Aberration Goes Ker Bloom! - Perpetual

[Aberration]

I put 2 Blue Dream plants into bloom - 70 days, give or take, to harvest.

 

[CronicHempHog]

 

[MSquared]

Hey Abe! Nice to see you back with a stellar update. They look good in there.
How has the new room been acting now that it is being used to capacity?
Everything looks great in there and your trimmers are going to be busy is all I can say

 

[Aberration]

Thanks for dropping by, friend.

Hey Abe! Nice to see you back with a stellar update. They look good in there.
How has the new room been acting now that it is being used to capacity?
Everything looks great in there and your trimmers are going to be busy is all I can say

Thanks. The room is doing well. I would like to have a second dehumidifier in there already, but otherwise it's good. It's staying between about 35% and 45% rh so I'm actually doing OK on that front. The temps are fine at 79 for daytime and 68 for night. The new pH doesn't seem to have helped the sativas keep their fan leaves any better, but the rest of them and all of veg seem to really like it.

I started a new scheme for the bloomers where I put four 48" stakes around the perimeter of the pot. They make a square about 14" on a side that way. I then got some welded green coated wire mesh with 2" x 3" openings (fencing) and a package of 1000 4" zip ties (electrical dept.) at Home Depot. I cut out 30" x 30" squares of the mesh. In need more so that I have two for each plant (total 24). I slid one down onto the stakes over the plant and started working the tops through. When I got about 2" or more of all the tops I wanted worked through, I zip-tied the mesh to the stakes. Later as they grow, I'll add a second layer above that if needed.

All of this is on a 9 gallon pot in a 26" saucer on a cut-to-fit caster dolly. So I basically will have 24 little 30" square SCROGs going in there that are all completely mobile. The problem was plants that got too much bud to hold the weight. This is supposed to be the solution. Someone local to me tipped me off to the idea, and it is only now after implementing it on 4 plants that it hit me they are little mini-SCROGs.

Which reminds me, I put some Cheese into bloom today (56+ days to go). I also took some Blue Dream and Cheese cuttings and set them to rooting in coco plugs. Lastly, the trimmer showed and we took down the White Widow and the Grape Kool-Aid. The WW looks like a large volume for such a small plant. If it holds any weight and is good smoke it's a winner for me. The Grape Kool-Aid is all purple-black colored, just like last time. It's f'ing spectacular.

I would post pics, but I am sans camera until the weekend. I'll have dry shots that will be more telling than pics of wet hanging pot anyway. I'll try to do a HOWTO pictoral on the mini-SCROGs so you guys can see what I mean by all that up there hopefully this weekend.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

Can't wait to see the single plants Scrogs ! I plan to do that in the future, seems to be one of the most efficient ways to maximize space!

 

[MSquared]

Hey Abe that sounds like another great tutorial brought to us by Aberration LOL.
I can't wait to see this
Also, sounds like that room is dialed in pretty good.

 

[Aberration]

Can't wait to see the single plants Scrogs ! I plan to do that in the future, seems to be one of the most efficient ways to maximize space!

If it increases efficiency I'll be thrilled, but my primary goal to to stop the plants from flopping around late in bloom so much. It's not a full SCROG. I won't be putting screens on until they are put in the bloom room and start to stretch. I'll never be able to comfortably manage 12 large plants in there if they won't stand up. I do expect a small increase in productivity since more bud sites will get direct light now.

Hey Abe that sounds like another great tutorial brought to us by Aberration LOL.
I can't wait to see this
Also, sounds like that room is dialed in pretty good.

Hehe. Dialed in huh? Noooooo. Never quite dialed in. There is an endless number of details that can be managed ever more minutely. I guess that's why it's such an intriguing hobby to me.

I had an object lesson fall into place tonight. I had gone to bed, but the pain that I use cannabis for medically was bad, so I got back up and went out for a toke. I was fidgeting in veg, and I was about ready to go to bed again, when I tripped and fell. I banged my right thumb and ankle pretty badly as I fell into a number of hard objects. I'll be OK, but it hurt pretty bad for a bit.

