Emmie's 6 Plant, True Living Organic, LED Grow Journal

fanleaf said:
I have been considering doing an experiment using DC power in the soil myself. I was actually trying to figure out if it would be a worthwhile experiment by setting up a DC source that will switch polarity every few seconds and document the effects if any. I was considering a constant-current set up so as the watering cycle varies I could keep a very small current consistent. Any thoughts on doing this with a power source I could put together and set up to switch polarity every few seconds?
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it would be a simple matter to set up a slow sine wave oscillator and use that as the source for a dual polarity constant current source... but I question the hypothesis of this experiment. We are finding that a constant polarity of a low voltage low current source, such a single solar cell, promotes clumping within the soil and the microlife. This clumping or clustering tends to aggregate the microlife toward the roots and the fungal structures within the rhizosphere and seems to accelerate nutrient exchange.
I would think that an AC current would tend to break up that clustering and could possibly make it difficult to accomplish and might adversely affect the growth of plants in that environment due to a disruption of the constant electrical charge and then change in polarity, constantly attracting and then repelling objects to and from each other. This would help to prove that the microlife is sensitive to the charge itself and not just reacting to the attraction properties between dissimilarly charged objects in a mobile environment. I would like to see that experiment and see what effect AC or changing polarity charge has on a plant system. I predict that it will be found to be harmful.
 
Emilya said:
I predict that it will be found to be harmful.
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I believe you may very well have nailed it. That being said, I guess we don't know every possibility so there is a slight chance it could do something very unexpected too. When my TLO babies move to the larger room freeing up my small tent maybe I can find time to pull one of my wall warts out of my "supply bins" and get together a simple circuit to switch the polarity at different rates at a constant current while lights are on just to see. Sounds like a fun project. If I can make time in the space I would like to do that. Heck, I'm positive I have the components needed so the cost would only bee a seed.
 
From my readings... good soil - well, certain compounds and elements that are naturally abundant in good soil - has it’s own electrical charge. I’ve even heard tell that sometimes DBHBB kit growers will get a little electric shock from one of the drenches. If we can manipulate the soil to be super charged all on it’s own, I don’t really see the growing benefit of such an experiment - I do see the “fun with science” benefit though, so...
JustMeds said:
. I will watch though
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:thumb:
:popcorn:
 
It’s a very interesting and complex system. I for one will hail our new soil overlords.

I downloaded that Ideal Soil for later digestion. But one thing I noticed while giving it a brief flip, is the polarity of the main minerals.

I had a brief inkling that this is the method in which one manipulates that charge in a high Brix regimen. But I am a lamen and was just being high and letting the brain wander.
 
UrbanAchiever said:
being high and letting the brain wander.
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Is totally the best!

I’ll seek out something about the electrical charge thing if you’re interested - I don’t understand it to the level of being able to talk about it easily (you know how it is - being able to explain something in accessible terms takes a pretty deep understanding - I’m not there wiht this stuff... I just know it works!)

UrbanAchiever said:
hail our new soil overlords.
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. ... who are they...? :hmmmm: I want to meet them! :D

UrbanAchiever said:
brief inkling that this is the method in which one manipulates that charge in a high Brix regimen.
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Well I do know that there is manipulation and use of the different charges present in teh soil going on in Doc’s system (cations, anions etc.). There’d be brixers on site that do know well enough to answer that properly - apart form Doc of course (who is currently away). Pop a q about it in the Q&A thread if you’re keen ;)
 
fanleaf said:
...find time to pull one of my wall warts out of my "supply bins" and get together a simple circuit to switch the polarity at different rates at a constant current while lights are on just to see...
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To weigh in with my expert opinion, I find the entire prospect shocking to say the least. I really hope you know watts up when you set this up. If it amps up your grow that would be awesome, as long as they don't bolt.
Even if you get great results, people may show resistance when it comes to zapping their plants. Even so, charge forward and stay positive in the name of science. Negative thoughts only slow things down.
I'll do what I can to stay current on your project.
 
