Radogast's Hi-Brix Basement Grow - New Location - New Soil - New Experiences

[MrGreene]

Hey MrGreene - you've been pretty scarce the last month or so - I hope you aren't working too hard !

If she can make it through the first week until her roots hit water, I'm confident the hempy will grow just fine. I was planning on 3 gallon buckets (as in scrub the floors plastic buckets with handles) for most of my hempys. If I can just go from cloner bucket to final 3 gallon bucket with no transplanting, that will be great. If not I'll have to buy solo cups or something similar and have small and large sized pots like I do now for soil.

My living room rehab is finally nearing the end, (walls painted, floor sanded, stained, and varnished, baseboards painted yesterday and re-installed today - to do: list is down to baseboard 1/4 round trim install, floor cure time, install painted crown molding, sand, varnish, expanding foam seal, and re-install wood trim around windows and door frames, add new outlets to the newly installed pre-wired outlet boxes and connect the other end to power.) In a week to 10 days, I should be finished with the living room and I can focus on buying perlite and buckets to start my newest clones in hempy buckets.




Please, out of respect to my maiden name, that should be Miller Lite


I don't smoke regularly, so I never seem to have a lighter around. The closest prop of a standard size I could find was an incandescent light bulb.Plus the light bulb seems to make the green buds look bigger

I've been busier than ever. Went away for work to see a customer up north two times in the past month, for a week each time. That's a 650 mile drive each way. Then there were a couple other shorter trips less than a four hour drive. I've been exhausted. I have been getting to know the locals at the bar up north. Wore pink camo leggings there for karaoke night a few weeks ago and had every woman in the place on stage to sing with me. Ended up getting to know the hottest lady there and we have been staying in contact daily. She's about 20 years younger than me and very sweet. Too bad she isn't single.


It sounds like you've made great progress in a pretty short time. You'll be running out of rooms to remodel soon if you keep up this pace.

I'm wanting to start a couple seeds soon. I'd like to get a female Columbian Gold (reg seeds) in the tent and also one of the Cinderella Kush seeds from the last harvest.

I thought it had to be bud light so we could remember all the old commercials. Then there was the joke about the proctologist whose assistant/nurse brought him a bud light while he had a patient on the table. He said "No, I asked for a butt light"

Ok, now that I got that out we can switch to miller lite.

 

[bobrown14]

Agatha was sent to me as a freebie seed called 'Ace Mix' when I purchased Delicatessen Lily from Ace Seeds.

I wish she were Devil's Tit ! I probably should get a 50/50 Indica strain going, but I could find a slot for a DT clone or two in my rotation. Those girls of your's really fire up my imagination.

so .... on a totally unrelated question,

Do you think I can use horse tail fern tea to treat my outdoor annuals, such as Zinnia, as a powdery mildew preventative?
How about treating my outdoor perennials?

And finally, wlll dried or powdered horsetail fern work for tea if I can't find fresh? (Oddly, I haven't seen a horsetail fern since I moved!)

I use it outdoors ... pm outdoors is a thing...a very big thing. Once it starts not much to do. Its part of the natural cycle and the beginning of the end for annuals and the beginning of fall for the perennials.

For outdoors I spray with an ACT made up of worm castings 1 cup and 1/2 cup of kelp meal aerated over night. The kelp meal tea is a good treatment for mold.. but it's not a "cure". There's no cure... its part of the round ball the way I see it. Mold then followed by plant dying back followed by the rain and snow.

Spring changes everything.

 

[Radogast]

I terminated flowering lights for COB experiment #1. My last girl came it at 63 grams(under 2.5 oz) directly under the 600W HPS but with sidelighting from the COBs. She looked like she should have produced 80-90 grams. Her clone mother produced 80-90 grams under a 600W HPS sidelighted by a second 600W HPS. I decided I was ready to return to higher yields in flower and reinstalled the second 600W HPS.

The 200+ watts of COB are probably adequate for a 2x2 or 2x3 area, but not half of a 5x4 area. I'd like to try an agregate higher wattage of COBs in the future, but for now, the HPS are back in production.

Since I have 60W per sq ft again (1200W in 20 sq ft), I'm going to try a bobrown14 inspired technique of setting the lights high and leaving them high. Previously I was raising and lowering lights to keep a maximum light to canopy distance of 18".

 

[kelticBlue]

Rad! great job with the COBs. Super great info.
What was the difference in heat, if any? ...without the second HPS i would expect less heat, good through the summer months but no worries in the cold of the winter having light heat?

Just thinking out loud, You got big bongs to fill, gotta grow big! It is cool that we both grow for our fam more than ourselves. I honestly dont partake but once a harvest-moon-in-awhile.

