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Indoor Growspace Build

Zath

Enthusiastic Enthusiast
Been talking about this a lot in chat, and I'm sure everyone there is more-or-less sick of hearing about it by now. Figured it was time to post some pics. ;)

Getting started (the linoleum didn't work out), but shows the space formerly occupied by my off-the-shelf plastic tent I had been using to keep Neps and other things.

laying-foundation.jpg


Didn't bother getting pics of the framing, so this is next in line. Basically just built a box with 4x4's in the corners, plus two interior rafters. Almost everything is held together with brackets, since there was no maneuvering room to screw the boards together on the outside.

outside-door-closed.jpg


And the interior, with the mylar hung, the floor (which is a 10'x25' roll of 6 mil plastic folded over several times and stapled to the baseboards) covered in rubber mulch to protect the plastic from getting torn and provide more surface area for the evaporation of any spilled or leaked water.

door-open.jpg


growspace-inside.jpg


inside-back-3-4.jpg


Now I need to start building tables, and get the misting system and heater in place. Ventilation can probably wait a little while, but eventually I'll be installing a fan for that as well.
 
Looking good, excited to see how this turns out! Is there any concern with the wood frame getting damaged over time by water/humidity? Would PVC pipes or such have been a viable option?
 
Looking good, excited to see how this turns out! Is there any concern with the wood frame getting damaged over time by water/humidity? Would PVC pipes or such have been a viable option?

All the wood is pressure treated. I maybe could've used some large diameter PVC, but for some reason didn't consider it for such a large construct.
 
Being pressure treated, you should be fine. However, if concerned about reflectivity and/or aesthetics you could wrap the wood with mylar, or just paint it flat white. I doubt it would do much for reflectivity and would likely serve only to improve aesthetics.
 
Spent the day installing the misting system and heater (no pics, because honestly, it looks like a bunch of random trash sitting in the corner, lol)

But I also built the first table, which should be enough to hold everything that fit into the previous tent, consolidated under a single light, and will only take up the back section of the growspace. Nothing fancy, but very practical, imo.

table-long-unfinished.jpg


table-wide-unfinished.jpg


After applying the 2-in-1 Stain/Polyurethane:
table-finished.jpg


The vinyl material I bought to place over the slats in the table, to provide a more solid surface for the pots / trays to sit on:
table-top-material.jpg
 
Interesting build :) Is it a window in the first picture? if yes will you use it to increase the light inside the chamber?
 
What are the dimensions of the area? What are you planning on using to line the tables?
 
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Interesting build :) Is it a window in the first picture? if yes will you use it to increase the light inside the chamber?

It is a window. Two, in fact. Not sure if I'll use them or not, since they're west-facing, and half the light is blocked by trees. In the previous tent, I think all they really accomplished was to heat it up.

What are the dimensions of the area? What are you planning on using to line the tables?

It's a little under 6' x 7'6". For the tables, it'll depend. For the Neps I'm just using the vinyl sheeting pictured and leaving it drained, I think. At least one other table will be built the same way, but I'll probably line it with leftover 6 mil plastic and set up a flood / drain system on a timer.
 
first-table-full.jpg


For the record; No, the light isn't crooked. Just came out that way because of the angle of the shot, lol.
 
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  • #10
What's your plan for the floor?
 
  • #11
What's your plan for the floor?

Not sure what you mean. Already explained what I did for the flooring in previous posts. To sum it up, it's several layers of 6 mil plastic filled with an inch or more of recycled rubber mulch (to protect the plastic from tears, and to provide more surface area for water evaporation).

((It's also quite comfy to walk on bare-footed)) :p
 
  • #12
Ah, I see.
 
  • #13
No more pics as of yet, but I just got finished re-working the misting system.

Aside from a small leak around the bulkhead fitting (fixed with an extra O-ring), the system seemed fine except that it ran almost constantly. I find it hard to believe that the humidity is escaping that fast, so I moved the sensor and put the nozzles in the center of the roof, rather than off to one side. It was just drenching everything trying to keep it up to 85% (during the day, and down to 67% at night ((with a 7% delay))). May try toning that down a little if it still seems to be running all the time.

Also had a catastrophic failure with the original hose. It somehow managed to melt itself shut and separate. Thought it was due to being in proximity to the heater, except that it was nearly 4 feet above it. I still honestly have no idea how it managed to do that. Got new hose today and turned the temp down on the heater (not the thermostat, though. It'll just have to run longer to achieve the same temp.)

Also got the fan re-installed to move the air around a bit and provide some circulation. Will eventually probably upgrade to a box fan, as the little 8" looks kinda dinky in it's new surroundings.

Tomorrow I plan on building the second of three planned tables and installing another light. This table will be used to accomodate some Sarracenia seedlings that are outgrowing the terrarium, as well as sowing a couple flats of various drosera seed. Depending on how much space is left after that, I might go ahead and separate some crowded pots.
 
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  • #14
Aside from a small leak around the bulkhead fitting (fixed with an extra O-ring), the system seemed fine except that it ran almost constantly. I find it hard to believe that the humidity is escaping that fast, so I moved the sensor and put the nozzles in the center of the roof, rather than off to one side. It was just drenching everything trying to keep it up to 85% (during the day, and down to 67% at night ((with a 7% delay))). May try toning that down a little if it still seems to be running all the time.

You sure your sensor and controller are working correctly? Aside from that or losing humidity whenever you open the door I find it a bit hard to believe too.
 
  • #15
You sure your sensor and controller are working correctly? Aside from that or losing humidity whenever you open the door I find it a bit hard to believe too.

(Sorry, forgot to respond to this earlier) I turned down the controller to 75% after I moved the sensor, and duct-taped shut some of the larger seams in the mylar, and that seems to have ironed out the bugs. I also finally put handles on the door so I can shut it completely when I'm inside messing around, which helps a good deal.

******

Got the second table built and put the light in for it, as well as filled up a tray with various things; Ping pullings, drosera seed, and the tallest of my Sarr seedlings so that they were no longer constrained by the height of the terrarium.

new-table-wide.jpg


new-table-plants-close.jpg
 
  • #16
Where are the brandywines?
 
  • #18
Cool. Hows this coming along?
 
  • #19
It seems to be working quite well at the moment. All the plants seem to be enjoying themselves in there (the Pings have never looked better). I just need to get on the ball with the third table, since I'll be using it primarily for starting seed that's meant to go outdoors in late Spring.

Been focusing mostly on re-potting older pot-bound plants and propagating them through cuttings, etc., now that I finally have the room to do it.

I really want to work on the misting system a bit more though. Maybe introduce a splitter and another set of nozzles that I can then attach to the tables themselves. While the mist works to maintain the humidity just fine, It's kind of going to waste mostly on the floor, rather than on the plants / soil / sphag.
 
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