Let's Find a Mother! Hiking Through a Field of Mary Jane

[BigIrishDoode]

well i finally made it over and read from pg1 , good stuff love the basement, i flinch a lil when a funny hydroey name is on a package, despite being a mmj card holder within my limits, maybe it just old paranoia reflex but you never know, anyway i have wondered about inductions ,still pricy for a guy on disability, i like the results i get from my 2 jdl 600s, i-power 400 and t5, but someday, maybe as a sponsor will hook some of us up to get them reviewed and selling like bpn and jdl did,
i had forgotten what gator said about not letting coco get dry ,got me thinking bout how it causes the ph to go wild ,it could have something to do with some minor issues i have been having, as well as what you were /are dealing with, anyway good journal i like your style and am subbed so you'll see more of my hulkish ass around if you dont mind

 

[Propa Gator]

i had forgotten what gator said about not letting coco get dry ,got me thinking bout how it causes the ph to go wild ,it could have something to do with some minor issues i have been having, as well as what you were /are dealing with,

When in doubt, flush it out. Life is better when it's regular.

 

[Hiker]

what's up hiker!
Just stopping it for a quickie.
Lot's of camera talk going down up in here!
Gotta come back and see what it's all about.
But for now, I just wanted to invite ya to a new journal I just started today.
Please drop by anytime!

Vick's - OG Kush & Ambrosia Grow - Coco-GH-HPS-Wiw!

hope things are going good buddy, and I'll be back to catch up!
sooooooooooooooooooooooo bizzzzzzzzzzzzy!!!

Thanks for stopping by Vick.

I've already subbed to your new journal, but have not yet caught up on it. It's actually the next tab in the window, so I should be caught up sometime later this morning

well i finally made it over and read from pg1 , good stuff love the basement, i flinch a lil when a funny hydroey name is on a package, despite being a mmj card holder within my limits, maybe it just old paranoia reflex but you never know, anyway i have wondered about inductions ,still pricy for a guy on disability, i like the results i get from my 2 jdl 600s, i-power 400 and t5, but someday, maybe as a sponsor will hook some of us up to get them reviewed and selling like --- and jdl did,
i had forgotten what gator said about not letting coco get dry ,got me thinking bout how it causes the ph to go wild ,it could have something to do with some minor issues i have been having, as well as what you were /are dealing with, anyway good journal i like your style and am subbed so you'll see more of my hulkish ass around if you dont mind

All the way from page 1?!?!

Glad you found your way here finally! Thanks for the compliments.

We're the opposite. I'm much more comfortable with hydro. Soil(less) makes me nervous. Maybe it's because I can't look at the roots to monitor plant health. By the time I see a problem in the leaves, the issue has been present for several days already! When there is a problem in soil(less) I'm less sure what to do, and it always takes longer to see any results. My clones, in coco/perl/verm mix, are doing OK. They are not doing great though. It's at least partially due to environment. It's just too cold for them to grow vigorously (~56F-65F). I'm working on it though! I've always kept mothers in soilless, so I'm confident I'll be fine once I get back into practice. Hopefully it's like riding a bike. The hydro stuff mostly came back to me like second nature. Let's hope I find my soil groove soon too.

*****************************************************************************

No pic update today. It was a somewhat busy weekend though. I had hoped to get some more construction done in the veg area, but that got pushed back a bit. After seeing, I think McLoadie's, pictures of some hermies, I thought I recognized something on my White Widow, so Friday night I started doing a hermie check on my garden. I started with my RQ Critical. I found 2 nanners on her. I just plucked them off since a thorough inspection didn't turn up any others. I'll monitor her closely, but I didn't pull her.

Next I pulled out the WW. She was one of the plants in the problem back row from last week. Originally, she was the last to show signs of stress, but once she started showing, she was obviously stressed much more than her sisters. I wasn't sure if any of the 3 would recover and continue to pack on weight. It looks like the other 2 are going to be fine, but the WW started to hermie all over the place. I tried valiantly to save her, but she got harvested. It was day 43. I'm not sure yet how long this strain goes, but she was not done. She had some of the smallest buds of all my plants. There are some crystals, but certainly not up to what her name suggests. She smells nice though, and the buds have nice structure. I estimate 1-2 oz from her. I'll take a picture of her hanging and post it tomorrow.

