Bunny's Mad Misshapes. (CBD with a sprinkling of other adventures)

[bunny]

Suggested I do something like this. I won’t go through the early wrong starts, just summarize a few rabbit droppings.Good thing I took picture.

My first seedling.

With a door and some excess wood laying around expanded a closet for my ten plant medical grow certificate. Not pretty but I am more a functional guy.

A power supply and a bunch of Bridgelux strips.

Cheap Chinese drivers rated at 3A, 100W. Sorry, no cigar. At least not at 120V. I have found some of the switching power supplies, whether light related or not, only put out their rated current when supplied higher voltages, say on 240V. Name brand stuff works, the cheap shit, not so much.

Made a cheap charcoal filter out of a lengthy cardboard box, lightweight landscaping fabric and a fan. Pounded up the briquets, stapled it inside the fabric, taped it shut, vented it in and out. Actually did work not bad.

Tried a 120V line operated light. Used a computer cpu heatsink and fan. Not the most efficient light. I have them in a box somewhere around. But it did augment my above strips on my first grow.

Also used the 100W cobs they sold for a few bucks. Had the massive heat sinks from motor speed drives from work. The fins are close together which means they had to use a fan to get rid of the heat rather than convection. Without the fan even with the heat sink (I only had one cob running) it got real hot. Yeah, I have a lot of used stuff to cobble things together, just don’t call me a pack rat.

First grow.

https://i.imgur.com/DoSB04t.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

Used a little of everything while I was researching which way to go on light technology.

Ended up with some so-so weed. Some CBD and some 1:1 CBD and THC.

[Nagel420]

Looks like you’re off to a great start! I like that you DIY’d a lot and seem to be handy.

[Gpaw]

My first thought was to offer to help select a Mean Well driver but then I noticed you were driving your lights with a dual lab supply

I then spotted the Canadian bag of charcoal and started to wonder if I knew you…
(power electronics field in Canada isn’t that big)

The geometry of those fins on the H/S requires some air (but not much).

Cheers
G

[Shadey]

Nice work, like you I adapt and re purpose a lot of stuff. Plants look like they are enjoying it so it can’t be bad

Is there a problem having a weed smell in your house or around your property.

[Who]

you made a real effort ot provide side lighting, something i have been considering

[bunny]

Actually over two years ago, just giving some history, being the handy sort I go a different path as most, not necessarily a good thing. Yes from Canada. Instrumentation Technology, so an understanding of power up unto a point, never ventured above 600V. Think the heatsink was from a 25 hp drive. I was doing some industrial HVAC work at the time.

More just recounting my equipment trials and plant tribulations here. Round two. Grew some plants outside. I can not remember my outdoor limit, I may have exceeded it by a plant or two. I accidentally broke a branch off the Blurg downstairs so I cloned it and did a little experiment. Think the left one was coco with perlite on top, all perlite (both Hempy), a bucket of my nutrient water changed out weekly, and a big batch of coco done Hempy. The coco and perlite was no real difference in size, the other two in larger containers produced larger plants. Not earth shattering but answered the question if one method is better than the other. No not really, the coco seems a little ahead. The perlite had a branch broken off when the wind blew it over. The soilless one has the branches a little spread out while the coco is tighter in but in terms of mass about the same.

Brought them in as it got a little cold outside. Tried finishing them off with my hodgepodge of lights in my sun room.

WTF is this on the plants?

Oh, I got it.

Trashed the lot. Bugs in every part of the flower and not worth picking them all out.

Starting over again, I also entered an un-scripted beer cup challenge. A little too un-scripted, all dropped out. I plowed on.The Blug plant again. Just used a stub I cut off, wanted to see if it would grow.

Harvest time.

[MidwestMover]

Great work! Plants and lights. Looking forward to more from you.

[bunny]

Got a lot of seeds off the outdoor plants. Grew a few to see what daddy might have been.These are the freebees and the sneak in the dark romeo.

I also collected a few of the Blurg and the nigh time romeo. Generally pitiful looking seedlings.

I was battling aphids throughout this time, did they come from the outdoor plants even that I did not bring them into the house proper? Or some of the coco I bought? I don’t know but from then on anything I was going to grow in got some time in the oven at 250 F.

I decided to try reversing the plants I had and then I can quit growing for a while then start up again. Hopefully that would solve my aphid problem. Bought a 99.9% silver dime, some distilled water and juiced them up.

Learned a little doing it. You only need a couple of volts to produce colloidal silver, a 5V phone adapter from a thrift shop would do. It just takes a while to get ions flowing in distilled water. I found the second time I did it that it went faster, probably some remaining silver at the bottom of the jar started it up. A murky solution or a large buildup of silver on the other electrode (I used stainless steel, it does not have to be silver) is an indication of too much voltage. It does not hurt things from what I gather, just wastes some of your silver electrode. Take this with a grain of salt, I think I know what is going on, no guarantee I am right. I do remember a little of my chemistry class though. Anyway, the second time I did it the water remained clear. I read and found it to work, you get a laser pointer and shine it through the water that you think has the silver in it. If it does you will see the beam in the water with the light sparkling off the silver. Isn’t technology wonderful.

