grow number 2 and new setup

Power Towel

Member
So, starting grow #2, and only doing 2 plants this time - hopefully my results will be better on a per-plant basis than last time. Last time I used 8 2-inch pots, and only 1 plant was both female AND a good producer. I never weighed it, but it was 11 pint jars packed full of dried bud.

Problem with the small pots though is the plants were starting to tip over from their own weight and I had a heck of a time keeping them seated on the reservoir lid.

I moved to the, um, I think 4 or 5 inch pots. I also used a drill and some zip ties to secure the pots to the reservoir lid. And I covered it in panda film. Definitely going to be a more stable, and manageable, setup. Ideally I would be using clones not seeds - but since I may be moving away from readily-available clones, may end up having to clone my own.

Oh yeah and I made an "active" intake. Wasn't getting good enough air circulation from the passives, so I put a 5-inch 110v fan over a new intake hole. Temps are MUCH cooler now. I only have about 1/2 the lights on, but box is only about 5-6 degrees hotter than the closet now.
 

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Power Towel

Member
Right now I have 4 x 23w CFL 6000K and a single 2700K in there just to mix it up a bit. When I flower I change out to mostly 2700K with maybe a 6000K or two in there, again, just to mix it up. I have 13 sockets on hanging cords that are adjustable, so I can "flood" the entire area if/when I need to. Once the plants get bigger some of the lights end up higher/lower than others for optimum distance from the plants. The plants got a little tall last grow and I ended up just fastening some of the sockets to the walls/ceiling and pointing them at an angle, again, to get the best light exposure on the plants. Lowes had the 6000 and HD had the 2700 in these "outdoor flood" package CFLs. HUGE difference over just the CFL "tube only" bulbs. Very bright, and worth the extra $ vs. haggling with home-made reflectors. I think they cost around $4 each here in super-expensive land.
 

Lkmyblz

Active Member
good deal cuz, show some more pics, im running a cfl grow too, got to love the low temps lol keep it up.
 

Power Towel

Member
Here are a couple pics from last grow. The white thingy at the upper right of the box is the carbon filter. The tube for it goes down out the bottom of the box and to the vortex fan constantly pulling air. Likewise my air pump is also under the box, with 2 air tubes coming up through the bottom of box. There are a couple of connectors so I can easily remove the reservoir with it's "local" air lines intact. I have the box sitting on the crawlspace hole in my closet - keeps the noisy fan and pump under the house. I also have 110v coming into the box for the 100v PC fans - one of which is used for the active intake on the door pictured in the first post.

It's probably a fluke / freak plant, but I got a bitchin' yield from the first grow, most all from a single plant and 3 colas.
 

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Power Towel

Member
There are 13 holes in the top of the box where the light cords go in (one for each light). I use clothespins clamped to the wires on top to set the height for each lamp. Yes, this took a bit of effort wire-nutting and taping 14 pairs of wires, but at least this way I can stick the lights pretty much wherever I want them very easily.
 

snocat

Active Member
I had to many problems with those totes,there a pain to move if you have to, hard to clean,the plants get tippy when they get big.I switched to 5 gal buckets,and its much easiyer to move them around,my next grow is going to be with 5 gal buckets linked togeather with a res and a pump to circulate the nutes a few times a day to keep my nute temps lower and make topping them off easy also.just fill the res to the line you have pre determined and they all fill.Im in the 6th week of flower and there drinking up a gal a day per plant,so the res will help keep the nute level higher in the buckets. peace good luck and grow on
 
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