ALL fluorescent Hydro SoG Grow Journal [uncomplicated]

midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
My second grow is winding down now and I am going to rebuild/expand my growing capacities to incorporate the ebb and flo SoG method in the coming months.

I have two identical areas where I'll be growing. You could call this a semi-compact grow, because each area is less than 10 square feet. Below I have an outline of one of the future areas




This is the flowering room (to be), the veg area will be almost identical. I have not yet decided on a light fixture, but as I am on a limitied budget I will probably be aiming for two of the Sunleaves dual-tube T5s or TT55s for each level. Next diagram is for the same area (flowering), different perspective.




As you can see it is very limited room to work with, but I know it can be done. Sorry for leaving out the trays on this one, just imagine them there exactly like the previous picture.

Area is 49" wide, 25" deep, and 68" tall.

I am almost certain on the T5 or TT55 fixtures, but the option of CFLs still hang in my mind. CFLs are what I have used up until now with good results. It will be determined by whether I can accomplish a venting system to help with heat and smell. Until now I've been operating with just one fan, no filters or ionizers or anything. Its been working alright, but if I don't roll up the plastic light curtain everyday to let some heat escape from around the door, heat-induced wilting occurs. This is my only big problem to solve before the SoG is built.

I'm also still contemplating whether I really want to try for two levels (because space is so tight), or just give in and have one level of flowering clones.

More to come before Halloween when supplies/equipment are acquired. Thanks for watching.
 
midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
Please feel free to ask questions or make comments - only if it is constructive though :blsmoke: To encourage this, I'm also going to post briefly on my last harvest, because I would like to know how the community thinks I'm doing on drying and curing. This of course will influence how I dry/cure when running the SoG as well.

My dry box is just a $4 tub with a PC fan running off of a rotation of 9.6V rechargeable drill batteries. I placed a flap over the fan hole on the inside because direct airflow on the buds was making them too dry on the outside, leaving the inside still moist. I also setup screens below using window screen material that was lying around, this helped with all of the small or loose harvest that couldn't be hung. These have been drying like this for 10 days now, will probably move them all to jars for curing in the next few days.

I've just moved those nugs to curing in the jar today (yes, I get a little impatient sometimes), you can still see the smaller bud leaves I was too lazy to clip today, will probably get them off by tomorrow. Of course I never stack my buds much taller than this when curing to ensure even curing and avoid compression.

I'll leave this jar and future curing jar batches in total darkness, burping them once a day for five minutes. I predict the curing will take 2 weeks this time (based on last harvest's experience) Of course you can leave them in these jars forever, as long as you keep them away from direct sunlight.
 

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midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
anhedonia said:
Nice set up. I want to see this in action. Good luck.
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Thanks anhedonia, I can't wait either. I'm hoping that by the end of the first week in November it will be completely running.

bongsmilie

ALSO: How big are everyone's clones when they finish flowering? How big of cuttlings do you normally take from your mother? I have read anywhere from 25" to 40" when fully flowered, and as I'm limited to space I'm hoping I can keep them under 25" (for two levels).
 
N

nordowell

Active Member
one more thing, if you say your using fluorescent for financial reasons, you will end up making way more and better quality bud, for some people that means more money they dont have to spend buying it somewhere else. i highly suggest a 400 watt hps for you. good luck regardless tho.
 
midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
nordowell said:
one more thing, if you say your using fluorescent for financial reasons, you will end up making way more and better quality bud, for some people that means more money they dont have to spend buying it somewhere else. i highly suggest a 400 watt hps for you. good luck regardless tho.
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I've decided to build a flood table for the flowering area and have only one level. However I still am going the fluorescent route because, like I said financial reasons but also because I have no way of venting enough air to cool a HPS where the area is currently situated (stealth is a main concern). CFLs (or T5s for that matter) are much easier for me to control heat wise. Of course when in the future I have an entire basement to devote to this passion, HPS lamps will be among the first things I'll buy. But for now, fluorescent will do. Thanks for the input!
 
MEANGREEN69

MEANGREEN69

Well-Known Member
whats up midnight, a few Q's: whats the size of that area?, what nutes?.....i whould go with the HO t5's (those are some nice lights)....meangreen
 
midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
MEANGREEN69 said:
whats up midnight, a few Q's: whats the size of that area?, what nutes?.....i whould go with the HO t5's (those are some nice lights)....meangreen
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MEANGREEN69 said:
whats up midnight, a few Q's: whats the size of that area?, what nutes?.....i whould go with the HO t5's (those are some nice lights)....meangreen
Click to expand...
Area is 49" wide, 25" deep, and 68" tall.

