Tent Growers Club....

[Hushpuppy]

Thankyou Guys Tents do rock. My last grow I harvested, I had to have a grow friend help me trim it and he was blown away by the results when I opened up the tent. I am now rocking 2 tents, both Secret Jardin Darkroom 5x5 with 2 600wHPS in each tent. I got BBP and Blue Mystic in one tent and just BBp in the other, but I have Pineapple chunk and Larry OG Kush warming up for the next turn in the tents I'll get some pics up tomorrow

 

[Sol]

I think Hushpuppy has the perfect set-up. I was just reading that a 600 watt covers only a 3x3 footprint and creates 2500 btu whereas a 1000 covers a 4x4 footprint and creates 5000 btu. By using 2 600s' you can overlap your footprint in a 5x5 tent AND your heat value is still less than that of a 1000 watter. Interesting

 

[tastyness]

Hushpuppy-How many plants do you run in each tent? Can't wait to see the pics.

How do most of you arrange your plants in the tent?
I've got two lights (1000 and 600) hanging side by side. It makes for about 3 rows.
One under the center of the 1000, one under the center of the 600 and one in the middle. Still feel like there is wasted space with not enough light along the back side of the tent. Because of where my bracing is I can't quite hang the lights where I want and the poles underneath the floor of the tent sometimes keep me from putting them where I want.
Still it is like the Shangi-La in there so the girls are happy

 

[Hushpuppy]

Hey Yeah, I took some pics but they didn't show up worth using so I will take some more tomorrow and post so you can see it. I run mine in hydro so I have the 10gal totes with w 2 holes in the lids of each and have 4 totes in 1 tent, so that makes for 8 plants which I am hoping will fill out into the space and grow a bit to nearly fill the space while leaving enough spacing between branches for good light penetration.

In my other tent, I have 3 plants in a row at the back that are in organic and then 2 totes, 1 on either side of the door, each with 2 plants. these 4 are in hydro. I like to form a "U" shape with my plants so that the opening of the U is facing the entrance to the tent. This makes it somewhat easier to get in to service the system resevoir, which sits directly in the center, and tend the girls as needed without killing my trashed back.

I found that I made a mistake with placing the organic trio at the back of the one tent because it has made it difficult to get to the plants for watering and tending.

I would say that if you are working in soil then having 4 nice plants in 3-5gal pots, vegged to about 2-3' tall depending on how much they stretch, and Fimmed/LST to make them bush out well, then set equal distant in a square formation within the tent (5x5) would produce very nicely under the 2 lights.

I am using the cooltubes in my tents because I like for them to spread the light out a bit and overlap each other so that plenty of lumens get to the plants from 2 different directions. So far I have found that works best for me. I have them tied together with flex hose and pulling air out of the tents through the lights and into the ceiling of my building where I have a 530cfm vortex for each tent. Here is the one tent with the organic trio under the screen for bud support. This is looking in from the side window of the tent. The 4 plants in totes are Blue Mystic:

 

[tastyness]

Hush
Wow- that really helps a lot - thanks for sharing.
I'm gonna go take some pics- and I'll be back with my questions based on what you said.

 

[pcduck]

I only have a 4 x 4 with two 600 watters. I run 2 rows of 3 maybe a single straggler that get pushed around depending on the size of the other girls. That would be a total of 7

 

[tastyness]

So this is my 6.5X6.5 tent with 8 plants in it. 1000W and 600W in the room.

My two challenges:
Pedestal fan takes up the space of one plant AND when going I sometimes lose a space because I don't want the leaves to get over dry, over winded.

Braces in bottom of tent. The strut across the bottom middle of the tent makes the pots uneven and it is hard to use that space. I've got little plastic things that I use to balance them but it is still a bit of a PITA.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Very nice Tasty Very good-looking girls you got there. I had the same issue with over-drying the plants with the bigger pedastel fans. I found some smaller oscillating fans that work well and are shorter so they blow up under the plants since my plants are up a bit. If you look close at the picture you can see the fan in the middle right. I got it at Walgreens. It blows just enough in there to move everyone around but doesn't stay on them but a moment. I gotta get another one for the new tent as right now I am using small fixed fans for that.

