DIY Grow tent (and first indoor grow to come)

[Live Canna]

Hey all,

So I was going to wait till my stuff arrived, but I figured I may as well show my grow tent build and then I can update about the first grow later on.

I have a bunch of stuff that should hopefully be delivered within the next week so I can start my new grow (Pots, PH meter, soil, seeds, extractor etc). I bought 2 fem seeds earlier in the year and tried with that and some bag seed. But it was just too late to be starting in the season AND I was plagued with issues. But I have learnt a lot and have read even more and I hope that will pave the way to a great grow now. I am also moving indoor hence the thread

My next seed order contains some auto's and some photo's. I am going to be starting with 2 critical autos from different seed banks. I want to run a few autos to try out some stuff and see the results. Anyways...to the tent!

 

As I was trying to get this grow up and going with the "least" cost but still a good build, I decided not to buy a tent, and rather allocate that money to lights etc.

This is the dedicated grow area. 80cm x 90cm x 200cm (but I could go higher). Its in a garage, so hanging the light should be easy.

I decided to use 20mm conduit as I really only needed enough strength to hang the material around the tent. The light I am hanging from the roof. Even if I did want to hang the light in the tent, I think with a bit more roof structure it would manage the +- 3kg LED easily.

Here I started on the first flat frame (for the front or back) and am checking the width fits in.

Lots of 90 corners and t pieces

Frame upright now (back)

First support beam in. Sadly I didn't realize that the 90 corner and the T piece don't extend the same length. So when I cut the same width for top middle and bottom, the middle pulled in a little more. Its fine for now, will maybe replace eventually or just upgrade to a proper tent. So here you can see it pulling in, in the middle.

Front frame and back

Structure now joined front and back. 

I ended up adding another support which made it nice and rigid.

I was resourceful and used "space" blankets AKA rescue blankets. 3 of them got me about 90% covered around.

Completely covered. Little gap in front where I will be checking in.

Top view down

I then rolled out black painting sheeting, the stuff you get at builders to cover the floor when painting. Basically big trash bags. I covered all sides and then did an inset to the bottom as well as a roof that flaps over everything.

Finished product, you can see my spot on top where I will connect the light. I ended up using only one of those and hanging an old small chain I had from it as the light has a cradle and single point to hang from. The chain is awesome, because with the carabiner, I can adjust the height quite easily.

This doesn't cover the light getting in 100% but probably in the 90% region. As it is in a garage, I do not need to worry too much about light getting in. Currently I am also on a 12/12 flower cycle with it being on 6AM - 6PM. So even if there was outside light, it wouldn't;'t be much. I am considering reversing this on the next grow to get the light on at night and warm the tent ever so slightly for being an LED. But for now, this is where it is at.

Tent finished and testing the 3 light modes (veg, veg+bloom, bloom). 

I hung the light from the open roof rafters in the garage so that worked out nicely. Outdoor plant finishing off flower in there. Sadly this was one of the learning curve plants. Week 5 flower and almost nothing on there. But this one was bag seed and as mentioned, the one to learn on.

 

I am running a fan on #1 inside to get some light air circulation. I have a 150mm exhaust fan on order with ducting. So for now I am planning to pull air out the top of the tent, and passively let fresh air pull in from the bottom. As it is in the garage, I am not sure how fresh this air will be. Eventually I will have a second fan to push fresh air in. For now, if I have enough ducting, I may connect the ducting to the outside, so hopefully it pulls fresh air passively, else I will just let it pull air passively without the duct, from the garage "air". My garage is clean and not an oil filled smelling one, so no real worries there.

I also worked out the air exchange for my cubic metres and I should have no issues there. I have also got a small 9w heating pad that I am using the keep the plant a bit warmer at night. Day temps at the moment are around 25 C. At night this is dropping to sub 15 C with winter approaching. The heating pad keeps the underside by the tray around 38C (I have one temp probe there) and the roots are around 20-22C from what I can tell (another temp 60% into the medium/soil). So as far as I understand it, as long as the roots are warm, the rest should be also. By the time summer comes, my air exchange will need to be good as the garage gets hot. But we will see. Also worried that at this point the 150mm fan will be too much and cause too much cooling. But I am not planning on running air exchange at night. Not sure if that is good, or if I should have air exchange when the light is not on? If I do need it, then I will set it up with a timer to run like 15min every hour or something.

Oh and the most important bit, building this tent came in at under R450. Hence me wanting to do this, because as a first indoor grow, this should do compared to a 1500-2500 tent.

Next steps >>>> Once all my stuff arrives, 2 x 40l pots are going in with the 2 different Critical Auto's. I will toss the current plant out then and give the tent a good bleach down clean. I have some powdery mildew on this plant, so want to avoid that hanging around.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Live Canna
Update

[Live Canna]

Here is what the inside looks like today.

