Building my 4X8 Auto-grow tent/room

CptTripps

CptTripps

Well-Known Member
Thought I'd take the quarantine time and put it to good use. Completely cleaned and reorganized everything. Still don't have the replacement light for the flower side yet, as Amazon is running behind on everything non essential right now. But in the meantime, everything is SUPER clean and organized right now.

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CptTripps

CptTripps

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Upgrade day! Replaced the TSW2000 in the flower side with a TSW3000. More coverage, bigger footprint, and better LEDs and Drivers.

I keep the one to the far-right up high for seedlings, then as they move down the line towards Flower the lights get lower/closer.

I continue to be happy with the MarsHydro line. MAY replace the other two TSW2000s with a single TSW3000 at some point, but what I have now is a pretty good setup, so I'll keep it like this until I have a compelling reason to switch. Total of 1,300w of draw in the tent, giving me about 44w per square foot.

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CptTripps

CptTripps

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Yeah, that's why I have the 3X3 tent in the corner. It'll be used exclusively for drying. I have the 4" vent in there, and it vents the cold air into the 4X8 that also gets filtered before being pushed outside. Should control smell nicely, and dry my harvest out nice and slow. I'm in no rush, and would prefer quality to speed.
 
JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
CptTripps said:
Yeah, that's why I have the 3X3 tent in the corner. It'll be used exclusively for drying. I have the 4" vent in there, and it vents the cold air into the 4X8 that also gets filtered before being pushed outside. Should control smell nicely, and dry my harvest out nice and slow. I'm in no rush, and would prefer quality to speed.
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I dry my shit with just the doors cracked and even at that it dries to fast. Most important thing ive found is keeping the humidity at 55% and staying around 65 degrees. Last crop took 8-9 days to dry but i would like to see 12-14 days. You dont really want to be pushing or pulling any air through your dry box. Maybe consider drying inside of a big cardboard box with a couple small holes inside the tent if you plan to pull any amount of air through the small tent. You need some kind of barrier to block big airflow.
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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JoeBlow5823 said:
You need some kind of barrier to block big airflow.
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I've been putting some thought into this today....because I've got nothing but time on my hands right now.

I'm contemplating putting the exhaust fan in the drying tent on a timer that only runs 15min every 2h. That would keep the humidity above 55%, and move the smell on down the line into the big tent for further cycling. I also have a humidity control device that will turn on the humidifier if it gets too low in there, or the dehumidifier if it gets too high.

I've got another 2 weeks before I'll be in a position to chop my first plants, so I've got some time to work this out. Certainly open to suggestions.
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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Got my Lux meter today, so I thought I'd take some readings. I start the seedlings at the right side of the tent, and then move them to the left as they progress through Veg and into Flower. How do these readings look? I can move the lights up/down and control the output of the lights to make further adjustments.

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JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

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Thats a pretty good LUX for autos.... My light was kind of cooking them at 45,000-65,000. Im switching to photos next grow. Might do a couple plants "for fun" under my led board.... I too have plenty of time on my hands.

You will want to make sure you dont point your humidifier or dehumidifier directly at the plants. Would probably be safe going 15 minutes every 3 or 4 hours especially after the first couple days. Problem with that setup is when the exhaust fan isnt running, smell will leak.

This thread has good info. You could put a large wardrobe box in the tent and leave the exhaust fan on all the time. That way only a little air gets circulated in the box...

Drying in a cardboard box ok?

About to chop down my plant, but I'm also moving and selling my tent/cobs. I usually dry inside my tent so I need a new drying spot. Big cardboard box seems like it would do but I read somewhere about it sucking moisture out too fast or maybe something with the flavor? Anyways, the plant isn't...
www.rollitup.org
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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I was all set up to have my 3X3 be used as my drying tent, and then got an email from HGCC saying that the Autos I was growing were actually photos. So I needed to use the 3X3 as a flower tent for 3 of the girls I was growing. So....cardboard box method it is!