FoNz said:
To weigh in with my expert opinion, I find the entire prospect shocking to say the least. I really hope you know watts up when you set this up. If it amps up your grow that would be awesome, as long as they don't bolt.
Even if you get great results, people may show resistance when it comes to zapping their plants. Even so, charge forward and stay positive in the name of science. Negative thoughts only slow things down.
I'll do what I can to stay current on your project.
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Every other word being a pun in that was talent. That was great
 
Wappa Update! Flower, Day 36.
We are finally in week 5 and Wappa is the only one so far who can't hold up her own weight. She of course is the oldest one in the tent and the one plant out of the bunch that probably could have benefited from a larger container. I am not sure that this 3gal is enough to keep her nourished as she wishes to be. Out of all of them, she is also the only one even starting to look yellow in spots, and she has been losing 4 or 5 leaves a week. Other than that, she looks healthy and today I had to use a combination of twine and binding clips to get most of her buds back facing the light. Here is a before and after:
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With around 20 days to go, here is one of her buds. They are pungent, sticky and heavy, the very definition of dank. The entire room smells since I brought her out.

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FoNz said:
To weigh in with my expert opinion, I find the entire prospect shocking to say the least. I really hope you know watts up when you set this up. If it amps up your grow that would be awesome, as long as they don't bolt.
Even if you get great results, people may show resistance when it comes to zapping their plants. Even so, charge forward and stay positive in the name of science. Negative thoughts only slow things down.
I'll do what I can to stay current on your project.
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Your capacitance for understanding this theory is charged with enthusiasm sir!
 
Wow Em...just wow...your girls look so good...you're rocking it :headbanger:...and damn are you like the human cannabis encyclopedia :laugh: that tea recipe looked good :yummy: ..."it" (the tea) didn't look appetizing to me but the plants thought so huh :meatballs::meatballs:

Well like I told @AngryBird ...sorry I haven't been by lately but I got side tracked with my buddy joining and the c99 x blueberry grow :yahoo: I'm actually excited about that :cheer::yahoo::slide::headbanger: but anyway peace :peace: and keep rockin' it :headbanger::headbanger:
 
Amy Gardner said:
That sounds good Meds :thumb: thanks for the tip. I think I’ve heard of that but never sought it out. I never tire of reading about it and figure that one day, eventually if I’ve read it enough times, I will start to remember without needing to look stuff up. New sources are always good! :D
:thanks:

Edit: I found a full PDF of it. I know it’s ok to share reference links so I’ll guess it’s ok to share this one - i dont think it’s an illegal copy or anything.

In case anyone is interested:

:Namaste:
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I can't thank you enough for posting the addy for the book! I was jonesing for reading material and the book I ordered isn't coming for a while. I'm kind of (yet not really) understanding the science. The electrical exchange reminds me of vacuum tube theory. Yes dinosaurs roamed then. Very interesting and what I've been looking for.:thanks:
 
stoneotter said:
I can't thank you enough for posting the addy for the book! I was jonesing for reading material and the book I ordered isn't coming for a while. I'm kind of (yet not really) understanding the science. The electrical exchange reminds me of vacuum tube theory. Yes dinosaurs roamed then. Very interesting and what I've been looking for.:thanks:
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Yeah I started reading it too. Very interesting stuff regarding the importance of clay. Which is interesting to me because of the type and amount of clay I recently added to my soil storage bin. So it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to read the value of clay in relation to the CEC.

Although I did take some soil science courses in college and I do remember some of that material.

