A requiem for change (soil to hydro)

[FRIENDinDEED]

oh god oh god oh god

just hd to get that outta the way. soo much crap has happened.

1- i blew a 100 amp breaker and had to get another one; that whole purchasing story was an event all to itsself.

2. had to pretty much dupe the power company guy to open the box so that i could work on the damned thing to replace the breaker. tell the guy that the problem is inside, this bitch tells me that they cant do anything inside. i told him i just wanted his professional opinion as to what i can do immediately cause i smelled smoke, he says call an electrician

anyway, had to take the meter off, re route some stuff real quick to alleviate some of the load that is on the line that my grow is on, got that done

always knew that one day i would have to get my electrician chops with this house i just didnt think it would have to be this soon.

now that the power is back up, i will be updating tomorrow some major changes went down and since chop day is so soon im getting ready to put that system into place. i

iwill be running half of teh dripper system for now, but im gonna see if i can get some 6x DWC buckets giving mea total of 8 being that i have to 2 already.

the results will be in the pics BUT i can tell you right now: 1x single outlet air pump/2gl bucket + lid/ 2x small airstones/ duct tape/ 1.5" net cup/ Rapid Rooter plugs, small bag of hydroton will give you two working DWC containers that you wont regret running

+$12 for 2x buckets and lids (homedepot)
+$.30 for the net cup if not less (hydro store)
+$8 - $10 for the airpump (local pet store)
+$1.50 for 2x airstones (local pet store/ dept store with pet care products section)
= $23.80 total (worst case scenario)

so $50 bucks every paycheck for a double bucket DWC system. if your lucky enough to find black buckets then cool if not then you can always use teh appliance paint sold at lowes or homedeot they have it in black and white. simple, easy, DONE! i can honestly say that so far i love hydro

the rest are supplies so those are constant costs, but the system is a one time only

be back with the normal updates tomorrow, peace

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

oh god oh god oh god

just had to get that outta the way. soo much crap has happened.

1- i blew a 100 amp breaker and had to get another one; that whole purchasing story was an event all to its self.

2. had to pretty much dupe the power company guy to open the box so that i could work on the damned thing to replace the breaker. tell the guy that the problem is inside, this bitch tells me that they cant do anything inside. i told him i just wanted his professional opinion as to what i can do immediately cause i smelled smoke, he says call an electrician

anyway, had to take the meter off, re route some stuff real quick to alleviate some of the load that is on the line that my grow is on, got that done

always knew that one day i would have to get my electrician chops with this house i just didnt think it would have to be this soon.

now that the power is back up, i will be updating tomorrow some major changes went down and since chop day is so soon im getting ready to put that system into place. i

i will be running half of the dripper system for now, but im gonna see if i can get 6x DWC buckets giving me a total of 8 being that i have to 2 already.

the results will be in the pics BUT i can tell you right now: 1x single outlet air pump/2gl bucket + lid/ 2x small airstones/ duct tape/ 1.5" net cup/ Rapid Rooter plugs/small bag of hydroton/API tap water treatment? API pHtester/ mid size bottles of GH nutes will give you two working DWC containers that you wont regret running is the truth

+$12 for 2x buckets and lids (homedepot)
+$.30 for the net cup if not less (hydro store)
+$8 - $10 for the airpump (local pet store)
+$1.50 for 2x airstones (local pet store/ dept store with pet care products section)
= $23.80 total (worst case scenario)

so $50 bucks every paycheck for a double bucket DWC system. if your lucky enough to find black buckets then cool if not then you can always use teh appliance paint sold at lowes or homedeot they have it in black and white. simple, easy, DONE! i can honestly say that so far i love hydro

the rest are supplies so those are constant costs, but the system is a one time only

be back with the normal updates tomorrow, peace

 

[sneaky101]

Glad to hear you got your electrical issues resolved. Good luck if on your new hydro build if you have any questions about it I would love to give my input if you need it, just ask.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

Glad to hear you got your electrical issues resolved. Good luck if on your new hydro build if you have any questions about it I would love to give my input if you need it, just ask.

for sure! glad to know ive got you out there sneaky. really gonna try and press the issue with the wife, my "financuer" (lol), but if she cant see it in the budget then oh well on with the plans as scheduled.

i know, maybe you can help me now that i think about it. i have those inline adjustable drippers. its been a really long time that ive had them and need to know how to use/ set them.

1) i was searching and the most comprehensive info i could find said that they can be set from 1/2gph - 16gph BUT there are no markings on the dial itself to tell what setting they are at. if anything i guess 1gph would do me just fine and seeing as how i have no finances to buy more i have to use what i have. the hydro shop is a ways away so it would actually be faster getting the assist from you if you know. . .

