Grow 2 Diary 1: DIY RDWC Grapefruit Haze

Grow Diary - First Installment
Hello fellow growers!

Welcome to the first installment of my grow diary. After finishing my first-ever grow and taking some time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, I decided to jump back in for round two—this time with a bit more knowledge. I hope you enjoy following along on this journey, and I hope someone can learn from my mistakes, and maybe I'll learn some more. Please feel free to comment and discuss. I might regret this later, but since this is my first grow journal, ignorance is bliss!

Lessons Learned
Looking back at my last grow, I identified a few key lessons that I promised myself I’d address before starting this new one:

1. Root Space: A 5-gallon bucket seemed like a good idea at first, but as the plant grew, it caused problems—especially when dealing with a high-yielding plant. Watering and lifting a plant that’s holding 600 grams of buds is no joke. So, I decided to upgrade to a recirculating system with a 10-gallon capacity.
2. Grow Space: While Sea of Green (SOG) works for many, it doesn’t really fit my style. I’ve learned that less can be more. This time around, I’m focusing on just one seed in a much larger space.
3. Nutrient Line: I’m sticking with one nutrient line and including some supplements. I’ve also decided to reduce PPM levels by at least 20% from the feed charts.
4. Record Keeping: Keeping a detailed diary throughout the grow is a must. It’s going to help me track progress and learn from both successes and mistakes.

Set-up Part List
I had three main goals for my grow space:

• Reservoir with Tubing/Pipes: It must have a reservoir that was attached via tubing or pipes, and I had to have them on hand (no more costs).
• More Space to Grow Evenly: I wanted to make use of the two levels of scrogs (time to cut my LST teeth).
• Odor Control: Almost 100% odor control, with kids and a wife and people coming over, it’s super important that there be as little smell as possible.

I didn't include pricing or links, but I can add those later if people want to know.

Pictures with Explanations
Here’s a look at my setup during different stages of the grow. You’ll see some slight changes as I get the pictures up and taken.

Let's start with testing and proof of concept:

• : This is a proof of concept mid-way during the build. I wanted to get an idea of spacing before I started to clean up the wires.
• : This is the inside of the grow tote. I intend to extend the pipe to the front of the tote to keep those nutes mixing (I had not added the stones in this one).
• : Here is the reservoir tote during water testing. The bulkhead on this one was leaking, but after a quick sanding, we got a good seal.

A quick look at the back of the tent piping (the heater is disconnected):

A closer look at the inside tent pipes:

[Place holder Stage 2 finalizing]

Seed Information and Other

• Autoflower Grapefruit Haze: Grapefruit Haze Seed Info
• Conditions:
  • 22-24°C
  • 70-85% humidity
  • Distilled water
• Seeding Dates:
  • Seeding date 1: August 17th (no movement), Jiffy puck.
  • Seeding date 2: August 24th (still early), Jiffy puck but with less water and slightly higher numbers.
  • Seeding date 3: August 31st (hopefully don't need), GH rapid rooter plug.

I'm really looking forward to building this and chatting with you all. Hopefully, my seeds take and I can begin updating.

Grow Diary - Part 2
Date: August 28, 2024

Long time no see! Overnight, there was some movement, and Seed 2 is on the grow. Super exciting, as I had already panic-set up a secondary seeding site for Seed 3.

1. Seed 2 Update:
   • Seed 2 is showing movement, and preparations are underway for transplant and veg.
     
2. Tent Adjustments:
   • HVAC moved to the top of the shelving space.
     
     
   • Light adjusted to within a few inches of the top of the tent, providing about 6 feet minus about 5 inches of working space.
     
3. Air Pump and Tubing:
   • New tubing for the air pump installed with added valves.
   • Reservoir and grow tent on separate lines.
     
4. Seedling Space Setup:
   • Temporary seedling space created on top of the grow tote to minimize plant shock during transplant.
   • Once the cotyledons are fully grown, the main light will be used at 10-15%.
     
5. Smart plug in tent set up:
   • Placed a Geeni 6 plug smart power bar in the tent for timing.
   • Two open slots are available for the heat mat and seedling lamp.
   • All timing and related functions will be managed here.
     
6. Started stats diary within the VIVOSUN app, I don't have SGS in this tent so I'm going to have to tweak environment as we go.
   
   
7. Water: After the seedling stage ill be almost 100% using tap water, its tends to be about 8-9 ph and 90-130 ppm.

This grow will run through the change of season for me and there will be some fun when the house moves from dehumidify and cooling to Humidify and heating. Last time this was a 2-3 C change down and 8-10% jump in humidity.

