Old hydro grower giving it another go.

It's been a while since I grew. It's been 8 or 9 years since I stopped. Times are crazy. So, it's time to return to the hobby. This won't be a large grow. When I stopped, I was doing ebb & flow. I was getting enough for me off a couple of plants. That's what I'll be starting with again. sold everything a couple of years after I stopped. I have a good space that needs cleaned out but I'm starting with zero equipment. I'll be adding everything this little room needs, lights, hydro system, CO2, ventilation, air filtration, etc. I'm sure I'm rusty & I'll mess up a bit but that's part of the fun.

I thought I had a little head start because of an old stash of seeds. I propagated them and honestly, I forgot they were in there. They spent 8 or 9 years in my tool closet with a dehumidifier. After several failed attempts at germinating some I decided to order some Budda Kush & Acapulco Gold.


My old room is a mess. It's been my tool closet. The brown room in the foreground ids the veg room. The white room in the background is flower room. I put in pocket doors the first time around to save space.


I had one random bag seed and it popped. Which means now is the time to get started. It's not out of the rock wool yet. When I quit LEDs where a joke. They look pretty legit today & I've installed them in most of house so ehy not. I picked up an AC Infinity S22 for the veg room. The flower room will be getting its big brother. Looking at this photo, it occurs to me I never painted the veg side. Maybe I will this weekend.


On I do have something left. I found two timers.

Feel free to ask questions & make comments.

Its just like riding a bike mate. I look forward to seeing how your setup comes along

Bag seed is out and looking like a new seedling. First set of leaves just starting to show. No nutes yet as I need to let the pH meter soak for 24 hrs. It'll get a dose this evening.

Got my seeds yesterday. It only took 3 days. That's a lot quicker than when I used to order from across the pond.
Bubba Kush from Green House Seeds
Acapulco Gold from Barney's Farm.

I'm having trouble locating suitable trays. I found one online but the shipping rates are too much to justify. I'm crazy but not that crazy. I plan on driving several hundred miles today to see if I get lucky. See crazy. If I strike out, I'm going to have to change the plan. I didn't want to do room mods but that's how it goes. Roll with it or it rolls over you.

I do miss the days of plenty when I could buy any equipment I needed in town. The one thing I regret selling are those Botanicare trays.

Today I drove a little over 240 miles looking for two 2x2 & one 2x4 flood tray. I found the 2x2s. Which is what I need for my veg room. I've got some time to find a 2x4.

So a little warning. I've never bragged to anyone about this room and I'm drunk. Years ago when I was growing, I ripped everything out and redid it for my hobby. With that said, a little about the room. The veg and flower sides are both roughly 4'x4'x8'. They're really rooms within a room. It's in a weird basement room that I built a rooms inside that room. One of the walls is built about 10" off the brick. I did that for several reasons. First, I could put these cabinets in below. They fit between the studs. I put 3 in the veg room & 2 in the flower. They're 48" tall. Drilled bottom to top for pins so I can put all kinds of shelves in there. They're nothing fancy, construction grade plywood on the inside with poplar frames. I'm bragging here, I bult them, I built everything int this room. I know, I should paint them too.


Reason two for building off the wall, the electrical, plumbing & ventilation also run in the wall. Above my cabinets in the veg room is the box in the below pic is where my reverse osmosis filter used to reside. I'll be getting another one. Probably by flower time.


Here's one of the trays set up. The other 2x2 fits next to it and will eventually be put in. Here's where I keep my mothers & clones. The wiring will be cleaned up. This is just testing the setup. which it had a small leak because forgot to tighten the drain nuts.


See that rough ass concrete \floor. Sweeping is a pain. I think I'm gonna skim that bitch. But I am a busy lazy bastard so who knows.


Here is it is all plumbed up. On my veg side I prefer to more of a drip system instead of a flood.


This room has housed a lot of grows and equipment. I settled on a ebb and flow system because for me it provides the most bang for the buck. Sure my under current system produced about 10% more in weight but it was so much more work.

It will be interesting to see if I have the same heat issues I always had with HPS.

Here's a shot of the flower room. The fan is shit. Like a dumbass I let something get sucked into it and bent the blades. It happened years ago & there it hangs. It's trash bound. There's eye hooks everywhere in the flower room. IF memory serves that's for the CO2 lines.


With all that, I'm gonna go drink some more & germinate the Acapulco gold.

All 5 seeds had sprouted this morning. They're planted in rockwool cubes. The cubes were soaked in water for 1hr. Water had a few drops of Superthrive & pH at 5.7.

It got hot today. Summer is on the way. If all goes right, these will be in the flower room in the hottest time of the year. Here's hoping the LEDs help keep the heat down. Or they stretch to the moon & I get wispy buds. Either way the timing is looking around August 1 for the 12/12 flip. And an early fall harvest.

