...~Mountain Bud's Gone Underground~...

[MountainBudz]

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, hope everyone is doing fine and dandy on this wonderful October night!

I just wanted to stop in and create a grow journal of my new setup (still currently under construction) but hoping to be ready to grow within a weeks time.

What I have is an under ground root cellar built back in the early 1990's. The room is completely underground except for the front entrance. Yes, this is on my property and not someone else's. The room measures 18 feet in length, 8 feet in width and 6 1/2 foot tall.

Things I need to do (construction phase):

● Clean and scrub the walls with borax/vinegar solution and then spray the remainder with bleach.

● Patch up a few spots and chunks in the concrete with Quickcrete Mortar Cement and fill a few cracks with Masonry sealer.

● Apply Masonry sealer (DryLock) to the walls and ceiling.

● The floor is just gravel, but I am not putting a whole shit ton of money and labor into this, I just want it to be effective so may lay plastic on the floor.

● There is one window, it is right beside the entrance and I will likely fill it with concrete.

● There is no door, I will likely put a reinforced steel security door in the front.

● Run electricity to the room.

I will likely start off with 4 1000 watt light's, eventually upgrading to 6. Four will work for now.

I have to figure out a way to vent the grow, keep it heated during lights out and maybe have to add a dehumidifier once the room is ready to grow in. I have a buddy that is going to help me run the electricity to the room. I have always ran a 1600 watt grow so this will be something new and big for me. I am very excited to get this room up and going. Hoping I ain't pulling too much electricity.

Here is a photo of the inside of the room. Sorry for the thumbnail but if you open the photo into a new page it gives you a good view of the picture..

 

[MountainBudz]

Well I have received my cuts for this future grow. I have the following in the process of rooting.

Chem 91' (rooted already)
Corey Dogstar
413 Chem
Headbanger
Gorilla Glue #4

Updates would be more frequent but currently in a big heap load of a shit mess.

Still have the room under construction, not really moving anywhere with it. Reason being is I still have 52 plants outdoor and they are lot of upkeep at the moment. Harvesting here, training there, watering/feeding everyday. And if you have been following my Guerilla Growers Underground thread and Winter Wonderland over on the OD section you will see that I am currently facing a huge problem and also have see law enforcement in the area recently.

Fucking sucks...

Let's all hope that "MountainBudz" does not become "PrisonBudz" anytime soon. Because the amount of plant's that I am running in the unfortunate bible thumping state that I reside in, it is very possible.

 

[MountainBudz]

Hopefully the room will be fully constructed and finished by the end of the weekend.

I am going to do my best to get it together, fully equipped and ready to grow by November 1st for sure!

Once everything is in place I plan to start uploading photos and releasing information on the grow setup. I will go in depth with the way it is setup to run, my nutrient schedule, training methods, bud porn, etc... I plan to put a lot of effort and details into the grow journal.

Keep your eye's peeled, it will come around soon!

 

[MJPassion]

Keep the window so you can use it for ducting.

Unless you've got other plans for ventilation.

 

[MountainBudz]

Hey guys been a while since I have been able to post anything. I have been super super busy with my outdoor grow and up until today the underground room had been occupied housing half of my outdoor girls due to a security briefing.

Well I have a question I have been wondering about. How would you guys go about keeping this underground cellar warm during lights off in the winter? I thought about getting a ceramic or oil heater to run in there. My problem is that this room will be vented outside, fresh air coming in from the outside. I think I will be fine during lights on running 4 1000 watt lights but it is when the temps fall during the night that I worry about. I figure during lights on the concrete blocks will absorb a lot of hear to help out just a little bit but I know it definitely won't be enough.

I plan on using a 440cfm variable speed fan and likely it will be running full power during lights on. I figure right before lights go out I could turn the fan on the lowest setting to slow down on pulling the air out while the heater is running. This is the best idea I have yet to come up with... Anyone else got any ideas? I hope to have the room finished within a couple of weeks.

If anyone is thinking sealed room with co2, just gonna go ahead and put it out there that I really don't want to fool with running co2.

And what about the humidity? Would a good dehumidifier be efficient?

One last thing, I plan on constructing and routing the duct exhaust through the window which I will enclose and seal off around the duct, with it being winter time and hot air venting out is this going to cause a visible steam trail coming from the outside of the cellar? I will likely run my lights during the night so maybe steam won't be as much of an issue. I need to be as low-key and stealthy as possible!

