A novice's attepmt with Big Bud

[FrayedKnott]

I have been reading and absorbing quite a bit from this site the past few months. I'm not sure that I have it all correct. I've decided to do an indoor after someone thought they needed the plants I had growing outside. This site ROCKS! All the other sites do not seem as responsible and mature about growing MJ as here so here I am.


I had a grow box built that is 4'Wx3.5'Lx6.5'H. In the box is a 600w digital MH/HPS w/ an Easy Cool 6 reflector using a 6" inline fan to cool the light with. There is a Grow Bright 4" fan attached to a charcoal filter for exhaust and 2 2" pvc pipes for intake (considering installing a 4" inline fan if needed for high temps). The inside is painted with Kool Seal White Elastomeric Roof Coating. Inside the box I have a temp/hygro remote sensor and a webcam. I can monitor the temp and humidity and also view inside the box from my desk upstairs

I've germinated 10 Big Bud seeds using the paper towel technique. 9 of the seeds had a tap root after 36 hours. All were planted into styrofoam cups filled with ProMix w/ Mycorise soil.

As of now the seedlings are in the growbox under 3 27w Daylight CFL bulbs 24/7 for the past 2 days. My intentions are to keep them under the CFLs for 2 weeks then putting them under the 600w MH.

I was thinking of transplanting to a 1 gallon container at 3 weeks.

I've included some photos.

1st photo is my growbox. The there is an adjustable shelf.
2nd photo are the germinated seeds.
3rd photo is germed seeds in cups under cfls
4th photo are seedlings

Any pointers, recommendations, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! Mike

 

[cuy103]

Impressive set-up. Looks like you got everything down bro

 

[ms4ms]

I am lucky to be the first to answer this post. I wish my set up was this good. It seems like you have done everyhting top-shelf. My grow set up is smaller so others will chime in for sure. I hope you do a grow journal with this set up so we can all watch your girls go crazy. the webcam is a cool idea. Great job.

 

[toke@smoke420]

cant wait to see some BIG BUDs haha everything looks nice and professional keep it up and youll have a blast.

 

[Bleek187]

i started 3 seeds of big bud about 5 weeks ago.. i had planed on making a second grow box to flower in but decided not 2... so i cant flower them untill my other crop is done.. its got about 2 weeks left... these big bud plants are rediculous... they suck up so much water and are so BIG its driving me crazy... ive got a big bud plant next to a blueberry plant i started the same day and the big bud is about 3 times biger than the blue... pretty cool =)

 

[FrayedKnott]

Ok, so now my seeds have all sprouted, even the one that didn't get a tap root when they all were planted. It's been a couple of days since they've sprouted and they're getting their first set of leaves.

One thing I noticed is that gray mold was growing on the soil of some of the cups. I googled this and found that it grows because of high moisture and no air movement. I was only watering every other day because the soil was still damp and the cups had holes in the bottom for drainage. The temps have been 75-77F with 65% humidity.

I went and bought a desktop fan and transplanted all the plants in new soil and cups. Some of the plants have a wilting look.I hope they'll be ok.

Any advice would be great!

1st photo is yesterday, might be able to see the mold.
2nd photo is today several hours after transplanting and installation of fan

Thanks! Mike

 

[FrayedKnott]

The plants showed stress from their transplant with browning on the leaf edge. They started growing their second set of leaves.

So, after a week of cfl's, I've put the plants under a 600w MH light. They seem able to handle the increased light. With the MH light the temps are hitting 90F with a RH of 40%. I've installed another 6" 250 cfm inline fan to cool the light and added a 4" 80cfm fan for increased intake. The light is now just warm underneath it to the touch. After all this the temps are still in the upper 80's. I'm going to try the frozen water jugs in front of the intake when they freeze. I've put a bucket of water in the box in hopes of inceasing the RH.

I have a fan blowing on the plants to circulate the air and avoid mold while strengthing their stems. They are 28" from the light.

Couple of questions, when should I repot to a 1 gallon and when should I start nutrients? I'm going to use the Fox Farms Grow Big for vegging. What more can I do to lower temps and raise humidity?

1st photo is yesterday just begining MH light.
2nd is 24hrs after MH light.

