The King Grows

Open for comments, criticism and/or suggestions.

Hello everyone. I figured I would start up a "personal use" grow room and thought this would be the best way for me to log my progress.

First a little about myself, I am a 46 year old guy who has been smoking weed for 33 years and have grown a little too but nothing huge, just personal stuff. I live in Alberta, Canada and work in the oilfield and my non-smoker wife will be looking after the grow room from time to time so I need to make this thing fairly automated and easy to use.

I have just ordered 5x Fuel Og and 5x Washing Machine from Ripper Seeds via Attitude Seed Bank. They said with covid, it could be up to 6 weeks to ship them here but I did get a tracking number from them this morning so hopefully they are here in a week or two.

However before I grow anything, I need to build the grow room and buy the gear. This will be an 8'x8'x8' room for the most part. There will be one corner cut off to make parking easier since tbe room will be in my garage. Because my room is in my garage, my room will be as air tight as possible and will be air conditioned with a bottled CO² system. I am also going to run water to my garage which will require a 6' deep trench to be dug from my house to the garage but this can be done later this summer.

The lights will be 2x Spider farmer 4000's and an 8 pot autopot xl system running on one of the advanced nutrients lines, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Anyways that's about it. Now to start.

This is where I am going to build. The window sucks but it is the only corner to build in. The nice thing is it has 6 power receptacles and a switched light already there. There was a work bench here that I already moved but still a bunch of junk to move.

Area cleaned up and 8x8 layout for the grow room.

Framed in the room and put a metal utility door with a seal to try and make the room more air tight. I think it worked because you can hear the air move as you open and close the door.

Time to deal with this window.

First I marked and cut the window sill with a skillsaw so it would not stick out past the drywall anymore.

Then my wife hung some new curtains so from outside the garage it will look normal.

I then put up a couple 2x4s inside the window sill to give me something to screw the drywall to.

Once the drywall was secured, I first put aluminum tape over the seam to stop all light leaks that may have been there. Then since aluminum is fairly easy to damage, I taped over it with tuck tape.

And just like that the window is gone.

Time to seal between the cement and drywall.

First things first, I sucked out and dirt, dead bugs and hopefully any egg sacks that may have been hid there last fall. Then I used spray foan to seal it.

I also sprayed foam around the door jam before I covered it with drywall and under the threshold to prevent light leaks.

Built a raised table about 6" off of the ground. I wanted it higher but was too scared to eat up too much head room as I have never used led lights before and wanted to error on the side of caution.

Once the table was done I hung 6mil diamond cut mylar on all walls, ceiling and over the door. I hung it over the door because I have yet to see a door that blocks 100% of all light. I did do a light leak test just befor hanging the mylar and did spot some light at the threshold of the door.

Light leak test.

After I was done hanging all the mylar, I painted the backside of the mylar covering the door.

I painted it flat black so that if there are anymore light leaks around the door, I am hoping the flat black will absorb it and not reflect it into the grow room. I also painted the door jam too.

As I hung the last of the mylar I noticed the room start to heat up just from me working in there. I am pretty confident the room is sealed up pretty good.

Now I just need to paint the floor white and the room will be finished and ready for equipment.

Got my flood table tray today. Everything is starting to come together fairly nicely. Was worried the flood table wouldn't fit though but it did. She's in there with no room to spare.

Looking good!

I was also able to pick up 2x 4 pot autopot xl systems on seperate reservoirs. Should make growing two different strains a little easier.

GrassBurner said:

Looking good!

Click to expand...

Thanks GrassBurner and welcome to my grow.

As for the lighting, I was on the old inter-webs lastnight and seen spiderfarmer 4000s on a summer sale. I ordered 2x Spiderfarm 4000's.

But that's a seceret so don't tell my wife, she has no idea.

So I figured I should do one more light leak test.

So I turned on all the lights in my garage and opened the big car door and let the sun shine inside at my grow room.

I then rolled a joint went in the grow room and turned off the lights. After smoking the joint my eyes were adjusted enough to spot any leaks.

I didn't find any leaks but noticed a very small glow coming from the 4' fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling.

I am guessing there must be a residual electrical charge that is allowing the gases inside to slightly glow. I will have to remember to remove these bulbs before I start the grow later this summer.

Need a little help with dehumidifier size.

I am trying to size for a dehumidifier but want to be sure to have enough to do the job correctly witout it having to run 24/7 trying to keep up.

I have never used auto pots before but my last few grows in smart pots, my water usage was about 15-20L/4 plants every two days. So I should only be using about 20L/day on this grow with 8 plants.

And if I give myself a little wiggle room, say bring my total daily use up to 25L/day that means a 55 pint dehumidifier should do it.......or would it?

I have no doubts it would do it during lights on but what about at lights off when the room cools down and the ac shutsdown and the humidifier is left alone to battle humidity throughout the dark cycle? Would it do it?

Because of my doubts about home depot type dehumidifiers, I am considering a Quest 70 pint unit. Is this a good choice or is it complete overkill?

Still need a little help on dehumidifier sizing. Please.....anyone out there?

On another note, I received anemail from spiderfarmer this morning. My lights will be here today. Four days early.

Ok, so I have decided to go with the Quest 70 pint dehumidifier. It might be more than I need but it should keep the humidity where I want it.

However the quest will have to wait a week or two because I ordered a third spiderfarmer 4000 and a full trolmaster system to automate my equipment and CO².

I like this system because it's not outrageously expensive, easily customizable and best of all I will be able to control my grow from anywhere I get an internet connection.

I have also ordered a par meter to try and dial the lights in as much as I can. I want to give the plants all they can handle without cooking them.

The three SF 4000's are all here now. After supper I had time to get them up. It's damn bright in there.