Removing a bucket meant I had to shift things around a little. Since I was changing the res anyway, I went ahead and did a good clean on the system again. It just occurred to me, I've only done a res change without cleaning the whole system once so far. That must be why the res change and flush takes me hours.

I also ordered my AC, CO2 generator, and some cycle timers on Friday. Removing the charcoal filter from the exhaust did work to lower temps in the garden, but this setup is far from ideal. Having to close/open up the intake and change the fan the fan speed every 12 hours is getting real old. I can't wait to seal this room up!

I ordered this AC unit: Whynter LLC
I hope it works well. I've been warned that these poratable AC's can have air leaks, but that really won't matter. When I put the AC into the room, I'll be pulling out the exhaust fan and charcoal filter. Those will get setup to vent the basement proper. This is going to work great as the basement is REALLY starting to stink! In a good way though. I've been exhausting without the filter for a week now. This weekend I was working outside and realized I could totally smell the dank. Since it's going out my chimney, I still think it's hard to pinpoint the origin of the smell, but I smelled it a couple times on opposite sides of the house. That's bad! From the sidewalk and alley I couldn't detect any odor. That's even worse as you can only smell anything if you get close to the house.

I also ordered a CAP Gen-1e. I already have 2 spots I can access the gas line in my basement, so hopefully it won't be a big deal to install this thing. I'm going to using a cycle timer to control CO2 for now. Eventually I'd like to get a fuzzy logic controller, but that will have to happen later. Ideally, I'd like the whole garden to be centrally controlled, but I'm not even sure there is a vendor selling exactly what I want. I'm a computer geek, so I would like to have everything run by a computer that I can access remotely to monitor or make changes to settings. I'm not looking to automate adding nutrient or anything, like the GroBot. I'd like the computer to be the timer/controller running things like light timers, heater, AC, CO2, etc and to be able to monitor temp, rh, ph, and ppm remotely. Has anyone seen anyone else do this that could share a link perhaps? I'd hate to reinvent the wheel, but the couple projects like this I've seen were just concepts without much execution.

Down to 10 1/2 plants in flowering room, but they look and smell great! I think a couple strains are starting to hit the swell stage. The RQ Critical is looking like it will finish in the next week I think. I never got around to ordering a microscope, so I'll just be judging ripeness old school. I knocked a small lower branch off one of the AK-48's last week and tried a little last night. It tasted great and was pretty smooth considering it isn't fully cured. It was a pretty strong high too considering it was taken around day 38 or 39. I also sampled a couple small pieced of uncured WW too. It was better than I expected for wet bud.

Well that's the update for today. Keep em green up top, and more important, white down below!

*******************************************************************************

I lied! I checked my phone and realized I had some pics from this weekend, so here today is a pic day after all!

Hopefully these bud shots look a little nicer. I took them away from the HPS. There are 2 flood lights on the plants along with many flourescents in the area.

First is a look at the hermie WW. There are more nanners, but they didn't show real well in the pictures. She had some on pretty much every top bud. I went back and forth about just cutting those off and putting her back in to let the bottoms fatten up a bit, but it's not worth the risk. I messed up by not catching the problem elbow earlier, and I've accepted the consequences. Anyway, here is a picture of the he-she

Here are some shots of the Royal Queen Critical plant. She is lovely. For awhile she has been my favorite because she is maturing quickly, but some of the others are catching up now.

Two of the larger buds.

A shot of the whole plant. I'm hoping to get 4 oz from her.

Anytime the room looks like this, I've been working hard!

And meanwhile, the ladies sit asking, "Daddy, why are we out here in the cold?"

I'm getting close to the exciting and busy time. There are a lot of things going on down there too. It feels a bit chaotic right now as it's all new. I'm really hoping my stress level associated to this garden goes down after I complete a couple harvests down there. The biggest drag right now is I can't talk to most of the people in my life about how tired I am. I do work a lot for my day job, but it's hard to explain why I'm so busy without mentioning what takes up so much of my time! Boy am I glad all my friends are here to listen!

