Shine A Little Light...on my Grow

Hi Dan! I am a beginner as well. IMO, take special consideration of your space when purchasing building materials( drywall grade, paint grade, and compound used) for ventilation purposes. Wear and tear along with longevity of space is an aspect. Happy growing and best of luck!

Im looking forward to watching this grow room come together! Best of luck Dan!

@Mrb53004 already mentioned it but the first thing I thought was lower the shelving as much as is possible with the set up you are going to use. Height dosent seem to be an issue when doing the math but it ends up being one in the end.

@Mrb53004 has already covered the important stuff, but let me reiterate the importance of running your power supplies outside the grow area. They produce a ton of heat.

With a room of this volume you will need a good climate control, it will take a bit to change any one parameter in this size volume. Having said that, start thinking vapor control now, as in you want to be able to control the amount of water vapor in the air, so no leaks where the outside atmosphere can interfere with the grow space.

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Mike,

To clarify you are telling me I need one of these $600.00 lights above each tote correct? And It “looks” to me that I can daisy chain them together and that means I will only be using 800 watts total correct.

For this first grow I am going to use the totes as I have them set up for DWC independently, from the profits I will build a better system based on your diagram, I put together a little design myself for five totes, but the next grow I will have twenty totes four rows of five, each with a seperate reservoir and catch basin, unless you suggest otherwise.

I’m confused on your design though. You have a catch basin at the bottom, is this circulated bck up to the reservoir with a pump as My design shows or is it emptied in some way, when and how?. is there a video you can link me to that will show a simular system so I can see it explained?

Thanks Mike.

Dan

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do not place the reservoir anywhere but on the floor. Pump goes “IN the reservoir” to pump water to the tote/s. At the catch basin, you can recirculate the water for a few days but you must keep a watchful on on TPM and PH…Add a spill valve on the catch basin to discard OLD water. Add a second Reservoir to just hold fresh water, like a 55gal drum.
Not sure 8’ is enough height…recommend 10’ or better. If you can float a ceiling, have it vented and place your Light Drivers there, you will keep the heat from them out of the grow room. That is why I said floating ceiling…just a panel you can lift to access the lamps drivers. Yes they daisy chain connect. Not, not 800w ttl, up to 640w per light…5 of these and you are up near 3k WATS…
Per tote, I would not go less than a Spider4000 in SIZE…On the outer edge of the ppd, that is only in the 200 range for 5’…around 500 for 4 feet…They run around 450w. When you compare them, it is almost a break even on cost but 1212 leds vs 3389 and 450w vs 640w…hard to warrant that cost for SO MUCH LESS.
you want 6 feet of space between the light and the TOP of the tote…that is just for plant growth…you should maximize around 5 feet of it…an 8’ ceiling is a MAJOR HAMPER…no commercial or large grower goest this route…If that is your restriction, you are better off tent growing…buy 4 big tents (like 7 high, 5 long minimum 4 wide), 1 light per tent and an exhaust fan and your have a grow environment. You CAN place the driver on TOP of the tent…you segregate your grows so you can grow them in stages / batches based on strain, genus, time to maturity…etc. It will also allow you to protect each smaller environment from the other to prevent: contamination, disease, pest spread, POLLINATION!!!(a biggie - only takes 1 small males sac to ruin an entire grow).
Does not have to be a tent but you could build separate areas about 6’ wide and 7’ high at around 4 feet deep…
you could still daisychain lights, use a manifold watering system setup, connect 2 rooms / tents to 1 air exhaust controller (place between rooms / tents and use a y / splitter to each area)…etc

Water vapor - it is easier to control humidity in a smaller area than a larger one. I had to use 2 commercial dehumidifiers to control 8 lights grow room and had to setup the emptying of the dehumidifiers to be automated, they required emptying twice a day…using totes you will be able to reduce major transpiring so it should be less but ventilation is PARAMOUNT!

Dan, as an old grower, don’t get caught up or head trip and growing and selling…not as easy as it seems and it gets INVOLVED. The more you grow, the more attention it requires. I went from 1 man operation to 5 people and had to hire trimmers at harvest time. It burnt me out. Now I grow for the wife, a friend or 2 and the hobby…back to loving it

It really is involved…a job…like pets, you can’t leave them unattended. They must be tended to EVERY DAY…by you or someone you trust. Only takes 1 bad day to ruin a crop…1 bad reservoir that is tainted (mold, slime, algae, ph off, etc) to take you down. It is why we break them down to smaller pieces, easier to manage.

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You are really on point @Mrb53004 . I am barely into my second grow and already wish I had compartmentalized my grow room. Also found that the time on my first grow averaged around 4 min a plant a day. Dosent seem like much at first but really adds up as you get your numbers up.
Also with your @Newbiegrower set up accessing the back sides of your plants is going to be really difficult. Not end of the world disaster but really difficult.

