Dstroy's first grow journal
- Thread starter dstroy
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dstroy
Well-Known Member
Working on the ph/ec controller. Got it to read ec/ph/temp today. Need to work on the slope of the ph probe I have (cheap china special), and the temperature compensation. Then I just need to hook it up to a couple mosfets to control the peristaltic pumps and go from there. I'm not in a rush to get this done, but it'll be nice when it is.
Atlas scientific makes a really cool dosing pump but it's expensive, and I would need two. One for ph up and one for dilute nutrient feedstock. The real advantage to that one is that you can cal dose amounts and control it over i2c. The other option is the cheap eBay peristaltic pumps. But those would be a pain in the ass to calibrate.
Another problem is that I'm using an arduino pro mini which has a lot less ram than the mega so coding for ram space is ... fun. I have that spare mega so I might switch to using that, if this proves to be too much of a pita. I'd like to be able to log all the parameters as well.
Atlas scientific makes a really cool dosing pump but it's expensive, and I would need two. One for ph up and one for dilute nutrient feedstock. The real advantage to that one is that you can cal dose amounts and control it over i2c. The other option is the cheap eBay peristaltic pumps. But those would be a pain in the ass to calibrate.
Another problem is that I'm using an arduino pro mini which has a lot less ram than the mega so coding for ram space is ... fun. I have that spare mega so I might switch to using that, if this proves to be too much of a pita. I'd like to be able to log all the parameters as well.
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dstroy
Well-Known Member
6/29/17
day 42 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.80
ppm 246
Ordering some stuff for the grow room soon. Couple more oscillating fans, and some insulation for the sides of my buckets. I've got aluminum tape, I just wanted a little more than a radiant barrier.
I found one of those small washing machines from china for $40 shipped. Going to get that for bubble hash. It's like the same as the other bubble machines, which as far as I know are all re-purposed miniature washing machines.
Plants are doing well as far as I can tell. Couple more days and they're going into the flower tent I think. As soon as the new tops make it out.
day 42 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.80
ppm 246
Ordering some stuff for the grow room soon. Couple more oscillating fans, and some insulation for the sides of my buckets. I've got aluminum tape, I just wanted a little more than a radiant barrier.
I found one of those small washing machines from china for $40 shipped. Going to get that for bubble hash. It's like the same as the other bubble machines, which as far as I know are all re-purposed miniature washing machines.
Plants are doing well as far as I can tell. Couple more days and they're going into the flower tent I think. As soon as the new tops make it out.
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dstroy
Well-Known Member
6/29/17
day 43 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.7
ppm 251
Topped up with 5 gallons of plain ph water (ppm 90), that dropped the reservoir ppm down to 220 so I added grow, magpro, and protekt in equal portions
ph 5.95
ppm 251
good
I raised up the light some more, they're at about 24" now. I guess I'm going to start with the lights further away
Ordered all that shit, the washing machine (for bubble hash) doesn't get here until after the weekend (damn!).
day 43 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.7
ppm 251
Topped up with 5 gallons of plain ph water (ppm 90), that dropped the reservoir ppm down to 220 so I added grow, magpro, and protekt in equal portions
ph 5.95
ppm 251
good
I raised up the light some more, they're at about 24" now. I guess I'm going to start with the lights further away
Ordered all that shit, the washing machine (for bubble hash) doesn't get here until after the weekend (damn!).
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dstroy
Well-Known Member
6/29/17
Hard for me to tell if these are dudes or chicks still. I tried my best to take non blurry photos.
First two pics are maybe the dude, I say that because the calyces on this one are noticeably shorter and "fat" when compared to the other two.
Last two I think are female
Hard for me to tell if these are dudes or chicks still. I tried my best to take non blurry photos.
First two pics are maybe the dude, I say that because the calyces on this one are noticeably shorter and "fat" when compared to the other two.
Last two I think are female
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dstroy
Well-Known Member
6/29/17
day 44 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.95 (added some protekt to ph up, and then used regular ph up to correct the rest of the way. Starting ph was 5.6)
ppm 253 (started at 246, before correcting ph)
They're doing pretty good, lots of branches poking above those big fan leaves. I'm thinking about removing the lowest set of fan leaves which are mostly covered by new growth to get some light in the middle of the plants.
day 44 of veg for the blueberry
aero res
ph 5.95 (added some protekt to ph up, and then used regular ph up to correct the rest of the way. Starting ph was 5.6)
ppm 253 (started at 246, before correcting ph)
They're doing pretty good, lots of branches poking above those big fan leaves. I'm thinking about removing the lowest set of fan leaves which are mostly covered by new growth to get some light in the middle of the plants.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/2/17
Day 49 for the blueberry. Got pistillate preflowers on two, still think one is a dude. Did some pretty heavy defoliation on Sunday. Pics are from Sunday and today. I'm not sure how long I should keep them going in the veg tent, but I want to top some side branches for clones and let them recover.
