1st Grow AK-48 250w HPS

Well I guess I'll start my saying this IS my first legit grow.

I'm using Llamabox's 250w stealth cabinet design with a few small revision such as casters on the bottom for mobility and internal braces.

Here's the thread I used :
http://weed-forums.com/diy-tutorials/11287-250watt-stealth-cabinet.html

Might be the same thread in here I'm not sure though.

Anyways down to business.

Ordered my Seeds from Nirvana on October 28th got them in the mail November 11th. Not bad at all for traveling overseas. The wallet that they came with is pretty awesome too.

All in all a very pleasant first time buyer experience. Will use them again.

Starting my germination on 11/27/09 so I'll consider that Day #1

Day #3
Well I didn't realize my stoner mistake until it was too late. I put the rooter plugs in the wrong direction .




I didn't think too much of it at the time of this picture but it became very apparent as of till there 3rd over the plug when 2 inches of the root was exposed.
I'm too embarrassed to even post a picture so I'll just leave it at that.

Day #10



As you can see my solution for the upside down plug was to simply stack a rock wool cube on top the first .

The upper plant in the picture seems to be the runt of the two but I'm not too worried. And yes I did help it get the seed off after I took this picture.

As of now I'm only running a single 26w "Soft White" fluorescent until I make my run in town for the damn fixtures. I thought I had some laying around but turns out not. Now I gotta go fork out $7 a piece for 4 of them .

I have a slight problem though, being as I can't move the cabinet into my room and have to leave it in the garage how can I keep the temperature of the 12"x24" chamber up higher? It's December and it's getting cold. I've already placed a space heater as close as I could to the cabinet but it's still just a mere ~71 degree in the chamber.

Will having all 4 26w florescent bulbs running at once help raise the temp a little?

I'm considering placing a 60w incandescent bulb in the chamber but I surely don't wanna take the risk of leaving and coming back my plants dead b/c of heat before that had a real fighting chance.

Suggestions?

Ohh and the mean temperature of the garage is about 67-68 F depending on where your standing.

chesirecat1701 said:

Well I guess I'll start my saying this IS my first legit grow.

I'm using Llamabox's 250w stealth cabinet design with a few small revision such as casters on the bottom for mobility and internal braces.

Here's the thread I used :
http://weed-forums.com/diy-tutorials/11287-250watt-stealth-cabinet.html

Might be the same thread in here I'm not sure though.

Anyways down to business.

Ordered my Seeds from Nirvana on October 28th got them in the mail November 11th. Not bad at all for traveling overseas. The wallet that they came with is pretty awesome too.

All in all a very pleasant first time buyer experience. Will use them again.

Starting my germination on 11/27/09 so I'll consider that Day #1

Day #3
Well I didn't realize my stoner mistake until it was too late. I put the rooter plugs in the wrong direction .




I didn't think too much of it at the time of this picture but it became very apparent as of till there 3rd over the plug when 2 inches of the root was exposed.
I'm too embarrassed to even post a picture so I'll just leave it at that.

Day #10



As you can see my solution for the upside down plug was to simply stack a rock wool cube on top the first .

The upper plant in the picture seems to be the runt of the two but I'm not too worried. And yes I did help it get the seed off after I took this picture.

As of now I'm only running a single 26w "Soft White" fluorescent until I make my run in town for the damn fixtures. I thought I had some laying around but turns out not. Now I gotta go fork out $7 a piece for 4 of them .

I have a slight problem though, being as I can't move the cabinet into my room and have to leave it in the garage how can I keep the temperature of the 12"x24" chamber up higher? It's December and it's getting cold. I've already placed a space heater as close as I could to the cabinet but it's still just a mere ~71 degree in the chamber.

Will having all 4 26w florescent bulbs running at once help raise the temp a little?

I'm considering placing a 60w incandescent bulb in the chamber but I surely don't wanna take the risk of leaving and coming back my plants dead b/c of heat before that had a real fighting chance.

Suggestions?

Ohh and the mean temperature of the garage is about 67-68 F depending on where your standing.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of stoner mistakes! That's the reason I take copious notes. If you think my grow journal is retentive, you should see the physical notes....

