Critique On New Grow-house

[Lorenzo420]

Noted. Assuming I've taken out the grow lights, do you reckon those 2 CFLs are powerful enough? I was thinking not so much and I might have to get bigger ones. I'm also worried about the placement of them, as I'm not sure there is enough spread. I'm not planning on my next crop being so tall. These plants were just an experiment and were already that size when I put them in there a couple days ago.

You'd definitely want more than 2 or 4 CFLS. What are the actualy wattage of your CFL's? I have a total of 13 lights, 12 of which are running off two power bars, and using wall plug to socket adapters, and socket to two socket elbow adapters. I zap strapped the powerbars to a piece of wood with hooks on it, and attatched my chain for an adjustable CFL grow light. Only downside is I built this before I realized with CFL's, you want light all around the foliage of the plants as well, not just from the top.

I'm not a fan of cfl's but I've never actually tried them, so I'm the wrong person to ask.

If it were me I would try to at least use t5's. You can find the fixtures pretty easily on ebay or used from hydro stores or craigs list.

But if you still have 2 sockets hanging, why not put cfl's in those also?

I've heard that T5's have a higher wattage, but less lumen output.

I've been using standard 23 - 26 watt CFL's, and they've worked great so far. Just approaching week 3 of flowering.

 

[greg nr]

Ok, I just stubled across this vid explaining the new LED t5's. Sounds interesting.

 

[chemphlegm]

I started with cfl's, and an hid in another tent. they vegged fine but when it came to flowering the amount of cfl's
needed and their wattage, space and heat failed compared to one 600 watt hid costing me under 20 bucks a month then.

 

[PippinTook]

Hey guys, so I saw that video that greg nr posted and I got very excited. I was out to buy new lights to replace the purple grow lights but I was in a rush and had to make a decision. I bought these really bright LED lights, and I hope i made the right decision:

These are the lights that are in at the moment. LEDs are left and right and CFLs are front and back.

This is what it looks like at the moment:

Its much much brighter than before. I've also added the front "door" to maximise reflectivity and am working on an extractor fan.

 

[GroErr]

Lights will work fine, mixing up spectrum and lighting tech has always done well for me in past cabinet style grows.

 

[PippinTook]

Lights will work fine, mixing up spectrum and lighting tech has always done well for me in past cabinet style grows.

Oh thank goodness haha. Is there anything you might change with the current set up you can see there? I AM planning on my next crop to be shorter and much fatter so the spread of the light should be better then.

 

[GroErr]

Oh thank goodness haha. Is there anything you might change with the current set up you can see there? I AM planning on my next crop to be shorter and much fatter so the spread of the light should be better then.

No it should run fine now, definitely get some air circulating in there and keep an eye on temps once you close it up, you shouldn't have temp issues though with the lighting/wattage you have in there. You should have some air exchange which would just need a hole somewhere along the bottom, and another at the top on the opposite end. Basically the bottom hole will suck fresh air in and hot air will be exhausted out the top as heat rises. This will be good practice to get through a full cycle and adjust/learn for future grows. Later, better lighting will get you better crops/weight but that can come once you get a feel for the whole growing process.

 

[PippinTook]

No it should run fine now, definitely get some air circulating in there and keep an eye on temps once you close it up, you shouldn't have temp issues though with the lighting/wattage you have in there. You should have some air exchange which would just need a hole somewhere along the bottom, and another at the top on the opposite end. Basically the bottom hole will suck fresh air in and hot air will be exhausted out the top as heat rises. This will be good practice to get through a full cycle and adjust/learn for future grows. Later, better lighting will get you better crops/weight but that can come once you get a feel for the whole growing process.

Thanks so much for that info, I didn't think something as simple as 2 holes would make any difference. Money is tight for me at the moment and I was thinking I would need exhaust fans and ducting in and out of the room and all that jazz. Of course this is the end goal (mainly also because I live in a pretty tight townhouse complex and the nearest neighbour to the room is a couple meters away over the wall, so I'm worried about the smell), but for now I'm hoping that my current set up, with the addition of a fan, will work nicely.

 

[GroErr]

Thanks so much for that info, I didn't think something as simple as 2 holes would make any difference. Money is tight for me at the moment and I was thinking I would need exhaust fans and ducting in and out of the room and all that jazz. Of course this is the end goal (mainly also because I live in a pretty tight townhouse complex and the nearest neighbour to the room is a couple meters away over the wall, so I'm worried about the smell), but for now I'm hoping that my current set up, with the addition of a fan, will work nicely.

