X Marks the Spot - XLR8's Big Bang Auto Hydro Grow 2011

[George Parker]

Hey brother, that little plant is looking great and I'm glad you're getting an upper hand on the flood aftermath. Horse is awesome to share such good info on killing the mold. I've had to deal with a sewage flood that took over half of the downstairs of my house so I can relate to the stresses and commend you on your attitude.

Keep up the good work and hang in there.

 

[Xlr8]

Hey brother, that little plant is looking great and I'm glad you're getting an upper hand on the flood aftermath. Horse is awesome to share such good info on killing the mold. I've had to deal with a sewage flood that took over half of the downstairs of my house so I can relate to the stresses and commend you on your attitude.

Keep up the good work and hang in there.

Thanks Dime - good luck with the hospital today, and I'm assuming you just did all that on your phone, which makes me feel pretty danged good knowing the effort you put into it! Much appreciated. Thank goodness no sewage involved!

 

[HorseBadoritz]

In my case, just indoor/outdoor with no pad - water was really pretty clean as there was no sewer backup of any kind, even the water we "wet-vacced" up was pretty clean looking - really clean looking overall. It was just "seeping" up through the concrete foundation and into/onto the carpet (yikes!)

My plan is to try to steam-clean it all thoroughly once it drys. As far as I can tell, it didn't get into/on any sheetrock or insulation. It's all paneling and cinderblock walls.

So, after spraying on the carpet I should wipe it down -- off the carpet? or just steam clean? Should I spray this stuff after steam cleaning the carpet or before? Sorry for all the questions, and I really appreciate your help!!

Hay X, I think you'll be able to clean the carpet, and dry everything out. You shouldn't have to spray it, but you can, then vacuum.

If the paneling got wet, you could spray that, wipe, respray and wipe or not.

It sounds to me like you're getting everything done fast, so the place ought to dry out pretty quickly with fans and commercial dehumidifiers. Just make sure any cinder block behind the paneling is really, really dry. If you're having a professional water damage company doing the work, they should take care of every thing inside.

I do think I'd spray the interior of your grow room, though.

Do you know why the basement flooded in the first place? I'd certainly address that, or it will happen again. A 500 year flood is one thing, but poor drainage can usually be addressed... french drains, swales, re-grading, new perimeter foundation drains, sumps, and so forth and so on.

Water, the universal solvent

 

[Xlr8]

Hay X, I think you'll be able to clean the carpet, and dry everything out. You shouldn't have to spray it, but you can, then vacuum.

If the paneling got wet, you could spray that, wipe, respray and wipe or not.

It sounds to me like you're getting everything done fast, so the place ought to dry out pretty quickly with fans and commercial dehumidifiers. Just make sure any cinder block behind the paneling is really, really dry. If you're having a professional water damage company doing the work, they should take care of every thing inside.

I do think I'd spray the interior of your grow room, though.

Do you know why the basement flooded in the first place? I'd certainly address that, or it will happen again. A 500 year flood is one thing, but poor drainage can usually be addressed... french drains, swales, re-grading, new perimeter foundation drains, sumps, and so forth and so on.

Water, the universal solvent

Hi Horse - well I'm told by neighbors (who also had flooding) and were good friends with previous owners that this is the first time something like this has happened - the house is about 40 years old. Nonetheless, we're getting a sump pump quote later this week. I want NO repeats of this headache!

Our drainage and grading have been inspected and considered good. Just a crazy, crazy wet spring after a crazy winter here in Anytown, USA. Tons of people around here have wet basements for the first time. The company we hired said they'd never seen anything like it, and that they were hearing the same story "our basement has NEVER been wet before!"

The pros we hired are pretty optimistic overall. They said we're probably going to be saved by: no wet insulation, no wet carpet padding, and immediate action (I had/have a tornado of industrial fans whirling through my basement along with big industrial dehumidifiers less than 24 hours after wetness started). My RH gauge just read 35% in a space where I don't currently have air moving so I'm guessing we're getting there on the dryness already, at least at surface level. I'm going to keep these things going good another day or two I'm thinking just to make sure everything's good and dry.

Horse, thanks so much for your help - it's reassuring and thoughtful. I appreciate it a bunch!

Edit: I tried to give you +rep, but I must have repped you for something else recently and it's not letting me. I'll catch you again soon...

