Grow Tent OutGassing / Offgassing WARNING!!

[AlterEcho]

My friend, who is a veggie grower on the east coast, should be getting his replacement tent within a few weeks. I called him to make sure I had his story straight. He stated that he sent an email to Hydrohut explaining the issues that he was experiencing. In that email he also included his invoice number from where he purchased the tent. HydroHut replied by asking him for his address and said they were sending him a new tent. And that was it.

My friend will be sending me pics, of the tent, once it arrives. He will not post here since he is a veggie grower and not a med grower. So, I will post the pics he sends.

-=AE=-

 

[charlesweedmore]

great topic but i couldnt still understand if homebox kills plants ?

 

[Divine Cosmos]

anyone know if the BudBox small (75, 75, 100) is affected by this off gassing? I'm getting yellowing on the new growth and minor fert burn at the bottom; they're still growing though. All I can get from the manufacturers, is that the interior is lined with white powder finish?! Whatever that white powder maybe!

 

[Mr. Bongjangles]

great topic but i couldnt still understand if homebox kills plants ?

No, Homeboxes have never killed plants.

The *only* people who have said that are owners of other companies or shills for those companies. They still have not offered anything other than anecdotal evidence, while the examples of other tents with the off-gassing problem are all over the internet.

Homebox is fine.

anyone know if the BudBox small (75, 75, 100) is affected by this off gassing? I'm getting yellowing on the new growth and minor fert burn at the bottom; they're still growing though. All I can get from the manufacturers, is that the interior is lined with white powder finish?! Whatever that white powder maybe!

Yes I have heard reports of bad BudBox tents, so I'm pretty sure some are effected.

Put some seedlings into the tent, if they do what you see in the following pictures, your tent is off-gassing. You will see these effects within days, and it will be clear within a week or so.

Early effects:



Cumulative effects:

 

[charlesweedmore]

thanks mate..
and what about darkroom ?
are they as good as homebox ?

thansk

 

[Mr. Bongjangles]

thanks mate..
and what about darkroom ?
are they as good as homebox ?

thansk

No problem.

Yes, Darkroom tents, imo, are equal in quality to the Homebox Classic tents.

There were some issues with the first Darkroom tents, specifically the zippers sucked, but the 2008 model tents fixed that, and every respected member with one says they love it.

Everyone with a Homebox Classic says the same thing.

As such, I regularly recommend both when asked.

I am unsure about the Homebox Silver though, as nobody is giving feedback on them yet, and the feedback on the silver interior Growlab tents designed by Homebox has been mixed. Everyone likes theirs, but has a bunch of complaints.

Apparently the Growlab's reflective interior is not properly bonded to the outside material and comes apart when creased or rubbed, leaving bubbles. The same person said the corners are weak and that they broke one the first time they setup the tent. Same guy says a Growlab version 2.0 is coming soon, so hopefully they will get these issues fixed quickly.

I've also heard from other people the window they added in the front was not implemented properly and leaks light.

So yea, I know Darkroom tents are along similar lines of quality as the Homebox Classic, but cannot say the same for the Growlab tents or the Homebox Silver.

 

[charlesweedmore]

thanks mate,,i emailed to homebox this issues..

 

[CrazyCooter]

Hydrohut, Darkroom, Sun Hut

Hydrohut, Darkroom, Sun Hut

Having used all three of these I finally decided to ditch the white-lined Hydrohut and get a Sun Hut XL. I tried to blame it on mislabeled clones, heat, and a shitty grower, but when this next run turned funny colors I admitted defeat and spent a few hundred bucks.
That said, I had high hopes for the Hydrohut but did much better as a rookie in my closet. I know my atmosphere and nutrient program was better but my results always lacked in three different Hydrohuts.
I recently purchased a dr120 and couldn't be happier with the results and it's features compared to the Hydrohuts.
I bought a Sun Hut XL a couple days ago and was pleased with the back door, numerous vents that need no flanges, and the extra few inches in size. Does anyone run 1000s in these? I have a a 600w currently going. I put a 1000w in my Hydrohut for a while but it was a little much. We'll see how this run finishes after spending a few weeks in the Hydrohut.
My problem is my cats. They like to climb the tents and sleep on top of them. This was never a problem for my Hydrohuts. They were very heavy duty on the outside and I never had a hole in my tent. The Darkroom that I purchased is made of very little more than tinfoil with a plastic coating sprayed over it. I put a tear in it just getting it set up. I was afraid of the cats and one day my cat tried to get on top of it. Luckily I was in the room and he only made it halfway up and only left about three tears in it. 100s of times with the Hydrohut and no problem, 1/2 a time with the Darkroom and there are holes. I couldn't imagine a Darkroom surviving many moves or much abuse.
The Sun Hut has a canvas type outer shell. It does not seem to be as heavy duty as the old Hydrohuts but much better than the darkroom. My cats are now afraid to be anywhere near my tents so I do not know how the Sun Hut stands up to claws. As I said, I am more than pleased with the vents, doors, zippers etc. If the Sun Hut plants turn out as good as the ones I have in the Darkroom I would buy another Sun Hut.

