autoflower perpetual harvest 8 x 2 7

title correction= 8x2x7

hi everybody. ive been creeping the forums the last month or two. and i must say as a community you guys provide endless waves of priceless information.

quick story how i got here. one day i visited a buddy for the first time in many months. during the visit he showed me his first time grow. two autoflowers that were inspirational as can be. the very next day i started the massive amount of research he for warned me about. two week laters i begin my first box. it was a converted file cabinet with with cfl. the plant did awesome as far as growth but ended up male. i scraped the box and the plant. time to step it up a bit. more research lead me to a new box idea. it is finished and currently got four auto rolling, week and a half in. naturally after i deemed this project done once i got seeds planted ( cant be moved ill explain in bit ) i came across the wonderful idea of perpetual harvest.

so i started to conspire a way to do a perpetual harvest for autos. figured plant and chop one plant a week. i ended up leaning towards tent idea after my box isnt as stealth as planned and i cant find the dimension box im looking for. i plan on 8 feeet long 2 feet wide and 6-7 feet tall. the idea is to line against the wall, as my apartment would look a lil bit more wierd with a 3x3 cube tyaking 25 percent of my room. very similiar to this guys video but shrunk up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wklO_M_ChX4

i will attempt to draw a diagram in paint to help explain my idea and pictures of failed cfl and current box

this is my future grow plan after my current batch, need the current box equipment transferred over to new project


diagram of my bedroom/ grow room

diagram of box if the two front doors were open



after current grow i will build my 8x2x7 grow tent. transfer all the equipement over and begin the perpetual harvest. ill keep the box and convert it to a drieng center (might be able to fit a layered drieng rack on right side once everything is cleared out) and storage area for my various future jars of great labeled/dated genetics.

front of the box, notice the height level of the window. i made a homemade fixture for the fan ducting to suck cold air directly from outside.

left side of the box, the black housing hides the ducting from the side view ( outside view is also light proof and disguised)

right side of the box, i left exposed so you can see ducting

left side door open

right side door open and upper view right side

a view of the current ladies left to right planted from germination
12/30 auto widow
12/29 berry ryder
12/28 auto great white shark
12/28 northern lights x big bud auto

sooooo does anyone have any experiance with a similiar perpetual auto grow? is my layout likely to work? any constructive criticism?

all i can say is i hope your not growing in an apartment. thats never a good idea, not enough control over your area for security.
but if the space is yours, build with quality. and filter your intake air. might consider using reflective foam board insulation not just for light reflection but also noise. if its in your bedroom having liningbog 1/2 inch foam board all around will help will fan noise. also insulated ducting. just my first thoughts. good luck.

Interesting concept - keep us posted on your results!

What temperatures are your experiencing? 150 cfm going through two reflectors?
Are you sucking or blowing through the carbon filter?

If your temps & odors are OK, looks like you can do this ! A 'conveyor belt' of autos!
You may want to give yourself a little flexibility & spread out your autos rather than one per week. Some strains/plants may not finish precisely at 8 weeks, then you got a log jam at the end....

yes it is an apartment however, im on the top floor in the corner. basiaclly meaning that i have no traffic ever going past my front or back door. it is also located in a rough neighborhood. so the slight scent of weed is definatley not going to set off any alarms. as far as the two materials you listed wouldi be able to find those at my local hardware store or is that something i have to order online? thank you for your imput, it is very appreciated thank you

with my new clip fan and outside intake ( finally starting to feel like winter, been needing the cold air) im averaging 78 farenheit, while the outside weather is 39f. so im in good shape, until summer but i think i got an idea for that as well. im going to have it like this inline 100cfm fan 4'', then flexable ducting to first cooltube, then flex ducting to middle of box connected to 4'' 100cfminline fan, ducting, then cooltube, ducting then 150 or higher cfm centrifugel as exhaust out. bear with my primitave drawing here

intake fan===cooltube=====fan=====cooltube====big fan exhaust


i plan on having the carbon filter riding flush along the ceiling inside the box. its going to have its own dedicated fan.