 

[HorseBadoritz]

Hi Horse - well I'm told by neighbors (who also had flooding) and were good friends with previous owners that this is the first time something like this has happened - the house is about 40 years old. Nonetheless, we're getting a sump pump quote later this week. I want NO repeats of this headache!

Our drainage and grading have been inspected and considered good. Just a crazy, crazy wet spring after a crazy winter here in Anytown, USA. Tons of people around here have wet basements for the first time. The company we hired said they'd never seen anything like it, and that they were hearing the same story "our basement has NEVER been wet before!"

The pros we hired are pretty optimistic overall. They said we're probably going to be saved by: no wet insulation, no wet carpet padding, and immediate action (I had/have a tornado of industrial fans whirling through my basement along with big industrial humidifiers less than 24 hours after wetness started). My RH gauge just read 35% in a space where I don't currently have air moving so I'm guessing we're getting there on the dryness already, at least at surface level. I'm going to keep these things going good another day or two I'm thinking just to make sure everything's good and dry.

Horse, thanks so much for your help - it's reassuring and thoughtful. I appreciate it a bunch!

Edit: I tried to give you +rep, but I must have repped you for something else recently and it's not letting me. I'll catch you again soon...

High x, it sounds like all is under control, and with a minimal amount of damage. Good on you for acting quickly, seems like that saved you a lot of later trouble

Keep your powder dry

 

[Hydrologist]

hey whats going on XLR8

wow, it looks like we're both really going in the same direction here and both of our set ups are about to blow up and go crazy it seems, very exciting and cool times I must say! You must be from where I am from ;-) ;-).

I am as jelous of your new flow and grow system as you are of my chillers most probably. I must ask you a few things about that particular system as I have seen it in a few grow magazines, but i've only seen the add not a break down on how it works. My question is simple, is it just a regular old RDWC system? or is it like flood tables but uses buckets instead of the table? Im guessing this is just a nice RDWC system similar to my cycle 3 except more buckets no chiller with a control bucket and a large R.O rez.

Also to answer your question from the hydro forum regarding the idea of incorporating an external rez into my system. At the moment I am not persuing this because I am dealing with small spaces. This is all going to change though in 2-3 months when my room mate moves out and His room becomes the grow room. At this point I will finally be getting into perpetual mode and harvesting atleast 2 plants a month, and maybe move up to four super plants by the end of the summer with the extra space, extra rez and controller bucket.

Like I said things are going to get exciting

Also I had a question for you. So I see these pictures and I don't have the time to read much but are you trying to grow that one clone out in that bucket to be a mother to take clones off of for your big Flo Recirculating system? Or are a bunch of clones being propogated at the moment and in a few days we'll be seeing your system up and running? Can't wait to hear back on this.

Take it easy dude EXCITING STUFF!!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

 

[Xlr8]

hey whats going on XLR8

wow, it looks like we're both really going in the same direction here and both of our set ups are about to blow up and go crazy it seems, very exciting and cool times I must say! You must be from where I am from ;-) ;-).

I am as jelous of your new flow and grow system as you are of my chillers most probably. I must ask you a few things about that particular system as I have seen it in a few grow magazines, but i've only seen the add not a break down on how it works. My question is simple, is it just a regular old RDWC system? or is it like flood tables but uses buckets instead of the table? Im guessing this is just a nice RDWC system similar to my cycle 3 except more buckets no chiller with a control bucket and a large R.O rez.

Also to answer your question from the hydro forum regarding the idea of incorporating an external rez into my system. At the moment I am not persuing this because I am dealing with small spaces. This is all going to change though in 2-3 months when my room mate moves out and His room becomes the grow room. At this point I will finally be getting into perpetual mode and harvesting atleast 2 plants a month, and maybe move up to four super plants by the end of the summer with the extra space, extra rez and controller bucket.

Like I said things are going to get exciting

Also I had a question for you. So I see these pictures and I don't have the time to read much but are you trying to grow that one clone out in that bucket to be a mother to take clones off of for your big Flo Recirculating system? Or are a bunch of clones being propogated at the moment and in a few days we'll be seeing your system up and running? Can't wait to hear back on this.

Take it easy dude EXCITING STUFF!!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

Actually the Flo n Gro system is like a flood/drain table only with buckets instead of a table. I'm totally new to this, but the way it works is that there is a control bucket with float valves, and a separate reservoir (which I'm placing outside of the tent). The control bucket will trigger a drain and flood with a timer set at pre-set intervals. In addition, I'm going to aerate the bejebus out of the reservoir with airstones or an aquarium pump, so that when the buckets get "flooded" it will be with highly oxygenated nutrient solution and then drain back into the main reservoir where it will be continuously aerated by the airstones. If that makes sense!

