caregiver420
01-22-2010, 06:59 AM
I am (allegedly, but everything here is to be taken with a grain of salt) the authorized caregiver for a sufferer of Crohn's Disease (who is prescribed marijuana to be able to feed himself), and I am helping to oversee the construction of his grow as well as teaching him the skills he needs to properly cultivate his medicine. This medicinal patient has opted to pay a little more on his electric bill each month to have his service come entirely from the local wind farm! I am also playing around a little bit with symbiotic fungi (mycorrhiza) on this grow, and it is looking to be my first time going all organic, so I'm still getting used to the smell.
I wasn't really sure when to start a log for this grow, but it's finally moving out of the closet and into its own controllable environment so I guess I'll start by documenting the new space and equipment, as well as some of my wacky experiments. Later, when I have more time, I'll better document the plants themselves and their environments. Then we can all watch natures bounty come into fruition together. Sorry, but I only have a cell phone camera right now (3.2 Megapixel).
All we have now are some potential mothers and a few bonsai buds that were left over from picking the genetic candidates from a collection of randomly acquired seeds. The closet that this space is replacing was poorly ventilated and was comprised of a space with a 400watt HPS stacked on top of a space with two CFL bulbs and a 45 watt LED panel. This was sufficient to sex and choose what genetics were to be used, but not enough to grow sufficient medicine for the patient who's home it is in. The first run in this space will comprise mostly of ??Rhino Jack? clones we will take ourselves and a few random samplings from the local medicinal co-op's clone exchange.
The real magic will go down in a polyvinyl tent which I just finished building. It is to be divided into a compact low intensity light environment in one side and a larger high intensity environment in the other side. The dimensions of the outside of the tent are approximately ten feet long by three feet wide by six feet high (10x3x6). I'm sharing some photos of the frame going up and the fabric shell going on, as well as the last of the lights being hung. There is still work to be done, however! As you can see in the photos, the shell is super cheap and is comprised of lashed wood and PVC.... sorry, too poor to shell out for a commercially available 'grow tent'!
The low light environment contains two 45 watt LED panels supplemented with two 15 watt CFL bulbs. This space will be where the mothers and the clones spend much of their time living on the bare minimum of necessary light. Here our custom 38-site aeroponic cloning machine will turn the occasional bushy mother into a sea of green.
The larger side will be the high intensity environment and it has a 400watt HPS fixture (off in photos below) and a 600Watt fixture running off a digital ballast so we can use HPS or MH bulbs (running MH bulb in these first photos). Here a sizable lineup of uniform clones will accompany a smaller eclectic collection of experiments and variety. The goal is to have regular bulk harvests as well as some fun one-offs and test-plants in the same space.
Right now there is a 160CFM fan installed, but I ran out of ducting before the cool-tube reflectors could be connected up. Also the two spaces are not yet divided and there is only a temporary floor installed. The ducting will need to pass through the divider and there will need to be another input vent through the divider so air can pass along the entire length of the tent but light can be contained between the environments between them. These are all projects for next week. I am planning on purchasing a variable fan speed controller in the next week as well (probably the GrowZone Temp 2V) to exhaust the heat from the lights as needed. Right now there aren't enough plants to need even half of the lights turned on, but soon things will speed up quite a bit.
Despite moving back to 24 hours of light as soon as the first pistols appeared, many of the genetic candidates are still showing quite a bit of shock. I had forgotten how hard it is on a plant to start to bud and be pulled back into vegetative mode. I couldn't resist taking some cuttings for the cloner when it arrived, but right now they are just happy to be under the MH bulb and are finally showing new growth after a long recovery. The cloning machine will get filled up and any clones we can't fit in our space might be given away to patients with cronic ailments through the local co-op.
We are not planning on using CO2 enrichment right now, but perhaps in the future we'll get a tank and regulator and the whole caboodle. As for fertilizer we have been using Aurora's Buddha Grow and Buddha Bloom because they are organic (essential for mychorhizal colonization) and available locally for relatively cheap. I am growing in cheap topsoil with soil-moist crystals. There is an obvious room for improvement here.
