Did you put the chiller loop on a thermostat?
Twisted Hippie's Official Medical Grow Operation, Recast!
- Thread starter The Twisted One
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #62
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
The chiller is controlled via its own thermostat. The 4 gallon chiller reservoir is maintained at 65 deg specifically. I have a 5 to 6 deg TD between the chiller reservoir and the two 12 gallon reservoir(s) of the two 144 site cloners. The heat exchanger located in both cloners are small powder coated transmissions coolers. Nutes are NEVER circulated. This allows me to maintain a 70-71 deg root zone no matter what. My experience is when you hit around a 75 deg root zone, your setting conditions up for potential bad stuff.
This has become an issue to me numerous times. Ever since doing this, I never looked back. Just a pain to rig the loops, and not sure if this little 10th hp chiller could maintain 5 reservoirs.
When I purchased clones at two places in memory, they kept their cloning rooms to around 62 degrees. Not sure what their reservoir temps were, but I’m betting they were a LOT lower than 75.
This has become an issue to me numerous times. Ever since doing this, I never looked back. Just a pain to rig the loops, and not sure if this little 10th hp chiller could maintain 5 reservoirs.
When I purchased clones at two places in memory, they kept their cloning rooms to around 62 degrees. Not sure what their reservoir temps were, but I’m betting they were a LOT lower than 75.
- Thread starter
- #63
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
With another harvest nipping at our heels, I’m wanting to bring something back that I built some time ago, but haven’t used in a spell. Instead of using totes to cure, I’m going back to my 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Seal lids and the two one way valves per bucket. My son built an Arduino controller for a 24 bucket timed purge using an air pump. We may complete that project, or at least set them on a timer to exchange the air in the buckets at predetermined times. It’s all back to timing, and if we automate it, I don’t have to remember.
- Thread starter
- #64
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Yesterday and last night was spent continuing to set up our Flower Room ll. We now have it set up to handle around 900 plants. Next week, I’ll build three more tables and put us to our planned capacity of 1200 plants. We have five tables up and running now, and last night it was time to eliminate to temporary light wiring and finish wiring the other end of my home made 32 light (64 total) controller that has been faithfully powering Flower Room l.
Here’s a few photos of the controller located in FL-1. When the lights are off in FL-1 now, they are on in FL-2. This allows be to run two independent rooms with one electrical feed.
The only issue I had was using the bullhorn relays, when energized, the electromagnet creates a small amount of heat. I added a small fan to exhaust/exchange the air in the control box. This is only energized when the relays are, so the fan only runs when FL-1 is running. FL-2 is powered on the NC terminals of the relays. One controller. Two rooms. Only works for 12/12 rooms.
Basically, a simple wall timer powered off a simple 115 volt outlet provides the signal. The brown outlet cover is just an input that feeds the timer voltage to a 115/24 volt transformer. It’s this transformer that energizes the 24 volt bullhorn relay. Simple, effective, reliable.
I installed a time delay relay, so when the lights are energized, only half come on at once. After a 5 second delay, the other are energized. This prevents any possibility of an LRA situation, and stages the lights accordingly. I’ve built three of these for a fraction of what a 32 light controller would cost, and mine controls 64 lights theoretically.
Theres today’s update. Off to harvest FL1!
Here’s a few photos of the controller located in FL-1. When the lights are off in FL-1 now, they are on in FL-2. This allows be to run two independent rooms with one electrical feed.
The only issue I had was using the bullhorn relays, when energized, the electromagnet creates a small amount of heat. I added a small fan to exhaust/exchange the air in the control box. This is only energized when the relays are, so the fan only runs when FL-1 is running. FL-2 is powered on the NC terminals of the relays. One controller. Two rooms. Only works for 12/12 rooms.
Basically, a simple wall timer powered off a simple 115 volt outlet provides the signal. The brown outlet cover is just an input that feeds the timer voltage to a 115/24 volt transformer. It’s this transformer that energizes the 24 volt bullhorn relay. Simple, effective, reliable.
I installed a time delay relay, so when the lights are energized, only half come on at once. After a 5 second delay, the other are energized. This prevents any possibility of an LRA situation, and stages the lights accordingly. I’ve built three of these for a fraction of what a 32 light controller would cost, and mine controls 64 lights theoretically.
Theres today’s update. Off to harvest FL1!