 

[Propa Gator]

Big fine post Hiker, thanks. One or two items, like the girl who wants it all?

I tried valiantly to save her, but she got harvested.

I can see me, valiantly closing my eyes to count to ten, before doing a berserker number.

Here's a biggie, if you really do have the geeky way: Arduino based room controller
I would love the set-up you described, but...

 

[cannasensei]

Damn! That's is all.

Oh and reps of course

 

[Hiker]

Big fine post Hiker, thanks. One or two items, like the girl who wants it all?

I can see me, valiantly closing my eyes to count to ten, before doing a berserker number.

Here's a biggie, if you really do have the geeky way: Arduino based room controller
I would love the set-up you described, but...

I know of Ardurinos, but have never built a project using them. I looked into them once for another project, and it was too steep a learning curve for that application. It might be worth it this time. My only concern would be limiting myself by locking into a platform. Although that is a real popular one, so I would benefit from people already having lots of code out there to start with.

I'm leaning more towards trying to find some salvaged PLC's and going that route, but I haven't done much research yet. I'll certainly revisit ardurino as an option.

That project is a long way off. At least a year. It won't happen until the second flowering room gets built, or at least is being built.





Thanks for the reps Canna. That lady is sure looking nice!


Addition: So I forgot to post what I came to post!

So awhile back I bought a dehumidifier from Lowes. About a week later, I realized they sell the exact same item with a drain pump built in, for the same price. The one with a pump is just an online only item. No biggie. I had not used the dehumidifier yet. All I had done was open it to remove the owners manual to read about how to setup the drain.

Today, the wife went "into town", so she agreed to return the dehumidifier to Lowes. We looked for the receipt, but I think it got misplaced when doing taxes a couple weeks ago. Oh well, they can look it up by the credit card, right?

Well she gets there and they say they cannot find the receipt and that this isn't even an item they carry. I end up on the phone with the woman and she says she doesn't even stock this item and questions if I purchased it there. I'm certain I did, but she gets me to doubt a little. I go pull up my credit card account and find the charge. Meanwhile, my wife and I are texting back and forth. I'm telling her how pissed I am that they are hassling her. I tell her I'm looking at the charge and to let them know that if this is not resolved to my satisfaction right now, they will lose the entire sale. I would have no problem calling up Discover and disputing the charges. Shortly after that, she tells me they found the receipt! Then they start trying to suggest that we swapped boxes or something! At this point I'm pretty livid at being called a liar.

Eventually, they tell her they are going to make it right. Apparently someone must have bought the model with the included pump and returned it because they had one in stock. Eventually, they exchanged the one I bought for the one with the pump. Apparently it was also on sale, and they gave us an additional 10% off to get me to come back. Right now, there is little chance I'll go back, but we'll see. Sometimes they have items Homer doesn't. Homer has messed up plenty, but they have always made things right without accusing me of trying to cheat them.

Anyway, needed to vent about this since I can't talk to most of my friends about the dehumidifier they will never see in my house.

 

[jon705]

looking great in there Hiker +reps

 

[Hiker]

looking great in there Hiker +reps

Thanks Jon!

btw, I did order that AC we talked about the Whynter ARC-14S. Hoping it will be here this week. What are your thoughts about switching to a sealed room this late in flower? I know I don't want to shock them now, but at the same time, I think it will actually make my environment far more stable than it is now. Do you see any downside to doing this next weekend? I'll be well into week 7 of flower, so I'm a little worried. The remaining 10.5 plants look pretty good, so don't wanna mess them up. How high do you run your CO2 in late flower? Do you dial it down at all? I also have a CO2 generator on the way, so I should be all set to seal the room.

