Obi's Northern Light Autoflower - Indoor T5 - Soilless Mix - 2014

Just a quick update. The 6 inch fan and filter arrived today. I spent the evening getting those installed. The 6 inch fan is quieter than the old 4 inch which was a nice surprise.

I hope everyone has a great week!
/Obi
 
danknessdude said:
did you switch out the light temp or just run 6500 the whole time?
Click to expand...

Hi danknessdude. Good question. I gradually swapped out the 6500's with 3000k's. Currently I have 6 3000k and 2 6500k in there.

I'm still debating if I want to swap the remaining 2 6500's or just leave 'em through harvest. I'm happy how things have progressed so far, but flowering seems to have slowed way down or stalled. I'm not sure. Maybe it's just more difficult to see daily change during flower?? I'm still learning how all this works :)

I'll post some update comments shortly.

Thanks for dropping by!
/Obi
:icon_cool
 
Whoops. I fell asleep with the laptop on my chest last night. I meant to post and read some more, lol.


Alright. The new fan is working well. With the fan operating at about 75% speed the lights-on temps have dropped from 82F/28C to 77F/25C. The surrounding room temp peaks at about 70F/21C during the summer. I think I may have finally hit the sweet spot (regarding air exchange) in the grow box.

At last check the RH was sitting at 50%. I think that will drop some. It's been stormy/rainy here for a few days. If the RH doesn't drop a little on its own I have a dehumidifier I can setup in the area.

I am struggling a bit with odor control.

The problem is twofold. Firstly, I love the smell. I don't smell or relate the scent to "skunky". There is a hint of stink, but the other complex fragrances like citrus, sour, earthy pine and a dark spice (probably the stink to others) stand out to me. Pulling out the dead foliage and squishing the last remaining moisture from the stems and taking a whiff is awesome. I really try not to disturb the live plants too much so mashing up the dead stuff to smell subdues my urge to fuss with the flowers.

Secondly, and probably most important, is the fact that my wife is not fond of the smell. Actually she is not too thrilled about the whole indoor grow altogether. My saving grace has been the minimal impact to our home environment so far. If I want to start another grow after harvest I'm going to have to further reduce detectable odors.

With the new 6 inch fan/carbon filter combo and two passive 4 inch intakes I'm fairly confident I have negative air pressure in the grow box. I can detect a faint smell in about a 12ft/3.5m radius. After that the smell is too diffuse for me to detect. I wonder if part of the problem is the wood construction of the box. It is stain sealed, painted and caulked but perhaps it is still permeable to a degree. I grabbed the 6 inch flexible exhaust duct and had my wife give it a smell test. Whoa. A wrinkly nose, squinty eyes and a couple expletives led me closer to the probable main cause. Evidently the carbon filter is not absorbing 100% of the flowering fragrance.

I have room deodorizers near by, air fresheners near the exhaust and sprays that I use after opening the box. The fan/filter connection is taped and sealed well. I'm beginning to run out of options. I do still have the 4 inch carbon filter. I wonder if it would be OK to put a 6 to 4 inch reducer on the exhaust duct and attach the 4 inch filter to the end of the run. That would give me a filter at the intake and at the exhaust. Else, I suppose I could pick up a second 6 inch filter for the end of the run if that would be better.

The plants are due for a feeding tonight so I'll be in there messing around. I'm very much open to suggestions if anyone wants to pass along a thought or idea :)

Groovy growing and best wishes to all,
/Obi
:Namaste:
 
Look into an Ozone generator for the area that affects your wife. If you get it dialed in properly, it kills the odor without overloading the atmosphere with the ozone smell.

Another possibility is an alcohol burning lamp, like a Lamp Berger. These were designed over 100 yrs ago to kill the stench of death in hospitals. I had one for years when I smoked cigars in the house. Light the lamp and cigar odor, which I like, was gone. You can get a wide variety of fragrances to burn.
 
Obi Wan said:
Whoops. I fell asleep with the laptop on my chest last night. I meant to post and read some more, lol.


Alright. The new fan is working well. With the fan operating at about 75% speed the lights-on temps have dropped from 82F/28C to 77F/25C. The surrounding room temp peaks at about 70F/21C during the summer. I think I may have finally hit the sweet spot (regarding air exchange) in the grow box.

At last check the RH was sitting at 50%. I think that will drop some. It's been stormy/rainy here for a few days. If the RH doesn't drop a little on its own I have a dehumidifier I can setup in the area.

I am struggling a bit with odor control.

