most economical setup

[growinggold]

hello all,

 

long time tinker here. anyways the time has come to fire up the shed again after laying closed since Oct. with the prices they way they're I am after any way to to keep costs down. can't think of much but here we are. 

 

plan is to do 3/4 autos in my 80*80 small 6l pots with tropf blumat. light on 24/7 to try keep temps up as much as possible n stable set at 100w to start. I have heat mat at the bottom set at 26c n two tube heaters around perimeter base on blue ink bird set at 24c. think these temps to much? could I get away with bringing down a little? I'm not so sure..

 

Carbon fan is on 24/7 no fucking about with that. monkey circulation fan is also on 24/7 so no fucking with that too. 

 

one thing I thought I could put in half the time is the circulation pump in my water resi for the blumats. could I put this on old school segment time and run it every other segment? or once an hour? does this need to be on 24/7 like I've done in the past? might offer me few p savings? 

 

any other ideas welcome. thanks..

 

GG

 

[Openairbud]

Hi mate I have my root thermostat set at 23c, plants are fine with that. Only other thing Im doing personally is flowering on an 11/13 cycle. Doesn't apply to you tho running autos. Once temps do rise a bit you could introduce a dark period? 20/4 maybe. All I've got sorry

[MindSoup]

As far as grams of resin per KWH goes I'd imagine a high yielding fast finishing indica photo would be more economical than auto's. A lower wattage heater will put out more heat per kWh than a light would, so the dark period would be cheaper than running the light. 24hrs light over 8-10 weeks is probably more electric than 18hrs for 4 weeks and 12 for 8-10. 

 

Can't remember who it was but someone did a fast diesel diary in RGSCs section and they got a brilliant yield in a very short time frame. Also seem Wappa from Paradise yield big in a short time and it's supposed to be a lovely smoke. 

 

I'd keep your extraction off for the first week or 2 as well, as long as you open the door every day you'll likely have enough air exchange for young plants. Once they're bigger pull air from the bottom of the tent until the weather warms up further at which point you might even get away with running lights on at night and not running a heater for lights off.  

 

 

E2A it was @Phoenix nice diary.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by MindSoup

[KC]

I'd say go for photos too, just so when they're flowering in the middle of summer you can have all the heating devices off during the day/lights off. If you start germinating now you could get a 6 week veg in before the start of June.

 

Hope you have a plentiful harvest whichever way you go mate 

[Slippy One]

Cheapest way to grow is outdoors near a stream. 

[purepotstill]

You have way more experience than me, but isn't 26°C a bit hot for the heat mat ? I set mine to 24°C, like most of members here. 6L pots won't have a lot of inertia, so I'd wrap them with some bubble wrap to limit thermal losses.

[Gumbo]

  Plants don't smell much until flowering  so if you have an un - overlooked spot you could veg photos for free in the sun over the summer until they are 2 weeks (ish) into flowering and then whack them under lights in shed with no fear of low temps  for 6 weeks or so.

 

  Failing that ,there is something called the 'Gas Lantern Routine' which ,it is claimed, can reduce your costs by 50%.It's for photos and is worth looking  up and is totally under utilised at the moment it seems.

 

Veg cycle is 12 hours on ,5.5 hours off,1hr on ,5.5 off .Flowering cycle is weeks 1&2 : 11hrs on 13 off .Weeks3&4 : 10.5 on 13.5 off. Weeks 5&6 10 on 14 off .weeks 7 & 8 : 9.5 on 14.5 off and the last weeks 9 hours on 15 hours off .Full disclosure, I've not tried it myself yet but apparently it even cuts down on veg time needed.

 

My only other concern is how hot it can get in a shed ,especially during a heatwave.

 

Good luck with the grow 

Gumbo.

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Gumbo
missed a bit out .needed to add

[stu914]

Starting the grow outside then moving into the shed there will be a high possibilty you will import all sorts of nasty bugs indoors,

not worth the risk imo.

[Gumbo]

16 hours ago, stu914 said:

Starting the grow outside then moving into the shed there will be a high possibilty you will import all sorts of nasty bugs indoors,

not worth the risk imo.

 True but the only 1 that really scares is The Borg and it's possible  some bio control from Dragonfli or whoever else folks use would sort that, although you'd have to be really careful as they are not for outside use being non native species.

 

I agree it's not a perfect solution at all, but does speak to reducing costs a lot. Would love to know if anyone has any practical experience with the Gas Lantern Routine too

 

Edited this to add that I have grown outside all Summer and moved into an indoor tent a few times with great results and no pest problems over the last decade although I agree it's a pest lottery,and also re-vegged outside for free.

 

Gumbo.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Gumbo
added a bit

[MindSoup]

21 hours ago, stu914 said:

Starting the grow outside then moving into the shed there will be a high possibilty you will import all sorts of nasty bugs indoors,

not worth the risk imo.

 

You could just give them a preventative treatment with Harkers or whatever as you bring them in. 

[Wacky Wardrobe]

11 hours ago, MindSoup said:

You could just give them a preventative treatment with Harkers or whatever as you bring them in. 

I think I would do this as a matter of course if I did this again.

First time I did it I bought in a few creepy crawlies but nothing too bad. (In fact I became quite attached :-)  )

Took in a cut from outside another time and battled the borg for a couple of grows.

Harkers to the rescue!

Edited April 17, 2023 by Wacky Wardrobe

[Flamedodger]

I built a new grow space in my shed. If economy/efficiency is what you’re after, I have only one bit of advice……insulate!

My flower space is so well insulated, I shall be removing the LED drivers from the flower cab on my next run. I grew through the cold spell this winter and chucked the dehumidifier in there for better humidity control and was battling high temps for a while, it chucks out quite a bit of heat, uses - 130w when the compressor is working, but I had no other heating used. It cost me about £300 to build, most of that was the insulation as I reused a lot of wood from some jobs I’d worked on 

[stu914]

1 hour ago, Flamedodger said:

I have only one bit of advice……insulate!

 

Seconded...mine is the same, insulated all round makes controlling the environment a lot easier and muffles noise in the bargain...

[growinggold]

hello all.

 

thanks for advice.  I've opted to change nothing. ha. my spaces is insulated and well sealed but I still get drops at night that's why I've opted to go autos and leave lights on 24/7 so space isnt driven so hard when lights go off for photos. this little run down my temps atm. you can see when I got space ready on 14th an the difference it has made turning things on preparing the space.

 

 

I've also put a heat mat on now.not ideal I want to keep this off but needs must. I have tubes top n bottom. thanks again.

 

[Michael Luchóg]

The 24/7 auto route might be more economical during winter, with a small HPS or CMH bulb instead of a heater and alongside the LED. In summer, or for four to five months of the year you'd get away with no heating and could grow photoperiod plants. You could root a few cuts from some plants grown or started outside too. Root drench for the soil and tough miticide for the foliage.