 

[s1ingblade]

sorry its been a while since I have been able to stop by and catch up. I noticed your upgrading your a/c and getting into co2 enrichment, way to go. I sure like the basement I have a thing for being and growing underground. Hopefully my "Dirt Nap" is still well over 4 decades away? lol, but other than that I just love being underground. Maybe it was my mother's 2nd. husband who was a geologist and took me to ALOT of caves and caverns?
So I have a question for you regarding your defoliation. Do you have any negative growth experiences or is it working out well? They look great so I am thinking its all good. I know your in Hydro and with as fast as the plants can respond maybe your not getting some of the stunting I am noticing with the defoliation I did on my ladies flowering in coco. There is a few things those plants went through that my next round didnt have to so I will try it again. In fact last night I did some defol. to unshade some of the nodes and noticed that these big fans were alot diff. than the other plants and I think this time it will go better. I will have to over my records and try my best to notice what was what and learn from my mistakes.
Well keep up the great work and pics.
+Reps bud
s1ing

 

[Propa Gator]

I almost know better Hiker, than to try to tell a man how to spend his money, but... Keeping CO2 numbers good is important, and tricky in a sealed room. Too much can be bad, so take a look CO2 Meter - Low cost CO2, temperature and humidity - Monitor by CO2Meter

 

[Hozona]

REPS!
Great update!!!

 

[NorCal Labs]

sweet room. hope things are growing well!

 

[Hiker]

sorry its been a while since I have been able to stop by and catch up. I noticed your upgrading your a/c and getting into co2 enrichment, way to go. I sure like the basement I have a thing for being and growing underground. Hopefully my "Dirt Nap" is still well over 4 decades away? lol, but other than that I just love being underground. Maybe it was my mother's 2nd. husband who was a geologist and took me to ALOT of caves and caverns?
So I have a question for you regarding your defoliation. Do you have any negative growth experiences or is it working out well? They look great so I am thinking its all good. I know your in Hydro and with as fast as the plants can respond maybe your not getting some of the stunting I am noticing with the defoliation I did on my ladies flowering in coco. There is a few things those plants went through that my next round didnt have to so I will try it again. In fact last night I did some defol. to unshade some of the nodes and noticed that these big fans were alot diff. than the other plants and I think this time it will go better. I will have to over my records and try my best to notice what was what and learn from my mistakes.
Well keep up the great work and pics.
+Reps bud
s1ing

I have noticed they stall after heavy defoliation. I don't want to attribute to much, or too little, to my defoliation since this is the first grow in this setup. I can certainly use it as a reference in future crops, but the plants were stressed in many ways that may not make for real apples to apples comparisons in the future. Especially given the changes I'm making for this next crop (sealed room).

I almost know better Hiker, than to try to tell a man how to spend his money, but... Keeping CO2 numbers good is important, and tricky in a sealed room. Too much can be bad, so take a look CO2 Meter - Low cost CO2, temperature and humidity - Monitor by CO2Meter

Thanks Moder Gator

Someone else linked that same meter to me. I wanna say it was Jon, but I can't recall for sure. At the time, I thought I would hold off until I could just buy a controller with a display. Now you made me realize I have no way to measure how much the plants are lowering the CO2 concentration. Maybe I should get an inexpensive meter for now. If I can monitor the rate it drops, it will be easy enough to program the cycle timer to compensate.

I think I found that same meter, without the brand, on a popular auction site, for $120. I think I have enough left to get that.

REPS!
Great update!!!

Thanks Hoz

sweet room. hope things are growing well!

Thanks NorCal. Things are going pretty well I think.

 

[cannasensei]

Hey hiker. Wanted to send ya some good vibes before I ship off. Gotta take a break from it all for a while but I'm hoping to catch the Harvest at least. Ill post my email on my journal in case you or anyone have any questions. Much love mate. See ya on the other side.

 

[jon705]

Thanks Jon!

btw, I did order that AC we talked about the Whynter ARC-14S. Hoping it will be here this week. What are your thoughts about switching to a sealed room this late in flower? I know I don't want to shock them now, but at the same time, I think it will actually make my environment far more stable than it is now. Do you see any downside to doing this next weekend? I'll be well into week 7 of flower, so I'm a little worried. The remaining 10.5 plants look pretty good, so don't wanna mess them up. How high do you run your CO2 in late flower? Do you dial it down at all? I also have a CO2 generator on the way, so I should be all set to seal the room.

