Looking for suggestions, help and ideas for a new grow room for SOG

Growroom Design
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Hey Guys,

I’m moving soon and building a brand new grow room and cabinet. My previous grow cabinet was 120×240 cm, but it turned out to be way too big for my needs.

So here’s the plan for the new setup:
I’m building a grow cabinet measuring 60×240 cm — possibly closer to 65×250 cm to allow space for circulation fans and grow trays.

I’ll be running a SOG setup with 64 plants at a time, grown in rockwool. The clones will start in 4×4 cm cubes and be transplanted into 10×10 cm cubes placed on top of a coco mat. The entire tray will be covered with plastic film to keep humidity down.

I’m definitely going with a drip system, but I haven’t decided yet whether it will be CNL drippers or Floraflex bubblers.

Most likely, I’ll go with Floraflex bubblers because they’re easier to work with. You can close off individual drippers if you’re not using them all, and the system is easy to clean during the grow.

I’ll use either a 120 or 220-liter reservoir, which I’ll top off daily with fresh nutrient solution mixed with recycled runoff from the day before.

The plants will get a very short veg period — around 3 to 7 days. The goal during this time is to allow the roots from the 4×4 cubes to expand into the larger cubes and reduce transplant stress before flipping to flower.

For lighting, I’ll start with three Kingbrite 240W quantum boards, which I already have. I’ll begin at 450 watts total and gradually increase until I find the sweet spot for what the plants can handle.

Down the road, once budget allows, I’m considering upgrading to either two of these L983xW422MM 244pcs leds or three L890xW422MM 183pcs led version for better coverage.

For cloning, I plan to keep 2–3 mother plants in a small tent, so I can move it around the grow room if needed. These should provide 90–120 clones, allowing me to pick the best 64 for each run.

Does that sound like a solid plan?

What I’m most unsure about right now is how big the tent and light need to be for keeping 2–3 healthy mother plants.
I’m currently thinking something like a 40×90 cm or 60×80 cm tent with a dimmable 200W LED.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

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I like the Rockwell block on coco mat idea, will that be like NFT on a tray? And I think the lighting for that area sounds about right. But an area 0.65m X 2.5m (2x8) could be filled by 6 plants in a row, even with no veg time. 16 plants in two rows of 8 would be 1 plant per square foot and would get rammed by week 3. I’m not sure how you’d get even close to 64 plants in there.

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That will be 4 rows of 16 pieces = 64.

I must honestly admit that it is difficult to figure out how many plants there should be. Some say 1-2.25 per sq foot and others 1-4 plants or more per sq foot.
Of course I am concerned that the plants will be too close to each other after the stretch period.
This guy has 98 plants in a 120x120cm tray, which is 1.44m2 as my set up, he uses 660 watt leds with he dims down to 450 watts.

The plan was not to use NFT, but drip irrigation. I can clearly see that it is a bit like NFT with the coco mat.

I only use the coco mat to ensure that the roots do not root. Maybe I will change the coco mat to an NFT mat.
The reason is that the PH changes much faster in rockwool than it does in coco. Optimally, rockwool should have a PH of 5.5 and coco 5.8.

I’m not sure if you can use building rockwool to grow plants. The most optimal would be to use 10-20mm rockwool mat, rather than coco mat.

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It could also be that after I have dripped my rockwool cubes with 5.5 Ph nutrient solution, I drip the coco mat NFC style with 5.8 PH nutrient solution from a separate reservoir.
But it starts to get complicated with 2 reservoirs.

The plan is to top up my reservoir every day before I go to work, and the night before, on days when I want to sleep late.

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I did run at one time a space just a bit smaller , 120x213.
Had two tables two feet off floor to be able side tote under.
I would run 90 , 6 inch. Spreading panda film across the top then pinning it to the corner wood frame.
Cut crosses through the film and insert my cuttings.
I then would just flood tables to about 1.5 inches deep and let it slowly drain back every 6 hours.
Would poke a 2ft 5/16 dia dowel into each block and zip clip the plant to it.
With a bit of a transition in lights and to make sure there growing in that new cube , 7 days max then a 60 day run.

Good luck and enjoy.

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90 pieces is a lot, did they get too close to each other after the stretch? So is it possible with 64 pieces?

I think the 6 inch cubes are too expensive. I’m sure these 4 inch cubes I want to use are big enough. But since I’m covering the rockwool cubense to keep the moisture down, I think the roots will grow out of the cube.

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I think I have found a solution that is better than coco mat. This rockwool mat.
With an NFT mat underneath, this should be the best solution.

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Now that I think they were 4.
There was rooting in the cube but also the table ribs would he packed.
Plant would end up maybe 2.5ft tall .
Seem to fit well , relatively easy turn and burn every 75 days.
Plants would yield about 19g .
Could pack a lot of light back then in smaller area, were todays led fixtures are much larger.

