NorCal Light Dep by STZ

STZ

Active Member
So after years of thinking about this and planning it and wanting to try and do it (and do it right at that), i'm finally setting up my first greenhouse for a light deprivation setup. I'm located in Northern California in the heart of you-know-where, so you can be sure all my plants get plenty of good soil, good sunlight, and good love :) Anyway enough about me lets get to the fun stuff.


The Rig: 15' by 8' by 6.5' Custom PVC Structure. It has a 15 by about eight foot base made of eight foot two by ten inch pressure-treated. I dug a small trench and cemented the 2x10's into the ground about 4-6 inches. I also supported the base with a total of twelve 3/8" rebar put about two feet into the ground. On top of this base I built a 6.5' high structure out of 3/4" schedule 40 PVC. I secured it to the base with both 3" sheetrock screws and metal collar-type fasteners. The top of the structure is reinforced with a second beam running the length of the greenhouse and two lengths of PVC put about 6 inches to a foot into the ground. My wife can literally do pullups from the center of this greenhouse but its made to be able to hang up to a complete 1000w ballast and all - its pretty rigid. The whole thing is ventillated with passive intake and a ~300cfm (not sure exactly) snail-type exhaust fan sitting in a frame I built at the top of the unit by the fence. I have like 25 feet of exhaust venting to run the exhaust out of the yard and into a big field :)

The Skin: I have a 40' x 50' black tarp that I beleive is supposed to be used to cover a single family home with a leaky roof as well as enough black 4 mil visqueen to cover the surface area of the frame about six times and enough panda plastic to line the inside twice but i'm not sure how to fasten it to the frame without damaging the plastic and having the elements tear my rig apart!

The Plants: Right now im working with a whole tray with a variety of sick and poorly-treated clones that someone saw fit to gift me. Most ended up dying but fortunately 4 Afwreck and 2 Blue Dream seem to have made it out alive. They're not lookin great by any means but they'll live :) Not sure if I want to take the time to veg them out into mothers or just try to acquire about a dozen more plants and put everything out in the greenhouse...

The Problems: I'm not sure what to do about the plants yet and I could really use some advice on that. Also I need a simple way to attach the layers of plastic to the PVC frame really well with minimal streching and tearing of the material. I currently have six big holes dug inside the greenhouse from where my outdoor was last year...should I just veg six fatties and use those six holes? Or maybe switch it up with a raised bed with a walkway? Or maybe 5 gal pots like an indoor setup? Also, as this is my first light dep setup, i'm not sure when to take them out of the veg room and plant them. The normal outdoor goes in the ground somewhere in the end of April to the middle of May. I'd like to finish by mid June at the latest if thats possible so I can throw a pre-vegged OD crop in afterwards. Think thats reasonable to hope for? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance. Peace RIU.
 

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Norcal14

Well-Known Member
Fuck ya way to be motivated and get a good early start I myself live in Humboldt County gotta love them big Cali buds keep the thread going man looks really good!
 

STZ

Active Member
Thanks man yeah i'm in your area. I can't believe how hard Norcal holds it down :)

Anyway, I spent all day buying supplies to get the project to the final stage. I got a couple oscillating fans to move some air around in there. I was also debating over a zipper or a zelcro-strip setup for the flap-door entrance. Which is more durable? Cost effective? Easy to work with? Which is more light-proof? Thanks in advance for help RIU!
 

STZ

Active Member
F it i'm not too proud to bump my own thread once :) Hook me up with some help/feedback/info RIU. Peace!
 

Vindicated

Well-Known Member
Pretty cool setup man. I only wonder if it's sturdy. Do you feel confident that it can survive strong winds?

Zipper vs Velcro.... not that it matters a whole lot, but I'd go with Velcro. If you buy a cheap zipper, I would think it might jam. I'm not sure how your gonna attach the panels. You might be able to make a U shaped bracket out of steel tape or a thick plastic sheeting. Then secure it with a strong adhesive or putty.

For the soil part... I like the raised bed idea. But then you'd want to fill those holes up. Have you read up on intensive gardening (also called square foot gardening). It looks like you can make two 6x6 beds in there with plenty of room for a pathway. A 4x4 bed can hold 16 plants. You should be able to fit in 36 plants per bed if you plant one plant per square foot -- works best with single colas, but branching will fit with some training.
 

STZ

Active Member
Heh yeah plants just recently went in the greenhouse im finishing it up today and ill update later with some pics.
 

