234 watt Shower First Time Grow

[GlassHoler]

My two roommates and I are getting ready to start our grow, and we're currently finished up our small grow box. Its a pretty small area, the inside dimensions are 18"x28"x~6'. We have two bathrooms, and one of the showers is so small your shoulders will touch on either side, so it rarely gets used...insert perfect grow area

We were gifted 7 DieselRyder seeds, and after finding out exactly what they were on these forums we fell in love with the idea of autoflowering plants. We plan to have these seeds germinated by the 8th of January. We are also hoping to order another few autoflowering seeds to suppliment our grow (~5 additional fem seeds for a total of 9 females were hoping). We will be using ICC's tea method for healthy organic bud, and were hoping to end up with ~120 grams dry when finished.

The shower


The Finished box, its enclosed at the top except for a 5" gap that will be ducted to the bathroom vent above. Also, there is a 5" gap on the bottom for a passive intake. The plants will sit on a shelf about one foot from the bottom of the shower.



This is the light that we will be suspending tonight. Its a 150 watt HPS with two 42 watt CFLs on either side.
EDIT: Here is the changed lighting setup. We took the suggestions that were given to us and remounted the same bulbs and fixtures horizontally.



We finally got the light hanging in the box! We also finished the installation of the 'trash bag ducting' that connects the sloping top of the box to the bathroom vent. We also have a 3" directional fan mounted inside the trash bag to help push air towards the top. The second pic shows the ducting at the top. You can also see we have the lights on!


Here she is finally ready to take the 16 oz cups. Going to try and grab the FFOF in the next day or so


Everything is going great! All 7 DR's and 5 bag seed cracked open and were planted into cups, the last three were planted Saturday. We opened up the box today and saw 5 little sprouts! 3 of the sprouts are DR's. This is a pic of DR #1, the first seed to crack and first to sprout. This chick is in a hurry


Great News! 6 DR's came up in cups, and 3 bag seeds also came through. This is a shot of all 9 plants on Day 7

Day 7


Day 13


Day 21


Day 28


I will keep updating this first post to show the progress of the grow.

Let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions or post suggestions! Nothing is completely finished yet and it's all done by first timers so don't be too hard!

 

[GlassHoler]

Day 35


A few close-ups of the buds


The box is looking nice and full of green!


Day 42 DieselRyders



Day 50 DieselRyders Shortest one is getting cut tomorrow!

EDIT: Only one pre-chop shot was taken due to trouble with the vent systems at the time of chopping.
DR#1 Cut: Day 50 Weight: 4 grams

DR#2 Cut: Day 55 Weight: 11 grams
DR#3 Cut: Day 55 Weight: 14 grams + 150 seeds

Smells like sour apple candy after dried. Wonderful uplifting day smoke. Can't wait to run a full box of these

Auto AK Day 37


Auto AK Day 64
Getting chopped tomorrow! Three beautiful plants

Closeups


Check back for the final weights!

 

[OU812]

That's gonna be awesome for watering, your drain is certainly convenient!

 

[IceColdCrickets]

Hey there bro! nice to see you got your lighting setup, just one quick thing,, vertical positioning of the lights reduces your direct light by a high %. You are relying on most of the light to bounce off the walls to get to your plants. Turning them horizontal would increase direct light and give you better results. But you would prolly have to get a new hood for your HPS, you can still do it to the CFLs.

(some quotes, not my words)
Vertical Reflective Hoods

Reflectors with vertical lamps are less efficient than horizontal ones. Like horizontal bulbs, vertically mounted bulbs emit light from the sides of the arc tube. This light must strike the side of the hood before it is reflected downward to plants. Reflected light is always less intense than original light. Light travels farther before being reflected in parabolic or cone reflective hoods. Direct light is more intense and more efficient.

Horizontal Reflectors

Horizontal reflectors are the most efficient and the best value for frugal gardeners. A horizontal lamp yields up to 40 percent more light than a lamp burning in a vertical position. Light is emitted from the arc tube. When horizontal, half of this light is directed downward to the plants. Only half of the light needs to be reflected. Horizontal reflectors are inherently more efficient than vertical lamps/reflectors because half of the light is direct and only half of the light must be reflected.