- Thread starter
- #65
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Today has been a very busy yet very productive day. There is strength in numbers, and thanks to the girls, my son and I got a lot of stuff done in our néw flower room, FL-2, but before we get to that, I need to update you guys with some rather interesting news. Remember when on the last run (of our now record breaker crop, I mentioned the term “grounding”? Anyway, at the beginning of the crop we just harvested last night, I took an entire row of 32 plants and grounded them. Yes. The entire reservoir, water flow and roots residing in water have been earth grounded.
Row 2 had the identical 32 plants and both received the identical feeding formula (Jacks 123 with Terpinator added around week 4 of flower). Same room, same lights, etc. Row 2 is not earth grounded.
Without a doubt, the root structure is noticeably different, and by that I mean fatter. Further, the kids swear row 1 was bulkier. Hmmm…..
So last night I dug in, and here is what I now know. Not guess. Know.
Every plant we have is tagged and numbered with both bar codes and RFID chips. Each plant must be weighed after final defoliation before being placed in the cure room. Even the defoliation must be weighed. Meaning I know the tag numbers and where the plants belonged, as our plant numbers continue to add up. So added the weight of each row, and compared Row 1 with Row 2, and the numbers don’t lie.
Of 77, 949 grams of weight before entering the cure room, Row 1 accounted for 41, 984 grams of the total 77,949, so you might call it luck, but for me, I’m grounding three more reservoirs and refuse to debate the validity.
But wait. I’m not done yet. If I subtract 75% of the weight of the plants going into cure, about 25% or more. These are dense rocks that weigh more than others, and it takes fewer of them to make up a pound. Anyway, about 25% of these numbers are pretty close to our real world final cured results, showing the final weight of these two rows of 32 plants each in final dried bud weight.
So I went back. Over 4 years ago and checked weights. Seems this harvest (for only two of the four rows) has turned out to be a bumper crop for us. About 21 lbs a row of cured product.
The crop going in tomorrow is by far the largest group of ladies we’ve ever popped into flower in this facility. Most are now about four feet tall in veg stance. This will be our final crop for our Peanut Butter Pie, at
east for a while.
Next week, I’m picking up cuttings from a trusted friend, and gearing up for another run of the original line of BeLeaf’s own White Truffle. Since the nutrient swap and new nutes dialed in, I’m anxious to give this strain another go. The last go, she‘s the first that took us over the 30% THC barrier. I think I can pull a few more percentage points out of her.
Then, for the other two rows We are taking a crack at GMO Root Beer, and no, it isn’t related to Bud Light...
Row 2 had the identical 32 plants and both received the identical feeding formula (Jacks 123 with Terpinator added around week 4 of flower). Same room, same lights, etc. Row 2 is not earth grounded.
Without a doubt, the root structure is noticeably different, and by that I mean fatter. Further, the kids swear row 1 was bulkier. Hmmm…..
So last night I dug in, and here is what I now know. Not guess. Know.
Every plant we have is tagged and numbered with both bar codes and RFID chips. Each plant must be weighed after final defoliation before being placed in the cure room. Even the defoliation must be weighed. Meaning I know the tag numbers and where the plants belonged, as our plant numbers continue to add up. So added the weight of each row, and compared Row 1 with Row 2, and the numbers don’t lie.
Of 77, 949 grams of weight before entering the cure room, Row 1 accounted for 41, 984 grams of the total 77,949, so you might call it luck, but for me, I’m grounding three more reservoirs and refuse to debate the validity.
But wait. I’m not done yet. If I subtract 75% of the weight of the plants going into cure, about 25% or more. These are dense rocks that weigh more than others, and it takes fewer of them to make up a pound. Anyway, about 25% of these numbers are pretty close to our real world final cured results, showing the final weight of these two rows of 32 plants each in final dried bud weight.
So I went back. Over 4 years ago and checked weights. Seems this harvest (for only two of the four rows) has turned out to be a bumper crop for us. About 21 lbs a row of cured product.
The crop going in tomorrow is by far the largest group of ladies we’ve ever popped into flower in this facility. Most are now about four feet tall in veg stance. This will be our final crop for our Peanut Butter Pie, at
east for a while.
Next week, I’m picking up cuttings from a trusted friend, and gearing up for another run of the original line of BeLeaf’s own White Truffle. Since the nutrient swap and new nutes dialed in, I’m anxious to give this strain another go. The last go, she‘s the first that took us over the 30% THC barrier. I think I can pull a few more percentage points out of her.
Then, for the other two rows We are taking a crack at GMO Root Beer, and no, it isn’t related to Bud Light...
