Hey guys!
So, after 15 years of sporadic incarceration, probation and parole, I have finally discharged and I am now completely legal to run as large-scale, and hard as I can f***in’ run. And I’m RUNNIN’!!
My Father, Gary, was an old-school member of this community back in the early 2000’s, ('01-'06), and was a huge advocate of the ‘aeroponic/DWC’ method and practically helped pioneer it among those in the scene here in Denver, Colorado, USA. However, he was never able to see legalization become a reality. …On one Halloween night… Oct. 31st 2007 while I was locked up and on my way to prison, my Dad passed away suddenly and without warning from pancreatic cancer. He was 47 years old man…
Needless to say, literally the majority of the accomplishments won by of our global community, my Dad anticipated with firm resolve. He KNEW that one day, truth would trump propaganda. He KNEW that the bright lights that are cannabis and hemp could not be distorted and twisted and made to be something they were not, for too much longer. My Dad knew legalization would sweep our nation, and many others…and that there would be so many opportunities for those who believed in that dream and followed it.
My Dad isn’t around today to share with all of us, his old friends and confidants…our accomplishments and experiences. But today he is still here, and with us all as I eagerly share with you all my progress so far in a project that I am dedicating to my Father, and pursuing with dedicated resolve. My ultimate goal, and the dream and vision I have for this project, is to source as best I can the most original, regional-based strains of pot, and then crossbreed and develop a unique lineage. My father left a lasting impact on my world, and the culture that we forever will be a strong part of… He was damn good at growing weed. He would have wanted to see this through. So, this is for you, Dad.
Ok… So I started with a budget of something around the lines of $0. But in true-to-dad fashion, I knew we would make it work. My Dad was the kind of guy that would go to the army surplus store, radio shack, and some random construction job site, and then would turn around and build his own 1000w ballasts, lamps and hoods out of stuff like the old WW2 ammo boxes and miscellaneous crap he would find. In fact, remembering how resourceful Dad was, I COULDN’T just go drop thousands of dollars on a grow - I HAD to do this like He would, and so I reached out to old friends and family, most of which whom also were hugely impacted by my Father and his energy, and some of whom who are doing very well in the cannabis space here in Colo. The resulting support we received was overwhelming. The guys at Karmaceuticals, Medicine Man and THC Magazine…the support is amazing. Thank you guys so much!!! Without you guys, none of this would be possible. Love you guys so much!
Anyway, enough of the DAMN RANT!!! Here’s the delicious DATA!
We ended up being given the following clones (for a total of 27 mommas):
1 Forbidden Fruit
1 The Juice
5 Super Lemon Haze
20 Lemon Skunk
I’m running…
-27X 5gal buckets (DWC, pumping air to them) (Called all the Chick Fil-A’s around town for 2 weeks and picked up their 5gal pickle buckets, which are bpa-free, food-grade buckets, for free!)
-6" Net pots, Lava rocks, Rockwool
-1X 3566GPH Airpump (Used Y splitter and 2X 14Valve Manifolds to run 1/4" hose to airstones)
-2" Airstones
-6X 1000watt DE HPS in a room apx. 15’ X 22’
-Sunleaves Base Nutrients
We got a late start transplanting, as we had to pull 10/3 240v wiring and install an 8X outlet Master Lighting Controller for the room, so finally got the girls in buckets yesterday (3/2). I’m a bit rusty, so I’m hoping that my formulations on a couple variables are correct, and maybe you guys can help me with that.
Formulations
Airflow: My research showed I need a min. of 500-600cc minimum, of air-flow, per gallon of solution. (equivalent to .5-.6LPM, Per Gal of solution), or 2.5LPM/Bucket.
I understand that 240GPH = 15LPM, therefore:
3566GPH / 240 = 14.86
…meaning that if this airpump, which pumps 3,566GPH, is to run to 15 buckets, each bucket would receive roughly 15LPM of air. I figured that if I doubled the number of buckets, I would halve the airflow, giving each bucket roughly 7-8LPM of air… almost 3X the minimum necessary… Now I THOUGHT that would be the case, but such was not so. It looks like we will most likely purchase another air pump to handle 1/3rd of the load, as the largest pump I can find locally, retail, is half the GPH.
Water & Nutrients: The rule of thumb for this line is 5-6 grams per gallon of water. Since our tap water is slightly alkaline, I was concerned about having to chase pH around.
We had roughly 4.5 gallons of water per bucket, so I measured 20-22 grams of nutrients out per bucket, and the pH settled quite nicely around 6, give or take .2-.3 - not too bad.
The fill line in the buckets put the last 1-2" of netpot submerged in water - which leads me to a question: is that too much water or not enough? I figure that it would be fine for now, as long as the rockwool stays moist and the roots are given enough stimulus to enable them to grow out into the water. Obviously, once the system is fully submerged it won’t be so critical I assume, and once that happens, I will run silica and root stimulator…probably same line.
Lighting: My Dual-ended HPS ballasts let me run 60%, so for now we have all 27 under one, 1000watt HPS running at 60%, (600watts effective luminosity). We will be hanging the other 5 1000watters and placing the buckets in their relatively final resting place within a week or two, depending on response after this transplantation. Right now, I have them on 24hrs.
Supercropping!!
It’s hard, tedious work - but this run will be supercropped, meaning I will meticulously pinch, coach, train, poke, cut, tie, twist and coax these mommas into becoming thick, squat and dense - with the hopes of truly maximizing yield.
A handful of these will become mommas, that will stay in a perpetual veg state, bonzaii’ed if possible.
And we are building out 5 more rooms… Got our work cut out for us…so wish us luck!
Anyway. I’m burnt out on the post. I have tons of questions and will pose them if I need any assistance! Definitely open to suggestions, comments and concerns!
Talk to you guys soon, and will keep everyone posted!
I will also take better pictures of each individual plant so that we can keep tabs, together. =)
Cheers!
-Nox
