long time coming. . new cab grow

[Darkone7]

it has been a couple of months since my last run here.
Problems aquiring equip and building a new permanent cabinet slowed me up conciderably.
Last run I did a T-5 grow.Turned out not bad concidering I used blue spec bulbs start to finish.
This time around I am going to go HID with a couple of different digital ballasts.
First I am running a Quantum 400 digi.(was asked to test this for a friend).Starting at 300w I will dial it up to 400w after a couple weeks.I am then going to switch up to the Quantum 600 digital and run it at 3/4 and then full at mid bud cycle,then back to 3/4 or perhaps 1/2 power to finish.
I will be using an Infinite Breeze fan for interior circulation (love the way these fans bob up and down as well as side to side) and an 8in Typhoon fan for exhaust.
The typhoon fan has it's own set of issues. . . it is freakin LOUD!!
I cant locate a variable rheostat for it here in town so I have built a sound proof (sound damping) box,to cut the noise at least somewhat.
I have popped 14 seeds of mixed Kush ancestry of wich I will keep the best ten,maybe twelve,to be transplanted in 3 gallon pots for veg and flower.Final number of course to be determined after sexing plants.
Enough preamble for this grow. . . here are some pics.

[truepunk87]

very nice setup:thumbsup: ill be waiting to see some plants n there:D

[Darkone7]

Bit of an update for you.

I finished the insulated box for the 6" Typhoon fan.It works very well,just unfortunately not well enough.
Although the sound has been cut by better than 1/2 it is still just not quite enough to make my room sound proof from my neighbors.

As I have already popped my beans, I need to have lights . . . NOW!
So I have strung my Badboy T-5 under the shade for the HID bulb and am using it on 1/2 power for the new sprouts.

Since the T-5's produce so little heat compared to the HID light, I am using a vent booster fan to suck out the heat.The local Canadian Tire only had one in stock,but when I get another of these fans,the pair of them should provide enough airflow to handle the HID light.They are thermostatically controled and super quiet.

I will post some pics of the cabinet when I get the new fan system built and installed.

Here is a pic of the Vent fan.

[Darkone7]

had a busy long weekend doing yet another reconfiguration on my cabinet.
As I am starting from seed again,I decided that starting with the 400 or 600 might be a bit harsh.
So to be expedient (read lazy) I hung the Badboy unit under the shade for the HID light.
This worked well,but it meant I had to lay on my belly to water the plants. . . not my thing at all!
You can see from the first pics how tight a space it became.
So I removed the HID shade and the ducting running to it.My new fan box is designed to hook to 8'' ducting for when I use it to cool the shade but for now I just have it drawing air from the entire cabinet with no ducting on the intake to allow the T-5 to be out of the way a bit.
The new CT fan seems to cool the T-5 lights just fine.I am picking up a second fan at the end of the week(I designed the box to hold two) and that should give me enough airflow through duct and shade to run the HID lighting when the plants are a bit bigger.
The seedlings are doing very well with only minute stretching from the T-5's.
The bigger plant in the middle was given to me when it accidently got left behind on a trip to the bush for an outdoor grow.It is some type of Skunk cross varient...see how she does

[HMBigBUd]

nice start man,,,ill be following

[Darkone7]

Second week under the lights for the new girls.
The new vent fan exhaust seems to be working very well for the T-5's.Temps are staying in mid seventies to low eighties (ambient outdoor temps are 80+).
I will be picking up the second fan today or tomorow and installing it in the fanbox.I probably won't need to run it untill I switch to the HID light.
The girls have been fed twice now with Seaweed extract.I still prefer that as a starter food for young veg plants.Next feeding they will get a taste of some veg tea.
The SkunkX plant (big one in middle) is doing better after it's long stay lost in a cup under an apple tree.She is getting a bit leggy,but a few more top pinches should cure that.
Well this part of the grow is always a bit boring ,so thats it for now.
2 pics of the girls. . 1 pic of exhaust port. . 1 pic of fan and intake port.

[HMBigBUd]

Did you get Feminized seeds or are they just bag seed?

_________________

http://boards.cannabis.com/closet-cabinet-growing/187275-400w-mh-hps-conver-bulb-grow-4x3x2cab-growlog.html

[Darkone7]

With the ambient temps around here hovering in the low to mid thirties (celcius) I have had to tone the project down for a bit.
I am now running only 4 of the 8 tubes in the Badboy on an 18/6 cycle.
The light is off from noon to 6pm to avoid the peak day temps.
The smaller Kushx's dont seem that bothered by the warm temps but the larger Skunkx in the mix was really starting to suffer.
This whole issue is going to set back the switching to HID lighting by about a week as temps are supposed to start dropping some time later this week.

