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This report starts a little differently than usual.... My current grow is almost over and I'm actually not completely satisfied. About the ladies, but not about the system. It is relatively noisy and there are some dead spots in the current. Besides that I have a Chinese setup in my other booth that has already given fantastic results for 3 rounds. Key difference... top feed. The disadvantage of that system is that there is a lot of alto formation (which does not seem to harm the plants per se). So decided that I want to combine the best of 2 worlds. I had already tried airoponics, but that made the water too hot and cost a lot of electricity, which I prefer to convert into light.
So what did I do... I ordered Bato Mapito* containers. 10 pieces. Similar to the Chinese system but without a lid and only 10 liters instead of 11 liters. I can place 10 of these in my loft, but 9 is actually just a little nicer for the spread. Also pulled a big bag (100 liters) of perlite from the attic to fill the buckets with.
The plan is to have the setup ready this weekend or next weekend (seeds are not yet in anyway) and then to temporarily place it in the cellar to run an (empty) test due to. flow and leakage.
The lighting in the loft will also receive a small upgrade, but we will of course only know afterwards whether it is really an upgrade. The filter has only been in it for two rounds so it can participate again, filter cloth could use a wash
Pipes I no longer take a risk, everything is done in 50mm. Easy to clean, demountable (to a certain extent) and little to no chance of blockages. The challenges??
Nido must be ported and must be under the system. I also don't want any loose sockets and/or pipes at or below the highest water point. I want to place the webcam in such a way that I can use it the entire round, but so far I have not succeeded.
When everything is ready my setup should look like this:
Lighting: 5x 240W Meiju LED QB LM301H (see below)
Extraction: PrimaKlima PK125 EC/TC Filter K1604 (680 M3/h)
Air circulation: 5x SUN HA92251V4-1 Axial fan, 92x92x25mm, 12V, 48.2mAh, 17.7dBA Power supply Meanwell 3A03GS 300 mAh
Cooling water: Chiller (Teko)
Dehumidifier (Trotec 10L/24h)
Power supply computer: NidoPro One
Irrigation: Hozelock Cascade 1500, tyleen 16mm with 8.1 L/h pressure compensated drippers (1 per tray)
Buffer vessel: 36 Liter Wham storage container with lid (possibly still with connection to water supply)
CO2: Techgrow T-1 Pro Controller with Techgrow DL-1 datalogger and Techgrow S2 CO2 sensor (Hotbox 4Kw Natural gas CO2 generator)
Loft: 240 X 68 X 190 CM. Workable area: 200 x 60cm (1.2 M2)
The seeds: Imperium X and Future#1 by Anesia Seeds.
Lights: Meijiu-5088
252x LM301H 3000K
252x LM301H 4000K
36x 660nm (Epistar)
Power: 240W
System Efficiency: 230 Lm/W
Photon Efficacy (µmol/j): 3,0
Off course according to the seller.
Germination method: mini rock wool block on the perlite.
The aim is to dim the lamps to approximately 600W in total during growth. As soon as the real bloom starts, I want to go to full capacity. Because my surface is only slightly more than 1 M2 (yes it all fits) I expect that to be too much. I want to compensate for this with CO2. The T-1 Pro has a double socket so I can control the exhaust control valve as soon as the CO2 starts dosing. Then another 50% of the air goes out and the other 50% is blown back into the loft. Since I'm already at temperatures of 32 degrees, I expect that can cause some problems. In that case, we dim back to 600W or that which is maximally feasible with a temperature of 34 degrees or less.
We'll start on 12/12 anyway, whether I'm going to scrog or apply other techniques depends entirely on the development of the plant. Until the 4th week of real flowering they receive CalMag as a C component and from the 4th week they receive Green Sensation as a C component. Both at 1 ml/L against 4 ml/L A/B
I'll take the pictures and add them in a bit because decided to type this while I'm still cutting and drilling....
Planned start date: December 12-19 depending on the current round. I germinate 6 days earlier in the appropriate bins (the new system to be built allows moving)
*BATO DUTCH BUCKET 10 LITER (MAPITO POT) 25 X 25 X 23 CM
The Bato Dutch Bucket is suitable for substrate cultivation where a continuous water supply is required. The Mapito pot (dutch bucket) of 10 liters has a water supply of 2.1 liters and an efficient internal drain water drainage system.
For this Dutch Bucket you need to install two Bato knees so that the excess water can be drained from the lowest level in the tank. This results in a continuous fresh water supply without the accumulation of undesirable substances.
Specifications
Dimensions
top: 25 x 25 cm;
bottom: 26.3 x 20.3 cm;
height: 23.3cm;
Content: 10 liters;
Colour black.
14-12-2021: 4 Imperium X came up... none of the Future #1 came up... Not my brand I guess... too bad, I really had high expectations from it. Just I put 5 seeds next to them and hope they will come up... Hate this...
Allright... starting today (20-12-2021) as day 1. 9 ladies in a whole new setup (see germination week). All looking great, curious about the performance of this setup and the lights in particular. Let's have some fun.
