Tripl3fastaction - Spring '23 BOG OG seeds + more

[Tripl3fastaction]

Just got back from my annual winter Rumspringa, so the excitement of a new grow is always fun. I’m going to try my best to keep up with this, we’ll see how it goes.

So, in celebration of the generosity of my fellow OG’ers, I’m going with an all OG, mostly BOG affair.

Courtesy of @Mithridate, first thing dunked was 5 Sour Strawberry F3. They were a bit stubborn to pop in my float glass, so after about 48 hours I cracked them with some tweezers and all showed tails within a day and all are above ground.

Courtesy of @Cyr_grow, I dunked 5 Bog Bubble. All showed tails within 48 hours and are now all above ground.

Finally, courtesy of. @GrouchyOldMan, I dunked 2 Frankenstein S1, because I’ve had back luck lately with my m/f ratio and I wanted to make sure I had at least a couple females. Both popped within 48 hours and are above ground.

So, 12/12 germinated/growing. Contrast that with my last pack of breeder seeds where I went 1/10. Props to the OG seed makers!!

12 plants in a 4x4 isn’t going to happen, so I’ll veg a bit and try to sex them and make some decisions as to what gets grown out.

I’ve got some new toys to play with this run. A Growlink precision irrigation controller, and I’ve set up a pressurized feed system with control valves that can be turned on/off automatically based on water content of my rockwool. Theoretically, I could turn all irrigation over to the controller, and all I’ll need to do is keep my res filled. I’m not sure I’m that confident yet, but time will tell. Follow along if you’d like and we’ll see together. I’ll share more info on the system as I get the plants into true vegging status. And ya, I know this is massive overkill for a 4x4, but I’m retired, it’s my hobby so why not.

Here’s where I stand today. Thanks for looking, and thanks again to the OG’ers who share the seed love, it is much appreciated!

[Brujobob]

Looking forward to updates! Best of luck on this run

[Tripl3fastaction]

Some basics of my grow …

I’m growing in a windowless cellar. Ambient temp in summer is about 65f (good), and about 46f in the winter (problematic). Humidity is relatively stable at around 60% year round. I cannot exhaust outside, so I have that perpetual environmental battle going on.

I’ve got 480w of generic LED bars in there, a 315w CMH, and a 600w MH/HPS fixture that can dim to 400w or 250w. My choice of lights is dependent on time of year and the ambient temp in my lung room. Sometimes i use reflectors, lately ive just been bare bulb verticle hanging them for ease and it seems to work ok. I have to use a heater during lights out.

I grow in rockwool, drain to waste, top feed drip. I use 1 part MegaCrop start to finish. AC Infinity 6 inch exhaust and circ fans and wifi Controller 69.

[GrouchyOldMan]

@Tripl3fastaction

I dunked 2 Frankenstein S1, because I’ve had back luck lately with my m/f ratio and I wanted to make sure I had at least a couple females. Both popped within 48 hours and are above ground.

Hey, @Tripl3fastaction, you know I’m pulling up a chair for this grow!
-Grouchy
PS, I’m guessing Frankies are the ladies in brown?

[NoCal]

Awesome setup!

[Tripl3fastaction]

Ha @GrouchyOldMan, it wouldve made sense to put the Frankies in the rapid rooters, but noooooo, that would be too easy. I ran out of cubes so they got planted in the order they popped.

So the Frankensteins are in RW too, but they are marked. One came up hot, probably the tallest seedling of the bunch so far. I’ll get them separated and make sure you see them going forward.

[GrouchyOldMan]

This is going to be such fun!

So, I hope that some of the info in my Frankie grow will come in handy. Pls feel free to drop a pic there if you like. You are one of the first few to grow those seeds out!

Frankie’s Daughters: Unpacking a Frozen Genome

[Mr.Christmas]

That’s some sick gear you’re running.

I’m excited to see some more of BOG’s work, it’s really warming to see the community coming together to grow his work in his honor.

[Naptown916]

Looking forward to following

[Mr.greenbee]

Sounds great. I’ll be lurking for sure should be a great grow

[Cyr_grow]

@Tripl3fastaction

Courtesy of @Cyr_grow, I dunked 5 Bog Bubble. All showed tails within 48 hours and are now all above ground.

Love hearing this. Glad you got 100% on the ones you popped

[Tripl3fastaction]

So I got my last part in the mail today, got everything hook up, fired up the pump - and proceeded to watch high pressure water shoot all over my tent. Note to self -if I ever do this again - leak test the system before you put your lights in the room . Thankfully anticipated this (feared?) So i was able to kill the power pretty quick and no damage done. But it is a reminder that this pressurized system is a new animal to me and a blown hose or a fitting will be an issue. So im back to growing “scared” like the old days.

So did some twisting, turning, and tightening and, as of now, it seems I have a system that is holding pressure without leaks. Much happiness there, as that is/was my biggest fear going into this.

I still need to figure out a permanent mount and location for the pump and the mini accumulator tank.