Aero res
Ph 5.9
Ppm 262
(I've just been shooting to keep ppms at 262)
I know that in dwc, and lp aero people have been letting their reservoir ph swing naturally (I do as well from 5.5-6.2) but in HPA this is a bad idea.
You can see on some of the leaves indications of ph issues. This isn't from me letting ph get out of whack. I was letting it drift from 6 down to 5.5 or 5.6. That's not a lot, well, since I've narrowed my acceptable range to 5.8-6 the plants have been growing way faster, and I haven't changed any environmental variables. It's not a lot more difficult, I check the reservoir daily anyways and just shoot for pH 6.0.
I found out what was the problem with my dimming circuit, I've got a different one on the way. Sunrise/sunset simulator and auto-dimming will finally be working. (just have the pots hardwired into the led drivers right now)
I changed my vacuum setup so that each tent has a 1/8" orifice which helps keep the vacuum until all the water has been evacuated. This helps me reduce complexity by not having to control solenoids to switch between tents. I wish that I had unlimited height because a gravity drain would be so much better than all of the vacuum pump nonsense and expense.
The program that I wrote seems to be stable, though I generally don't touch the box or change any settings on it while it's running. I haven't uploaded the newest version in a while, but none of the timers or anything have changed, just QOL stuff for me to make things easier like changing times and stuff.
got my power bill for last month, $200 (ac on 24/7, 18000btu). nice.
Day 49 for the blueberry. Got pistillate preflowers on two, still think one is a dude. Did some pretty heavy defoliation on Sunday. Pics are from Sunday and today. I'm not sure how long I should keep them going in the veg tent, but I want to top some side branches for clones and let them recover.
Aero res
Ph 5.9
Ppm 262
(I've just been shooting to keep ppms at 262)
I know that in dwc, and lp aero people have been letting their reservoir ph swing naturally (I do as well from 5.5-6.2) but in HPA this is a bad idea.
You can see on some of the leaves indications of ph issues. This isn't from me letting ph get out of whack. I was letting it drift from 6 down to 5.5 or 5.6. That's not a lot, well, since I've narrowed my acceptable range to 5.8-6 the plants have been growing way faster, and I haven't changed any environmental variables. It's not a lot more difficult, I check the reservoir daily anyways and just shoot for pH 6.0.
I found out what was the problem with my dimming circuit, I've got a different one on the way. Sunrise/sunset simulator and auto-dimming will finally be working. (just have the pots hardwired into the led drivers right now)
I changed my vacuum setup so that each tent has a 1/8" orifice which helps keep the vacuum until all the water has been evacuated. This helps me reduce complexity by not having to control solenoids to switch between tents. I wish that I had unlimited height because a gravity drain would be so much better than all of the vacuum pump nonsense and expense.
The program that I wrote seems to be stable, though I generally don't touch the box or change any settings on it while it's running. I haven't uploaded the newest version in a while, but none of the timers or anything have changed, just QOL stuff for me to make things easier like changing times and stuff.
got my power bill for last month, $200 (ac on 24/7, 18000btu). nice.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/5/17
Day 52 for the blueberry, topping the plants today everywhere, they should be ready to go into the flower tent at 60 days.
aero res
ph 5.85
ppm 255
Stem rub smells good, pretty skunky but not over the top, with sweet undertones.
Trying to clone what I cut. Cloner is on the same nutrients as the hp aero, slightly less ppm at 240. Got the cloner on 24/7 for now until they perk up a bit then they'll get cycled 1 min on 3 min off like it was before. Chiller loop for the cloner is up as well, which is the extra tubing coming out of the cloner.
Put a screen over the cloner to block some of the light, it was either that or bend over all the time to take water samples. Fuck that, so it's sitting on a bucket with a screen over it till they get established.
I only topped in places that had two nodes close together that would both get light after topping, and also that had enough stem to fit all the way through the neoprene collars (I cut all the collars in half). I labeled them with push pins in the collars and tape on the moms.
