**((400w 24 plant SOG with AIR POTS by Soular HITS))**

It's a new year and I am finally able to engage in a mutually educational discourse with the icmag community. For many years I have trolled these boards, soaking up as much information as I could all the while dreaming of a day when I would have my own grow setup. Finally the day has come and I'd like to share some of what I have learned as a humble offering knowing that the learning never ends...

First, I should call this thread "The Thundurkel Method, by Soular HITS" as much of what I have implemented in my setup came from his work with a Dr. Bud style micro cabinet and his adventures in coco and various nutrient combinations. I owe Thundrukel many thanks for his inspiration as well as Dr. Bud and many others here at icmag.

Lets get some details out of the way...

-Dimensions: 3'W x 2'D x 7'4"H
-400 watt magnetic HPS powering the bloom chamber
-Adjust-a-wing reflector with super spreader on the 400w
-Stanley blower cooling the entire box (~280-300 cfms)
-98 watt T-5 and ~120 watt DIY CFL fixture for mothers/clones for combined ~220 watts veg
-Activated carbon filter on top of cabinet 8"o.d. x 12"L
-1 and 3 liter AIR POTS with 70/30 coco/perlite mix
-FloraNova Grow and Bloom nutes modified Lucas

Outside Shot:


Mothers/Clones:


Bloom:


The box is 100% light and smell contained and receives fresh air from a 4" gap between the bottom of the mother chamber and the floor. 10 2" PVC elbows provide light proof intakes as well as filtering out dust and and pests that might otherwise be sucked into my garden.

The solution that I came up with to accomplish my ventilation needs was 2" PVC elbows and 1-2" segments of 2" PVC pipe. This allowed me to buy only a 2" hole saw to drill all ventilation holes and attach a pre filter by stretching it over the 2" pipe and securing it with electrical tape. For the light traps between mother and bloom chamber I used a similar method and attached 2 elbows with a small length of 2" PVC. The pictures should clear things up...

Intake/pre-filters:


Having a pre filter is a must! These things get sooo dusty in just a matter of a month. It is very easy to simply pop out all the elbows and rinse them out to maintain adequate airflow.

Light traps as viewed down from bloom chamber:


I only used 6 2" openings between the mother chamber and the bloom chamber. In the last few months I have not have the need to increase my cooling capabilities as my temperatures like to hang out in the mid 70s with everything running...I also have my 400 on at night so that helps keep things cooler...

The box is cooled by a stanley blower that was modded using some flexible 6" ducting. A 6" ducting elbow sits on top of the cabinet and everything is secured using duct tape. The blower itself hangs from bungee chords to reduce vibration.

Blower:


Blower Close up:


Here is a close up of the Adjust-a-wing reflector and super spreader. Having done my research I heard that this combination of reflector and modified heatsink/light diffuser would provide the absolute best results and I must admit I have been very pleased. As you can see I don't run any sort of cool tube and only have a small fan blowing directly on the lightbulb/super spreader. My temperatures just a few inches below the bulb stay below the 80 degree mark and my plants have never suffered from light burn of any sort.

Adjust-a-wing Reflector:


To hold the fan in place I simply screwed a tool handle from the hardware store directly into the wall of my cabinet. Works great!

Although my cabinet is currently not at full capacity I plan to run a perpetual 24 plant SOG. I have already tired of the daily watering requirements so I made a PVC watering manifold that will accommodate 12 plants at one time. I have the ability to turn some plants off or adjust the flow to individual plants as I see fit. So far it's worked great and has meant watering was just as easy as plugging in a pump for a minute or 2...I can't wait to automate that system with some timers and have a garden that keeps herself!

PVC Watering Manifold with 12 adjustable valves:


7 gallon reservoir outside cabinet:


So that's enough about the box...lets get to the good stuff! 8 weeks ago I transplanted 4 Bubba Kush plants from 1 liter AIR POTS to the next larger, 3 liter size. They had been LST'ed to promote bushier growth and I gave them one week of 24 hour veg under the 400 watt. Sunday night was the 8 week mark and I chopped one of the 4 plants. I am going to take the next three over the next week and compare when I like it most. Also the one that was taken Sunday has had a 7 day flush so I'm sure I will enjoy the ones that have had a bit longer to flush out.

