Basements are the Best! wtfn strikes again

[whythefnot]

Sounds like my ballast came in today. At least my girlfriend says something small and heavy came

That means that, provided everything goes well this evening, I'll be starting flower tomorrow. Their light cycle is down to roughly 18/6 right now so I'll give them one last bright day tonight, then tomorrow morning I'll flip them off around 6:30 or 7.

 

[whythefnot]

Ballast is installed...original bulb is still good...T minus sixty-four days and counting!

Time to sit down to some Electric Cheese ... mmmmmmm

 

[Phases]

nice nice - Can't wait to see the new set up with your additional lights~ going to be sweet.

Throw up a picture once you get it all set up and rocking..

What day are you at? Those girls look bushy as hell, what strain did you say that your running?

Good vibes brother..

 

[whythefnot]

nice nice - Can't wait to see the new set up with your additional lights~ going to be sweet.

Throw up a picture once you get it all set up and rocking..

What day are you at? Those girls look bushy as hell, what strain did you say that your running?

Good vibes brother..

It's some herm seeds from a stressed run of Purple Platinum OG, a cut I got while I was in California. It's a pre-98 bubba cut, high-ish cbd. I never tested it, but last run was well into the 20% thc range -- very, very strong and sticky. So it should be decent, but probably volatile. I have no idea how many phenos are in this plant, but I'd bet it's at least a half dozen, probably many more.

I was thinking I needed to go the long route to find a great cut here, but I have a buddy in a legal state who just offered to hook me up with some cuts. Golden Goat is a given, I might go for the Lashkar Gah he so graciously offered, and there are a few others that piqued my interest, and that's just from the short list. I'm still hunting for the glue, but I don't have many grow connections that could come across something like that, so it's just a waiting game. Could be years :\

 

[whythefnot]

In their last moment before lights off:

These ladies are looking healthy. They're taking their sweet old time, but that's the name of the game I guess.

 

[Phases]

I hear ya waiting on clones is a pain in the ass, I love how bushy those ladies are - I am sure you will be able to get a good pheno out of em.
I've head the golden goat is a killer strain but I have t heard of the other one you mentioned.
It's always so much better to get a nice clone that you already know is going to be good.
Keep up good work!!

 

[whythefnot]

I hear ya waiting on clones is a pain in the ass, I love how bushy those ladies are - I am sure you will be able to get a good pheno out of em.
I've head the golden goat is a killer strain but I have t heard of the other one you mentioned.
It's always so much better to get a nice clone that you already know is going to be good.
Keep up good work!!

Yeah, that's certainly the truth. I've never had anything from seed compare to the great cuts I've gotten. I only have a few connections around the country, but the ones I do have are gold, so I'm counting my blessings. Maybe I can get them in time to grow them to mother size before the third round of flowering, we'll see.

The Lashkar Gah is a landrace indica, supposed to be very purple. I have quite a few other choices but I don't really have time to dig them up and list them right now.

 

[whythefnot]

Definitely gonna go for that Chem 4 and Sour D. I'm considering Flo, always wanted to run her, but it would be more for novelty and gratification of childhood dreams than anything else.

Also available:
Lemon G13 x Polarbear OG
Goji OG
Satsumaberry
Pre-98 x UDUB

There's a longer list but these are the most readily-available. I'm open to input if anyone has dealt with any of these. Looking for high potency (first) and yield (second), of course. I like indicas more than sativas but need my daytime smoke too

 

[whythefnot]

So my next hurdle is the skyrocketing nighttime humidity. That's gonna be a a huge problem soon. I don't have floor space for a dehumidifier, and I don't have the cash for one right now anyway. That's not really the route I want to go anyway.

I have a dehumi in the basement already, so it's just a matter of pulling some of that dry air through my tent. The problem is, that air is already in the low 60's, and getting colder as winter sets in. The other problem is figuring out how to run the fan on the thermostat during the day, then bypass the thermostat at night.

This is the exact kind of simple logic that an arduino unit could handle like a boss, but I'm not quite ready to take that project on today.

I was looking at these guys:

http://www.bigalspets.com/repticare...son+Shopping&gclid=CK_zxLrE5ckCFQovaQodEywBNw

I was thinking I would run the daytime curcuit to the thermostat and the nighttime circuit to a timer. But then I read the only review I could find, which said it ran 3.5 min/day fast. I haven't been able to find a comparable product for under $60.

Anyway, if I find one that looks like it works for a decent price I'll go ahead and pick it up along with a small space heater I can hang in the tent, on a thermostat set to about 70F. The combination of a large volume of cold, dry air that is then warmed by the heater should be more than enough knock the humidity right out of there.

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[whythefnot]

The 'broken' ballast works with the new bulbs. The 'broken' bulb works with the new ballast. Go figure. Now I have friggin' 4 400w ballasts and a bulb left over. How the hell does this happen?
Shit, I'm gonna need a bigger breaker.

 

[Phases]

So my next hurdle is the skyrocketing nighttime humidity. That's gonna be a a huge problem soon. I don't have floor space for a dehumidifier, and I don't have the cash for one right now anyway. That's not really the route I want to go anyway.

I have a dehumi in the basement already, so it's just a matter of pulling some of that dry air through my tent. The problem is, that air is already in the low 60's, and getting colder as winter sets in. The other problem is figuring out how to run the fan on the thermostat during the day, then bypass the thermostat at night.

This is the exact kind of simple logic that an arduino unit could handle like a boss, but I'm not quite ready to take that project on today.

I was looking at these guys:

http://www.bigalspets.com/repticare...son+Shopping&gclid=CK_zxLrE5ckCFQovaQodEywBNw

I was thinking I would run the daytime curcuit to the thermostat and the nighttime circuit to a timer. But then I read the only review I could find, which said it ran 3.5 min/day fast. I haven't been able to find a comparable product for under $60.

