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Micro grow setup phase

Thanks for stopping in MicroRoy :tiphat: Feel free to make any comments or suggestions.
I'm torn on pot size. I'm working with 10" x 22" floor space roughly, which can hold four one gallon fabric pots that I have handy or could chop some water bottles for a mini sog. It will be coco, no perlite. Have been carrying a measuring tape everywhere I go in search of the proper sized pot to fill the whole space. Might just put a few clones in each one gallon smart pot. Means I could stagger flowering and try different strains:woohoo:
 

chronosync

Well-known member
You could always use a 3 or 5 gallon grow bag or fabric pot and only fill some of it. Just roll the rest down or cut it. You could even sit it/them down in a short sterilite or rubbermaid.

I like the idea of a mini sog but you could also top and train one or two for the same effect. Staggered strains is a good idea too if youre good at multitasking.

Good luck, cant wait to see what you do.
 
Thanks chronosync, that's definitely what I would prefer to do and why I carry my measuring tape around with me. I've got only ten inches depth so I may try a few smaller tubs where I've been having difficulties finding something that suits the dimensions. I'm not sure the diameter on a 3/5 gallon pots but I'll look into it. Was even thinking an environmental fabric shopping bag should act like a rectangular fabric pot, anyone try that? I tried some cucumbers outside last summer in one but they didn't sprout (it was a test to see if they would drain well, next step was to hoist them into treetops ;)

Dropped the snow fruit mom today before it even popped. She held together, this is the last time I sprout a seed in 1 1/2" tall plastic shotglass. She just has to make it to transplant and then it's clear sailing or HSO Purple Trainwreck is up on deck.
 

chronosync

Well-known member
You know, i was thinking about using bags like that for something too. Only problem i see is it being an akward shape and hard to move around without it blobbing all over.

One way to test a containet is to fill it with medium and run water through it. See what it does.
 

MicroRoy

Active member
I have never used grow bags. Just not my thing. Might try them in the garden some time.

I have tried cutting down pop bottles and water bottles. Tall and thin don't work for me. I tend to knock them over. Now I tend to pick pots that are kind of squat with flat bottoms.

Try not to over crowd the grow. Air flow is important and if you do get a pest it makes it easy for them to move from one plant to the next. There is a saying in gardening. Always leave room for Angeles to dance. It crosses over Cultural lines. For instant fairies gods or other deities.

The most imporant thing is to have fun and remember there are more things that will work than wont work.
 
I'll try the eco bags outside again this year and report back Chronosync they didn't get a fair trial last time :tiphat:

You're so right MicroRoy, I am prone to crowd the plants too much and airflow suffers. Also hit the nail on the head about fun: I wonder how successful a little DWC setup would be in there...sounds like fun to me :woohoo: I didn't like the extra work watering too, plus you start waving 20-30 budsicles a day hand dunking them individually your room gets pretty funky.

I'll setup a test tub in the flowerbox with bubbler and water and see how temps and ph go. Maybe that's simpler than a bunch of dirt cups. Haven't tried dwc but willing to give it a shot. Any comments or suggestions welcome. I have a bunch of 1 1/2" net pots already, would they support small sog plants? What size reservoir would one require?

Snow Fruit has popped up and looks healthy so far.
 

chronosync

Well-known member
Mini ebb and flow SOG?
That could be neat. Not sure about cost and space efficient.

Im seeing more and more great results from these little chambers cant wait to see what you come up with.

Im probably going to bury as many as i think can fit into a small low tub in a tub and dunk and drain.

Would it be bad to keep the waste and dunk them several times each day before tossing the nute solution? Ive been wondering why dtw is better than recirculating. Or i know why it can be better, but why cant you recirculate by hand? At least to some degree.

Sorry, end, rant.

Cant wait to see what you grow in there! Keep us posted.
 
Thanks chronosync! It sure would be pretty neat and I may get to it yet but as for now I'm concerned about water temps and my circumstances have changed, I won't be kicking around the house as much to monitor the setup. No big deal, maybe a coco drip system to gain back some free time.

You're spot on with the small tub, it has potential do to well. I agree with you on wasting the nutrient solution. I used a dunk container slightly larger than the beer cups and the last of the waste I diluted, ph'd again and fed to the mums...or maybe you need a drip system too.

I remember how agonizingly slow it feels to wait for these to grow so I can cut them. Germinating HSO Bubba's Gift now because at this speed I'm gonna need two mothers. I saw a smoke review on it and had it. It was a good review plus HSO claim no stretch so handy for my limitations. Anyway try BG?

