20' X 36' X 12' solar powered farmtek, 10 X 200 gallon organic soil

[self]

Nice greenhouse, looks a fair amount like mine from Envirotec. Wish I had gone with Farmtek. Good luck with your grow, I will be subbed.

Thanks foothillsfarming, your posts are always on point. Glad to have you around on this one.
What's the enviro tech like?
The farmtek is great, right now one of my drop down side panels is sticking for some reason, but otherwise it's my new favorite place to be.
I'm still trying to work out ventilation. I decided I'm going to do what I can with some diy solar stuff kicking around before I shell out for the snapfans. Basically just for this season, next season Illl spend the money on some more panels and automation and climate control.

 

[FoothillFarming]

I bought everything to make mine automated, and never used it. Doesn't really need it. My temps get in the 90's for over a month strait in the summer, and I don't really need the fans. The roll up sides, and roof vent does most of the work.

The envirotech is similar looking to yours, but the greenhouse itself isn't well thought out. I can see from your pictures Farmtek solved many of the issues I have encountered in mine. The main reason I dislike Envirotek is they are a bunch of hacks. Never finished the job, and did lots of things outside of code even though everything was permitted. Failed inspections, and never returned. I had to clean up their mess. Sold me two roll up doors, that can only be opened from the inside.......Those kinds of things. I would be very surprised to hear they are still in business.

 

[self]

I bought everything to make mine automated, and never used it. Doesn't really need it. My temps get in the 90's for over a month strait in the summer, and I don't really need the fans. The roll up sides, and roof vent does most of the work.

The envirotech is similar looking to yours, but the greenhouse itself isn't well thought out. I can see from your pictures Farmtek solved many of the issues I have encountered in mine. The main reason I dislike Envirotek is they are a bunch of hacks. Never finished the job, and did lots of things outside of code even though everything was permitted. Failed inspections, and never returned. I had to clean up their mess. Sold me two roll up doors, that can only be opened from the inside.......Those kinds of things. I would be very surprised to hear they are still in business.

thats reassuring. i haven't seen any signs of stress in my plants so maybe its not really an issue.
Do you run any fans in your GH at all?

I just found some 16" 12vdc box fans that will run off my diy solar power box. One in the peak of the roof should take care of the worst of the heat and pull more cool air in from the sides.
power box with solar controller, volt meter, cigarette lighter plugs, usb, and inverter. 36 ah battery.

100w panel

 

[FoothillFarming]

I have run 30 amps down to my greenhouse, and have 6 fans total. However, I don't turn them on till Oct unless I feel the need. The 6 fans are all industrial size circulating fans, and run at 4 amps each. ( I think )

I also have a 48'' end wall fan that I have never hooked up. I am sure it works great though......

 

[self]

So my coots mix is pretty hot when I first mix it up and water it in. I thought it was supposed to be good to go without a cook, but it looks like a week or two is necessary to let everything do its thing. Anyone else have this happen? I was under the impression the coots was light enough to plant right into. The first batch I let cook because I used chicken manure, but these next two batches were pretty much straight coots...could it be the fish meal?

 

[Noonin NorCal]

sensorpush in action
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first girls in the ground! This is my Darkstar. I plan on making a bunch of crosses this year, mostly to OGs from seed.
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Peyote Purple holding down the row
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bottled nutes
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Looks good. what do you do about the big puddle? do you sponge it out or just let your container sit in it.

 

[Tyson53]

Self...if you added any kelp meal or alfalfa meal..thats cooks hot...I did the same a few years ago and my bags where hot for 2 weeks till they broke down some...

another thing...I grow in a green house also...and fans are needed badly...I first just used a few 18" wall fans (4) and it was not enough....I would have condensate on the inside bad...then I got 2 36" fans and had them sucking out the inside air..that helped alot...do not forget the water in your planters evape also keeping humidity hi in there...the fall is the worse time for me...so I run a lot of fans...and have less rot...I have a temp humidistat...during the day the fans come on at a programed temp...then at night I switch it over to humidity...when it hits 60% or more they come on...keeps the dew down and condensate...I also injector feed so the soil is not wet on top to make it more humid...the less water exposed is the best for me...