Day 52 for the blueberry, topping the plants today everywhere, they should be ready to go into the flower tent at 60 days.
aero res
ph 5.85
ppm 255
Stem rub smells good, pretty skunky but not over the top, with sweet undertones.
Trying to clone what I cut. Cloner is on the same nutrients as the hp aero, slightly less ppm at 240. Got the cloner on 24/7 for now until they perk up a bit then they'll get cycled 1 min on 3 min off like it was before. Chiller loop for the cloner is up as well, which is the extra tubing coming out of the cloner.
Put a screen over the cloner to block some of the light, it was either that or bend over all the time to take water samples. Fuck that, so it's sitting on a bucket with a screen over it till they get established.
I only topped in places that had two nodes close together that would both get light after topping, and also that had enough stem to fit all the way through the neoprene collars (I cut all the collars in half). I labeled them with push pins in the collars and tape on the moms.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/7/17
Day 54 for the blueberry, nothing much to report. They're chugging along after being topped.
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 260
Man, res maintenance has been so easy. I've only had to top up a few times, still have a week to go before it gets changed. Deep sink is going on the wish list for our next home.
I don't know if I should put the screen on them when I put them in the flower tent or not because they haven't been sexed yet. I guess I could always tie them down instead of netting them until they show their sex.
Clones are doing well, they perked back up but I still have the screen over them, I don't see any reason to remove it.
Day 54 for the blueberry, nothing much to report. They're chugging along after being topped.
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 260
Man, res maintenance has been so easy. I've only had to top up a few times, still have a week to go before it gets changed. Deep sink is going on the wish list for our next home.
I don't know if I should put the screen on them when I put them in the flower tent or not because they haven't been sexed yet. I guess I could always tie them down instead of netting them until they show their sex.
Clones are doing well, they perked back up but I still have the screen over them, I don't see any reason to remove it.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/8/17
day 55 for the blueberry, the new growth was pretty light green, so I added 10ml magpro which has a good bit of sulfur in it to the reservoir
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 270
Lights in the flower tent are at 100% and 36" from the canopy, still 18/6 until they recover from defoliation.
flushed the plumbing for the flower tent out and moved the blueberry into it, defoliated again because they responded well last time. before and after defoliation pics, still planning on flipping at 60 days.
The root balls are large, and look good.
Pics are before/after defoliation. I didn't disturb any bud sites, just took enough fan leaves so that the inside of the plant gets light, and did some training on what I think are my two girls.
day 55 for the blueberry, the new growth was pretty light green, so I added 10ml magpro which has a good bit of sulfur in it to the reservoir
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 270
Lights in the flower tent are at 100% and 36" from the canopy, still 18/6 until they recover from defoliation.
flushed the plumbing for the flower tent out and moved the blueberry into it, defoliated again because they responded well last time. before and after defoliation pics, still planning on flipping at 60 days.
The root balls are large, and look good.
Pics are before/after defoliation. I didn't disturb any bud sites, just took enough fan leaves so that the inside of the plant gets light, and did some training on what I think are my two girls.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/9/17
day 56 for the blueberry, new growth is a darker shade of green today. They're recovering from the defoliation yesterday. The newest growth where they were topped is visibly larger.
aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 257 (I'll add grow at the end of the day to bring ppms back up to 260ish)
reservoir is about 2/3 full, it was mostly full yesterday until I filled up the flower side's plumbing with nutrient solution.
one of the grape ape monster crop clones is throwing out new leaves (it's been a long, long time since they rooted. I'm pretty sure that monster cropping that late isn't worth it unless I'm trying to save genetics like I was.
I haven't even used half a quart of grow yet over the entire span of this journal. Running a little low on mammoth p though. I was adding it at 0.3ml/gal, I think I have enough for four more res changes (four months).
Excited to try making bubble hash, not going to make a lot but it will be nice to supercharge a bowl every now and then. The washing machine I ordered is supposed to get here in the middle of the week.
day 56 for the blueberry, new growth is a darker shade of green today. They're recovering from the defoliation yesterday. The newest growth where they were topped is visibly larger.
aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 257 (I'll add grow at the end of the day to bring ppms back up to 260ish)
reservoir is about 2/3 full, it was mostly full yesterday until I filled up the flower side's plumbing with nutrient solution.
one of the grape ape monster crop clones is throwing out new leaves (it's been a long, long time since they rooted. I'm pretty sure that monster cropping that late isn't worth it unless I'm trying to save genetics like I was.