Yeah that would be called passive air exchange, the 2 holes and a fan to circulate air should be fine in that space and for the lighting you have. With the lighting and wattage you have there's no need for exhaust and incoming inline fans. The ducted lights and all the other stuff is only needed if you're running hps/hid lighting which generates more heat. if you go to upgrade your lights later consider LED COB lighting as it will also keep things simple for air exchange and heat management

Now for smell management you should consider a carbon filter with an inline fan, you hadn't mentioned anything about the location and proximity to your neighbours. Once those plants get within a couple of weeks of harvest they'll stink up your house pretty good. I don't think there's enough there to worry about the smell going through to your neighbour but if you're in a townhouse that smell might become a problem. To run the carbon filter you'll need a 4" (or larger) inline fan and appropriately sized carbon filter which you'd install at the top hole (exhaust). The air going through the filter would remove any smell as it goes through the filter. For this grow, if you;'re not smelling a lot right now, maybe just grab some Ona gel and leave it outside the cabinet somewhere, it should pick up any minor smell. I use it for trimming up my plants so I can trim in the basement and stagger my harvest, the carbon filter would work better if you have the budget as it should kill any smell coming out of there.

 

[greg nr]

speaking of smell management, I cut down 4 plants yesterday and the whole house reaked. My wife called down from upstairs (I was in the basement) because the smell was so strong. Hours later, my son came home and said "harvest day?".

It was strong. Very strong. And it lasted quite a while. All I did was cut the branches off and put them on screens in the tent. Anyone coming to the door would have known.

Of course today my whole room scrubber arrived. Figures.

It's the harvest that will screw you.

 

[GroErr]

speaking of smell management, I cut down 4 plants yesterday and the whole house reaked. My wife called down from upstairs (I was in the basement) because the smell was so strong. Hours later, my son came home and said "harvest day?".

It was strong. Very strong. And it lasted quite a while. All I did was cut the branches off and put them on screens in the tent. Anyone coming to the door would have known.

Of course today my whole room scrubber arrived. Figures.

It's the harvest that will screw you.

Yeah I use Ona for that stage in the basement, even then the smell will be around for 24 hours. Once you start cutting/handling/trimming the smell will go right through the house. You of course don't smell it until you go outside for a few minutes, then come back in

 

[PippinTook]

Yeah that would be called passive air exchange, the 2 holes and a fan to circulate air should be fine in that space and for the lighting you have. With the lighting and wattage you have there's no need for exhaust and incoming inline fans. The ducted lights and all the other stuff is only needed if you're running hps/hid lighting which generates more heat. if you go to upgrade your lights later consider LED COB lighting as it will also keep things simple for air exchange and heat management

Now for smell management you should consider a carbon filter with an inline fan, you hadn't mentioned anything about the location and proximity to your neighbours. Once those plants get within a couple of weeks of harvest they'll stink up your house pretty good. I don't think there's enough there to worry about the smell going through to your neighbour but if you're in a townhouse that smell might become a problem. To run the carbon filter you'll need a 4" (or larger) inline fan and appropriately sized carbon filter which you'd install at the top hole (exhaust). The air going through the filter would remove any smell as it goes through the filter. For this grow, if you;'re not smelling a lot right now, maybe just grab some Ona gel and leave it outside the cabinet somewhere, it should pick up any minor smell. I use it for trimming up my plants so I can trim in the basement and stagger my harvest, the carbon filter would work better if you have the budget as it should kill any smell coming out of there.

That sounds good! Although I'm a bit confused. The tall plants are (at least I thought) close to being ready to harvest, and yes they smell but not nearly as strong as people here describe. I'm wondering if maybe they're just not that good or they're not near ready to be harvested. I've been trying to use the Trichome colour method and I'm looking for more amber than cloudy but it's quite hard for me to tell as I only have a weak jewellers loupe.

For example I've harvested one of my plants and they're busy curing. I had heard in a video about curing that when the plant's ends turn brown and die off (yet obviously the plant shows every other sign of being healthy) that the buds have used as much of the energy as the leaves could supply, which is a good thing. If you take a look at my latest photo of the growhouse, you can see the tall plant on farthest left shows the same signs (it's not super clear but you can see the dropping leaf-ends, they're also a bit brown). I took this as a sign that the plant is ready to harvest, even though I had not seen any very clear sign that the trichomes were more amber than cloudy. Now, they don't smell very much like cannabis when I open the mason jar, but more of a "green" smell if that makes sense. The day after putting the dried buds into the Mason jar they smelled very chemichally and I assumed this was the ammonia smell people talk about and I just left the jar open to dry the buds a bit more and now that smell is gone.

 

[GroErr]

That sounds good! Although I'm a bit confused. The tall plants are (at least I thought) close to being ready to harvest, and yes they smell but not nearly as strong as people here describe. I'm wondering if maybe they're just not that good or they're not near ready to be harvested. I've been trying to use the Trichome colour method and I'm looking for more amber than cloudy but it's quite hard for me to tell as I only have a weak jewellers loupe.

