Obi's Aurora Indica - Indoor - T5 - Perlite Hempy

60cal said:
Subscribed Obi Wan, looking great. I'm really liking your charts. Can you take a picture of your room so I can see your atmosphere and how you do it? I'm a rookie.
Click to expand...

Hi 60Cal,

Thanks for the feedback :)





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Those are a few pics from my last grow. I will try to get some current ones. There's been no changes made to the grow box/environment. There is one 6 inch exhaust and two 4 inch fresh air intakes. I may cut in one more 4 inch intake to help with temperature control, we'll see.

I have a carbon filter I will be adding later when needed.

/Obi
 
Now that's a clean setup!

Obi Wan, I saw a post by KingJohnC with a link to a program for tracking your plants. I have down loaded the program but have to wait for my grow to use it. I don't know how to link but I went to HERB.IQ and found the down loadable program for free (which is a very good price). I'm hoping you will like it so I can learn from you and your grow. Always looking to learn. lol.
 
subbed! Super nice setup there Mr. Obi.
 
Looking awesome Obi! Im in for this one!:popcorn:
 
Looking outstanding so far Mr. Cannabinoid! I love seeing the progress, the adjustments from one grow to the next, and I like the application of 5 gal hempys (Since I used 3.25 gal buckets, I've wanted to try 5 gal too). IMO, you've gotten them through the hard part. The only thing I really had to do at this point is monitor their food/water and control temps. You've probably got another week or two and they should start to really grow.

Everything looks in order to achieve your desired goals, however, I'm hoping your lighting solution will be enough juice to push them over the top. I also dig your decision to go with photoperiod seeds.

Keep it up brother. :high-five:
 
Please allow me a moment to welcome new friends. :welcome: I appreciate the comments and the great community here. All of you help keep me motivated to stay on top of things in my grow :).

Thank You,
/Obi-Wan Cannabinoid
:thanks:
 
The Pro-Mix + Perlite mixture I used previously functioned well but I felt it retained more moisture than I was comfortable with. In hindsight I think my issue may have been related more to inexperience with nutrients and pH values.

Being a new grower I wanted the ability to correct a deficiency or other health issue quickly without having to worry about the actual grow media too much. But there was a catch. I wanted a good soil-like media to grow in. CoCo and Pro-Mix at least resembled soil (moreso than expanded clay balls anyway) and had the apparent advantage of being relatively inert. I just couldn't get around the warm and fuzzy feelings of what I was familiar with. Dirt in a pot.

The hydroponic systems with the pumps and hoses and cool technology scared me, to be honest. It looks intimidating. This coming from a guy who typically would tinker with anything to make it work just a little better. I love DIY and creative repurposing but I lacked (and most likely still do) basic and fundamental knowledge and experience with how Cannabis plants thrive in general let alone in a finely tuned hydro system :/

That is the short version of how I came to try these hempy buckets. Well, that and lurking around Governmentchz's journals. I am hoping the Perlite/Vermiculite mix I am trying now will give me the control I desire while still having that good ol' fashioned "watering a plant" feel.

Speaking of water. I weighed the buckets last night:
[TABLE="width: 400, align: left"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]AI1:[/TD]
[TD]19.0lbs[/TD]
[TD]8.6Kg[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]AI2:[/TD]
[TD]17.6lbs[/TD]
[TD]8.0Kg[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]AI3:[/TD]
[TD]17.6lbs[/TD]
[TD]8.0Kg[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Not too bad of a spit considering I've been watering by eyeball and have had no run off.

So, how much water do I have in each bucket?

To make some easy napkin math lets average the bucket weights to 18lbs each. We will take the weight of the bucket (18.0) divided by the weight of one gallon of water (8.34) to find how many gallons of water weight is in the buckets. So, 18.0/8.34 = 2.15.

Apparently, if my old school fingers and toes math is correct, I have about 2.15 gallons of liquid in each bucket +/- for the average, grow media and bucket. Now I'd like to learn where that 2.15 is hanging out. I will give the buckets a tip test tonight to try and figure out where the moisture is currently stored.

/Obi
:volcano-smiley:
 
Yeah I was thinking of adding some vermiculite to my all perlite hempy buckets to help retain moisture, but I know sometimes it can throw off the pH if it has too much acidity. I think I'll be trying to put a layer of hydroton on top, that's supposed to help keep moisture in.
 
Math is fun (My major actually...lol), but I'm too lazy to try to cipher volume invisibly, so I did my measuring beforehand by putting perlite into the bucket and filled just above the hole, then measured how much I could pour in before it spilled out of the hole. I suppose there would be a variable of root volume, but I figured THAT level of detail might be unnecessary. Ironically, with only eyeballing the measurement when drilling the holes, my buckets' volumes were within .1 liter and they both hold about 1.7L (slightly less, but meh) in their reservoir. I also tipped them gradually to see the drainage at differing water levels and was able to gain a good idea of volume in relative terms.
 
I poured in about 0.5gal of water, measured the height and drilled the hole. I didn't give any consideration to displacement from the Perlite, lol. My "senior moments" excuse for things that escape me is being used with increasing frequency lately.

Thanks for the tips GC!

/Obi
 
Radogast said:
Did you happen to get a tare weight on a water free bucket?
I think you might have 2 gallons worth of bucket and perlite to subtract from your "water" weight.
Click to expand...

Well of course I did... not do such things :scratchinghead:

I just remembered I have another identical bucket I use to mix and pH the nutrient solution before adding it to the sprayer. I'll get an empty bucket weight this evening. I'm not sure how much perlite I have left on hand but I'll toss what I've got into the bucket as well to get us closer to a true number.

:high-five:
/Obi
 
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