Quest for mold-resistant strains, Hawaii outdoor greenhouse grow

[cbdhemp808]

OK, so I think I've got a possible solution!

I have a small chest freezer that I can run using an Inkbird ITC-608T (temp/RH). Essentially, it will run as a not-very-cold fridge. I also have a mini dehum that I'll place inside it. The buds will be wet trimmed and placed on racks/screens. (Or should I hang them?) Temp. will be set to 68°F for the first three days, and then 64°F after that. RH will be set to 55%. (as per Rosenthal)

I gotta laugh... it took the experiment with the buds in the little jar, and the drawback of silica gel causing a vacuum, to get me to consider the chest freezer running as a fridge. And then tonight I realized the little dehum could easily fit in there. The volume of the fridge is only 5 cu. ft., which should be very energy efficient to run at 64-68°F, especially with some thermal mass in there (1 gal glass bottles filled with water). Likewise, also energy efficient to run the dehum.

The only unknown here is the performance of the dehum. I've actually never used the one I have (Pohl Schmitt) – I was saving it for the day I could build a small drying room. This particular unit has gotten some bad reviews on Amazon, saying they die fairly quickly. But there are many other options on Amazon, and this one gets a high rating. So I'll try out the Pohl Schmitt and see how it goes.

It seems like the power requirement to keep 5 cu. ft. of air at 55% RH would be very low. I don't plan on opening up the fridge for 10-14 days, so that means once the RH is brought down to 55%, it should take very little power to keep it there, as the buds are drying out. According to Rosenthal, the buds will lose 60-70% of their moisture in the first 3 days.

Another dynamic is that the dehum produces some heat while operating, which will cause the fridge to turn on. During the first 3 days, this will probably happen a lot. After that, the rate of moisture emitted by the buds will decrease.

One thing I could do to conserve power, if necessary, is put the power to the dehum on a timer, so that it doesn't run during the night, and only comes back on once the sun hits the solar panels. Humidity would rise above 55% during the night, but it shouldn't be a problem.

What do you think... will it work? Any thoughts about temp. and RH?

I just ordered the equipment for this!

* Inkbird temp/humidity controllers, pair (saved $5 buying as a pair) Amazon
* Temp/humidity monitor and data logger with probes Amazon
* Lamp pipe, to build DIY cable glands Amazon
* Sturdy stainless steel screen for building a bud drying rack insert for the fridge Amazon

The reason I'm buying separate temp/humidity controllers, and not Inkbird's dual contoller, is so I can run the humidity controller on a digital timer outlet, so that I can regulate dehum off-time at night, to conserve power with my limited solar power system. I'm guessing the temperature controller won't need that, since it will be very lower power consumption to maintain 64-68° F.

I'm especially stoked that I found the monitor/data logger, because it will give a complete readout on the temp and humidity over the entire drying period, with high granularity. It also easily shows me the daily min and max values of both temp and humidity. The unit will also provide an accuracy check against the Inkbirds. This monitor/logger will be key for testing and tuning the system.

The "lamp pipe" is for making "cable glands" – i.e. tubes that the temp/humidity probe cords will go through, and also the dehum AC/DC power adapter cord. I'm planning to drill holes in the lid of the chest freezer, toward the back. The cable glands will fit in these holes, and will be locked in place with the nuts. I'll route the cords through the glands, and seal with a small amount of silicone, top and bottom. There's 5 cords to accommodate, so I'm thinking 2 or 3 glands.

I'm planning to mount the equipment on the wall behind the fridge, just above where the lid will be when fully open.

For the drying racks, I plan to make a custom wooden-frame insert. The whole insert will easily lift in and out of the fridge w/ a handle at the top. Drying racks will slide in and out of the frame. The dimensions of the insert will be 15" x 12" x 24". The depth of 24" should give me seven 12"x15" racks, allowing for a top w/ handle and a 3" space at the bottom for feet. Total drying space, 1,260 sq in. (8.75 sq ft). I have been using about 784 sq. in. drying space, in the food dehydrator, for a 1-plant harvest, so this would be a 60% increase in drying space (1.6x). (If I change the rack dimension to 13x15", which will also work, and reduce rack spacing by 3/8 inch, I can double the drying space over the dehydrator.)

A can put the whole system on one outlet power strip, and plug the power strip into my power meter to monitor power consumption.

 

[WillCall]

You might consider adding a small low-cfm fan. It helps mix the air, speeds eqilibration. Your dehumidifier will stir the air when it is ON, but things go still when it is off. Doesn't need to be much. I use an 80mm Enermax fan in a 16cu ft space and it is very nice and gentle. This one is about 28cfm (gentle) and 15 dBA sound (very quiet); 0.15A on a 12V supply.