 

[Radogast]

Rad! great job with the COBs. Super great info.
What was the difference in heat, if any? ...without the second HPS i would expect less heat, good through the summer months but no worries in the cold of the winter having light heat?

Just thinking out loud, You got big bongs to fill, gotta grow big! It is cool that we both grow for our fam more than ourselves. I honestly dont partake but once a harvest-moon-in-awhile.

The difference in heat that I experienced, is that the cooling fan was on less minutes. My guess it that it is probably 10 old fashioned incandescent light bulbs less heat. It is the difference between sweating while holding my arm under the 600W HPS and touching the heat sinks for the COBs and they feel warm (with fans cooling the heats sinks) or about as hot as the HPS hood glass (with the fans off.)

I asked yesterday on a COB thread and they suggested running 50W per square foot, where as I was running about 27-28W per square foot with these COBs. For the energy usage and lovely color of light, I love the COBs - I just don't have enough of them right now to grow enough nice bud.

 

[Radogast]

I went shopping today, 3 gallon hempy buckets (at $2 each)

 

[kelticBlue]

. . . I just don't have enough of them right now to grow enough nice bud.

Absolutely, I am glad you have enough HPS to work with. Keep em growin.

 

[Radogast]

First 3 gallon hempy​

While I was posting the picture of the new buckets, Fedex dropped off my new bag of perlite

I drilled a 1/4" hole in the bucket 2" from the bottom. Since Tead mentioned a smooth hole, I did a little smoothing with a file

Since everyone says one should wash perlite for a hempy, I tried bathing the perlite.

The first wash of the perlite turned the water dark gray and left about 1/4 cup of sand in the bottom of the tote.

I tried 3 more washings, using enough water to float the perlite a few inches off the bottom, mashing the perlite through the water for 60 seconds and then scooping the damp perlite off the surface into the other bin.

The second, third, and fourth washes were dirty but the perlite didn't get much cleaner so they were mostly pointless.

I decided to just rinse the perlite in the bucket and skip the second through fourth washes next time.

Once I ran about 8 gallons of water through the hempy, it was running clear.

The Osmocote+ recommended levels are

Low = 1.8 grams per liter
Med = 4.7 grams per liter
High = 7.1 grams per liter


3 gallon = 11.3 liter, so

Low = 20 grams per 3 gallon
Med = 50 grams per 3 gallon
High = 80 grams per 3 gallon


I decided to go with 60 grams, about 4 Tbsp

I mixed the bottom 2 inches/2 liters of perlite with 2 Tbsp of osmo+, mixed the next 4 liters of perlite with 2 Tbsp osmo+ and topped up the bucket with perlite.

Planting time​

Scooped out a hole of perlite (no osmo+ in the top 4 inches)

Picked up a nice Carnival clone

Planted in the perlite

If there is anything I should do differently, please criticize.

 

[TripleBeam]

I would have put the OC+ towards the top. Watering releases it. My first grow was OC+ in soil.

 

[Radogast]

I would have put the OC+ towards the top. Watering releases it. My first grow was OC+ in soil.

Thanks.

My thought was that I am basically watering upside down from the hempy reservoir upwards. The nutes will wick upwards with the water. I left the top of the soil free of nute pellets so the existing roots on the baby clone won't actually touch any of the osmo+ until new roots grow into them.

Maybe roots touching the osmo+ is not a problem.

It's a good thought for sure.

 

[kelticBlue]

Great info photo story about the hempy . I will be looking forward to your progress and opinions for sure.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Thanks.

My thought was that I am basically watering upside down from the hempy reservoir upwards. The nutes will wick upwards with the water. I left the top of the soil free of nute pellets so the existing roots on the baby clone won't actually touch any of the osmo+ until new roots grow into them.

Maybe roots touching the osmo+ is not a problem.

It's a good thought for sure.

That's a fully wizarding way to water your plants Rad! (images of Radogast floating around upside down amongst his plants) .

 

[brightlight]

Big switch in growing styles.....seems I missed why you changed? Just curious.

 

[TheGreenYeti]

Big switch in growing styles.....seems I missed why you changed? Just curious.

HE mentioned not having a place to cook soil during the winter months and did not want to pay to heat more of his basement. I think he said he would go back to the kit after he can cook more soil in the spring.

 

[Radogast]

HE mentioned not having a place to cook soil during the winter months and did not want to pay to heat more of his basement. I think he said he would go back to the kit after he can cook more soil in the spring.