So, when you say grounded vs not, does that mean the grounded group was in contact with the floor vs the 'not' group up on tables or something?
And to what do you attribute the difference? Maybe closer contact to the earth's magnetic field, or more in touch with earth vibrations, something else?
Whatever it is, interesting results. And what caused you to conduct the test?
And to what do you attribute the difference? Maybe closer contact to the earth's magnetic field, or more in touch with earth vibrations, something else?
Whatever it is, interesting results. And what caused you to conduct the test?
- Thread starter
- #67
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
The grounded group was in contact with earth ground outside the building. Earth ground consisted of a 1/2” diameter copper coated 4 ft rod driven in the ground to the 6 inch mark. The water in the 27 gallon reservoir is earth grounded, along with the approximate 40 gallons from buckets to the 2” returns, all electrically connected. Once the pumps fire up, they run 24/7 in a closed loop, meaning all wet areas from supply to the return to the cascade of falling water back into the reservoir to the constant cascade of water going from the topside of the wet expanded clay down through the basket and into the root zone are all earth grounded or electrically connected. The takeaway I’m getting is I am simply connecting the plant to earth ground. This is making me wonder if plants grown in soil outside in the ground (grounded obviously) have a distinct advantage over plants being grown that are electrically disconnected from earth ground.
As far as why I wanted to perform this, and what possessed me to do it had to do with something I’ve personally noticed over the years. Gets a bit crazy, but here you go.
As a kid, about once or twice a year, I’d go to Florida and spend a week with my aunt and uncle. Seems we spent the majority of our time on the beach and in the water. I always remember feeling vital, and staying that way days after returning. Life went on. About 10 years ago, I began researching this phenomenon, and found I wasn’t the only one experiencing this. Seems the common link always was the bare feet being in contact with earth ground. Then I began doing some serious research, and some of it led to the decline in human health as a whole. Then I looked at the timing of this health decline, and though I can’t firmly prove this, it seems our health began a steady decline in around the same time we quit using leather in the soles of our footwear and replaced it with rubber, and we all know rubber doesn’t conduct but insulates. Leather however will conduct.
Then, when I began growing hydroponically over 40 ago, I’ve had numerous people over the years, and especially since we’ve legalized and have testing available to us that who have grown in soil make the claims unless I went organic, I’d never be able to get my terpene numbers up, and since then I have been looking for ways of increasing them without losing in my THC numbers, I began to wonder if it might have something to do with the same disconnect humans now have from being earth grounded because of our footwear. Could a plants health decline if being disconnected from earth ground? Only one way to find out….
There is so much information now available on grounding, and several movies have even been made, but nothing in my research where this has been studied growing plants, certainly not in our industry.
Cutting edge thinking. I like it. 
- Thread starter
- #69
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
In order to prep the flower room for a quick turnover, and insure we truly have a fresh, clean and sanitary room, we do what most other growers do, and then we have to deal with the hydroponics end of things. I’ve used a home made version of a hypochlorous cleaner that does a great job at keeping my lines clear during the grow which in turn makes flipping the room a lot less time consuming. Still, noth8ng beats a good ol fashioned scrubbing, and we have many long reach brushes that allow a good, quick interior scrubbing.
Here is one I use for cleaning long sections of 2” PVC return line.
Once the lines are clean and sterile, the room gets a dose of ozone followed up with a serious heating up the room. It takes cranking all the lights up to max, using the heat pumps to help bring the temps up, then I shut the heat pumps down and bring on a Dewalt 125,000 btu propane driven forced air heater. It takes about an hour and half to bring the room to exceed 125 deg f, then I hold her for a spell, shut her down and leave. The following morning we ventilate the room, fill up the reservoirs and load the room.
Then, it’s time to load up the room with the next crop. This involves giving each 5 gallon bucket a good rinse, arranging the roots away from the bucket drains, then each plant hits a portable transfer station that does a final defoliation with a good spraying of Neem oil before heading into the flower room. This extra step has paid for itself, as by that time the plants are jammed together in veg. I’ve found beginnings of powdery mildew in the past, and this is another step that we use as a preventative measure.
The crop we just moved into flower are the biggest plants I’ve sent into flower here. So much so, most of the girls are around four feet tall forcing me to raise the trellis a full foot. This should be the crop that will showcase this rooms full potential. I think we can pull 100 lbs of cured trimmed bud from this 20x40 room.
