MrAwder's Basement Grow 3.0

[MrAwder]

Took it easy today. Put the new bulkhead on the RO res, no more leaks. Ordered 1/4" lok-line to extend it to the float and threw in a flush kit as well.

Enjoyed some Sweet Black Angel from my last (undocumented) run. Black Domina x SSH



Did some actual work with the plants as well. Took a dozen clones and cleaned up the vegging plants. Found roots on 5-6 of the last batch of clones. Had started them in rockwool since I had some cubes. After rooting they were transfered to coco cups and hit with some Roots Excelurator. Most of what rooted were the Midas. Still waiting on roots for most of the DSD. It looks like I should be able to sex the vegging plants soon based on preflowers. Made a few guesses but nothing definitive yet.

 

[zephyrcat]

Looks great mrA!
nice utilization of your spaces & all that. Looks like it'll be cranking out the goodies before too long I'll be checking in to see how it goes! gotta whole lot of gro-room remods to do myself as the OD season starts winding down, hopefully I'll have a productive winter... Looks as though you definitely will!!

can't wait to see the girls doing their thing

 

[MrAwder]

slowly but surely

slowly but surely

usual updates
alright, i will admit my momentum has flagged a bit... but i continue to make steady progress.

finally finished the last of the ventilation. ran a 6" duct outside with a back draft damper and bird screen on it. hooked that to a 8" adapter then straight to the fan. all hard-mounted and a straight shot out of the "room". nice and quiet even at full speed.



slight re-arrange on the veg side and took a bunch more clones. need a clear cover for this tote but i have a heat mat under it and keep them misted. went back to straight coco cloning, the rockwool starters worked just not any more effecient or effective. next up is plugs again. all the clones outside the tub are rooted.





overall the moms and veg plants are looking healthy... but i'm not entirely satisfied. i am noticing some leaf curl, and the browning of ends of leaves. i am also seeing tip burning in some places. there seems to be a difference between the browning/curling and tip burn which i pretty well recognize. i think i may just attribute it to irregular watering right now. they get watered every day, but i am a little sloppy. the drip manifold is laid out, just waiting on a few fittings. if it gets any worse i'll put up some photos for opinions. the reading on the last mix was 1.8EC and 6.1 pH. I could probably drop the pH down a bit also. I hesitate to break out the phosphoric acid since its so easy to accidentally overdo it and ruin a batch of nutes.


other thing
anyway, onto another little project i've been working on. i am always very into automation and more often lately, i find the need to collect good data on what im doing in the garden day to day. i have a journal a scribble random shit in but that isn't cutting it. so the plan is to setup some temp/RH sensors in veg, flower and ambient and track these temps on a laptop setup in the room. this idea has also expanded to include daily notes which i can add to include observations on the garden and noting tasks which i performed. store it all in a database/spreadsheet and then i can go back at my leisure and look for trends. here is a quick screenshot i took of my absolute first version. more to come on this when the sensors come in.



in the foreground you can see the dialog window for adding a new note. in the background the "dashboard" has a 24hr graph of temps (this is made up psuedo-random data of 3 sensors). a toolbar along the top for viewing the dashboard, calendar, or adding a note.

inventory
planning the plants for the next round. these numbers are mostly for my keeping track. feel free to ignore this

-- Veg
3 Midas - 2 probable males
5 DSD - 1 confirmed female. 2 probable males. 2 slow growers
2 Pure AK - fems
2 Afghani Mango
[moms] - candy, slh, ds, am

-- New Clones
5 - DSD#1 (?)
2 - DSD#2 (prob. M)
3 - DSD#4 (F)
2 - DSD#5 (prob. M)

-- Rooted
4 - Candy
4 - Death Star
1 - SLH (replace current mom)
2 - Midas#5 (M?)
2 - Midas#6 (F?)
1 - Midas#3 (M?)

other stuf

the orca has arrived. have a 6" inline on the way which will vent from flower into the lung/veg room. along with that is a 4ft x 4 light T5 for veg. decided on going with 2 of those instead of the 400MH as they will fit my coverage area better with more adjustability.

remaining jobs:
- frame
- cover
- mount 6" fan
- build drain table
- flip some damn plants already!
- drip manifold

 

[Jamorg13]

You can order the bennies on ebay as well, same price, just type in "for the farm"

I find jack's and mb equally difficult to dissolve. Hot water helps speed things up.