 

[self]

Looks good. what do you do about the big puddle? do you sponge it out or just let your container sit in it.

So far I'm bailing it into a bucket, but as soon as I have time I'm going to hook up a pump to do it for me.

 

[self]

Self...if you added any kelp meal or alfalfa meal..thats cooks hot...I did the same a few years ago and my bags where hot for 2 weeks till they broke down some...

another thing...I grow in a green house also...and fans are needed badly...I first just used a few 18" wall fans (4) and it was not enough....I would have condensate on the inside bad...then I got 2 36" fans and had them sucking out the inside air..that helped alot...do not forget the water in your planters evape also keeping humidity hi in there...the fall is the worse time for me...so I run a lot of fans...and have less rot...I have a temp humidistat...during the day the fans come on at a programed temp...then at night I switch it over to humidity...when it hits 60% or more they come on...keeps the dew down and condensate...I also injector feed so the soil is not wet on top to make it more humid...the less water exposed is the best for me...

Right on, thanks for the info!
I just got a couple 12v DC 16" fans to circulate the air. That is helping a lot a lot with high temps. I have a temp controller on the way too, so I'll have the fans kick on when temps go over 80. I can't decide wether I want to position a fan blowing directly down each row, or inthe more traditional high-low intake& exhaust configuration.
I'm waiting to have a little more cash before I buy some big fans, but it will happen, humidity around harvest is a big problem here.
I'm about to start experimenting with a drip tape system to reduce exposed water.
Thanks again for the tips!

 

[self]

Yep, I've definitely got alfalfa & kelp! It's starting to cool down on some of the pots I mixed last week. Most of the hot spots are where I didn't mix quite as well as I should have.
The coots mix is new to me, so Im going to cut myself some slack my first run until I dial it in. I usually run something closer to a tom hill or super soil mix. Still, most of the plants in the fully cooked and cooled mix are very happy and spreading into the 200 gallon pots without any training. It's cool to see them growing wide and imagining the roots growing outward too. When I was turning the hot mix I was happy to see a lot of myclelial growth! Whole pockets of it. I'm imagining the fungi prefer the rice hulls over perlite when it comes to running a substrate.
Did I mention what I got for cuts? No OG, or MOB, sorry, but I did get the kksc, daywrecker diesel (aka underdawg diesel, aka original diesel) ACDC, and tutti fruiti.
I've grown the diesel before many times, she is a dream production plant, indoors and out. I'll be putting her in a big schrews style mound outdoors.
Very excited to grow cough and the tutti fruiti ( pretty sure this is the same as juicy fruit, juicy fruit Thai?)
ACDC is proving to be very sensitive. I grew cannatonic for a few years and she was a fussy plant too. Hoping I can bring her around from transplant shock.
I'll get some new pics up soon to show some growth.

 

[self]

Growth update
Cherry ak auto flowering a little:

Super lemon haze, one of three distinct phenos I ended up with, not sure which to run this round...this one has the most serrated leaves and funkiest stem rub. Another one is purple stemmed, and the third is funky with "simple" less serrated leaves...

Cookies kush from Barneys farm. Basically no good grow reports on this on the Internet...I bought the seeds direct from Barneys online, and I really like the plants so far. Three phenos here too, this is the branchiest, darkest, thinnest leaved, with a funky warm chocolate minty stem rub, sometimes more like Vicks. The other two are more totem pole indicas, one with better internode spacing. Both smell loud- meaty fuely Vicks .

99 OG - from dutchgrown oger 99 circa 2012 bag seed. Mom lost in a five day power outage in December 2013. Definitely one of the strongest strains I've grown, I'm looking forward to seeing what this bag seed has to offer! Nice vigor compared to the handful of other OG crosses I started this year.

ACDC - finally adjusting to new soil. She is a prissy bitch. She better give up the CBD s when the time comes.