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Most definitely…you need 4 sides access or at least 2, the long sides…for access to work your plants. Even if you have an automated water / feed system, they need training, trimming, careful inspection (mold, bugs, males, elemental concerns, etc)
My best was a 360° access with 8 feet height and a recessed ceiling with ventilation and easy access…I ran the access down the center of the room…it was just enough to get in all the air exchange tubes, sunken lights (this was before we had drivers separate from the plants…I could access all parts from a 4 foot wide access down the middle of the room. Even an open ceiling will work as long as there is a barrier above the lights…
You want to make it as easy as possible, not hard. It should not be WORK but if so, then treat it as a business and do it right from the start…don’t reinvent the wheel

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So, is all the mold under control? The gnats too? I am getting ready for the next batch…will be changing a few things (adding) and separating into individual products. Got my web domain yesterday and will start building it out asap

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Just sprayed my last batch of mix 2 days ago. Will get you all the documentation early next week. Seems to be eather a resistance build up with the mold or the effectiveness of the formula is degrading. Stored at 75 deg on a shelf away from the lights. It was strange this time it worked on sone plants others it had no effect. Out of the same sprayer and mix. Absolutely no gnats returned. Put new stickeys out 3 days ago no new gnats.

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I reminded you the mixture is only good for 2 weeks before it degrades (after mixing with water - should be distilled)…Glad to hear about NO GNATS!!! and if the mold keeps coming back, is it on surface / plant / both?
If surface…same places? Have you sprayed the air exhaust / intake tubes? Cleaned you equipment…
If on leaves, what strain are you growing and is it prevalent to strain A or B or both / all? Also, what are Rh and temp levels
PS.Do not forget to spray fan blades too…

Every time i mixed it I used it within 2 days. RH was at 40 to 45 percent the whole time. The mold is worse by far in the mimosa almost non existent in the GDP and Blue Dream. All three strains were started from clones that parent stock had visable mold at one time. Have never found mold on surfaces of equipment just on plant leaves.

Dan, I have a 12x4 space and run 4 Mars Hydro TS 3000. In your space I would get one for every 4x4 space you have.

can you post some pics? Is it powdery mildew? or a different mold…

MOLD - foliar feed with ammonia, Super diluted. Put about a shot glass full in a standard mist bottle. I learned many years ago for killing powdery mildew on sun leaves. (You will never go back to milk or baking soda for PM problems. I noticed all my plants looked 3 shades greener the same day. It foliar feeds them nitrogen ( NH4+ reduces to NO3-) and they absorb it incredibly great that way. Especially clones trying to sprout more roots. Try it on only 1 if you don’t believe me. Here is the rules though:
Never mist them with ammonia in the sun outside or under high discharge light indoors. Mornings or evenings where there is no direct sun. They will burn ( just like neem oil or horticultural soap or spinosad). I do mist clones 2-3 times a day when needed under CLONER lights only. If you have strong lights on your clones, dim them, raise them more, or just do it before or after on cycle.
Make sure the leaves have dried before you mist them again the same day. I usually do 3 mists per day while needed.
Minimize or kill fans for a couple hours. Ammonia reduces to nitrate in solution much slower than it evaporates off as a gas. It would rather become a gas then reduce to nitrate while on the leaves in solution. It will evaporate away too fast under strong air flow and not be effective.
Only use on vegetative plants. Once they stack calyxes in bloom you don’t want to get ammonia on the buds. They don’t want nitrogen blast while blooming. It can slow flowering times by then.

That said, ammonia misting works faster for nitrogen deficient big plants than root feedings. (I guess I should say in my opinion…) Yellow leaves anybody? Not anymore. Adding nitrogen to the roots is still necessary for big veg plants or the plants will yellow again quickly

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I started adding a tsp of ammonia to my feedings & it made the plants very lush, have not tried misting yet.

Mike…just watch my RULES!
Never mist them with ammonia in the sun outside or under high discharge light indoors. Mornings or evenings where there is no direct sun. They will burn ( just like neem oil or horticultural soap or spinosad). I do mist clones 2-3 times a day when needed under CLONER lights only. If you have strong lights on your clones, dim them, raise them more, or just do it before or after on cycle.
Make sure the leaves have dried before you mist them again the same day. I usually do 3 mists per day while needed.
Minimize or kill fans for a couple hours. Ammonia reduces to nitrate in solution much slower than it evaporates off as a gas. It would rather become a gas then reduce to nitrate while on the leaves in solution. It will evaporate away too fast under strong air flow and not be effective.
Only use on vegetative plants. Once they stack calyxes in bloom you don’t want to get ammonia on the buds. They don’t want nitrogen blast while blooming. It can slow flowering times by then.

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Thanks as always, thats good info, & i will be misting my clones…

Thank you very much for your input, Ill keep everyone posted on my progress.

Dan