I would say theres no downside, just be careful with whatever caulking you use,some brands release a acidic gas while they cure. Why not finish this round off and then seal it when everything is out of the way, you only have a few weeks left right? I was the guy that shower you the co2 meter, I used it to keep the numbers where I want them in flower with a simple mecanical timer ive managed to dial it in so it doesn't go above 1200 or below 1000. I turn it down to around 600 ppm for the last couple of weeks, they dont use anywhere near as much at that stage but you still have to supplement a bit because theres no fresh air exchange

 

[Hiker]

Don't plan to use anymore caulking. I built the room with the intent to seal it, so all the corners and such were sealed already. All I have to do it cover the intake and exhaust holes. Sure, there are always small leaks, but not enough to affect the CO2. Any smell that leaks out of the flowering room, into the basement, will get filtered anyway after I move the charcoal filter outside the flowering room.

I'm worried about finishing out this crop with the current setup. We had a warm spell recently, and my temps were hitting 85F. I was finally able to get it down below 80 by removing my charcoal filter. This removed enough resistance from the exhaust fan that it moved enough air to cool the room. It cooled back down again, so I could probably hook it back up until it warms back up again. I'm not comfortable venting unfiltered exhaust outside. It goes out my chimney, so it's still not too bad, but I've smelled it a couple times outside when the wind blows just right.

I ordered that same meter you and Propa recommended. Was gonna get the cheaper one from China, but shipping would take too long. They didn't offer expedited shipping, so I basically paid for faster shipping by buying the more expensive one. It's coming USPS Priority, so 2-3 days. Hopefully I'll get it Saturday.

I'm wary of trying to increase CO2 for this batch. My goal will be to keep it more like the normal 300-600 it's been getting. The next batch I'll push with 1200-1500. These plants have been through a lot as I dialed things in, so I don't want to make it worse.

 

[Hiker]

Quick update before bed.

I placed another order for gear today. Got a drying rack and a new timer for the lights. My aunt sent me a gift card for Homer's Depot, so I used it today. I decided I need a drying rack to keep my strains separate during harvest. Did you know Homer sells grow gear? I'm not talking about all that stuff we like to repurpose. I'm talking about the Suncourt inline fans and all the stuff from ViaGrow. I searched around, and with the free shipping from Homer, their rack was the cheapest around!

The timer is intended for controlling large loads like A/C's, water heaters, or pool pumps/heaters. It's a 40A 240V timer. It should work perfect. I'll just hard wire it to control all my 240V outlets. Finally I'll have all my lights on a single timer. It is one of the big timers in a box, but it doesn't use the old style screw on triggers to control the timer. It has those same plastic pins you pull up like other common timers. This is good as it will allow me to run GLR if I want.

So I also went looking for tracking info on the other items. The CO2 generator will arrive tomorrow. On Thursday, both the AC and the CO2 monitor will arrive. Unfortunately, my cycle timers are "waiting for product to arrive"! I didn't catch the availability was "ships in 3-5 days". Damn. Oh well. Hopefully it will go out on Wednesday and get here on Friday or Saturday. I have to be able to make the switch to a sealed room all at the same time, so I can't really make any changes until I have all the stuff to complete the switch. I might be able to manually add CO2 for the weekend worst case.



I think I got mostly caught up on my subscriptions today, but that's probably the last time this week. To those reading this who's journals I have posted in, I'm still keeping up, but I won' always post. If you watch closely, I'll be sending rep and likes though. RL has just been getting too busy lately, and with this new basement, I'm really burning the candle at both ends. I know you'll all understand.

As always, thanks for coming along on my search for mother.

 

[Hiker]

I got the first part I need to seal the room!

Somehow I got it in my head that it would be outputting the CO2 via a hose that I would run into the grow room. I didn't realize the generator had to sit inside the room. I was hoping I could keep the heat source outside. Oh well. Good thing I got the largest portable AC they make!

The AC and the CO2 meter are out for delivery now, so will have those today. Cycle timers will arrive tomorrow.

Has anyone run one of these generators on NG before? Does anyone know if a 1/2" feed is enough. I suspect yes, but I do have 3/4" available. I just have to run an extra 8' of pipe/hose. I have a 1/2" feed going into the furnace I could branch from. My concern would be starving the furnace next winter, but I can't imagine this CO2 burner uses that much gas, does it?