I hear you on the small space, I'm impressed with how you tackled that by using your grow buckets as your control and res. while still recirculating through the chiller. Slick and sick, bro!

Normally I don't grow in the summer for a whole bunch of reasons, some personal, many related to weather and humidity. But, I thought I'd do a single quick autoflower (Big Bang Auto) and use the summer to upgrade my setup with a bigger room and new equipment. I thought it'd take me all summer, but the thing is I kicked serious butt and got it nearly completed a couple of days ago (until my basement turned into a flood/drain hydro system, dammit!)

So, now I'm rethinking my summer grow strategy. I'm probably going to get a few more plants going once I get things pulled together after the flood, but maybe not too - we tend to have a lot more company in the summer, and company makes me uncomfortable when there's a lot going on in the secret garden.

So, just a little autoflower for now, maybe more in a bit. I had to grow something or go crazy -- and I almost didn't start a thread for one little plant, but I'd miss you guys too much otherwise, and I like journaling now, ya know?

Super cool to have you drop by Hydro -

 

[Aaron Quix]

Ok XL, I've had just about enough of your optimism, All that stress would have blowing my top lol! Just kidding, love your positive attitude....

....Just stoned doing dive bys....

 

[Hydrologist]

lol enough optimism....
yo just finished reading that response gotta say I feel you on wanting/needing to grow a plant I feel bummed right now not having a giant monster in bloom at the moment! Which is why I can't wait to get perpetual so I can always have plants around! I feel you on the not wanting to grow durring summer months, I could see it being a reallllll bitch trying to grow with 90+ degree's outside if it gets hot like that wher you live. On the days that it gets like that around here as random as they are they can be hard to manage if the heat streaks last too long and all I have to say about company is it's cool till they start pokin around....start wondering whats in the basement.....or in my case what my bedroom looks like u know lol.

Damn man,
I totally always had that in the back of my mind that those systems were flood systems! Like that one C.A.P. always advertises the "monster flooder" or some shit? they always show fuckin palm tree's growing out of the buckets in the add lol. But yeah I would read the adds, and there'd never be any articles on them or anything in grow magazines and they looked like those RDWC under pressure systems so I just assumed it was RDWC with external rez....lol, but there was always that nagging thought in my head! Cool that I know the truth now.

Yeah man Im excited to see what happens with your grow by september your set up should reallly be shaping up to be something of a beutiful thing no doubt. Expecially with a wee baby auto flower about to produce for you. Hey that's pretty dope so if its getting to hot durring the day you cuold always just run your lights for 18 hours starting in the evening and run them all night and not worry about losing growth or fucking with there light schedual, though 18+ never did....u know what I mean.

But yeah man cool stuff and yeah thanks for the props on my system, it was pretty easy to put together and the guys at the hydro shop helped me out here and there so I owe alot to them and of coarse you guys!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

 

[Xlr8]

lol enough optimism....
yo just finished reading that response gotta say I feel you on wanting/needing to grow a plant I feel bummed right now not having a giant monster in bloom at the moment! Which is why I can't wait to get perpetual so I can always have plants around! I feel you on the not wanting to grow durring summer months, I could see it being a reallllll bitch trying to grow with 90+ degree's outside if it gets hot like that wher you live. On the days that it gets like that around here as random as they are they can be hard to manage if the heat streaks last too long and all I have to say about company is it's cool till they start pokin around....start wondering whats in the basement.....or in my case what my bedroom looks like u know lol.

Damn man,
I totally always had that in the back of my mind that those systems were flood systems! Like that one C.A.P. always advertises the "monster flooder" or some shit? they always show fuckin palm tree's growing out of the buckets in the add lol. But yeah I would read the adds, and there'd never be any articles on them or anything in grow magazines and they looked like those RDWC under pressure systems so I just assumed it was RDWC with external rez....lol, but there was always that nagging thought in my head! Cool that I know the truth now.

Yeah man Im excited to see what happens with your grow by september your set up should reallly be shaping up to be something of a beutiful thing no doubt. Expecially with a wee baby auto flower about to produce for you. Hey that's pretty dope so if its getting to hot durring the day you cuold always just run your lights for 18 hours starting in the evening and run them all night and not worry about losing growth or fucking with there light schedual, though 18+ never did....u know what I mean.