STZ

Active Member
Wow its been forever since I updated this thread! I hate when people start grow log type things and don't keep up on them! Damn I am a slacker! I have been pretty busy keeping all these plants happy :) Plus my wife's camera broke. I took a million pics with mine but it sucks. But here are some of the newer pics from my camera anyway.

Its been going pretty well as far as I can tell. The plants have been in the ground about 2 and a half weeks, ten days or so of which they've spent flowering. Just starting to shoot tons of hairs. Before long they should be stacking up buds! The three big ones in solo 3x3 holes are Afwreck. The small group of 8 bunched up sativa looking ones toward the back of the trench are Blue Dream. I nursed these 8 clones back from bad health the likes of which you have never seen! Then there are 12 or 13 short bushy GDP plants in the front. I am still hoping for about a pound of each strain plus some change. Based on the opinions of my friends (other pot growers), people seem to think i'll pull anywhere from 2.25 to 4 pounds all said and done. Hopefully the purples start finishing up in the middle to end of June, and the Wrecks and Dreams should be done the first week of July. It will be fun to see if the GDP's actually turn purple despite the fact that the temps in the blackout never go below the high 60's.

Anyway, hit me up with some feedback or something. I will try to be better about updating this, as exciting things should be happening very soon :) Peace RIU!
 

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statik

Well-Known Member
Wish SD was cooler about outdoor grows. We can only do so if in a green house..which is great and all. But sometimes you don't have the room for such things. So indoors I stay till I come back to my part of Cali... North of Sac.

Looking decent in there man. Yes, please...keep this updated. I love watching plants grow under the sun, the way it was intended!
 

STZ

Active Member
Wish SD was cooler about outdoor grows. We can only do so if in a green house..which is great and all. But sometimes you don't have the room for such things. So indoors I stay till I come back to my part of Cali... North of Sac.

Looking decent in there man. Yes, please...keep this updated. I love watching plants grow under the sun, the way it was intended!
Thanks man! My older bro is in Oceanside and he has a little greenhouse with like 6 plants - says its all he's allowed to have. North of Sac is bomb weed growing country too. Chico area has some FIRE. Ill update again soon :)
 

STZ

Active Member
ever been to The Bear? Loved it there....
Lol the Bear is really fun. We got kicked out of there once cuz my buddy straight up kicked some guy in the chest as he was walking up the three or four stairs in the front of the bar and dude went flying. Ahh college :)
 

statik

Well-Known Member
Its funny you mention north of Sac and Chico areas. I used to live all over the 530 area code, for 24 years of my life anyway. I moved down here to SD just over a year ago. I know quite a few people in the Chico area (still have fam there). I think I still have a bench warrant in Butte County actually lmao.

You know where Placerville is? I grew up in El Dorado County mainly.
 

theloadeddragon

Well-Known Member
my first gf was there in Chico..... lol... her phone number was 891-1734..... after 20 yrs I still remember it ;)...... not her number anymore.... not for a long time.... but I remember.... I love that area.... Bidwell park will always be amongst my favorites ;)
 

statik

Well-Known Member
my first gf was there in Chico..... lol... her phone number was 891-1734..... after 20 yrs I still remember it ;)...... not her number anymore.... not for a long time.... but I remember.... I love that area.... Bidwell park will always be amongst my favorites ;)
I have had a lot of fun in Bidwell park. I've wandered through there at night on Acid, many drunked wanderings into the bush...ahh memories...
 

STZ

Active Member
Update time. Everythings going great we're about 3 weeks into flowering now and the only think that would make me happier is if it would stop fucking raining! Anyway, heres a bunch of pics. Enjoi :)

In order we got - The box with the top on and the 600w plugged in due to rain, some of the GDP from above, Afwreck close up nugs starting to form, all the GDP's lined up, finally got the top off, Afwreck from above, another Afwreck from above, GDP close up nugs starting to form, Blue Dream close up nugs starting to form (seems a week behind though).
 

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statik

Well-Known Member
Looking really nice there STZ. Yeah the weather has been funky as hell here all over Cali lately. Snowed on Placerville...in MAY!?
 

STZ

Active Member
Heres a little update - I'm just over a month into flowering and shits starting to get real. GDPs chunking up big time, BD's starting to fill in, and Afwrecks are just powerhousing like they usually do :) I started watering with molasses for the first time ever and I am excited to see how my plants react to it! Planning on using it up until harvest if I notice results. Heres some pics from yesterday. 1st pic is the whole thing, second is the row of Grandaddys, third is the Blue Dream stack, next is one of the big Afwrecks, and last but not least is a semi-close up of one of the Afwreck colas. Yum!
 

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