21-12-2021: First 12 hours of light was on the ladies @600Watt. Measured some PAR values to calculate current DLI. Average DLI: 61.7 mol/m2d, Peak DLI: 84.9 mol/m2d, PAR: Average: 1404, Peak: 1989 So it could be a little less😆 Will raise CO2 level next week when first nodes are there. I guess I start with 1000 ppm and raise it with 100 every week.
23-12-2021: Great... all still alive.. Put power down on the lights a bit because a DLI of 50 is a bit on the high side for seedlings I believe. Noticed a huge drop of PH so added some fresh water and will reevaluate tonight. My guess is that the buckets are finally full with water and so the older water is flushing through now. If I am right I should not see a PH drop tonight. If I am not right I will raise the irrigation frequency.
26-12-2021: The PH problem is solved... my PH- bottle seal was leaking😡. 7 days old now.... I believe they look fine. Raised the power of the lights again to see how temperature will hold. Total power now is 950W (just for a few hours to monitor the temperature).
28-12-2021: Tonight it was hot inside my room. Tried how hot it would get under 1000W. 38˚C (peaking at 40˚). RH went below 20% so it was dry and hot. Today reinstalled humidifier to keep RH at 60% but it needs 12 liter a day!. Well, they look kinda nice so I am not worried.
29-12-2021: I little cooler this night (raised RH and CO2 level) Seems to do the trick for now.
30-12-2021: I believe the roots are tapping the water now. Faster growth and ph dropping.. So I guess they will start to stretch from now on...
03-01-2022: All ladies except one are doing great. I think she was too wet because of the rockwool. So I changed her bucket for a new one with some new perliet. When I was right she will probably recover, otherwise she will probably die. Pretty sure I only germinate directly in perliet next time because hose are running way better.
07-01-2022: Little girl seems to survive, great. Rest is just fine
11-01-2022: Had some issues with my computer. Temp/RH sensor was defect so irrigation and humidifier where continuous on for more then 24 hours. Fixed it by adding some smart plugs and let the smart temp/rh sensor manage it for the next few days. Some yellow leaves occurred because of that (On hydro everything goes extremely fast so problems too). First signs of flower are there so expecting to count flowering days from next week and on. Besides that, they are all pretty compact nice plants. Smallest I have had till now but because of that plenty of space to grow buds. Hoping for one main cola on all ladies, just because I like the look of that. Going to top them as soon as they are fully recovered. Switched from BAC to HyPro again, don't like the low PH values BAC suggests and PH keeps dropping.
18-11-2022: Officialy I should have made a new week for this update. But my feeding computer says my plants are in flower from next Saturday so I will keep up with that. I just decided to leave a dutch forum because they are compromised with a redirect hack and not taking action on it for a few months now. Too bad, I really loved this forum.
Ladies had a bad week since my RH/Temp sensor was defective and so my VPD was a bit off.. Leaves are just a bit curly, buds developing slower then usual. Today I received a new sensor. Let's see how fast they are up and running again
Well first signs of flower are here so I decided to start flowering from today on. Raised EC a bit (2.1) and switched positions of some plants because of light burn. Besides that I think it is easier to have the smallest plants in front. When the current nutrient reservoir is empty I will switch to ATA MAX for the flowering period. Will also add some blossom builder from at a then. Calmag is not finished yet so I have to wait a week or 2 to replace it with the blossom builder
Had some issues whit the nutrients. My B-component was PH 1.2! Noticed a PH drop after every nutrient supplied by the Nido. So at 1st I thought it was dropping PH- too but after removal of the PH- bottle the PH dropped as fast as with the bottle. So I picked some fresh nutrient from the tank after cleaning the whole system and after 4ml/L A & B the PH was 2.9 on fresh tap water (normally at 7.4-7.6). Replaced the ATA with Hy-Pro from which I had a little remaining from last round. Problem solved. Just ordered new cans. Let's see what that brings me.
Besides that. I have at least 2 but probably 3 red pheno's from the imperium.
All going well now, just lowered my setup by 35cm to gain more space for the ladies... also now my reservoir is below the cabin instead of inside, so much cooler water now (in fact I had to pace a heater to avoid temperature below 18˚C)
24-02-2022: Decide to remove all the fan leaves of the smallest lady. Just to see what happens. If it is doing her any good I will remove the fan leaves of the other ladies too by next week. Love her without the leaves, she is basically one big bud :)
Buds are growing, all levels are stable so started to remove some fanleaves. Still 2-3 weeks to harvest so when I cut on a daily basis I believe there are no fanleaves left at harvest time. Then I can just cut them and put them in the drying net. Turned down CO2 to 600PPM so they can rest a bit... not sure what will happen now.
Well , all still going strong. Pretty satisfied till now but definitely last round without scrog... The differences are just too big. Pistils are turning to orange now so just a few weeks left
Almost harvest time. Some nice purple buds and overall very satisfied. Shut down Nido so 2 days of flush now. Probably starting tonight with the lower buds
Well this was nt intended as a single strain grow. I put the Imperium together with Future #1. Future one didn't germinate at all. Sent several mails about it but no reply, will never order again at this company. Worst support ever
Appoldro420