But yeah man cool stuff and yeah thanks for the props on my system, it was pretty easy to put together and the guys at the hydro shop helped me out here and there so I owe alot to them and of coarse you guys!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

One of the reasons I went with the Flo n Gro, is that it uses 4 gallon grow buckets (with a better net pot insert than the CAP systems have imo.

The original system like this was called Ebb n Gro (by CAP) used 3 gallon buckets which I thought seemed just a litttttle small.

That Monster system CAP makes you're talking about uses 5 gallon buckets which are probably overkill for this type of system, but I'll bet you could grow some huuuuuuge plants in them.

In the end, 4 gallons seemed perfect to me. I don't need to grow Palm trees! Though, Palm tree size cannabis does sound pretty freakin terrific, huh?!

My single autoflower is kinda lame, but better than the nothing I usually have going in the summer. Dunno, I'll probably pop some more seeds once I get my room setup again - not sure I can wait for September!

Good stuff as always Hydro!

 

[Xlr8]

Ok XL, I've had just about enough of your optimism, All that stress would have blowing my top lol! Just kidding, love your positive attitude....

....Just stoned doing dive bys....

You're right. This setback &*%$#$*& sucks!!! AHHHHH!!! Motherf*cker!

Oops, just read the second part of your message. Ummm, back to my positivity... Yeah!

Haha - dive by anytime Q!

 

[Aaron Quix]

You're right. This setback &*%$#$*& sucks!!! AHHHHH!!! Motherf*cker!

Oops, just read the second part of your message. Ummm, back to my positivity... Yeah!

Haha - dive by anytime Q!

I'm such a jack ass stoner lol, colateral damage of a DIVE team is some splashing at the local pool....

I meant DRIVE BY....

 

[Xlr8]

Just finished baking brownies.

Blue, I used some of what I learned from Bad Kitty...

Just ate them, I'll give a brownie report after they've kicked in and what I did different...

 

[Xlr8]

Just finished baking brownies.

Blue, I used some of what I learned from Bad Kitty...

Just ate them, I'll give a brownie report after they've kicked in and what I did different...

Brownie report: They kicked my ass to embarrassing proportions. The end.

Okay, a little bit more info. Each time I bake a batch, I try to improve it - the goal being to squeeze as much potency into them as I can without really using more weed to do it.

This batch I did several things slightly differently, and it made a HUGE difference. In general, I improved the "decarbing" process, I added "soy lecithin" to the recipe (helps bioavailability), I used a few different oils together (improve chance of cannabinoids becoming infused), and monitored the temperature of each process more scientifically to insure I wasn't vaporizing anything in the cooking process. I've updated the process/recipe here:

Simple Brownies with oil

I made a huge mistake in eating these last night. I made a bunch of improvements to make them stronger, but ate the same quantity I normally would eat. HUGE mistake. Thought I'd go see Hangover 2 movie with wife. Ate 2 1/2 (small) brownies hour before leaving. About 1/2 hour into the movie, things get really funny. About 10 minutes after that I realized I was a little too high. 20 minutes later I was literally stumbling out of the theater trying to find a bathroom. Despite the fact that the bathroom was right outside of the theater, I couldn't find it for about 10 minutes (true story).

I spent the next 1/2 hour to 45 minutes in a little stall, on the verge of being sick but being soooo thankful for that little confined space. I've never been so high in my life, not even close. I was "over-high" for hours. Yuck! I was still a little high 10 hours later when I woke up this morning.

The moral of the story is that I've really got the brownies down now, and I highly recommend them, BUT... if you do it, start with a single brownie, 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, and see where that take you. Don't do 2 1/2 times that much like me and reallllly regret it. I have no idea if Hangover 2 is any good - I missed most of it. Wife had 1 1/2 brownies, and she was realllly high, but not overhigh.

Edibles are great. In moderation, it's still my favorite way to go. In moderation!

 

[basementdwell]

I ve been there before reminds me of a time in at an out door concert. I ate way to many KB brownies after a 8th of shrooms and i was so messed up, i could barely function to puke it out. I know follow the rule Never more then one in a hr, weather i made them or sum 1 else I was so hurt the next day, and dont remember much after upchucking and stumbling back to my tent

 

[Xlr8]

I ve been there before reminds me of a time in at an out door concert. I ate way to many KB brownies after a 8th of shrooms and i was so messed up, i could barely function to puke it out. I know follow the rule Never more then one in a hr, weather i made them or sum 1 else I was so hurt the next day, and dont remember much after upchucking and stumbling back to my tent

Yeah, that sucks, huh? I love brownies/edibles, and I've always heard the horror stories, but I didn't think it'd happen to me. I should have went with my first instinct to stick with one, but it was a small one. Then the second one was small, and after my wife took some there was just a little sliver left in that row, and I couldn't just let it be - I ate that too. Doh!