Bubba Kush #1 before chop:


Bubba Kush hanging to dry:


My feeding schedule is as follows:
4 mL FloraNova Grow when in Veg through week 2 or 3 of bloom depending on stretch
Mothers also get this blend every other watering or so...
7mL FloraNova Bloom until late flower when I dropped to 5mL and added a bloom enhancer (I've been using a free sample of Hydroplex but I'll probably be using Kool Bloom when the sample runs out...)

Here are the remaining 3 Bubba Kush ladies:


On the other side of the cabinet we have 6 Mendocino Purple ladies that were put to flower just over a week ago.



These are some leggy gals and like to stretch but from what I've learned this style of growing is all about knowing your strains and having them dialed in to exactly when to initiate flower to leave you with maximum bud output. I also have 2 sour diesel ladies and one beautiful NYC diesel and plan to continue to add more ladies as space permits and begin the complex orchestration of running a multi-strain, perpetual 24 plant garden.

This is only the beginning and I look forward to a long future of shared knowledge with this great community!

Looks nice bro. Can I ask if you have had any issues with that stanley blower? I ask because I was using one in a setup of mine, and noticed my power bill jumped $40 in a month. Apparently the damn thing draws 10 amps of juice when it's on high. That's way too much for a fan, IMO.

Looks like a great set up you built for your self there.

yeahh I definitely agree with you that 10 amps is too much for a fan but I haven't had any "issues"

I usually run my fan on low and it's plenty to cool my cabinet...I choose the stanley blower for it's cheap cost compared to a vortex or other centrifugal blowers and it's not to noisy given the huge amount of air that it can move...

Soular HITS said:

yeahh I definitely agree with you that 10 amps is too much for a fan but I haven't had any "issues"

I usually run my fan on low and it's plenty to cool my cabinet...I choose the stanley blower for it's cheap cost compared to a vortex or other centrifugal blowers and it's not to noisy given the huge amount of air that it can move...

Click to expand...

Yeah, I just wasn't too down with having a fan that sucked down as much juice as one of my lights. For a 400W grow, it would make less sense to me to have a fan that used over twice as much power as my main light. But if your power bill isn't a concern, more power to you... no pun intended. An on low, I'm sure that the power use is nowhere near 10 amps.

Just a few updates of how things are progressing...

I must say after harvesting and seeing the root growth from these air pots that they are the shit...The guy at my hydro store said he ran a side by side test of AIR POTS, SMART POTS, grow bags, and regular pots and that the air pots wayyy outperformed even the smart pots...

You know we keep it Natty ROOOOOOOOOOOOOTS!



Here's the second bubba kush pre-harvest at 60 days:



Pre-harvest 63 days:



Some close ups...mmmmm





And finally...my favorite! Bubba Kush taken to 10 weeks:



So I have a qestion for the folks here...can I re-use my coco/perlite grow mix? If so must I treat it in any way? It should be pest free as I use a small layer of hydroton to ward off the insects that like moist soil conditions but I dont know...?

Nice cabinet!

You can absolutely reuse soil, but you need to let it "rest" and compost for a few weeks before putting it back to work. Keep it a bit moist and stir it a couple times and yer good to go.

This setup is quite impressive congrats.
How much did ya first harvest yeild?
How many mothers are you keeping and are you keeping them as bonsai's?

dy-no-mite3000 said:

This setup is quite impressive congrats.
How much did ya first harvest yeild?
How many mothers are you keeping and are you keeping them as bonsai's?

Click to expand...

Thanks I'm very pleased with things so far. My first harvest yielded between 3 and 4 ounces but thats just an estimate as each plant yielded between 20-28 grams.

I currently have 5 mother plants that are kept as bonsai's. The strains I have as mothers are:

Sour Diesel
NYC Diesel
Bubba Kush
Master Kush
Mendo Purps

Tonight at lights on I'll take some pictures of the flower cabinet and update with my plans for a 100% automated recirculating watering system.

