Nirvana - Northern Light / GSC

Day 15: Nothing new Notes: Something is up with my filter. The pressure in my tent is no longer negative, Rather, no longer as negative as it once was. It's almost equal. I took off the ducting that connected my filter to exhaust fan to see why there was very little air coming out of the fan. The damn thing roared to life and immediately started sucking air out like it was brand new. Looking at reddit, I saw a few posts with similar issues, "vivosun" and "humidifier" were common terms. I'm honestly not sure if the filter just sucks, or if it sucking a liter or two of water per day out of the air destroyed my filter. I feel like I would see that issue pop up more frequently given the number of people using humidifiers in their tents. I'm glad I am throwing in a new fan and filter tomorrow, but I'm kinda scared to use a humidifier now. I know Phresh are good filters...but I don't want to have to replace the filter in the middle of flowering. That would be bad news bears. Also, my rH somehow got up to 87%. I have no idea how long it was in that state. Temperature range was 60 to 67f too. Not great. Plants are looking solid though. Gonna hold off until tomorrow to water them. Day 16: Watering Notes: New Vortex S-600 came today. With the help of reddit, I decided to try a new solution. When I took off my old filter, white dust started flying off it. Apparently it was caked all in the pre-filter and the filter itself was full of this white dust. I could've kept shaking it, but didn't want to release all that filtered dust back into the room. So, it's sitting in a box waiting to be returned. Same thing with the exhaust fan. There was a nice layer of white dust on the blades. So, instead of destroying my next filter, I'm going to hold off installing it until it starts to smell a bit, then put it back on ASAP. My mission is to control humidity, which should be a bit easier without the variable of the clogged up filter. Once the new filter goes up, humidifier comes out as ambient rH is around 30%. I gave them both a small cup of water today around the base of the plant. Slowly trying to ease them into their giant new homes. Day 17: Nothing new Notes: Plants are getting bigger! I've been running the humidifier on full blast only during the plant's night cycle. It stays steady at about 50%. Day cycle it's about 35%. I just ordered a Variac to control the fan, so once I can mess around with that, I will be able to dial in the humidity to a perfect level. The controller that came with the fan (bundled on Amazon) is poop. It gives off a wonderful sounding humming which is great for motors /s. Day 18: Watering Notes: Spent a bit of time just looking at my plants and gave them a good watering. I have to come up with some solution to water them, because i just keep pouring water on them. Its fine now because there's no nutrients in the water, but I will want to avoid that when nutrients are in the water. Day 19: Nothing new Notes: Third node starting to grow in on both plants. Going to buy some 1 1/4in hose today to attach to my 1 gallon water jugs as watering right now, is a pain in the ass with the damn scrog in the way. Even though the scrog really isn't being used, I need to figure out something now before they start to grow in. Soil is kinda dry, but I'll give them another day to test out my rigged up watering can. I also am still waiting on my variac to show up so I can better control humidity. It's been upper 30s with the humidifier on full blast during the night cycle. But the tent can hardly retain any humidity due to the fan going full blast with no filter. Hence the need for variable speed. Also waiting on a couple pre-filters I ordered to show up. Also discovered a possible light leak. In the next room over, there is a wall with some HVAC vents going through that has a small space with no drywall, which during certain times of the day leaks light into the room, which is pointed at an intake vent that is open. I through a bunch of towels to fill in the space until I can figure out a more permanent solution. Day 20: Watering Notes: Variac came today. Vortex is running at half speed with NO HUM. Also, I noticed something new today. Actually a friend of mine who lives with me noticed it (while in the room). One or both of my plants is starting to be a bit more fragrant!! God I love that smell. It doesn't smell outside the room, and chopping the fan speed in half will help for a while until it starts to get stronger. I'll have to get others opinions daily since i'll be desensitized to it. Gave both plants each a big solo cup's worth of water. Going to start increasing the amount in 2-3 days or so as the roots expand throughout the big smart pots. Day 21: Nothing new Notes: Gently rubbed the leaves of my NL and they just smell like normal vegetation. With the GSC however, definitely a pungent aroma to them already. That plant is going to be the smelly one for sure once it's actually in flower. I will definitely only be able to check on them (opening the tent) when no one is home or late at night. Soil is still kinda damp from yesterday's watering, so we're good there. I noticed there was a very fine dusting of particles on the plants. I'm guessing it's some dust coming in through the intakes, I put an HVAC filter in front of one of the intakes, and will probably end up taping it there to help filter the air coming in. I have the exhaust fan down to 55V and it's not audible outside of the room and still cycling the air through the tent adequately. Still trying to dial in the humidity though. It's sitting at 40% rH. With turning the fan down again, it should increase, but will definitely check humidity levels again tomorrow once the night cycle is over. Other than the dust, plants seem to be growing very fast with no issues. Didn't get a chance to get some tubing for my watering setup, but will definitely be doing that tomorrow as it will probably end up being a watering day. 😴