Notes from Underground - 250 watt scrog cabinet

Warning all these grow diaries are incomplete because I am a lazy asshole. I hope you enjoy the thread anyway

Index

Papaya - first grow, harvest pics only

Ice - Indoor pics before they were taken outdoors where they died from no water, failed attempt at cloning, no outdoor pics

Jock Horror

Drawings of my scrubber and hood construction

Bubblicious, a nice and full screen but I skip out on the harvest pics

My just for shits and giggles schwag bagseed cfl grow

Click to expand...

I got a camera today

Its a canon a610, I paid $250. I decided on it after seeing the macros at http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A610/A610A.HTM . You should check out the test images on that site if you are shopping for a camera. So far I am pleased, I was able to get it to work under linux (after some hassle) and I think it takes a good macro shot. :jawdrop:

This is a papaya bud cut a bit early and dried for a few days. That was my first try at a macro, I know you guys can help me improve on lighting and camera settings. I set the camera and the bud on a table, set the camera to a small aperature (high f-stop) and manual focus. Lighting was light from a window and a cfl lamp. If you have tips for taking macro shots, please share them with me

Where I am from you can only get mexican schwag, well you can get decent buds too but the price is way too high. Some schwag is OK, and more than worth the 40$ and ounce you pay, on the other hand some schwag SUCKS. I have only had good cannabis once before :sad: it was when I met a guy on the disc golf course who smoked some tasty buds with me. He actually knew what the strain was when I asked it was KC33 and Jack Herrer Luckily for me he sold me a quarter oz at a decent price. The sack didn't last very long but the memory of it haunted me for years while i smoked dirt schwag

I had been reading OG very religously since university a few years ago but never really had a chance to grow. About 5 months ago I realized that I had the resources, the time, and the space to actually make my dream of growing come true. So I got off my ass and found and old dresser, made many trips to home depot and lowes, and spent many hours in the garage with a saw and a measuring tape. I made one order from an online hydro store and one order to seedsboutique.

Here is what I ended up with.

Equipment:
converted dresser 18"x29"x48" LxWxH interior painted white
"270" watt hps agro bulb
cheapo sola 250 watt ballast
4" elicient centrifugal fan with speed control
Homemade cool hood
Homemade can style carbon filter 4" core 6" exterior 10" long




The light hood is made out of aluminum flashing and two panes of glass. The hood is prism shaped, this design allows light to shine out a full 180 degrees.

The carbon filter was made roughly according to directions by sunisshinging on OG. I saved alot of money by making parts out of coffee cans and plastic bottles instead of buying ducting parts. I hope to document my method, I am very proud of how it came together. But sadly I made it too small, at its current size it only holds about 1.75 liters of carbon. It worked fine until late flowering when it was over powered by my stinky strain, still the smell is only noticeable when the lights are on. I am going to make a new filter with a 10" exterior (popcorn tin) and a 6" inner core(big coffee can). The new one will hold 4 or five times more carbon than my current one.

Ventilation scheme: filtered passive intake > grow area > carbon filter > fan > hood > ballast box > exhaust. I am going to disconnect the ballast box from the ducting to improve airflow.


Technique: Dished scrog.

I have a screen which is dished in a near perfect half circle around the light. Light shines out of my hood 180 degrees and the half circle of screen catches it all. This is better than a flat scrog for a few reasons in my opinion. It gives you much more screen area to work with a flat screen in my space would be 3.6 square feet, with it dished there is 5.6 sq feet! But this design is really supposed to maximize light effeciency, theoretically all points on the screen should be getting the same amounf of light because the light radiates out of the bulb in a circle.

With a conventional reflector hood more than half of the light travels from the bulb, up to the reflector and back out through the glass, not very effecient. WIth my hood half of the light just goes straight from bulb, throough glass, and to the plant. In short, instead of using a reflector to bend the light to shine on a flat screen we bend the screen to soak up all the light from the bulb.

First grow: nirvana papaya

No major screw-ups

THough I should have vegged longer and stopped training earlier. Still I am happy with the yield

I am using cheap soil and perlite in a 50/50 mix and I am watering with GH hydro nutes in the Lucas formula.

4 NRS papaya from seed. Germed all 10 in a pack, 9 sprouted, 1 died before first leaves, 4 males, which leaves 4 females. all showed sex after about 30 days.