i figured i was going to start at a two week interval to gauge the experiance, however with the basic building materials im using everything is reusable and able to be refitted if adjusting is necisary. ie_ 8 plants take more space than expected or my 800 watts is powerful enough i can shrink the box down as well. do you think 2 feet wide is enough? im using all 2 foot pvc pipes to add structure to the skeleton and with all the fittings allows for adjustability. however because of all the fittings my dimensions will be slightly bigger than 8x2x7 so lets say 2.5 feet. am i likely to be suffocating my ladies?

these were just taken

before lst


after

As far as a grow idea I think you have a lot already sorted out
What I would be particularly careful about is what strains you intend on growing
I'm growing 2 northern lights auto's right now (which is a lower odor strain) and you cant smell it outside the room, but certainly within it. Growing 8 plants at the same time means a significantly stronger smell. Even when keeping to only low odor strains, you still run the risk of a particularly stinky phenotype. It really does suck to hack up a plant just because it smells too strong
Also, keep the plant size in mind. I've seen a couple NL autos get massive, but you don't want them to crowd over your other plants.
You could make it work, but scrogging 1-2 plants at a time might be a more comfortable alternative

casian said:

intake fan===cooltube=====fan=====cooltube====big fan exhaust

Click to expand...

I like the idea of more fan power, but I don't like the idea of 'balancing' three (3) fans. Tough to get this right.
You might be better off with dedicated fans per tube. And you already mention a fan for the filter. I like this idea. This appears to be your only grow exhaust. This is going to be a bigger fan. Plus, four fans = noise. Two or one fan (sized correctly) should offer a better design.

casian said:

i plan on having the carbon filter riding flush along the ceiling inside the box. its going to have its own dedicated fan.

Click to expand...

Good plan. I would get this sooner rather than later. Odor control is important in nearly every grow design.

casian said:

do you think 2 feet wide is enough? so lets say 2.5 feet. am i likely to be suffocating my ladies?

Click to expand...

No - you should be fine. A narrow box makes it tougher, and you will have to pick the right strains. I don't think you will be able to use all your height w/your lights. Your lights sound good, but 7' light penentration down to the bottom is going to be tough. You can find small/med autos.

ReyBosk mention scrog. This would be different scenario than 8 autos, but could offer similar/better yields, with a more potent variety of strains.
My grow box is 2 feet wide (but shorter length & height). I scrog two plants.

ReyBosk said:

As far as a grow idea I think you have a lot already sorted out
What I would be particularly careful about is what strains you intend on growing
I'm growing 2 northern lights auto's right now (which is a lower odor strain) and you cant smell it outside the room, but certainly within it. Growing 8 plants at the same time means a significantly stronger smell. Even when keeping to only low odor strains, you still run the risk of a particularly stinky phenotype. It really does suck to hack up a plant just because it smells too strong
Also, keep the plant size in mind. I've seen a couple NL autos get massive, but you don't want them to crowd over your other plants.
You could make it work, but scrogging 1-2 plants at a time might be a more comfortable alternative

Click to expand...

after some minore advice from rollitup and others, i think i am going to start slow. maybe start a new plant every two weeks to see what my space situation looks like.

i was also pondering the idea of just making two boxes consisting of the size 4x2x7 similiar set up to this crude drawing.

since i only have one carbon filter and dont plan on buying a new fan ill only place it in one box. im thinking i might keep the perpetual harvest idea. keep the younger ones in one tent, and the older ones in the other with the carbon filter. im going to the store tomo to purchase the material to build the box. however all the pieces can come apart and be put back together. so more than likely ill try out multiple variations and post pics of each tomo and see what you guys think. if you have any ideas let me know. here is a list of what i am purchasing tomo

20-30 ea 1/2 inch 2 foot long pvc
8 1/2 corner piece
16 1/2 tee fittings
50x10 feet of panda film
1 or 2 rolls of guerilla tape, unless someone recomends something that is stronger

mrwood said:

I like the idea of more fan power, but I don't like the idea of 'balancing' three (3) fans. Tough to get this right.
You might be better off with dedicated fans per tube. And you already mention a fan for the filter. I like this idea. This appears to be your only grow exhaust. This is going to be a bigger fan. Plus, four fans = noise. Two or one fan (sized correctly) should offer a better design.