I think I was beating baggy with the light, so I raised it a little.

There's some sort of black gnat hatching today. They are everywhere. My room is no exception. I put down some sticky paper. Summertime, we get heat, we get bugs.

No room improvements. I had to reorganize the garage after cleaning out my tool closet.

Man o man what a start. All seeds have popped so I have 6 seedlings. That's where the good news stops. I mixed a very mild for my res just to test the system. Well a couple of days later I notice a faint odor in the room. I knew right away the res was sour. I dumped, cleaned and sanitized. Also the mild hatch has since turned into a full blown infestation. What a start.

I've decided to modify my room anyway. Ripping it down to the studs and revamping the insulation. Moving the pocket doors to get more space so the veg & flower rooms will be 5' x 4 1/2'. I'm giving up a little space in what's left of my tool closet but it's worth it. I've got a lot of work to do over the next week. But this will be Grow Room 3.0 for me so why not make some mods before I get started. Well before it's too late.

Hopefully this will help with the know heat issues & the current bug problem.

Step 1 complete. Here's a picture of the old flower & veg rooms stripped down. I've gone back and forth on the floor. I've got some old white tile that will work but I hate laying tile. Or I can skim coat the floor but me and concrete are mere acquaintances. The floor is extremely unlevel. At the back wall it's level for about 16" then 2" drops in about 8'. Which is fine for a grow room but hell for an amateur floor guy. Time will be the determining factor so it's probably getting tiled.

It's weird because it looks bigger and smaller at the same time. I know you're looking for more relevant information. Hopefully I'll be delivering on that shortly. But this is a journal & this is what is happening.

A word of advice for you young folks. One of the keys to a happy wife is she money. That's money she don't know about.

Things are looking better. I added foam board insulation to the block walls and fiberglass insulation between the studs.


I was all set to put tile on the floor and a wrong turn in Home Depot led to a different decision. Linoleum was the quickest thing I could do other than leaving it alone. I added a pad with a vapor barrier then put the linoleum down. I can still feal a bump here and there I can sweep the floor with ease. And thanks to the foam it's a little soft.



I need to do the ceiling and cabinet wall. The pocket doors are back up and the plants are sitting in the flower room. I will complete the veg room them move them into it. Hopefully I can finish the veg room up next weekend. Temps are holding 70 - 72 since the wall board went up a few days ago and humidity is hovering around 65%.




As far as the plants go, they've been abused. I've been watering by hand since the res went south. I bought a different container that doesn't allow light to pass through it. Today was the first day they got a real feeding since. I was going to go with Fox Farm as I used it in the past and it was available locally. But I appreciate good advertising so I decided to try Emerald Harvest.



These plants have been fed just enough to stay green, a few days with poor light, tipped over twice, a 2x4 fell on the tray & I've done nothing about the bugs yet. So all in all I think they are looking pretty good. I picked up a new RO filter and filtered some water this morning. Mixed up a batch of the Micro, Grow & Bloom at 2Ml per gallon. The water ph was adjusted to 5.9 then the micro, grow, and bloom were added.
Final:
ph: 5.7
EC: 0.6
PPM: 280




Now they have a place to soak up some rays and veg out, they should start to grow a little faster.

I'm leaning toward this light for the flower room. X420 Targeted Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights | Kind LED (kindledgrowlights.com)

Progress on the room has been slow this week, other priorities. But I think I've decided to run the plumbing differently this time. I checked out my old garden drain & it's in working order. I hate carrying water & if I don't have to, I'm not going to.


The plants looked to have a little deficiency, so I changed the res out & gave them the early veg mix recommended by Emerald Harvest.
Nute list
Micro
Grow
Bloom
Emerald Goddess
Honey Chrome
Root Wizard

Of course I mixed up the qty and gave them too much Mirco instead of Grow. EC was 1.5, I forgot to write down the PPM. I knew it was too much for my little plants but this is a build and feeling out grow so I hit them with it. No surprise, I got a little nute burn. Not terrible but it's there.

Pic was taken yesterday.


This bag seed is compact. IT's barely taller than the AG but it's getting bushy.


Still haven't done anything about the bugs. Once the veg room is complete, I'll get serious about them.

Ordered my flower light. Growcraft X3 500 watt. I figured best to go ahead and get to see how hot things are going to run. This way I can have flower room ready instead of playing catch up to the heat issues.

Things have progressed nicely this week.


The veg room is pretty much ready. The flower room maybe ready tomorrow. Hopefully. I plan to just let the ladies veg & flower in the flower room this time. I used sheetrock on the ceiling and the upper half of the cabinet wall. I didn't finish it. Just put it up & painted it. Honestly, I wish I would have done the whole room that way.