So I decided to double down on my medication and just put myself under. As I got to the end of the second joint I decided to go gaze at the bloomers while I finished.

The bloom room was at 86°F and humidity was in the 60% range. Holy crap! The air intake on the AC had a solid 3/8" layer of ice. No air was passing through the radiator, so no cool air was blowing out of the thing. It turns out that the dehumidifier was on a power box that had popped it's breaker. With no dehumidifier the humidity grew quickly. The moisture condensed and froze on the cold AC radiator until it blocked the air intake. The AC runs continuously because it never cools the room to satisfy the thermostat, which maintains the frozen ice, and meanwhile the room gets hotter and hotter. I stepped in this pothole once before. I shouldn't have got caught again like this. This can also happen if your AC relay arc-welds itself on as they sometimes do.

What could have prevented this? Details.

Had I put the dehumidifier on a non-breakered power box, it would not have stopped, preventing the whole mess.

Had I had a second backup dehumidifier on a different circuit, it would have taken over, preventing the whole mess.

I have a carbon filter standing on the floor with a 6" inline fan blowing straight up. Had I hung it near the ceiling and directed the exhaust at the AC intake radiator, the warmer air from above would melt and/or straight-up prevent the radiator from ever freezing (while also minimizing the amount of dust blown into the AC grill), preventing the whole mess (except it would still be humid, just not hot). Bonus: cleaner AC.

I spent an hour defrosting the AC with a hairdryer and babysitting it to make sure it didn't freeze back up (it'll try to).

There are always more details, but right now I'm going to bed.

 

[MSquared]

If it increases efficiency I'll be thrilled, but my primary goal to to stop the plants from flopping around late in bloom so much. It's not a full SCROG. I won't be putting screens on until they are put in the bloom room and start to stretch. I'll never be able to comfortably manage 12 large plants in there if they won't stand up. I do expect a small increase in productivity since more bud sites will get direct light now.



Hehe. Dialed in huh? Noooooo. Never quite dialed in. There is an endless number of details that can be managed ever more minutely. I guess that's why it's such an intriguing hobby to me.

I had an object lesson fall into place tonight. I had gone to bed, but the pain that I use cannabis for medically was bad, so I got back up and went out for a toke. I was fidgeting in veg, and I was about ready to go to bed again, when I tripped and fell. I banged my right thumb and ankle pretty badly as I fell into a number of hard objects. I'll be OK, but it hurt pretty bad for a bit.

So I decided to double down on my medication and just put myself under. As I got to the end of the second joint I decided to go gaze at the bloomers while I finished.

The bloom room was at 86°F and humidity was in the 60% range. Holy crap! The air intake on the AC had a solid 3/8" layer of ice. No air was passing through the radiator, so no cool air was blowing out of the thing. It turns out that the dehumidifier was on a power box that had popped it's breaker. With no dehumidifier the humidity grew quickly. The moisture condensed and froze on the cold AC radiator until it blocked the air intake. The AC runs continuously because it never cools the room to satisfy the thermostat, which maintains the frozen ice, and meanwhile the room gets hotter and hotter. I stepped in this pothole once before. I shouldn't have got caught again like this. This can also happen if your AC relay arc-welds itself on as they sometimes do.

What could have prevented this? Details.

Had I put the dehumidifier on a non-breakered power box, it would not have stopped, preventing the whole mess.

Had I had a second backup dehumidifier on a different circuit, it would have taken over, preventing the whole mess.

I have a carbon filter standing on the floor with a 6" inline fan blowing straight up. Had I hung it near the ceiling and directed the exhaust at the AC intake radiator, the warmer air from above would melt and/or straight-up prevent the radiator from ever freezing (while also minimizing the amount of dust blown into the AC grill), preventing the whole mess (except it would still be humid, just not hot). Bonus: cleaner AC.

I spent an hour defrosting the AC with a hairdryer and babysitting it to make sure it didn't freeze back up (it'll try to).

There are always more details, but right now I'm going to bed.

