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grow box: HELP!!!

  • Thread starter mass
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    grow
  • #21
I agree with scottychaos! Trays will help a lot. It's ok to have a little water sitting in a shallow tray. Your board is still going to warp and mold even wrapped in plastic! I still think your humidifier is going to much! Untill you can seal the whole thing properly your going to continue to have leaks! I have a hard time believing your tray will "catch" all the water being created in your chamber. The misters I use run a lot but it is not enough to water the plants. I still top water all my plants. The humidifier is really only to raise the humidity in the chamber not to water the plants. You will continue to battle mold with that high of humidity all the time. You may even get plant molds that could kill your plants.
 
  • #22
It looks like you arent using plastic trays under all your pots..if not, why not?
are you allowing the water to simply drain out into the towel?

I would just get a plastic tray for every pot..very cheap and solves the problem..

Scot

It doesn't solve much of anything. Earlier I stated a couple times that the watering comes from a ultrasonic fogging humidifier. When the fog settles.. it's everywhere, not just the pots.
 
  • #23
It doesn't solve much of anything. Earlier I stated a couple times that the watering comes from a ultrasonic fogging humidifier. When the fog settles.. it's everywhere, not just the pots.
watering cps by means of fog mist? hey i like your concept!
 
  • #24
watering cps by means of fog mist? hey i like your concept!

It works just fine for me.. It's a lot of fog and it's a small chamber.

I have a hard time believing your tray will "catch" all the water being created in your chamber.

Well, bite your tongue.. because it's catching a LOT!! Darn thing is almost full already. In either case, I went to my father's today. His house is like a one stop shop for anything and everything I may ever need.
I picked up a large plexiglass chamber, a couple more 24" light fixtures, some computer fans for inside the chamber, a BUNCH of egg crating!!, and a large fold out table to set it on. I'll start assembly tomorrow, with pics of course.
 
  • #25
It doesn't solve much of anything. Earlier I stated a couple times that the watering comes from a ultrasonic fogging humidifier. When the fog settles.. it's everywhere, not just the pots.

interesting..
ok..new suggestion! ;)
how about..putting trays under every pot, top watering the pots, and ditching the humidifier alltogether? you are probably generating about a billion times more humidity than your plants need..

in a closed container, just evaporation from wet media, and the plants themselves, will keep the humidity plenty high..

IMO, in a closed grow chamber, a humidifier is not needed at all..

Scot
 
  • #26
Sounds great Mass. cant wait to see photos of the new setup
 
  • #27
interesting..
ok..new suggestion! ;)
how about..putting trays under every pot, top watering the pots, and ditching the humidifier alltogether? you are probably generating about a billion times more humidity than your plants need..

in a closed container, just evaporation from wet media, and the plants themselves, will keep the humidity plenty high..

IMO, in a closed grow chamber, a humidifier is not needed at all..

Scot

The humidity is 75%-80%.. 24/7. And not only do I love it, but so do the plants. And I just don't have the drive to individually water 50 some plants. So, the fog stays.. But, if you refer to my post before your last one, you'll see a new and improved chamber is in the works.

Sounds great Mass. cant wait to see photos of the new setup

I know, right. Can't wait to start working on it..
 
  • #28
If eveything stays wet like that I fear that your grow- box will turn into a rot-box, even CPs need some kind of air flow.
 
  • #29
Grrr... this is apparently needing to be reposted in really big letters.

I picked up a large plexiglass chamber, a couple more 24" light fixtures (4 T12's & 1 T8 total) , some computer fans for inside the chamber, a BUNCH of egg crating, and a large fold out table to set it on. I'll start assembly tomorrow, with pics of course.
 
  • #30
How about capillary action/wicking/condensation? I'm on my stupid phone so reading this thread is hard, but I saw all sorts of funny stuff going on in those pictures. I'll check back from a ral computer later... Hopefully you figure it out soon anyways.
~Joe

PS - I think Scot might have to win an intarnet for the point that this is more humidity than your plants are likely to need. If you can contain your humidifier and like it, go for it, but know that even plants sensitive to dehydration usually do not like saturation or near saturation and will not grow as well. Automated watering via drip irrigation or other methods can be done cheaply and easily for the cost of a large low quality swamp cooler or a small ultrasonic humidifier. Plus it's easier to direct where the water goes and is used. But I do understand the appeal of a tank full of swirling fog and plants with teeth. :D
 
  • #31
aww.. I'm honored you'd check on my thread while mobile. What's capillary action and wicking mean?
 