The first jar of murky silver deposited a lot on the leaves, they really do not like it I gather. But it did produce some male attributes.

I was battling the bug problem, spaying down my plants. Thought about the oil, dish soap and water mix to kill bugs outdoors. Put the solution in a five gallon pail and dunked the plants in it head first, swished them around. Seemed to kill the bugs. Problem was, the oil may have left a film on the top of the water and when the plants were pulled out the oil sheen covered them. Ended up losing all the plants but one Dinamed. But before three that I reversed gave up the ghost I got some clumpy pollen from them…

My poor pitiful plants I hope viable seeds come off of in the back row. The middle one was a thc cutting of a plant well into flower. I didn’t bother giving it the god awful dunk as it just sat there and looked pitiful, even the bugs avoided it. In the end it did flower and I got some seeds off it. What they produced I don’t know. Not a big concern at the time, but at least it showed some of the pollen was viable.

Bought some Regular seeds Cherry Wine,

[bunny]

The runt’s name was Starry Night, found a picture with it in the back, the Dinamed CBD coming along
and a thc variety a kind fellow in Alberta sent me to try. in the front row. And off I go to try and restock my plant count.

https://i.imgur.com/9exyjCU.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

Had some other thc type seeds sent to me also, not really something I need but willing to give them a shot.

I grew out some of the mystery dad seeds outdoors. If they got pollinated also I would give up on growing outdoor. If they turned out not bad, I have a lot of seeds of them.Transplanting them in larger pots, ran them in soil.

Gifted indoor plants three months ago. New layout of my ‘grow room’ expanded it a couple of feet wider and I have the lights suspended. Plants at a nice level to attend to. They droop real fast when they needed watering but perked up as fast also.

In flower.

Starry Night CBD cross.

Seem to be all is well. Gifted seeds

https://i.imgur.com/asv8tZZ.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

https://i.imgur.com/asv8tZZ.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

Outdoor plants look kind of rough.

Indoor,

Starry CBD

Getting heavy and using pipe cleaners to tie them up.

Sarry CBD.

Harvest time, the Starry CBD was kind of stinky, had some weight to it.

The far left one is 12" long.

The rest are ready to take down.

Mr. kind-to-me from Alberta’s plant.

And my other thc variety gifted plant.

Boy that was some work trimming.

At the moment I have the Dinamed CBD back from the brink and the Cherry Wine going. Not big plants, I need to finish before it gets late in the year and I will be exhausting nice warm air and heating frigged air coming in.Just a little spot lighting to help out where I revered the plant.

https://i.imgur.com/DGit5mY.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

The Cherry Wine on the other side, a little over 3’ high, added a row of supplemental lighting at the side.

https://i.imgur.com/vPoHNJq.jpg(image larger than 1000KB)

And that has me kind of up to date.Oh right. The gifted seeds, both give a nice stone, jarred and are curing. The Starry CBD, from the feel of it, part thc-cbd. Not what I was looking for but no surprise as to what I got. Going to see if it cures the flavor to a better direction. Not sure what I think of it yet. The outdoor trashy plants. Seeds again, tons of aphids. Bagged them and into the bin. That reminds me to throw out the seeds. No way will I be growing outside again.

[MoBilly]

Very nice start to your journal! Thanks for the tag. I’m loving the DIY aspect of your setup.
I’m dialed in and set the thread to watching mode.
You’re going to be fun to watch, I think.

[Hemp]

Nice bunny. @MoBilly you get him here? Lol that’s why the other place is dead. I said hello the other day. Nice stuff. @bunny glad you jumped on.

[bunny]

Just looking to expand my horizons, I guy has to get around don’t you know?

One thing that I haven’t shown was my current lighting setup. It all started with reading that a few thrifty souls bash light bulbs into submission, at least the bulb bit, and shine on poor unsuspecting greenery. I was needing a veg area in a reasonably short period of time, it seems everything I do is because I needed something yesterday. So while at the Dollar Store I saw 100W equivalent light bulbs on for $1 each. Heck, the lamp holder is over $2 at Home Depot.

After bashing one light I figured out how the lights are made and the fancy bits are mounted on an aluminum plate. So I took some industrial curtain rails I got for free., drilled some holes and screwed the light plates on it. Then wired the bunch up from the open end of the rail. I went back to get more bulbs, they were out. Darn, found more at a different store.

Ended up being a different style, the first ones did not have line voltage exposed, the newer ones did. I had to insulate these with electrical grade silicone. They were also a lower wattage, I built up three rails and sealed off the back and made a manifold on either end. that way I could blow air through them keeping the inside of the ‘tent’ cooler. I pieced together some 2x2’s, wrapped them in vapor barrier poly, another trip to the Dollar Store and I used mats sold to lay around on the beach as a reflective surface. A few staples and I was up and running.

