Grow Journal - Second Indoor Grow: 600W HPS/MH, strain TBD...

[ellz]

Went and checked on everything today and I noticed a pungent smell in the garage. It was much stronger in the room. The humidity had gotten up to about 62% while the light was off and may have caused the room to get musky. The light just came back on at 8pm so I'll try to check it again after the fan has been running for a while. I can't run the fan while the light is off because it gets too cold and too dry. I probably never noticed it before because I didn't add nutrients to the mix. The reservoir temp is around 68ºF according to my chiller and the thermometer nearby so I don't think the water is funky or anything. I think it's just that before I had plain water and Hydroguard and now I've added a few nutrients which do smell kind of pungent. Fingers crossed that's all it is. I didn't have this issue with my cabinet because it stayed pretty warm so I left the fan on all the time.

As for the seedlings...not much change in the Peyote Cookies sprout. The OG Kush seed appears to have at least cracked open so I'm hoping to see a sprout from it in a couple of days. I've been keeping a clear plastic cup over it to both shield some of the light and to try to up the humidity and temp just over the Rapid Rooter.

Until next time, happy growing!

[ellz]

2 week update:
I planted my Peyote Cookies seed 2 weeks ago today. It has since sprouted above the Rapid Rooter. The left seed was swapped with OG Kush since the PC seed never developed. It still hasn't sprouted. So, since I have one newborn and one not quite born, I decided to do a half-strength mixture of the Week 1 nutrients (using the GH Flora Recirculating Feeding Schedule) plus a full strength batch of Hydroguard. My water's pH was slightly high after adding all the nutrients so I added 1/2 tsp of pH down and it's down to 6.12 now. Since there were no nutrients in the water I drained, I simply drained it with my handheld pump. I also installed my 3-way valve that will allow me to drain most of the water using the internal pump (which will help flush out the chiller). I've attached a photo of it below. Other than that, just waiting on nature to happen.

Until next time, happy growing!

[ellz]

So a couple of updates:
Swapped the humidifier time schedule to come on every 15 minutes when the light is on and then once an hour for 15 minutes when it's dark.

Determined that the cause of my tripped surge strip was having the chiller plugged in. It's now on it's own plug via an extension cord.

Removed the space heater as I should not need it until the fall.

Until next time, happy growing!

[ellz]

So, as I thought, the cooler was not effective at all. The temp just kept going up in the reservoir so I decided to reinstall the chiller but this time, I plugged it into an extension cord that is plugged in to a separate outlet so hopefully there won't be any more trips on the surge strip. While I had the chiller disconnected I also cut a piece of reflective bubble insulation to fit the in and out port of the chiller and then I reinstalled the fittings. This will not only block the light but also act as a shield should a leak occur. Below is a photo of how I left the room before I came in for the night.

Oh, and if you're wondering what the 4 wood blocks are on each net pot, those are lock downs to keep the pots from rising when the roots start expanding. I learned that from my last grow.

[ellz]

I decided to disconnect the water chiller and install my custom built cooler to see how it performs. It probably won't be a viable option but we'll see. Here's what it looks like:

[ellz]

Update:
I remove the rapid rooter with the seed that wasn't doing anything and replaced it with a New rapid rooter that I pre-soaked and dropped an OG Kush seed in (got it from a batch I bought recently). I then took the rapid rooter with the seed that wasn't doing anything and placed it into a net pot that had some extra rocks in it to see if it would come back. I also covered the new seed as well as the one that wasn't doing anything with plastic cups in an effort to create a mini greenhouse for them.

[ellz]

So today, as if I'm not having enough problems with a seed that won't sprout, the surge strip apparently was tripped by something and was off for who knows how long meaning EVERYTHING was off. No water, no air stones, no nothing. The sprout on the right is looking like it was stressed. I turned everything back on and will check it throughout the night but I desperately need another line or two run to my garage. Here's hoping we get a bailout like the billionaires did!

[ellz]

Here are the pictures of each plant as they sit right now...