 

[KGB30]

Awesome setup & grow.. Keep on growing.lol

 

[FrayedKnott]

Well, my plants are looking much better and getting bigger. They are handling the 600w MH light very well, not showing signs of stress from the increased light and heat. Temps are still in the upper 80's, usually 88-89F. Not sure what else to do, I've put more intake fans in and am using the frozen jugs also. The temps lower to 85.5-86f with the jugs, but they don't last but aboout 2-3 hours.

I think I'll wait another week to repot to 1 gallon and then another week to start nutrients.

 

[tess]

Looking good Boy, I'd transfer them soon better them have too much room then too little

 

[bombbudpuffa]

You need a stronger fan on your exhaust and/or get the temp in the room they are growing in cooler. You don't want to fertilize them until they are around 30 days old.

 

[KGB30]

Looking good buddy

 

[FrayedKnott]

You need a stronger fan on your exhaust and/or get the temp in the room they are growing in cooler.

The exhaust fan I have now is a 4" 170cfm connected to a charcoal filter. Do you think another 4" fan w/ filter will do the trick? or should I go with a 6" 424cfm fan w/ filter to lower the temps?

Thanks!

 

[bombbudpuffa]

I'd go with the 6 inch if you can.

 

[toke@smoke420]

6 inch all the way man i got direct ac hookup to my closet 600 watt hps, and 2 250 cfm 6 inch inline propeller fans for my outtake fans my temps are fine now but defintly took some time to get my temps right, youll just need play with all the stuff try different combinations with your fans ac etc., i have to have a cooling source not just fans becoase i live in a very hot, tropical enviroment. hope this helps, peace.

 

[FrayedKnott]

These puppies are getting bigger by the day. I've decided to repot them into 1 gallon containers this weekend as tess suggested. I'm afraid as fast as they are growing, next week might be to late.

I ordered the 6" 424cfm inline fan w/ filter. Should be here sometime early next week. Hopefully it'll keep the temps down. Planning to build some sort of styrofoam box with egg crate foam to absorb the noise, maybe do that for the 4" fan also. In the mean time I'll be using the frozen water jugs to keep down the temps.

Here is my latest photo, I turned the tray around just so they would be in a different place under the light.

 

[jibba069]

To help keep the fan noise down get a speed adjuster for the fans. Mine sound like there was a plane underneath my room. I got one and it has been quite since.

 

[FrayedKnott]

Ok, I've repotted my plants into 1 gallon pots. They had quite a few roots at the bottom of those cups, I was suprised the root system was so advanced after 2 weeks.

I left the door open to my growbox last night and the temp went down to 79F. All the plants seem much happier with the new containers and lower temps.

I'm going to Harbor Freight to get a variable speed controller, hope this keeps the noise down and still allows the fan to bring in as much cooler air as needed.

1st photo is side view of plants in growbox.
2nd photo is a shot of the tops.

 

[FrayedKnott]

Well I received the 6" 424 cfm fan and filter. I've revamped my growbox. The new fan/filter was installed on the right side. The duct work for the light was changed to flexible tubing and the light hung with chain. The two 6" fans that cooled the light were removed and installed near the bottom of the box as intakes. The exhaust from the new fan/filter combo is now being used to cool the light. The shelf was removed to allow more air circulation and the light is now able to raise and lower. An oscillating fan was mounted on the left wall for air circulatig and stem strengthening.


So there is a 4" 170 cfm fan/filter and a 6" 424 cfm fan/filter used for exhaust. The fan/filter probably runs 75% of maximum, so the 4" is 127 cfm and the 6" is 318 cfm for a total exhaust of 445 cfm. I have two 6" 250 cfm fans and a 4" 80 cfm fan for a total of 580 cfm intake. My box has 84 ft/c3.

Even with all this air exchange my temps are still in the upper 80's. I figure the problem is that I'm using the 6" exhaust fan to cool the light and that's probably not going to help cool things down. Tomorrow I'm going to Home Depot to get two 6" inline fans to cool the light, one for intake the other for exhaust for the light.

1st photo of the changes.
2nd photo is the plants.

 

[risktaker27]

looking very good i had same problem with temps in my grow cab cant go wrong with more fans imo.mine stays around 80-83 deg if i leave door open 75-80