Looking good bro, not sure how this is anything like me or the Docs CFL cabs but still good grow! I would just top and bush out the air pot plants.. What size are you pots?

Thundurkel said:

Looking good bro, not sure how this is anything like me or the Docs CFL cabs but still good grow! I would just top and bush out the air pot plants.. What size are you pots?

Click to expand...

Yeah that first run I LST'ed some Bubba Kush and ran them in 3 liter air pots so it's not really like what you or the Doc run. I'm currently working up to running 24 plants on a perpetual cycle in a high density SOG. In this respect I feel you and the Doc have had great success running multiple strains and are generally very knowledgeable when it comes to growing SOG. I'll run the SOG in the 4" air cells from Air Pots...They hold one liter and I run a coco/perlite mix at 30% perlite. I'm running flora nova pretty much to your recommendations and I've been very happy although I was wondering what some people out there would recommend as additives, especially late into flower to bring the N levels down...

In my mind you and the Doc were inspirations to run a multi strain SOG with bonsai mothers. That's really all I meant by saying this was similar to your or the Doc's grow...

Thanks I'm flattered anytime I hear my name next to the Doc cuz I was blown away by that dude when I first came here but I've become quite the lil grower since then haha. Yea that's dope dude you are doing what I had wanted to do and you have a 400w so this will be cool to see. I wonder how much more yield per plant it will be versus the cfl 20oz bottle plants me and the Doc have pulled off. That Bubba you have looks fucking lovely is that the Pre98 cut?

Also about FloraNova, I haven't ran it for a while now and I'm REALLY liking the Head Formula with Cutting Edge Solutions 3part using just the Micro and Bloom cuz I didn't like not being able to cut out the N later in flower. This way I'm able to do that and still keep my girls chugging along with P and K. My plants look healthier than they ever have you should look into giving it a try. Plus from what I hear CES is better than GH and I've heard that quite a few times from growers who were GH die hards before..

Here is the current situation...5 mendo purps at 4wks flowered at 6" that have streeetcheed to well over 2 feet. One additional mendo purp that was flowered at 4" and is now around 18" (still a bit tall in my book I think I'll need to flower them straight from rooted clone). I also have one Sour Diesel at 16" and a NYC Diesel at 14" all 4 weeks.

The 5 tallest mendo purps:



Sour Diesel, NYC Diesel and others at 4ks, 3ks, 2wks:



Sour Diesel 4wks:



NYC Diesel 4wks:



NYC Diesel Close up:



Mendo Purp 4 wks 18":



Mendo Purps 24+" 4wks:



Also here is a shot of my carbon filter that sits on top of the cabinet and keeps my room from smelling like danks...



Well hopefully tomorrow I'll get the supplies I need to being setting up the watering system. I hope to use the manifold that I created to water several times during lights on and then drain the excess water back into the reservoir but pass it through some sort of filter first to keep the nasty shit out of my res. It will operate much like an ebb and flow system except that the water will be top fed into the pots and drain back to the external res.

Do people think that I will encounter problems with a recirculating system and keeping my nutrient levels constant? It would be ideal to set up my res once a week and let it just run and not have to add nutes and more water...then every ten days I would flush with fresh water to remove salt build up.

Damn you got me wanting to buy a bunch of the Air Cell pots and do a full SOG in my tent I wonder how many of those I could fit in there and if I would yield more that way.. Looking lovely bro keep it up! I'm 7 days into flower and holly shit do I have some monsters going, also just got 4 new strains added to my collection! Reservation Labs - Sugar Cane Kush and their Arizona Iced Tea and I got Outlaw Genetics - Gorilla Grape and Magic Merlin!!! I'm bout to have nothing buy purps finally!!!!

Thundurkel said:

Damn you got me wanting to buy a bunch of the Air Cell pots and do a full SOG in my tent I wonder how many of those I could fit in there and if I would yield more that way..

Click to expand...