For example I've harvested one of my plants and they're busy curing. I had heard in a video about curing that when the plant's ends turn brown and die off (yet obviously the plant shows every other sign of being healthy) that the buds have used as much of the energy as the leaves could supply, which is a good thing. If you take a look at my latest photo of the growhouse, you can see the tall plant on farthest left shows the same signs (it's not super clear but you can see the dropping leaf-ends, they're also a bit brown). I took this as a sign that the plant is ready to harvest, even though I had not seen any very clear sign that the trichomes were more amber than cloudy. Now, they don't smell very much like cannabis when I open the mason jar, but more of a "green" smell if that makes sense. The day after putting the dried buds into the Mason jar they smelled very chemichally and I assumed this was the ammonia smell people talk about and I just left the jar open to dry the buds a bit more and now that smell is gone.

Yeah, smell will vary with strain and methods/lighting/environment so it's difficult to compare to other grows. Can't see how ripe those are, pics are kind of far away but generally you should let the white "hairs" around the buds turn brown/redish colour and recede/curl, then it's ready. If you pull early you'll affect the smell/ripeness as well. Drying them too fast (e.g. never blow a fan directly at them, have air moving in the room but not directly hitting them), or putting them into curing too late can also affect the end smell of the buds.

There are so many factors affecting smell. I thought I had great smelling plants, then I upgraded to LED COBs last year and every strain I had been running became super-loud, almost like new strains by just changing the lighting.

 

[PippinTook]

Here are close-up pictures of 3 of my girls:

I'm sorry for asking such a question but do you think they are ready to be harvested? I couldn't find ONE white pistil left on any of them, yet their trichomes are no amber. I've gotten so much different information and I don't know what to do :<

Edit: Sorry for such large photos, I forgot to size them down. Middle and bottom are my best ones. You can see the ends of the leaves dying like I mentioned in the top photo.

 

[GroErr]

Here are close-up pictures of 3 of my girls:

I'm sorry for asking such a question but do you think they are ready to be harvested? I couldn't find ONE white pistil left on any of them, yet their trichomes are no amber. I've gotten so much different information and I don't know what to do :<

Edit: Sorry for such large photos, I forgot to size them down. Middle and bottom are my best ones. You can see the ends of the leaves dying like I mentioned in the top photo.

Yeah they're pretty well done, hairs are mature and not seeing much clear, don't think you'll gain much leaving them much longer. Not all strains will show amber, as long as they're cloudy and the hairs are mature you're good to pull.

 

[mjinc]

Looks pretty close to harvest. Are the trichomes cloudy or clear?

 

[PippinTook]

Yeah they're pretty well done, hairs are mature and not seeing much clear, don't think you'll gain much leaving them much longer. Not all strains will show amber, as long as they're cloudy and the hairs are mature you're good to pull.

Looks pretty close to harvest. Are the trichomes cloudy or clear?

Trichomes definitely closer to cloudy than clear, I'll go ahead and harvest them tomorrow then. I'm trying to re-veg the plants and/or propagate cuttings. Do I just go back to 18/6 lighting in order to initiate the veg stage again?

 

[mjinc]

Trichomes definitely closer to cloudy than clear, I'll go ahead and harvest them tomorrow then. I'm trying to re-veg the plants and/or propagate cuttings. Do I just go back to 18/6 lighting in order to initiate the veg stage again?

Some plants trichomes don't go amber they just become cloudy so it's what I like to look for. When you see the vast majority are cloudy you can start to look to harvest, For reveg 18/6 should be fine

 

[PippinTook]

Some plants trichomes don't go amber they just become cloudy so it's what I like to look for. When you see the vast majority are cloudy you can start to look to harvest, For reveg 18/6 should be fine

Thanks! I'll be trying to propagate cuttings as well as I don't have access to any more seeds (although my first harvest somehow produced seeds where none of the others did, and they were all bunched together so its not like one could have been pollinated or whatever and the others not). But I don't know how to germinate fresh seeds just yet, but I do have around 10 or so. Will send an update later on today

Thanks to everyone who's contributed in this thread so far by the way, you guys rock <3

 

[coreywebster]

speaking of smell management, I cut down 4 plants yesterday and the whole house reaked. My wife called down from upstairs (I was in the basement) because the smell was so strong. Hours later, my son came home and said "harvest day?".

It was strong. Very strong. And it lasted quite a while. All I did was cut the branches off and put them on screens in the tent. Anyone coming to the door would have known.

Of course today my whole room scrubber arrived. Figures.

It's the harvest that will screw you.

First time I harvested my crops where I live now I pulled all my plants into the front room and spent all day trimming. The builder working over the road knocked on the door and laughed his head off but warned me. ever since I have made room in my tent to chop em. I turn my fan down so the air passes slower through the filter and there is no smell. But I have special clothes that I only wear on harvest day, cover my hair, slippers, ect, then I wont answer the door until I have had a long bath. The smell sticks to you like crazy, especially hair.
First grow ever was 21 years ago, before filters where common, it was an attic grow. When we chopped that down you could smell it for a mile literally. Then a police guy bought the house next door a few weeks later and that put an end to any repeat grows. Probably for the best, back then it was considered 100% jail time crime.
Carbon filters are an amazing invention ey!!