 

[Sol]

If you had , the above two light set up. Could you get the same effect as a dual spectrum bulb by having one HPS and one MH? I was considering trying it as i read that the dual spectrum really helps in later flowering. Any clue?

 

[tastyness]

HushPuppy,
I've got a second smaller fan, will try that today and see how it goes.
Really miss my cool black turbo fan I sold before moving. I see some growers use them on the roof of the tent.
I buy all my second hand so it depends on what's out there.
The fan used to be in the right corner as you walked into the tent-you see I'm trying it in back center right now.
I'm hunting for some small PC fans now - another thing we tossed a whole box of when moving.

 

[pcduck]

If you had , the above two light set up. Could you get the same effect as a dual spectrum bulb by having one HPS and one MH? I was considering trying it as i read that the dual spectrum really helps in later flowering. Any clue?

Our member 4u2Smoke built a dual cool tube with with both mH and hps maybe he will pop in here and give a report on his set up

 

[Hushpuppy]

If you had , the above two light set up. Could you get the same effect as a dual spectrum bulb by having one HPS and one MH? I was considering trying it as i read that the dual spectrum really helps in later flowering. Any clue?

Yeah I thought about that. I think having the dual spectrum would be beneficial but if I were foing to do that I would put maybe a 400w MH in the middle and keep the (2)600watters on the outside as the metals don't put out as many lumens as the HPS, so you don't want to substitute unless you know you are way over the minimum and/or you have them on a rotating assembly that will automatically move the lights around to better disperse the light.

I am interested to see how Smoke's dual light setup is doing myself.

 

[Jimmy James]

Please rate these tents/Grow rooms.

1) Grow Lab
2) Dark Room II
3) Light House Silver Edition
4) Argomax

Thanks for you help.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I have 2 of the Darkroom II 5x5 tents and love them. If I expand in the future, I will definitely buy more of them. I can't speak for any of the others as I have never used them

 

[Hushpuppy]

Here's a few pics of my 2 tents sitting side by side:

The last pic is when I first set up the first tent. I have 2 600wHPS in cooltubes in each tent

 

[pcduck]

I have a Secret Jardin DRII 120...no complaints here

 

[tastyness]

I'm wondering if it is a good idea to leave the tent flaps open with lights on to help keep temperatures down.

My concern is that having them open exposes the interior of the tent to more potential problems. Mold spores, spider mites, other dust and stuff from the house. Inside tent was thoroughly cleaned before starting and I try to be careful about what ends up in the tent.

Tent is located in a large spare bedroom with high ceilings. Until now the door to this room was kept closed, (odor control is important for me) but as temps have risen I've kept door open. This connects to a small landing and MB.

High yesterday at 85 (was lights off time so that's leftover from day before)
Low yesterday was 73
RH was 49%-57% - (Low was after lights out; High was after watering all 8 plants)

The plants appear very happy. I'm interested in keeping them that way. This new temp issue has just come up in the last few days and I am still adjusting daily trying to get back to 65-75 deg. and >50% rH.
I've been running the oscillating fan on high during lights off and med during lights on.

 

[Dan K. Liberty]

don't leave your flaps open, tasty :icon_smile: . . . 76-78 is optimal, but low to mid 80's will do little harm to healthy adult plants

jm2c :48:

 

[Sol]

I think everyone is dealing with excess heat these days.

Funny, i can see the floor in the pics of your tents, i have'nt seen the floor of my tent since i bought it. (its' FULL)

 

[gourmet]

My two challenges:
Pedestal fan takes up the space of one plant AND when going I sometimes lose a space because I don't want the leaves to get over dry, over winded.

I got 3 desk fans from Walgreens and strapped them to the corner poles. I use those instead of an oscillating fan because they take up no room from the plants. They have a base that wraps around the pole. There is a picture in my Eight Mile High grow journal.