Serious Seventy Watts

I started growing indoors in 2006. That's also the last time I bought weed (thanks ICMag'ers for the education!). That's also the last time I posted information about my grows here, so I thought it was about time for an update.

Regarding the setup: The cab size is 12"x16"x24", the lamp is a 70W HPS, the cooling fan is a 120mm computer case fan. I tried various carbon scrubber designs, and a self-built can-style filter worked best.

So let's start with a picture of my first indoor grow:


As you can see, there's not too much room in my garden. Still, thanks to SCROG and LST, I've grown some nice buds in there.

My first 2007 grow was Nebula and SW4 from clones. Unfortunately I don't know which plant the photos are of.



Getting such good results, I thought that I'd try my hands at a mostly sativa. So my second grow in 2007 was Strawberry Cough from seeds, this time I decided to LST instead of SCROG. The plexiglass heatshield turned out to be quite useful:



Some bondage was involved:

This grow, I started using my current medium/fert setup: Coco with BN Bioroots, Canna Coco A+B, and bcuzz bloom stimulator.

In 2008 I finished growing this nice Wappa from Paradise Seeds:



My last two grows where Top44, and Bubblegum and Herijuana, both from clones. Unfortunatly, I have no pics of the grows, but I have some of the end result:


Top44, Herijuana, Bubblegum (from top to bottom).

I was still dissatisfied with some decisions I made during building this cabinet: the carbon filter was situated on top of the cabinet, taking away vertical space that my plants could be using! So I decided to build a new one, this time with an external carbon filter. I just finished (mostly) building it:


It still has a 70W HPS, now a 100mm computer case fan for ventilation, and a passive version of redgreenery's rubbermaid carbon scrubber design. This means that the carbon filter is now in a separate location, giving the cabinet some more vertical space. It's now 12"x16"x27".

To celebrate the occasion, I've put a Bubblegum and a G13xHash Plant clone in there.


I was obviously celebrating too much, as I promptly overwatered them. This is the G13xHash Plant:

It's drooping due to the overwatering.

This is the Bubblegum. It has very nice internode spacing. Also it quit drooping already! Even though my overwatering caused some leaf damage, it appears to be recovering faster than the G13xHashplant.


Now that the past is documented, I'm looking forward to the future! I'll keep this thread updated with news on the BG/G13xHP.

Can't wait!

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maybe i missed it.
but how much weight do you pull from there?

Very clean looking. I love the 70w hps grows. K+

Nice job man. Looking forward to the grow show. I cant wait to give HID a try myself. But so far the CFL's have treated me well. Good luck, peace.

Nice grow

Serious, how much is your average yield? Good job!!

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by, and for the kind words

jonkanoo: You mean to turn the light by 90°? I'll check out the club, thanks for the heads up.

og kush and slowandeasy: I don't have precise scales, so I never bothered to weigh my harvest. I want to document this grow better than my previous ones, so I'll do it this time!

virago420: Thanks for bringing up CFLs, I forgot to mention this in my main post: According to my notes (stoner memory...), the Wappa in the post was grown with a 125W CFL like this: http://www.envirolites.co.uk/reflectors.html. It runs much cooler than the HPS, which is a big plus for stealthy cabs. On the negative side, this particular CFL only fit into my cab diagonally, and then only barely. So I think if I found a nice fixture and some nice smaller CFLs I would give them a go again!

SeriousNerd said:

jonkanoo: You mean to turn the light by 90°? I'll check out the club, thanks for the heads up.

Click to expand...

Your cab appears to be square. Rectangular cabs benefit from particular bulb orientation more than square ones do. You might benefit from a diagonal mount but it's up to you. With a square footprint, you could hang the lamp vertical with no reflector and put plants all around the bulb. IMO, the scrog screen will get you as much bud as a vert setup anyway. The reflector increases lux, so I read.

You're really a crafty grower, Serious. The buds and pics look great. I really like the way you designed the box in a box setup. With the scrog, I bet 2 ounces or more is a go.