I haven't even used half a quart of grow yet over the entire span of this journal. Running a little low on mammoth p though. I was adding it at 0.3ml/gal, I think I have enough for four more res changes (four months).
Excited to try making bubble hash, not going to make a lot but it will be nice to supercharge a bowl every now and then. The washing machine I ordered is supposed to get here in the middle of the week.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/12/17
Day 59 for the blueberry, tomorrow is the last day of veg. Almost certain that I have two females and one male. The one that I think is a male has much smaller preflowers than the two girls so its either a very different pheno or it's a dude, if it is a girl there is a lot of training that needs to be done to spread that one out.
aero res
Res changed today (couple days early but I had time to do it today without rushing)
ph 6.0
ppm 250 (will get raised back to 262 over a few days or so)
5ml protekt
5ml grow
5ml magpro
1.5ml mammoth p
per 5 gallons
I didn't purge what was in the system out so as to hopefully not shock the plants with completely different nutrient solution.
"Sunrise/sunset" is working now that I got my little mosfet board installed, goes from 10%-whatever the dimmer is set to over a period of 15 minutes. Been working on auto dimming based off of temperature as well as emergency off based on temperature.
I've got the flower tent lights raised all the way up and at 70%, it's been pretty hot here and I didn't want to stress the plants out before flipping them.
I don't know what to expect of the blueberry in flower, I know I'm going to have to remove some fan leaves throughout though because they are absolutely massive if you let them go and block all the light at the lower parts of the plant. I'm curious how much they will stretch.
Day 59 for the blueberry, tomorrow is the last day of veg. Almost certain that I have two females and one male. The one that I think is a male has much smaller preflowers than the two girls so its either a very different pheno or it's a dude, if it is a girl there is a lot of training that needs to be done to spread that one out.
aero res
Res changed today (couple days early but I had time to do it today without rushing)
ph 6.0
ppm 250 (will get raised back to 262 over a few days or so)
5ml protekt
5ml grow
5ml magpro
1.5ml mammoth p
per 5 gallons
I didn't purge what was in the system out so as to hopefully not shock the plants with completely different nutrient solution.
"Sunrise/sunset" is working now that I got my little mosfet board installed, goes from 10%-whatever the dimmer is set to over a period of 15 minutes. Been working on auto dimming based off of temperature as well as emergency off based on temperature.
I've got the flower tent lights raised all the way up and at 70%, it's been pretty hot here and I didn't want to stress the plants out before flipping them.
I don't know what to expect of the blueberry in flower, I know I'm going to have to remove some fan leaves throughout though because they are absolutely massive if you let them go and block all the light at the lower parts of the plant. I'm curious how much they will stretch.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/13/17
day 60 for the blueberry, last day of veg. Trained the top of one of the females today, couldn't before because I broke one of the main stems right where I topped it at the base of it. But that's all healed up thanks to some duct tape it's able to hold itself up and I was able to tie the other topmost stem down to let some light down. I removed the tie from some stems that didn't need it anymore.
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 250
I'm hoping the canopy fills in a bit better, I'm going to try and put the trellis in the tent just to spread things out, not to weave. But only once I know for sure which are girls. I think the two on the right are girls.
day 60 for the blueberry, last day of veg. Trained the top of one of the females today, couldn't before because I broke one of the main stems right where I topped it at the base of it. But that's all healed up thanks to some duct tape it's able to hold itself up and I was able to tie the other topmost stem down to let some light down. I removed the tie from some stems that didn't need it anymore.
aero res
ph 5.9
ppm 250
I'm hoping the canopy fills in a bit better, I'm going to try and put the trellis in the tent just to spread things out, not to weave. But only once I know for sure which are girls. I think the two on the right are girls.
Attachments
dstroy
Well-Known Member
7/14/17
day 1 of flower for the blueberry, not much to report. I wont be training them until I know for sure what sex they are, and then I'll try and drop the trellis in if it isn't too late. The bb clones are doing well, two have little roots.
aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 264 (added 5ml grow, and some protekt to ph up)
day 1 of flower for the blueberry, not much to report. I wont be training them until I know for sure what sex they are, and then I'll try and drop the trellis in if it isn't too late. The bb clones are doing well, two have little roots.
aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 264 (added 5ml grow, and some protekt to ph up)
