New Loft Grow Room - Input Appreciated
- Thread starter loftygoals
- Start date
MoodyShoes
Well-Known Member
Really good work mate. I've fitted a lot of Celotex between rafters myself and it's not an easy job. Kudos for all your time and effort.
Don't be too put off if your first grow isn't 100%....there's only so far research can get you and you'll learn a shit load more about your own setup and environment, and how to manage it effectively over the coming months. Come the second grow the penny will have dropped and it'll all seem a lot easier.
Great stuff.
Don't be too put off if your first grow isn't 100%....there's only so far research can get you and you'll learn a shit load more about your own setup and environment, and how to manage it effectively over the coming months. Come the second grow the penny will have dropped and it'll all seem a lot easier.
Great stuff.
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
3 week (day 20) update
Topped up to 600PPM and applied 3rd dose of bennie tea today. I'm going to go with a res change every 2 weeks unless I spot something dodgy going on I think. That way I can coordinate brewing tea with my res changes.
Roots looking good:
They have that shiney fish bone quality going on. Also look hairy in places. All very healthy I think
Here's Pineapple Express day 20:
And here's the veg room:
You can see there are a few plants that look a bit smaller as they were set back about 5 days when the root rot hit compared to the ones which kept growing. Only 1 of the Purple Afghan Kush plants got really stunted and is about 10 days behind it's sisters at the moment. You can see it's the one on the Left row, third one up.
I have some rhizotonic which I'd bought as it was recommended by Canna's guide... not going to be using it anymore as I wonder whether it was partially responsible for the root rot? Possibly not. Anyway I decided to use it as a foliar spray instead. Have given the stunted plants a couple of sprays today and will keep doing it until they're really back on track again.
Also have done some work on the mother room. Put up some celotex as internal walls. Sealed up the edges with my fave... expanding foam!
Have mounted a 4 inch fan and carbon filter in there. Hooked up a 10 port extension and hung a 2x55w T5 light fixture. Only waiting on another small section of pond liner to arrive and I'll seal the floor. Then I have a 6 pot autopot to take care of the mother plants. Going for a 60% coco/40% perlite mix. I'll only need about 4 cuttings from each mum every 2 months max so I'll be aiming to keep them really small.
Once the mother room is completed I just need to apply some finishing touches to the flower tents and I'm all "done"!
Think a 5 week veg would be reasonable? Gives me 2 weeks to fanny about "finishing" things.
Topped up to 600PPM and applied 3rd dose of bennie tea today. I'm going to go with a res change every 2 weeks unless I spot something dodgy going on I think. That way I can coordinate brewing tea with my res changes.
Roots looking good:
They have that shiney fish bone quality going on. Also look hairy in places. All very healthy I think
Here's Pineapple Express day 20:
And here's the veg room:
You can see there are a few plants that look a bit smaller as they were set back about 5 days when the root rot hit compared to the ones which kept growing. Only 1 of the Purple Afghan Kush plants got really stunted and is about 10 days behind it's sisters at the moment. You can see it's the one on the Left row, third one up.
I have some rhizotonic which I'd bought as it was recommended by Canna's guide... not going to be using it anymore as I wonder whether it was partially responsible for the root rot? Possibly not. Anyway I decided to use it as a foliar spray instead. Have given the stunted plants a couple of sprays today and will keep doing it until they're really back on track again.
Also have done some work on the mother room. Put up some celotex as internal walls. Sealed up the edges with my fave... expanding foam!
Have mounted a 4 inch fan and carbon filter in there. Hooked up a 10 port extension and hung a 2x55w T5 light fixture. Only waiting on another small section of pond liner to arrive and I'll seal the floor. Then I have a 6 pot autopot to take care of the mother plants. Going for a 60% coco/40% perlite mix. I'll only need about 4 cuttings from each mum every 2 months max so I'll be aiming to keep them really small.
Once the mother room is completed I just need to apply some finishing touches to the flower tents and I'm all "done"!
Think a 5 week veg would be reasonable? Gives me 2 weeks to fanny about "finishing" things.
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
g'day Lofty,
5 week veg should be perfect, they will double in size after you flip to 12/12 cycle.
Also like the coco/perlite mix for keeping the roots healthy, just watch out for gnats.
VG 
twistedentities
Well-Known Member
Not sure how long it took to read but well worth it! Outstanding work and prep. Best of luck to you. Gonna keep an eye here. I think some epic grows are on the way
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
Everytime i read this thread my back starts aching.
have you got a dry room in the Loft or are you gunna dry plants in the spare bedroom?
Vg
have you got a dry room in the Loft or are you gunna dry plants in the spare bedroom?
Vg
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loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Everytime i read this thread my back starts aching.
have you got a dry room in the Loft or are you gunna dry plants in the spare bedroom?
Hahaha! My back is just about holding up!
Drying is a bit of an unknown. I have a 1x1x2m tent I could possibly use in a spare bedroom for a week. Load it up with a carbon filter and put a dehumidifier in the room set to 60%?
Alternatively I could use one of the 8x4m tents for a week? The plan was to have clones ready to go straight after the chop though. I dunno really.
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
Yea for sure, using the 4 x 8 tent for getting clones to the 5th week of veg then transfer to bloom tent &
having no downtime is great idea. it doesnt matter if clones are in for 6 weeks, it just means bigger roots &
bigger stem which support more buds.
The 1 x 1 tent should work for drying if it has plenty of ventilation.i would just use a spare room so its Less work for your poor old back.
Vg
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loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Nope. There's a brick chimney stack behind that celotex insulation.