Bought a cheap bucket to invert and put the plant on (have a piece of wood there too). This will insulate it a bit from the cold concrete floor.

Towel has the heating pad in it. And you can see the temp probes for under the tray as well as in the soil. And then a third one which just sits there for the general air temp. You can also se the chain here and how I hung the light + how easy it is to adjust.

 

[SkunkPharm]

That looks good. I use basically the same setup for my first 2 grows. Way back in 2016. What I have learnt from that experience was to use panda plastic as a reflector and build a square frame at the top of the tent for an extraction fan. Ise ir dont use it. This will suffice though.

[Prom]

 rather nice to watch.. you put your head really into your project. 

Don't invest to much in electric heating. It costs energy for the small effect it has. I saw pictures of hemp plants covered in snow. The seeds and youngsters hate cold.. the older ones can handle. But not that you want them cold.. my point is, if you have to heat, use gas and turn the heat into CO2 at the same time. Your lamp generates heat. You do not have to constantly suck air and heat out of your tent. I use it more for moisture regulation. As long as it is not getting to moist, you can just leave the inside circulation running. If you run a gas heater inside the tent, you will add moisture too.. but will never run short on CO2.. no CO2 no growing, is the essential component plants get their carbon from.

When you prepare your tent for the next grow, a sulfur burner gets is very easy cleaned up of any lurking fungi.

[Live Canna]

44 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said:

That looks good. I use basically the same setup for my first 2 grows. Way back in 2016. What I have learnt from that experience was to use panda plastic as a reflector and build a square frame at the top of the tent for an extraction fan. Ise ir dont use it. This will suffice though.

Thanks man  I will look for the panda plastic, but I think this will probably do me for the next year/few grows or less and then I will invest in a proper tent, which at that point will then help and make things easier.

Haha so prepping the extraction for the fan was actually something I was going to busy myself with today. I was thinking of putting a piece of wood. Holes at the ends to cable tie tight to the frame, and then fan goes in with ducting. Simple and effective for now.

41 minutes ago, Prom said:

 rather nice to watch.. you put your head really into your project. 

Don't invest to much in electric heating. It costs energy for the small effect it has. I saw pictures of hemp plants covered in snow. The seeds and youngsters hate cold.. the older ones can handle. But not that you want them cold.. my point is, if you have to heat, use gas and turn the heat into CO2 at the same time. Your lamp generates heat. You do not have to constantly suck air and heat out of your tent. I use it more for moisture regulation. As long as it is not getting to moist, you can just leave the inside circulation running. If you run a gas heater inside the tent, you will add moisture too.. but will never run short on CO2.. no CO2 no growing, is the essential component plants get their carbon from.

When you prepare your tent for the next grow, a sulfur burner gets is very easy cleaned up of any lurking fungi.

Thanks! I did try  Was trying to balance cost and time, else it just ends up being more worthwhile buying a tent. So I could of made it neater/cleaner, but I think for the purpose it will do.

Thanks re the temp advice. I also read saying they manage alright with cold, but I didn't know they would manage that much  I have a small gas heater, but even that is too big and would burn anything in there. The pad I am using draws 9w and I think is simple enough for now. Cost was R89 plus a plug, so I am not too concerned there. I have read about tube heaters being efficient and good. Not sure we have that here though? Or we call it something different.

Thanks, good to know I do not need to suck constantly. As the fan is not a proper inline anyway. So not meant to run 24/7. I will do something like 1 hour on 2 hours off or similar. 

Thanks I will look at the sulphur option also.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Live Canna

[Prom]

if you are on a budget.. Arduino.. you need a temp/ humidity sensor, the arduino board and the relays.. and you can very easy switch things on and off. This time wise setup is not where you want to end up with. You can also buy those temp humidity units as finished product.. but arduino has its perks for more possibilities and automate way more inside your tent.

You find online some DIY gas burner setup for small tents. Just don't blow up your spot 

[Live Canna]

33 minutes ago, Prom said:

if you are on a budget.. Arduino.. you need a temp/ humidity sensor, the arduino board and the relays.. and you can very easy switch things on and off. This time wise setup is not where you want to end up with. You can also buy those temp humidity units as finished product.. but arduino has its perks for more possibilities and automate way more inside your tent.

You find online some DIY gas burner setup for small tents. Just don't blow up your spot 

Thats actually a good idea thanks. I have seen the off the shelf units, but they can get pricey. I think Arduino would be a longer term approach. For now I just have a digi timer on the light and fan. Will do the same with exhaust for now and then work on the temp and humidity controls.