 

[SuperBudBros]

Can you run your lights at night and have them off during the day, that's what I do for temp reasons but I don't know if your room is going to be light proof

 

[MountainBudz]

Can you run your lights at night and have them off during the day, that's what I do for temp reasons but I don't know if your room is going to be light proof

If they are off during the day in my case it will help with my cool temperature issue I foresee. I shouldn't be having heat issues, likely it will be keeping it warm during lights off. And yeah it should be light proof 100%.

 

[ReikoX]

 

[ODF]

Hey!

I did a small and fun grow some years back. In an old garage pit. We had some issues with low temps at lights off. Turned out the plants could take pretty low temps as long as we insulated the pots from the cold floor. So we just put 2 inches of styrofoam under the girls and that solved our issues.

Your operation is bigger and I understand if you want to have more optimal temps but I'd at least start with that.

Been watching this since your first post. Excited to see what will come of this.

 

[Skunkpassion]

I’m tuned in.. good luck mate...

We run lights at night to stop temps getting low..

Oil radiator on a thermostat is another option?

 

[MJPassion]

Oil radiator works wonderfully.

But...

Depending on how thick the cellar roof is, you might not have to worry much about heat issues at night... Rather... Being underground I would worry about VPD issues at lights out. You'll likely need a dehuey.

 

[Patmando22]

 

[MountainBudz]

Well guys it is coming along. I am working on my second coating of drylok right now, will likely drylock the ceiling as well. Shit is expensive, 130 bucks for 5 gallons and it will definitely use the whole 5 gallons if not more.

I am now thinking about putting 4 4x4 tents in there or 2 8x8's instead of running it open to cut back on so much construction on the inside.

I will keep updated .

 

[MountainBudz]

I have a question.

I know not shit about electricity. But I have a friend that has taken many electrician classes and luckily he is married in to my family and already has knowledge that I grow. He grows as well but only outdoors. So the trust is there between me and him and I plan on having him help me wire this thing up. He is an old timer and has never hooked up a grow room before from what I have gathered in our conversations.

I plan on running the electric from the panel on my main electric pole (legit power use, not stealing it) I am going to run 10/3 wire 18 inches deep in the ground from the meter/pole to the cellar in conduit which is about 50 feet in distance.

I have no idea where to go from there. I am planning on getting a titan 8 light controller and wiring the 10/3 wire directly into the titan. This will run and time my 4 1000 watt lights, correct? I am planning on running more that 4 lights in the future once I get everything dialed in.

So what do I run my exhaust fans and heater into? I really need some advice wiring this room on as I plan on starting very soon. I am going to buy the wiring and conduit today and likely out in the order for the titan controller.

 

[MJPassion]

The 10/3 wire run from the pole should be on its own main breaker at the pole & wired into another breaker panel inside the cellar. (Double protected) Before burying, ensure that you have enough wire running from the pole to the cellar that it wont be a problem for FUTURE plans. Too much wire is safer than too little.
The breaker panel in the cellar can be setup to distribute power however you prefer. Lighting should not be on the same circuit as anything else.
Or
If you go the tent route... Setup each tent on its own pair of breakers. One for lighting & one for peripheral equipment.

 

[MountainBudz]

I am gonna go the tent route. 4 tents running 1000 watts each. But in the future I plan on working my way up to 6 to 8 thousand watts of hids. So do I need a larger gauge running from the pole to the cellar or will 10/3 be sufficient? I guess I will throw a 50 amp breaker in on the pole, run the wire to the cellar straight into breaker panel, I can run wire from breaker panel into the titan Helios from there? This shit confuses me so bad lol.. there is a panel on my electrical pole outside of my house and it has two places to run electric. One place is occupied running electric into my house, the other spot is empty. That empty spot is where I was told to run the wire from.

 

[MountainBudz]

And what type of breaker panel do I need for the cellar? When I go to Lowe's today, what do I need to ask for? Specifically everything I need for the wiring process.

 

[MJPassion]

I haven't done that math in a looong time. Hehe...
Here's a calculator I just found.
It should help you determine your wiring needs.
www.paigewire.com/pumpWireCalc.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

As far as breaker panel to use in the cellar... Not sure what the code in your area says but I would put an outdoor box in there that can handle possible high humidity situations.

 

[MountainBudz]

That link doesn't work bro.

 

[MountainBudz]

Could a mod please move this thread to grow room design and setup please?