Personal Stash Flower Box

[InRainbows727]

After large amounts of reading forums and lurking all over the Micro area, I figured I might as well finally put something I'm thinking about making to the test.

So here goes

Amount of Space:
The floor area will be 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft so I'm working with 2.25 sq. ft (floor partitioned into 16 plants per square foot (Thanks Dr.BudGreengenes for showing what is possible in a square foot). As a result I'm looking at having about 36 plants depending on how I alter my box from here on out, if I add a fan then less room overall...etc

The area will be around 3 ft high so I'm dealing with about 6.75 cubic feet.

Lighting:
The lighting will either be 40-42w WW CFL's or two 26w WW CFL's split with a Y-socket splitter. If I choose the 40-42w then all of the lights above will be said bulbs, but if I choose to do 52w per socket, then I will only do 4 Y-socket splitters with two additional 26w on each side. Right now the wattage of my box is looking to be between 240-252 (If I choose only 40-42w), or about 260w total if I choose the 26w--if I so choose I could run this box with 312w, but I think anything over about 250-260 might just be a bit overkill.

Ventilation:
The passive intakes will most likely be 50-60 CFM 120x120mm computer fans, with the exhaust being a 130 CFM axial fan hooked up to a carbon scrubber.

Nutes:
I will be using Techniflora or Fox Farm nutrients (already have the Techniflora but interested in stepping up to getting some FF), also trying to get together some funds for a decent pH meter and a couple other miscellaneous things.

I used to water by using a kind of a drip irrigation system, I have a 215 gph (dialed it down, no worries) fountain pump that I was going to use for aeroponics, but decided I would make my watering schedule easier and just hooked the pump (which was in my rez) to a digital light timer and on the other end a line of piping with individual sprayers over each plantet. The only problem I had with this system is determining plant needs, if I'm running something that is rather touchy to nutrients I will also have other plants that require all the NPK they possibly can. I'm wondering if anybody has come up with a solution to this problem, because although I will if I have to, I don't intent to spend my time watering 36 plantlets at one given time (I love growing, but this becomes time consuming after a while).

My expectations:
In this grow I hope to average about 7 grams per plantlet, topping with about 252 grams(or 9 ounces) per cycle I do. I will only need about 4-5ounces in order to be happy, but I would like to get something good going. I am aware that it takes time to dial in strains, but I'm more than willing to sacrifice some time on some girls'

Please tell me what you think, what you like, and especially what you don't like about this!

Thanks everybody,

Tumuli Shroomaroom

 

[facelift]

I guess I'll start with....

1. If you're going with 36 plants in 2.25 square feet, you'll only need one container. Maybe 2. Maybe 4. You'll now be watering 1, 2, or 4 containers and not 36 containers.

2. Subtract 6 inches on the top and 4 inches from the sides for the lights and Y sockets. Subtract another inch for the 42 watters unless it's in the diagram. If this is case. Then you're good to go.

3. Start over. I don't like the plan and the expectation is inconsistent with the real world. However it can be done with an outdoor grow using this 2.25 sq. ft. idea as a front.

Good Luck!

 

[dbfr3sh]

i think your shooting for too much but its good to be ambisious (sp.) in the beginning. jus dont be too surprised when its less than first thought.

your cfl's have shitting penetration already and then your going to try to stuff 16 in a square foot. you will probably be shooting more like and eight a plant. good luck

 

[InRainbows727]

Facelift: According to my diagram , the bulbs measure 2.5*2.5*4.5 each, so they are very close to the actual size of my 40w WW sylvania's.

I've seen 16 plants per square feet DrBudGreengenes style in a 28 inch tall environment , so I figured I could be somewhat luxurious and add a couple inches to what I have currently and see what I can do with it.

Dbfre3sh:
From what I remember on DrBud's operation he had 210w over 2 sq. feet, so I want to juice that wattage up a bit, making up for the bad penetration of CFL's, the idea is that it may not be HID lighting, but the idea of having 6-12 different points of light in 2.25 sq. ft. will be very bright. Also take into consideration my lumens, I have about 2600 lumens from each 40w, so 15,600 lumens, that being said I have almost 7000 lumens per sq. ft.

This grow is also a perpetual grow, so the box will rarely ever be entirely full, (thinking about taking 3-4 a week) Thanks everybody on your input, any more input would be most appreciated, I'm trying to optimize the system I have currently

Thanks again,

Tumuli Shroomaroom

 

[jonkanoo]

you don't need fans on your intake

 

[InRainbows727]

Sorry guys if I come across as somewhat stubborn,but I'm pretty hellbent on putting 16 in one square foot just because I cannot complain with results as high as 4 ounces per sq. ft.

 

[dbfr3sh]

were just trying to help you not run into soo many problems. i know you can fit 16 in a square foot but your going to run into trouble if you havent run this before. DrBudGreen is a professional in this. im not sure of your growing skills and how many runs you have under your belt but i think alot of us are trying to save you a big headache. good luck either way

 

[facelift]

I just didn't want to say lower your expectations or don't set your expectations too high. You'll get something out of it. I guess the lights are laid out horizontally instead of vertically.

If you're working clones, do you have another area for them or do you have plans to buy every time you start a new set?

Good luck!

I've ran into heat problems with 8 23 watt lights in my veg area that's roughly a little bigger. Cutting off 4 of the bulbs worked wonders. Just something to think about.

I have a larger area and flower 5-10 plants at a time with more in a veg box waiting for their space. 2 full plants and a reveg/stem with buds. Hoping for another 6-8 gram sized buds by Christmas from the reveg, and another ounce from the full plants next month with 4 more in veg ready to go.

