I may mount the smaller of the two fans I currently use (10", steel frame and blade) in a bucket with holes punched near the bottom and pull air through it. I'd fill it with bags of activated carbon like this; maybe 2 lbs or so.
I get them very cheap locally if I buy in bulk, and the ones I am picking up have a second layer of fabric over them that is finer. Do you think that would work?
I believe the issue with the 6" fan is the sound of the air whooshing through the ducting more than the fan itself; the seller turned it on for me and it would really bother the neighbors at night!
Managed to get an entire 4" filter kit (inline fan, carbon scrubber, hose, clamps and even a stepless fan controller) for under $100 and it'll be here in 2-3 days. How could I say no to that?
Both Jet-47s are up as expected. One has shed it's seedcoat by the looks of it and the other one may need help. Tested my timer and it works a treat. Tomorrow will be their first day under filtered daylight (through a curtain) and a cool white and warm CFL. I need to pick up some more CFLs tomorrow; once they're on their second leaf set, I'll introduce them to the 100W+ of 23W CFLs that will be supplementing the natural tropical daylight they'll be getting!
I appear to have a fungus gnat issue. All those weeks of keeping the soil moist for the old seeds has resulted in the ol' gnats (I knew it would happen). I won't be watering the seedlings for weeks unless they need it, since they're in 1.5 gallon pots and the taproot should go in search of H20 deeper down in the soil. I put a small pinch of American Spirit tobacco in each pot. I don't know if it will make much difference, but let's see if it helps.
I'm thinking about starting a third Jet-47 plant in pure ProMix. I may need to pick up some earthworm castings while I'm at it!
Oh no, gnats. I don't know if a pinch of tobacco is going to wipe those gnats out. It seems to me that you would have to make a root drench with it. I don't know if that's safe or effective though.
I do know that you can find help in the infirmary thread. Get those buggers taken care of, or kiss your yields goodbye.
Once the soil dries out, they'll be gone; they actually don't eat live plant matter, but they seem to find my little seedlings very interesting! I think the seedlings will be just fine under the lights today and I'll pick off the gnats one by one when I get down there!
Well, no sign of any fungus gnats today and with three fans in here, the soil has dried out a little! Both are on their first leaves after the cotyledon leaves. Vigorous little seedlings!
I cultivated the tobacco into the moist soil; it should give any grubs or mites left over a nice dose of nicotine.
Pot plants are definitely the way to go for boosting indoor air quality in the workplace, and the light will keep my spirits up too! Symbiotic living! I have the best working conditions ever.
Made a couple of beer can reflectors today; they seem to help, so I need to drink more beer and get reflectors on all my bulbs!
I moved the babies to their new home. They were under two bulbs at a significant distance, and getting indirect daylight by the window, and they started to stretch! I was going to use around 150w of CFL, but I've decided to up that to 184w (8 x 23W) of mixed cool and warm (2700K) with the supplemental daylight through the window. Even with only 92W burning today, I had to put my sunglasses on!
So I've had my little plants less than an inch away from the CFLs with no ill effects today. I'm going to back off a little as I want them to stretch a little so they have larger frames for bud support when that time comes! Hopefully I get at least one fem. If not, I'll save some pollen in the fridge and pop some more beans in the hopes of getting more fems.
I've found I can still work after lights out; I have triple-layered trash bags over each plant and one 18W CFL desk lamp burning so I can do what I have to do!
While I was at work, my scrubber came in. Holy smokes, it's much bigger than I thought! It's longer than my plant pots are high at present. I'm going to put a plug on the fan and then connect the whole thing up tomorrow (ducting, spring clips and all came with it) and give it a whirl; hopefully it isn't too loud, but the controller will let me dial it down as needed. Obviously in seedling stage I don't need it just yet, but it's nice to know my odorific needs are covered!
Just under four days since they shed their seed coats and I can't stop watching them obsessively. With guerilla gardening, you only get to see them a few times a week since you don't want to make a trail or be spotted, but I can't stop watching my babies!
They're getting started on their second leaf sets...again, bang on top of the previous leaves due to the light intensity. I've backed them off the lights a little and they're now 1.5 - 2" away from the central bulb and 4" away from the others. Each one is getting light from 3 x 23W at present (69W a piece).
Gave them a very light feeding with kelp, high P bat guano and high K fertilizer with trace elements yesterday (1/4 strength) and I saw a few gnats this morning. This time I'm going to let them dry out for a week straight to help get rid of those pesky buggers. I took one of my mom's basil plants indoors a few years ago and the gnats obliterated it, so I know I need to ensure I get rid of these bastards.
Bought two 9W LED bulbs with E27 bases for cheap--each has 3 3W 'bulbs': 450nm, 630nm and 660nm (two cores). They have pretty solid looking aluminum heatsinks. That ups my total light to 184W + 18W, or 202W (plus indirect daylight). I think that'll do for now. I'll probably start one more Jet-47 to up my chances of getting at least one girl!
EDIT; also picked up a 20W CFL that puts out 10% UVB in the invisible spectrum the bulb generates. I should probably stop buying stuff now!
Ran hydrogen peroxide (1:4) through both pots and then poured the runoff back through a few times. That should take care of the pesky gnats! When I went in to work yesterday, there were several buzzing around on the pots, sunning themselves under the CFLs, so I knew I had to take care of them.