 

[neuroherb]

Is this Sun Hut white PVC plastic or a new silver design. There is people reporting issues with the Sun Hut line in this thread and others so if its white PVC I would watch it if I was you.

 

[CrazyCooter]

It is silver lined.

 

[seaflo]

I just ran across this thread today and WOW, what an eye opener. I have had 3 successive grows where the exact problems described here have been happening to me. I have a PVC lined HydroHut 4x4 and would agree with others here that I had much better grows before using this damn thing. Additionally the out-gassing of all PVC products is a serious health issue. Soon, I believe that soon we will see the start of the same problems/law-suits/EPA interventions that we saw 30 years ago with asbestos. I removed mine today, packed it in an air-tight container and will ship it back to HydroHut along with my thoughts on their not being more receptive to the possibility of human health issues associated with their product. With just a few days research under my belt, I now want to remove all PVC items from my environment. Thanks to whoever started this; I am very lucky to have found it.

 

[confused]

I just put together a Secret Jardin Darkroom 150. The one with the gold Darkroom 150 on the bottom left.


To answer a few questions, here are

My impressions:

1) Easy as pie to set up. I did it by myself while really high. Just attach poles with no tools required and slip the shell around. It also fits into its own duffel bag like thing.

2) Quite nifty design - More than enough air intakes/out. Easy access.

3) I have it in a completely dark room already, but when I turned on the 600 watt I could see a few places in the shell where light was leaking out. Most of these places were part of the zipper, but there were a few random spots in the shell that leaked light.

4) I am overall happy, but have not gone through a whole cycle yet.

 

[seaflo]

Can someone tell me what happens if Hydro Hut does not get back in touch with me to take care of my issue? I e-mailed ([email protected]) them this weekend and have not heard from them yet. I realize it is a short time and I am will to be somewhat patient.
I have just read that the recall was over the last of 2008. The company is still legally responsible for replacement of any inferior/harmful products. Since the items are sold through the mail, there is a federal issue and state's warranty laws also play into it.
All I want is the replacement of my tent and for the government to stop letting such untested products be laid upon the public. If Hydro Hut takes care if it all, good for them and they have me still as a customer and an advocate.

 

[neuroherb]

Hi Seaflo

I expect you will hear back from HH and just need to give it a bit of time. From your post you basically know the score as far as your consumer rights so if it comes to it and you don't hear from them and you have the receipts etc.. you would follow that process. However I doubt it would come to it and if you haven't heard in a couple of weeks post again as they are reading this thread.

 

[TYSON68]

TOXIX TENT?

TOXIX TENT?

HI i'm new here and found this thread very interesting, hopefully my pictures will show ( if iv uploaded them correctly )
i just wanted to show my pics which i belive have suffered with the out gassed problem.
it was my first grow- i was shown by a freind who has grown before,
we grew from seed in soil, germinated the seeds in a propegator, and had healthy baby plants. i bought a 2x2x2 metre tent with the white inside from a well know auction internet site....put the baby plants in the tent and slowly my plants started to die.....i hunted the internet for days to find an answer to what i was doing wrong, i spent lots of sleepless nights, stress and worry ...i was and still am devastated, someone on another internet site pointed me in this direction.
the thing is my friend took a couple of the plants to his home, we did everything identical and we could not understand why my plants ended this way.....his plants are nice big and healthy.
i have now bought another grow tent but with the silver lining instead of the white pvc.....i'm just waiting for it to arrive.
i'v lost lots of money because of this.
what do you guys/girls think?
do you think this was caused by the " out gassed" "toxic tent " problem?

 

[neuroherb]

I think you probably had some other influencing factors, but I would say given the two important points you bought a white tent on an internet auction site then you probably also had a tent with the problem unless it was by the two named brands that have not had people reporting problems.

Were you feeding nutes to the plants either in water or through a hot soil. You have both the typical washout & burn look to the leafs but in general even with my toxic tent they wouldn't start really showing until just bigger than yours are in the pics.

Hope your new grow goes good for you.

 

[NorCalKind]

I've had the new and improved Hydro Hut for about 4 weeks or so now, and so far there hasn't been any problems. *knocks on wood

 

[Kindman69]

OMG, I have identical problems for my past three grows. I am not in a tent though. I am in a sealed grow space however and ever since I used it my plants go in healthy and within a week they start to look first mg then nitrogen deficient and after that growth stunts and they start their sad decline to nothingness
I'm using some pvc drains along with some spray adhesive and other possible culprits.
I'll post some pics, tell me if this is what you guys are talking about?!