From what I am personally experiencing between the first run of bubba kush in larger pots vs. the small air cells I'd have to say I like the 5" cells way more. The air pots website says that they are 4" diameter but for all purposes the outside diameter is so 5" so you can easily figure out how many you could potentially run in that tent...I like 'em cause you can pack more in and they grow like they're in pots that are much bigger than just one liter. I think 20 grams per plant once I get things dialed in is not an unreasonable goal and just imagine if you were to do that on a 4x8 table with 160 plants!

I'm still trying to make it to the hardware store to complete my automated watering system so pics and a meaningful update should be coming soooon...

That's what I'm talking about!!! I'm getting the Botanicare 2x2 table cuz that's what my tent is made for is 2x2s and though I'd have less plants with bigger pots but I could do 16 5" Air Cells for sure! I'd say 15g a plant to be safe but that's still only around what I got on my first run in the tent after I just did the math. I'm hoping to just do 5 plants in 1gal Smart Pots on a Flood and Drain system and just veg and top the shit out of them and shoot for 4 zips or better a plant which I think I could do with my strains..

would like ta see or here more on these air pots, lookin at doin this 100 plant cathedral grow and ive wanted ta use the air pot for quit some time... more please,,, HHB

Lovin' this thread, hope to see more soon. If possible, I'm particularly interested in the details of the auto watering system you devise. Plants look great, but how likely is 20 grams from a 1 L Air-Pot with a 400w? Here's to hoping you make it. I'm excited to see how this turns out, very interesting garden! Have you considered a CMH bulb? It would help with that stretch.

Hey folks sorry it's been so long since the last update I've been extremely busy with my studies and maintaining my garden. I've recently been battling spider mites in the flower cabinet and I seem to have them under control and with Ed Rosenthal's Zero Tolerance Natural Insecticide and Hot Shot Pest Strips during lights off.

The setup I have devised for watering uses a submersible pump from Petco for $20.









As you can see in the pictures I use 1/2" PVC pipe and flexible clear tube to connect the reservoir to the watering manifold. Each manifold has access for 12 sites with adjustable flow valves. I got these from the local hardware store in the garden section and they allow me to turn individual sites on or off depending on my need. Eventually the pump will be hooked to a timer for automated watering but for now I just plug it in for minute or 2.



The drip valves have a 10-32 thread pattern so I found a drill bit that was close to the diameter I needed and then used a machine screw with a 10-32 thread pattern to cut the grooves into the PVC. Then you can easily attach the valve and enjoy a leak free connection with no sealants.



Here's a picture where you can see the manifold connected to individual plants. I use flexible black air tubing from the pet store and it will hold on to the tip of the adjustable valve without requiring any sealant as well.



I think I was a bit hasty when I said 20 grams was a realistic goal but who needs to be realistic when it comes to making goals anyways! I think I'll more often see yields in the 10-15 gram range per plant but I'm but a novice when it comes to growing so this figure can always improve over time.

Heres a NYC Diesel that was taken at 8 weeks. She was 11 grams bone dry and I think if I were to have controlled the stretch better I could have seen tighter, denser bud sites.





The current state of the flower cabinet is 6 plants at 4 wks. on the right side, 3 NYC Diesel and 3 Sour Diesel. On the left I have a mendo purp and a Sour Diesel, both at 9 wks and being flushed. There is also a single Sour Diesel at 8 wks and a Blue Dream Haze and 2 Fire OG KUSH all at 1 week.

ic3king said:

Lovin' this thread, hope to see more soon. If possible, I'm particularly interested in the details of the auto watering system you devise. Plants look great, but how likely is 20 grams from a 1 L Air-Pot with a 400w? Here's to hoping you make it. I'm excited to see how this turns out, very interesting garden! Have you considered a CMH bulb? It would help with that stretch.

Click to expand...

I am intrigued by the prospect of CMH but from my research I have not come to a conclusion that they are in fact superior to what I have now. I have a magnetic ballast so I think I can simply switch out the bulb but my setup is working for now and I will most likely make that decision when it comes time to purchasing a new bulb. Has anyone found conclusive proven results that CMH outperforms a regular HPS bulb for growing ganja or is it still mostly the unproven conjecture the I have encountered upon my brief exploration of the subject?