sorry so long, but if you are bored......
Grew my 1st plants in decades last summer, outdoor grow Auto White Widow andRhino Ryder and I got lucky and they both turned out wayyyy better thananticipated. In the process I discovered a new hobby as I really enjoyed thegrowing process (harvesting was sort of a pain as it is soooooo tedioustrimming those leaves).
I was going to wait for warm weather to grow some more but decided insteadto put together a small grow room. I have 2 garages so am sectioning off a 6' x4' space in my outside garage - sort of a hidden room as my wife isn't too keenon my hobby.
For fun, I decided I am also going to give the DWC system a try on thisgrow. The plan is to try and grow 2 Auto white widows, 1 in soil and 1 in thedwc. I also have a Samsarra Ultraviolet and a Auto Blue Mystic but willprobably just choose one of them due to light considerations.
The garage – I installed a 65,000 BTU gas furnace in this garage last fallbut have only been keeping the temp around 52. The grow room is to the furnace’simmediate left so if it is too cold, I will deflect the hot air into the growroom. I could obviously just crank up the furnace, but the garage is notinsulated well so would rather not if I don’t have to.
The grow room – approx. 4’ x 6’. I have lined 3 of the walls with rigid foaminsulation and my “faux” wall is just 2 4x8 sheets of wood siding that overlap.To get in the room I just slide one of the sheets to a side. For now it is justresting on the concrete floor, I may devise a better “door” system, but Iprefer it being a “hidden” room (wife rarely goes out in this garage and neverto the back of it where the room is)
Lights – here was my 1st quandary. I was planning on just usingdozens of cfl bulbs, but I thought that would just limit me to a plant or 2 andis still not optimum. I am not necessarily growing/harvesting for bulk, but hopefullyfor quality as my outdoor grows came out so great. As I have been known to jumpfrom hobby to hobby, I hated to invest too much money in lights but then I cameacross Gotham Hydro and HTG Supply. I am probably wrong, but after muchconsideration and way too many back and forths, instead of getting a 600 watthps/ma kit, I got 1 250 watt and 1 400 watt kit. My thinking was I am reallygoing to be trying to confine my grow space to about a 4x4 area, I would getbetter light coverage and using the ratchet hangers, can hopefully easilyadjust the heights since they are different wattages.
The kits are the ones that do both the MA and HPS. I know my outdoor grows gotmuch bigger than anticipated so I am also going to use cfl’s along the sides ofthe area.
For those, I just went top Home Depot and bought 14 ceramic light fixtures (I may need more, willhave to wait and see how the plants do). I then mounted the fixtures on a 8’2x4, utilizing only the 1st 4 feet of the 2x4. The 2x4 is just longenough that it “wedges” between the floor and the ceiling, so to move it I justkick out the bottom and put it where I want it. Nothing high tech, but I hopeeffective in eliminating all shadows.
Soil – I used the “subcool super soil” on my outdoor grows and I must admit,it could not have been easier. I honestly never added a thing except water, so Iam hoping to have the same success. I use a 5 gallon planter, tho I am thinkingof switching to a bucket I have as it is much taller, allowing the roots evenmore room.
The DWC system – I could not be more of a newbie, I just started researchingthis so who knows if it will work. It seems the biggie is insuring adequate oxygengets in the water so I am using a 2 system process.
1st I bought a Whipser 60 pump that is supposedly good for 60gallons of water. Then I bought 2 3” limewood air stones.
Probably not needed, but wanting to insure as much water movement as possible,I am then also using a pump in the bucket. I started out researching what pumpto get when it dawned on me I already had one.
I have a portable air conditioner and I use a bilge pump to empty the water init. It is a Tsunami pump (used in live wells on boats) and I have it rigged upto a 12 adapter for electric.
So besides the air pump, I am going to create a “water fall”
The pump is mounted to a piece of 2x4 and epoxied into the bottom of thebucket. Then I am just going to have the discharge line “mounted” to the lid onthe bucket. Turn on the power and the water runs up the line and ‘water falls”back into the bucket…….hopefully giving the water more than enough o2. I wouldguess one or the other would be good enough, but I already had the pump so itwill basically cost me pennies in electricity. I don’t see how it can hurtanything (famous last words).
I am waiting to get my rockwool cubes in the mail and the lights should be hereThursday, so will be starting the seeds later in the week.
Will be interesting to see how this goes. The hope is the lights create enoughheat I won’t have to crank up the furnace.
I am also going to do more outdoor grows and with this room I can get an earlystart on those, allowing me to hopefully get in 2 grows as I don’t want to growmore than 4 at a time outside. I have 3 acres, but a lot of it is woods andwould have to do some tree trimming to get enough light back there if I wantedto grow more. With 4, I can easily hide those in some high weed areas, spacedout pretty far apart, keeping it much less conspicuous from an aerial view.
And another hobby begins. I have no doubt things will need adjusted, but it ishopefully a decent start. I have discovered that it is true, smoke really doesage like fine wine and I hope to start a nice little stash with 1, 2 and even 3year old smoke – all properly stored of course. What I have now is around 6months old I think and the smell of it is absolutely wonderful. Some masonjars, humidity packs and cool, dark storage……….let it age……
Grew my 1st plants in decades last summer, outdoor grow Auto White Widow andRhino Ryder and I got lucky and they both turned out wayyyy better thananticipated. In the process I discovered a new hobby as I really enjoyed thegrowing process (harvesting was sort of a pain as it is soooooo tedioustrimming those leaves).