The problem is twofold. Firstly, I love the smell. I don't smell or relate the scent to "skunky". There is a hint of stink, but the other complex fragrances like citrus, sour, earthy pine and a dark spice (probably the stink to others) stand out to me. Pulling out the dead foliage and squishing the last remaining moisture from the stems and taking a whiff is awesome. I really try not to disturb the live plants too much so mashing up the dead stuff to smell subdues my urge to fuss with the flowers.

Secondly, and probably most important, is the fact that my wife is not fond of the smell. Actually she is not too thrilled about the whole indoor grow altogether. My saving grace has been the minimal impact to our home environment so far. If I want to start another grow after harvest I'm going to have to further reduce detectable odors.

With the new 6 inch fan/carbon filter combo and two passive 4 inch intakes I'm fairly confident I have negative air pressure in the grow box. I can detect a faint smell in about a 12ft/3.5m radius. After that the smell is too diffuse for me to detect. I wonder if part of the problem is the wood construction of the box. It is stain sealed, painted and caulked but perhaps it is still permeable to a degree. I grabbed the 6 inch flexible exhaust duct and had my wife give it a smell test. Whoa. A wrinkly nose, squinty eyes and a couple expletives led me closer to the probable main cause. Evidently the carbon filter is not absorbing 100% of the flowering fragrance.

I have room deodorizers near by, air fresheners near the exhaust and sprays that I use after opening the box. The fan/filter connection is taped and sealed well. I'm beginning to run out of options. I do still have the 4 inch carbon filter. I wonder if it would be OK to put a 6 to 4 inch reducer on the exhaust duct and attach the 4 inch filter to the end of the run. That would give me a filter at the intake and at the exhaust. Else, I suppose I could pick up a second 6 inch filter for the end of the run if that would be better.

The plants are due for a feeding tonight so I'll be in there messing around. I'm very much open to suggestions if anyone wants to pass along a thought or idea :)

Groovy growing and best wishes to all,
/Obi
:Namaste:
Click to expand...


You have poetry in you writing and cannabis fueling your words.
You passion for popping beans shines through :)
 
Obi Wan said:
Hi danknessdude. Good question. I gradually swapped out the 6500's with 3000k's. Currently I have 6 3000k and 2 6500k in there.

I'm still debating if I want to swap the remaining 2 6500's or just leave 'em through harvest. I'm happy how things have progressed so far, but flowering seems to have slowed way down or stalled. I'm not sure. Maybe it's just more difficult to see daily change during flower?? I'm still learning how all this works :)

I'll post some update comments shortly.

Thanks for dropping by!
/Obi
:icon_cool
Click to expand...


your doing fantastic! I use the same fixture in my veg room and want to run autos in there. Same as you I would run dual spectrum. I'm really really happy with the vegging power of the t5 but worry about penetration power. Heck might as well try it!
 
Day 54

Watered 100% nute strength based on GH Flora DTW schedule week 7
5Gal + 5ml Grow + 20ml Micro + 30ml Bloom + ??ml pH Down
water pH 8.0 -> 5.7
runoff pH 6.2
4.5Gal/17L distributed between 8 plants

Good news bad news.

First the good news. The addition of the 4 inch filter at the end of the exhaust run passed the wife test for now. :) I've brought the fan speed up to about 85% to compensate for the increased resistance.

Now the bad news. I mentioned earlier that I thought I had a better handle on my temps with the new fan. As it turns out, I was only running half of my lights. I must have forgotten to turn on the second switch when I finished up the installation. So the plants had a cloudy day or so and my temps are right smack where they used to be. Aw shucks.

Fortunately 82F/28C isn't too bad. It's at the upper end of acceptable I think. I could probably shave a couple degrees by raising the lights a few inches but I'm trying to ride the fine line of heat vs penetration with the T5. So far I think the plants have tolerated it pretty well.

I took a few pics that I will post later. I'm pretty tired and need to get to bed.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
/Obi
:smokin2:
 
MaggiesFarm said:
Look into an Ozone generator for the area that affects your wife. If you get it dialed in properly, it kills the odor without overloading the atmosphere with the ozone smell.

Another possibility is an alcohol burning lamp, like a Lamp Berger. These were designed over 100 yrs ago to kill the stench of death in hospitals. I had one for years when I smoked cigars in the house. Light the lamp and cigar odor, which I like, was gone. You can get a wide variety of fragrances to burn.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the ideas MaggiesFarm. I really appreciate it. If my new dual filter setup fails the test of time, as in the next week or two, I'm going to have to take additional measures to finish the grow.

Radogast said:
You have poetry in you writing and cannabis fueling your words.
You passion for popping beans shines through :)
Click to expand...