[Live Canna]

So....some updates 

I have been battling a bit with warmth,  the 2 heating pads were not enough and I was getting worried as I was getting below 15C.  My dark period is now 12PM to 6PM to help with that. I also added a heater, checked that it is not going to burn anything and it now runs for 10mins then off for 20min. And repeats that cycle all day. Raises the "day" time/light on temp to around 23-25C and night time/light off will then obviously drop a little, but not too much.

I just need to get another switch, so I can make it turn off for the 6 hours of lights off as it is a bar heater so the light will obviously disrupt it. I had 2 x 25w bulbs, but they only raised the temp a bit.

I also automated the  exhaust which runs for 5mins every hour. I'll probably increase this come end of veg/flower, but for now the thing is super powerful, so running all the time will just drop the temps too much. I added the ducting for exhaust as well as passive intake with a piece of filter cloth in front.

Having the temp and humidity sensor is nice, now I can monitor it remotely. So thanks to @Prom for the suggestion of automation. I went with the Sonoff switches for ease of use.

I also hung the fan off the stand and on the frame now. That way the humidifier can go underneath.  This 1. Saves space, and 2. when the fan drips water, its not on the fan buttons, but on the humidifier. So much safer.

 

My 2 photos are slowly coming along, and I popped an additional auto. Hoping the auto will be done by the time the other 2 start taking up more space, but lets see.
The heater is on a ratchet now too (as well as the light) so I will move those as the plants grow.

See the pics 

[afternoon blazer]

What up bro @Live Canna howz things looking? Howz the grows?

[GGG]

Hi, when I battled with temp there is small things you can do
1. Hot air mostly higher than cold so il take air in from a higher point outside the grow room and feed it in at the bottom of the grow area.
2. Exhaust hot air out to the bottom of the room your grows space is in.
3. If you duckting can run against each other and you can wrap them together with cardboard or anything for insulation then the hotten ducting helps a little to heat up the intake ducting, obviously you want them not close to each other on the outside ends.
4. Heater can be outside of grow erea where the intake is in some kind of box or just facing the intake.

Little diy that helps with a degree or 3.
Hope this inspires you

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[Live Canna]

On 8/16/2020 at 3:35 AM, afternoon blazer said:

What up bro @Live Canna howz things looking? Howz the grows?

Hey hey, its going thanks  

My auto got destroyed by the cat in its early days, so I had to plant another. This threw my timing off for the 2 photos I was running at the same time. Fast forward to today and the Auto is almost done but definitely struggled with the cold and lack of light between 3 plants >> not doing that again . BUT she has some beautiful looking bud, even though there is not much there. (I will attach pics).

Then my  Bubba Kush and Bubbleberry are rocketing!! The Bubbleberry is one of the most perfectly trained plants I have done and they are both primed and ready to flower. I have switched to 12/12 as of a week ago. (will attach some pics too). So they are going to be monsters. I could basically just fill the tent with the Bubbleberry, but I am going to try and keep both in. Else I might boot the Bubba Kush to the outside.

Loadshedding has of course messed me around. And then this week, I changed a setting on one of my switches, and this, with the power coming back on, started the heater cycle (but it was in the dark period). So a 'red element' heater going on and off every 15mins or so has no doubt hurt them for the few hours it was going. But I hope it has no lasting effect. Time will tell.

On 8/16/2020 at 5:34 PM, GGG said:

Hi, when I battled with temp there is small things you can do
1. Hot air mostly higher than cold so il take air in from a higher point outside the grow room and feed it in at the bottom of the grow area.
2. Exhaust hot air out to the bottom of the room your grows space is in.
3. If you duckting can run against each other and you can wrap them together with cardboard or anything for insulation then the hotten ducting helps a little to heat up the intake ducting, obviously you want them not close to each other on the outside ends.
4. Heater can be outside of grow erea where the intake is in some kind of box or just facing the intake.

Little diy that helps with a degree or 3.
Hope this inspires you

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk
 

Thanks man! Some solid tips there. Issue I have been facing is that the garage is just too cold..eish. All the air is cold  but the heater has been working. Looking forward to summer though!

[Live Canna]

Tall nicely trained one is the Bubbleberry. Shorter stockier is the Bubba Kush, and the the flowering small one is the Dark Devil. + pic of all of them in the grow area.