 

[self]

Strawberry Cough - just settling in

JackONesia - happy plant

Darkstar - raging, I love this plant! Can't wait to cross it with a boss Hogg male (chem4 bx)

Bodhis Pagoda (Apollo 11 genius X appy). This is my current favorite plant. I have a mom scrogged out under a stealthgrow 602 in my grow room and she is a sight to behold, and smell. Smells like dank melon flowers. It will definitely be my biggest yield from a single indoor plant. Outdoor last year she went 2 plus easy without much attention.

Peyote purple ( bubba kush in-bred line), looking really happy! Very nice medicine here, like a warm blanket and a soft pillow.


That's it for now, I'll show off some of my outdoor, and some improvements to the greenhouse next time. I got a thermostat and temp control hooked up to 2 fans now, all solar powered and automated and doing its job well. No more 100 degree days in the GH!
Also pumps, irrigation, 50 gallon tea brewer in the works.
Much love!

 

[balsamfirgreen]

looking good man!

 

[self]

Finally got my intake fans installed in the shaded wall. I've got a scratch and dent 250w solar panel coming tomorrow thanks to my brother who works as a solar system salesman, so I may double up on the fans and do exhaust from the ridge as well, that would give me 2000+ cfm which should be pretty solid. I've also got a bilge pump hooked up to pump out the runoff trays, and just put together the frame for a 50 gallon compost tea brewer, just need PVC to complete it! I'm hoping to run it off the solar too, but I may have to brew during sunny days.

 

[ronbo51]

Hey man. Good job here. All this automation off the grid is very useful to show what can be done. Maine definitely requires a greenhouse for most popular strains as it's just too risky trying to carry plants into October. I knew the guy who grafted all the apple trees for Fedco back in the day. Before Fedco got big enough to afford their digs over in Waterville they had the tree sale in Monroe at Mark Fulford's farm. He custom grafted a bunch of heirloom apples I planted on my place in Dixmont. There was also a a guy who was considered one of the foremost heirloom apple experts in the country named John Bunker. People would tell him about some old apple tree they found at some ancient abandoned homestead and he would rush over and see if that variety was one of the rare cultivars he was missing and he would take cuttings for propagation. After farming in Maine for 23 years I ran into most folks who successfully homesteaded or ran small commercial farms. I don't know if anyone still works Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont. They were legendary in the homestead movement and were a lighthouse on how to get it done in rural Maine to the second wave of back to the landers that showed up in central Maine in the 70's and early 80's. It looks like you are carrying the tradition well. Maine is a harsh environment and easily weeds out the less then committed. Good luck to you. It looks to me like you got this.

 

[self]

Hey man. Good job here. All this automation off the grid is very useful to show what can be done. Maine definitely requires a greenhouse for most popular strains as it's just too risky trying to carry plants into October. I knew the guy who grafted all the apple trees for Fedco back in the day. Before Fedco got big enough to afford their digs over in Waterville they had the tree sale in Monroe at Mark Fulford's farm. He custom grafted a bunch of heirloom apples I planted on my place in Dixmont. There was also a a guy who was considered one of the foremost heirloom apple experts in the country named John Bunker. People would tell him about some old apple tree they found at some ancient abandoned homestead and he would rush over and see if that variety was one of the rare cultivars he was missing and he would take cuttings for propagation. After farming in Maine for 23 years I ran into most folks who successfully homesteaded or ran small commercial farms. I don't know if anyone still works Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont. They were legendary in the homestead movement and were a lighthouse on how to get it done in rural Maine to the second wave of back to the landers that showed up in central Maine in the 70's and early 80's. It looks like you are carrying the tradition well. Maine is a harsh environment and easily weeds out the less then committed. Good luck to you. It looks to me like you got this.

Hey ronbo51, Thanks Man! Ive met John Bunker and grow some of his apple trees around my little homestead. The fedco tree sale is the highlight of my spring every year. My aunt and uncle live off the grid in Liberty on what was until recently an unnamed fire road. My family has been in Maine a long time (6 generations plus) but it took me getting out and living elsewhere to really appreciate the place. I think peacemeal is still around, a lot of that first wave of back-to-the-landers started some really amazing farms and ideas.
I try to bring it all together in my ganja growing. A little bit of permaculture, some biodynamics, and a lot of economy & practicality in the true maine spirit.