Heat control was probably the most difficult portion my grows. After you do some experimentation, you'll get it down. I'd add bulbs slowly to check their effect on temp and RH.

Remember, it's a weed, and I'm finding the AK-48 very resilient!

'Scribed. + Rep for starting your journal.

Abnjm said:

Welcome to the world of stoner mistakes! That's the reason I take copious notes. If you think my grow journal is retentive, you should see the physical notes....

Heat control was probably the most difficult portion my grows. After you do some experimentation, you'll get it down. I'd add bulbs slowly to check their effect on temp and RH.

Remember, it's a weed, and I'm finding the AK-48 very resilient!

'Scribed. + Rep for starting your journal.

Click to expand...

Thanks for stopping by. Your journal is definitely going to be a huge help.

For now I've stuck the heater in the large flowering chamber at 80 F
"low" mode and left the big door cracked and put up a small door to keep the chamber the seedlings are in sealed.

So far it's working out for now, temp is about at 73 in the small chamber. I'm gonna put a small incandescent in the chamber if my whole "space heater" idea doesn't hold out or makes for too much temp fluctuation.

I also lowered the ph of my misting water from about 7.6 to 6.2~6.3 using an aquarium test kit and a little white vinegar.

2 concerns:

Is using vinegar until I get the ph control kit in the mail safe?

And is dropping the ph this far safe?
As in should I do a more gradual drop say like 7.6 to 7 ish and then down to 6.6 and lower?

Like I said I'm still soaking up all the info I can. I'm not quite sure the best pH range for water my seedlings is so input is much appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

chesirecat1701 said:

Thanks for stopping by. Your journal is definitely going to be a huge help.

For now I've stuck the heater in the large flowering chamber at 80 F
"low" mode and left the big door cracked and put up a small door to keep the chamber the seedlings are in sealed.

So far it's working out for now, temp is about at 73 in the small chamber. I'm gonna put a small incandescent in the chamber if my whole "space heater" idea doesn't hold out or makes for too much temp fluctuation.

I also lowered the ph of my misting water from about 7.6 to 6.2~6.3 using an aquarium test kit and a little white vinegar.

2 concerns:

Is using vinegar until I get the ph control kit in the mail safe?

And is dropping the ph this far safe?
As in should I do a more gradual drop say like 7.6 to 7 ish and then down to 6.6 and lower?

Like I said I'm still soaking up all the info I can. I'm not quite sure the best pH range for water my seedlings is so input is much appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

I've never used vinegar. (I have a Worm's Way about 20 minutes from my house.) But I've read that others have used it without major problems.

I think you want to be careful of dropping your pH too quickly when you have nutes mixed in. I've read that a large pH swing can knock the salts out of solution, and they will precipitate to the bottom of the rez. As far as pH level, I always plan for a 5.8 reading. I don't use rockwool, so maybe someone who does can give you specific information.

Good luck!

Abnjm said:

I've never used vinegar. (I have a Worm's Way about 20 minutes from my house.) But I've read that others have used it without major problems.

I think you want to be careful of dropping your pH too quickly when you have nutes mixed in. I've read that a large pH swing can knock the salts out of solution, and they will precipitate to the bottom of the rez. As far as pH level, I always plan for a 5.8 reading. I don't use rockwool, so maybe someone who does can give you specific information.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

anyone up for updating me on how rock wool behaves?


I bet that's nice. My shop wants too much mark up for ph control kits and nutrients so I'm just ordering online.

Got to make due until then.

Well I'll have an update tomorrow, I'm too stoned to start one now.

Take it easy guyz. Smoke smooth, smoke good. Smoke it alll.

Time for an update. Didn't get to it yesterday, got caught up working on the cabinet.

Anyways, it's looking good now. Got the lights all situated. Fans installed. Etc, Etc.

Day #13 (after germination)



Things have been going a little slow. I'm still ironing out the kinks. The weather around here is unpredictable, it was 52 F outside yesterday and now it's a breezy 75 F today; which is making my temp issues non the easier. Regardless I've managed to get things under control.

Although you can't see it the first splice in the wires in the back you seeing run to a identical 12v DC fan which exhausts hot air and helps create airflow. Due to the outside temps being ridiculous for this time of the year I've compensated for the high temps by only running 2 CFL's for now. Temps are holding pretty steady at 82F with lights on, dropping down to ~73-74 F upon lights out.

