Stealth Hydro cabinet grow-- height problem?

Howdy everyone,

This is my first hydro and first Stealth Hydro grow. Seeds are from some good buds my asshole friend sent in the mail without telling me. Well no harm no foul, i guess.

Any way, 2 of the plants were in soil (foxfarm ocean forest) and inadequate light, and 2 were outside (as backup's for some unforeseen tragedy) also in inadequate light (prob. no more than 4 hours direct sunlight a day) but after reading Roseman's posts and becoming entranced with the general idea of hydroponics I decided to go Stealth.

So 6 days in, I switched em over. They all had stretched some, but the outdoors plants had completely fallen over. It is now day 16 overall, day 10 in the hydro setup. They are all around 4.5 to 5 inches, the difference being bushiness.

So on to my question... should they be only 5 inches? (Roseman, thats aimed at you) Other than that 3 of em look great. One is pathetic

First pic is my stealthy home depot $55 plastic cabinet, next to the aquarium bought just to cover up the noise (and there really isn't much of it). The cheap and NOISY ballast for the aquarium light is perfect for covering up my little bit of light leak, which ill fix b4 flowering.

second pic is the best plant so far. As luck would have it, that was the one my girlfriend picked out way back when it was a seed. bitch

third pic is the two better plants (the ones that were inside from the beginning). mine is in the back.

When the plants flower they double in size.in small places like yours most poeple will flower when the plants are 8" to 10" tall.You can tie them down and make them bush out some to keep them shorter. Peace P.S. nice work setting up the cab,but I would get some fish for the tank.I like watching them.

Hubolt County's Own Bushmaster will control the hight of the plants, but use half strength at first, this is powerful stuff! Go to full strength of there is no burning and the plants continue to stretch. Also, only use a light source high in blue, what you have now is good. Don't switch to a more red spectrum unless you have very good hight control or it will stretch.

What kind of light are you using in there? How much total vertical growth room is left over after you subtract the space used by the hydro and lighting systems?

Yeah the lights are 2 85w 6500k (blue spectrum for noobs like myself); supposed to be 4200 lumens apiece.

and I have 18 inches of actual growth room after lights and and reservoir.

I had been planning to LST already; my question was actually about the height of the plants being too short. But i'll repeat what i hear, and never take into full account, all the time: THIS PLANT WILL SURPRISE YOU.

First pics are 2 days b4 the younger pics (from Tuesday to Thursday)

Also, the aquarium is now decorated and w/fish, and another picture for close up of LST... note erotic chains. They're better than poking holes in the lid.

What are you doing for ventilation and temp/humidity control in that cabinet?

ventilation is 2x 120mm vantech stealth fans and an 80 cfm duct booster fan.
The case fans are pretty quiet, and i recessed the duct fan back a ways and now its just about as quiet as the other fans. Oh yeah, a little walmart fan blowing air around.

temperature is usually 81.5-83.7. However I lst'd and now the fan is getting much better circulation--temps currently 79.3! under 80 gives me chills.

And thats w/the doors closed. If they are open, the old temperatures would be about 1 degree cooler. I'll need to try it with the lst configuration, but the smell is getting kind of strong. -not a complaint-

Humidity is at 38-42....One of the few benfits of coastal texas humidity...

ancible forgot to post a pic for me (i'm his girlfriend and one of those plants i picked out to be mine when it was a seed) my plant is the big one in the front middle ...i just wanted to include a picture of my plant that was LST'd because it looks pretty sweet.

temp update: 76.8 with the door open-- ancible says sch-wing!

those babies look mighty nice!! i see you have built your own lil operation i was thinking of buying this: Aerospring aeroponic systems by FUTUREGARDEN

but it cost alot and im cheap........how did you build yours?

I actually didn't build mine, bought if from stealthhydro.com, HOWEVER it wouldn't be hard or expensive to build one like it, unless you haven't any tools. Like me.

If you would like more information i'd be happy to explain, and many others already have. A search for "bubbleponics" or "Stealth Hydro" will bring up many people with the same question as you, and if you look close enough better diagrams than i could probably do!

All told with the cabinet thrown in and some necessary extras (oxymoron?) like ONA (for odor): $275

I know that's kind of pricey (tried to overestimate, just a little) but all (i think)of the major factors are factored in: lights, fans, cabinet.