I set up a 4 valve box, but I’ve only got 2 sensors and it’s such a small tent I’m going to run 2 “zones” with independent watering schedules. So I’ll put SS on one side, BB on the other, and I’ll run one Frankenstein off each zone.

I’m testing and watering in my 4" blocks to prepare for up-potting, still have a few more doing the initial soak. Not sure if I’m growing plants or running a science experiment, but it should be fun. If anybody is interested, I’ve got about $250 invested in the pressurized feed system and it’s easy to cobble together at the usual online shopping place.

I’ve got one more substrate sensor set to arrive on Monday, I’ll get that installed and share some of the Growlink info. Thanks for looking!

[GrouchyOldMan]

Awesome system!

What pressure does the system run? How many GPM is the pump? What does your reservoir look like?

I am completely naïve on the subject of flood & drain, so thanks for the education here.

-Grouchy

[Naptown916]

What kinda grate is that sitting on?

[Tripl3fastaction]

@GrouchyOldMan

What pressure does the system run? How many GPM is the pump? What does your reservoir look like?

I’m still dialing in the pressure, but I think it’s about 35psi now. These are diaphragm pumps, mostly used in recreational vehicles I think. The beauty of these pumps for our purpose is that they have about a 6’ head lift, and they will self prime from an open ended hose in the reservoir. So right now I just have the input hose dropped into Rubbermaid tote, and that’s ultimately how I’ll probably go once I mount the pump.

Its a 3.3gpm pump, so pretty much low flow, high pressure which is what we are looking for. Most of these pumps are 12v, I didn’t want to muck with a transformer so I paid more for the 115v version.

[Tripl3fastaction]

@Naptown916

What kinda grate is that sitting on?

Its just florescent light ceiling panel inserts

[Tripl3fastaction]

The system is basically designed so that -

The Growlink sensor reports the water content of the block has dropped below x% (user defined);
The Growlink controller sends a 24v signal to the normally closed water valve, latching it into the open position;
Valve opens, water pressure drops in the system, which causes the pressure switch on the diaphragm pump to start the pump;
Water is delivered to plants via drip manifolds on the open valve;
Growlink sensors recognize water content has reached user defined goal, cuts 24v signal to the water valve, which closes valve, repressureizes system, and pressure switch on pump turns off pump.

System remains under pressure and ready to go next time water content of the block calls for it.

At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. I’m still trying to figure out the over/under on the number of times I’m going to flood my tent as I dial this in …

[Naptown916]

Thank you I like you can cut to fit it

[Tripl3fastaction]

Yeah, you can take needlenose pliers and just snap the little pieces to break them apart and size them as necessary.

[Tripl3fastaction]

I rec’d my 2nd moisture probe and got that installed, and have set all of the starter cubes into 4x4 rockwool cubes. I did that on Saturday, and the babies are doing fine so far.

The probes initially reported the saturated blocks as 65% moisture content, which is what I’ve read I’m looking for. So that’s a good start. I want the blocks to dry back to about 45% water content before I start irrigating. I usually give them 4-5 days before the first water, and the probes are showing about a 5% decrease each day. So that tells me the practices I’ve implemented over the years maybe are ok.

The Growlink unit itself is not much more than a mini pc board with 4 inputs/outputs. I’ve not had any issues to date with connectivity, etc.

There are 2 different software options, which is really what you are paying for. The first is a free app, it gives you control of everything, but maybe not as much data graphing, etc as the paid, web version. I apparently got a 30 day free trial of the paid version. Honestly, I did not know it was a trial, and I really liked the data manipulation that was available. Then one day my access went away and they want a payment method. It seems like it would cost me around $10 month for my system, but for my little tent I don’t see the benefit at this time. I’d assume pricing is tiered but I don’t know.

So I dug into the free app, and here’s some of the major screens. The dashboard gives you the overview of your probes, temp and EC. I wish I could hide the 2 unused sensors, I haven’t found a way to do that. The probes are reporting similar #s in 2 different blocks, so I’m encouraged by that. I watered these blocks in at around 300 ppm and as they dry they’ve risen to about 900. It’ll be interesting to see how high they go.

Besides the probes, the meat of the system is the irrigation control. All zones can be triggered independently based on moisture, EC or temp if you really wanted to. You can set up multiple irrigation strategies for each zone, veg, stretch, flower, etc and then just load them up at the appropriate time. If you dont trust the automated system, you can also program in an unlimited number of timed events, down to 1 second level, so you’d have a really fancy digital timer

No plant pics this time, but out of 12 sprouts I put 11 of them into 4 inch blocks. Way too many plants, so I will need to make some decisions in the future. I usually put the 4x4 blocks onto Uni-slabs to flower, but not sure what I’ll do this time. I know I can flower out 3’ tall plants in a 4x4 block, so maybe I’ll just flower as many females as I get like that. But that won’t really give me a good test of the system, so ill likely clone any females for next time and I’ll end up with 4-5 plants in here, depending on size. Never grown these before so not sure.

Thanks for looking, I’ll update when I turn on the irrigation controller.