Now that I've almost wrangled my temperature problems I'm dealing with humidity. I think once I get that side wall painted it should help me out a bit in keeping the humidity a little higher.








Yes that is sawdust from having to drills holes for the fans, MDF particles are really fine and hard to avoid, I've gotten as much as I could off the plants without stressing them out, I'm sure next time I spray them I'll get the rest off.

Plant #1 starting to get some substantial height. Still waiting for that 2nd node to start.



Plant #2 is shaking out the heat stress from running 4 lights yesterday and coming home to find temps at almost 90 F .

Thank god the temp probe is reading the highest temp in the enclosure and it was really more like 86at the plants level.

And although this one seems shorter/smaller than the other I discovered something nice.



Roots! Plant #2 seems to have pushed through the rock wool before it's more aggressive sister. (I bought these seeds feminized and I'm pretty confident in Nirvana's genetics)

Gotta run to the hydro shop tomorrow to grab 8" net pots and some coco coir so I can transplant the rock wool into a more stable medium.

I've heard good stuff about it and figured why not.




And here's a shot of what's I've been doing for the past 2 days. It doesn't look like much but I've come a long way. The cabinet in it's entirety is 85% done but I couldn't stall starting my grow any longer.

Well there's plenty more to go, it's not very interesting yet but I'm sure it'll heat up once I get everything into a state of normality and the plants catch on.

Btw, I don't have a timer yet but I'm running the lights ( 2-26w CFLs) from 6am to 10pm (when I wake up to when I start to call it a night) will I be fine with this for the seedlings for now?

What timing is everyone else using when they first start? I've looked with no luck .

Any input is great. Thanks.

Progress has been painstakingly slow.

Went to put the plants under the big light 12 days ago but only to realize that the ballast wasn't working. So after 10 days, some DIY ingenuity, and a few trips to Lowes I got the light up and running only to realize that while I was so busy fixing the lights I didn't comprehend how much heat it produces. So I've got to create light ventilation today.

Once I'm done there I'll post pics.

First and foremost I'd like to say Merry Christmas. .

Almost finished off my pineapple kush celebrating .


Day #29 (since germination) Day #7 under HPS

81F- 59% Humidity- 5.8pH pure distilled water

Now for the sappy part of my christmas. It's been almost a month from germination and progress has been dreadfully slow. Due to factors such as my ballast needing repair, heat stress, having to move the cabinet to my room. The plants have been taking a beating. But I've finally got things ironed out, at least I'd like to say so.



This is the plant that had issues at first, she's looking better now; as you can see the lower leaves suffered from lack of attention to temperatures. All in all looking to my favorite of the 2.



This tall plant, she's not looking too good. Although not as noticeable in this picture because the light was on in person there is alot of yellowing towards the center of the leaves. as if the veins in the leaf are sick. I figured it was from heat after dealing with temps spiking at 88F before I discovered I have to leave the circular fan on with the door cracked until I finished the cooling system for the light. The roots are barely touching the res water and I've been misting twice a day and wetting the rock wool on the second misting, over watering maybe? Anyone got a diagnosis?

Anyways. Once plant #2 is looking better I'm going to start with 10% suggested amounts of Bio-Grow (BioBizz).

looking good

nanskies said:

looking good

Click to expand...

Thanks, although I wouldn't dare to say so much. After much deliberation I've come down to the pH of the misting water being the issue.

Before I was using tap water (ph ~7.6) and vinegar to lower it but it wasn't very effective then I decided to get distilled gallons and simply matters. Well what I forgot to do was mix it about 30/70 with some tap water to make the drop an easier transition for the plants.

After a month I'm very dissatisfied with my mistakes, I'm gonna start fresh with my last seed under a new account. I know these plants will catch on but I made a goal and at this rate I'll never get there. Don't worry I'm not trashing my plants, I'm gonna keep them here and play it by ear, if the final seedling surpasses them within a short amount of time I'm gonna give these 2 to a friend and concentrate on topping and LST on the one plant. See you on the other side.

Signing out one last time...