I'm building a 70wHPS cab that has pretty much the same dimensions!!! I've never grown in it before but it sure would be cool to combine forces and share info.

BTW I started the 70wHPS club and I noticed someone in here told you to stop by and check it out. I hope to get it as large as the 150wHPS club, but who knows.... that thing is massive!

good luck with the grows and I'll be checking back for more updates!!!!!

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Hi DiscoBiscuit, hi Mk3Jetta, thanks for posting

Regarding light placement: Thanks for the clarification DiscoBiscuit! My cab is indeed nearly square, but I'll think about rearranging the light. It can't hurt to squeeze out that last bit of efficiency!

In any case, I have been thinking that if I get heat troubles during this grow, I may try hanging a CFL like the one I've posted before vertically (like DB suggested). But one thing after the other...

I must admit I'm a bit embarrassed - the two girls haven't really bounced back from the overwatering I gave them yet. There is some nice secondary growth on the G13xHP, and also the BG is growing a bit.

The younger leaves look OK (some signs of deficiencies though?!) on the BG, but some of the older ones are dying off:


That's the (tied down) G13xHP:



The coco is still quite wet. The overwatering I gave them was ~4 days ago, using plain PH'd water. I gave them a small feeding yesterday. My plan is to feed them 12 hours from now with 1.5+1.5ml Coco A+B per 1l at PH 5.8-6.0. Hopefully that'll get this show started!

Of course I'd appreciate any comments, criticisms and .

Now I'm off for a smoke - I've been enjoying the Herijuana recently

Straight coco? I hear you can mix that stuff with perlite and it'll drain better. Just a thought.

HOw often are you feeding them??? I've heard you should only probably go every 2 or 3 feedings. They kinda look nute burned to me....

No matter how much you water or fert... its not going to speed up the plant. Seriously lay off the water and nutes because your plants look like they're suffering from nute burn/over water. Try using some perlite mixing in with you coco. Plants don't like tough soil, and coco gets like peatmoss... holds alot of moisture and gets compacted. But some nice looking plants above.

yowza, i hope you didnt pay too much for those clones. i dont think theyre gonna make it. seriously overwatered, check, ph off, check, magdef, check, nitroge def, check.

i suggest you leave those plants alone and dont water anymore till the pots dry all the way out. i mean like a strong breeze can tip em over dry. thats the only option you have here. anymore watering will just prolong the issues. after they are dry water em with a light solution of nutes. and CHECK THE PH OF THE RUNOFF WATER FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE POTS. i say that in caps because people always go on about how they ph the water going in but never say the runoff ph then they wonder why their plants are dying. anyway thats my advice. take it or leave it.

If you let the dirt get completely dry, the plant will suck moisture from the fans and they'll die. I agree you need to let it dry out more between watering/feeding.

they would have to be seriously dry before the fan leaves get used up. like i mean the roots will have had to have died and dried out before that. if you let the pot get all the way dry before you water again the plant will be limp and droopy but it will recover.

Thanks for the advice, everybody! The suggesting of mixing perlite into the coco I will take up for sure, it seems like a great way to make the coco more airy. I am using straight coco at the moment, and it really gets very compact after a while.

Something I have not mentioned yet: The clones were rooted in rockwool, and I buried the rockwool in the coco. I don't know if there's another way to do it, but it seems like it might play a role with the overwatering issue - I would guess that rockwool is more prone to overwatering than coco.

I agree with letting the plants dry out completely before watering them again. Like I said in some previous post, I gave the BG a slight feeding because of the deficiencies I saw, and since then the girls have been fending on their own. I do hope they'll make it!

Regarding letting coco dry out in general: The hand watering coco thread mentions in the first post not to do it, and to water often. But it may be that this only applies to plants with a more developed root system (I overwatered my girls at the first watering after planting the clones).

Anyways, I screwed up - so thanks for pointing it out and giving helpful suggestions. I hope I'll have some nice buds to show you eventually for your efforts!