I’m starting this diary at the very early stages so there will probably be long breaks in between posts. I’m a plant biologist in spirit and a software engineer by trade (made a career switch a while back). I’m not using my biology training/experience too much these days. That’s where OG comes in! I’m a licensed medical cultivator in my state.
Goals
Better weed: I’ve been mostly unimpressed with what the dispensaries here are selling. It’s good but not what I’d expect from million dollar professional operations
Creative control: I want to try some new strains and possibly get into breeding down the road.
Save money: Cannabis taxes in MO are low, but weed is still expensive and it adds up
I’m going to try hit these notes:
Rotating cycle of 2-4 plants in flower, with clones following behind them. I’ll work out timing once things get going
Remote monitoring/intervention: Data and video
Hydroponics. I know that’s vague but from what I’ve gathered thus far, it’s the most amenable to automation.
LED lights
Keep an eye on power consumption
The Space
I have a shed behind my garage that stores my mower and various garden tools but there’s a lot of unused space there. (sidenote: when I say unused space I’m not talking about empty space because, like every horizontal surface in my house, over time the second law of thermodynamics steps in and fills it with junk! So, I have some cleaning to do first) The state requires my grow to be locked and inaccessible by people other than me and the shed provides this more or less already. The shed is uninsulated and full of air leaks. So, I have some building to do. One benefit with this space is the dedicated 20A circuit running to it which I hope will be enough for an LED grow, but I’m open to running more juice later if needed. The shed sits in a fairly sheltered, shady area. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too hot in the summer. We’ve been seeing regular 100°F+ days in summer lately.
I have doubts about this space but my wife doesn’t enjoy pot smell and there’s not much room in the house anyway. My main concerns are:
Temperature: Hopefully sealing it up a bit more and adding some R9 will help. I expect to need A/C in the summer. I’m not sure about winter grows yet.
Pests/Disease: I want to continue parking my mower in here but mowers are dirty. I may need to be more proactive about cleaning it after mows.
Smell: Not too worried about this, but still a concern to be managed. This isn’t an illicit grow but I still want to be mindful of my wife and neighbors.
Automation
I have a busy life with a full-time job, 4 kids, 4 pets, and a cichlid aquarium. So, building systems that can self-regulate is important. We help my kids learn to help themselves, my dogs have an electronic door to let them outside whenever they need/want to, and my cats’ litter box more or less cleans itself. I’d like for this project to (eventually) manage its day-to-day as well.
This is not to say that I’ll be hands-off from the grow–quite the contrary. I see myself checking in on it frequently. What I want is to be responsible for the important higher order decisions (e.g. “what should I do about these pests,” “maybe I should raise the pH a bit”) and less concerned with the more granular aspects of the grow (“should I turn the heat on for a bit to hit the target temp?” “how much acid should I add to hit this pH”).
A big piece of this is monitoring. If I can keep eyes (electronic or otherwise) on the grow when/wherever then I can make small corrections before larger ones are needed. From what I’ve gathered about hydroponics, stasis is the key. Hydro grows can go south in minutes to hours, not days to weeks. This will also alert me to MFs messing with my grow.
I’m still working on hardware and other specifics but I wanted to brain dump and see what y’all thought.
I’m planning on building the system on Mycodo so I’ll need to make sure all my hardware plays nicely with it. I’ve settled on a DWC system for my first foray into hydro as it seems to be the simplest to implement and automate.
I’ll probably find or model (we have 3D printers now mang!) some extra supports/bars for mounting electronics, etc.
Carbon filter. This is pretty expensive for something so simple. I may look at some of the DIY designs shown here
Fans: I have various computer fans and a few that run on 120V. I’ll probably build something simple
Lights
This is a big ?? for me so far. I’m still exploring the forums for ideas but I’m leaning towards a DIY Solstrips solution. I like the control I can have over the design and it will probably be more cost effective. The following posts caught my interest. Appreciate any other suggestions here!
This is mostly just for the gut check “are the lights really on?” and for logging.
Liquid Handling
Dosing pumps (4): These cheapies. Hopefully these don’t fail but I want to see how much
Flushing pump: Still need to look. This will really only be used to flush the system periodically. I’m thinking about trying NFT later on so hopefully I can repurpose. Seems like this is a common failure point in NFT systems so I probably need something robust or have some redundancy.
If outside in the shed- you’ll want to periodically '‘bomb’ the space with the equipment (but not the plants) still inside with a greenhouse bomb. No matter how well you clean lawn equipment-mites and thrips will find a way in! Sounds like you got this pretty well planned out!
We used DWC for years-- I just change the buckets every 2-3 weeks and between stages… no need to flush as long as you are keeping the ec and ph stable!
(IMO) DWC=easiest grow ever!
I’m thinking about other places to store the lawn equipment. I really should pay some schlep to cut it for me but it gives me a reason to get out of the house (remote worker here) and smoke/cut grass.