These girls are going to be monsters. It will take them about a week to settle into their new environment, feeding schedule and being flipped into 12 hrs. This crop will test our 10 ft ceiling…
Here is one I use for cleaning long sections of 2” PVC return line.
Once the lines are clean and sterile, the room gets a dose of ozone followed up with a serious heating up the room. It takes cranking all the lights up to max, using the heat pumps to help bring the temps up, then I shut the heat pumps down and bring on a Dewalt 125,000 btu propane driven forced air heater. It takes about an hour and half to bring the room to exceed 125 deg f, then I hold her for a spell, shut her down and leave. The following morning we ventilate the room, fill up the reservoirs and load the room.
Then, it’s time to load up the room with the next crop. This involves giving each 5 gallon bucket a good rinse, arranging the roots away from the bucket drains, then each plant hits a portable transfer station that does a final defoliation with a good spraying of Neem oil before heading into the flower room. This extra step has paid for itself, as by that time the plants are jammed together in veg. I’ve found beginnings of powdery mildew in the past, and this is another step that we use as a preventative measure.
The crop we just moved into flower are the biggest plants I’ve sent into flower here. So much so, most of the girls are around four feet tall forcing me to raise the trellis a full foot. This should be the crop that will showcase this rooms full potential. I think we can pull 100 lbs of cured trimmed bud from this 20x40 room.
These girls are going to be monsters. It will take them about a week to settle into their new environment, feeding schedule and being flipped into 12 hrs. This crop will test our 10 ft ceiling…
- Thread starter
- #70
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
While the boys are dealing with the bread and butter business, the girls are busy prepping the mother room for the next run of clones for the next grow.
Tomorrow, we pick up our next two strains, in the form of cuttings. I realize most placewant rooted clones but most places don’t grow like we do, and it isn’t fun removing smaller girls from soil and putting them into expanded clay.
By rooting our own, it not only cuts the price of clones by about 50% but rooting in the power cloner preps the plants for top fed hydroponics, a win-win for me.
Tomorrow, we pick up our next two strains, in the form of cuttings. I realize most placewant rooted clones but most places don’t grow like we do, and it isn’t fun removing smaller girls from soil and putting them into expanded clay.
By rooting our own, it not only cuts the price of clones by about 50% but rooting in the power cloner preps the plants for top fed hydroponics, a win-win for me.
- Thread starter
- #71
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Roots. It all starts here.
- Thread starter
- #72
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
One of the issues we have faced was getting airflow over the middle of the area of the grow. I took some scrap metal and built an oscillating dual direction solution….on the cheap! Just need to hardwire it in.
I love a zero-dollar solution….well, except for the fans…
I love a zero-dollar solution….well, except for the fans…
- Thread starter
- #73
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Guess it’s time for an update on FL-2. My goal with this SOG grow in to net 1 ounce per plant. Might be a high goal, but we might just pull it off. Here’s the latest shots from last night. We are right at 4 weeks on these tables
If we get close to our estimate, each table should net a little over 6 lbs. That’s a 72 pound cured room count, and if so, we did it by simply adding 7 days to veg in the cloner after roots drop, jumping their feed formula to 475 ppm (using Jacks) then dumping them into flower in 5 inch net pots of expanded clay.
We won’t have the facts until final numbers drop, but we may have found a viable way to shave a good month or two off veg.
If we get close to our estimate, each table should net a little over 6 lbs. That’s a 72 pound cured room count, and if so, we did it by simply adding 7 days to veg in the cloner after roots drop, jumping their feed formula to 475 ppm (using Jacks) then dumping them into flower in 5 inch net pots of expanded clay.
We won’t have the facts until final numbers drop, but we may have found a viable way to shave a good month or two off veg.
- Thread starter
- #74
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Holy smokes we have been BUSY! Between running my bread and butter business and keeping up at the Twisted Hippie farm, there aren’t enough hours in the day.
We just made it through an Oklahoma wind storm of the century, and though thankfully (and gratefully) the grow didn’t lose electricity, we sure did at home as well as roof damage, and lost some beautiful native pecan trees that were north of a hundred years old, but we hunkered down and made the best of the situation, feeling lucky we didn’t lose power at the farm.
With another harvest making its way into cure, it’s time for pre-rolls. Hundreds and hundreds. Thousands. Literally. So much so, we’ve had to purchase a commercial pre roll machine, then purchased a rather nice color laser printer to print the labels for the pre roll tubes.