WoW Abe! I really do hope you are ok brother! I guess it was a blessing in disguise that you couldn't sleep. I am just glad you found it and can now really prevent the dreaded bud rot. Good catch
Thanks for all that and I will keep a closer eye on mine, which is only an 8k btu ac, but it does the job in fine style. I have it set for 84, because it is 5' up from the floor and heat rises. By the time mine turns on the soil level is at 79, but the canopy is at 84 and they really seem to love those temps with lights on. With lights off the temps usually get down to around 69.

and I hope you are not badly injured.

 

[Aberration]

Thanks, but I'm fine. My ankle stopped hurting after a few hours and is apparently uninjured. My thumb is still pretty sore. You know how it feels to have your finger yanked because it got stuck in a hole, like maybe when trying to throw a bowling ball? Follow that with smashing the same digit with a framing hammer. The outside edge of the nail has a blood blister about 1/4" across, and the inside edge and tip felt like they were thoroughly crushed, At the base of the long bone that ties in at the wrist it feels like it was dislocated. I tripped as I was turning and fell completely uncontrolled onto a stack of drying 5 gallon buckets and a metal folding chair. I don't really know what hit where and how.

I'll be OK though. The pain level is already mostly ignorable if I'm careful not to over use it. My knees have caused me so much pain over the years that this seems temporary and bearable by comparison. Besides, in all honesty I'm a tad clumsy. I'm used to a certain level of injury, and I'm rarely completely without some sign of trauma somewhere on this old frame. So at this point you might say that it is mostly at the level of normal ambient levels for me. My adult child and I actually had a good laugh over it this morning.

I better get busy though. It's (plant) "feed night" tonight and I need to get a decent night's sleep, so I'll get rollin' and start mixin' and get them all fed before it gets too late (I hope).

 

[Aberration]

That BigBud x BlueMagoo that might be Blue Dream is Blue Dream. She goes back into flush in prep to harvest. The older Super Lemon Haze is joining her. I'm expecting to take both down this weekend. The Arjan's Haze #1 and Tangerine Dream girls come out a week later, so they start flushing in couple days as well.

There's at least 1/4 lb each of the White Widow and the Grape Kool-Aid that is hanging in the dry room. Woot! I'll get a final weight next week I think. It still has a few days to dry yet - I'm just eyeballing it.

All is well in the bloom room as far as temp and humidity goes. Yay.

 

[MSquared]

That is great news all around Abe! well except for the thumb, sounds like you could have also tore some ligamints as well.
I sure hope it heals quickly for you ~ no pun intended LOL

 

[Aberration]

It's doing fine now. Thanks.

Tonight we harvested the rest of the BigBud X BlueMagoo that turned out to be Blue Dream and the older Super Lemon Haze, both at 71 days:

These are Blue Dream:

This is Super Lemon Haze:

Some shots in veg:

 

[iamtex123]

This was a great journal!

 

[JB42]

Hi Aberation,
Great journal man, only just found this. Subbed

 

[donpaul.p]

loving the pics mate, nice use of a wardrobe, im doing the same mate, but what i found good is you know them like hangers with loads of pegs on them that you can hang socks and undies on, well i clip all my buds into this and hang it in wardrobe, i think my hanger has about 20 clothes pegs on it in a sort of long circle, the wardrobe is a great place to dry, not small and gets damp, plenty of air and nice and dark and ideal place to dry buds without drying them to quick

 

[Aberration]

This was a great journal!

Hi Aberation,
Great journal man, only just found this. Subbed

Thank you and welcome to both of you. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions. I'm pretty relaxed around here.

loving the pics mate, nice use of a wardrobe, im doing the same mate, but what i found good is you know them like hangers with loads of pegs on them that you can hang socks and undies on, well i clip all my buds into this and hang it in wardrobe, i think my hanger has about 20 clothes pegs on it in a sort of long circle, the wardrobe is a great place to dry, not small and gets damp, plenty of air and nice and dark and ideal place to dry buds without drying them to quick

Yeah, I think a large part of all cannabis ends up drying in someone's closet or wardrobe.

