Okay...it's been another week but a LOT has happened, so here's a
HYENA'S GROW HOUSE update!
Wednesday I got up before dawn and hiked up my pants for what I knew would be the Day From Hell. All part of this commitment I have made to growing cannabis at the next level. What I'm realizing is if you aspire to reach the next level it takes a fuck ton of work.
I first had to pack up the new girls for the road trip. One by one they came out, into their travel containers. The nest, as I call it, looked emptier as we went...
Then the three-hour ride to their new (and final) home. They got so big in 30 days I could hardly get the lids on and had to fold some of them over but at last they got to the GH and I put them near a window.
I didn't tell them in the next room was their new home...but it wasn't ready yet. Not even close! Here's what I had as I began the final build...
First I had to replace the cords on the three Quantum boards, they sent 120v and I need 240v. Nothing is ever simple so that involved actually de-wiring and re-wiring the plugs themselves but we got 'er done and finally, with a switch on the timer, BOOM! everybody came to light in a true blaze of glory! These lights are even better than the others if that's imaginable...they included a small number of red lights on the otherwise all-white chipsets and the spectrum is supposed to be even better in flower. Okay, fine.
All I know right now is they are about as bright as the sun. The actual sun.
Their zone of effective luminosity seems to be floor to ceiling as I have never even had them lower than the ceiling in Phase 1 and that room is a forest. Okay part one done...now for the ebb-and-flow system.
This is complex to build alone but methodically I laid it all out and cut the many lengths of tubing. Then assembly of the controller bucket and connecting everything. I insured my chances of avoiding a flood by using a metal hose clamp on every connection.
It took a long time and I was really high the whole time which could be why it took so long but anyway I took my time and did it right. Last was the reservoir. The one that came with the setup is a 55-gallon drum. My idea was maybe double that by attaching another reservoir and plumbing them together so their levels would naturally equalize and I would effectively have a 100-gallon reservoir. Seems simple on paper but drilling a hole and installing a hose bib on the barrel was unfamiliar territory so I ordered two rain collection barrels from Home Depot a couple weeks ago in anticipation of this need. They are 50-gallons each and have pre-installed hose bibs with spigots, as well as being flat on one side so they fit against a wall better. I took some time to set them up, one inside and one outside the tent. They connect using a 6-foot garden connector hose.
When I filled everything, it worked even better than my expectations! The inside reservoir uses about 20 gallons when it fills the 12 pots, and the outer barrel water level adjusts slowly enough that there is no chance of an overflow inside when the return pump starts 15 minutes later. But between flood/drain cycles the two barrels will gently equalize, effectively doubling the usable capacity! This means that I might be able to go a week between visits. Even if I could do that only sometime it still saves me 50 bucks in gas and six hours on the road every time I can do it...nice!
I had to run test cycles and time everything, check everything multiple full cycles. Takes hours but beats coming in to a flood at some point.
So now a fitful few hours rest then 6 am comes the next nasty chore...washing the Hydroton. If you use these clay pebbles you already know but if you don't, let me tell you first you have to wash them off and remove the dust. This extremely dirty operation requires a bathtub which I what I used. 40 liters of the shit.
The the replant. Twelve sacks laboriously filled, twelve trips out to the living room for a plant, twelve careful re-plants into the bags adding Hydroton balls until evenly filled, then twelve hikes into the Phase 2 room to place them in their buckets.
Doesn't sound like that much but my back was shot by the end of this 2-day marathon. It was 2 pm on Thursday when I finally had everybody in and everything set up. A couple hours of final things like completely sealing the new openings in the tent and setting all the timers properly. And of course mowing the grass.
So here's how they looked when I left for home.
I was in another multi-day golf event and frankly the time it takes to write one of these I never found so fast forward to today...6 am I shot back up to the GH to check on everything. First time having two rooms running, so a little nervous especially since I found a way to leave Phase 1 in the dark for a week and flooded 14 hours a day for another week...but when I unlocked the place everything was running perfectly!
Phase 2 seems to have taken off just as planned...everybody seems like they grew 6 inches in just 4 days...
The six on the left are Super Bud and a couple White Widows...
The six on the right are Blueberry and a couple more WW.
Everybody looks happy and the reservoir system seems like it works great. I will be adding a chiller to it Wednesday but for now it's all good!
Topped everybody. Noticed a triple. More buds, eh?
But you are wondering...now 10 days since the flip...so how's Phase 1 looking?
Here you go!
YES IT'S A FREAKING FOREST!!
Left side:
Right side:
I almost have to view it from a helicopter it's so incredibly huge!! And the best part is, every single bud site (and there are hundreds) is popping with flowers! Such a fast flowering response alleviates my lingering apprehension that the light tightness might not be sufficient but it obviously is...
It's just a sea of delicate blossoms! I stood before it, amazed. Amazed at the miracle of life and the bountiful grace of Nature. Humbled beyond belief by the power to begin and nurture such life, immensely proud to have reached a place where I could realize such a bounty. I thank you, Earth. Once again you remind me what temporary and insignificant observers we humans are, one incredibly tiny stone in the majestic crown of life you have produced.
Everything is going great...almost TOO great. I'm always suspicious when I play the first 9 holes under par because I'm not that good. The bogeys are coming. I hope that turns out to be just an empty metaphor...
But for now I'll just enjoy the ride and keep my fingers crossed. And smoke lots of bud. Cause that's what I do.
As I write this I'm as high as a Mexican dog that found a whole bag of pot brownies...
Something like that. See you soon!
Peace, Hyena
apologies for laughing brother but I think those awsome lights are going get your knickers knotted...haha
I felt like I was standing beside you. 
Air movement will be primary with a lush forest. If I were you I’d train myself to believe it’ll all be fine, and the metaphor will, indeed be an empty one. After all, expectation determines outcome. I think you’ll be safe with high expectations. 
my friend.
Plus I have the A/C in the house set at 78 so it's never too hot...the tents stay at roughly 80 degrees even with all lights blazing. These incredible Quantum boards produce surprisingly little heat. They amaze me.