Enermax T.B. Silence 80mm Case Fan - Newegg.com

Buy Enermax T.B. Silence 80mm Case Fan with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[cbdhemp808]

I went for super quiet and ridiculously low power consumption. 21 CFM. 9 dBA. 12V, 0.45 watt (0.0375A).
$13 free delivery.

Amazon.com

 

[cbdhemp808]

Clone update... after 9 days, signs of roots... I removed the dome today. They should be ready for planting in about a week.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Clone update... after 9 days, signs of roots... I removed the dome today. They should be ready for planting in about a week.

Now it's looking like a few might not make it, while others are looking just fine. We've had some overnight lows in the low 60s F, so I'm guessing that's the cause. I may need to try a 3rd time on some of these... the moms are still in veg.

 

[Azimuth]

No seed mat?

 

[cbdhemp808]

No seed mat?

I've never used one... haven't needed one. This is the first time, in the winter, that I've had any trouble cloning.

 

[Azimuth]

I've never used one... haven't needed one. This is the first time, in the winter, that I've had any trouble cloning.

I've found my winter cloning process had to be modified. I added both a heat mat and a dome, kind of like your setup. Turns out my winter environment is both too cold and too dry.

Those two modifications have helped greatly.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I started a thread for my chest freezer bud dryer build...

Turning a small chest freezer into a low & slow bud dryer

I live off-grid in tropical Hawaii and have a perpetual outdoor greenhouse grow. The climate is warm, wet, and humid. We live in the jungle and there's a crazy amount of fungus and mold. I've had no way to dry my buds at home. I was planning on making a closet-size drying room with AC and...

www.420magazine.com

Adding an update now...

 

[cbdhemp808]

Greetings Growmies,

Here's a quick update with pics from the veg house today.

My #18 CBD pheno (foreground left), HI-BISCUS (foreground right), newly potted clones (foreground center), #9 CBD pheno (over 7 ft tall, background center). HI-BISCUS is still stunted, but looking healthy and still sprouting new leaves. #9 CBD should have been flowered already, but now waiting for new cuttings to root.

Four newly-planted clones. Out of the 16 cuttings from the last batch, only 6 grew roots. In the front, HI-BISCUS. Also in this group, Sweet Critical CBD, which had the fastest root growth of the bunch. There are two more not shown here... both #18 CBDs, which I think have roots but aren't ready to plant yet. Usually I get 100% success, but I think this outcome was due to cold weather at night (low 60s F).

A new batch of cuttings started today, to make up for the ones that didn't work out in the first batch. The front 2 are from the last batch – #18 CBD – no roots showing out the bottom yet. The back 2 are White Widow, not included in the first batch. The weather has become a bit warmer... I hope it holds up.

LEFT: My single remaining White Widow clone that barely made it (photo from Dec. 21). RIGHT: She grew into a clone mom in 2 months and 20 days, still in her 1 gal pot. I took two top cuttings from her today (shown above).

 

[CBDMed]

No seed mat?

Maybe there is less of a need for one, since the ambient temperature is higher?

 

[cbdhemp808]

A new batch of cuttings started today, to make up for the ones that didn't work out in the first batch. The front 2 are from the last batch – #18 CBD – no roots showing out the bottom yet. The back 2 are White Widow, not included in the first batch. The weather has become a bit warmer... I hope it holds up.

After a week, these clones are looking very sad and droopy. I don't know what's wrong because I usually get near 100% success. Weather has warmed up some. I'm trying again today with completely new medium – fresh coir and fresh perlite, plus slight nutrients and some fresh myco.

 

[Azimuth]

Maybe there is less of a need for one, since the ambient temperature is higher?

Now it's looking like a few might not make it, while others are looking just fine. We've had some overnight lows in the low 60s F, so I'm guessing that's the cause.

Cannabis, like most plants, like warmer temps especially if one is trying to root cuttings.

Cbdhemp's ambient temperatures are normally high enough but he stated he had some cooler temps which make the rooting process more challenging.

Commercial rooting houses often use bottom heat and misting to root cuttings by the thousands. I had to add both a heating mat and a vented dome in the cooler and drier conditions of winter.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Greetings Growmies,

After a week, these clones are looking very sad and droopy. I don't know what's wrong because I usually get near 100% success. Weather has warmed up some. I'm trying again today with completely new medium – fresh coir and fresh perlite, plus slight nutrients and some fresh myco.

So far, so good on the new clone batch.

