Building perpetual garden stage 1

They let the roots breath better and lets the soil dry out faster so the roots are not sitting in constant water. They give you better control of your watering and nute schedule because your not having to wait as long for them to dry out.

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Was thinking quantum board. My idea is to have it so i can raise and lower each side. 4’10" by 5’
I would like to be able to put few plants on 1 side and month or so later fill the rest. I liked the thread with dude built his own but was thinking of half thats twice. So it would be the same as his but split. Maybe even add some more to make up the difference on the sides. From what im getting the quantum board is good for flowering a 4×4 so i would need somerhing extra for like 5" on each side. Just thinking about it. What do you think about how much light i need?

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With humidity being so low inside grow room. I finally put a humidifier in the room. Raised the RH to 61 in day. Will monitor night time to see how much it raises up. Might have to increase fan speed a bit if its too high. Saw some roots at the bottom of cups. Gonna wait a bit before transplant to try to get these plants from being waterlogged. Hoefully it works out. Might drop a bag seed in so i can learn to water plants correctly. Not too worried about taking the bag seed to flower. More to just learn and see what happens with super light watering every day or other day

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@Budtastic they’re probably just a bit yellow from the 5.0 water. They’ll recover. Just continue to monitor and you’ll do fine.

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It was actually ph 5.5
Did some soil testing to see what runoff would be and how wet soil gets. Probaly should have messed with it before all this but live and learn. Shpuld i use 7.0ph or stick with 6.5? @Covertgrower

Most are using the 4 large board fixtures for a 4x4. You have another 9 square feet, so some considerations need to be taken as to how you plan on using the floor space of your tent. Especially if you’re looking at having two separate fixtures. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to go with the big dog like @Rugar89 did.

Bang for your buck, you could maybe do something with the qb 120’s? Guys are running them around 70 Watts per board without a heatsink. If you could get your hands on 6 of them in 3000k, you would be doing pretty good at covering half the space. Last I seen they were only available in quantities of four though. Perhaps that would be something they would throw together for you.

Doing something with those bridgelux strips would be an option too. The 1120mm version would leave 6-8” of clearance on each end. As far as canopy coverage, probably about as even as you’ll get. Same thing, since that would be a straight diy, we can decide exactly how many fixtures to build and how big to make them. And would be real easy to build in waves. May be a little cheaper too depending on how we go about it, but probably a little more work.

Up to you really, just a couple of ideas to toss around. Plenty of other options too.

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@dbrn32
You know im not sure about lighting to be honest. All the tech stuff baffles me. I just like being organized thou. This is what im kinda looking for. I do want good lights and dont wanna have to buy again too soon

I really like the qb that guy built. Could i do something like he did but just different?


He has his boards long ways

If i did this would it be too much? Not enough? Idk. I just want good lights

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Two of the three board setups would be ideal in your space if going with qb 288’s or 304’s. You may have to go with 288, as I’m pretty sure 304 is discontinued. Whatever is out there is leftover.

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6.5 would be best, since that’s your target. It’s always better to bring it back slowly. @Budtastic

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@MAXHeadRoom
Would you be willing to help me with this project?
I know you have experiance

Hmmm…sounds great, but no way to measure runoff. Do you think that checking runoff is needless with the fabric planters?

I’m using two 600W COB LED, and one 400W COB LED. All bought on eBay, between 70 and 90 bucks.
All I’ve used last two grows. They make less heat, and use less electricity.
What freaked me out is that I realized last week, the 400W in the middle of the tent was shut off.
WTH??? Since I turned it on, there has been a noticeable growth spurt!

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Whats your opinion with these? Think 2 would fill what i needfor flower

I think they’re pretty good, and that would probably be fairly solid. However I do feel you would benefit a little from having the boards spaced out a little more.

Sure I will help. So from reading above you have a 2 x 5 grow space. So now HLG is recommending 40 watts per square foot when using QB. I don’t know how they came up with that number but that is what I’m going to use. So you have 10 sqft so you need 400 watts power.

If you run 3 QB288 each board would have to be powered to 133 watts each.

Forward voltage would be 54.5 for each board at 2800ma giving you 152 watts per board MAX.

You would need the Mean Well HLG 480H-C2800B Driver to run the 3 boards in series.

This would be your light spacing and wiring in series

Your frame size would be 47" x 12"

Anything else?

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That doesnt look too complicated. At 40 watts sq foot should i go with a smaller qb? Wpuld i be ale to turn it down so it doesnt draw as much power from wall? I dont know anything about electrical would it be possible to give me a breakdown on what parts to get? I think i could build it but would take more money buying wrong parts figuring it all out more then likely. I really appreciate the help.
@MAXHeadRoom

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NO

Yes We can order a dimmable driver

  1. 3-QB288 $225 Source-HLG
  2. 1-Mean Well HLG-480H-C2800B $138 Source Arrow
  3. 3-Slate 2 Heat Sinks $60
  4. 2pcs 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/8 x 6’ Aluminum Angle $14 Menards
  5. Dimmer $6 Rapid LED
  6. Wagos and wire and power cord $30 Amazon/ Hardware store

Total $473

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It will be a month or so befor building and ill let you know how it goes. Thank you so much

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You’re the man @MAXHeadRoom!

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Okay Gang,

Here’s the Jazz for this weekend:
First off, thank you all for your Q&A. Always stuff comes up that I forgot to ask (hee hee hee),
and the answers are always informative, and helpful.
So, where I’m at now…It will be 50’s in MA (USA) tomorrow, so I can wash the sulfur off the leaves,
and put those girls into FRUITING MODE!
The fungus gnats are gone, the sulfur took care of the brown rust fungus, and they are good to go.
The pictures show the plants today, and the clone nursery I put in on the first floor.
Temps in the mid 60’s, and a warming mat under the one fresh one. It has actually been in the window in a shot glass of water for five days! Hoping it survives.
Have a great weekend ya’ll!

Oz in So Ma

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