I am selectively using a super powerful mycorrhizal inoculate; RTI's arbuscular mycorrhizae dry mix which they market to cash crop farmers and competition vegetable growers. I hope to determine whether a short life plant like a pot clone lives long enough for the symbiotic fungi to colonize their roots and increase nutrient uptake efficiency. I believe ours was labeled Pumpkin Pro, but all their arbuscular products seem to be the same regardless of the label and they are pretty renowned for being the most potent available. If anyone has any experience on using mycorrhiza I would love your input.
I'll post some more soon when the tent is completely done and we have all the environmental controls installed, and when that 38-site aero cloner starts working its magic. I like to try and be scientific and thrifty with my grows, and I love learning new techniques and sharing the knowledge I have gathered. I have a little more than three years of dirt growing under my belt and I'm really interested in eventually converting this space to a soil-less setup. Thanks for taking a look, and any and all comments and/or questions are appreciated.
RECAP:
600 watt Digital ballast (switchable HPS & MH)
400 watt HPS ballast
Two 45 watt LED panels
Two 14 watt CFL bulbs
Aurora products basic fertilizers
Pumpkin Pro mychorhizal inoculate
cheapo topsoil with soil-moist crystals
THE PHOTOS
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/1920/20100112191638.th.jpg (http://img63.imageshack.us/i/20100112191638.jpg/)
The frame as it was being built, with some low intensity lights hung over the empty cloner.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3324/20100112191721.th.jpg (http://img264.imageshack.us/i/20100112191721.jpg/)
Empty aeroponic cloning machine.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3267/20100112191658.th.jpg (http://img121.imageshack.us/i/20100112191658.jpg/)
The window side of the frame of the tent.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8241/20100114180216.th.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/20100114180216.jpg/)
Three of the walls cut, measured, and hung.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5570/20100121200231.th.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/20100121200231.jpg/)
The rest of the walls hung and the air box installed in the window.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4613/20100121200241.th.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/20100121200241.jpg/)
I have some light sealing to work on.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8425/20100121200337.th.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/i/20100121200337.jpg/)
Lights hung, the first plants moved in, still needs some finishing touches but you can finally start to see what the finished space will be like.
Will post more as things progress! Thanks again for checking out the newly conceived space, and don't be afraid to point out room for improvement or ask for clarification on my technique. I love feedback but don't show my growing plants off to many folks in 'real life' because I've been burned. (You shouldn't show off your plants to anyone either, on matter how covered you think you are by the local laws.)
Peace!! :hippy:
I wasn't really sure when to start a log for this grow, but it's finally moving out of the closet and into its own controllable environment so I guess I'll start by documenting the new space and equipment, as well as some of my wacky experiments. Later, when I have more time, I'll better document the plants themselves and their environments. Then we can all watch natures bounty come into fruition together. Sorry, but I only have a cell phone camera right now (3.2 Megapixel).
All we have now are some potential mothers and a few bonsai buds that were left over from picking the genetic candidates from a collection of randomly acquired seeds. The closet that this space is replacing was poorly ventilated and was comprised of a space with a 400watt HPS stacked on top of a space with two CFL bulbs and a 45 watt LED panel. This was sufficient to sex and choose what genetics were to be used, but not enough to grow sufficient medicine for the patient who's home it is in. The first run in this space will comprise mostly of ??Rhino Jack? clones we will take ourselves and a few random samplings from the local medicinal co-op's clone exchange.
The real magic will go down in a polyvinyl tent which I just finished building. It is to be divided into a compact low intensity light environment in one side and a larger high intensity environment in the other side. The dimensions of the outside of the tent are approximately ten feet long by three feet wide by six feet high (10x3x6). I'm sharing some photos of the frame going up and the fabric shell going on, as well as the last of the lights being hung. There is still work to be done, however! As you can see in the photos, the shell is super cheap and is comprised of lashed wood and PVC.... sorry, too poor to shell out for a commercially available 'grow tent'!
The low light environment contains two 45 watt LED panels supplemented with two 15 watt CFL bulbs. This space will be where the mothers and the clones spend much of their time living on the bare minimum of necessary light. Here our custom 38-site aeroponic cloning machine will turn the occasional bushy mother into a sea of green.
