Help me start my first auto!

amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
Ok, so I have been growing photos for 15 years, and really liked the look of the Dark Devil Auto so I grabbed a few beans. My girls in my veg box will be finished in a week or so and will be moving to the flower box. I now have an empty veg cab and figured why not use it to grow an auto!

Cab dimensions- 32"x20"x40"
dimmable 400 watt mh/hps
passive intake
pc fan exhaust
mylar lined wall
avg temp- 82
avg humidity- 60%
3 gallon pot
1/3 pro mix anti fungal, 1/3 formula 420 just rite, 1/3 perlite
roots organic soul synthetic nutrient line

(the cab IS NOT 100% light proof!)

Does this setup sound like it will work?
Can I run the lights 24/7?
Any suggestions?
Am I forgeting anything?

Thanx all and am lookin forward to trying this out!

(i also have auto somango, auto amnesia and auto bomb beans to choose from)
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
PaxEtBonum said:
That should work fine. Autos are robust little fellas. The light leak won't matter with an auto.
Click to expand...
so w the light leak, should i still give em 18/6, 20/4, or is 24/0 fine?

Also, i only plan on growing 1 at a time (need to save room.for my photo clones that will be moving out of my cloning/seedling cab in like 5 weeks), would running my 400 @ 50% be sufficient light?
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
that fan probably wont keep up with your needs
ambient and radiant heat are going to need to be extracted quick fast and fail safe
as to not leave a hot ass bulb around 4-6" from the sides for too long
actually
any amount of time is to long when dealing with fire hazards
this is what ive got going
3.5' x 3' x 5'

400w 6" cooltube digital remote ballast $112 ebay new

440 cfm 6" i power fan and filter $130 new on ebay

i just use a speed control but shortly getting my hands on a variac type speed control for the good ole' price of nada have to wait until its replaced its on the maint. list lol
they throw away old parts ;)
look into the cool tubes bud and a quality fan that looks well built
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
amgprb said:
that sounds like it will be hard on your ballest. Hope u have a backup!
Click to expand...
over 400w's of 2700k 68w cfl's for veg
2 led ufo's for when i get the seedlings there own place
bulb costs twice as much as the ballast >.<
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
40% is hard on the bulbs from what i understand the dimming in general i havent put it to test to be honest
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
tekdc911 said:
that fan probably wont keep up with your needs
ambient and radiant heat are going to need to be extracted quick fast and fail safe
as to not leave a hot ass bulb around 4-6" from the sides for too long
actually
any amount of time is to long when dealing with fire hazards
this is what ive got going
3.5' x 3' x 5'

400w 6" cooltube digital remote ballast $112 ebay new

440 cfm 6" i power fan and filter $130 new on ebay

i just use a speed control but shortly getting my hands on a variac type speed control for the good ole' price of nada have to wait until its replaced its on the maint. list lol
they throw away old parts ;)
look into the cool tubes bud and a quality fan that looks well built
Click to expand...
its in a basement, temps stay cool. This has been my veg box for a year now and that fan is keeping up. The temps i gave at the beginning (avg 82) are actual in the box. My basement has an average temp of 70. I have a mh bulb in there now running 24/7 @ 50% using a wing reflector. The bulb is about 6" off of my canopy and have NO heat issues. I am sure if I had it at 100%, then there would def b issues.

Mind u, this is not my first rodeo. I have a 3.5'x3.5'x6' flower cab running also for my photos. I am running a 400 w a cooltube during the summer months w a 250 cfm exhaust fan. During the cooler times of the year I run my 600.

this is more or less just an experiment. Kinda wanted to play around with autos and was just wondering if my existing unoccupied cab would suffice. As of right now, it is not worth it for me to invest in building or upgrading my veg cab to grow autos. I am not willing to dedicate my main grow room to autos unless I try them out on a smaller scale to see if it is worth it to me.

I do appreciate your input though.
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
tekdc911 said:
40% is hard on the bulbs from what i understand the dimming in general i havent put it to test to be honest
Click to expand...
I have heard that too, so i buy the ipower bulbs on amazon to use for dimming as they are only $10 w shipping. I bought 4 of them 5 weeks ago, and the first one is still running strong.
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
they lose there kick around 6 months and the output is down hill from there
50% sounds a bit safer im a little over cautious myself when it comes to heat that can ignite stuff
had a couple buddies that got busted from fires one got hurt and got charges
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
this is my first run with the phillips agro im hoping it does me some good
the light leak is fine
all a dark period does is keep the stretch down and keep a tighter bud structure
alot of people veg at 24/0 and start to cut the light down
towards the end of the stretch after preflower
 