Kindman

 

[neuroherb]

Very much like it with an additional nute burn, although if the PVC you have is leaching you could be on that very small nute swing I mentioned where pure water = N def and .5 ml in a pipette going into a 5 litre jug gives nute burn. To be safe I would bin the PVC and if you still have the issue fill out Stitch's questionaire and the folk in the infirmary will help you sort it.

 

[Kindman69]

Very much like it with an additional nute burn, although if the PVC you have is leaching you could be on that very small nute swing I mentioned where pure water = N def and .5 ml in a pipette going into a 5 litre jug gives nute burn. To be safe I would bin the PVC and if you still have the issue fill out Stitch's questionaire and the folk in the infirmary will help you sort it.

Thanks neoroherb, I'm positive now that this is causing my problems.
There is some interesting study's out there regarding the impact of DBP on plants in greenhouses with optimal environmental conditions for growth. Many growers will never experience this problem due to high air exchange, but once the room gets sealed the story changes
I think we need to reconsider the use of products containing DBP in our growing environment, especially when operating 'sealed' environments.
I wish that there would have been more info on this, it may have saved my last three grows lol.

Here is an excerpt from on of the study's:

"CHRONIC PLANT STUDY
Results
Visual injury was observed on all species, varying from chlorosis and necrosis, leaf crinkling to a total loss of colour in the leaves and needles. The variation in sensitivity between plant species was quantified on the basis of whole plant biomass (shoot plus root) in order to derive NOEC and EC10 values.

EC10 values for total biomass, including lower and upper limits, for six plant species ​

Interestingly, white clover was found to be more sensitive to DBP than cabbage. Further details can be found in the PRI (2002) report and IUCLID.
PNECplant-air proposal
The PRI (2002) study is considered acceptable and useful for deriving a PNECplant-air. Two different routes can be used for deriving the PNECplant-air: 1) the standard method (lowest NOEC/EC10 divided by assessment factor, and 2) statistical extrapolation with an additional assessment factor.
Using the lowest EC10 value, i.e. 0.33 µg/m3, and applying the standard factor of 10 would result in a PNECplant-air of 0.03 µg/m3. Calculating the 5th percentile of the species sensitivity distribution (EC10 values for effects on total biomass) would result in a median (50% confidence interval) value of 0.2 µg/m3 (ETX, 1993). The 5th percentile estimation meets the statistical goodness-of-fit requirements (Anderson-Darling test for normality). Calculating 5th percentile values for either root or shoot biomass, rather than total biomass, results in nearly the same 5th percentile.
The problem now is that there is no guidance yet on deriving a plant-air PNEC in the Technical Guidance Document (TGD) (EC, 2003b). The TGD focuses on the PNEC derivation for water, sediment and soil, but the assumptions etc. for those compartments may not directly hold for plants (airborne route). A number of considerations can be given here on the PNECplant-air derivation for DBP:
1. the focus is only on deriving a PNEC air for plants. This means that other taxonomic groups of the atmospheric compartment (e.g. insects) will remain beyond the scope of the PNEC. This implies that assessment factors may cover ‘less ecosystem’ than normally for water, soil and sediment.
2. the TGD (2003b) criteria for using statistical extrapolation are not all met here (e.g. number of NOECs), but they may also not be relevant here as the focus is only on plants (see point 1). There is a fairly well coverage of plant diversity in the selected plant species, and, in addition, an acceptable goodness-of-fit is shown. One may speculate then about the introduction of an additional assessment factor. Such additional assessment factor should still cover species diversity (see point 3). It is highly uncertain, however, whether a factor of 2, 3 or 4 should then be used. An arbitrary factor of 3 on the current 5th percentile would, for example, yield a PNEC of 0.07 µg/m3.
3. the focus in the tiered testing program, of which the PRI (2002) test is the last part, has been on sensitive species (Brassica in particular). This is supported by literature data. It should be noted, however, that the PRI (2002) test showed that white clover was even more sensitive than Brassica. Some factor is needed therefore for possible other, even more sensitive species than clover.
4. according to plant experts, the conditions in greenhouses, are very unfavourable to plants with respect to their sensitivity to toxicants. This due to optimal light and feeding conditions which optimise the exposure and therefore the toxicity. Therefore the standard factor of 10 for extrapolating from laboratory tests to the field-situation may be argued here (lower factor).
Taking all these points into consideration, it is clear that a quantitative approach on the PNEC derivation would be very difficult in this case. The standard assessment factor of 10 is most probably too high, but should it then be 4, 6 or 7.5? The same is true for the additional assessment factor on the 5th percentile. It is pragmatically proposed therefore to use a PNECplant-air of 0.1 µg/m3 for DBP in the revised risk assessment. "
For the complete Article go to:


http://www.greenfacts.org/en/dbp-dibutyl-phthalate/l-3/3-effects-environment.htm


Anybody with more info, please chime in. If you know of acceptable encapsulates for DBP containing plastics, please chime in!


Kindman







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