The metal rod at the top there will hold both veg lights.



I painted the cabinets and one of the pocket doors blue. I have too much paint left over from past projects to buy any. I hate looking at an all white room. So blue cabinets & doors.


The flower room has three 6" vent pipes in the wall & one 4" pipe. The plan is to use a 4" filter & fan to circulate air in the room. A few times a day a 6" fan will dump air into my tool room. Fresh air will passively come in through the other two 6" pipes. The 4" in the wall may not be used but I tossed it in there any way. Why not


Yeah, yeah I know the construction isn't up to code. It'll do for my needs. If I ever do this again I'll rip everything out & run the ventilation through the ceiling instead of the wall. When I did the framing, I needed the height for HPS but things have changed.

On the other end the passive air will come from my garage. No we don't park in there it's more of a workshop for me. I reduced the doorway into my tool room & hid the vents inside that wall. When it's finished that door will lock & the vents will be hidden.



The plants, that's what you're here for. They've had some problems. I still haven't done anything for the bugs. It is a construction site so bugs are low priority. I have caught some nice ones.


About 3 days ago some discoloration & rust color appeared on the some leaves. Which made me wonder, considering I've seen a little burn. The bugs aren't bad enough to cause that. SO I checked my light levels. Getting 350 PPFD or whatever. I know they're getting a good PPM so I checked my timer. I don't know how, but they are getting 4 feeds in 12 hours & 0 in the next 12 hours. Well maybe I know how, don't get drunk and set your timers.

Now they get fed every 6 hours.

If I haven't mentioned it, they're currently getting 24 hr. a day of light.



They look much better after the change. The roots have exploded with growth. I don't recall seeing roots like this with this size plant. It may be the root wizard or it maybe a memory. Either way the roots are looking good.


I'm really hoping this is my last weekend of construction. Then these ladies will get the attention they need. And if you're a new grower and you are reading this, remember don't love your plants to death and they'll probably be alright. I've neglected the shit out of these and they're hanging in there.

First off, I got some ladies. I'm surprised they've shown already but then they have been under 24hrs of light. And the most amazing part to me is how neglected these plants have been.





Construction is pretty much wrapped up. I still need to add some stuff, like a folding desk. I need to run the RO line into the flower room.

I've got just about all my equipment. I still need a few pumps and maybe a 4" filter & one more veg light. I have to say this build was quite a bit more expensive than I had thought it was going to be. But I didn't plan on a room remodel. And I did buy everything now instead of slowly building it up. Fuck it, why grow half ass when I can go all in. Looking back at pics of the old room, I'm happy I decided to remodel. Anyway.

One mistake I made was leaving the passive air intakes high in the wall. I'll probably run this one out and see how it goes.

Here's how the flower room is looking. Light is up and temps have stayed bounced from 75 to 80. Not bad for a July day. The black on the wall is chalkboard paint. I bought it years ago for the kitchen & we decided not to use it. Well, I finally found a use for it. Instead of a white boards I'll have chalk boards. There's one in the veg room too. Also added little squares above the cabinets. Maybe if I label the cabinets my equipment will get put back.


I'm working out the design for the screen for screen of green technique. The plan is to add white film to the outside to help make more efficient use of the light, so, all four sides will be reflective. It won't go to the ceiling. I think I have it worked out so I can raise and lower the film with the growth of the plants. I used to just screw a wooden frame to the wall but I'm thinking pvc this time.


The plants are coming along. I haven't done any sort of training. The stems are weak due to lack of air movement. I fixed that with a 12" oscillating fan. I topped them the other day. They've got some burn, they've been a buffet for multiple types of bugs. But now that they have a satisfactory home, they'll get some more attention. You know what they say, the greatest fertilizer is the farmers foot steps.

I think the plants that were on the outside, stretched a little toward the light.


My clone tray is full of maple cuttings. I may have to add some clones from these ladies. I was planning on it taking till August to flip them but I might do it mid month.

Big update.

The first night of 12/12 was the 15th. This photo is the 16th


Since the room has been sealed up a little more than it used to be, the humidity builds quicker and goes higher than it did in the past. I guess it could be the memory, it's been 9 years after all. To keep the humidity lower I need to run the dehumidifier more, which drives up the heat. The AC Infinity control tracks VPD. I had never heard of it. After some research, I've decided to let the humidity stay around 70% and try to keep the temp around 85 or so at the plants. I've been using this chart to help.


Once the flowers develop, I'll push the humidity down to 60% and try to maintain the heat around 85. So far so good. The average temp for the week was 82 and the average humidity was 68%. The VPD was 1.14 So not too bad. The heat does spike around 5:00 to about 92. This is caused by the cycling of the dehumidifier.