Hot water helps, but a blender RIPS SHIT UP. I screwed around for a year with maxi+mason jar + hot water.

 

[Jamorg13]

Super simple and clean looking exhaust work ya got there bro. Fuck that flex bullshit. Constantly ripping and slowing down flow.

 

[MrAwder]

Been wracking my brain all day looking to a solution to catch runoff. I think I will just have to bite the bullet and build the trays. Can't source the OD sized trays anywhere around here and not worth it to ship. I came up with a few other ideas but discarded them. The most promising was 8" gutters or 8" PVC cut in half. The smart pots are like 7-8" in diamater. Neither of those could be sourced any easier or more cheaply.

Not a big deal to build one, just have enough else to do it would have been nice to be able to just buy something and drop it in.

Framing starts this weekend. Got a case of beer and a stack of 2x4's. Hoping I can frame Saturday then cover the flower area in orca on Sunday. If I can find time to get that tray built I'll be ready to flip on Monday or (more realisitcally since shit always takes longer than I anticipate) Tuesday.

Looking for any tips on framing or putting up Orca. I heard spray adhesive is good? Staple gun? As far as framing, this being non-structural I'm not too worried. 3 things I have to contend with:

1) Have to build the wall in place since there is not enough extra room to stand it up.

2) Need to go around some pipes. Planned on just boxing out around them. The top plate will have some gaps but the added box-out around the pipes should make up for it?

3) Wall runs parallel to joists. The placement is such that it runs along an existing joist. I planned on nailing in a 2x4 to the back of the joist which should give a wide enough surface to attach the top plate.

The top plate I am most worried about. Once it's in I will drop a plumb-bob at both ends, snap a chalk line and lay in a one-piece bottom plate. Putting in the studs themselves is easy. The top plate is where I will make it or break it. If I fuck that up everything else will be off.

 

[MrAwder]

I decided I'm building a 30-site aero cloner. I keep knocking over these little coco cups and my success rate is not that great. Seems like a space saver too.

In other news I got my 295gph pump. Pretty sure there is no way this tiny little thing is going to cut it. Sounded like enough to do a 8 site drip with 16" head but looking at it... its so freaking tiny. The other problem is the outlet is not 1/2" and im not sure how best to adapt it to PVC. This means dropping $60-70 on a bigger mag drive pump.

Getting a bit overwhelmed but the amount of things I still want to do before this build is "done". Also my budget is dwindling quicker than I anticipated as I keep having to pickup these one-off parts, tools, adapters, etc. that I didnt plan on.

- frame
- orca
- flower drip manifold #1
- veg drip manifold
- aero-cloner
- re-plumb RO (again!). re-route drain line.
- reflectix veg chamber
- build shelf for veg chamber. 1 unit, 30" height for bottom shelf, open height (to ceiling) on top. 18" deep.
- build drip tray for flower
- hang light

I am also now debating whether to do 2 full donuts or more of a colliseum with no plant in the middle. Again, the space is 6x4. 7' ceiling but with the res underneath probably about 5' flowering height. Still aiming for perpetual with 2 sides.

Some more sketchups.



Flower area. Going to build a "header" across the top where the 6" will exhaust from. Each side will have a 4" or 6" intake which will run down along the back corners. Ducting not shown cause its a bitch to work with in sketchup.



Veg "final" design/goal. Cloner and moms probably will actuall go on the bottom shelf. Current veggers will be on the top shelf.

 

[soursmoker]

Idk man, I have no suggestions for you for that space lol... Hopefully some of the experienced folks come make some suggestions...

 

[Mister_D]

Orca is nice thick, semi stiff shit, reminds me a lot of tyvek (White tarp/paper looking stuff new houses are usually wrapped in before siding goes on). It's real easy to work with. I've done staples, spray glue, and recently made a reflective wall with a length of 1" pvc, twist ties, and ceiling hooks. Though it's not absolutely necessary, I like to put a small piece of duct tape where each staple goes through the orca or whatever reflective material i'm using. Keeps it from ripping when/if you take it down .

Before I give you my suggestions on the room, what's your plant count restriction?

