Logchief's 2011 Grow

logchief · Jan 15, 2011

Well here I go for my first start from seed :dance:

and second season. Finished the grow station this morning. Thanks :cheers:

to all here at THP for the tips and info here to come up with the design for a simple small germination and seedling starter. Here are a few pics of the station.

It's framed from Sch 40 PVC (Lowes $20.00) and wrapped with space blankets attached with velco (Walmart $7.00). Platform is 3/8 plywood framed with ripped 2x4 (Lowes $18.00) mounted on top of an old kitchen chopping block on wheels. Remove 8 screws and it breaks down flat on the plywood tray strapped down for storage in the rafters of the garage when finished.

Blanket folds down over the front to increase the light and heat if needed

Lights are 2x 4ft. T8 2 Tube 6500 (Lowes $38.00) I'm sure I could have shopped around more and gotten the lighting a little cheaper, but oh well. There is a ceiling fan just above and in front of the station and puts a gentle breeze on it, would that be enough air??

Hopefully this will do the job for me, any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning on starting only about 30 plants, grow list coming up shortly.

logchief · Jan 15, 2011

Here are the seeds I'm going to start this weekend and keep my fingers crossed

Nu Mex Jalmundo - x3 - CPI
Nu Mex Heritage 6-4 - x5 - CPI
Caribbean Red - x3 - CPI
Orange Habenero - x3 - CPI
Datil - x2 - CPI
Rocoto - x3 - Boutrous
Yellow T Scorp CARDI - x2 - Zanderspice
Choc Habenero - x1 - Lazinfat
7 Pot Brain Strain - x2 - Pepper Ridge Farm
Trinidad Scorp - x2 - Alabama Jack
Clavo - x1 - Boutrous
Red Manzano - x1 - Boutrous
Yellow Fingers - x2 - Boutrous

More pics to come

wayright · Jan 15, 2011

Looks awesome LC, I dont think you can go wrong with that setup. I really like that it can fold flat for storage! Great job
Kevin

Tonly · Jan 15, 2011

Very nice!

logchief said:
There is a ceiling fan just above and in front of the station and puts a gentle breeze on it, would that be enough air??

It might be enough. I like to see the little plants waving in the breeze. I think it makes them tougher and easier to adapt to outdoor conditions when the time comes to put them outside.

naganumbness · Jan 15, 2011

nice setup! i might have to try that.

Justaguy · Jan 15, 2011

Nice setup

lazienfat · Jan 15, 2011

Awesome cant wait to see more LC!

logchief · Jan 16, 2011

Thanks for the support, seeds going in the dirt today, pics later

MIPEPPERGUY · Jan 16, 2011

Excellent setup and a nice grow list. Like the space blanket idea (I like inexpensive), guess I going shopping at Wally’s soon. Good luck to you this season!

I have a similar setup; sch. 40, T – 8 fluros, etc. I like the PVC setup as I can expand as the need arise. Everything is simply press fit (no glue) together and is reasonably sturdy (although not the “Rock of Gibraltar”). Have couple of straps nailed to framing studs for additional support. Last year, midway thru the seedling start, I realized that there was not enough space for all the trays I’d started. Added another shelf, two more light fixtures, etc. Wondering where I’m putting everything this year.

Oh the addiction!!

Dot Com · Jan 16, 2011

Very economical and portable set-up, just like you mentioned. I like the fact that you used light weight materials such as the tubing & space blanket too.

Silver_Surfer · Jan 16, 2011

Looks great chief, that should work very well.

logchief · Jan 16, 2011

MIPEPPERGUY said:
Excellent setup and a nice grow list. Like the space blanket idea (I like inexpensive), guess I going shopping at Wally's soon. Good luck to you this season!

I have a similar setup; sch. 40, T – 8 fluros, etc. I like the PVC setup as I can expand as the need arise. Everything is simply press fit (no glue) together and is reasonably sturdy (although not the "Rock of Gibraltar"). Have couple of straps nailed to framing studs for additional support. Last year, midway thru the seedling start, I realized that there was not enough space for all the trays I'd started. Added another shelf, two more light fixtures, etc. Wondering where I'm putting everything this year.

Oh the addiction!!

PVC is great to work with and it would be easy to add a shelf

Dot Com said:
Very economical and portable set-up, just like you mentioned. I like the fact that you used light weight materials such as the tubing & space blanket too.

I wish I could remember who it was here at THP that gave me the idea for the space blankets from Wally World.

Silver_Surfer said:
Looks great chief, that should work very well.

Proof will be in the pudding (or should I say successful sprouts) in a few weeks.

U)<now · Jan 16, 2011

logchief said:
Well here I go for my first start from seed and second season. Finished the grow station this morning. Thanks to all here at THP for the tips and info here to come up with the design for a simple small germination and seedling starter. Here are a few pics of the station.

