not planning on running co2 at this point but may in the future if this project pays for itself after 2 cycles)

Also I'm about to flip into 12/12 this week and was wondering about pruning lower branches and larger fan leaves for better yields??

PPM's currently are about 1500-1650 depending on the plant and amount of soil mixed w perlite... During flower i typically bump them up to about 2000ppm? (Too high?))

Thanks for your time.

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

You can either prune before you flip and give her a few days to recoup or flip and then one or two weeks in you can prune.

 

[astronautrob]

2000ppm is kind of high but if you don't see burn then you're be fine. If you prune follow what joe said & don't prune too much maybe only fan leaves that are blocking buds sites, etc. Also, just an inquiry, do you water with superthrive every water, & if so have you always done that?

 

[Norcal86]

Also, just an inquiry, do you water with superthrive every water, & if so have you always done that?

I only water with super thrive up until i give them micronutrients. So probably up untill week 3-4 of veg then I cut it off as i don't see any difference.


Flipped to 12/12 on Feb 1st... Ill post pics one week increments to see progress and track issues.

Water inputs with Nutrients: 6.8 ph 1800ppm water waste out 6.4ph 2000ppm. Everyone looks good.

 

[Norcal86]

Week 1 complete... Temps stable but a little high 78-81 and girls look on track... Humidity kept at 45-60 all day.

Scared about overall height upon flip so I've tied 5 of 8 girls back down similar to the initial LST method I gave them early on.

Been slightly trimming lower branches for clones and trash over this week so there should be no popcorn this run.

Currently running a 600HPS and 400 8 bulb T5 432 and have another 600 set coming this week to pickup flower..

Total square footage is about 8by8...

is 600 per 4x8 enough for a good yield? Seems like the room could use ALOT more but our electric bill has 250% since this started(granted I'm on 12 hours now so it should be less overall, still alot which was a shock to the wife)

Any suggestions to maximize yield or timing... I've run this J1 strain indoor and outdoor before and it's a later strain at about 65-75 days