Greetngs @kevdougful,
Thanks for starting this thread, I will follow along with interest.
I’m just finishing my own grow room upgrade and I’ve had to consider most of the same issues you are working with.
Here’s a link to the “ground up” rebuild @ReikoX did a few years ago. His design process and implementation notes are loaded with useful information.
Regards,
-Grouchy
Thanks! I just got back on the site a few weeks ago and I’m mostly in a holding pattern as far as actual work on this so I’m trying to soak up as much as I can. Appreciate good links like this!
Update: Purchased have been made. Anxiously awaiting their arrival.
Gorilla 4x4 Tent (w/ high CFM kit): I decided the tent was the place to splurge and provide room for expansion later
I included the gear board for the pumps/probes I’ll add later on.
SolSheets DBLX: I wanted to design/assemble my own stuff but I really don’t have the time. This gives me a clean lighting solution
AC Infinity Clouline S6 w/controller: Again, a self-contained solution, this time for ventilation. Some light googling seems to suggest that hacking the I2C control signal wouldn’t be that difficult if I find it necessary.
I included the silencer and long carbon filter. So, sound and smell are looking good so far.
Feminized Gold Leaf and Super Skunk from ilgm.com.
I’m in the middle of some carpentry work as well. I’ll post some photos of the process later but the gist so far is:
Thicken the inner “walls” in the shed to 2x4 thickness.
Run wiring to new boxes and fixtures, wire devices.
Extend new circuits to downstairs panel.
Test
I’ve also given a bit of thought to both physical and logical designs for the sensor network. I’m leaning towards a pub/sub model leveraging MQTT. I’d have a few ESP32 boards reading and publishing sensor data to a broker running on my docker host. I’ll most likely pull the data into my fledgling Mycodo instance to both visualize and control outputs (fan, pumps, etc.) This will allow me to deploy as many sensor nodes as I want without having to worry too much about maintaining connections with all of them. With a clever enough topic naming scheme, deploying a new sensor is simply a matter changing a couple strings and clicking go (famous last words, I know…).
Today’s update is construction related. I’m still working through infrastructural concerns in the shed. But first, I must clean. This shed has been mostly neglected and has become the home for many things that should find other homes (like possibly the trash). I cleaned out the shed, removed the crappy particle board shelves that someone before me put in, and installed my first bit of technology (temporarily): My “air sensor.” (more on that below)
I had to resort to some creative framing techniques as the existing studs were only 2x3" and set on 24" centers. I made some compromises and basically inserted 2x4s in between the existing structure in places that would minimize the amount of insulation cutting I’d need to do. It’s dark now so photos probably would be better tomorrow. I’m leaving myself a checklist for photos:
Framing
A/C exhaust hole
Wiring
I’ve done a few test runs with the A/C unit and it’s definitely up to the task. Even with leaky doors and no insulation it’s able to keep the shed at a nice 68-70F with 90+ heat outside. While doing so it’s pulling ~800W which will fit comfortably on the 20A circuit that it will have to itself.
I’ve decided to make an entirely new run from the main electrical panel as the existing wiring is tied into parts of the kitchen and garage. I’ve identified and “explored” (read: busted drywall and lots of test holes) a promising route through the back pantry wall to the basement, landing mere feet from the panel. Once I get a live wire to the shed, much of the setup will progress rapidly (I hope).
Almost all the equipment has been ordered and arrived. I still need to find some buckets…I’ve heard that Firehouse Subs sell clean, used pickle buckets for $2 or something…
Nice Progress and thoughtful planning! I’m enjoying your progress.
I have to laugh at myself recently. My grow room upgrade is largely successful and I’m finding that I now am able to dial in the environmental. It came on line in March, so I saw the system cope with very low temps, and extremely low humidity successfully. More recently we had a minor heatwave along with days of 100% humidity and it handled that as well.
So now I can lay in bed and watch the AC Controller 67 graphs when the lights turn on and Inkbird punches up the A/C to compensate.
Very nice, but here’s the rub: It is kinda boring! There’s literally nothing left to do down there but watch the plants grow, mix a few gallons of nutes periodically and scan the VPD graphs on my phone!
Good problem to have I suppose, a triumph over nature wrapped in irony! LOL
-Grouchy
PS, put in more electrical than you think… two 20Amp circuits?
So, I have some cleaning to do first) The state requires my grow to be locked and inaccessible by people other than me and the shed provides this more or less already. The shed is uninsulated and full of air leaks. So, I have some building to do. One benefit with this space is the dedicated 20A circuit running to it which I hope will be enough for an LED grow, but I’m open to running more juice later if needed. The shed sits in a fairly sheltered, shady area. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too hot in the summer. We’ve been seeing regular 100°F+ days in summer lately.