I took some pics today of my HI-BISCUS mom and single clone from the mom. As I mentioned before, the mom is stunted and appears to be suffering from a root disease that has gone systemic and is also affecting the leaves, but she is fighting it. She also has abnormal light-brown areas on the stem. Another symptom: abnormally low water uptake. (I don't think this is due to a drainage problem... AFAIK pot is draining normally and well.) I have treated both the mom and baby with trichoderma watered in. I'm thinking now to also do a trichoderma foliar spray on the baby.

This is a bit of an emergency because these are the only HI-BISCUS I have left, and it's my best pheno for bud rot resistance... a 50/50 hybrid with sativa effects.

I wonder, is this a fusarium infection? Please have a look... Tagging @Wastei here as well.

Here's the veg house today. You can see the HI-BISCUS mom far right. She's stunted and the color is off. The baby is the front one on the table.

HI-BISCUS mom showing pale color and unhealthy, curling leaves.

HI-BISCUS mom closeup.

HI-BISCUS mom ~ another closeup.

HI-BISCUS clone. New growth is looking promising.

A CBD clone for comparison.

thanks for taking a look!

 

[Wastei]

Greetings Growmies,


So far, so good on the new clone batch.

I took some pics today of my HI-BISCUS mom and single clone from the mom. As I mentioned before, the mom is stunted and appears to be suffering from a root disease that has gone systemic and is also affecting the leaves, but she is fighting it. She also has abnormal light-brown areas on the stem. Another symptom: abnormally low water uptake. (I don't think this is due to a drainage problem... AFAIK pot is draining normally and well.) I have treated both the mom and baby with trichoderma watered in. I'm thinking now to also do a trichoderma foliar spray on the baby.

This is a bit of an emergency because these are the only HI-BISCUS I have left, and it's my best pheno for bud rot resistance... a 50/50 hybrid with sativa effects.

I wonder, is this a fusarium infection? Please have a look... Tagging @Wastei here as well.

Here's the veg house today. You can see the HI-BISCUS mom far right. She's stunted and the color is off. The baby is the front one on the table.

HI-BISCUS mom showing pale color and unhealthy, curling leaves.

HI-BISCUS mom closeup.

HI-BISCUS mom ~ another closeup.

HI-BISCUS clone. New growth is looking promising.

A CBD clone for comparison.

thanks for taking a look!

Looks more like HPLVD symptoms to me. I've had similar on a plant that I thought was done for but they can grow out of it. Very similar to what you have on yours.

That lanky twisted growth and weird patterns. Mine also had Mg def and P claw out of nowhere. That was in DWC with plenty of both in the nutrient solution.

Yield and structure suffered meaning she didn't have much support at the end with weak lanky stems. The runs before she had very strong stems and branching, looked like a completely different plant at the end of flower compared to the run before.

See if I can find some pictures of her...

Early flower with Mg def and weird single leaflets. Underdeveloped early on.

A complete mess!

OK smoke at end of flower that run. Here comes the run before that:

A big different with strong spears everywhere.

HID grows (HPS+MH)

Cheers!

 

[cbdhemp808]

Looks more like HPLVD symptoms to me. I've had similar on a plant that I thought was done for but they can grow out of it. Very similar to what you have on yours.

Thanks. I agree, the symptoms are subtle, as would be with HPLVD (Hop Latent Viroid); however, I think the symptoms are more like a root rot condition which also affected the stem. One tell-tale sign is the light-brown discoloration and deformation on the stalk and nodes (I didn't show pics). I noticed this early in the growth of the mother, but it seems that the plant resisted and at least partially recovered. Other evidence of a root rot condition are the poor absorption of water and the taco leaves. The taco leaves could be caused by nutrient deficiency due to a root zone problem, or perhaps directly by the root zone pathogen gone systemic. I have seen plants go into full on wilt and death from root rot. This plant seems to be fighting it.

As of today I'm leaning toward flowering out the mom, but I will definitely throw out the soil and not recycle it.

It will be interesting to see if the one baby clone completely resists this pathogen. It seems like maybe she is doing that. One very interesting thing is the fact that the baby also shows some curl on a couple older leaves, and I think these leaves emerged after the cutting took root. This seems to indicate that there is something systemic in the plant (mom and baby) that's causing the curl, rather than it just being a nutrient absorption issue due to a root zone problem. The reason being, the young clone has it's own roots and was grown in completely different medium than the mother (the same medium as the other clones on the table that are healthy as can be).

 

[WillCall]

Greetings Growmies,


So far, so good on the new clone batch.

I took some pics today of my HI-BISCUS mom and single clone from the mom. As I mentioned before, the mom is stunted and appears to be suffering from a root disease that has gone systemic and is also affecting the leaves, but she is fighting it. She also has abnormal light-brown areas on the stem. Another symptom: abnormally low water uptake. (I don't think this is due to a drainage problem... AFAIK pot is draining normally and well.) I have treated both the mom and baby with trichoderma watered in. I'm thinking now to also do a trichoderma foliar spray on the baby.