Other than that, the girls have had two shots of water and one of seaweed extract at 10ml per 2quart water container.
I will post some progress pics later in the week when everything is back up to full scale.


HMbigbud. . . I would not call the breeder that gave me the seeds quite a pro. . so. . they were not (to my knowledge) properly feminized through any specific process.
Oddly enough though,with having planted over 100 of these in a timeframe of three years. . .I have never had a male andonly two mils hermies.

[Darkone7]

our little heat wave has finally broken here and temps have dropped back into the mid 20's.

So I decided that with the temp drop and the fact that I picked up the second fan for my box,it was a good time to change from the T-5 Badboy to the new Digi ballast.

I pulled the T-5 unit out,put the HID light shade in and popped the duct back onto the shade....voila Flower Cabinet.
As a buddy sent me the Quantum Digital 400watt ballast to test,I am starting with that.
I did the switch on Saturday and set the ballast to 1/2 power or 200watts.I will leave it on 1/2 for 3 or 4 days just to let the girls adjust to the different spectrum and intensity.
I am also still on 18/6 light cycle.
Then I will switch the 400 to full power and a 12/12 cycle..I also have a 600watt digi but I think I will run that next time to give this 400 a fair run.

After observing the new setup for a couple of days,there are some adjustments I might have to work on.
Because my exhaust runs from outside the cab,through the air-cooled shade and straight out,I am not drawing any air from the cabinet itself.
I did this as it is not only a more efficient use of my low powered exhaust fans,but also as it doesnt draw any odor through the exhaust..and so no filter/scrubber required.

The down side to this is I have no humidity control now.
If it becomes a real issue I will try running a small (computer type) intake fan to see if mixing fresh air will lower humidity.If not I will of course have to install an exhaust fan and filter system.

No pics today as the light doesnt go out untill noon and I hate those yellow ass pics that sodium lights give.
So I will take some pics just after lights out and put them up tomorrow.

[Darkone7]

I have now switched to a 12/12 cycle and set the ballast 400watts.

The girls also got thier first taste of bloom food today with a mild dose of Pure Blend Bloom.
I have also installed the second fan in my fanbox.These two "vent booster" fans are taking care of the heat from the 400HID with no issues.They are whisper quiet too.
The temps in the cabinet are staying in the low 70's now.I will be looking around for a humidity gauge though,as this may become an issue as time goes on.

Here are some plant pics and the completed fan box.

[Darkone7]

The girls have finished thier first full week of 12/12 with the digital ballast at %100.
I also have 4 new additions to the cabinet.A friend of mine had 4 girls in pots in his back yard.
He decided to throw a new roof on his house,didn't want the roofers finding his plants, so he gave me the plants to finish indoors.
No idea what strain they are,they appear to be about 4 weeks into bud.They werent transplanted from the original plastic cups untill almost into flower,so they are very small and sparce of leaf.
Of course I went over them with a 30x jewelers loop to check for bugs etc before I agreed to take them in.
The new fan box with the Canadian tire fans,is working great.The temps in the cab are sitting at 72f at end of 12 hour cycle.So far humidity hasn't been an issue but the weather is changing and the ambient air is getting moister.I will have to keep a close eye on things as it moves along.
Second feeding of Pure Blend Bloom Tea yesterday.In 3 gallon pots the girls are eating about two cups of water every two days.
They did a good stretch when they hit flower,but thus has slowed now and they are levelling out.
This is the first time I have not split the tops on this strain as well,so I will see how they do weight wise with just a single main cola opposed to 4 mains.
Thats about it for now,do another update soon, thanks for checking out my thread.

[Darkone7]

These girls are gaining a couple of inches a day for the last week I swear.I am very thankfull now that I flipped to 12/12 while they were still nice and short.
But they should be done reaching now.They are starting to show girlie hairs.
My unnamed orphan in the back is going to be a very long flowering strain.She is getting bud mass all the way up but very slow to produce,I am figuring she is a 12 weeker.(should be interesting).
The three back-yard orphans are massing nicely.They will never reach thier full potential as they were root bound for too long in veg and then transferred to only slightly bigger pots at flower.They only average about 12" tall so. . .
Everything else is going well.Switching up from water to Tea every second day.
So far no bugs no molds,all is well.
Here are some progress pics.

