Finally a New Grow Area

[changeofpace2014]

These pics are a few days old... So the carbon filter was moved out of the joist to promote better air exchange...Heat is ok so far, but the mars is only at 75% while the diy cobb fixture is just under 300w. Since the plants have grown I have noticed a potential issue with humidity, enough to have me thinking and planning..Hopefully the outside temps will stay below freezing, but this weather has been a roller coaster and the warmer then usual temps will return to seasonal in the next week or so we shall see how they effect the humidity inside...

Had issues this time around so I added "enzymes-komplete" to the base nutes "floral trio" and some armor si "well a competitor product".. Plants look way better but not sure if the roots finally caught up with the 3 gal fabric pots.. for now going to stick with the enzymes-komplete.

[changeofpace2014]

it looks like humidity is going to be an issue....foot in mouth...What I can tell from watching the temp / humidity as the lights come back on..The humidity drops from 68% / 70% back down to about 55% when the lights get to temp..Some where around 22.5 the humidity starts to drop back down to around 65%...

I have a P.I.D temp controller for a distilling project, that was put on the back burner...The plan is to set the pid to my target temp and hook a small heater up to cycle on and off...I am not sure if I am going to leave the heater n in the tent or in front of the original air intake..Yes the heater has a built in thermostat as most do, but the pid will allow infinite control of the heat,, at least this is my understanding.

The humidity runs about 13% higher inside the tent as compared to out side. So we will see how this works out...

new house, new grow area, Big learning curve for LST and keeping them low and flat. Manifolding was straight forward (thanks Nebula) and very effective in keeping tall plants manageable but that ship sailed along with the old 6.5 ft tent...

[changeofpace2014]

Mars is at 100% now and the temp is holding @ 82...I will have to live with this but I suspect the temps will drop a few degrees as this cold weather lock in for the season...Watching a blizzard unfold this weekend...

[3Berries]

Winds have been at least 25 mph for the last 24 hrs and another 24 to go. Inside humidity has dropped to 28%. Got the water faucets dripping. Cat water bowl froze out in the garage this morning. We might get to a high of 0F today.

[changeofpace2014]

Going to be massive water / flooding issue across many states and province with the warm up late this week...Dam frustrating to have the outside temps up down with massive temp swings..Complicates the indoor environment, unless one is using heaters, dehumidifiers, and ac as the primary means of control. I can run a large dehumidifier in the crawl but that would drawl 8 + amps to much additional cost. I started on a P.I.D to turn a small heater on and off as needed to help with dark cycle humidity. Just when you get your tweak dialed in the weather changes drastically....

[3Berries]

We get our worst floods usually this time of the year. Get a warm up and thunderstorms. No vegetation to suck up water, the ground is usually froze and whatever snow cover there is melts. Looks like we have rain almost every day starting mid week. Hope it's not 4" rains......

[changeofpace2014]

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

[changeofpace2014]

Still building table top, but did another defoliation last night, I think this will be it "maybe" for awhile. The plants have been in trans since 12-20 and the males will be sorted and pulled except for the pollen donor..

[changeofpace2014]

The Mars Hydro is only good for 2 plants under it The DIY cobb fixture accommodates 4 easy, and both led run just under 300w.

[changeofpace2014]

Had to address the humidity in the off light cycle because it is running about 70% since the plants have grown. I had to spend to time on this inkbird p.i.d, it was purchased for a distilling project but found a home next to the grow tent...

So the oscillation is 2.5 degree and the RH drops around 5% between cycling a small heater on and off when conditions are met. The target temp is around 77 and that is lights out. The temps run around 82 with lights on and the RH is low 50 s sometimes in the mid 40% during lights on. I suspect the settings could be fine tuned but the current results are more then acceptable to me. Basically the temps in the tent run between 75 and 77 with lights out and the RH is between 58% and 53 % depending on the p.i.d cycling. It drawls 4 amp with small ceramic space heater during the on cycle and 1 amp during off cycle with fans.

I will post pic s later.

[3Berries]

I run my tents at 78% lights off. I think you will be chasing your tail trying to keep it low with lights off.

But in for the experimenting.

