Hi guys and Gals .....

Ok so i am finally back on track after my first grow in soil growing NL and i got bout an ounce or just over of the 1 plant ... but it was the best smoke i have ever had!! Anyway i spent some hard earned dosh and bout 2 days of my time to create "The Grow Box" Ok i think its pretty good considering i aint the DIY type .. and my clever use of Velcro (not cheap) !! Anyway measurements are
1.4 M tall , 0.9 M wide and 0.75 M deep. I will be using an NFT 205 tnk this time and had a TD250 extraction fan , 400 watt HPS and all standard equipment. Have 6 Dutch Passion : Mazar (feminised) on the soak and beginin to emerge . Bought a heated propergator for seedling and for germination .! And in a sec will post some nice pics i took for u ... enjoy.


P.S. I tested the temp in room after an hour of running and it was 38.9 .. not sure what to do tbh .. have a look and tell me what u think.

And now with Velcro door half open ..

Extracted air into loft above....

My fan , ballast, timers and wiring ....

Up top inside u can see my extraction (carbon filter when needed) .. and my 400 watt HPS .....

Down bottom we can see my sockets for water pump and fan .. i ran the cable tho air inlet (2 birds with 1 stone) .. and i tested it .. it is light proof .......

And finally .. the intake from outside ....




Ok cant wait to here whats ya'all think ya hear !! .. still worried bout the high temps tho ...


Cheers,

Melchiah

Looks like a tidy set-up dude ....

Temps may be high because of your intake which I presume is passive?

Get another fan for intake if you have'nt already, you'll see your temps drop then .....

RAZ

Hiya Raz .. cheers for that .. do u think it will work with another passive vent or do i really need another fan on it?


Cheers,
Melchiah

Just a thought - when you measured the temperature in the room, was your thermometer in direct light from your lamp? Apologies if you know already, but you need to shade the thermometer or it will read too high.
Otherwise, I agree with Raz, the answer has to be more airflow - if your intake is passive it needs to be about five times the size of your extraction vent.

Edited to add, a nice looking growspace anyway mate

I reckon in that space a 400 is too much.If its that temps now think about 80degrees in the summer
Either get another fan in or look to put a 250 in

Hi guys thanks for the advice .. i just went and bought an inline fan from Focus ... and attached it onto outside end of intake ... didnt know bout shading the thermometer .. but unshaded with new fan and temp is 34'C !!

Also all 6 seeds germed fine and have been put into 1 inch rockwools soaked in 5.6ph water for 24 hours and are now in my heated prop with 2 fluros overhead !!

Some pics below ....

Cheers,
Melchiah


This is the new fan ......

And this is my seeds on the go ....

Hi melchiah_klan

Looking forward to seeing your room in action.

I find my room runs far hotter when empty than at any other time, the green matter absorbs a fair amount of temp. However having said that i would think 34 at the coldest time of year is a serious concern. But if you are drawing in from inside the house you get fairly steady temps year round. But steady high is no good really.

If you run too hot you will get less growth, negating the benefit of the higher power lamp. My 2p worth.

Tricky

Be interesting to see how it runs. Good luck with it

Cheers for the support loveweed .. i was thinkin the same myslef .. bout the room being empty and plants absorbing some of the heat .. only time will tell on that 1 ..... stay tuned for updates guys

Cheers,

Melchiah

Lovely looking setup MK .

....but I have to agree with Owderb... If your temps are this high now you will be in trouble later in the year.

Looking at the sq m you are covering - I would have though 250 would give you adequate coverage and be easier to manage temp-wise.




Laz

Update: Not looking good guys .. still waiting on the suckers to emerger from rockwool .. almost 2 day now under constant light and in progator nice and moist .. dont get it .. nvr took this long b4 !! Fingers crossed anyway

Cheers,

Melchiah

Patience grasshopper....


different strains may germiate slower than others


Laz

what loveweed says is true ,my room runs cooler the more vegitation there is in there coz the plants cool the room down by transpiration.this is not an ideal situation though coz your using the water in the plants to cool the room like sweat cools your skin..and just like the human body there is a limit to what the plants will do for you.
in extreme cases the plants get pissd off and will try to reduce the width of the leaves to slow the transpiration by reducing their surface area,then you are in trouble.

do your best to get the room to run at a good temperature before you put the plants in ...having said that i cant with mine and when the cuttings first go in i have temperature problems for the first week, after which things calm down to an acceptable level.

good luck

cf

Hi again guys .....


Update .. a few weeks on and i ended up plating 3 in soil in small 1 inch plastic pot thingies .. then i have tapped them out and transplanted them into 3 inch rockwools (so the whole in middle of rockwool acts as a pot for the soil) they are on 3rd set of real leaves and are bout 5 inches tall!!