Everyone is doing OK here. I hope to bring pics of the ready-to-harvest Arjan's Haze #1 and Tangerine Dream on Sunday or Monday. Meanwhile... it's a farm.

 

[Dumpy]

This is a great journal brodda. Hope your thumb is ok. The ac coil freezing up blows. Almost like its running too cold. Properly sized, it should effectively help dehumidify as well. Too small, the unit will be running balls out and not effective enough to help dehumidify. Too big and the unit is on and off rapidly, not effectively dehumidifying either. Don't know if this is so in your case but a lot of units have a sensor that stops the condenser when the coils get cold enough to ice up. May be something to check into brodda.

 

[Aberration]

My thumb is fine now. I can find a sore spot if I work at it, but otherwise it's fine.

Yesterday we took down the Tangerine Dream at 78 days old. She wasn't going to last. The little leaves on the buds were dying off. Unfortunately she still didn't achieve anything even resembling density of bud. She'll be fantastic smoke regardless.

The Arjan's Haze #1 will likely come down tomorrow at 80 days. She'll not likely produce dense nugs either, but as both are sativa doms I'm not surprised. Maybe if I was using 1000W lights I could make it happen. Sometimes you just need more intensity. But I'm excited to try the AH1.

Today I got a new yearly recommendation from my doc. I should probably say new doc. My doctor of 30+ years retired leaving me a med card orphan. I dunno about where those of you with state sanction live, but here in Oregon it's no sure thing with a new doc. Lots of docs are opposed for various reasons. I seem to have lucked out though. The new replacement doc was all for it from the beginning. He started by saying that he is generally inclined to concur with my previous doctor on principle alone. Then I recounted my history, which he corroborated from my medical notes. Then he signed off. What a relief.

 

[JB42]

Well done on crop Aberration,
Do you have pics on the harvested buds? My tangerine wasn't too airy and was really nice. Not 25% THC though. Not sure what it was but was a nice smoke.

 

[Aberration]

Well done on crop Aberration,
Do you have pics on the harvested buds? My tangerine wasn't too airy and was really nice. Not 25% THC though. Not sure what it was but was a nice smoke.

Thanks. It's good to hear it can bulk up. How long did yours go? Did the leaves die aggressively at the end? I don't really care what % THC it is. It's delicious. It all smokes the same after it goes through the grinder...

I harvested the Arjan's Haze #1 tonight. I will take pics, but I'm not posting any tonight. I'm already late. Soon. It's overdue. Veg has overflowed the table. It's insane in there.

So I'm down to 7 in bloom: 1 Super Lemon Haze, 2 lavender indicas, 2 Green House Cheese, and 2 Blue Dream. As soon as I can find the time I need to get a couple of the Matanuskan Thunderfu@k and a couple Super Lemon Haze into 9 gallon pots and into bloom. After that are 3 White Widow, 3 Arjan's Haze #1 and 2 Grape Kool-Aid that are raring to be moved to 1 or 2 gallon pots.

I can bloom 12. I should be able to hit that mark in less than a month. During that time the Super Lemon Haze and the 2 lavender indicas in bloom will be harvested. I can replace those with likely 2 AH1 and 2 GKA; I can put the SLH and Matty I mentioned above into bloom right now (or as soon as I get them into the bigger pots anyway).

I just need to transplant. But right now I need to mix soil, and the room that has to happen in has all the Tangerine Dream and Arjan's Haze #1 hanging to dry. Making soil mix also makes a lot of dust. I'll have to temporarily move the drying pot somewhere else while I do the transplanting and clean and wait for the dust to settle before I bring it back in.

I'm also planning to finish the new doorway ASAP. Since activating the new bigger bloom room, I have been stepping through a hole in the wall to get from outside the grow to veg. From there I can go to bloom. The hole has been re-framed into a proper door frame, up to code and all. I just need to remove the foundation curtain wall section that is currently displacing the bottom 16" of my new doorway. Nothing a roto-hammer can't demolish in an hour or two. Once the concrete is cut I can put in a steel exterior door there. That will be considerably more secure than a curtain tacked up over a hole in the wall, eh?

I'll take pics of that process too. It'll be fun.