Radogast my friend, that brought a goofy grin to my face. Thanks man :)

/Obi
 
Obi Wan said:
Day 54

Watered 100% nute strength based on GH Flora DTW schedule week 7
5Gal + 5ml Grow + 20ml Micro + 30ml Bloom + ??ml pH Down
water pH 8.0 -> 5.7
runoff pH 6.2
4.5Gal/17L distributed between 8 plants

Good news bad news.

First the good news. The addition of the 4 inch filter at the end of the exhaust run passed the wife test for now. :) I've brought the fan speed up to about 85% to compensate for the increased resistance.

Now the bad news. I mentioned earlier that I thought I had a better handle on my temps with the new fan. As it turns out, I was only running half of my lights. I must have forgotten to turn on the second switch when I finished up the installation. So the plants had a cloudy day or so and my temps are right smack where they used to be. Aw shucks.

Fortunately 82F/28C isn't too bad. It's at the upper end of acceptable I think. I could probably shave a couple degrees by raising the lights a few inches but I'm trying to ride the fine line of heat vs penetration with the T5. So far I think the plants have tolerated it pretty well.

I took a few pics that I will post later. I'm pretty tired and need to get to bed.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
/Obi
:smokin2:
Click to expand...

My T5 lights measure 82° at 3.5 inches (just above scrog) while 66-70° (ambient) at 8 inches (4 inches below canopy of scrog.)
That is with VEG lights.

If you . Are measuring at canopy, that 81° may be the direct warmth of the T5 lights, which means it ain't getting any cooler :icon_cool
 
Some random pics from last night... I keep forgetting to grab a tape measure or other reference object to include in the pics.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't notice some prefilter fuzz on a couple buds from my new fan/filter install before taking some closeups. I'll go in with a tweazers and do a little cleanup tonight.

 


 
I'm starting to get newbie harvest anxiety. I hope to see the flowers put on some weight soon. I'm maybe 4 to 6 weeks from harvest. A couple plants that I had high hopes for earlier appear rather disappointing at the moment. For instance, one whole plant is covered in 0.5in/12mm buds with no real main cola to speak of. I envision pea sized nugs when dried. If it stays that way it will likely go into the bubble bags with the trim.

The stunted solo cup transplant that I thought would turn out to be a golf ball on a stick while small actually looks really frosty and yummy as does the stretchy plant with 4 inch internodes. They are also two of the three plants that have always been a darker green than the others. Not that it matters much. I just though it interesting

Speaking of green. I think the plants are beginning to show beginning signs of life cycle fade. Some foliage is turning a lighter color green, lower branches are yellowing and some are dieing off. At the moment I'm not attempting to do anything about it other than removing dried, necrotic stems and leaves (few). I haven't forced or cut anything off the plants. If something is sitting in the dirt or falls off with a very gentle tug then it goes. Else it stays for another day. One plant has a deficiency or nute splash on some 3-finger leaves near its top. They are turning yellow and brown. If the dead plant matter gets too close to the flower I think I may cut it out, I am concerned about it dieing back into the bud and causing rot later on.

I've reduced my frequency of opening up the grow box and checking on the plants from 3 times a day down to once per day. Partly because I'm trying not to stink up the house and partly because it's getting more difficult to see exciting new growth.

I'm well into the flowering nutrient schedule now. I'm trying to decide if I want to hold at the 7/8 week point for a bit or keep right on following the schedule week by week. Part of me wants to extend their life as much as possible for maximum quantity but the other part reminds me that these are autoflowers and they will likely finish according to their genetic program regardless of what I suggest they do.

/Obi
 
ColoradoKid said:
Obi my friend, ain't growing fun. All of the things that you get to decide. It is like being a demigod. I remember the early days of growing and the excitement and frustration of it all. Now I just let them rip and do their thing and it is all good. :rofl:
Click to expand...

Indeed.

I have to step back laugh at myself from time to time for getting all up in their business. I never really fret over the veggie garden or flower beds out back. We try new things out there and it either works or it don't. So be it. Just enjoy the ride. I put a cannabis bean in a container and suddenly I'm measuring ppm, pH in and out and all sorts of fussy little things not to mention snapping several hundred pictures along the way. Whew!

It will be good to get out of town this weekend and decompress. No internet. No cell phone signal. No schedule to keep. Just the great outdoors, family and laughter.

Cheers!
/Obi
 
I'd like to add...

I hope all of the members of the 420 community have a great weekend and thank you to all the men and women that sacrifice(d) so much to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

/Obi-Wan Cannabinoid
 
I hope your having fun Obi Wan, I'm loving your passion, it's easy to put myself in your shoes, still waiting for my first grow.
 
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