Help me design my new grow cab

[Dawn Patrol]

what about some gasket tape? http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Gobain-300AR-Strip-N-Stick-Silicone-Gasket/dp/B00DZXY0S2

Thanks for the link, but too thick for what I'm seeing.

bummer about the light leak,and it not being totally sealed for the co2..thats a bummer for.sure...

I'm being really picky about the seal on the doors, most people would probably be happy as hell about what I have. Will more than likely save some money over summer and throw C02 in there in the fall once I've had the chance to test all parts and settings and see how everything works.

what about some velcro?
i'm looking for a solution to shut the light leak as well, and the idea that came my mind was it, that's about the door.
for the a/c, what about plaster (is it right in english?) for wood (in my own language is stucco).

i hope it helps, anyway great work man

Thanks Jikko, light leaks are honestly not an issue as much as people think. I've grown outside up to this point and I always wondered when people blamed light leaks for their growing issues. Go outside tonight if it's clear and note the amount of light from the moon. Now keep doing that for 30 days and you'll discover what I did years ago - plants outside go from total dark during the new moon to almost twilight during the full moon.

When there is a full moon and you can clearly see your shadow and examine the plants by the light of the moon you would think that would affect flowering but it doesn't. The plants are just fine and continue to flower and ripen.

 

[jikko77]

hey D.P.

if light leaks are about 1lm it's safe, if is something stronger isn't.
moonlight, in a clearsky night, with a full moon should be something under 1lm.

1lm = 1lux for 1m2.


https://web.archive.org/web/20131207065000/http://stjarnhimlen.se/comp/radfaq.html#10
Radiometry and photometry in astronomy



By Paul Schlyter, Stockholm, Sweden



Anyway when stucco (let me cal lit that way, plastilin, sound like something else to me) dry out it become solid and isn't porous. there is some kind that are used for the batroom as well, bathtube and so on, and you don't see leak any water from it.
it should be the same for gas.

just my

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Getting closer still

Getting closer still

Got the top cap on, caulked and screwed in place. I probably could have gotten away with just the insulation panels taped up but I plan to store things on top of the cabinet and still have ideas about a water reservoir and Blumats for watering down the road so I wanted some structural rigidity up there.

Got the scrubber unpacked and in place

Got a tower fan in one corner, suspect I'll need another in the opposing corner as well.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

And wired up the far red light bars.

And wired up the far red light bars.

Everything fired, just hope I have enough lumens at this wavelength to make it work.

And no, they are not this bright, I used a long exposure to brighten the picture for clarity.

 

[timmur]

Dude I love this build! I'm trying out far red as well so I'm really interested in how it works for you. I wish I was handy as you; I can barely run a screw driver, lol!

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Dude I love this build! I'm trying out far red as well so I'm really interested in how it works for you. I wish I was handy as you; I can barely run a screw driver, lol!

Thank you Sir! Wait until the next post to see what you will probably need for your setup as well.......

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Sometimes......

Sometimes......

went to the site with everything I needed to build the A/C exhaust box...halfway through construction I run out of metal tape :rolleyes

Will continue this part and take more pics this weekend, some of my test candidates have stretched like crazy since I moved them out of the supplemental lighting outside so it will be interesting to see what makes it in the cab and what won't fit. I've never had to worry about that before.....

 

[Dawn Patrol]

So went and bought some more tape

So went and bought some more tape

went back to the site and built this.

Was very happy with it, test fitted onto the back of the A/C and all looked good.

Then I pushed the cab into place and took measurements for the duct fan and flex duct that will exhaust this box and discovered - eyeballing instead of measuring bit me in the ass once again.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

So the duct fan

So the duct fan

was supposed to connect to the fitting on the side and then the duct to the other end and then the duct would turn 90 degrees up to the top of the wall sill and out through the other duct fixture exhausting outside.

Just wasn't enough room to make the turn..

I was pissed at myself and wasted a good hour just being pissed.

Then inspiration struck. I pulled the box off and removed the fitting and put the duct fan inside the box which gave me plenty of leeway to connect the flexduct and make the 90 degree turn.

I may still have to address condensation drainage in that part of the system, but that's a fight for another day.

But that topic leads to this....

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Since I've had the cabinet almost done and the lights working I have closely watched the ambient RH and the RH within the cabinets. While burn testing the lights I watched the in cab RH plunge into the 20's before the thing was even sealed. I suspected that along with the A/C removing water that I would have to supplement humidity, at least in the beginning of flower so I ordered one of these.

This is a fogger commonly used to help maintain humidity in reptile environments and for whatever other cool things you can think of. I started with just one unit as I had no idea how it would affect a closed environment and initially placed it in a 5 gallon bucket. That seemed to contain the "fog" so then I tried a window planter and that was much more effective.

It was so effective that before I knew it the RH was at 75% and the A/C was throwing water. I ordered a humidity controller and I will try that again with the 5 gallon bucket. The fogger doesn't need much depth to work well so I may try to fabricate a slimline "pet water" setup once I research how those work so that it doesn't take up so much space.

As long as it produces humidity, the fans inside will disperse it quite well and for the short term that isn't important because....

 

[Dawn Patrol]

These four ladies

These four ladies

only have 7-14 days to go. They are all indica dominant and I've never been really happy with indica strains finishing (in spring) with day light increasing.

