First Attempt (with 528 Hz informed water)

Already week 7, and it’s starting with much better air humidity which makes it easier for me to stay in the recommended VPD range – currently 54% at 25 °C at canopy height. With 58, 67, 78 and 80 cm plants’ average height is about 71 cm. Odour has increased, and sometimes, but only shortly, I get the feeling the coal before the blowers cannot eliminate all of it. While the smell was a bit strange sometimes one and a half week ago, it’s now absolutely yummy, sweet and promising. As is all the sticky stuff adhering to my folding rule when I measure their size. I am a bit confused about the amount of yellowing leaves. That would indicate a nutrition deficit. On the other hand, last feeding (yesterday it was only calmagged water) brought some brown edges to their tips as I wrote. Which could indicate a slight over-nutrition. I am not *that* worried as leaves around the buds all look great (except for mentioned, but not youngest tips), and mature plants obviously tend to concentrate on bud production solely. But week 7 is quite early, or isn’t it? Any recommendations? Maybe I should go with organic fertiliser next time to avoid being stuck between two options ;) As they had run dry already, I gave each one another round of drink. Slightly less fertilised than last week. And I removed the lowest yellow branches and tiny buds that would not make it into the light in time. The Pineapples must have some mimosa genes crossed in. Each time I touch them they bow away their heads in deep dislike. The taller one looks like her head would be too heavy now … It is not, and usually they recover after an hour or so. The Sherbets are pretty unimpressed by all I do. Meanwhile I’ve been working on the Raspberry Pi BoxControl that should help me stay in better VPD ranges in the future. I am not sure how to translate this all into a more stable solution than based on a breadboard, but the state so far (and how it is supposed to work): Raspi runs headless with control software on autostart. Every minute temperature and humidity are received from a GY-21 I2C chip that should be hanging around plant tops. Data is saved in a database, VPD is calculated and signalled in form of a RGB LED color. Additionally, LCD display rotates through current stats. 3 relay modules can en- or disable misting, dehydration or an additional blower. Maybe I can add a CO2 sensor just for the fun of it (but I’d have to develop a device protocol myself), maybe even one or two soil moisture sensors. Theoretically you could also have a lighting control, but then, GPIO ports are all used. The display needs a lot of them, and while I can log onto the Raspi on my local network and view its desktop, I’d prefer to have a quick overview at place. I am not really informed about current models. Are some GPIO extensions or Raspis with extended GPIOs on the market? But so far, that’s all theory. I never had a PCB developed for my hobbyist projects, I am not the best with a solder station. Never had a Raspi run 24/7 for a really long time. Did a bit more lollipop ping in the evening. Especially tallest Shepard had fun building some more very low buds and branches. I think it can investigate its powers better on different places. Day 51: It’s getting hard to measure soil humidity with my low tech device. Soil must be full with roots and I don’t want to hurt them much. I can see them at the outlets of their pots too, sometimes a bit dry of course as these parts run dry earliest. Experiments to include the CO2 sensor in my test setup failed. I can read and reset it, but setting measurement mode and reading values don’t work. Maybe because my I2C library cannot use ClockStretchLimit. Running out of GPIO ports anyway and seeing that the soil sensors are analogue devices, I’ll probably revive my Uno too and have discovered some clever Raspi heads that should make a more stable setup (and some cooling) possible while also adding a handful of PWM ports and an integrated display. I’d like to include a camera module too and it would be great to have some ports available. A final setup would obviously include a Raspi 4 or 5 to easily enable secure online access. But so far, all working nicely in test setup. Day 54: Sometimes I wonder if they’re still growing at all, but then it’s good to have the daily pictures to compare bud width which now seems to be the main interest of the ladies, although differences are now clearer to tell between two day intervals. The taller ones look like they are one week ahead of the smaller plants, with even higher fan leaves turning pale now. Which at an estimated seed–harvest time of 8–11 weeks for both strains should be pretty common, I guess. Or am I wrong? Summerly temperatures make the temperatures at canopy level sometimes reach 31 °C, but at least the simple ultrasonic diffusers arrived and I am getting closer to a better environment control. I can at least switch the diffuser inside the tent remotely from my phone, and a deep bowl of water with a lid so the "fountain" produced will not wet the tent floor and one of the fans placed at the bottom now to lift its mist upwards seems to do the trick. Humidity increases while temperature drops, getting the plants into a better VPD level, so all I have to do is wait for the evil A to deliver the necessary Raspi components to have this automated, maybe still while this grow runs. At the end of this week, there was just a bit of height gain for the two smaller ladies who now approach their next 10 cm mark. Overall, I get the feeling it won’t be that long until harvest. Maybe with the taller ones a week earlier than the others. There’s really not that much bud growth anymore, rather refinements – like buds getting more nodes and color. I’ll investigate the trichomes every few days but would welcome your estimation.