Props to MI for getting with it and giving me a chance to get out of the rat race. Engineer with a green thumb here giving it a shot.
I have converted my unfinished basement into a medical grow. I went hydroponic with Ebb and Gro with 55 gallon barrels. I use an EZ cloner which gets no direct light as I was told it did not need much light at all. The plants are in hydrogen clay balls. I currently have 24 plants vegging under 3 T5s. I have 6 T5s but even with 4 running, 2 fans, and the door to the room open (open to the remainder of the basement) the temp is usually around 78-81 (with outside temps around 60-80). I got a dehumidifier and it keeps the area around 45-50%. I have 20 Grand Daddy Purps and 4 White Widow. And a skunk in soil (buddy helping me build had it and we gave it a shot).
My plants seem to be doing well with some rocketing and a few taking it slow. I've been training the plants that are taking off, using hooks to lean them towards the side. Every day I remove the hook observe change and reapply it as needed. I have the lights about a half foot above the plants. The timer is watering the plants every 6 hours for 15 minutes. I have pics of the nutrients I used, basic stuff. I followed the directions on the bottle for mixing but have since read that it might be wise to go with less. I filled the 55 gal wit reverse osmosis water and nute and in about 2 weeks half the barrel has emptied. I plan to fill it less next time and change the water ever week or two. I check the pH everyday and adjust with some up or down.
Some issues I’ve been having … I noticed some muck/sludge on the roots that sat on the bottom of the bucket. The hydro system tubing is above the bottom of the bucket and thusly leaves some water sitting in the bucket which the roots then sit in. I have since put about 2 tbsp of hydrogen peroxide (for about 30 gal) into the nute barrel. Secondly I got these lil red bugs! First noticed them walking on the flood timer thingy and then saw they were on lil plants I had in soil (put some clones in soil and had them on the side to give to other people or whatnot). Tossed the soil guys (the skunk was on a table and didn’t have any bugs on her). Went to the store to get Neme (sp?) oil and got the fancier stuff and sprayed that around. Haven’t seen them around until today when I was taking pics and saw ONE walking around on an empty bucket. Never saw them on the actual plants and no noticeable damage either. I have a picture of the sucker. It was easily visible to the naked eye and just uber red. After two days I sprayed again with just water to perhaps rinse a bit. Lastly I’ve noticed the tips of plants getting yellow and brown. Also some darkening spots. I have pictures of the leaves though the camera seemed to have the hardest time focusing and then when it did the color and lighting was way off, but w/e …
I have also attached pics of the electrical timer I plan to use for the flowering room as well as my circuit breaker which was upgraded to handle 240v and got a double pole breaker. If anyone is familiar with the device and hooking it up I’d love to hear from you. Looking at it it seems you just buy a cable and connect the breaker to the box. Not sure if that how it works since the box supports 8 lights and a typical breaker is limited to about 1800watts. But it is double, but IDK …
I’ll glady accept positive criticism and advice as well as share what I’ve heard and been going by.
Some questions: Is less than 50% humidity good enough? I know I should keep the temp below 80 but I’m having trouble and I need to fix the thermostat on the house (this weekend hopefully). If it get s to 81 is that bad? Really bad? I noticed the clay balls have green algae or something growing on them, do I need to take them out and clean them? I heard if you have a green light in the flowering room you can work without messing with the dark cycle of the plants (T/F?).
Lets chat!
I have converted my unfinished basement into a medical grow. I went hydroponic with Ebb and Gro with 55 gallon barrels. I use an EZ cloner which gets no direct light as I was told it did not need much light at all. The plants are in hydrogen clay balls. I currently have 24 plants vegging under 3 T5s. I have 6 T5s but even with 4 running, 2 fans, and the door to the room open (open to the remainder of the basement) the temp is usually around 78-81 (with outside temps around 60-80). I got a dehumidifier and it keeps the area around 45-50%. I have 20 Grand Daddy Purps and 4 White Widow. And a skunk in soil (buddy helping me build had it and we gave it a shot).
My plants seem to be doing well with some rocketing and a few taking it slow. I've been training the plants that are taking off, using hooks to lean them towards the side. Every day I remove the hook observe change and reapply it as needed. I have the lights about a half foot above the plants. The timer is watering the plants every 6 hours for 15 minutes. I have pics of the nutrients I used, basic stuff. I followed the directions on the bottle for mixing but have since read that it might be wise to go with less. I filled the 55 gal wit reverse osmosis water and nute and in about 2 weeks half the barrel has emptied. I plan to fill it less next time and change the water ever week or two. I check the pH everyday and adjust with some up or down.
Some issues I’ve been having … I noticed some muck/sludge on the roots that sat on the bottom of the bucket. The hydro system tubing is above the bottom of the bucket and thusly leaves some water sitting in the bucket which the roots then sit in. I have since put about 2 tbsp of hydrogen peroxide (for about 30 gal) into the nute barrel. Secondly I got these lil red bugs! First noticed them walking on the flood timer thingy and then saw they were on lil plants I had in soil (put some clones in soil and had them on the side to give to other people or whatnot). Tossed the soil guys (the skunk was on a table and didn’t have any bugs on her). Went to the store to get Neme (sp?) oil and got the fancier stuff and sprayed that around. Haven’t seen them around until today when I was taking pics and saw ONE walking around on an empty bucket. Never saw them on the actual plants and no noticeable damage either. I have a picture of the sucker. It was easily visible to the naked eye and just uber red. After two days I sprayed again with just water to perhaps rinse a bit. Lastly I’ve noticed the tips of plants getting yellow and brown. Also some darkening spots. I have pictures of the leaves though the camera seemed to have the hardest time focusing and then when it did the color and lighting was way off, but w/e …
I have also attached pics of the electrical timer I plan to use for the flowering room as well as my circuit breaker which was upgraded to handle 240v and got a double pole breaker. If anyone is familiar with the device and hooking it up I’d love to hear from you. Looking at it it seems you just buy a cable and connect the breaker to the box. Not sure if that how it works since the box supports 8 lights and a typical breaker is limited to about 1800watts. But it is double, but IDK …
I’ll glady accept positive criticism and advice as well as share what I’ve heard and been going by.
Some questions: Is less than 50% humidity good enough? I know I should keep the temp below 80 but I’m having trouble and I need to fix the thermostat on the house (this weekend hopefully). If it get s to 81 is that bad? Really bad? I noticed the clay balls have green algae or something growing on them, do I need to take them out and clean them? I heard if you have a green light in the flowering room you can work without messing with the dark cycle of the plants (T/F?).
Lets chat!
) in veg you should aim for little more humidity i like staying in the 65 mark your temps seem ok looks like you might have to invest in a exhaust fan to get rid of the air and to bring in fresh air like a vacumm effect if you get my drift as for workin in your flowering room if they have flipped you shouldnt have to worry bout workin with normal light on with them but IMO work on them when lights are on or right after lights go off