It's framed from Sch 40 PVC (Lowes $20.00) and wrapped with space blankets attached with velco (Walmart $7.00). Platform is 3/8 plywood framed with ripped 2x4 (Lowes $18.00) mounted on top of an old kitchen chopping block on wheels. Remove 8 screws and it breaks down flat on the plywood tray strapped down for storage in the rafters of the garage when finished.

Blanket folds down over the front to increase the light and heat if needed

Lights are 2x 4ft. T8 2 Tube 6500 (Lowes $38.00) I'm sure I could have shopped around more and gotten the lighting a little cheaper, but oh well. There is a ceiling fan just above and in front of the station and puts a gentle breeze on it, would that be enough air??

Hopefully this will do the job for me, any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning on starting only about 30 plants, grow list coming up shortly.

I like your setup with the pvc tubing. Its more adjustable and not permanent... This way, at the end of the season, you can just take it apart and store it in a closet or something!! I currently have my lights suspended from Wooden structures that I made but I may just "Borrow" your idea!

Here is a pic of my current style... Sturdy, but I think I like the PVC idea more. I also use the space blankets now.

logchief · Jan 16, 2011

U)<now said:
I like your setup with the pvc tubing. Its more adjustable and not permanent... This way, at the end of the season, you can just take it apart and store it in a closet or something!! I currently have my lights suspended from Wooden structures that I made but I may just "Borrow" your idea!

Here is a pic of my current style... Sturdy, but I think I like the PVC idea more. I also use the space blankets now.

Nice clean setup. Is that pic current, nice looking plants, you're ahead of the game. That was my goal to get something that would pack up. Now i just gotta get the seeds to start and plants to grow.

U)<now · Jan 16, 2011

No, That pic is from last April. I will start this years seeds in February - March.

logchief · Jan 16, 2011

Finally got the seeds in the dirt. I'm not sure I didn't waste money on these trays, but if the seeds come up they were worth it and they can grow in there for a while. I raised the flouros up and put in a heat lamp that I'm experimenting with for temp. Thanks to AJ for the advise on Hoffmans seed starter, I hope it works for me.

Just checked the thermometer and it's at 80 right now, gonna have to see how it goes for the rest of the evening to see if it will be too hot.

logchief · Jan 17, 2011

I had put a smaller bulb in the heat lamp, looked like it was getting to hot. But regrouped a bit and took out the flouros and raised up the heat lamp with the bigger bulb back and we'll see what happens temp wise Or am I getting to fussy <IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= :confused:

src="http://www.thehotpepper.com/public/style_emoticons/default/icon_confused.gif"> <IMG src="http://i56.tinypic.com/zk4s9w.jpg">

Dot Com · Jan 17, 2011

Looks good w/ the humidity in there. Thats a good indicator that at least the soil is not fried.

logchief · Jan 21, 2011

This has been a bit frustrating maintaining heat for the germination process. The design of this grow station should be good once the plants are up out of the ground, but I'm having trouble maintaining temp with this setup. With the big bulb it was either too hot on one side or too cold on the other.

What I should have done is put insulation panels with aluminum backing instead of the milar to maintain the heat, I'm not willing to heat up that part of the house for peppers. So I'm trying a couple of smaller lights on each box. The heat mat under the boxes only heats the water for the bottom watering and the top of the soil stays cool 65-70 degrees. Maybe with these smaller lights on each box the temps will be better.

Time will tell if these bottom watering boxes were worth it. I'm waiting to be a first time grandpa in late June but waiting for little hooks to pop up I think is worse right now.

U)<now · Jan 22, 2011

logchief said:
This has been a bit frustrating maintaining heat for the germination process. The design of this grow station should be good once the plants are up out of the ground, but I'm having trouble maintaining temp with this setup. With the big bulb it was either too hot on one side or too cold on the other.

What I should have done is put insulation panels with aluminum backing instead of the milar to maintain the heat, I'm not willing to heat up that part of the house for peppers. So I'm trying a couple of smaller lights on each box. The heat mat under the boxes only heats the water for the bottom watering and the top of the soil stays cool 65-70 degrees. Maybe with these smaller lights on each box the temps will be better.

Time will tell if these bottom watering boxes were worth it. I'm waiting to be a first time grandpa in late June but waiting for little hooks to pop up I think is worse right now.

I just kept a blanket over mine as seen in the video link below from last years plants and just the little heat from the three 48" Florescent fixtures was enough to keep it between 80-82F in there which is about perfect. And the blanket was free from my closet! :-) I did still use the a couple heat pads on the two trays with the really hot stuff since they are sometimes harder to germinate, and those trays stayed at 85F or less.

Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M1G5pBtnog