Problem .... i added a fan to intake but am still running a temp of bout 34'C which is no good ... if i upgrade to a TD250 do u guys think it will reduce the heat enough while still using the 400watt HPS? Dimension are at the start of the thread guys .. tell me what u think !!

Ciao for now and cheers,

Melchiah

Hi Melchiah,

With the size of the room you have I would spend the money on a 250 watt lamp instead of a fan.
With 1.4 metres of head room a 400 watter will need 18"/450 mm clearence between lamp and plant canopy.
For a bit more stealth you could also hang the fan from a bungee elastic instead of string and you'll notice it will be quieter.

You've done a very nice job,

Bu

Cheers BU .... good thinking bout the clearance .. meaning more height =more buds .... now i can buy a 250watt bulb and ballast and use my existing hood and wiring .. but where can i get these items on the cheap ?

Anyone got a 2nd hand 250 watt light setup for sale?

Cheers,

Melchiah

Hi again melchiah_klan

I was just having another quick nose at your space again and noticed you do not use a carbon filter. In a space of your size it is not always neccesary. However I was wondering if you live in a terrace. I only mention it because even a small grow can get pretty stinky and if evacuated into a "shared" attic space can be troublesome. If your detached i would obviously not give it a second thought.

good to see things moving on.

good luck mate.

I live in a terrace m8 ... i have a carbon filter .. but wnt bother using it till i need it !! Cheers for the concern !

Melchiah

yes this is in fact it ...isn't it?

It is notriously difficult to manage small recently arrived ladies in hot conditions. End of story....... It will cool marginally through additional plants but you have to get there first! After the years i have been growing it remains one of my personal great challenges to manage very young veg plants well in terms of heat and humidity. They react so dramatically to small changes.

Small delicate ladies cannot go into those temps. Unless temps get lower you might have to get some good root growth through fluros for some while until they can make the jump to the higher temps and even then they will be shocked by it if you are not careful.

The only additional comment i would add is that it is mostly humidity rather than temp they hate. As they try to adjust internally to the humidity around them. If its low they wilt from the effort of transpiration. If they are in high temps the damage can be mitigated a little by raising humidity. Still not ideal though.


We seem to be obsessing about your temps...but i think that shows its a real issue to get past. I would comment on this by cheese farmer:

"do your best to get the room to run at a good temperature before you put the plants in ...having said that i cant with mine and when the cuttings first go in i have temperature problems for the first week, after which things calm down to an acceptable level."

Mr Cheese ...me too mate!! It shows this is always an issue even in rooms that normally run cooler.

hope i'm not rambling in your thread.

again good luck

Yo loveweed ,

Looks like it will have to be a 250 watter when i get paid nxt monday


Cheers,

Melchiah

I wish i had one to lend you melchiah_klan

its easy to ramble on and on about what works best but much of growing for me has been about bumbling on with what you have. Spending hard earned cash on new things always goes against the grain for me (i'm a card carrying tight ass).

Hopefully the N.L will taste all the sweeter for the additional work. looking forward to the pics of the ladies as we get into the main show.

hiya again loveweed,

I am the same m8 ... hard earned cash goes out but nothing ever seems to come in !!! :O ... All i need is a 250watt bulb and ballast but it turns out cheaper to buy a 250watt set !!! How stupid?

Anyhowz guys .. update time

Just put them into my nft tank and they still under fluoros ... and then under 250watter as soon as i get it !!


Cheers,

Melchiah

had the same the same problem in my grow room dude. using a 250w sodium, gives far too much heat of for a small grow especialy when air temp is 25+. The best soloution is to buy a cool enviro light which gives off so much less heat the plants can preety much grow on the bulb and not burn. I found that my plants were able to adapt to the heat and even today when the outside temp is low (in oxford) the inside temp is 30 has been 39. My gow room has a largeish fan in it conrolled by a thermostat and a hydrostat but the fan runs continusally because the temp is above the ideal "24". ive ducted the fan suction direct to the light and used a £6 clip on fan from b&q to blow the heated air from light directly into fan suction. i found this dropped the grow temp by 5 celcius. by usind nft hrdro the plants are never under watered no risk of drying out . my plants are going balistic i got hem as 1" clones and 16 days later some are over foot tall! So i didn't change the light. you will find the seedlings are a lot more delicate so keep the light 2 foot away ant use another small cheap fan to gently blow over them. you want your fresh air inlet as low as possible because heat collects at the highest point so the lower the cooler. if you don't duct the fan suction as above you want you suction to be as high as poss to remove the heat collected at the top of your grow room. If your able to place the fan that blows over your plants close to your fresh air inlet so the back of the fan draw's in coller fresh air. All these are practical tips that don't cost that much but make a difference hope this is use full peace out clokey

deffinatly seems like it's worth a try. Most of the time high temps can be sorted out by looking not just at you're air inputs and extraction but also by how air flows around the room.

Ben