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Is this your first grow? They grow outwards as well as upwards. This is my 2x4 space with three plants, so it’s the same depth but half the width of what you have. These have gone to 12/12 from seed so no veg time at all.

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I don’t think they mean 1-4 plants per square foot, I think they’re saying 1-4 sq ft per plant.

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This is not my first grow. I have never grown plants this small before.
When you give plants 12/12 from seed, they keep growing and don’t flower until they are mature. That is why your plants have become so big.

The genetic memory of the clones says that they are older and more mature, and therefore they can flower faster.

I can post the links when I find them again. It is 1-4 plants per sq. ft. that is meant. 1-4 sq. ft. per plant doesn’t make sense in the context of sog. Then it is no longer SOG.

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Thanks, that helps.

I think I’ll throw in a rockwool seedling mat or Rockwool Mini Loose Grow Cubes so there’s room for the roots that grow between the ribs. The NFT mat should also help keep the roots under control.

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Hey thanks, that info helps.
I’ll definitely be dripping them. I’ve used 6’ hug blocks before for LST style grow, where I’ve found the sweet spot is about every two hours, about 5-6 times a day, and once while they’re sleeping.
So it will be interesting to see how much water the 4" blocks require. Maybe more times, but with a slightly lower EC.

And that’s good info you bring, that they need to be vegged for about 5 days. I had a suspicion that they would act strange if they didn’t get a little veg time. So I give them 5-7 days, while I increase the light intensity, and get them used to a stronger nutrient solution.

But 4" rockwool blocks from grodan are actually only 4" x 4" x 2.5", so I’m thinking of 3d printing a 4" x 4" x 4" or a Rockwool Cube Housing or 4" x 4" x 5" Rockwool Cube Housing by Mervsy - Thingiverse, where I fill the bottom with small rockwool mini cubes, or I use geo textiles, so there is moisture at the roots.

I just want to make sure that the roots don’t dry out or rot, and after the first time, I will get a much better picture of how the roots behave.

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I have found the perfect trays for the project. https://www.cultureindoor.com/en/spare-part-for-system/4317-tide-table-platinum-series-60-x-110-floodable-table-for-hydroponic-system-3700688524351.html
I have used a larger version of the same before, I think it was 120x120cm
It was so strong that when I had to throw it out, I couldn’t break it into several small pieces by hoping or stepping on it.

I am looking forward to the new grow cabinet. 60x240cm will make it easier to clean and take care of the plants. And the smaller trays of 60x110cm per piece will also be a pleasure to clean rather than the large impractical ones.

The CNL valves will be the 4h/h version from Netafim. They have an ok price, and I’m thinking of using 1 pc. per Cube. Hopefully that’s enough. With a good disc filter, and flush valve the system should work well.

To my great surprise, the prices of hoses for CNL drippers have dropped a lot since I last bought some for my old grow cabinet.

Now I just need a plan for the mother plants. What I already know is that I grow and keep the mother plants in coco/perlite mix, and use one of the fleraflex bubblers I already have to water them.

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I’ve decided to buy a moisture and substrate sensor to make watering decisions a bit easier.

The most important part for me is the sensor itself, but for it to work, you also need a compatible controller.

So I’m planning to get this sensor: TrolMaster Soil Moisture, Temp & EC 3-in-1 Sensor (WCS-2), along with one of these two controllers:

To be honest, I think both controllers are quite expensive for what they offer—especially considering that if you want to add extra functions like pump control, lighting, heating, or dehumidification, you have to buy additional modules that cost €100–200 each. In some cases, you also need a module extender, like this sensor board, for certain sensors or setups.

If anyone has experience with either of these controllers, I’d really appreciate your input. The most important thing for me is being able to view real-time sensor data. As a bonus, it would be nice to control the pump and lights through the controller.

Right now, I’m leaning toward the TCS-1 controller, since it seems more expandable than the NFS-1. However, I’m unsure whether it can directly support the WCS-2 sensor. The manual says a sensor extender is required, but the wiring diagram shows a direct connection is possible—so I’m confused.

But for now, I’m thinking these 3 things from trollmaster.

TCS-1
Soil Moisture-Temp-EC 3-in-1 Sensor
Trolmaster 240V Timer Program Device Station (DSP-2E) To control my irrigation pump.

For light heater and dehumidifier I am considering the one from spider farmer.

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Those prices strike me as ‘too high’… but I’m old and cheap… :wink:

Cheers
G

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I also think it’s expensive. I want a substrate sensor, and the prices for it are high, and they only work with controllers which also cost a lot even though they can’t do anything particularly impressive.
What strikes me the most is that a simple timer that the controller can control costs 100 euros

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