Hope that helps in the future.

ICC

 

[GlassHoler]

Hey ICC, thanks for stopping by!

I know I must have read about putting the bulbs 5 times on here, but for some reason that is one area where we slipped up. I think we will start planning a quick redesign after the build is completed, We should be ok for the first 2 weeks or so don't you think?

Thanks again for all the positive words and feedback!


Final Dry Weights on the Auto AK:

After Chop:


After Drying:


Final Dry Weight = 45 grams or 15 grams/plant in 2-liters

 

[GlassHoler]

Just posted the final grow box pic up in the first post. Hopefully seeing green by the end of the week!

 

[Castelvetro]

your main light is hung wrong and your waseting valuable lumens with it hung vertical like that. just put your hand below the tip and then next to the side of the bulb n look at the brightnes differance. also your clfs are largely wasted light as well with the distance your going to need to keep them from the tops with them hooked right to your hid which will need some space between the plants in it to keep cool, revamp your light setup, im not tryin to be negative but from experience your set up as nice as it looks isnt the most efficient or practical for the dollars. i would use those cfls but to be truly helpful u should of gotten them in the blue spectrum that your hps doenst provide..

your set up looks nice and will work, dont let me rain on your parade im just a lumen,water,fertz, energy miser atleast in my own head-

 

[GlassHoler]

your main light is hung wrong and your waseting valuable lumens with it hung vertical like that. just put your hand below the tip and then next to the side of the bulb n look at the brightnes differance. also your clfs are largely wasted light as well with the distance your going to need to keep them from the tops with them hooked right to your hid which will need some space between the plants in it to keep cool, revamp your light setup, im not tryin to be negative but from experience your set up as nice as it looks isnt the most efficient or practical for the dollars. i would use those cfls but to be truly helpful u should of gotten them in the blue spectrum that your hps doenst provide..

your set up looks nice and will work, dont let me rain on your parade im just a lumen,water,fertz, energy miser atleast in my own head-

Yeah, ICC mentioned earlier that we needed to remount the lights horizontally. I'm going to work on that soon, but I'm a student and super busy at the moment. Finishing the grow box so that we can at least have seedlings started is the goal at the current moment.
As for the heat, We have been running a few test and it really seems like the HPS can probably go within 5"-6" of the tops of the plants without stressing them. I think that bumping the HPS a little on the light we have now, as well as mounting the CFLs horizontally and slightly lower, will make the light perfect.


And don't worry dude, no feelings hurt! Constructive critisizim is always welcome or I won't learn anything

 

[disfunktional]

subscribed

 

[GlassHoler]

So some bad news. The only place that I could find nutrients does not carry Fruit and Flower or BlackGold products, so I'm not going to be able to follow ICC's awesome tea method. I wanted to stay pretty simple, so the next best option was using Fox Farms basic nutrient line.


We also picked up a thing of Ona Gel, just in case things get really smelly and we need some help covering it up.

Not all bad news tho! We finally ordered 5 Fem seeds of Auto AK to go along with the 7 reg DR seeds we have.
So, now the fun part!
We are finally ready to start growing! We just started germinating the DR seeds today, as soon as they pop they will go into 16oz cups and into the shower. Wish us luck

 

[watson540]

no..I would NOT remount the light..Just GET RID of that reflector and hang the light in the middle of your pplants..Instant vertical garden..

My light is a MH enclosed ballast..old school made in 84, had the same kind of huge dome reflector and I used it until I read about vertical gardening..then I threw it away and it's been a great ride so far without it

PS: as far as odor,.. I picked up a NOS neon transformer for 25 bucks to make an ozonator..The ozone is so powerful coming out, it almost makes me sick, but so I really dont use it as I need it on a timer and I dont have one atm, but its a GREAT backup to my carbon filter..it's good to keep my mmmmind at ease as ozone covers everything with a quickness, and mine is enclosed behind 2 more doors in the room so no worries of the ozone harming your tomatoes

 

[tokerofdakill]

Glassman, i see u got things in progress.hope it all comes together for u.good luck with ur grow

 

[GlassHoler]

Glassman, i see u got things in progress.hope it all comes together for u.good luck with ur grow

Thanks dude!

