55 Gallon Barrel Grow (322 total watts T5 & CFL)

spandy said:

If you've been here long enough, you know that this isnt gonna fly.

Its ridiculous how complicated something so simple has become. But some make complicating things a hobby, so let them roll.

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I don't need it to fly.
Do you mean I won't be able to grow plants in this?

bamboofarmer said:

I don't need it to fly.
Do you mean I won't be able to grow plants in this?

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Im not sure, was pretty plowed last night. I don't even remember typing the fly part, lol.

I do remember the overcomplicating things, though. I'll just blame it on a mod editing my posts since I can't remember.

spandy said:

Im not sure, was pretty plowed last night. I don't even remember typing the fly part, lol.

I do remember the overcomplicating things, though. I'll just blame it on a mod editing my posts since I can't remember.

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It's not really that complicated man. But I suppose it might be to someone who's getting plowed.

I'm pretty sure I've seen the barrel you're talking about. It is what inspired this one.

bamboofarmer said:

I'm pretty sure I've seen the barrel you're talking about. It is what inspired this one.

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i still think its great.. are u going to try a hps in there?? im sure even a small one would help production..also do u plan to keep reusing this?? do you have another one so u can hold a mother plant n some clones that would be really cool w/ the cfl's for a mother and clones..just so u dont have to keep starting from seed and picking out males..

TheChemist77 said:

i still think its great.. are u going to try a hps in there?? im sure even a small one would help production..also do u plan to keep reusing this?? do you have another one so u can hold a mother plant n some clones that would be really cool w/ the cfl's for a mother and clones..just so u dont have to keep starting from seed and picking out males..

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I went over to ebay after you mentioned the hps. I decided not to order the 150w hps, Going to just keep this grow all fluorescent.(unless you think I can shove a 400 watt hps in there) Cause I did buy one of those.
If the plants produce some decent buds, I may try to grow some more in there. But I think using it for a veg/clone chamber is a good idea. It would be nice to have clones.

bamboofarmer said:

I went over to ebay after you mentioned the hps. I decided not to order the 150w hps, Going to just keep this grow all fluorescent.(unless you think I can shove a 400 watt hps in there) Cause I did buy one of those.
If the plants produce some decent buds, I may try to grow some more in there. But I think using it for a veg/clone chamber is a good idea. It would be nice to have clones.

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i agree it would be great for mothers and clones..a 400 hps would definatly burn ur plants in there even with the fan,, so after this run use it for veg and use that 400 watt for ur flowering , youll get alot more out of it..

One month old from germination under fluoros. What do you guys think?

So my plants are exactly one month old today. Switched them to 12/12 about 5 days ago. One (picture #4) has already produced some little tiny pistils. One plant, the mystery seed (picture #3) is especially skunky and the leaves are a little different from the others. I have upped the nutrients to 1/2 strength this week. (cal/mag plus, grow big)

Trimmed a few of the lowest fan leaves. Haven't trimmed any other low growth yet, but as soon as I weed out the males, I'm going to semi-lollipop and attempt a bunch of clones.

So far this barrel is working nicely. Nice cool breeze always flowing up through the plants, temps +-74 at canopy. Exhaust temp is a steady 84 though, so gonna have to figure out how to cool a little better when plants get taller. Any suggestions? Thanks everyone, peace out.

Ok. The mystery seed proved to be a male. Yoink! So far, 3 females, 1 male, 2 yet to be determined. Going to take a bunch of clones tonight, mostly just for practice since i don't have space to actually grow them out. Might go down to Wal-mart and see if i can find some stuff to make an aero clone thingy.

been watchin since my first reply...things look great man and i don't think you'll have a problem with the 84degrees you mentioned.i was gonna do aero but i see more advanced users doing the bubble cloner.

mudballs said:

been watchin since my first reply...things look great man and i don't think you'll have a problem with the 84degrees you mentioned.i was gonna do aero but i see more advanced users doing the bubble cloner.

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Thanks Mudballs. Bubble cloner eh? Gonna have to check it out. Haven't really researched the different types.

Lookin good bro. i use a clone king, works great 100% success

TheChemist77 said:

Lookin good bro. i use a clone king, works great 100% success

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I went ahead and made one out of wal-mart items. But I'm beginning to learn it is often wiser and always easier to BUY a well put together product designed by people who know what they're doing.

mudballs said:

been watchin since my first reply...things look great man and i don't think you'll have a problem with the 84degrees you mentioned.i was gonna do aero but i see more advanced users doing the bubble cloner.

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So the AERO cloner keeps the roots/stems in the air and hits them with mist, while the BUBBLE cloner submerges the roots/stems in super oxygenated water, right? Now that I'm thinking about it, seems like keeping them in the water probably would be better and more fail-proof. Here's what I ended up with but I guess I could just use deeper cups to make it a bubbler. Total cost: $38.43
Looks like its working! Not bad for first try eh?

building ur own is always better and cheaper as long as u get the hole concept...VERY NICE!! ROOTS,,A BRANCH, NOW A PLANT!!VERY WELL DONE!!!...ive heard you can get a leaf to grow roots,,never tried it and i think its bullshit but anyone know if its true?? and not one of those leaves that are deformed with growth shoots...

Thanks again Chem. However, I kinda cheated. The ones with roots were previously in some rockwool cubes for about 7 days. But they didn't have any roots, just looked swollen at the bottom. It was amazing how quick they shot out once in the cloner. I'm hoping the others will follow suit.

If it is possible to root a leaf, I imagine it would be pretty damn hard.

I reckon it's time to update this thread. Things have changed a bit on this grow. I ordered a 32x32x64 grow tent and moved everything in there except for my 2 little clones and a dwarfy plant which are now in the barrel.

One of my plants may be dying. All of the fan leaves turned crispy overnight and the other leaves are all tear very easily. I thought it was some kind of heat issue, but none of the other plants are doing this. What do you guys think? Should I kill it?

Obviously stealth isn't the issue so why the barrel? Curious is all.

Jimmyjonestoo said:

Obviously stealth isn't the issue so why the barrel? Curious is all.

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Main reason is I have a ton of these barrels and wanted to give it a try. Originally I was going to try to keep everything contained in the barrel and truly make it stealth, but doing that didn't leave any room for a plant, lol! Stealth would have been nice but really wasn't necessary.

Nice aero clone. What I did for a bubbler was simple. Bought a small storage bin, a junk bin for pens and bullshit about 12"x4" with a lid. I then cut holes just big enough for the plants and put a little foam around the edges. Then I put a long air stone from a large stockpile of aquarium stuff I have in. Cheap ones suck, don't waste money on the cheap air stones..... Anyways, I kept the tips out of the water(only filled it up about 2 inches) and the air stone creates bubbles which burst on the surface and cover the plant with water. I didn't even use rooting gel and almost every clone started rooting within a few days. They really started rooting after 2 weeks. Worked extremely well and should be about $10 if you shop at Wal-Mart.

Here's a similar grow cab to yours. Mine is 6x 55w T5HO with the 2G11 base, in case anyone wanted to look them up.

I posted this trash can in an ebb and flow setup a couple of years ago under a different username, you might recognize the trash can...

Now here it is with soil in it!

I'm subbed to your grow!

Here's the little one getting acclimated to the light.


Here's the view from directly above before I put in the stones and soil. Mixed spectrum obviously...



Good luck and I'll be checking in every so often!