Left seed:............................................. .................................................. .Right seed:

[ellz]

Checked on the plants and my seed on the right is about to pop up above the surface. The seed on the left on the other hand, has no activity. I gently lifted it out of the Rapid Rooter with a pick and saw that it appears to be either dead or stunted so bad it won't do anything. The broken taproot is still in the bottom and the shell is still mostly in tact other than the hole where the taproot came out. So I'm thinking it may be dead. If so, I'd like to pull it out and replace it with something else while there is still time to do so. I'm going to go try to get a picture but basically it just looks like a seed with a white spot on one side and nothing else. The white spot being the broken taproot. Anyone have any thoughts?

[ellz]

So a couple of updates...
Today I decided to take the water pump off the timer and run it 24/7 because I also turned on the water chiller and I figured it would be better to have the water always flowing for the chiller to work properly. Otherwise, it would just be taking the temp from what the water was in the unit and not in the reservoir. I also decided to put the humidifier on the timer because when the light is on, the humidity drops due to the cooling fan but once the light and fan go off, the humidity level quickly rises so what I have done is set the timer to turn on the humidifier for the entire time the light and fan are on then come on for 15 minutes every hour until the light comes back on.

Other issues that I will need to address: There is a good amount of light from the LED display on the water chiller so I will likely be taping it off or at least rigging up a cover for that part. Originally, I planned on installing a 3-way ball valve between the water chiller output and the 6-port drip manifold but the valve I bought was for PEX tubing so I'm, waiting on a barb version to arrive. This addition would allow me to choose to either have the water go back in to the reservoir or (with the turn of a switch) I can have it run to a drain bucket which would allow me to effectively drain the system AND the chiller during nutrient changes. Obviously, I can't suck all the water out with the internal pump because it would burn the pump out once the water was sucked up so I plan on draining most of the water, then adding about 5 gallons of plain, pHed water, run that until it's almost empty then turn off the pump and drain the rest of the reservoir with my handheld pump. That way, the only thing left in the system is the plain pHed water that is left over in the water chiller which will simply blend in to the nutrient water I add.

Overall, the plants are progressing pretty steadily even though you can't see anything above the surface. The one on the right has basically shed its shell and should be sprouting up any day now. The one on the left isn't doing that great. It could be because I stunted it when I broke the tap root. Worst case is I only grow one plant this time or throw in a substitute (although it won't be on the same schedule so that would likely be a bad choice). That's about it for now. Until next time, happy growing!

[ellz]

I went ahead and put my heater back in the room and bought a small humidifier as well. The temp/humidity were too low.

I also wanted to add a couple of pics of the seeds as they sit right now. The first one is the one on the right, and it seems to be doing better than the one on the left, which is the second picture.

[ellz]

Wanted to add a couple of pictures since I finally got my water chiller in and installed. First is of the light after I lowered it and the second is the chiller next to my reservoir. I haven't needed to actually run the chiller since my water temps have stayed between 64ºF and 69ºF due to the cooler outside temps. Once the summer heat arrives, I will need to run the chiller to ensure my water temp stays around 68ºF.

One other note on my carbon filter...Amazon never shipped the thing and they finally asked me if I wanted to cancel the order so I did. I'm going to just reuse the old one. It only got used for one grow and I'm not too worried about the smell. I'm going to update my equipment list in the original post to reflect what I'm using since it didn't come in. Until next time, happy growing!

[ellz]

I ended up lowering my light about half way down to keep the temps up. Basically stayed above 72F by doing that. The light and fan both shut off at 2pm so my timer is working. Hasn't been much change in the seeds. They're open but still under the surface of the Rapid Rooters. Until next time, happy growing.

[SoOrbudgal]

Very clean setup ellz good luck with your adventure. Sure do have a nice grow space

[ellz]

Once the lights came back on around 8pm, I went and checked on the seeds. The one on the right was actually upside down meaning the taproot was growing toward the light. I used a pick to gently pull the seed out of the Rapid Rooter and flip it over so the taproot was facing down. I also checked on the seed on the left and I may have accidentally broke the taproot on that one because it was facing the right way and when I pulled it up, I saw a small white piece still left in the soil. Fortunately it's a brand new root so it should just grow from the break but we will see. The light is set to run until 2pm tomorrow and then repeat daily until I change it. Until next time, happy growing!