[changeofpace2014]

So far so good ...I will take some pic s and make notes..

[changeofpace2014]

This P.I.D has a auto tune feature and after running for one 12 hr cycle it has smoothed out the small osilation. I runs for 2 min then shuts off for 1 minute and it is holding RH 54 % with the temp set to 76 F. To day it is a misty rain with 97% rh outside and in the house it is 57 % rh.. It looks the p.i.d is going to work as intended.

[changeofpace2014]

Last night I had to ph and ec the trio that was mixed in the afternoon... Long story short "it took a few hours to determine the ph meter is bust and I am in panic mode...it is 2:30 am by now and I have 2 broken hannah ph meters ...so i strarted swapping parts "cloth probe" by 3 am I was able to calibrate the meter but have serious reservations...

To day a replacement was ordered yes same brand...I should know better by now as this is the 3rd one but when I looked at apera or blue lab ..Damm they are 120$++ so that was the deciding factor..

lesson learned "you should have a spare ph and ec meter!!!! these are not items you can run out and buy over the counter especially when it is 3:00am....

I have settled on using feminized seeds moving forward...to many resources and time to find out your female count is not on target...

[3Berries]

I bought an Apera pH 20 a year ago. About 2 months ago I left it out for 24 hrs and the bulb dried out. It would calibrate at 7.0 but not read accurate away from that. So I order another. These do not have the replaceable probe and are around $50.

So then I got some pH probe clearer which is a 3% solution of HCL acid. Soaked it for days and used about 4 oz of the cleaner but got it to read within 0.1 of the new one.

[90Gizmo]

3Berries would you expect that to work on the $10 USD probe? I stopped using mine when the calibration lasted for one more reading then it needed recalibrating again...

[3Berries]

90Gizmo I don't know. It's cheap enough. Muriatic acid is what you can find on the shelf in most hardware stores. Hanna is where I got mine if you want the actual stuff.

[changeofpace2014]

The flip was on Dec 20...I should go trim them a bit more, these two are really taking off and it looks like a second watering event should be included... The temp and humidity are ok for me and the p.i.d is doing it's thing really well...and that has been with major temp swings out side for extended period.

[changeofpace2014]

i broke my hand gardening last night...half cast on for ?? pita! yes it was something stupid!! collecting pollen from a blueberry male, after he was pulled and moved the house...

[changeofpace2014]

no comment.....it was stupid...

[changeofpace2014]

but thank you...

[BU2B]

ouch - hope your healing up okay.

[changeofpace2014]

have you seen a male in full bloom kick out a pistil??

[changeofpace2014]

the heat issue is back with the mars fixture at 100%...had to open tent door to keep it at 82 degrees, lights on of coarse...lights off maintains about 74%; the pid was adjusted down to 74%, it takes a little longer to reach target with door open...no real light concern with door open but i did drape a black g.b in front...

take current picks later...the blueberry is Fast to bloom both male and female..

[changeofpace2014]

Replacement ph meter came ...yeah...now lets see...package was opened ...soaking meter in ref solution first, have notified seller there may be a issue.

[changeofpace2014]

meter is broken...i might consider growing really strong weed considering all that has gone fu...wrong in the first dam week of 23...

[Ckbrew]

May I suggest:

https://www.amazon.com/Hydrion-Chart-Dispenser-5-5-8-0-Range/dp/B00QLBVP74/ref=pd_bxgy_sccl_2/133-8044008-5177703?pd_rd_w=ptlHi&content-id=amzn1.sym.7f0cf323-50c6-49e3-b3f9-63546bb79c92&pf_rd_p=7f0cf323-50c6-49e3-b3f9-63546bb79c92&pf_rd_r=3VVV8DMC72M7GCK67J06&pd_rd_wg=mUqIv&pd_rd_r=1c30d7f4-b143-42a0-93ce-ff2e7e6166dc&pd_rd_i=B00QLBVP74&psc=1

[changeofpace2014]

might be ok for backup...but i would choose a certain kelvin led and verify it with a meter...light color can drastically change the color of shades...ask any one terminating communications. thanks for suggestion

[3Berries]

We use to have a color blind guy read the violet color bands on resistors under the mercury vapor lights at work.