I've got 2 plants drying in there now. On day 3, and they've lost a lot of their smell already, but I'm hoping that comes back as the curing process happens.

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JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
CptTripps said:
I was all set up to have my 3X3 be used as my drying tent, and then got an email from HGCC saying that the Autos I was growing were actually photos. So I needed to use the 3X3 as a flower tent for 3 of the girls I was growing. So....cardboard box method it is!

I've got 2 plants drying in there now. On day 3, and they've lost a lot of their smell already, but I'm hoping that comes back as the curing process happens.

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Yes it will come back and probably get more of a cat piss smell (good thing). are you leaving that cardboard box open all the time? what is the humidity in the room? That is an excellent drying setup.
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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JoeBlow5823 said:
Yes it will come back and probably get more of a cat piss smell (good thing). are you leaving that cardboard box open all the time? what is the humidity in the room? That is an excellent drying setup.
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I had it closed the first two days, and left it open last night through tomorrow morning. Then I think I'll close it back up. RH in the room is about 55%, and it stays a constant 75-deg in the room, so pretty ideal drying conditions.

I took a look this morning and they're nowhere near being ready. I'll keep them like this for another day or two and then reassess.

I'm reading up on dry trimming now. I'm prepared for this batch to just be an experiment, so if we get a few usable joints out of it, I'll call that a win. Looks like I'll have about 8-10oz before all is said and done though. Going to practice trimming a little more tomorrow morning when I get up.
 
JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
CptTripps said:
I had it closed the first two days, and left it open last night through tomorrow morning. Then I think I'll close it back up. RH in the room is about 55%, and it stays a constant 75-deg in the room, so pretty ideal drying conditions.

I took a look this morning and they're nowhere near being ready. I'll keep them like this for another day or two and then reassess.

I'm reading up on dry trimming now. I'm prepared for this batch to just be an experiment, so if we get a few usable joints out of it, I'll call that a win. Looks like I'll have about 8-10oz before all is said and done though. Going to practice trimming a little more tomorrow morning when I get up.
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How many plants did u cut?
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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JoeBlow5823 said:
How many gallons are the pots? I bet about 6oz dried and trimmed.
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5-gal that were cut down about 2 inches, so they're about 4 I'd guess.

3oz per plant would be just great. This was my first grow, so I'm not expecting much at all. 6oz total would be a big win. (In my grow journal, you'll see that weed is $600oz where I live, and I have $3K invested total, so at 6oz I'm break-even on the operation.)
 
JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
CptTripps said:
5-gal that were cut down about 2 inches, so they're about 4 I'd guess.

3oz per plant would be just great. This was my first grow, so I'm not expecting much at all. 6oz total would be a big win. (In my grow journal, you'll see that weed is $600oz where I live, and I have $3K invested total, so at 6oz I'm break-even on the operation.)
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Yes that is around 6 ounces. Anywhere from 5-8oz would be my definitive answer but im guessing 6. Hard to tell how dense they are in pictures lol.
 
JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

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CptTripps said:
Not as dense as I'd have liked. That's for sure. In my grow journal, we went back and forth on how/when I should chop. For why I'm growing (medicinal) it made sense to chop when I did. I think I sacrificed some weight, for sure. I'm trying something different this time around though.
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Im finding autos just dont get as dense as their photo counterparts.
 
CptTripps

CptTripps

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Added in some vent hose from the 3X3 drying tent as a bit of active cooling for the LED drivers. Since they get hot, and add to the heat in the tent, I thought about how to cool them without adding an AC unit to the room, thus adding more noise. Just doing this dropped the temp in the tent by about 10deg.

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Once the drying tent maxes out at 75deg, the air is nice and cool coming off of this hose. I had an elaborate setup with Y couplers, but ended up trying this way, and it worked out just fine. Cool air runs right over the drivers from the slits I cut in the hose.

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The rest of the tent is running like clockwork, and the growth is right on schedule, so I'm humming right along with this setup right now. Very happy with everything.
 
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