  • #32
That's what Wikipedia is for. ;P
Basically I think a cold draft or stagnant air is getting into wrinkles in that awful tarp of yours and forming an impromptu dehumidifier. There's probably a thermal air current influenced by the rack or a near wall or something drawing air to it (rising heat from lights helps create this.) That plastic isn't necessarily waterproof. A solid sheet is not the same as waterproof - just that it doesn't leak when you hold liquid water in it. Water can still move through certain plastic and lastic-like materials through relatively gradual seepage at the molecular level. Even if your used something really super waterproof like silicon or wax or solid metal, the thermodynamics is asking for a condensation problem.
~Joe
 
  • #33
Thank you Mr. Wizard for confusing me even more.
 
  • #35
Sweet man sounds like you got everything you need! I want to see the finished product.
 
  • #36
Sweet man sounds like you got everything you need! I want to see the finished product.

oh you know me.. I'll probably take pics of every little bit and piece from start to finish.
 
  • #37
Er, awful was a harsh way to put it... :/
But, it is kind of pathological. I will further destroy my thumbs on my phone keyboard for the sake of insomnia. The tarped in plant area has the humidifier and is at saturation point inside from time to time. Condensation waters the plants but also beads on the plastic, settling on cracks, seams and folds in the plastic because of surface tension. The liquid water has a different ability to conduct heat than plastic, particle board or air so it becomes relatively cold. Because it is cooler than the air, and the air has an excess of humidity, water vapor is absorbed by droplets as the vapor cools, creating a sort of precipitation effect. Because those droplets settle into the nooks and crannies an cracks in the tarp, they act as a sort of freeway for water vapor that wants to leave the enclosure.
Now, there ar wrinkles on the inside of the tarp, and as a result also the outside. That means the same type of folds drawing water out of the enclosure on the bottom have a spot that's shaded and relatively free from air currents where water is pooling. (It likes to pool up in the wrinkles because of capillary action.) Add that to particle board, an excellent source of energy-rich cellulose, and it's a good place for molds.
In addition, you have a plant light that gets hot. The hot air rises above your lamps, and stops at the ceiling. Then it rolls from one direction or the other to get out of the way of the air that's still being pushed up by the lamps. Unless you have a very cluttered or turbulent room, it's likely that there's a sort of circular draft of air that blows up the wall your lights are against, up to the ceiling, across to the opposite wall, down and back along the floor to the space underneath the lights. Or something like that if there are other heat sources in the room. In any case, the air around the base of your enclosure is likely to be a continuous, very gentle flow of the coolest, wettest air in the room. Because the base of your container will be cooler than the top, even with perfect seals this is another opportunity for condensation.
Or I might be wrong.
~Joe
 
  • #38
Er, awful was a harsh way to put it... :/
But, it is kind of pathological. I will further destroy my thumbs on my phone keyboard for the sake of insomnia. The tarped in plant area has the humidifier and is at saturation point inside from time to time. Condensation waters the plants but also beads on the plastic, settling on cracks, seams and folds in the plastic because of surface tension. The liquid water has a different ability to conduct heat than plastic, particle board or air so it becomes relatively cold. Because it is cooler than the air, and the air has an excess of humidity, water vapor is absorbed by droplets as the vapor cools, creating a sort of precipitation effect. Because those droplets settle into the nooks and crannies an cracks in the tarp, they act as a sort of freeway for water vapor that wants to leave the enclosure.
Now, there ar wrinkles on the inside of the tarp, and as a result also the outside. That means the same type of folds drawing water out of the enclosure on the bottom have a spot that's shaded and relatively free from air currents where water is pooling. (It likes to pool up in the wrinkles because of capillary action.) Add that to particle board, an excellent source of energy-rich cellulose, and it's a good place for molds.
In addition, you have a plant light that gets hot. The hot air rises above your lamps, and stops at the ceiling. Then it rolls from one direction or the other to get out of the way of the air that's still being pushed up by the lamps. Unless you have a very cluttered or turbulent room, it's likely that there's a sort of circular draft of air that blows up the wall your lights are against, up to the ceiling, across to the opposite wall, down and back along the floor to the space underneath the lights. Or something like that if there are other heat sources in the room. In any case, the air around the vase of your enclosure is likely to be a continuous, very gentle flow of the coolest, wettest air in the room. Because the base of your container will be cooler than the top, even with perfect seals this is another opportunity for condensation.
Or I might be wrong.
~Joe
Looks like your the man to consult with technical techniques based on science, your conclusions are well put and within the circumstances serve sense :p
 
  • #39
Your making my head hurt.. :scratch: I'm a simpleton. Old and naive..
 
  • #40
OK - here's the simple concepts that drive it home in my mind; fog/clouds and cold rocks/mountains. Condensation on car windows. Cold pulls water from the air. Rocks and heavy, water resisting materials like them pull water from the air because heavy materials frequently stay cold from things like nighttime cooling. I'm bad at making these explanations concise, because I use lots of source material.
~Joe
 
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