I was going to wait for warm weather to grow some more but decided insteadto put together a small grow room. I have 2 garages so am sectioning off a 6' x4' space in my outside garage - sort of a hidden room as my wife isn't too keenon my hobby.
For fun, I decided I am also going to give the DWC system a try on thisgrow. The plan is to try and grow 2 Auto white widows, 1 in soil and 1 in thedwc. I also have a Samsarra Ultraviolet and a Auto Blue Mystic but willprobably just choose one of them due to light considerations.
The garage – I installed a 65,000 BTU gas furnace in this garage last fallbut have only been keeping the temp around 52. The grow room is to the furnace’simmediate left so if it is too cold, I will deflect the hot air into the growroom. I could obviously just crank up the furnace, but the garage is notinsulated well so would rather not if I don’t have to.
The grow room – approx. 4’ x 6’. I have lined 3 of the walls with rigid foaminsulation and my “faux” wall is just 2 4x8 sheets of wood siding that overlap.To get in the room I just slide one of the sheets to a side. For now it is justresting on the concrete floor, I may devise a better “door” system, but Iprefer it being a “hidden” room (wife rarely goes out in this garage and neverto the back of it where the room is)
Lights – here was my 1st quandary. I was planning on just usingdozens of cfl bulbs, but I thought that would just limit me to a plant or 2 andis still not optimum. I am not necessarily growing/harvesting for bulk, but hopefullyfor quality as my outdoor grows came out so great. As I have been known to jumpfrom hobby to hobby, I hated to invest too much money in lights but then I cameacross Gotham Hydro and HTG Supply. I am probably wrong, but after muchconsideration and way too many back and forths, instead of getting a 600 watthps/ma kit, I got 1 250 watt and 1 400 watt kit. My thinking was I am reallygoing to be trying to confine my grow space to about a 4x4 area, I would getbetter light coverage and using the ratchet hangers, can hopefully easilyadjust the heights since they are different wattages.
The kits are the ones that do both the MA and HPS. I know my outdoor grows gotmuch bigger than anticipated so I am also going to use cfl’s along the sides ofthe area.
For those, I just went top Home Depot and bought 14 ceramic light fixtures (I may need more, willhave to wait and see how the plants do). I then mounted the fixtures on a 8’2x4, utilizing only the 1st 4 feet of the 2x4. The 2x4 is just longenough that it “wedges” between the floor and the ceiling, so to move it I justkick out the bottom and put it where I want it. Nothing high tech, but I hopeeffective in eliminating all shadows.
Soil – I used the “subcool super soil” on my outdoor grows and I must admit,it could not have been easier. I honestly never added a thing except water, so Iam hoping to have the same success. I use a 5 gallon planter, tho I am thinkingof switching to a bucket I have as it is much taller, allowing the roots evenmore room.
The DWC system – I could not be more of a newbie, I just started researchingthis so who knows if it will work. It seems the biggie is insuring adequate oxygengets in the water so I am using a 2 system process.
1st I bought a Whipser 60 pump that is supposedly good for 60gallons of water. Then I bought 2 3” limewood air stones.
Probably not needed, but wanting to insure as much water movement as possible,I am then also using a pump in the bucket. I started out researching what pumpto get when it dawned on me I already had one.
I have a portable air conditioner and I use a bilge pump to empty the water init. It is a Tsunami pump (used in live wells on boats) and I have it rigged upto a 12 adapter for electric.
So besides the air pump, I am going to create a “water fall”
The pump is mounted to a piece of 2x4 and epoxied into the bottom of thebucket. Then I am just going to have the discharge line “mounted” to the lid onthe bucket. Turn on the power and the water runs up the line and ‘water falls”back into the bucket…….hopefully giving the water more than enough o2. I wouldguess one or the other would be good enough, but I already had the pump so itwill basically cost me pennies in electricity. I don’t see how it can hurtanything (famous last words).
I am waiting to get my rockwool cubes in the mail and the lights should be hereThursday, so will be starting the seeds later in the week.
Will be interesting to see how this goes. The hope is the lights create enoughheat I won’t have to crank up the furnace.
I am also going to do more outdoor grows and with this room I can get an earlystart on those, allowing me to hopefully get in 2 grows as I don’t want to growmore than 4 at a time outside. I have 3 acres, but a lot of it is woods andwould have to do some tree trimming to get enough light back there if I wantedto grow more. With 4, I can easily hide those in some high weed areas, spacedout pretty far apart, keeping it much less conspicuous from an aerial view.
And another hobby begins. I have no doubt things will need adjusted, but it ishopefully a decent start. I have discovered that it is true, smoke really doesage like fine wine and I hope to start a nice little stash with 1, 2 and even 3year old smoke – all properly stored of course. What I have now is around 6months old I think and the smell of it is absolutely wonderful. Some masonjars, humidity packs and cool, dark storage……….let it age……
