150w HPS Attic Grow

Hey all IC members and former OG members! Welcome to my 150w HPS Attic Grow. I Invite everyone to stop in, take a look, and critique any and all my techniques. Looking to get as much feedback as possible. Anyways on with the show.

The box I am using to grow in is constructed from MDF board, 1" thickness. The dimensions are 2 feet long, 1 foot 5 inches wide, and 3 feet 3 inches tall (24" X 17" X 39") I don't have any picture of the box itself. Why? Well, the location of the attic it is in means you can only see half the box at all times, unless you crawl in the attic, and even then you can't snap a full picture so fuck it =P

This grow has been alot of fun to construct and build on. In fact it started out with me saying "I'll just grow with a rubbermaid and some fluro's" But of course I couldn't help but breaking out the lumber and powertools and constructing something more... "Permanent."

I'm currently on week 3 of my vegative growth, but before I go ahead on a picture posting rampage I need to give some history of the grow thus far. The grow started off very well, but on the second week my plants became infested... INFESTED... with fungus gnats... Fungus Gnats suck, they eat your roots, slow the growth of your plants, and are exspensive to eradicate. To eliminate these pests I chose to use Predatory Nematodes. Predatory Nematodes are awesome, these little microscopic guys go about laying their eggs in the gnat larvae and effectively destroy all of them in about a weeks time. Predatory Nematodes also prey on a multitude of different soil dwelling species and are a great beneficial insect to have around.

After applying my plants with the nematodes on week two I went from one issue to the other. The gnats died (finally) but had put a damper on my growth, and my plants were stunted by a few days growth. Right after that My plants began suffering from a Nitrogen Deficiency. So this past wednesday I purchased some Mexican Bat Guano (good shit) and ended that N. Def.

Now my plants are FINALLY, after a week of annoyances, looking to be back on track. With lots of new growth. However two are more stunted then my other plants (you'll see in the pictures) but nevertheless, they are making a full recovery.

I've had such an interesting ride trying to work out all the kinks in my grow box. Growing in an attic down south means one thing. Heat, and lots of it. On 80F outside temps, an attic with a black roof (mine has a black roof go figure) temps can reach up to 100F. When I switched lights systems, from three compact fluros to 1 150w HPS my temp problems went nuts. Daytime temps rose from 85F to 95F and night temps were around 89F!!!! I had to rush out and buy a big ass fan (for my box of course) to cool it down. I went with a 250 CFM fan along with my current 75 CFM fan already installed. Needless to say, my heat problems are long gone. =)

Stats...
Soil - Miracle Grow 3 month slow release fert. Along with some Bat Guano
Light cycle - 24/0
Temps - Daytime between 78F-83F / Night Temps between 70F-76F
Humidity - Always between 50% - 60%

Well I'm sick of typing and I'm sure you all are sick of reading, ask me any Q's you guys might have. I'm smoking a J

















P.S. I want to thank everyone here at IC mag for hosting this web page so we can openly share information. Thanks and R.I.P overgrow.com for all the help and the many many member who I knew there.

And thanks to pontiac who helped me build an octagonal reflector!!! Everyone should check this hood out if you're looking to build one.



^^^^^^
Here's the tutorial on how to build that

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=416894

Kick ass, thanks for sharing.

very compact, very nice

i hope the nematodes take care of business for ya

Hey thanks for stopping in guys! The original plan was to put them into flower today but I want to wait for them to get a little bigger, then super crop. So I'm thinking maybe another two weeks before flowering...?

I am also very impatient... So I'm kind of wanting to maybe flower them next friday.

Or maybe I want to clone? It's hard to say. I need to be sure I maximize the yield of my cab.

These plants (I forgot to mention) are bagseed, and I have two different strains actually. The one in the red cup is the biggest, and different from the other three in the yellow cups.

What do you guys think? Should I flower them soon, supercrop, clone? It would be nice to set up a perpetual harvest.

if your thinking about perpetual you might want to clone, wait a few days and then flower, take a couple off each if possible to ensure you get at least at least one female clone to root

Yeah I think that's the way to go... However I'm impatient and really want some homegrown.

Your right though. Are you saying I should just clone the current plants in my box and grow mothers from the clones? Then just flower the curent plants after cutting clones?

yes

Veery nice bro, i'll be watching!

UPDATE @ 4 weeks veg 24/0 lighting.

Hey guys I'll be updating here shortly. When I look at these pictures it's funny, the plants have gotten so much larger!

They are not even flowering and already are smelling stinky and dank. I've made sure those babies have some air flow on them too so their stems are thick and strong to support some niiice buds.

Fungus gnat infection is completely over, all adult fungus gnats are dead, the predatory nematodes did their job well. And as we speak I can only imagine the micro organism battle that rages in my soil.

Predatory nematodes (1) evil annoyances (0). Chalk it up!

Nitrogen deficiency is out also. The bat guano did my garden right and my plants are basking under the warm red light. We are 4 weeks into veg now, but the little voice that is telling me flower is screaming for me to hold out! Wait longer, get clones and watch them (and eventually my nugs) get bigger, and bigger.

Pictures coming soon
_______

Thanks for stopping in pontiac! Looking forward to hearing all of your comments/ideas

I want to see, we need the pics

Haha, I'll have them in a few hours so feel free to blaze one up... I know I will

I might be able to have them up in under an hour, all depends how my schedule ends up going. Check back at 2 pm EST. If not up by then, then it will be 5 pm EST

Adios!

Pictures

Pictures

Here they are

Nice cab, they are looking good.

looking really good AccountWontWork, lush and a nice shade of green

AccountWontWork Sweet

Hey guys thanks. They are a little droopy in the pics, I watered them just after I took the pictures

Look at the second pic (it's the plant w/ red cup) that is the only one out of four other random different bagseed strains that I have. It's funny because you can see the massive stretch it went through. While this plant is, IMO, my best grower, it's strange it stetched so much compared to the others. By raising the light just a few inches it went stretch armstrong on me.

I'm wondering if that particular strain is more of sativa dominant. Of course it's just speculation. It has a strong skunky smell. The other three smell nice like a pine/skunk mix.

Thanks for all the positive replys, I hope all of your gardens grow as green and as big as you wish them.

it's been ages, can we get an update??

A simple update without pics... A sad update .... If you guys really want to see pics after I type this out, then let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.

Alrighty, the short story version. 3/4 males. Yup, three out of four ball bulging males.. t-h-r-e-e out of f-o-u-r!



Without ever switching my light regime of 24/0, to 12/12, three plants came out of the closet early. All proudly asserting their male pre flowers. So I did what any disgruntled marijuana grower would do. I took my frustation out on them and tore them apart.

So I was left with one plant. Luckily, my best and most vigorous sexually veiled plant. Since the realization that my grow room was full of dudes, I've taken my last plant and turned my lights to 12/12. This is my 3rd day on 12/12 and I'll soon be reporting on what exactly the outcome of my grow is.

If I do happen to get ANOTHER male, then I'll scrap everything, germ some new seeds, start a rubber maid veg chamber, and use my current box as my flower room.

Welp that's it folks. Like I said, if you really want to see pics just ask and I'll tack some up. Other then that, stay tuned to see if I'll ever get a female!

Thanks for reading!

if you get another male why not grow it out, collect some pollen and utilize when your new crop is at the flower stage to procure some nice seeds. since you will be vegging in some rubbermaids you probably have the room to do so right?

i like to dry the males out and let my buddies toke off a male joint. its awsome to see them cough it up and have a head ache LOL. afterwards i burn some killa green but its always funny to mess with them