 

[MrAwder]

I'm in a non-med state. No real restrictions.

Yea I really like the Orca so far. I'm getting started now with the framing and cut a little test piece off to see how it will stick to the walls with the spray adhesive I got.

Would love to hear your suggestions D. Thanks for dropping in.

 

[Born Loser]

Orca makes their own tape.
Staples are quick and easy, but leave holes.
Double sided tape in the high load rating is good, but leaves residue if you are picky about reusing it and it gets pricey if you need a bunch..

 

[SecondAttempt]

That spray adhesive isn't something that's going to off-gas is it?

 

[MrAwder]

I hope not. I have heard of a few people using it for this. Its already done... staples across the top and spray adhesive on the walls. Used some gorilla tape in one corner.

I saw they sell their own tape but it seems overpriced.

So the frame is up except for the stud that will go on one side of the door and the door itself. Orca on the 3 walls of the flower chamber. I got progress pics but too tired to put them up tonight.

Tomorrow I need to frame in the base where the drain table will sit and fashion an orca door for the flower chamber. Also installing the 6" exhaust and a new light in veg.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Sorry... just one of my fears. As you were... Looking good.

 

[Purple turtle]

Thats alot of space at your advantage!!,made any decisions on the room yet??

v-scrogs /and collys are going to be your best options you just got to decide PLANT wise what you want to have and how you plan to keep each one perpetaully runnin,(clones)with no vegging area ,or plants that u get ready while ones are flowering.,staying tuned for your progress!!

Turtle

 

[Mister_D]

I prefer spray adhesive to staples for one reason, mold. Once upon a time I had a room with panda stapled to the walls. Didn't notice until I tore the room down that the walls were covered in mold due to humidity/condensation building up in the air space between the plastic and the wall. Spray adhesive prevents the air gap, thus preventing the possibility of mold. I wouldn't recommend having plants around when applying the adhesive, but once it's dry and the smell is gone plants are fine. I run a sealed room and haven't had any problems with off gassing.

Mr A - How is your ability to reliably root say 50-100 clones at a time? Do you have any mothers established? What's your experience level with sog? Do you mind spending the time to do these things, or would you prefer something that takes next to no maintenance/time? Many ways to skin this mule

 

[MrAwder]

Thats alot of space at your advantage!!,made any decisions on the room yet??

v-scrogs /and collys are going to be your best options you just got to decide PLANT wise what you want to have and how you plan to keep each one perpetaully runnin,(clones)with no vegging area ,or plants that u get ready while ones are flowering.,staying tuned for your progress!!

Turtle

Thanks. It seems like a lot of space but a couple extra square feet would sure make my life easier. Counting every square inch gets a bit annoying.

I prefer spray adhesive to staples for one reason, mold. Once upon a time I had a room with panda stapled to the walls. Didn't notice until I tore the room down that the walls were covered in mold due to humidity/condensation building up in the air space between the plastic and the wall. Spray adhesive prevents the air gap, thus preventing the possibility of mold. I wouldn't recommend having plants around when applying the adhesive, but once it's dry and the smell is gone plants are fine. I run a sealed room and haven't had any problems with off gassing.

Mr A - How is your ability to reliably root say 50-100 clones at a time? Do you have any mothers established? What's your experience level with sog? Do you mind spending the time to do these things, or would you prefer something that takes next to no maintenance/time? Many ways to skin this mule

Thats exactly why I did the spray adhesive along with staples. Although I'm not sure how well it will hold up on the rough surface of the walls.

As far as SOG stuff - zero experience. I keep bonsai mums capable of about a dozen or so clones. One day it might be nice to run something like gmax or others are doing with high density v-sog but it introduces some other issues with multi-level drip manifold and also multi-level draining.... although PVC tubes would definitely work.... anyway a SOG is on my agenda to try one day but for now im going to keep it simple and balance my effort against results. basically going for a setup that is a cross between ichabods rooms and anti's old colliseum with the dual 400's.

Okay a bunch of pics coming from the last 3 days of work... 5 per post

 

[MrAwder]

Pics

Pics

In order but with minimum description. Any questions just ask.

 

[MrAwder]

Quick break....








Pretty happy with how my scrapwood shelf came out.

 

[soursmoker]

looking goood...