The larger side will be the high intensity environment and it has a 400watt HPS fixture (off in photos below) and a 600Watt fixture running off a digital ballast so we can use HPS or MH bulbs (running MH bulb in these first photos). Here a sizable lineup of uniform clones will accompany a smaller eclectic collection of experiments and variety. The goal is to have regular bulk harvests as well as some fun one-offs and test-plants in the same space.
Right now there is a 160CFM fan installed, but I ran out of ducting before the cool-tube reflectors could be connected up. Also the two spaces are not yet divided and there is only a temporary floor installed. The ducting will need to pass through the divider and there will need to be another input vent through the divider so air can pass along the entire length of the tent but light can be contained between the environments between them. These are all projects for next week. I am planning on purchasing a variable fan speed controller in the next week as well (probably the GrowZone Temp 2V) to exhaust the heat from the lights as needed. Right now there aren't enough plants to need even half of the lights turned on, but soon things will speed up quite a bit.
Despite moving back to 24 hours of light as soon as the first pistols appeared, many of the genetic candidates are still showing quite a bit of shock. I had forgotten how hard it is on a plant to start to bud and be pulled back into vegetative mode. I couldn't resist taking some cuttings for the cloner when it arrived, but right now they are just happy to be under the MH bulb and are finally showing new growth after a long recovery. The cloning machine will get filled up and any clones we can't fit in our space might be given away to patients with cronic ailments through the local co-op.
We are not planning on using CO2 enrichment right now, but perhaps in the future we'll get a tank and regulator and the whole caboodle. As for fertilizer we have been using Aurora's Buddha Grow and Buddha Bloom because they are organic (essential for mychorhizal colonization) and available locally for relatively cheap. I am growing in cheap topsoil with soil-moist crystals. There is an obvious room for improvement here.
I am selectively using a super powerful mycorrhizal inoculate; RTI's arbuscular mycorrhizae dry mix which they market to cash crop farmers and competition vegetable growers. I hope to determine whether a short life plant like a pot clone lives long enough for the symbiotic fungi to colonize their roots and increase nutrient uptake efficiency. I believe ours was labeled Pumpkin Pro, but all their arbuscular products seem to be the same regardless of the label and they are pretty renowned for being the most potent available. If anyone has any experience on using mycorrhiza I would love your input.
I'll post some more soon when the tent is completely done and we have all the environmental controls installed, and when that 38-site aero cloner starts working its magic. I like to try and be scientific and thrifty with my grows, and I love learning new techniques and sharing the knowledge I have gathered. I have a little more than three years of dirt growing under my belt and I'm really interested in eventually converting this space to a soil-less setup. Thanks for taking a look, and any and all comments and/or questions are appreciated.
RECAP:
600 watt Digital ballast (switchable HPS & MH)
400 watt HPS ballast
Two 45 watt LED panels
Two 14 watt CFL bulbs
Aurora products basic fertilizers
Pumpkin Pro mychorhizal inoculate
cheapo topsoil with soil-moist crystals
THE PHOTOS
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/1920/20100112191638.th.jpg (http://img63.imageshack.us/i/20100112191638.jpg/)
The frame as it was being built, with some low intensity lights hung over the empty cloner.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3324/20100112191721.th.jpg (http://img264.imageshack.us/i/20100112191721.jpg/)
Empty aeroponic cloning machine.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3267/20100112191658.th.jpg (http://img121.imageshack.us/i/20100112191658.jpg/)
The window side of the frame of the tent.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8241/20100114180216.th.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/20100114180216.jpg/)
Three of the walls cut, measured, and hung.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5570/20100121200231.th.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/20100121200231.jpg/)
The rest of the walls hung and the air box installed in the window.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4613/20100121200241.th.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/20100121200241.jpg/)
I have some light sealing to work on.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8425/20100121200337.th.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/i/20100121200337.jpg/)
Lights hung, the first plants moved in, still needs some finishing touches but you can finally start to see what the finished space will be like.
Will post more as things progress! Thanks again for checking out the newly conceived space, and don't be afraid to point out room for improvement or ask for clarification on my technique. I love feedback but don't show my growing plants off to many folks in 'real life' because I've been burned. (You shouldn't show off your plants to anyone either, on matter how covered you think you are by the local laws.)
Peace!! :hippy: