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I am very excited!
energy efficient growing:
The goal of this project is to grow with little electricity and effort in my homemade mini-box.
For my first indoor growing experience, I followed a grow report on Growdiaries by Totem about stress-killer automatic. I learned a lot and, with beginner's luck, got a considerable harvest myself. My first minigrowbox was made out of cardboard and aluminum foil and could be placed under my work table. I experimented a lot and rebuilt the box again and again. From that first experience came the idea for this project. This time I use stronger materials, and the box is still small but no longer fits under the table.
Soil:
I fill the well-mixed and humid soil (enriched with Mycorrizae fungi) with a Ph between 6 and 6.5 into a 20l Air-Pot. In the middle I dig a planting hole and fill it with moist coconut fiber. There the seed has a gentle germination environment with Ph of 5.8.
Sowing:
I sow the stress killer automatic seed on 10.04.2023 directly in the Air-Pot in 1 cm depth and cover the surface with plastic. At 22 degrees in the darkened box, the seed germinates after three days, on 14.04.
Light:
For the first 10 days I'm using a 26w daylight CFL-bulb (Sunny LifeLite). Unfortunately, in the beginning the bulb position has been too far away from the plant (20cm), so the seedling had to stretch a lot to get to the light. Since the bulb is hanging about 3cm above the plant.
Ventilation:
My fan (Prima Klima EC 125-TC) seems oversized for the small box, but it runs silently and currently consumes only 3W.
Humidification:
There are water containers with evaporative fleece around the pot. By the strength of the air flow, humidity (70-80%) and temperature (23degrees) can be well regulated.
Watering:
In the first week the seedling doesn't get water, the soil being covered with aluminum foil so that it does not dry out.
Power consumption:
26-28 Watt, 18 hours per day
Day 8 and 9:
There is little to do. I practice patience, because grass doesn't grow faster when you pull on it.
Day 10:
First time light exposure with the 50 Watt Sanlight Q1W for a few hours. But the light stress is too strong. The leaves are clawing. I stop the experiment and mount the weaker bulb again.
Day 11 and 12:
A few extra hours each day with the strong light. The leaves are still clawing, but the baby seems to be getting used to the new light source. I remove the soil cover and water containers. I've not yet given any water or fertilizer since I started. The soil is still moist. Little fresh air supply is enough to keep the air humid.
Power consumption this week:
26-58 Watt, 18 hours per day
3 Watt, 6 hours per day
Day 15:
For the first time addition of fertilizer to the water (2dl). Humidity varies between 55% and 65% during light period, and 60-70% in the dark.
Day 16:
I heap some soil around the stem for stabilisation. The plant is actually longer than it looks.
Day 17:
I reassemble the air tube. Now the air is blown out of the box instead of being blown in. Humidity and temperature drop (52%, 22 degrees).
Day 18:
I give 3dl this time. I cover the soil with aluminum foil, which increases light penetration and keeps the soil moist. The internodes are short. hopefully it stays that way.
Day 20:
Starting LST (low stress training). I hold the big leaves together with a brace so that the side branches get more light.
Day 21:
5dl water (after two days without).
Power consumption this week:
55 Watt, 18 hours per day,
5 Watt, 6 hours per day
Day 22
I cut off four leaves and perform LST on the plant. Sorry, my little darling, I had to do it.
Day 23
6dl water without addition.
Day 24
Today no water. I have accidentally broken a branch and injured leaves.
Day 25
8 dl water with additives.
Day 26 and 27
Minor adjustments to the LST. 2 dl of water.
Day 28
7 dl of water with additives.
Power consumption this week:
58 Watt, 18 hours per day,
5 Watt, 6 hours per day
Day 29
Has the preflowering stage already started? There are signs of it. But I am not sure. I installed the carbon active filter today. The big leaves take too much space. I do not cut them off. I tie them together below the new shoots. No water today.
Day 30
The flowering stretch begins. Some pistils are visible. I set the wires for the LST differently and increased the amount of water ( 1l ) and fertilizer.
Day 31
The new shoots are growing fast. My growbox is low (80cm). I restrain the height growth by tying down the long branches with wire. Again 1l of water with fertilizer.
Day 32
1l of water with fertilizer.
Day 33
Removed 10 leaves, made minor adjustments to LST. 0.8 liter of water with additives.
Day 34
1 liter with Nutrients. minor adjustments to LST.
Day 35
1.5 liter with Nutrients. LST and defoliaton.
Power consumption this week:
61 Watt, 18 hours per day (the fan needs more power since i mounted the carbon active filter)
11 Watt, 6 hours per day
Review of the fifth week:
The transition to the flowering phase has begun. The plant stretched and formed many branches. It has an increased need for water and nutrients. The rapid development kept me quite busy. I spent a lot of time every day with LST to keep the canopy even and as low as possible. I defoliate carefully, I figure the plant might stretch even faster and go into bloom too early if I remove too many leaves.
Day 36 and 37
one liter of nutritent solution every day and some LST.
Day 38 to 41
1.5l liter of nutritent solution every day and some LST.
Day 42
today with more flower fertilizer and less growth fertilizer. No low stress training. It still grows very fast, puts on many flowers and looks healthy. The air outside has become more humid. I am having trouble keeping the humidity down.
Power consumption:
61 Watt, 18 hours per day
11 Watt, 6 hours per day
Review of the sixth week:
The plant is still developing rapidly. It looks healthy. I spend about an hour a day containing the height growth, giving the canopy a balanced and translucent shape, watering and photographing.
I am pleased with the development in the seventh week. Many buds are visible. My stress killer is growing more slowly. I let it grow and I need less time for daily maintenance. Only at the end of the week, when it has reached the maximum height for my tiny grow box, I tie down a few branches again. I am especially careful now when I do this because the trunk and main branches have become less flexible. The plant drinks a lot; 2l at the end of the week. The leaves are dark and shiny, which could indicate a slight overfertilization. The plant is very compact. Air circulation is good, but still there is a risk of mold in the coming weeks. That's why I bought a dehumidifier. Since it rarely needs to run, the additional power consumption is kept within limits.
Power consumption:
61 Watt, 18 hours per day
11 Watt, 6 hours per day
The dehumidifier rarely uses electricity. I can't calculate the exact consumption.
The eighth week is going well. The plant is still growing. To regulate the PH, I now use a PH reducer. At the beginning of the week I gave 2l of water. Meanwhile 1.5l is enough.
Power consumption:
61 Watt, 18 hours per day
11 Watt, 6 hours per day
The dehumidifier rarely uses electricity. I can't calculate its exact consumption.
The plant has stopped growing. Some pistils are turning brown. Bud formation is in full swing. I hope this continues for a while. I'm not stressing the plant anymore. At the end of the week I defoliated. The leaf canopy is still quite dense.
Power consumption:
61 Watt, 18 hours per day
11 Watt, 6 hours per day
The dehumidifier rarely uses electricity. I can't calculate its exact consumption.
At the beginning of last week I made another light reflector out of thick aluminum foil. To make it understandable what it is all about, I would like to explain it to you:
The lighting concept of my growbox:
the growbox is too low to ensure the minimum distance (35cm) from the lamp (Sanlight Q1W 2.Gen, 50W) to the adult plant. Therefore, I have used a reflector to direct the light via the side walls to the plant. The light thus makes a detour that is about twice to three times as long as direct light. Via the reflective walls of the cylindrical grow room, the plant is illuminated from a variety of angles. In this way, the plant receives indirect light from all sides, except vertically from above. The LED full spectrum lamp with 50 watts of power is of good quality, but rather weak compared to the light output that most growers use. But with the adjusted light distribution, it is well suited and very economical.
Now the plant has reached the maximum expansion and therefore receives direct light in some places. The distance of these places to the lamp is about 30 centimeters, which is too close. For this reason I built another reflector for the mature plant.
The summer is currently hot and humid. With the dehumidifier it gets too hot (28 degrees) and without it gets too humid (60% humidity). Difficult situation. I tell myself: actually indoorgrowing in summer makes little sense. I will do the next planting in cooler seasons. Then I will not need a dehumidifier and the plant can cool down at night.
day 68
I defoliated because there is a serious risk of mold due to heat and humidity. So far, the plant has weathered it well.
day 70
have hesitated too long to remove the popcorn buds. hope that I do not cause too much stress to the plant.
Power consumption:
61 watts, 18 hours per day
11 watts, 6 hours per day
Weeks 10 and 11 were hard
Too hot, too humid, too much snipped away.
Last change of fertilizer. Nothing to do but observe:
the color of trichomes is slowly changing from transparent to milky. The leaves are dark and shiny. The buds are getting thicker. Only isolated white pistils appear.
Day 78
Time to flush the soil and clean out any nutrient residue. it takes a lot of water until the soil is washed out.
Power consumption:
61 watts, 18 hours per day
11 watts, 6 hours per day
Since the flush on day 78,
the plant receives only ph-neutral water. The EC value at flushing was 0.3 mS/cm. Nevertheless, the leaves are still green, only the leaf petioles are turning red.
The buds have become denser once again this week.
The trichomes of the main colas are milky on day 83,
a few are pink and amber. the other buds would like to mature a few more days in the light.
On day 84, I turn off the lights and stop watering.
day 86
first harvest day.
Power consumption:
As before.
From day 84:
11 watts, 24 hours per day
energy efficient growing:
The goal of this grow was to produce a good crop with little electricity. With the modest light output of the 50 watt LED grow lamp (and the 28 watt CFL bulb at the beginning), it was clear that power consumption would be low! Thanks to the very energy efficient equipment, I used a total of 88.28 kilowatt-hours for 12 weeks. The electricity costs amounted to about 20 CHF (20 Euro). That is extremely little! I also saved money by using the cheaper night electricity tariff. I was not able to measure the electricity consumption of the dehumidifier and therefore I couldn't calculate it. In the future, I grow only outdoor in the summer and indoor only in the winter. Then I will definitely not need a dehumidifier anymore and the electricity costs for this device will be omitted.
The growing conditions were not optimal:
- the summer heat in the last weeks has affected the plant.
- I am a beginner and have made mistakes.
- The grow box is super small and the lamp has only 50 watts of light output.
Nevertheless, I get a good harvest with a dry weight of the trimmed buds of 81 grams (at 66% humidity in the jar) (wet weight trimmed, with stems: 468grams).
Target reached?
YES.
For my modest cannabis consumption, I need a small, economical system for home use. The good yield confirms that this is possible without compromising quality.
nische