When I took that pic I was standing in the doorway; which is a zipper stuck onto plastic sheeting.
It can be tight in there!
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Day 23 update
Given them a foliar rhizotonic feed, benny tea and topped up nutes to 600ppm again. They seem to be drinking about 5-6L a day at the moment. Res change due every 14 days. There is some slimey/furry build up only on the rubber grommets which connect the buckets again but the roots look very healthy still. I think it's a benny build up rather than cyanobacteria slime but am keeping a close eye on it.
Aircon is keeping up nicely. Have set room temp to 19C and chiller temp to 16C which keeps canopy temp at 23C and bucket water temp at 17.5C. The bathroom where the aircon vents isn't hot at all as long as I keep the door open so the air mixes into the house.
The plants started to smell a little around day 14. Now there is a definite cannabis smell as soon as I open the zipper. No sign of any smell in the loft outside the veg area or in the house though.
Here's what they look like:
Definitely growing quickly. Slight droopyness is due to just having had foliar spray. Comparing to the pic I took on day 20 most have doubled in size!
You might also spot that I popped another seedling! I had an Auto Dark Purple fem seed and had 2 buckets spare so thought it would be a good idea to run it too. Not planning on running any autos again but who knows. It's 6 days old and is supposed to be ready in 45-55 days so should beat all the other strains by about a month. Should give me a chance to practice trimming/drying.
Given them a foliar rhizotonic feed, benny tea and topped up nutes to 600ppm again. They seem to be drinking about 5-6L a day at the moment. Res change due every 14 days. There is some slimey/furry build up only on the rubber grommets which connect the buckets again but the roots look very healthy still. I think it's a benny build up rather than cyanobacteria slime but am keeping a close eye on it.
Aircon is keeping up nicely. Have set room temp to 19C and chiller temp to 16C which keeps canopy temp at 23C and bucket water temp at 17.5C. The bathroom where the aircon vents isn't hot at all as long as I keep the door open so the air mixes into the house.
The plants started to smell a little around day 14. Now there is a definite cannabis smell as soon as I open the zipper. No sign of any smell in the loft outside the veg area or in the house though.
Here's what they look like:
Definitely growing quickly. Slight droopyness is due to just having had foliar spray. Comparing to the pic I took on day 20 most have doubled in size!
You might also spot that I popped another seedling! I had an Auto Dark Purple fem seed and had 2 buckets spare so thought it would be a good idea to run it too. Not planning on running any autos again but who knows. It's 6 days old and is supposed to be ready in 45-55 days so should beat all the other strains by about a month. Should give me a chance to practice trimming/drying.
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
Are those hebel bricks under DWC buckets?
How much do they weigh? nvm my back is aching again
VG
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Concrete blocks yeah
Not that bad to get up the ladder though.Most difficult things to get into the loft were... water chillers, AC and tents. Anything bulky over 20kg is not easy to carry up a loft ladder alone
GuttaCannabis
Member
Nice work I'm sub
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
Thx Lofty, at least you dont have to go to the gym anymore.Concrete blocks yeah
Most difficult things to get into the loft were... water chillers, AC and tents. Anything bulky over 20kg is not easy to carry up a loft ladder alone
Did you calculate the cost before starting this epic project?
Cheers VG
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Thx Lofty, at least you dont have to go to the gym anymore.
Did you calculate the cost before starting this epic project?
Cheers VG
Er... yeah... um... initial budget was £4k ($5.8k in USD). I actually planned to be 25-50% operational for my first grow and then to finish things off for my second grow... but I've worked out that it's easier to just get things done properly first time round.
So... we're at around £7k ($10.1k in USD) now
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
and here i was bitching about spending 1500 bucks over the course of 6 months of experimenting, but, you get what you pay for, especially when you do your research first. just wait and it'll pay for itself soon
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
Arrrgghhh, slime is back. Went to look at the grow room this morning and the Purple Afghan Kush plants were all droopy. Inspected the roots and found blobs of snot in places.
Benny tea every 3 days alone hasn't managed to keep the slime away
Have given the whole system a scrub in dilute peroxide which circulated for an hour. Then flushed through with 80L of RO water. Now refilled with RO water and 2ppm hypochlorite. Turned on the UV filter and ozone generator again. Gonna run 24 hours with no nutes and then do another res change tomorrow and will add in 1/4 strength nutes for a day.
This time wasn't as traumatic as the last but still a bummer!
Benny tea every 3 days alone hasn't managed to keep the slime away
Have given the whole system a scrub in dilute peroxide which circulated for an hour. Then flushed through with 80L of RO water. Now refilled with RO water and 2ppm hypochlorite. Turned on the UV filter and ozone generator again. Gonna run 24 hours with no nutes and then do another res change tomorrow and will add in 1/4 strength nutes for a day.
This time wasn't as traumatic as the last but still a bummer!
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
just a thought but you are in an old dusty attic, perhaps its something in the woodwork, is there any way you could spray an antifungl or something like that all over the attic walls and floor? where is your air supply from? is there a duct its drawing through or just ambient air in the attic? if theres some kind of duct it may need to be vacuumed out and spray some antifungal in it maybe. seems strange that it keeps coming back with all the cleaning you're doing of the set up itself, sounds like theres something in your environment thats causing it
verticalgrow
Well-Known Member
G'day Lofty,Are u gunna use coco for mothers?
Also have u seen Air pots?
heres a link for air pot systems: http://www.progrow.co.uk/acatalog/air_pot_systems.html
Cheers VG