And what first started as a need for a cheap and limited light source, well they multiplied. “Oh , build a couple of more for some added light for my current plants.” “OK, three more.” Next thing you know they are being temporarily suspended off more 2x2’s.

Made good use of my space but had me crawling under them to water the plants in the back. I finished that grow (accidentally fried them, power strip with the fan on tripped out. It wasn’t even close to the limit.) and thought about what would be best for these old bones. So I have less available space for plants, still should be good enough for my needs. Besides, the venting I have to get rid of the heat is limited due to where the room is located. The idea was to do the same as I did for the veg tent and collect the heat at the source but the current layout was not really conductive to that. But who knows in the future?

So the right side lights are mounted to the ceiling of the closet (which is lower than the room ceiling) but the exhaust air vent is there. The bank on the left and the center are adjustable in height, it is a shame they overlap in space a little. Not a big deal, I just adjust them and which plants go where by height.

[Tejas]

Definitely like your “McGuyver” approach to get we’re you want to go and you produced some nice looking bud to boot!

[bunny]

Another way of saying, “He really does not plan things out, does he?”

OK people, I reversed my Dinamed CBD and I have some male (alright, butch) body parts that I want to get pollen off of (stating the obvious). I had to get it out of my grow room so I snipped them off and have them in water. I have some parchment paper to catch any that falls and I have it against my cloner so the light is doing double duty. I have not sprayed with colloidal silver solution for a few days thinking it had enough built up. Anyone see any obvious flaws in my method? Now is the time to inform me. The branch is just loaded with nanners all down the branch, had to snip some off to keep them out of the water. Should I keep all the foliage? I don’t want to fuck this up at this stage of the game (I really should have moved the plant out and just had it pollinate itself but I need the CBD off of it, it is a fair sized plant.)

[Shadey]

Once its making male flowers you dont need to spray anymore, you can defoliate some leaves if it makes collecting the pollen easier, but they will use the leaves for food, like clones do so leave some, and change the water regularly so oxygen gets in it, that helps also.

[bunny]

Than you. I was not sure if I should leave the leaves on or take a few off. This is the first time I have cut a branch off that I wanted to collect pollen off of. I had some pollen from my first try at reversing come out in sticky clumps. Mind you the plants were in rough shape from spraying them. I got a handle on cooking up the solution now. I have a few bananas on some of the Cherry Wine plants I sprayed, maybe half a dozen between four plants. They still have a way to go, going to leave the branches on the plant a little longer. Or I might wrap the section in plastic to contain any pollen and let it ripen on the vine.

I am tossing some autos I ended up with when I crossed some CBD pollen with a THC plant. They are clones off of the plant up top with the pop bottle. It produced well but nothing of interest. Not fish nor fowl, I was thinking of crossing them a few times to see if anything comes out of it. Not worth the trouble. So I have more room in the veg tent. I am pissed with myself, have two small plants almost ready to harvest and I can’t find my microscope. The one I chucked different types of pollen at, that one can go as long as it likes. Mind you they both are bending down a fair amount.

[Shadey]

They look great, if you’re leaving them longer put a couple of stakes in the pots to support them. I find if the buds hang low, away from the light they can go airy and fluffy.

Once your cuts are making pollen, dont spray any water near them, moisture or high humidity is not good for pollen longevity

[bunny]

I had males in a separate room and had them sitting over a piece of glass. I saved the pollen in the fridge with a bag of desiccant to suck the moisture out of it. I guess I should find another bag of it somewhere.

[Nagel420]

@bunny

I saved the pollen in the fridge with a bag of desiccant to suck the moisture out of it.

In the process of learning to save / share pollen myself. I had been collecting it and saving in a jar (also daily dusting of the ladies). I shared 3 vials yesterday, and of course, today my own jar shows mold. ARGH! I had unbaked rice in the jar (but baked in the vials). Today I collected more, put on a small glass, and into a bag with a bunch of dessicant packs and a hygrometer. Room humidity is 60, bag is down to 30% and its been 6 hours. UGH… Why can’t freeze dryers be cheaper?

In short… Baked rice vs. regular rice, PLENTY of dessicant packs, and let fresh pollen dry (from what I have read, indica pollen tends to carry even more moisture so its even more important to dry).

Live and learn, but isn’t that what we’re here for??

[bunny]

I have some longish lower branches with a few nanners in a branch I reversed. Wish there was more, hope to catch some pollen, Almost feel like wrapping the node with plastic wrap and pipe cleaners. Would like to give another branch a shake but I figure is I see the pollen at the bottom of the plastic wrap I can collects some with a Q-tip and spread the joy around.

Wait a second. The leaves will be trying to evaporate water and it will damage the pollen, Skip that. Sometimes I need to think things through.