Dual Areoponic Cabinet, Ceramic Metal Halide

[cruzer101]

nice man. badass set up u got going on. im actualy going to pick up 1 of those cabinets this weekend for my hydro chamber. i got 1 now but its not big enough. good ideas

Hi Foolieo,

My first cab was 36 by 18.
After starting this grow and getting used to the size I look in the old one and think: I grew all that in this? lol

Thanks for stoppin by.
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[Earl]

Keep your nutes warm.
If they get below 59º they may need to be re-constituted.

 

[cruzer101]

Keep your nutes warm.
If they get below 59º they may need to be re-constituted.

So by keeping the temp between 62° and 68° I am ok then.
Thanks.

re-constituted would just mean to top off right? Or do you mean a full change.
​

 

[cruzer101]

7-26-09

Temps 89 res 66°
Ph 5.9
ppm 380

This week I went through about half gallon of water. I havent added any water this week. First week was nothing.
Now I think I got it right. I believe my problem was vegging with this light. I am used to floros and LEDs so the light
was too close. Now it looks good.

I have to re think this screen thing.
This time around I got those plugs in there and if they breakdown I get clogged sprinklers I am pretty much fucked.
But if I don't screen I can get in there and replace or clean the sprinkler.

So this first run will be without a screen. Once I am in the collars with clones I will scrog. OK, I am at about
5 nodes on average. I got an even height on the train wreck, the widows are a bit shorter.

Pics,

Well I guess it is time I position them where they will flower out out.
I got the drains in the back so the shortest root system went there on the right and nothing in the left site.

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[cruzer101]

I am trying to figure out when to flip to 12/12 in this system.

They are about seven inches tall and I have 36 inches to the bottom of the light when it is all the way up.
I could remove the reflector and train the top colas around the light for an additional 6 inches or so.

Stretching, In previous grows i saw about 25% overall height increase during that time. Is it the same for aeroponics?

From what I understand aeroponics grow 30% faster but I am sure the amount of time needed for flower
will remain the same. When do I flip to 12/12 with 3 feet of space?

I am thinking it is pretty soon.
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[cruzer101]

After consideration I have decided not to go with the traditional
mother/clone/flower setup.

I think it would be a waste of space.
Besides this is a Dual Cabinet Aeroponics grow right?
So we will have two flower areas.

This way I can compare yeilds with different lighting.
Cab one will be the CMH Cab 2 will be T5 LED. Or whatever I want to compare.

I like this much better then using cab 2 for mothers and clones.
Getting a harvest every month isn't bad either.

OK time to get cab #2 ready.

.
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[Earl]

Here is what I have observed.

If you flip the light cycle early
the plant will grow to 11 or 13 nodes before it starts to flower.

Some plants will be quite small with 13 nodes
and the side branches will be underdeveloped

I think you would like a Timewarp strain.

 

[cruzer101]

Thanks for the input Earl.
I took a look at the timewarp N5 strain and it looks real good.

I am assuming when you say early flower thats where I am now. Well that throws a wrench in my perpetual grow plan. Hum...

So I guess I should top the TW now leave the widow alone and wait another week to flower.

.
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[wyteberrywidow]

I like your idea for your harvest every month.I might have to build another flower box that i will use a 250 mh in.I was thinking of flowering with a mh to see how yeild is and to see if its worth it compared to a hps.

 

[cutman]

Either way it seem that time wise and grow wise you have 24-27 inches till they hit lights. in flower 3-4 weeks of hight grow. so im thinking you ll right at the lights.Topping will slow it a bit, but still that growth will still happen. That second grow i had a hight problem. little bend here and pull there and it worked. But one things for sure were going to find out. I think you should top. Hey whats the worst that could happen you get to colas awww bummer lol

 

[jeebuscheebus]

Dam dude, I thought I was a night owl.
I know what you mean. When I smoke out my friends I will pull out something I haven't smoked in a while so I get the buzz too.