Now make no mistake, I have successfully grown and harvested good smoke on indica dominant strains well into April but I've always thought that the end product was not as good as that harvested when day periods were still decreasing (like fall). Since I have the chance to try this little experiment I gladly will.

These four are all at 60 days and most trichomes are still clear, so what I will do is decrease the photoperiod from 12/12 over the next 10-14 days. Along with the far red at bed time and reducing the amount of humidity and water that they get I hope to speed ripening and increase potency (more amber trichomes) although without a control group that will be a subjective conclusion at best.

The most important part of this is to show me that I must:
A) look for containers that are wider and shallower
B) factor in "the stretch"
C) prune and train more for SOG type growth

All thing I've never really cared about since there has never been a roof to my grows before......

 

[bucketswithsoil]

damn dude looking good,ya knocking shit out the park over there...GOOD GOING BUDDY...

 

[Coba]

that pet mister is Genius!

looking real good in there DP!

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Thanks guys, it's pointless to run the mister without a controller - just makes the A/C work that much harder and I don't want that much humidity this far into flower anyway. Definitely going to have to figure out some sort of drain system for the A/C and the exhaust box, when summer rolls around it's going to get ugly.

Good news is that the exhaust box works very well with the booster fan, removes all the heat directly outside.

Still trying to decide how long to let these girls go but I should have plenty of room for the test batch, just found another male today that needs to be culled.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Update

Update

Harvested the last batch and moved the next ones into the cabinet. I started these in flower outside and there will be staggered harvest dates due to the different strains and sizes involved.

Next group are outside vegging in smaller pots and being topped and trained and cloned. They should go in the cab around May 1 and I hope to finish them and shut it down for about 60 days from the middle of July to the middle of September and then I should have a batch of Triangle Trips ready to go for the real test.

 

[bucketswithsoil]

Harvested the last batch and moved the next ones into the cabinet. I started these in flower outside and there will be staggered harvest dates due to the different strains and sizes involved.

View Image
View Image
View Image
View Image
Next group are outside vegging in smaller pots and being topped and trained and cloned. They should go in the cab around May 1 and I hope to finish them and shut it down for about 60 days from the middle of July to the middle of September and then I should have a batch of Triangle Trips ready to go for the real test.

looking good dude.....why you shutting down,in those months,summer heat??

 

[Dawn Patrol]

looking good dude.....why you shutting down,in those months,summer heat??

Heat, electricity expense and most importantly, as much as I love to grow it gives me a break from the action and gives me a chance to reflect on what I've been doing and what I can do differently to improve.

Since I've never grown trees I've never had plants vegging in the summertime so I've always taken a break from the end of March until August/September when I usually pop beans. It keeps me from entrenched habits and makes me appreciate what I'm doing instead of making it seem like a blur of unending work.

One of my hesitations on moving inside is the regimentation that the space forces on you. Outside I could move one plant or 10 plants into flower when the schedule suited me. Now I have to try to keep the cab full to maximize the investment in electricity and work around the demands of the space.

Hopefully the increased security, denser buds and increased yield (crossing my fingers) make up for the hassle, time will tell.

I love growing, but I despise drying/trimming and I really don't want that part of it to make me not want to do this anymore or dread the harvest. I really don't like feeling forced to deal with a bunch of bud so it doesn't dry out too much so I've always moved plants into flower so I'm chopping and processing one every week or two and I could deal with that workload.

I always thought that if I could find a partner that was excellent at that part of it that my end product would be even better than it is now. I do the best that my attention and patience allow but recognize that I have miles to go before mastering that part of it.

So a really long winded answer to a simple question - everybody needs a break sometimes. Try it, you'll be better for it.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

So the whole C02 thing was bugging me

So the whole C02 thing was bugging me

I know I need to work on the doors to make them more airtight and I'm still thinking through all my options for that but I started pricing out C02 gear again and man the start up costs are pretty brutal for something I'm not sure will even be usable until I figure out how to seal the doors and then test them.

Then I remembered seeing somebody post a ghetto C02 generator using baking soda and vinegar and hell, the start up cost alone made me give that a go. I have no idea if I can even produce enough C02 this way but I ran off to the store and knocked this out in about an hour.

Publix Vinegar

biggest bag of baking soda I could find

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Construction

Construction

Dumped about half the baking soda in a 1 gallon tea container

Drilled a hole large enough for aquarium tubing in the gallon of vinegar

Then two holes in the lid of the tea container. One is for the vinegar to drip through and the second is to vent the C02 once it is produced. I used an aquarium air bleed valve to control the vinegar flow.

Vinegar is elevated and gravity feeds into the tea container

I routed the output hose to the top of the oscilating fan in the corner to move the C02 all over the cab.

It's a PITA to turn it off at night and on every morning (when I can get there) but in the short term it's a cheap ass way to supplement C02.

 

[LakeEffect]

... and most importantly, as much as I love to grow it gives me a break from the action and gives me a chance to reflect on what I've been doing and what I can do differently to improve.

... It keeps me from entrenched habits and makes me appreciate what I'm doing instead of making it seem like a blur of unending work.


... So a really long winded answer to a simple question - everybody needs a break sometimes. Try it, you'll be better for it.

Preach!