[Live Canna]

Oh and here are the 3 diaries should you want to see the full progress  

https://growdiaries.com/diaries/61752-bubba-kush-totemic-grow-journal-by-live-canna
https://growdiaries.com/diaries/63067-original-orange-bud-auto-bulk-seed-bank-grow-journal-by-live-canna
https://growdiaries.com/diaries/61754-bubbleberry-totemic-genetics-grow-journal-by-live-canna

[afternoon blazer]

14 hours ago, Live Canna said:

Hey hey, its going thanks  

My auto got destroyed by the cat in its early days, so I had to plant another. This threw my timing off for the 2 photos I was running at the same time. Fast forward to today and the Auto is almost done but definitely struggled with the cold and lack of light between 3 plants >> not doing that again . BUT she has some beautiful looking bud, even though there is not much there. (I will attach pics).

Then my  Bubba Kush and Bubbleberry are rocketing!! The Bubbleberry is one of the most perfectly trained plants I have done and they are both primed and ready to flower. I have switched to 12/12 as of a week ago. (will attach some pics too). So they are going to be monsters. I could basically just fill the tent with the Bubbleberry, but I am going to try and keep both in. Else I might boot the Bubba Kush to the outside.

Loadshedding has of course messed me around. And then this week, I changed a setting on one of my switches, and this, with the power coming back on, started the heater cycle (but it was in the dark period). So a 'red element' heater going on and off every 15mins or so has no doubt hurt them for the few hours it was going. But I hope it has no lasting effect. Time will tell.

Thanks man! Some solid tips there. Issue I have been facing is that the garage is just too cold..eish. All the air is cold  but the heater has been working. Looking forward to summer though!

Awsome to hear bro. More plants is always better then less plants though. 

 

Hopefully ur struggles are over soon. As i can notice a considerable difference in night time temps. So its warming up slowly bro.

Summer is coming.

[afternoon blazer]

14 hours ago, Live Canna said:

Tall nicely trained one is the Bubbleberry. Shorter stockier is the Bubba Kush, and the the flowering small one is the Dark Devil. + pic of all of them in the grow area.

They lookimg great bro.

 

Those colours though .

Awsome.

 

Training looks good. 

Do u mind resharing ur traiming approach please.

[Live Canna]

On 8/22/2020 at 4:45 AM, afternoon blazer said:

Awsome to hear bro. More plants is always better then less plants though. 

 

Hopefully ur struggles are over soon. As i can notice a considerable difference in night time temps. So its warming up slowly bro.

Summer is coming.

Thanks bud! Agreed, it is definitely getting warmer! 

Yeah, I am looking at getting a 75W V2 from Grow Opz as soon as the funds allow, and that will also help, as my light is not the best. But I am going to run with it for now. Also now that it is getting warmer, I will be able to remove the heater soon and then I will have more space without worrying about burning the plants (literally).

[Live Canna]

On 8/22/2020 at 4:46 AM, afternoon blazer said:

They lookimg great bro.

 

Those colours though .

Awsome.

 

Training looks good. 

Do u mind resharing ur traiming approach please.

Thanks bud, really appreciate it.

Yeah the colours are crazy. Will definitely be trying her again at some point to see if I can get some better bud growth.

 

So if you look at the 2 diary links I posted for the photos you will get the idea. But I followed 2 slightly different approaches.

1. The Bubba Kush. >> https://growdiaries.com/diaries/61752-bubba-kush-totemic-grow-journal-by-live-canna

I topped her twice. I basically topped and then pulled down branches in hope the lower node would catch up, which it did. Then the lower node, on that (lower) node also grew up, whilsts I kept pulling down the uppermost node. So thats where I got the odd shape, but she is relatively flat.

2. The Bubbleberry. >> https://growdiaries.com/diaries/61754-bubbleberry-totemic-genetics-grow-journal-by-live-canna

This lady I topped, and then pulled the first two growths (once grown a bit) flat as if I was basically mainlining her, but without the sticks on the actual branches. So purely by LST. Then all the lower nodes on those 2 main branches starting shooting up and I topped those again creating more branches and every time pulling down. Then at some point I basically let go, and let them rise up to create the shape she is now. You can see this all quite clearly in the grow diary.

Let me know if that makes sense. Happy to help with what I have learnt so far in my first proper grow. I must say though, I feel like what I did to the Bubbleberry worked a lot better. But this is all plant and strain dependent also. The bubbleberry is IMO definitely more on the Sativa side, while the Bubba Kush is more indica dominent.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Live Canna

[Trailblazer420]

Very few posts I enjoy as much as a nicely done DIY project. Well done, looking great

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[Bakstein420]

3 minutes ago, Trailblazer420 said:

Very few posts I enjoy as much as a nicely done DIY project. Well done, looking great

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 

I concur 

[Live Canna]

4 hours ago, Trailblazer420 said:

Very few posts I enjoy as much as a nicely done DIY project. Well done, looking great

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 

Thanks a lot  Always nice to hear the feedback!

 

4 hours ago, Bakstein420 said:

I concur 

Thank you kindly