Introduction, and 100 Watt HPS Cabinet Grow

S

swelchjohn

New Member
I have decided to properly introdce myself to RIU. I am a long time reader, and this site has been a blessing. I appreciate all of the great help from every grower of every level over the years.
Any way my first grow thread here will be a new little project of mine, a cabinet grow with only 100 watts of High Pressure Sodium light from start to finish. I've got 6-7 years indoor & outdoor growing experience and recently only have a small space to work with. No matter how large or small my living space, I still need my meds.
My goal with this grow is to maximize my yield through efficiency, quality, and simplicity while maintaining a low budget. For the sake of experimentation(never grown with these conditions before), I have decided to go with store bought ready made soil mix and simple three step nutrient system.
The entire cabinet is constructed from left over scrap material and hardware laying around my garage, for starters. As I am not finished with the cabinet yet, there may be a couple things missing here and there, but you'll get the concept. I want to try and grab some attention for this thread from start to finish. Here we go :

-1.5ftW x 1.5ft L x 4ft H Custom Built Cabinet, Reflective Liner
-3 1/2in 12v Intake/Exhaust, Activated Carbon Filters, Custom Built Redwood Housings(coastal redwood resists moisture stress, pests, molds and mildews)
-Standard heavy duty mechanical timer
-100 Watt HPS Lamp with custom made height adjustable reflector.
-Fox Farm Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom nutrient set
-Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting mix, 40/60 perlite/soil ratio
-Some Master Kush seeds from last season's outdoor crop

Here are my current cabinet photos. Any/all questions, comments, critiques. Keep in mind this cabinet is NEAR, but not quite complete but I will still answer all questions accordingly. Thanks for looking I hope to get some feedback soon :D






 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
thank you, but it just got a lot nicer. i was waiting to become legal in the county i moved to and i finally took care of it yesterday. instead of the seeds i ditched them for a couple clones to start with since i lost a LOT of time. updates shortly.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
cramming a 250 in there was a first thought of mine, believe you me. i got to thinking : would i want to beef up the ventilation and re-do my plans for this cabinet for more than double the lighting? would this benefit me in my situation? all in all, no. if i stay efficient i will more than likely pull, or close to pull, the golden 'one gram per watt.' this is going to yield plenty of medication for myself.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member



So i've got pre-98 Bubba Kush on the left, and Banana Kush on the right. Ditched the seeds and went with clones to make this quicker and easier on me. I added a 4" inline duct fan that sucks 65CFM; the two 3.5" weren't cutting it after i tested. Now i have both 3.5" fans as intake(researched, and they have a little less than 65CFM combined) and the 4" as exhaust at the top rear of my cabinet. I've also added a better door jam that is all the way around the door instead of just 3 sides. Added some weather stripping to around the door as well. Things seem to be going nicely. NOW here is my latest co-op pick up :


 
B

BCbudEZ

Member
Beautiful setup! Nice and small. Really, I don't think you could efficiently use much more than 100w of light in that space anyhow. You've got a bunch of experience.... And if you walk a tight rope with this grow, I bet you might even break a gram a watt.

Isn't it hard to choose which pictures to upload?
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
BCbudEZ said:
Beautiful setup! Nice and small. Really, I don't think you could efficiently use much more than 100w of light in that space anyhow. You've got a bunch of experience.... And if you walk a tight rope with this grow, I bet you might even break a gram a watt.

Isn't it hard to choose which pictures to upload?
Click to expand...
Thank you very much on the compliment. I couldn't agree more on my light usage. There were others near me while this was in production giving me a ration of shit about how my lighting was insufficient. PLENTY of lumens per cubic ft, if thats how you want to look at it. And again, with all of that reflectivity something any larger than even 150 watts could potentially fry my plants. As far as pulling more than a gram per watt, i'd have to have EVERY base covered, and i don't. No Co2 system, and i lose a bit of light due to the 4-6" distance my bulb has from the plants. Granted, this could be solved with a piece of glass. And yes i do find myself lost in thought when trying to put the right pics up. I want to go into detail on how i wired up the ballast kit and what materials i used to house it all make my reflector and how etc etc. Updates after lights on today keep watch!:bigjoint:
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
Today things are looking great. The bubba has grown an inch in the last couple days, and the banana is doing just as well. The banana had some yellowing in a few lower leaves, but since it's been here i've seen lots of improvement. Both of them looked a little unhappy, with some minor droopage. I think it was a lack of moisture in the air given they were sitting in open air inside the collective for all to see. Whatever it was they love it here and it shows. They're on a very mild nutrient solution of FoxFarm Big Bloom reduced to 1/4 potency to give just for a little extra push. They've been getting a daily mist at lights on of 1/8 Strength big bloom also. Once i see some more vigor, hopefully in the next week, i'll start easing in the Grow Big to my nutrient mix. Any questions let me know. What everyone actually wants :

Bubba Kush


Banana Kush


Family Portrait
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
They both have completely bounced back from the condition I bought them in. All of my new foliage is perky and healthy, the older foliage is now much more green but still has a little disoloration. Tomorrow I'll be introducing Grow Big starting at 1/4 strength.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
Wasn't paying attention to yesterday's upload.Wrong pictures.Those pics were a few days stale, my mistake. Oh well, an update none-the-less..Past that, here are pics taken today at lights on. I can't show much detail in a duo photo, as these girls are getting chubby so here are individual shots. Sexy, as usual.

Bubba Kush



Banana Kush



I gave 50% more water than I generally would yesterday(sort of a micro flush, if you will) to make ready for the Grow Big in my nutrient mix. The above average amount of water in the run-off pan shot the humidity up 30%(to 76%, to be exact)..This cabinet maintains no lower than and not much more than 45% humidity. This prompted me to add more water for evaporation once or twice a week; I am now aware of the effectivness of standing water[to add humidity] in such a small scale grow. :-P
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP. I see people do this, I guess to get attention. There has got to be SOME ONE that wants to drop by!
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
This is pat. Can't sex for quite some time, thus the ambiguous name. He/She lives in my window sill, and I never intended to do anything with the seed other than see if it actually grows.I wanted a little "bonsai" project to mess with while I'm at the desk. It's from a bag of old "buds"(Circa 1979, did not look much like buds anymore) my old man taped into a photo album as a momento. Assuming anyone could guess the taste of this poorly stored herb of this age, I do not need to tell you how awful it was. Why? Curiousity and nostalgia.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
Jer La Mota said:
Very cool setup!
Love the pot flasks banana kush :-P
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'm glad someone has shown moderate interest! Those containers are pretty much standard at most dispensaries in the area, I just toss them when they are empty. Today's pick : Grand Daddy Purple...Of course :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top