Good news. After ~24 hours, we have had 3 DR seeds pop open and 2 bag seeds start cracking. We are just throwing the bag seed in as filler currently. All of the seeds have been placed in 16oz cups and the box is currently up and running

 

[OU812]

I nearly had a disaster here so thought I'd share.
I too have my girls in the bathroom-in the tub. Its been AWESOME for watering-HOWEVER...

I walked into the bathroom this AM and thought I got a very faint whiff of mold/mildew. I am horribly allergic to the stuff, and in ten minutes my lungs were telling me I was on the money.

I took all the girls out of the tub, and sure enough, the drain where the smell was coming from.

I'm thinking...if I wasn't allergic to mold and mildew, I bet I wouldn't have noticed until it took over the girls-and I've have been really pissed.

Run that drain with bleach at least twice a week!!!
As soon as I poured some down, I let it sit for an hour and then slowly flushed the drain. The mold is gone, (I know, my lungs aren't burning anymore) but that doesn't mean it won't come back.

Have a fun grow!

 

[GlassHoler]

I nearly had a disaster here so thought I'd share.
I too have my girls in the bathroom-in the tub. Its been AWESOME for watering-HOWEVER...

I walked into the bathroom this AM and thought I got a very faint whiff of mold/mildew. I am horribly allergic to the stuff, and in ten minutes my lungs were telling me I was on the money.

I took all the girls out of the tub, and sure enough, the drain where the smell was coming from.

I'm thinking...if I wasn't allergic to mold and mildew, I bet I wouldn't have noticed until it took over the girls-and I've have been really pissed.

Run that drain with bleach at least twice a week!!!
As soon as I poured some down, I let it sit for an hour and then slowly flushed the drain. The mold is gone, (I know, my lungs aren't burning anymore) but that doesn't mean it won't come back.

Have a fun grow!

Thanks for the advice!

Can you tell me more, like did you have standing water in the bottom or was it just from your drain water? We will defiantly keep an eye out for this.

 

[OU812]

Thanks for the advice!

Can you tell me more, like did you have standing water in the bottom or was it just from your drain water? We will defiantly keep an eye out for this.

Hey Glassholer,

No standing water at all-it was simply coming from the drain. I assume because the room is semi-warm, the moisture left in the drain is a breeding ground for mold/mildew. I'm still soooo glad I got that little whiff, I could have ended up with moldy buds!

From now on, I will be flushing the drain with bleach 2x per week, just as a preventative. Bleach is a couple of bucks a bottle, not worth losing all of your hard effort for that!

 

[GlassHoler]

So all of the DR's cracked open! We also had 5 bag cron seeds that cracked. All 12 are now in 16 oz cups. I'll post pictures as soon as we see green, hopefully within two days.

 

[GlassHoler]

Updated the first post. The girls are finally starting to stick out of the ground.

Too much fun

 

[tokerofdakill]

Updated the first post. The girls are finally starting to stick out of the ground.

Too much fun

congrads bro..wont be long

 

[GlassHoler]

Posted a few new updates in the first post. Went ahead and re-did the lighting setup so our bulbs are horizontal with reflectors above.

Also, First pictures of the new little ladies!

Day 7


I do have a question. One of our 'bag seed' plants has come up with a 3 leaf pattern, which I'm assuming is a mutation that will render the plant useless. Just so everyone knows, We started 5 bag seed and we currently have 3 growing well in the box. Our plan is to weed it down to one strong mother plant. Since this plant is showing screwed up genes already, should we go ahead and toss her?

More good news today as well. We received the Fem EasyRyders today Also came with a fem Skunk #1 and a fem L.A. Woman. We will be starting those in paper towels today, as well as the two OG Kush bag seeds we got last week. Could make for a very interesting summer!

Till the next update