When I smoke the same weed for 3 or 4 days I don't get the same high so I change to another strain and get a better buzz.
I don't know if it will work for you but it works for me.
​

I enjoy mixing a few types into the same jay. I'm intolerant for weed tolerance.

 

[cruzer101]

I like your idea for your harvest every month.I might have to build another flower box that i will use a 250 mh in.I was thinking of flowering with a mh to see how yeild is and to see if its worth it compared to a hps.

That sounds good but I just want to let you know this is not a regular Metal Halide bulb. This is a new bulb by Phillips
that came out this year. Its a Ceramic Metal Halide bulb that is powered with a HPS ballast.
It covers a much broader spectrum than a standard MH.

If you flower with a standard MH then I would say get a temp of around 3000k

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[cruzer101]

Either way it seem that time wise and grow wise you have 24-27 inches till they hit lights. in flower 3-4 weeks of hight grow. so im thinking you ll right at the lights.Topping will slow it a bit, but still that growth will still happen. That second grow i had a hight problem. little bend here and pull there and it worked. But one things for sure were going to find out. I think you should top. Hey whats the worst that could happen you get to colas awww bummer lol

Yea, I think you are right. I am just going to top the larger plants that are taking off right now to slow them down a bit
so the others can catch up. Well and get more colas.

I put the big ones in the front and plan on topping and bending them to the back as they grow.
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[cruzer101]

7-26-09
Temps 87 res 68°
Ph 6.0
PPMs 360

The plants are doing great. I got another inch of growth.
They are using the nutrients correctly so I decided to use the water for another week.
I mixed one gallon with nutes and added it.
Now I am at 420 PPM and 5.7 Ph same mix flora grow, additive and cal mag..

I did a little work on cab #2 today to get ready for clones.

Here is a shot of what I started with..

I cut the wall out level with the shelf and boxed off the coils with foil back insulation,
I wedged pieces in there and used screws to secure them.
Duct tape just doesn't hold up in the heat.

Then I did the inside.
I needed to vent the compressor so I drilled a 4 inch hole upper right and a two inch hole lower left.
I don't think it needs a fan but if so I will get one.

Mounted the thermostat and built a false wall in front of the compressor and sealed it off.

Now I have an area for clones and a second flower res for this cab. The racks are for timers and tools.
Tomorrow I will wire up the fans and install the light. My back is getting to me.
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[cruzer101]

I enjoy mixing a few types into the same jay. I'm intolerant for weed tolerance.

Yea, I make a salad too sometimes, my friends give me shit about it. They say it is all good. I find I get a better buzz when I stick to one strain or another though.

Thanks for stoppin by.

 

[potpimp]

Very nice job Cruiser!! Subscribed.

 

[cruzer101]

Very nice job Cruiser!! Subscribed.

Hey Pimp,

Good to see you stop by.

Thanks.

 

[cruzer101]

07-27-09

Temps 84 res 68°
pH 5.9 PPMs 380


looks like another inch in growth. The Widow is starting to perk up.
Something worth mentioning, I have almost zero evaporation in this system. in the last ten days I have only
added 2 gallons of water and the last one had nutes in it. The ppms have dropped a bit or stayed the same.
So I feel like I got it dialed in. For now anyway, they are going fast.

Working on the area for the clones. I put a thermostat in there and the in temp was 83°
Thats OK cause Im just going to run Leds but I was going to draw air from behind the cab to cool it
and possibly veg there too. Well the temp was now like 95 behind the cabinet from the compressor vents.

So, change of plans. it looks like we got a heater in the winter for a cloneing area.
Once they sprout They will go to a veg area. l will make a low ryder bubbler as a veg system under the aero system. I got 20" in height there and lot's of width. Here is the new plan.

I got the new Camera today I am working on the super macro still. Check out these pics,
The girls havin fun in the sun.

.
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[Earl]

I think you could run that air cooled CMH at the closer end of the chart.

 

[cutman]

witch is better mh bulb or hps bulb? nice chart earl. nice green cruz. havent done any thing yet but will soon. just to let you know cruz. and i will let you know day of. grow good stay cool talk at ya soon.