(best pic i have for the moment)

push come to shove i'll just set them all to one point where i think im getting the flow i want and just leave them there

2) its gonna be dripper rings and bags of hydroton and my initial idea was to have the pump running 24/7. do you think that, thats necessary or should i just have it run at timed intervals for certain amounts of time (hour on hour off, every half hour, etc)

its a 365gph pump if that helps

holla back

 

[sneaky101]

Well first, I understand about the wife, lol. And to your questions let me first say that my answers are somewhat speculation, we can call it an educated guess. Also other questions arise.

1). The flow you will have to guest mate, consider it an analog dial, like a volume knob. You can never get it just perfect, but shoot for pretty damn close to what you want. Now, what you want? Depends on your flower state. It is RDWC, right? If so, early veg when the roots aren't touching the water it would be important, I would thing, to have a decent water flow, but once the roots hit the water, it isn't so important for the drip ring to be on at all. In your case though of wanting to only use 2g buckets, if you can't check the water almost daily, it would be a good idea to have the pump go on and off so it isn't running all the time. There will always be a small amount of water that can't be drained away, so the roots will always have a pool of water to rest in. Having a big Rez will take care of low water issues. I would personally suggest the 5g buckets just because the roots will get pretty massive, unless perhaps you only veg for a week or so.

Wow, sorry for rambling. Just smoked two hash oil topped bowls and ate a super potent cookie. Hope this was coherent, lol.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

Well first, I understand about the wife, lol. And to your questions let me first say that my answers are somewhat speculation, we can call it an educated guess. Also other questions arise.

1). The flow you will have to guest mate, consider it an analog dial, like a volume knob. You can never get it just perfect, but shoot for pretty damn close to what you want. Now, what you want? Depends on your flower state. It is RDWC, right? If so, early veg when the roots aren't touching the water it would be important, I would thing, to have a decent water flow, but once the roots hit the water, it isn't so important for the drip ring to be on at all. In your case though of wanting to only use 2g buckets, if you can't check the water almost daily, it would be a good idea to have the pump go on and off so it isn't running all the time. There will always be a small amount of water that can't be drained away, so the roots will always have a pool of water to rest in. Having a big Rez will take care of low water issues. I would personally suggest the 5g buckets just because the roots will get pretty massive, unless perhaps you only veg for a week or so.

Wow, sorry for rambling. Just smoked two hash oil topped bowls and ate a super potent cookie. Hope this was coherent, lol.

roflmao, after two hash oil topped bowls and a cookie, im just glad you remembered who i was!

i understand what your saying as far as it being a crap shoot. . . if my net connection werent acting the ass then i woudl have been able to post the pics sooner.

the system that im running (teh dominant one) is gonna be bags of hydroton on the floor of my cab (the floor has a liner on it) with dripper rings to the bags. unconventional in setup, conventional in concept . . . think of it all as more flood to recirculate or recycle as opposed to the regular flood and drain . . . . or now that i think about it, it is flood and drain.

the unconvention of mine is that its actually a conversion that i was able to "knock up' specifically for my cab.

you know what, ive been late on teh updates but now that ive figured it out (and to keep "me" from rambling, lol) i'll come back with the updates of what the haps are/have been. . . . back ina few

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

WHOOO HAAOOO!!

WHOOO HAAOOO!!

sorry about the title, i just felt like doing that shit.

ok ok ok, lets get to it! where to start where to start ok lets begin at the beginning . ..

VEG CAB cuts section top right
so i have some new additions to the fray. these are the tops of the other cuts that are still in the cloner at the present time. it was getting truly crazy int there and still seems to be, in the cloner that is . .

as you can see im still waitin for that damned BB cut to give me something! the mom hasnt showed sex, this cut is taking forever to root. . . yeah i think im good on leaving that strain alone, really not for me.


VEG CAB cloner section top left
here is the cloner now. as you can see its like nothing ever happened. defoliated, trimmed, took some side branches off even and still they are like savages . . .