Ive been at this for a little while, i guess about ten years now. I became legal as soon as I could when Maine went medical in 2010.
I've found what works and what doesn't outdoors here in Maine. Anything with giant buds is pretty much fucked. You want smaller hard buds, or looser more open sativas who finish hard and fast. Almost nothing finishes before it starts to be wet and 60 every night, perfect mold conditions. BOGs strawberry kush does. So does durban. I like a sativa hybrid that finishes off with dense trichome covered flowers. Like SLH, Pagoda, Blueberry Hill, sour amnesia, sssdh, and on the more indica side, Original Diesel, Darkstar, and Ancient OG.
then I use the rewire cages cali-style to train the branches out horizontally to maintain spacing and airflow. Before flower I clean up all growth inside the cages so its totally bare stemmed.
If I do all this right, I can pull cali-style weight.
anyway sorry for the total ramble,
Thanks for stopping by!

 

[self]

nice camera pics

nice camera pics

I recently had a nice camera. my wife gave it to me for my birthday last year. Unfortunately three nights into our honeymoon in costa rica our rental car got broken into and I lost my whole camera bag full of a bunch of awesome stuff I now miss, like my kryptek rain coat, binoculars, head lamp, and all my camera shit. at least they didn't get my go pros. little street kid fuckers. I hope you're enjoying my sweet birthday shwag.
anyway, this is a similar model, albeit heavily used, I got in a trade.
Im very thankful to have it. karma is a little loopy sometimes.

row shot

Cookies Kush

JackONesia

Darkstar

 

[ronbo51]

Hey ronbo51, Thanks Man! Ive met John Bunker and grow some of his apple trees around my little homestead. The fedco tree sale is the highlight of my spring every year. My aunt and uncle live off the grid in Liberty on what was until recently an unnamed fire road. My family has been in Maine a long time (6 generations plus) but it took me getting out and living elsewhere to really appreciate the place. I think peacemeal is still around, a lot of that first wave of back-to-the-landers started some really amazing farms and ideas.
I try to bring it all together in my ganja growing. A little bit of permaculture, some biodynamics, and a lot of economy & practicality in the true maine spirit. !

I left Maine in 2004, but still have interests there. I went up last fall and went to a party in Freedom and stayed in Thorndike. Is the tool barn in Liberty still there? I used to buy lumber from an amazing woodworker in Liberty named John Sage. That party I went to had the most pot I have seen maybe ever. Every person had a big bag or jar. The homeowners had a massive pile out on the table. It was impressive. Thank god for weed because the regular Maine economy looked a hundred times worse than when I left.

 

[self]

Haha, that sounds like a maine harvest party! Yeah, as far as the economy goes it's either Lobster, pot, or tourism these days. I guess that's not half bad, but it leaves out anywhere without coastline (except growing the good herb). And the lobster catch has been off the charts. So more opiate addicted lobsterman :/
And more reason to legalize pot and give them an affordable alternative .

 

[balsamfirgreen]

Looking great self. I just got the FedCo bulb catalog this week! love FEDCO! always have and will.

This is my first year with a greenhouse (finally) and I hope it knocks down the bud-rot loss to no more than 10% loss factor. Essential Oils, Foliar Mycostop/Actinovate during early flowering, Bt to stop caterpillar activity, B.Subtilis, GreenCure, are all on the shelf. Plus K Si treatments as well.

I have mixed feelings about CRMLA (Clint Boyer/Regulate MJ like Alcohol). I was much more fond of Paul McCarrier's Legalize Maine. I think that the qualifying conditions for medical recommendation should be expanded (opiate addiction!), but something about fully legal makes me uncomfortable, coffee shops and retail stores, all the trouble it has brought to the west-coast MJ scene, I don't know if I want to see my beloved laid-back Maine turn into Marijuana Disney Land a la Oregon/Washington. Just my thoughts, didn't mean to highjack your thread. Plants look awesome!