I bought two different humidifiers from Vivosun. Neither one can keep the humidity in check. The plants just put out too much water. It could be caused by the clay pellets as well. They do have a bit of surface area. I'm stuck using a beast that's way too big, but it drops the humidity quick.
I

I use my exhaust fan to control the temperature in the afternoons. Which means more frequent air exchanges. Which meant a timer on my CO2 was not going to get the job done. So, I added a CO2 controller. It's amazing at how little that tank has to run to keep the CO2 the set level. The level for the first week was 1000. Week two is 1100, week 3 1200, week 4 - 7 will be 1400, depending on flower development. After that I will reduce it to around 800. If I remember correctly running it too high at the end causes the tris to turn amber faster than they should.

I did a grid of my light when I flipped. I thought about making a nice spreadsheet view but screw that. Long story short the whole area should be good to flower in. At the center, week 1 PPFD was 850. I bumped it to 950 today. Next week I'll probably max it out and leave it for the remainder of the grow.

Here they are yesterday.



And here they are freshly tucked back down this morning. I like to tuck just after the light comes on. The stems seem to be a little more forgiving.


I trim a little every few days from under the screen. If it looks like it won't be at screen level by the end of week three it has to go. I hate those wispy little energy wasting buds.






I love the new floor and having more room in the flower room. I can actually get on my knees to trim without pain from a rough concrete floor. And it's so easy to clean up water & sweep. The chalk board is nice to have. It makes keeping track of things.

Currently I'm not really liking the Emerald Harvest nute line. They recommend every almost every product be used every res change. I'll probably finish the grow out with it then switch. The marketing material said we're not like the other guys with a bunch of different products to add. Yeah right.

Yesterday might be the day I dislike most in growing. The final haircut but it always has to be done. Well when you don't have room it does or face those green underdeveloped, starved for light energy wasters. I didn't take pics but I ended up cutting 30 to 40% of the material out.

I tried to tuck them under yesterday and snapped the first two I tried due to all material. There was just no room. When I started digging around there those future little guys were just waiting to not grow. They had to go. Wet & dead leaves everywhere.

I tucked this morning & only snapped one more. The goal is one primary cola per square in the grid. We'll see how I do. This is probably the last tuck day too. Now they can breathe and have room to develop. A lot of the older leaves are a darker & rough looking (dry skin). The humidity & heat have remained in an acceptable range. I'm guessing it's the light intensity, so I backed it off slightly. Once the stretch stops, I'll try increasing it again.



With the final reach of stretch I hope I get some nice 14"


I'm going to drop some bags in the res today. See if I can't get rid of those gnats. Time to spray some neem oil too.

The clones are looking good. Rooted in the big blocks. They're on 20/4 light. No need to make them huge just yet.

I'm gonna geek out in here for a minute. The AC Infinity 69 controller has an app. It tracks humidity, temps, and VPD. The data can be downloaded. So, I decided to see what I could do with it. A word of caution, I know what tools I need to visualize the data & I know how to use them.

Last weekend, I decided to set up a lung room to try to control the temps a little better. I was curious if the data would show a difference in the averages for this past week. The biggest heat driver is my dehumidifier. And I had noticed the temps were in better check.

How it works. the flower room & the lung rooms ventilation are linked. Durning the day light hours, the vent fan runs at 5 all the time. If the temp reaches 85 the vent fan goes to 10, exchanging the air faster. Night, it runs at 10 for the first hour and I crack the door on the lung room to bring in cooler air. Then the fan goes back to 5. Well sometimes I forget and let it run at 10 all night. This keeps my CO2 in the environment and I'm not sucking in air with 65% humidity.

The below chart shows the average temp over 24 hours. The lines are weeks. The green line is the test week. The light hours of day starting at 9:00 am, lights on. lights out at 9:00 pm (21 on the chart). It looks like the lung room is working to control the temps.



This chart shows the avg. humidity by hour. Again, the lines represent weeks. The green line is this past week. On average the humidity is better controlled. This week is pretty much stays below the 4-week average.



And lastly, VPD. Again, the green line is this past week.


The data show the lung room to be better than the garage. So, if any of you have been wondering what you can do with the data, the short answer is quite a bit. This little project has me wanting to make a full-blown grow tracker.

Already got the harvest calculator. Sometime tech can be fun.


Maybe I'll do a wrap up at the end. I really wish it also included the equipment settings too. That would go a long way to really dialing this room in. This data helps but a little more would be nice.

Almost forgot. Day 22 The tall ones are about 12" Plant #4 stretch double this week compared to the other AC. They're abut 6"


If continued to do a little trimming this week but I think that's about finished.


SO hopefully the stretch is over and it's time to start fatting up.

Looking good so far..