Also made me commit to getting a soil test.
 
stoneotter said:
I can't thank you enough for posting the addy for the book! I was jonesing for reading material and the book I ordered isn't coming for a while. I'm kind of (yet not really) understanding the science. The electrical exchange reminds me of vacuum tube theory. Yes dinosaurs roamed then. Very interesting and what I've been looking for.:thanks:
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:Namaste:

I was excited to find it myself. I read parts of it during my first season of DIY mineralised soil growing and then forgot what to was called, and even about it all together over the course of the busy year and growing based on it’s principles the easy way (with DBHBB ;)). It wasn’t until Meds mentioned it that I remembered what it was called :thumb: It’s perfect timing for me too because I’m thinking about the vegetable gardens right now :)

UrbanAchiever said:
makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to read the value of clay in relation to the CEC.
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:high-five: reminds me of our first conversations! You out there cooking and crushing you’re own clay, me digging it up from 16” down and mixing it with limestone... ahhh, memories! I sure dont miss the manual labour! :laughtwo:
 
Amy Gardner said:
:Namaste:

I was excited to find it myself. I read parts of it during my first season of DIY mineralised soil growing and then forgot what to was called, and even about it all together over the course of the busy year and growing based on it’s principles the easy way (with DBHBB ;)). It wasn’t until Meds mentioned it that I remembered what it was called :thumb: It’s perfect timing for me too because I’m thinking about the vegetable gardens right now :)


:high-five: reminds me of our first conversations! You out there cooking and crushing you’re own clay, me digging it up from 16” down and mixing it with limestone... ahhh, memories! I sure dont miss the manual labour! :laughtwo:
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The author makes so much sense talking about food values rising in the vegetable garden and plant resistance to disease increasing. :)
 
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Today is watering day, Day 38 of flower. This is a picture of Ice Breaker, who is rockin' it after the backbuild cut.

Today everyone is getting a high dose of organic natural goodness. Along with the water they are getting a heavy dose of calmag at 2tsp/gal, 1tbls of banana extract/gal, 1tbls of dandelion extract /gal along with 2 tbls/gal of Fox Farm Big Bloom for its organic microorganism injection. I think right now as the buds are really starting to develop, the banana's heavy Potassium load will really supercharge things... we shall see.
Wappa has been the first one to show a bit of hunger in these 3 gallon containers, and now as we are in mid flower I am seeing the signs in a couple of the other more robust plants too, and I am seeing that under these intense lights, 3 gallon containers may not be enough for the size of plants that I typically bring to the party. I plan on going to the opposite extreme on my next grow, and will be using 3x 10gal GeoPots and lights that will be quite a bit stronger. There is no point in running such extreme lights if you don't have the soil and nutrient platform underneath to support that much light. The experiment in LED lighting will continue with the next run of breeder's seeds where I plan on growing 3 monster plants.
Anyway... things are progressing well. I am not expecting miracles out of this grow any longer, and have realized that using more intense LED light means heavier nutrient needs, and that makes it a lot harder to support a large plant in a small container. I will be surprised to see 3 oz plants on this run, and a couple might not even reach 2... but I remain hopeful. These lights performed pretty well in veg, but here in flower I think just in bud size I am seeing the lack of power in the flowering cycle. They are finishing fast, but they are going to remain smaller than I have seen under other lights. I also suspect that the full time IR and UVA are showing their detrimental effect here too. The next lights will not make that mistake. These are working fine... but I am starting to see that yield could be oh so much better. Where the plants looked to be advanced for their age 3 weeks ago, they now are now starting to fall behind as they finish.
I seem to be proving Zandor's adage:
If you go cheap you grow cheap! - Zandor
 
First, let me say how glad I am to see the hide signature button back again!
Thank you @Teddy Edwards and the staff of :420:

Then, let's do a quick, blurry picture update. The banana extract with its high Potassium content has made a dramatic one day difference in 4 out of 6 plants in the tent. Each of these have taken on dramatic colorations to the buds, that were not there yesterday. A noticeable amount of pistils have changed from white to a darker color, and the buds grew noticeably during the night. Just so you could see the dramatic and immediate reaction to the banana extract, I had to snap a few pictures by hand with my cheap camera, so please excuse the blurry quality... I am useless without a tripod.
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