Software Engineer Grows Weed pt. 1

[Yesdog]

I set out to make an ultra high-density grow in a 2' x 4' space. If things went as planned, I could fill that space with the maximum amount of buds and save several thousand dollars off of my usual quarterly weed expense.

To do this I was going to have to science my way to success.

What I ended up with was an over-engineered spider mite cave, but thats neither here nor there.

Goal was to have a sealed tent, with a cool-tube light, CO2 injection, and no spider mites.

The heart of the beast is the reservoir, which is mostly a DWC system, but with an additional dorsal irrigation hookup that would aid in plant growth via drip until the roots reached the rez.

The brain of the beast is a Raspberry PI that is hooked up to: 3 temp sensors (out-tent, in-tent, and rez), CO2, and humidity (both bottom tent). These log to a "grafana via graphite" metrics logger, plus additional software to control CO2 injection.

Monitoring:

So far i've seen explosive plant growth! But I started with clones that have spider mites. So I'm fucked.

This post is open for discussion! This attempt of the grow is an almost definite failure due to spider mites. Pt 2 coming soon.

 

[Growdict]

you are just set back a few weeks. get rid of your existing plants and do a thorough cleaning. order some seeds online at several awesome places. in a week, clean space again while you wait for your seeds to arrive. unpack seeds, germinate, start off fresh - you will be golden.

 

[Yesdog]

@Growdict ultimately probably will! I'm attempting the habanero spray first, but I think seeds will ultimately be my best option in the future. Was arrogant enough to think I had an advantage getting legal clones reputable seed source will be next!


Comment away! Pt. 2 of the journal will happen after I inevitably kill these plants.

 

[texasjack]

Don't waste your time with spider mites that young. Not worth the effort. Cool set up. Look forward to your next grow.

 

[goofy81]

I'd spray neem oil on those plants, fully soak them in the neem.
After that i'd be pretty confident, those plants are still small so still very easy to fix.

Spider mites are one of the easier pests to deal with if you're not in the flowering stage.

 

[Diabolical666]

OP is funny

 

[Yesdog]

Ive got some Might Wash and Azamax on the way for prevention, Azamax I believe had the neem extract, apparently even soluble in a nutrient solution which sounds great for prevention with DWC+drip. I'm really not sure what the fate of this grow is though. I've been BATHING them in this 4x habanero solution and the plants seem fine, if not kinda... happy. I might just keep going with that, I've got a long time until flowering so I think I have plenty of semi-tortuous options

 

[slow_grow]

Can you share some of the specs on the raspberry setup and software? I'm a full stack developer and I nearly rubbed one off when I saw the UI. Thanks man!

 

[Yesdog]

hehe, yeah that UI is 'grafana', the company I work for is one of their sponsors. It's a really solid graphing system, we use it everywhere at our corporate offices, got TVs hanging around everywhere with various teams system stats etc.

So ultimately I have grafana set up to take data from graphite (more like carbon-relay, but graphite stack basically). I have a statsd server set up that takes simple UDP based stats, and that bundles em up and sends em to graphite.

statsd makes logging new data really easy, takes UDP datagrams in a really simple ascii format:
<metric name>:<value>|g

So for the raspberry PI, I'm running node.js and thats interfacing with

* 3 "1-wire" digital therms (DS18B20), you can get 3 for like $10 and they're waterproof.
* MH-Z16 CO2 sensor with UART -> I2C breakout board. This is pretty cheap but kinda janky. The breakout board I got with it lets me reboot the meter so it wont auto-calibrate and stuff
* SI7005 - Really janky little i2c humidistat (get the si7020 over the '05 any day). Works, but it pisses off other i2c devices.
* IoT enclosed relay (these things are fucking sweet). Basically a power strip you can control with any sort of digital circuit. Used to turn CO2 on/off.

So node.js basically just babies the sensors, does some smoothing on the data, and just sends it off to statsd for the metrics, plus uses the Co2 data to turn the relay on/off. Initially I wanted to do controlled venting and stuff to control humidity, but honestly im doing everything i can currently to keep any humidity in there at all.