VEG CAB mom section bottom
they are holding up pretty well, still waiting on the BB to show me something and the SS#3 to show me something as well . . .

the bigger ones i repotted . .

heres the male NL, SS#3 and BB still in the 1gl bags. the NL im gonna keep in there for later, the others are staying in there until they show me something . . .

as of 10/14:
-SS1 - 19"
-SS2 - 19"
-SS3 - 12"
-NL1 - 12"
-NL2 - 10"
-BB1 - 9.1/2"


as you can see ive taking some of the other ones down and kept what i thought was worthy of a reveg date on the bags is the day of chop, couple days early but they were ready for it the other ones im gonna give another 2wks or so

FLOWER CAB
well after the chopping i was left with ample enough space to get that system in there or at least the half that im gonna be using. 4 left in soil and the 2 DWC's. still tryin to figure an angle on those other buckets and how to attain them, so as my jamaican friends say "soon come" lol . .

as of 10/14:
*H1 - 8"
*H2 - 14"

FLOWER CAB remod
ok folks, heres the lil system i have devised specifically for this cab. im not like the rest of you guys that have shit loads of space and can do whatever you want (god bless your hearts) so im always having to reconfigure, reinvent, overcome, improvise, adapt and make do so as i tell all of you "DIY till the day i die!!!"

first up is the liner that i slapped together with the home made flange for drainage but also the pump inlet. black plastic construction garbage bags, black duct tape, hole saw and a whole lotta ingenuity!!! . . .

and . . .

3gl grow bags rolled down half way filled with hydroton. . .

almost there ppl!!

now to install the one side of the dripper system that im using . . .

stretch everyone out to their proper postions . . .

and viola! there we have it ready to go! well almost ready . . .

gotta get the plumbing out and the plug for the pump . .

so thats pretty much what im gonna be running from here on end. still up in the air about those buckets ya'll. hopefully in the next 2wks i can get up the scratch to bet theh other 6 and supplies which is not much.

if anything what i may have to do is just put up 6 grow bags on the other side and shut off the last two dripper sites and let my DWC's rock out at the bottom

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

Haaaaaa ahhh!! So much so much soooo much! No pics right now but lets get to it, but im gonna do it in reverse so that everyone knows where im coming from and what I faced during my upheaval. . .

FLOWER CAB
The dripper system had/has a leak in the liner so I stopped running it. It would have been to tedious, on top of everything else, to deal with it and then get things back up and running so its been scrapped.

My final decision is to run the dwc’s on one side and soil on the other until i can get the other DWC's; reason for the dwc’s is that I just finished putting together 2 more sites so that would give me a total of 6 and they are a lot easier to deal with than the dripper system; besides I want to reduce the amount of moving parts I have to deal with at any given time. An air pump goes I can replace that BUT if the pump goes then im ass'ed out so I don’t wanna take that chance with all 16 of my plants.

The soil is simply because I have enough nutes to go through one more full run, and I know we wont be going on any trips or leaving for any extended periods of time anytime soon.

the power outages of Irene and the power outages of the October snow storm saw my plants hermie on me so that was that. Once power came back on I gave it a couple days and sure enough they didn’t hermie a lil bit, it was as though I went from growing females to males over night. so to date I have 2x DWC, nothing in the dripper system which is gonna be dismantled. They were bagseed so they hermied real quick, don’t need nor want to deal with that so they all got tossed! The ones in DWC, the ones I wanted to reveg, the ones in the bubble cloner and the cuts that I was waiting to take root everything GONE!

The “money” genetics I have, have had enough time so I took a good 18 cuts (5xNL; 13xSS) with plenty more on the way after this run is complete. I have a very slow money source that should let me set up the last 2 DWC’s giving me a total of 8 which is cool

Financially I don’t plan to see too much from the bagseed crop. Gonna go through the motions with the cure and everything but, that shit just isn’t up to snuff. We all know that bagseed grows are a crap shoot but your odds are always better when the bag is of quality to begin with and that shit wasn’t worth the time of day to begin with , so really have to say never again.

But at least im not at square one and have the ability to be in it for the long haul. God quality moms and my knowledge should see me through to a good crop this time around.

VEG CAB cloner
Completely empty as of right now. Gonna try and scrape up some loot and get another lid so I can cut holes to keep the 1.5” net cups in it (I actually am gonna see if I can re-drill the holes in the lid but if all else fails . .), gonna be going straight from the cloner to the system this time, may just do a half and half with it (leave one half with the regular holes so I can veg them out for soil, the other half I’ll keep the net cups in) Gonna get rid of those back flow valves on the pump lines since I realized what the hell do I need them for?! They actually impede the flow slightly so they can go, besides and overdue cleaning the cloner revamp should be fairly simple.

