Here goes, After a year or more in stasis, minimal ferts and minimal water, this girl gets the big tub.
After a long hiatus, all I had left were some discount seeds. Turns out they were terrible, but you work with what you got, last chance to show its best side.
Not sure what the genetics were, might’ve been a Nirvana Bubblegum.
Massive stretch, gigantic phenotype variation, some herms, ranging from fluffy sativa to a little less fluffy sativa. This is the best of the bunch, nr4.
With 12/12 Ive had to trim back aggressively twice per grow cycle.
Starting with 12/12 for veg and reducing to 10/14 to get a reasonable flowering time. Usually with 12/12 it just keeps stretching to week 6 or 7.
Last run just got cancelled because of a chiller thermostat failure, the rot got me good at week 8 of flower, just when the buds started coming in.
You can see the water cooled chiller on the res, 2x12710 peltiers and a remote 240mm rad and pump.
The res is now insulated, temperature stays pretty cool, before it was sucking an unacceptable and constant 250W . Now its only on 1/3rd of the time, 17.5-19C.
Most of the tech and power is glued to the back and side of the box, if anyone wants to see it just say.
This run I will be using Chlorine with an ORP meter, tired of the brown death, seems to work pretty well.
GHE Lucas formula 1:2, starting at 400ppm, 20ml Micro and 40ml Bloom in ~20(4.4gal)l.
250W of dimmable Samsung lm301b, adjusting based on temperature, maybe 150W before temps start climbing past 28C.
On the right side of the box you can see the carbon filter chamber.
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Really nice build on that box!
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Fun project, been rebuilt and changed so many times, that’s why there are bits of duct tape and chocolate box on the walls, 6th version of the cooling circuit.
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Lol I noticed the chocolate box and opted not to ask…I thought maybe you were going with a European motif or something haha. I hope you ate the chocolates first!
I’m guessing the res sits below the grow chamber? That’s a nice touch, how many gallons?
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Chocolate, yea that doesn’t survive long, don’t bring it near me.
One day when I am happy with it I will build a new one to those specs.
~5gal liquid, 7gal total, storage container under the plant, be nice to have an external res, but space and stealth are a concern.
There really isn’t a separate chamber, the bit o wood prob makes it seem like it, its there to allow the door to close, container tends to bow outwards and block it.
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Day 2 log, picked up plant and put aside, did a high dose Chlorine shock, 20-30ml of 5% chlorine, let it run an hour. Just to be sure the last plants issues are for sure nuked.
Flush, new water, 5ml chlorine in the fresh 20l res of straight water, let the plant sit in it an hour then added nutes. 5ml chlorine in 20l = 8.3ppm chlorine, general recommendation is 0.5-2ppm, my guess is I end up there after adding the nutes. ORP meter arrives in 3-4 days.
Apparently chlorine reacts with nutrient salt, running a while with pure water seems like a good idea.
Dose 20/40ml of GHE M and B, ph to 6, ppm 370.
Sprayed plant with seaweed extract and mineral magic/fulvic mix.
Day 3, PPM 392, added 20ppm magnesium, 2ml of 5% chlorine. Plant does not show any growth yet, lets see how long it takes for adaptation to hydro.
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Nice cabinet, looking forward to seeing how things grow
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Day 2 , Blue Dream
The clone didnt respond as well and as fast as Id like, it got the boot.
Since I have new seeds, the temptation was irresistible.
4 Blue Dream seeds, 12h soak with a bit of peroxide.
I was a little too rought with the scarification, ran sandpaper on the seams, one lost it shell, there was a separate green thing and the embryonic stem/cotylodeon part floating in the water, the green bits in the husk part probably were needed. Put the white parts in the foam anyway.
Never tried foam before, but seems a decent solution, prepared with 150ppm nute and 2ml/l of biobizz Alg-A-Mic seaweed extract, ph 6. Covered with wet paper towel and sealed lid.
Can see some tail on one seed and another one is starting.
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Ladies n gents, we have a successful launch.
Even the one that dropped out of its pod is greening up. Probably wont make it, but still, good to see.