 

[InRainbows727]

jonkanoo-would you recommend just having two holes cut to size with no fan in it, and then have a large amount of negative pressure(from my scrubber fan), thusly eliminating all smell?? Or are my assumptions wrong, I'm rather new with ventilation and have only a couple threads under my belt (redgreenery's thread on ventilation 101). I've never had to deal with carbon scrubbers in my box growing and barely ever used computer fans.

dbfr3sh-Thank you for the word of the wise, but I think I'm going to try to work my way through this no matter what the headache; I figure if I work out all of my problems at once, I will be set for later grows. In the process hopefully getting a lot of experience with micro grows and then just almost "rinse and repeat" with other clones from selected moms I like. I like the headache and problems of growing, however this is why I intend to do all the possible research I can on the box in order to keep an ideal growing climate for my cannabis specimen.

facelift-Thank you for the word of the wise on the light problems--I do intend to now do overkill with my ventilation though, I'm currently thinking about buying a high quality blower that has capacity to move a closet's worth of air (Dayton 265 blower maybe??), so once I have an entire closet to grow in I can have a two layer setup--the bottom 3 feet being a CFL operation, probably a Scrog or just whatever I feel fit, and the top being a 150 or 250w HPS, doing SOG in soda bottles--all while converting this 1.5*1.5 box into my veg cab for that operation.

Alas, I'm thinking way ahead of myself--I have two-three old pc cases that I've stripped--each pc case can hold one of my Ziplock 2.5L bubble cloners (with 10-15 in there at one given time). I have two of said bubble cloners, I also intent to get another small cab for all the 20 oz soda bottles between their cloned state and their desired height, then I'll throw all mah girlz into 12/12 in this here box. Congrats on the growing and best of luck facelift on all yur endeavors'

 

[cork144]

Sorry guys if I come across as somewhat stubborn,but I'm pretty hellbent on putting 16 in one square foot just because I cannot complain with results as high as 4 ounces per sq. ft.

i have a 1.3sqft cab, 9 plants in there is a hassel, TRUST ME.

16 will be ommence, i dont suggest you jump into 16, try 9 per sqft, then add from there.

 

[InRainbows727]

I think either way I'm going to do it in the 20 oz bottles to get a feel for it, but after looking over some calculations, I figure for the first cycle I can use sugar leaves to create bubble hash, in addition to any remaining product that I may have left over. Right now, my total plant count will be somewhere inbetween 16-25, the more and more I think about it, the closer I get to 20--this would cover my smoking needs for the time being until I got my entire system up and running.

Regardless, this gives me an opportunity to really find the ideal heights for my plants, not to mention it will enable me to do some natural selection as well(in the interest of finding the perfect mom!)--I still do intend to work my way up from my initial goal and hopefully one day reach the very ideal 16 per sq/ft.

 

[jonkanoo]

jonkanoo-would you recommend just having two holes cut to size with no fan in it, and then have a large amount of negative pressure(from my scrubber fan), thusly eliminating all smell??

yes exatly.

 

[InRainbows727]

Revisions upon my box:

Revisions upon my box:

So I basically decided to revise my box a lot, to give you an update of what idea I'm pushing now:

(Same basic dimensions as before)

Lighting:
I'm thinking of solidifying it at 240w (already have 5-6 40w WW), I compared the lumen rating of this to the possible 26w, but with two per socket, and the 40w had a much higher lumen rating--regardless, I will be pulling about 7000 lumens per sq/ft. I think this is an adequate amount of light, especially considering I'm attempting to do this many plantlets, but does anybody have any suggestions (I'm already too knee deep in CFLS to switch to HPS at the moment--we use them around the house)?

Ventilation:
Considering the 240w of light in that small area, I was thinking of getting a Dayton 273CFM blower fan and hooking that up to a carbon scrubber, the carbon scrubber will be housed in a tupperware that will sit on the top of my box. I was wondering if someone could help me with the situation of calculating temps in my box before I set it up(taken from Freezerboys links--Link)basicall y I am getting a 273CFM fan, however because of the drag of the carbon filter, how many CFM would you say the fan is displacing? About half? The only reason I ask is that I was trying to keep temperatures within 4-6 degrees of my ambient temperature. In addition I'm kind of looking for overkill just because I might use the Dayton blower fan for another application further down the road with a greater requirement for air.

Also, the the final CFM helps me to determine the radius of all of those passive intakes, depending on size, I might do 4 PVC bends at the bottom, and if I need more, then upgrade to 6 and displace them slightly more.

Plant Numbers:
After coming to the realization that 16 plants per sq/ft is somewhat unrealistic in my conventional ways, I decided to tone it down to 20 plants in the entire grow space. After calculating yields (of about 7 grams each cutting), it's 5 ounces on the dot(hopefully!!). As said this will be a perpetual grow, so hopefully I will be getting fresh smoke every week/every two weeks.

Nutrients:
I was looking at fish emulsion as an alternative to my chemical nutrients right now--I was thinking about going to organics depending on what the cost was like. I'm currently thinking of using standard potting soil, adding some worm castings and perlite, then fertilizing with fish emulsion, I was looking over the Organics for Beginners and it had a very simple RECIPE #5
Fish and Seaweed batch that looked to simple to be true. Any suggestions on organics, I'm very very new to the idea of non-chemical fertilizers, so any push in the right direction would be great.

I think I forgot to mention that the walls will be painted flat white, and it will be made of plywood

Any overall suggestions would be most appreciated, I've already progressed my box design, hopefully getting closer and closer to the actual creation of it.

Thanks everybody,

Tumuli Shroomaroom