VEG CAB cuts
Bagseed cuts GONE! Aint tryin to go that route again. The SSH seeds I have are more than likely old by now and were not stored properly BUT i do have my NL, SS and BB seeds so im more than good got 18 in there now so gonna see who does what first while I get things together with the cloner

VEG CAB moms
Those damned things actually saved my ass!! Some of the cuts I took were actually tops so im thinking about keeping those and replanting as moms. This having moms thing is the shit!!! Everything is sexed now all but that damned BB, so im gonna take the two tops that are there, root them, flower them out and see what it is once ad for all.. at this point I don’t care whether its male of female I just want It out of my garden! Too damned temperamental for my grow style

Well there aren’t too many flattering pics to show at this point but ive got a few im gonna throw up later on.

friend of mine is comign through to help with the electrical for teh house so im hoping that i can get higns squared away and do teh upgrades to the house that ive been wanting to do since we moved in.

i'll be back later yall . . .

 

[killerweed31]

nice work in progress dude, always appreciate grower try different style..so good luck with your project tha sound interesting!!!

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

nice work in progress dude, always appreciate grower try different style..so good luck with your project tha sound interesting!!!

thanks for stoppin by killa

this was all in the making and been a long time coming to boot. after everything it just made sense for me to keep some soil around until i can get what i need to totally leave it alone.

cat i know uses his pump to water his plants for him never thought to use my pump that way, just always saw pumps as hydro, you know, looking at the pump in a specific way as opposed to general.

peace man

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

going on as of late . . .

going on as of late . . .

FLOWER CAB
Heres the new setup going forward. Kept the DWC’s upfront so I could better deal with them. Soil is in the back, in the process of cleaning my soil as we speak . . .

Heres a better/upclose shot of the plants now, gonna change the water in a minute . . .

VEG CAB cloner
This is what it looked like after that last round of plants it had . . .

Here she is nice and cleaned up, ready to go. The holes are in to for the 1.5” net cups so things will be moving just that smoothly once they are up and running . .

VEG CAB cuts
Here they are in all their glory! Just waitin for those roots to pop is all . . .

And there you have it! Gonna see if I can scrape some loot up for some nutes that I can put in the soil, that way all I will have to do is set that pump/timer up and let her rip.

I’ll be back later on

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

shows over folks! nothing to see here . .

shows over folks! nothing to see here . .

ive been on this site for an hour trying to not think of having to be as real as im about to be.

i loved ICmag, i love everything it represents and does for the cannabis community espedially how much its helped me out over these past couple grows.

the situation is this, ever since my wife and i bought this house we new that we needed to switch out the power/panel box for the house. ppl that were selling gave it a new addition that the electrician rigged to pull power form other lines pretty much overloading the lines. things worked but not as they should.


as time went one, we got comfortable with the way things were working for the past couple years until recently. it started with the tell tale sign of the power going out in a certain section of the house once you started the microwave. that went on for a while, but eventually the 100amp to the house burned out, so i run to home depot , get it , install it and get things up and running again, had the power guy come out, leave the box unlocked, took out the meter and got to work. everything was right as rain until tonight.

the power goes out in a room, im notified i go check the panel box and all the breakers are on with nothing tripped, go back to check and still no power, go to the panel box again flip the main breaker off then on again and still no difference. . .

so as of right now all of my plants are sitting in the dark . . . everything, and right now weve run extensions cords to teh parts of the house that can use theh power. . . yeah its a lil uncomfortable but it gets the job done and no ones complaining so that means since im the only in my home that grows or cares for it, my plants gotta die cause they are gonna die and i cant do anything about it.

basic electrical work im good at but this shit is WAAAAAY outta my league of abilities without proper training.

its killin me because i really got my shit together on this one and was making a killer amount of progress. given that the mistakes i made i was lucky enough to come back from them and correct them in time so nothing faltered in my ignorance of hydro protocols.

anyway man, this shit is killin me to have to do but ive been commited this far so i might as well see it through, like i said, ive always respected ICmag and all that its done for me and others like me who want to grow their own.

maybe youll see me again as another name down the road but for right now its not gonna happen.

im gonna leave this up for a while and then say my final goodbyes in the farewell thread

if you want to, holla at me, pm me, email me if youve got it or whatever, but im out ya'll, game over

 

[greenpinky]

yo same shit happened to me,, it ended up being a wire in the back of a the plug that wasnt maken a good connection(wasnt the plug i was using but on the same braker), i was almost ready to rewire my house,,, my friend told me to check every connection on the questioned braker.....i ended up just replacing all my plugs just to be sure(appon finding the one that was all eroded up with green shit) still going strong sorry if i didnt help... i hate electrical

 