[truepunk87]

Congrats......Your girls are looking ver nice darkone:thumbsup:

[Darkone7]

Congrats......Your girls are looking ver nice darkone:thumbsup:

Thanks for the compliment bud.

Truth is the damn things have stretched to almost ridiculous proportions LOL.
I will be posting updated pics tomorrow and you will see they have now hit the lamp shade.
Next run I am going to run the red spectrum t-5 unit right through pre-flower to try and reduce the nodal spacing.

[Darkone7]

Time for a weekly progress report.

The change from T-5 to HID has resulted in the worst case of stretching I have ever had.
Next run I am going to run the T-5's with red spectrum bulbs right through pre-flower and won't
switch to the HID lights untill buds are starting to form.
Hopefully that will get me past the stretch stage without having the girls up to the roof...LOL

Temps in the cabinet when on are peaking at 75f and off dropping to 65f.
As the nights (and days) are getting colder,the girls are getting a 24 hour dark cycle
before I switch the timer to run 6pm to 6am from 12am to 12 pm.

I am doing this so that the lights run during the coldest part of the day/night.
I dont run any other heat in the room the cab is in,so I dont want the temps dropping into the 40's when the lights are off.

The girls are flowering nicely,just hope all the buds can get big enough to join across the big nodal spaces.
Giving them Bloom Tea twice per week and water once.
After week switch I will reverse the food cycle untill reducing it to zero in week 8.

Thats it for now gang,thanks for checking out my thread.

[Darkone7]

half way through the 8 week flower cycle now.
I have bent and manipulated some of the taller plants to fit more spaciously under the lamp shade.
Flower developement is right about where it should be for this strain at this stage and they recieved
thier heaviest feeding of the cycle yesterday.

The CT fans are working out great.The temps in the cab are peaking at 72f and bottoming out at 67f.
I am really liking these Quantum digital ballasts.No big clang and buzz when the lights come on
and it seems to light the bulb to full brightness faster than my old coil ballasts.

My buddies little orphan plants from his back-yard only have about two weeks left.
Although they are going to be a solid cola from top to bottom,they arent going to yield much
as they are only about 10 inches high.
They were already well into flower when I got them so they gained no height at all even after being put into larger pots.

My original Skunk orphan is producing lots of flower,but is likely still going to take an extra week or two longer than my
other girls.Looks like it will be a pretty good yielder for its size. . wish I knew a bit more about what it really is LOL.

Okay. . toss up a couple pics here and good to go for this weeks update,

For some reason all the uploads are failing,I will try again later to add pics.....

[Darkone7]

Time for the weekly update. .

The girls are finally starting to mass up in scale to the stretch.
Just entering fifth week of flower.Getting some yellowing of the lower sucker leaves,but I do expect that at 5 weeks.
Gave them one last big push of Tea on friday,they will run water now untill harvest.

I was worried about humidity as there is no cabinet exhaust,just a light shade exhaust.
So far it hasn't caused me any issues.Entering into the rainy season here though and humidity levels are way up in the ambient air.
I will keep a really close watch now that there is some bud mass that could actually mold given the right(or wrong) conditions.

my original orphan plant is really packing on the buds now,she is going to be a very good yielder, just no idea what the hell she is LOL.

My late added 3 orphans are almost ready.Another week for two of them,and two more weeks for the last one.
As they are only about ten inches tall they arent going to be heavey yielders. .

All the "new" gear is holding up well.
The Infinite Breeze fan has been running continuously since july,still quiet and head bobbin as ever.
The Quantum digital ballast is a real treat.This is my first experience with the newer Digital style ballasts and I am extremely pleased with it.
Cant wait to run the 600 watt.

My little Canadian Tire vent fans are a real treat.I really wish I had discovered them earlier as they are very quiet,and very effective for a smaller grow.

here are some pics to keep it going. . . Again maybe not. . my pics are small enough to fit the posting parameters for jpeg...but all uploads to this site fail.

Anyone have any idea whats going on??

[Darkone7]

This is the start of sixth week of flower for the girls in green.

With the last feeding done,the rest of the cycle should chew up the residuall nutes still in the soil.
Most of the large fan leaves are starting to show some yellow now,so the ripening stage is definately under way.