I know what I'll be doing after work and this weekend

 

[jlt1202]

I got the first part I need to seal the room!

Somehow I got it in my head that it would be outputting the CO2 via a hose that I would run into the grow room. I didn't realize the generator had to sit inside the room. I was hoping I could keep the heat source outside. Oh well. Good thing I got the largest portable AC they make!

The AC and the CO2 meter are out for delivery now, so will have those today. Cycle timers will arrive tomorrow.

Has anyone run one of these generators on NG before? Does anyone know if a 1/2" feed is enough. I suspect yes, but I do have 3/4" available. I just have to run an extra 8' of pipe/hose. I have a 1/2" feed going into the furnace I could branch from. My concern would be starving the furnace next winter, but I can't imagine this CO2 burner uses that much gas, does it?

I know what I'll be doing after work and this weekend

if you got the model iv seen before (which it looks like in the picture) they are actually suppose to be (or able) hung from a rafter or ceiling.

If i were you i would put it at the end of your bucket run were it is out of the way and put a 10"-25" fan infront of it to move the co2 OVER your lights/plants (because as you probably know CO2 is heavier then air.)

I looked into doing that and i think that is a better way to supply co2 then a bucket generator would do. You just got to be smart enough to play with gas : )

*Note for others wanting to use co2 in smaller grow ops

This is a CO2 bag. Basically its a bag of decomposing mushrooms that BLAST co2 in your room. this will give you more co2 rating in 5 mins, then a bucket co2 generator in 2 days. this pic is of a knock off brand i was trying out but i know the EXHALE BAGS(actual name) are very good and last up to 6 month! easier cheaper and safer then using a co2 pump or gas. GREAT FOR BEGINNERS!!!

Cant wait to see the beast in action with your grow man!

 

[Hiker]

Thanks jlt. I saw those bags when I was looking at my options. Almost went that route too, but I would spend half the cost to purchase the CO2 generator to buy enough bags for the first 6 months! Seemed like a no brainer to me. My ROI will be 1 year just based on buying Exhale bags. Plus, I already have NG lines in my basement. This solution should be more convenient as well. I'll be heading to the hardware store shortly to find parts to connect it. I hope it doesn't make too much heat. I think it makes so much CO2, it won't have to run more than a couple minutes at a time, so maybe it won't be a big deal.




More pieces of the puzzle arrived today.
According to the meter, CO2 is good. Hopefully the plants agree!

The new AC. It's a Whynter ARC-14S. 14,000 BTUs of love for the ladies.

It was loads of fun getting the giant 84 lb AC down that narrow spiral staircase. Especially with the many warnings on the box that the device is fragile and cannot be dropped. It's a good thing those bands were around the box. I was able to use them as a handle.

I'm still waiting on the cycle timers order and the Homer's Depot order. They will arrive tomorrow. I've got a lot of incentive to get all this installed asap. Right now I have to attend to lights on and lights out every time because I'm controlling the ventilation. Sealing the room will eliminate the problem I'm having to address manually. In a way it works out though as I'm still having trouble with one of my light timers. It's been fine for 2 days now, but it messed up the 2 days prior to that. The symptom is, it doesn't turn off the light, so when I am closing up the intake at night, I also check to make sure that light is off. The new timer from Homer's Depot will fix that. With those 2 fixes in place, I will no longer have to be around for every lights on and off.

These changes to seal the flowering room will also benefit the veg area. Right now I have to keep the basement 56F in order to keep the flowering room cool. This is not good for my clones/mothers. Once the room is sealed though, the AC will help keep the basement warm, and I can seal the basement up more. This will make it warmer and further control odor.

I probably won't be posting much until sometime next week. All these changes are going to keep me busy for awhile. I'll take lots of pictures and be sure to share them.

Before I go, I wanted to share one last thing. I was looking through all my pictures and I was struck by how cool it is that I went from this:

To this:

in 4 months!

FYI, in the "after" pic, I'm sitting, in the "before pic", about where the bend is in that wire laying on the ground is (in the doorway next to the plywood you can see the ends of. I'm looking towards the wall where the insulation is.)