4 phenos,
2 with similar dense branching, less stretch, small, numerous buds. one "fruity" smell one "coconut" smell
1 more stretchy, big fat buds, lemony smell, this is the keeper IMO, it matured just a bit faster than the rest. early harvested tester buds had a good high.
1 least stretchy, less resin, slower maturation, didn't like my scrogging

vegged for 38 days.

flowered for 69 days










did i mention ITS TIME TO HARVEST!

stay tuned

omg! Very nice setup you got there DUDE !!! awesome !! buds look very tasty!!! yummy!

i like that dresse idea, ive been wanting to do something just like that after seeing it on OG before, what do you think the dried weight will be?

Very very cool SCROG/Light arrangement you've got going, looks perfectly dialed in for each other!

I was literally up all night trimming. wow, now i understand how much work it is.

thanks for the kind words hgl

HeresTheDank, Its hard for me to estimate and I don't think I will have access to a scale anytime soon but I'd say about 120 grams. Someone speak up if that looks like more or less than that. I will believe whoever thinks it weighs the heaviest

Converting the dresser was fun. I solved the door problem by putting it on wheels and making the back detachable by unscrewing some bolts instead of making a hinged door.

NiteTiger, thanks. I will be following your threads

Here are the fruits of my labor











What do I do with the trim? I am thinking some sort of solvent extraction. Or is there a poor mans ice/bubble hash method?

thats impressive i like the half moon scrog thing you got going on killer concept and greeat excecution. looks like a descent harvest...

good work with the scrog. got any hash plans for the leftovers in the disc?

Swerve, thanks I think you will pull off a decent harvest with your scrog too.

onthatlevel, I need suggestions about what to do with that. I don't know. my preference would be for some kind of mechanical trichome extraction, but making some kind of oil sounds good too.

I know there is quite a lot of trichs in the trim, but there isn't a whole bunch of trim overall.

should I dry it out in the cabinet? or do something else? what does everyone think?

i see you play disc golf. me too man. nice setup. im thinking about buying a good cam for macros. ill look that canon up. peace and aces to you.

Last few weeks have been too cold and wet to go out and play I can't wait to take my new camera out there.

I love being outside tossing that disc and smoking that herb at my course there are many old wooden wire spools set up as tables every few holes with log stools. Since all disc golfers carry a sharpy to mark discs those tabletops are a bustling marketplace of art and ideas. lol

I am not used to this bud yet, I usually toss a wormburner off the tee after smoking it.

i just cant wait til summer is here to play every day

great set up UM. and an amazing first grow to boot. this is the first dish set up i've seen before, and i'm very intrigued...might have to give it a try....
thanks for sharing!

Thanks msdtds, your scrog grows have me drooling and I felt like I saw God

I had seen similar grows on OG. I think it is the logical conclusion of the scrog concept of bending the plant to fit the light. I am also interested in vertical scrogging, which is kind of like miniature collesium growing. The bulb is hung vertically in a tube of screen. The plant is trained around the screen in a spiral pattern. No losses from using a reflector that way. My setup is kind of halfway between v-scrogging and conventional flat scrogging. I am a nerd for light effeciency.

Things I should have done differently

Things I should have done differently

Veg longer - there are lots of empty holes in the screen i think that even 10 more days would have made a huge difference in yield.

Top or fim - I think this would have filled out the screen better.

Stop training much earlier - I trained the plants under the screen for more than 2 weeks after the flip to 12/12. I should have stopped after about 1.5 weeks and let them grow a bit closer to the light. I was kind of afraid to let the buds get to tall because my light is not adjustable. I will make it adjustable so I can have a safety net for flower stretch.

Put cuts in the fridge - for later cloning. but thats ok, I have three more nirvana strains to try.

That is a totally fricken kool ass set up dude.....I fucking love it That took some real thinking and inginuity....enjoy the weed you deserve it

70s

UM do you have other buds picture? some close up and macros!?
And with what you said, I'm not afraid that your next grow will be 2 times better than this one!
Congrats again..!

Thanks for the kind words 70s, I know I will enjoy it, I can tell that a cure is going to make this stuff taste great


I can't wait to start using these

hgl, I am still working on my macro technique but here is one to hold you guys over I'll post plenty more macros and budshots in a few days.



I took some pictures at the disc golf course today too

I love your setup man, very well thought out. Nice buds. I was wondering does your screen come out easy or did you do all your training with the screen inside your cab?

hi m3z

It didn't come out easily it was fixed in place. there was enough room for me to train the plants but not enough room to stick my head in there to check the trichs on the back plants. Modular and removable like yours would have been ideal but this fixed screen really wasn't too much of a hassle, especially because all the plants were sexed before training.

I am going to have to brainstorm as to how best to mount the screen for next time. especially because I might go hydro. but I might also do some outdoors stuff this season. its alot to think about