General Hydroponics nutes which I am already familiar with. I'll be adding a P supplement, specifically Canna PK 13-14 as suggested by the great Al B. in weeks 3-4.

As for lighting, what do you think of this deal? Just for the flowering area, it's the best deal I've seen on a T5 fixture in a while. Remember, this is a SMALL budget op, desperate almost : P

:joint:
 
theloadeddragon

theloadeddragon

Well-Known Member
midnightXsterling said:
Area is 49" wide, 25" deep, and 68" tall.

General Hydroponics nutes which I am already familiar with. I'll be adding a P supplement, specifically Canna PK 13-14 as suggested by the great Al B. in weeks 3-4.

As for lighting, what do you think of this deal? Just for the flowering area, it's the best deal I've seen on a T5 fixture in a while. Remember, this is a SMALL budget op, desperate almost : P

:joint:
Click to expand...

plus rep for the shameless honesty :)
 
midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
MEANGREEN69 said:
those should be ok.. but try to get as many as u can, IMO 3 or more...
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anhedonia said:
You'll need at least a 4 tube fixture for flowering.
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I agree with both of you, and by the looks of my math (assuming its correct of course) I should be able to easily fit three 2-tube fixtures over my flood table, resulting in 30,000 lumens for my flowering area. That is aprox. 3,529 lumens per square foot (area is 8.5 square ft), just over the minimum line. And considering the buds I grew with just five 26watt CFLs were DANK, just not dense, I think it will turn out excellent.

theloadeddragon said:
plus rep for the shameless honesty :)
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Right on :blsmoke: Honesty is the best policy, except to the cops~:leaf:
 
midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
Btw, here is the about-to-be-harvested fem that I'm thinking of revegging for the beginning of this SoG. My only problem may be that it tipped over during a weak period, and that combined with the RW cube being oversaturated and basically going to mush, allowed the entire base of the plant to twist and tip over distorting the actual cube. Does anyone have any advice for this? Will she just need to be tied in place until she bears enough children to replace her? Thanks for the support guys~
 

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midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
theloadeddragon said:
put more pebbles in there to hold her in place..... she is fine....... more lights?
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She is actually standing up good and fine now that I've harvested her in prep for the reveg. I also took a wider picture to show the complete lighting setup - however, I am aware there could be ALOT more light, keep in mind I am transitioning right now. This veg area will be rebuilt in the next couple weeks, so this is just a temporary rig.

My main concern - how does my trim job look? I did leave her bigger than most revegs I have seen, simply because I was not going to tackle the root mass right away. With the root mass staying the same size, I thought it would be good to leave her slightly bigger so as not to overwhelm her with the nutrient intake her big root mass will still have. I also hypothesize that she will be ready for cloing sooner since there are more buds to produce new growth through. We will have to see about this though in time.
~Also: should I keep the large bud on the left side of the pic, or should I just say fuck it and take it? I cant decide how beneficial it would be...

Following trimming, I gave her 12 hours of darkness, and am starting her on 20/4 today. I'll keep feeding her a diluted form of her veg nutes until I'm sure she is doing well enough to handle a higher strength.

Eventually she will be moved down to an 8" or so, most likely resuing the hydroton after I wash it. I do plan on using floc (granulated rockwool) with the future SoG.

I just wanted to take a moment and say, four 26w CFLs and a lone T5 have gotten me by for a long time, and I realize my nugs could be denser and my yields bigger but I am happy. So if you're a new grower reading this, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! *ahem* At the same time, I am upgrading to stronger CFLs for the veg area and better quality fixtures and lights for the flowering area. This is an experiment for all of us.

As always, thanks for reading and sharing~
:joint:
 

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midnightXsterling

midnightXsterling

Member
Sorry, things in the personal life got a little hectic over the last couple weeks :cuss: Here's a quick rundown:

Reveg is currently on Mild vegetative nutes, once a day. She is burning, so I plan to flush her and give her even weaker nutes. Humidity is kind of low in there so I spray un-nute water on her once a day and am monitoring for mold.

This is the middle of her third week into revegging and the leaf burning is the only change so far. I don't expect any new growth for another 4 weeks or so. But this is my first reveg, so we'll just have to wait and watch.

What I am most concerned with is the condition of the rock wool. There appears to be a formation, almost like mold but harder than it, on the top layer. Any thoughts? Thanks for keeping up.

Also, I have decided to invest the extra monopoly money and go for the Pioneer VI, aiming for that 3,000 lumens/ square foot :bigjoint:
 

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