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ORP meter finally arrived.
It takes a suprising amount of 5% chlorine to raise the values.
I added 1ml/20l yesterday and today the measurement was 210mV, my tap water tested 110mV.
After adding 4ml now, the meter reads 529mV. Will be interesting to see how fast it drops down.
I will let it drop to 300mV before bumping it back up to 400.
According to grozine ~3-400mV is good.
Effective ORP Ranges in Hydroponics:
- Monitored and referenced in mV (milliVolts)
- 300mV is a good place to start with hydroponics solutions
- 600+mV for use as a spray to control foliar diseases
https://hannainst.com.au/hydroponics-orp
ORP stands for Oxidation-Reduction Potential. It is also sometimes known as the Redox potential. ORP is the best way to measure the potential ability of water to oxidize organic contaminants. In other words, ORP can be used as an indicator of water quality. Many consider an ORP level of 250-400 mV to be reflective of good to optimal water quality; this level can be maintained by using aeration, ozone, ORP levels below 200 mV can indicate low dissolved oxygen, high nitrites, or high DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon). DOC promotes the increase of harmful bacteria. However, ORP levels exceeding 550 mV are harmful to animals and plants.
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Nice cabinet. I’ve seen some nice grows happen in small spaces. Seed suggestions would be old classics like a Afghan or N Lights. Something easy to get you going and not overgrow your space. A scrog screen helps in small spaces too but that’s later on planning. Best of luck to ya.
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Thanks man.
The strain selection is a bit of a balancing act, need some sativa in my mix, so I will manage.
Most times that means cut her like she owes you money
Scrog, that’s a good tip, those blocks on the sides of the grow are for a screen, its just not in yet, makes it hard to do stuff in the grow.
Day 3.
Record time pop and go.
Even the damaged one is going, just a little short n fat.
Last grow was a fail due to root rot, i suspect the media and the pot contributed to this with anaerobic zones, this time, no pot, no media. Scrog screen will hold things up when its time.
Have been reading threads and a general principle of, adapt the plant to its home ASAP, is emerging.
The moment the tap root was out, turned on the LEDs, place box in the light. Seedlings get the big res right away.
I used thread and needle to solve my no container idea, stuck the foam to a thick pad of alu-foil, into the big res they go.
Got some fresh air stones and suction cups, positioned air stones in the middle so it’ll splash the foam pad. Working great, can see drips off the tap roots and the foam isn’t getting saturated.
Its going to be difficult with space, wasn’t counting on the 4th to survive.
Will take cuts before flower and probably try for a CS fem pollination, get a good stock of the genetics.
ORP was a little high when mixing, went to 500, dropped in a few grains of Cvit, now its 435.
10ml micro, 20ml bloom,PPM 175, ORP 435, Ph 6, res 19C, grow 24C, RH 32%
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Are you planning on moving 3 of the 4 seedlings and spacing them out more through your res, or are you planning on leaving them where they are?
How long are you planning on vegging them before flipping them?
I have a plant that’s been vegging for nearly 90 days and it’s stem is like 1" thick. If you veg for too long you might have an issue with crowding.
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They will likely stay where they are, flower starts when they reach most of the way to the edge under scrog screen.
Anticipating finger thick stems each, that’s how they are spaced, might remove the foam once they are firmly in the mesh.
Depending on stretch, it is likely I will thin and cut back to get a bud in each 2-3" square.
Crowding this time is done to get cuttings, find the best plant, make seeds, production run proper will be just 1 seedling.
Main thing now is secure the genetics for future grows.
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Gotcha, makes sense. Really interested to see how the foam works out for you. I tried germinating seeds in neoprene collars and it was working, but I was having issues with the roots not going down into the reservoir.
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Tap roots are already 1/2" and dangling just on the surface.
Its going crazy fast now.
Maybe yours were a little too tight, I cut slits about 1-2" long straight thru
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Very interesting setup welcome back to OG @Hydrlizr
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Thanks man, good to be home
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Today continue the struggles to apply correct amounts of LITFA.
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