Good plan. I would get this sooner rather than later. Odor control is important in nearly every grow design.



No - you should be fine. A narrow box makes it tougher, and you will have to pick the right strains. I don't think you will be able to use all your height w/your lights. Your lights sound good, but 7' light penentration down to the bottom is going to be tough. You can find small/med autos.

ReyBosk mention scrog. This would be different scenario than 8 autos, but could offer similar/better yields, with a more potent variety of strains.
My grow box is 2 feet wide (but shorter length & height). I scrog two plants.

Click to expand...

as far as the fan goes i thought if you follow this basic equation you are generally good. low cfm intake-----> high cfm exhaust. this should allow all the air to move fluently right?
my planned setup 100 cfm----->light(air resistance)----->100cfm fan------> light( air resistance)------>150 cfm full power



whats your prefered minimum width if you were going to do a line of plants rather than a group?

casian said:

as far as the fan goes i thought if you follow this basic equation you are generally good. low cfm intake-----> high cfm exhaust. this should allow all the air to move fluently right?
my planned setup 100 cfm----->light(air resistance)----->100cfm fan------> light( air resistance)------>150 cfm full power

Click to expand...

Yes, this could work. Not sure you need the 150 at the end; you could go with another 100. Even with the 150, your max cfm should remain ~100 (given your first two fans).
I am still not sold on three fans/two reflectors/one duct. I have no experience with two lights/one duct, but I still can't picture the benefit. Moving air will cool the lamp, but #2 lamp will be getting the hot air from #1. If you are just cooling the lamps, I think you are better off with inlet>fan>reflector>exhaust x2. One less fan with more effective cooling.

Your carbon filter could be a scrubber, just recirculating the air within the tent. Or a one-pass filter with exhaust outside tent. Depending upon your temps, you may be able to hook the filter to your reflector then exhaust. One less fan again!

casian said:

whats your prefered minimum width if you were going to do a line of plants rather than a group?

Click to expand...

I think you are OK at 2' wide. For me, 2' would be a minimum (plant + air circulation + a little room to work). Remember, some guys grow in PC cases!
You mentioned auto. I mentioned scrog. Either way you can manage the size of the plant to work in your space. I bet I could go narrower if I tried with my scrog setup....

mrwood said:

Yes, this could work. Not sure you need the 150 at the end; you could go with another 100. Even with the 150, your max cfm should remain ~100 (given your first two fans).
I am still not sold on three fans/two reflectors/one duct. I have no experience with two lights/one duct, but I still can't picture the benefit. Moving air will cool the lamp, but #2 lamp will be getting the hot air from #1. If you are just cooling the lamps, I think you are better off with inlet>fan>reflector>exhaust x2. One less fan with more effective cooling.

Your carbon filter could be a scrubber, just recirculating the air within the tent. Or a one-pass filter with exhaust outside tent. Depending upon your temps, you may be able to hook the filter to your reflector then exhaust. One less fan again!



I think you are OK at 2' wide. For me, 2' would be a minimum (plant + air circulation + a little room to work). Remember, some guys grow in PC cases!
You mentioned auto. I mentioned scrog. Either way you can manage the size of the plant to work in your space. I bet I could go narrower if I tried with my scrog setup....

Click to expand...

i hate to sound like a hassle, but i cant quite picture what you explained. would it be a bother to ask for a crude drawing?

just took this

im ordering seeds from single seed centre tomo, anyone have any recommendations that they have had good luck with?

the skeleton as is for now, i will get the panda film in a couple week and it will be going. just ordered some seeds.
1x Free - 2 Free Feminized Seeds for £0.00 each1x Short Stuff - Super Cali-Haze (Super Auto) - Feminized for £9.60 each1x Nirvana - Auto Blue Mystic - Feminized for £5.41 each1x Green House - Sweet Mango Automatic - Feminized for £6.60 eachthis box should be going in two weeks now. its dimensions are 4'4''x2'2''x4'4''. when the rotation picks up and i need more space, ill add on another portion making the box 6'6''x2'2''x4'4''

update View attachment 2478205

Try getting used to just one strain because then you will know what size they will be and they will all finish around the same day.