Humidity in the cab is still climbing.With the extra mass of the plants and the wetter cooler ambient air,
this could be an issue through the winter months.I will be installing an exhaust fan and filter for next run.
Two of my three little orphans I have chopped.They were no longer taking any water nor were they gaining any more mass.
As sad as they were,my buddy should be getting about 1/2 ounce for his stranded girls LOL.

The third orphan is the largest and will come down end of this week.
I am still not sure that the early skunk plant I rescued is going to be done at the same time as the rest.
If it were an 8 week strain I would say it is two weeks behind. . .but she isnt an 8 weeker so she could be a month behind.
If she is even close to ready i will take her down with the rest.I dont want to delay starting the next round just for one plant.
This is the drawback of having a single cab for veg and flower.

The main crop of KushX's is doing very well.There may be gaps in the main colas on a few but most of them are filling the spaces nicely.
So far so good. . . three weeks to go!

[Darkone7]

it seems like this run is taking bloody forever! LOL
probably has something to do with the fact that it was in the high 90's when I planted this crop and now it's freakin cold out.Makes a guy feel like he's been at it for 6 freakin months.
had a couple of the main colas just touching the shade for a night.Although the shade stays cool enough to leave your hand against,it did curl the top hairs down on a couple of buds LOL
No serious damage though.
have hacked the last of the three lost orphans,trimmed dried and sent them back to the owner.
The first 2 little ones produced just over a 1/4 the last girl just over a 1/2.
The rest of the girls are filling in nicely. I dont think I will have any issues of reaching over my 1/2 lb from the 400watt.Hoping closer to 3/4...time will tell.
I have learned a fair bit about this new cabinet on this run.Overall I am very happy with it.Swapping between HOCFL and HID is fast and easy.The space is easy to work and is a good size for a 400hid,a 600hid or two 8 racks of HOCFL.
With a dozen plants in 3 gallon buckets I still have space empty by the doors for the fan and other gear to stay out of the plants and lights way.
I am really concidering using two of the Badboy 8 light racks for next run.I think that 16 blue spec would give me massive veg,and I am anxious to see what I can get with two racks of red spec in flower.
I think the height and depth of the cabinet would be able to take full advantage of High output compact floro T-5's.
Besides this is a hobby and the T-5 concept is a newer one for me than HID digital or not.
Girls are getting naught but water of course from here to harvest,Temps are remaining stable in mid seventies at peak light cycle and humidity is a bit high but not problematical.
Thats it for first day of week 7's report.

[Darkone7]

Last week of existance for the girls in this show.

The big initial stretch is going to cost me some weight in the long run.
The main colas arent bad but they havent all managed to join with lower buds.

As the girls havent had any food of any type for 3 weeks they wont need a flush...love organic growing LOL

Still havent fully decided but I am leaning towards trying a 16 bulb T-5 run next time.Or I may just switch up from the Quantum 400 to the 600 watt digital ballast.

Temps and humidity did not become an issue at all on this run so at least the airflow is working.I am going to change the way the lights are hung though.
I want to be able to get them flush to the roof at peak height,which I cant do with the present configuration.

Anyways...they start coming down this weekend, I will post final results of harvest.

[Stomper420]

Nice job man!!! I wonder what youll get dried. Let us know as Im planning a box similer to this....Ill be following...k:rastasmoke:

[truepunk87]

Congrats bro. Those look awesome. Enjoi ur harvest:thumbsup:

[Darkone7]

Well, all the girls are down and dried.
My little alien orphan looked nice...but it smells like a box of rubber bands.Tastes reasonable though.
All the other girls came out very sweet with reasonably hard nugs after curing.
I did make my goal of 1/2lb dry.Actully,three grams over LOL.Not bad for a 400.Would have done better yet I think,had the girls not stretched so bad during pre-flower.

What really amazes me though...is no one really noticed that I battled spider mites the whole way through the grow.
Although I had cleaned the cab very well after the last run,turned out some christmas cactus I had in my bathroom picked up mites from being set out side for a while this spring.
Guess the little bastids hitched a ride on me into the grow room.

So I have re-sterilized the cabinet, pots etc.and treated my house plants so that should be that for the damn bugs.

This next run I have set up for I will be doing under a double 8 lamp rack of T-5s. I really want to see what these Quantum Badboy fixtures can do on thier own.My last T-5 run was 8 bulbs anf I had no flowering spectrum bulbs.I still made just over a QP from it.
So I am going to compare a 16 bulb run with proper spectrum bulbs,and see how it compares to the 400 HID.

So thats that for this grow everyone.I will start a new thread next week when my seedlings have popped....thanks for following along.