I rearranged my room and the desk is away from the wall heater. Meant I could strip a hell of a lot of the extra crap (like several fans) and decided to simplify things a bit more. Snow fruit is still alive.
 
Oops:

"The flavor profile is one of immense proportion. Carbon filters are highly recommended and if you live in more discreet settings, it is recommended to have another filter on hand. Strong and dominant notes of tropical fruit accented by a pina colada overtone finishes with more subtle hints of fuel and spice. The complexity is one you constantly want to examine with your nose."
- http://blog.humboldtseeds.net/en/bubbas-gift/

:laughing:
We shall see how this goes...
 
Here is some pictures. I've put some much quieter 120mm fans in both boxes hooked up to the speed controller and widened the intakes. As you can tell there are still some light leaks, I can't get my cheap ass duct tape to stay up so I'll need to figure something else out.

 
Sorry for all the inane posts, just keeping track of things for my own amusement. For those that are interested I'm measuring informally (cellphone app) my decibels on changes to the design. The numbers themselves are probably not as relevant as the difference between them as I modify things. Phone app reads around 52 db at 3 feet away presently, which isn't excellent but doable (a pc, tv, regular fan and air purifier in the room drown most of that out). That's with a 4x8 filter and td-100 internally, bringing down my floor space to 10" x 15 " usable inches for flowering (not a whole hell of a lot). I'm hoping to rearrange the setup with either the refilled 4x8 in the flower section and house the fan in something sound proof externally or keep the fan still inside the box with a muffler on the back of the desk mounted underneath the tabletop.

As for power usage I'm measuring with a kill-a-watt knockoff and the whole setup is running separately to this so I can always see what's up with my watts.

Right now with everything going I'm using 172 watts approx. That's a 75w mini Apollo ufo in the mother section, a 150w AP P150 led in the flower, td-100, four pc fans and one aquarium air pump. I'm pleased with that if I can maximize the use of my space. Considering I switched from an old tower pc to a laptop and changed all my home bulbs to cfl & leds I doubt the power usage would increase at all. I'm using around 75 watts after the 12/12 section goes out and 23 watts for the few hours the mother section light is off.

I should hopefully have the odor/sound/light issues resolved by the time I can start putting clones into flower.
 

gr8fulguitr

Active member
Hey Merry
I really like the set up. I need an small intake fan for my tent to get a more active intake for circulation. How do you power you your? I am not finding a small fan i like. I think I have a brain block or just a block head. ;-)
 

ReikoX

Knight of the BlackSvn
I know I switched all my light bulbs from incandescent to CFL before starting my grow, and my electricity bill is still less than before. Granted that was about 20 bulbs or so.

It's looking good, keep up the hard work.
:tiphat:
 

MicroRoy

Active member
As you can tell there are still some light leaks, I can't get my cheap ass duct tape to stay up so I'll need to figure something else out.
l]

A friend showed me a trick to make duct tape stick better.Get some spray glue. spray it and then duct tape it.

I used it to seal plywood seams in my shead stuch to the floor for five years now. I even have luck sticking carpet together.

Clear the tubes after each use and a can of that glue will last for years.
 
Thanks MicroRoy! I might try that trick when I redo the tape.

They are still alive in the box. That is a morning glory heavenly blue on the left. They certainly are slow growers, according to the literature they should make up for it in flowering time.
 
I know I switched all my light bulbs from incandescent to CFL before starting my grow, and my electricity bill is still less than before. Granted that was about 20 bulbs or so.

It's looking good, keep up the hard work.
:tiphat:

Thanks ReikoX! :tiphat: it's good to know that the bill should balance out:headbange


Hey Merry
I really like the set up. I need an small intake fan for my tent to get a more active intake for circulation. How do you power you your? I am not finding a small fan i like. I think I have a brain block or just a block head. ;-)

Thanks gr8fulguitr!:tiphat: I've tried the intake fans and always get more odor control issues then with passive intakes. You can always increase your exhaust fan speed, increase the size of your intake vents or you may need to replace your exhaust fan with one that has higher static pressure to pull through what intakes you have available. Best of luck!
 
So far:

Scrapped my mini bubble cloner.

I've taken a few cuts from the Snow Fruit, clonex gel to soil pellets.

Popped one HSO Purple Trainwreck, it's doing well so far.

Discovered descriptions of the Bubba's Gift being slow in veg are painfully true.

Was gifted a three drawer metal file cabinet and know exactly what to do with it:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=317721

:tiphat: Thanks Reikox :tiphat:

I'll probably use that for vegging outdoor crop before I try anything else with it but we shall see. . .

Will post more picks once these indicas doooo something :plant grow:
 

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