This is a bit of an emergency because these are the only HI-BISCUS I have left, and it's my best pheno for bud rot resistance... a 50/50 hybrid with sativa effects.

I wonder, is this a fusarium infection? Please have a look... Tagging @Wastei here as well.

Here's the veg house today. You can see the HI-BISCUS mom far right. She's stunted and the color is off. The baby is the front one on the table.

HI-BISCUS mom showing pale color and unhealthy, curling leaves.

HI-BISCUS mom closeup.

HI-BISCUS mom ~ another closeup.

HI-BISCUS clone. New growth is looking promising.

A CBD clone for comparison.

thanks for taking a look!

Brother, I feel your pain. Those plants don't look so bad. Over the last year I was fighting something. I went through the seven stages of grief. I studied the GrowWeedEasy symptom galleries. The symptoms didn't match anything - or rather they matched everything. So I thought it was root rot or major pH issues that were affecting all nutrients - on and on. The cupping leaves, droopy leaves. Necrotic edges. Leaves cupping, drooping, turning crispy and dropping. I got paranoid and thought I had HLV in the ladies. More grief. Then in February, as the plants lost leaves and looked almost unrecoverable, I tried spraying with Neem; just Garden Safe "hydrophobic extract of neem" stuff, at 1:128 dilution, no soap as they tell you for this product, late evening. Within a few days things were looking much better. I have sprayed every 7 days for a while, now using it at 14 da intervals. They are growing so much better. Not saying this is a fix for you, but those symptoms looks so very similar. This picture is from Feb 21 and shows all the troubles.

If you aren't opposed to Neem, at least for non-flowering stock, you might want to try it on some.

 

[WillCall]

Brother, I feel your pain. Those plants don't look so bad. Over the last year I was fighting something. I went through the seven stages of grief. I studied the GrowWeedEasy symptom galleries. The symptoms didn't match anything - or rather they matched everything. So I thought it was root rot or major pH issues that were affecting all nutrients - on and on. The cupping leaves, droopy leaves. Necrotic edges. Leaves cupping, drooping, turning crispy and dropping. I got paranoid and thought I had HLV in the ladies. More grief. Then in February, as the plants lost leaves and looked almost unrecoverable, I tried spraying with Neem; just Garden Safe "hydrophobic extract of neem" stuff, at 1:128 dilution, no soap as they tell you for this product, late evening. Within a few days things were looking much better. I have sprayed every 7 days for a while, now using it at 14 da intervals. They are growing so much better. Not saying this is a fix for you, but those symptoms looks so very similar. This picture is from Feb 21 and shows all the troubles.

If you aren't opposed to Neem, at least for non-flowering stock, you might want to try it on some.

I should have said I think it is a fungus, given that it responded so dramatically to the Neem spray. No idea what fungus. The next picture doesn't do them justice - they were cut back really hard 20240303 before I went away for 2 wks; they are under a "day extension" 9W LED lamp in my sunroom and I had snapped this picture earlier today. But I am over the moon that they are growing so well. I should have good stock for cloning before long!

 

[cbdhemp808]

If you aren't opposed to Neem, at least for non-flowering stock, you might want to try it on some.

Ha ha... about 15 min. ago before I saw your post I sprayed neem + Bronner's peppermint soap, 2 tbsp each in 1 gal water in the pump sprayer. Yes, I'm guessing the HI-BISCUS mom and baby both have some kind of systemic fungus. Other plants are fine. I sprayed most of the plants in the veg house, as I've also noticed some PM and a little bug action. Neem is supposed to be anti-fungal, and absorbs into the plant, so we'll see if the HI-BISCUS likes it. Good to hear that it worked so well for you! I've been using it for years... it's my go-to for all bugs. The solution also seems to work well to keep the PM back.

...which brings to my mind something I thought of recently. ==> Has anyone heard of using DMSO with foliar treatments? DMSO = dimethyl sulphoxide... the stuff that penetrates skin and is used for various medical uses. I figure it would also penetrate plant tissues. I happen to have some on order that arrives tomorrow.

 

[cbdhemp808]

...which brings to my mind something I thought of recently. ==> Has anyone heard of using DMSO with foliar treatments? DMSO = dimethyl sulphoxide... the stuff that penetrates skin and is used for various medical uses. I figure it would also penetrate plant tissues. I happen to have some on order that arrives tomorrow.

just found this!

source: Healing with DMSO: The Complete Guide to Safe and Natural Treatments for Managing Pain, Inflammation, and Other Chronic Ailments with Dimethyl Sulfoxide, by Amandha Vollmer