Finally here is my super skilled drawing of what i had in my head for this project

Today’s Lesson(s):

• Patience! This is growing, and you can’t dictate—only guide. If you think it’s time, give yourself 12 more hours.
• Double-check your stat sheets before you spend hours building something.
• Get over publish button anxiety, just post it. i made a mistake and the world didn't end!

Hello Growers,

Welcome to day 10 of the grow and day 6 of the seedling stage. Not much happening, so just a quick update.

We have some good movement from the seed. The cotyledons are looking healthy, and the first set of true leaves are on the way. We're using about 20-30 mL of distilled water to keep the seedling hydrated but will not start nutrients until day 8 of the seedling stage.

Seedling Day 3 Seedling Day 5

• Water: 20-23 mL
• Nutrients: 0 PPM
• Light: 11 hours as of September 3rd. We will be increasing the light timing by 1 hour a day to reach 16 hours of sunlight by September 8th.

There's no set timeline for transferring to the tote; I'll decide based on how the plant looks rather than setting a hard deadline. I might regret this with Autoflower, but live and learn.

Tent Preparation:

Still cleaning up the wires and got the tote filled and 90% of the clay into the basket.
Got the feed charts up on the wall (making a new one with 20% lower feed numbers ETA September 9th) and will clean up the bartender station this week.

Time-Lapse Camera Testing:

Testing of the time-lapse video cameras continues, with two major issues still to solve:

1. How to provide enough light in the tent to see shadows without affecting the grow cycle, given that the cameras don't have night vision.
2. How to retrieve the SD cards from the cameras without altering the camera's positioning.

I don't think I'm going to have the time-lapse figured out by the end of the grow, but fingers crossed.


Today’s Lesson:

Be realistic with your goals and be ready to adjust, but don’t give up either.

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's been over 10 days since my last update! It's been a hectic few weeks—first week of kindergarten for my big one, and then my daughter got lice. Talk about a week of saying, "ahh, what do I do now?" I got hit by whatever bug is going around, so anything i wrote sounded jaded and biter (it still might, since i am). This project, along with a separate UV/filter idea I’ve been brainstorming, got put aside for a bit. But boy, am I excited to get back to this!
Growth Progress:

• The second and third sets of true leaves are coming in nicely. The plant looks bushy and happy overall.
• There was some slight shock from the transplant, which I expected, especially since I increased the light intensity from 8 watts at 3 inches to about 50 watts at 22 inches (~2.5 watts per inch).
• The cotyledons are turning yellow, which I’m happy about. The plant is showing positive signs of progress despite the adjustments.
• got the Bartender stand cleaned up and ready.

Water and Nutrient Levels:

• I’m facing some pH issues after a significant increase in water volume and ambient temperature. The pH is currently hovering around 6.2.
• My average nightly PPM is sitting around 400-500 with a pH of 6.2-. I’ll keep an eye.

Water Temperature Issues:

• I’ve been noticing some water temperature issues this time around, with average temps at 21-24°C, which is a bit high considering the ambient house temp is 21-22°C .
  • New light: I’m thinking the new light might be emitting more heat than the last one.
  • Submersible pump: I have a submersible pump running in one of the totes, and I’m sure it’s creating some heat, but 2C?
  • Air pump: I’m ignoring the air pump since that didn’t affect temps’ last time.
  • Chillers are way too expensive...wow.
  • It will wont be much of an issue come November, but in the meantime I'm freezing 250ml cubes of RO water.
    • going to have to do some math, but I'm curious if this will work.
    • not so sure i want ice packs floating in my water.

I've started to insulate the totes and pipes too, but this is a new issue for me...i started in January last time.

Carbon Filter Adjustment:

• I did a smell test and found that I needed to adjust the carbon filters. I added an extra one I had on hand to the end exhaust, so now there are 2 levels of carbon filters, and it seems to have done the trick.
• I had to increase the CFM of the fan to compensate for the increased resistance. After stress-testing with a joint, my wife sitting at my workstation didn’t smell anything until I opened the tent. This setup is now ready for the flowering stage!

EC/TDS Troubles:

• I bought a Vivosun product for about $30, thinking it couldn’t go too wrong despite the bad reviews (lesson learned). The pH readings are consistently off by about 1 full digit, so instead of reading 7.1, it shows 8.1. I’ve recalibrated it multiple times with no luck.
• The cords were too short, so I had to order new JST PH 2mm cable heads and extensions to make it work. .
• It just stopped charging after a few days.
• Usually, I’m very happy with Vivosun.
• I got a full refund, and turns out I cant buy it up here anymore.
  
  The search for a good TDS sensor that is below 150 continues.

Lessons of the Week:

• Kids getting lice sucks.
• Don’t ignore consistent bad reviews. If 20 people say the pH reader doesn’t work well and complain about cord length, listen to it. You get what you pay for.

Super excited to see what is next!