HankDank

HankDank

Well-Known Member
i really like growing auto's they are pretty easy and yes id highly recommend running 24/7 to the end if you cant, run it 22/2 to let the bulb rest. Other than that your good to go!
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
tekdc911 said:
this is my first run with the phillips agro im hoping it does me some good
the light leak is fine
all a dark period does is keep the stretch down and keep a tighter bud structure
alot of people veg at 24/0 and start to cut the light down
towards the end of the stretch after preflower
Click to expand...
Ok, so veg the autos w 24 hrs light until they start throwing flowers, then cut it back. Knowing I have a light leak, shouldnt I just keep the lights on 24/7 though? Or will the dark help the autos even though there will be minor amounts of light leaking into the box? When i say minor, I mean when i go down and do a load of laundry and the basement lights r on for 10 minutes...
 
HankDank

HankDank

Well-Known Member
I've grown under 24/7 and under 20/4 for auto's and every grow i went with 24/7 seemed to produce a bit bigger, being auto's they want the light as much as possible to keep growing. Its really your choice but if you have a light leak, then I don't see why you would'nt want to go 24/7 unless you were trying save on energy bill and preserve your lights a bit longer
 
tekdc911

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
no issues with any lighting
that i have found i like 24/0 but they stretch about 3 weeks into flower and i end up with a mess of popcorns
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
HankDank said:
I've grown under 24/7 and under 20/4 for auto's and every grow i went with 24/7 seemed to produce a bit bigger, being auto's they want the light as much as possible to keep growing. Its really your choice but if you have a light leak, then I don't see why you would'nt want to go 24/7 unless you were trying save on energy bill and preserve your lights a bit longer
Click to expand...
Energy consumption is NO prob where i live in the US, lol! Between both cabs is roughly 1000 watts, all the power to run a 4 BR home, a 12,000 btu & a 10,000 btu AC & my electric bill is still under $60 a month! And no, i do not steal electricity!

Thanx, i will def run it 24/7. Makes things easier.
 
P

PaxEtBonum

Member
There's really no need to run them 24/7. All the experiments I've read about and seen on youtube show that the best results come rocking in around 18/6. That's the most efficient in terms of kilowatt hours to yield. In my own experiment, I'm running 3 gal buckets vs. 5 gal buckets, same strain, same soil, same everything. The 5 gal's are kicking the pants off of the 3 gals. They are about nine inches taller and way denser growth. Funny thing is that the 5 gals looked smaller for the second and third week and then just blew up in size, while the 3 gals have been slowly chugging along. I think the roots really do dig around to see what they've got before sending all the nutrition up the stalk to the upper deck. It's remarkable really. Running some 5 gal (10l) airpots too, and for some reason the autos just aren't digging the airpots too much. No noticeable difference, maybe slightly behind the regular 5 gals. Maybe the air pruning of the roots is a bad idea on autos? I'm not sure. Seen some great airpot auto grows, but these strains just aren't kicking it hard like I thought they would in airpots.
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
tekdc911 said:
no issues with any lighting
that i have found i like 24/0 but they stretch about 3 weeks into flower and i end up with a mess of popcorns
Click to expand...
I appreciate the info, with that said i think I will run a MH for veg and the first couple weeks of flower before switching to HPS.
 
amgprb

amgprb

Well-Known Member
PaxEtBonum said:
There's really no need to run them 24/7. All the experiments I've read about and seen on youtube show that the best results come rocking in around 18/6. That's the most efficient in terms of kilowatt hours to yield. In my own experiment, I'm running 3 gal buckets vs. 5 gal buckets, same strain, same soil, same everything. The 5 gal's are kicking the pants off of the 3 gals. They are about nine inches taller and way denser growth. Funny thing is that the 5 gals looked smaller for the second and third week and then just blew up in size, while the 3 gals have been slowly chugging along. I think the roots really do dig around to see what they've got before sending all the nutrition up the stalk to the upper deck. It's remarkable really. Running some 5 gal (10l) airpots too, and for some reason the autos just aren't digging the airpots too much. No noticeable difference, maybe slightly behind the regular 5 gals. Maybe the air pruning of the roots is a bad idea on autos? I'm not sure. Seen some great airpot auto grows, but these strains just aren't kicking it hard like I thought they would in airpots.
Click to expand...
seriously, the extra 2 gallons makes that much difference? Have to give credit where credit is do, to run your own controled experiment is great. I would really be interested in seeing the end outcome of your experiment. Unfortunately for me, with having less then 4' height to work with, a 3 gallon I believe is the largest I could run in my smaller cab.
 
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