Our pre rolls are helping to get us on the map. Truth told, our pre rolls are pretty much bud with with the leftover kief sprinkled back on, and by the time our girls go into the drying room, they are pretty much absent of water or sugar leaves, making them a worthy pre roll.
Next up: Update on the 1200 plant SOG in Flower Room ll. About a week away from our first harvest that went from cloner to 12 hrs in flowering.
We just made it through an Oklahoma wind storm of the century, and though thankfully (and gratefully) the grow didn’t lose electricity, we sure did at home as well as roof damage, and lost some beautiful native pecan trees that were north of a hundred years old, but we hunkered down and made the best of the situation, feeling lucky we didn’t lose power at the farm.
With another harvest making its way into cure, it’s time for pre-rolls. Hundreds and hundreds. Thousands. Literally. So much so, we’ve had to purchase a commercial pre roll machine, then purchased a rather nice color laser printer to print the labels for the pre roll tubes.
Our pre rolls are helping to get us on the map. Truth told, our pre rolls are pretty much bud with with the leftover kief sprinkled back on, and by the time our girls go into the drying room, they are pretty much absent of water or sugar leaves, making them a worthy pre roll.
Next up: Update on the 1200 plant SOG in Flower Room ll. About a week away from our first harvest that went from cloner to 12 hrs in flowering.
- Thread starter
- #75
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
As promised, here’s a few shots from the SOG in FL-1. About a week away from our first harvest.
Keep in mind, when these girls hit the 10 day mark in the power cloner, I bumped the lights up, (an adjustable 6 bar Mars Hydro I dissected for the cloner trio) added my Jack’s recipe @600ppm and vegged them in the cloner for an additional 7 days.
I think it was the 8 day mark we transferred the clones into 5 inch net baskets with expanded clay and put them straight into a 12 hour light cycle.
Not sure what the return on a 4x8 table will be, but the ladies matured just fine. Enjoy!
Keep in mind, when these girls hit the 10 day mark in the power cloner, I bumped the lights up, (an adjustable 6 bar Mars Hydro I dissected for the cloner trio) added my Jack’s recipe @600ppm and vegged them in the cloner for an additional 7 days.
I think it was the 8 day mark we transferred the clones into 5 inch net baskets with expanded clay and put them straight into a 12 hour light cycle.
Not sure what the return on a 4x8 table will be, but the ladies matured just fine. Enjoy!
- Thread starter
- #76
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Quick update on the 4x8 tables, and our first harvest growing in a SOG. We averaged 15 grams per plant X 99 plants per table or about 1500 grams per table of dried, cured bud. Isn’t as much as I’d hoped for, however it was exactly what it needed to be at a minimum to make this an exciting method of growing. This will still net us 18,000 grams or about 40 lbs of cured bud on a very residual basis, and involving no veg time other than an added week in the power cloner.
Because of the room and resources required for vegging plants before flower before growing in a SOG, this is a real game changer for us. I may need to build a cloner room, but we can build this upstairs.
So it’s looking like we may be bringing FL-3 online soon, which is the final piece to making the wheels of this dream run like a well oiled clock. It also leaves a nice chunk of unused square footage upstairs…..
Because of the room and resources required for vegging plants before flower before growing in a SOG, this is a real game changer for us. I may need to build a cloner room, but we can build this upstairs.
So it’s looking like we may be bringing FL-3 online soon, which is the final piece to making the wheels of this dream run like a well oiled clock. It also leaves a nice chunk of unused square footage upstairs…..
420
Founder
Things are looking great in there brother!
Have you considered joining one or more of our contests with your amazing photography?
Have you considered joining one or more of our contests with your amazing photography?
420 Contests
Win cool 420 Magazine merchandise and prizes from our sponsors by entering one of our regular monthly contests
www.420magazine.com
- Thread starter
- #78
The Twisted One
Well-Known Member
Here’s a few photos of our latest harvest in the SOG room.
These photos are what the plants looked like at harvest and having been veg’d in the power cloner for a week after the roots hit the reservoir
These next photos are of the same strain at harvest, however when the roots hit the reservoir I took them straight into flower.
That is a heckuva difference for only adding a week in the power cloner!
These photos are what the plants looked like at harvest and having been veg’d in the power cloner for a week after the roots hit the reservoir
These next photos are of the same strain at harvest, however when the roots hit the reservoir I took them straight into flower.
That is a heckuva difference for only adding a week in the power cloner!