It was fun while the fun lasted. But, I'm gonna try to never do THAT again. Moderation is my new middle name with edibles.

At least, I've really tuned my recipe - it was much stronger than ever before. Just need to adapt to that now!

Oh, nice having you here BD!

 

[OldMedMan]

Hey XL, I was going to post back at you about the baking thing, I've got similar stories...But then I saw all this stuff about our ------- just up n dissappearing....Not cool....
Hope all is well with you though, hopefully we'll hear from him soon so we can get back to normal, he was my first friend on here. The paranoid side of me has considered shutting down, and we're legal!!

Hi Quix.
We all need to reread the 420 posing rules and we will be alright. You know I loved him. OMM

 

[Xlr8]

Hi Quix.
We all need to reread the 420 posing rules and we will be alright. You know I loved him. OMM

Agreed 420% in every respect.

 

[Xlr8]

This is something we should all be aware of. I can't say for sure, but it's my belief that some of the members here who have "disappeared" ran afoul of this particular provision in the forum guidelines. I'm posting this because I'm aware that there are still plenty of people confused as to the disappearance of a couple/few of our friends. Again, I have no inside info, but - I believe we should all be aware of this particular part of the forum rules/guidelines regardless.

Here is a link to the post that has the information specifically, and below it the text I think is wise to be aware of.

Questions & Answers - Membership on other Forums

"Additionally, there are a few other Cannabis forums that are actively hostile to 420 Magazine, and we reserve the right to revoke membership status should any sponsor, staff, or member choose to join one of these sites and we become aware of it. Since we are specifically not mentioning these sites by name, we will discuss the issue on a case-by-case basis to ensure the member/sponsor is making an informed decision.

Our moderators are aware that not all guideline violations are equal. Mistakes, such as an inadvertent reference, will be treated with kindness and understanding. Active recruiting will result in a ban.

To those friends, acquaintances, and members that choose to move on to other forums, we wish you health, happiness, and a aromatically green future."

I love this site, it's mission and it's members (you guys - my friends!) I have no desire to break the rules or take an action that would result in banning. I just found this particular information when refreshing myself on the site rules, and I wanted to share it as some of it I was not aware of, but probably should have been. (I had no idea there were hostile relations between this site and others, for example).

Peace and love to you all ~ X

 

[Aaron Quix]

This is something we should all be aware of. I can't say for sure, but it's my belief that some of the members here who have "disappeared" ran afoul of this particular provision in the forum guidelines. I'm posting this because I'm aware that there are still plenty of people confused as to the disappearance of a couple/few of our friends. Again, I have no inside info, but - I believe we should all be aware of this particular part of the forum rules/guidelines regardless.

Here is a link to the post that has the information specifically, and below it the text I think is wise to be aware of.

Questions & Answers - Membership on other Forums

"Additionally, there are a few other Cannabis forums that are actively hostile to 420 Magazine, and we reserve the right to revoke membership status should any sponsor, staff, or member choose to join one of these sites and we become aware of it. Since we are specifically not mentioning these sites by name, we will discuss the issue on a case-by-case basis to ensure the member/sponsor is making an informed decision.

Our moderators are aware that not all guideline violations are equal. Mistakes, such as an inadvertent reference, will be treated with kindness and understanding. Active recruiting will result in a ban.

To those friends, acquaintances, and members that choose to move on to other forums, we wish you health, happiness, and a aromatically green future."

I love this site, it's mission and it's members (you guys - my friends!) I have no desire to break the rules or take an action that would result in banning. I just found this particular information when refreshing myself on the site rules, and I wanted to share it as some of it I was not aware of, but probably should have been. (I had no idea there were hostile relations between this site and others, for example).

Peace and love to you all ~ X

Hey X, good call on posting this for all to see, I just re-read the posting guidlines a little while ago, and found out there are a few things I've done since the beginning, like all caps, or excessive use of punctuation, Hell, I just did both of those in a post on OMM's new journal not 30 minutes ago! I've never meant to "violate" any of the rules here, but I aparently have, many times without knowing it.