What he said ^^^ Brightlight

 

[SweetSue]

Soil growers get nervous when we start playing. Like you, I can't give soil up completely. I'll find my personal balance by the end of next year. LOL!

I'll be watching the Osmo girls. That still feels like a lot of prills concentrated in one area, but we're still learning. The nice thing is they're relatively inexpensive, in comparison to other nutrients, so if you run into trouble it's a simple matter of lift her out and reset.

Hempy makes the transfer process so easy I laugh out loud everytime I transplant. Are you enjoying how much easier they are to move around?

 

[Radogast]

Soil growers get nervous when we start playing. Like you, I can't give soil up completely. I'll find my personal balance by the end of next year. LOL!

I'll be watching the Osmo girls. That still feels like a lot of prills concentrated in one area, but we're still learning. The nice thing is they're relatively inexpensive, in comparison to other nutrients, so if you run into trouble it's a simple matter of lift her out and reset.

Hempy makes the transfer process so easy I laugh out loud everytime I transplant. Are you enjoying how much easier they are to move around?

Mostly I am enjoying the "just add water" feeding schedule.

In the flower area yesterday, it took 5 trips to the board to check the cards just to water and feed 7 plants and notate that they were fed. 2 GE+Tea, 4 water+Tea, 1 Xplant+Tea. In the veg area, it took one trip to notate that I just watered 2 plants from the 3 gallon bucket of PH adjusted water sitting ready snce the last day I watered. 'Just add water' is pretty simple.


It feels like a bit of a risk to move the whole grow to hempy at the same time. I can't really imagine what would go so wrong that I don't harvest enough bud for the family (although their usage and normal state of mind is mighty high.) If they complain about a decline in quality.... we will cross that bridge if we come to it


RE TRANSPLANTING:

I haven't decided if I will be transplanting.

Spacewise my veg areas are up to 6 1-gallon in early veg, and up to 6 7-gallon in late veg for a total of 12 plants. I normally veg 8 to 10 plants. With 3-gallon hempy buckets, I can fit 4 in early veg and 9 in late veg for a capacity of 13 plants.- I actually have more space without using starter pots.

If I end up late vegging 9 plants instead of 6, they will be a bit closer together which would bump my flower capacity from 6 to 12 plants. If I end up flowering 12 plants at a time, I might have to use starter pots (milk cartons?) for early veg and transplant. I could fit 20-24 milk cartons in early veg, but would probably space them in a grid of 12 or 15. Cut to 7" high should be about right.

I guess I'll start saving milk cartons, just in case. Would I still drill a hempy hole 2" from the bottom?


RE WEIGHT

The full impact of the heaviest pot in the grow room being a 3-gallon perlite hempy hasn't really hit me. The only plant I have in a bucket is 2 days since planting

I'm a bit concerned about large plants getting too top heavy for the buckets. I'm looking at that as a 'cross that bridge when we come to it' issue.

 

[mouser]

I'm a bit concerned about large plants getting too top heavy for the buckets. I'm looking at that as a 'cross that bridge when we come to it' issue.

There are many ways to support plants....stakes, cages, yoyos....if you are aware of an issue before it presents there is plenty of time to envision a solution.



Saving up my tidycat buckets for a hempy of my own

 

[Radogast]

There are many ways to support plants....stakes, cages, yoyos....if you are aware of an issue before it presents there is plenty of time to envision a solution.



Saving up my tidycat buckets for a hempy of my own

I looked at the tidy cat buckets, but I buy my cat litter in the tall sizes... I think the 12" ones would be better than the 16" ones.


My storebought buckets were only $1.97 each (I missed the 10% off sale.) - They came in green so I don't have to block the light that filters through like I would a yellow or white cat litter bucket - Saves on duck tape

 

[Radogast]

Disaster avoided​

I opened up the flower area yesterday morning to see the air filter fallen to the floor,

The support strap had pulled through the staple and the filter had landed on a couple of plants and bounced.

Branches were bent and plants were mishaped, but the only branch broken was a small piece of AK47

The buds looked near ripe, so I hung the branch to dry

I unplugged the temperature based exhaust fan controller so as not to pump unfiltered fragrant air outside the house. I smuggled the filter in a large tote to a discreet corner of the yard to hose off. As I was bringing up the hose, it started to rain. I hid from the rain for an hour, then I went outside and hosed off the filter, inside and out, to refresh the charcoal filtration.

By the time I restapled the hanging strap and retaped the flex hose to the HPS hood the temperature in the flower area was 94 degrees. When I plugged in the fan controller, the exhaust fan brough the temp down to the desired 79 in less than 10 minutes.

Drama is over folks. Nothing to see here