[cyat]

loose wire somewhere

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

yo same shit happened to me,, it ended up being a wire in the back of a the plug that wasnt maken a good connection(wasnt the plug i was using but on the same braker), i was almost ready to rewire my house,,, my friend told me to check every connection on the questioned braker.....i ended up just replacing all my plugs just to be sure(appon finding the one that was all eroded up with green shit) still going strong sorry if i didnt help... i hate electrical

yeah it could be that, cause that shit went out all of a sudden! clear blue, i knew there was other shit on that line but i dont know really what it is or how to test the line

yo man, right now im lookin at 20x fresh cuts; 5x moms and 2x dwc's that im about to lose!

i check on them every day as ajoke just to see how they are doing and everytime i go in there they are lush and green, shit is breaking my heart.

if you could tell me what/how to look for it, what/how to test the outlet then i could more than likely do it myself. gotta electrician frined thats coming nxt week friday! once i found that out i called it a day.

he's a fam friend so i have nothing to worry about with him and hes seen my setup so he knows , hell he even looked at my DIY wiring and said that i need to hurry up and get into the electrician field which i plan to do in the future.

loose wire somewhere

could be but how do i go about finding such a thing? i have no clue as to who you are, but be damned if you dont tell me somehting to do and i wont be greatful for it!

just to let everyone know what passes by:

WHATEVER ELECTRICAL HELP YOU CAN OFFER WITH MY PROBLEM I WOULD BE MORE THAN GREATFUL!!!

and it just bugs me the fuck out how these goddamned things can just come loose like that!!

i'll tell you the gods honest truth, if anyone of the wires that "I" put together comes apart, i swear i will be on the news for publicly kickin my own ass

think ima do some readin yall, may not be licked yet and just pray that i get the problem fixed or i dont blow my nuts off in the process!!

 

[greenpinky]

I went to home depot and bought a five dollar pair of wire cutters that came with a electric sensor...it tells u if u have power by just puttint it by the plug. Turn off all ur power but the braker an question and that's where it gets fun u got to descover where your circuit goes and check everything along that line. I couldn't find the problem untill I remembered a hidden plug behind a dresser... make sure to look and the wires behind the plug and inspect for burn marks or discolored wires. That will usally tell u if there's any extra heat damage. Your just going to check everything good luck any question and ill answer them remember to turn off ur power befor inspecting. Don't wana shock urself... and there also some good info in the grow room designs about wireing but its boaring to read theew

 

[cyat]

loose neutral, prob an outlet or switch in the same run as where the problem is.
gotta put yourself in the electricians head and figure out which way they wired it.
took my electrician 4 hrs, and then he kinda gave up, I visualized the wiring and noticed one outlet in that path which we didint check, that was it, a loose wire in an outlet that had sparked a little. get a pro to help if u can

 

[Superstone]

Really impressive setup you've got there ...hope you don't mind if I stick around.Best of luck getting rid of those nasty electrical gremlins;they suck.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

ok im back powers been sorted out!!!

ok im back powers been sorted out!!!

ok all, im back/still in the game!!!

ELECTRICAL ISSUES
there were so many things that were fucked up it wasnt even funny! was able to avoid a couple of fires as well so thats a blessing. gonna be running some more lines to the grow area so that i would be able to run more lights/equipment if need be, so i can finally exhale!

MOM section
they took a pretty descent beating over the period of dark. the whole time i was surprised to see that they were still firm, there was no wilting of any kind. i kept them in 5 straight days of light once they were back on so need less to say there was much pruning that needed to be done.

CUTS/CLONES section
i pretty much lost half of what i had in there. so far though ive got 4 of them that have sprouted roots and will be going into the bubbler so they can form a nice root base. those i will be putting into hydro; and maybe 6 -7 more im waiting on

FLOWER cab
i had two remaining bagseed left and they were/are doing pretty good considering they were in the dark for so long but the smoke was horrible from teh previous run so im never doing that bagseed shit again, not from the mexican shit.

had a couple ppl come over to smoke some and they all pretty much said what i knew it was, that it was shit. my method was critiqued and everything but no matter how well you grow something genetics are what they are, and those genetics were shit.

i was so pissed because the smell was there, the trichomes were glistening and huge, the cure was on point but shit is shit no matter how you take care of it.

HYDRO
i had my hydro friend tell me a couple things about growing in hydro that would keep me from wasting most of my nutes. so yeah the 4 that i have sprouted are going into hydro.

i finished my 8 site DWC setup while i was waiting for the power to be dealt with so im good for now

SOIL
im gonna keep 8 soil sites that im going to put on a watering timer as suggested by ARTofMAKINGFIRE. it just makes sense. put everything in the soil, set it and forget it!

ive got the dripper rings from the previous system that i tore down and more drippers than i know what to do with so im good there.

 

[Superstone]

Glad to see you're back up and running!Just don't give up on that hydro!Sending good vibes your way.