Here's some of the hardware:

CO2 sensor 'assembly', had to move a few jumpers, which was just a cruel joke in the end. Board works, but its mostly melted.

Jumper i was supposed to 'move' lol cruel joke at best.

Finished soldering on the 'hat'. I started off with a breadboard, but every time i bumped the enclosure something stopped working =\

I am realllllly bad at soldering

That surface mount chip was supposed to drive the therms, but I ended up using GPIO and the linux 'one wire over gpio' driver, which works ok.

 

[slow_grow]

Nice! I've worked with D3.js (and node) for years and same situation, we have time-lapse data (on a MEAN stack) being displayed all over. Grafana looks very solid. I haven't noodled very much with raspberry, I've got a pre-order in on the C.H.I.P., it looks very promising. Wow, that jumper... As soon as I read the need to move that molecule I would have rage quit hahaha. Good stuff man.

 

[Morbid Angel]

are you keeping your rez sterile? Those water temps are going to cause problems otherwise.

 

[Yesdog]

yea, it was great to cary over some familiar technology into the project, cause the rest of it.... like soldering and all that... pretty damn foreign and frustrating lol

@Morbid Angel my rez is a total joke right now. Constant struggle to keep it below 80F- I've been regularly inoculating the growth medium, but really the only thing keeping the rot away is that I change out the water pretty often. My DO levels are probably pretty unsafe. Might take the mite opportunity and install a chiller like I should have done from the start.

 

[Chef420]

Perhaps change the parameters slightly to incorporate a DIY COB array?
Imagine hooking that up to all your computer thingies.

Seriously though I'm thoroughly impressed with the science part of your setup. Very interesting project.

 

[Yesdog]

@Chef420 thanks! I plan to get more sensors soon (PH, dissolved oxygen), the sky's the limit! (and er... the budget)

 

[CannaBruh]

You do my programming and I'll do your soldering! I'm doing some work but with microcontrollers, I'll be following along, good work.

 

[Chunky Stool]

If you've got a closed system, hot shots are hard to beat. The vapor penetrates every nook & cranny. It also keeps working for an extended period of time, unlike most washes.
Do *not* use them during flower. No problem-o during veg.

 

[Yesdog]

@Chunky Stool interesting, yea i didnt consider they'd probably be more effective in a closed environment definitely going to have to get a few. I noticed all the bushes in my complex are basically cocooned in some sort of web, so Im guessing I might be in a hot-bed for the little fuckers.

@CannaBruh oh man, I really wish i had that kinda help from the start lol. I know exactly what I want for V2 of the physical prototype, but I think it might end up being a bit too precision for me (RJ25 connections that carry I2C and 1-Wire), especially because both of those buses seem to be sensitive at long distances. I'm really considering doing an open source design/service, but the physical design is still way out of my league

 

[WattSaver]

I really like the control system you have set up. It's way above my pay grade. But I'd have to agree with @texasjack they are real young just throw them out. I know it's a first grow but why try to work through a mite infestation??? Not going to get a good baseline. It's really hard to do but..............................................................

 

[Yesdog]

Plants are looking pretty good now! No signs of mites on the newer growth. Still treating with mighty wash, but soon will be adding azamax to the rez, and hot shot strips. Once I start flowering I'll stop most of this, if I see the mites come back I think I'm just going to take some monster-crop cuttings, sterilize/quarantine the hell out of them, kill the parents and clean the whole area.

(Ironically I may be starting the process over again by giving myself infested clones... but I think with enough care I can sterilize them the few weeks they're taking roots and avoid this cycle again)

EDIT: also, as far as getting mites again, the guy at the hydro store here in CO almost laughed me out when I asked how bad spider mites are in the area. My tent is also semi-outdoors, so any time I access it it's getting really exposed. The guy literally right above me in my building has plants on his deck that look like they have mites. It's inevitable, I might as well get used to fighting them.

 

[Yesdog]

Also, as far as software changes for those interested:

I've moved away from node.js and went to the JVM. I was using scala as the language anyways (which can compile to JS or JVM code) and in the end node.js just wasnt giving me the timing I needed. The move to java went pretty well, ended up using the pi4j library which has pretty much done the trick for most of my sensor needs.