Anyway, if I find one that looks like it works for a decent price I'll go ahead and pick it up along with a small space heater I can hang in the tent, on a thermostat set to about 70F. The combination of a large volume of cold, dry air that is then warmed by the heater should be more than enough knock the humidity right out of there.

Anybody have any suggestions?

I am dealing with a bit of the same situation. I added another 6" fan because my ducting was too Lin and it wasn't strong enough to get good negotiate pressure. I also flipped the exhaust around and now I vent the hot air into my bedroom.

Problem with that is its humid in my room and goes theougout the house. So I need to get the humidity down in the grow room to fix everything. I hate having to deal with high humidity.

I checked out that day/night switch thing, looks pretty cool. Might help out if you get something like that.
What I have been doing is during the day(plants night cycle) is when it gets cold cause no lights on. So i turn the heat on during the day and set at 70, then when I get home the lights go on and turn heat off. This is working good for temps but having high humidity issues as well.

Keep me posted on what you figure out, sorry I can't be more help..

 

[whythefnot]

I made my strain choices last night:
Flo
Satsumaberry
Sour D
Lashkar Gah
Harlequin

Clones should be here within a month.

I decided against the golden goat since it's a 12 week strain. I'm gonna grow one, maybe two plants of the harlequin -- just enough for family. Flo's finishing time sealed the deal for me. The rest are big yielders and fairly early finishers. I need a few big wins under my belt this year. I've been doing this way too long with mixed results -- I can't keep screwing around with 12+ week strains and bagseed genetics, life has just been way to hard on me over the last couple years.

Not sure what your user handle is here if you have one, but if you're reading this (and you know who you are) thanks again dude!

 

[whythefnot]

Keep me posted on what you figure out, sorry I can't be more help..

I'm sorry you're having the same problem, but it's a relief to hear that I'm not alone. If I just stuck a heater in there at night, it would cause the humidity come down a little but I'm 100% sure that there would still be condensation forming on the walls due to the walls of the tent being cold, causing moisture to precipitate out. There's no way I'm going to be able to keep all my buds away from the walls in the tent so the moisture has GOT TO GO.

Talked to my sis a little bit yesterday -- she's done the arduino thing in engineering school, but she wasn't entirely sure what a relay was for until I reminded her, so she's probably not the best resource for how to proceed.

I'm looking at this video on home automation with an arduino-compatible unit thinking that it has a lot of potential to be a good starting point, although I'm not sure about powering the unit through ethernet, so maybe I'll spend the rest of the day looking. I need to pick my hardware correctly the first time or this will get expensive really quickly.


If you can wait for me to get this all sorted out, and you have some basic computer/electronics skills, I'll be working through this problem very publicly, then making a tutorial on it once I have it to a good working state. And I'll link the codebase right here.

If you can't wait for that, have you considered wiring your vent fan to two separate timers on the same circuit? Like, splitting an extension cord to have 2 male ends, and plugging each one into a separate timer... You can have one on during the day, then the other on during the night. That way you can do whatever sub-controls you'd need from there (thermostat during the day, and a cycle timer or humidistat comes to mind for nighttime). If I didn't think the arduino was the most feasible option for me, that's the route I'd be headed right now.

You have the space heater already, that's a head start on me.

 

[Phases]

Wtfn,

You are defiantly not alone with the humidity issue. Since mine is pumping my exhaust into the house I have to deal with the high RH levels all through the house which, like you stated when it hits the hold walls there's condensation.

Well my windows get all foggy and have lots of condensation and some of the walls to. This is not good at all.

Might have to get the humidity way down in the room so it doesn't effect the house as much. I guess I could pump the exhaust out side. Like I do in the summer. But then I don't have that cold outside air coming in to cool things off. Kind of a Dilema

My intake 4" exhaust fan is hooked up to a temp sensor device which can set at like 77 and when it gets over that temp it kicks on for a bit brings a bunch of cold air in and cools things off. However I get lots of condensation on my fan and the ducting connected to it.

I can get some pics tonight when lights are on to show you what I mean, but I def feel ya it is a pain.

I think a good quality dehumidifier would help a lot but my problem is amps - I am almost maxed out. I am using 3 15 amp circuits, I had to run a long extension through my heating ducting from downstairs living room up through one bedroom the.l through a vent that goes into gro room. So I am almost maxed out. I don't wanna have to sacrifice a light for a dehuey, maybe if I got a more powerful fan it would exchange the air quicker and I could put a dehuey downstairs in the main floor that runs on another circuit.

The joys of growing eh.

I like that relay switch and I am really interested to see what you come up with.

I love being able to work through problems on here and help or learn from other growers, cause it's not like I can jus let go to wil and chat about my venting system issues in my growroom with my co-workers.

Even my girlfriend get sick of listening to me. Cause I always wanna talk about my new idea or system or something and she's just not into it.

Anyways I am rambling and don't wanna clog up your thread.

Best of luck. I ll be around watching and waiting for your update.

 

[theJointedOne]

Sour d is about 9 to 11 weeks, depending

 

[whythefnot]

Sour d is about 9 to 11 weeks, depending

Thanks, I'm pretty sure this is a shorter-flowering variety, maybe 9 - 10 weeks. That's fine for a third or fourth harvest in this set up. Maybe 12 weeks will be fine next year.

...

You sound like you've really got an issue on your hands. I grew in an old trailer in the deep south for a while. Talk about humidity, sheesh!! If you can't add more power, there's not a whole lot you can do about it! Is your main breaker maxed out? 3x15 doesn't seem like a lot on a 200 amp box. Any chance you can swap out the wiring for 12 ga and put some 20's in?

 

[whythefnot]

Got my last ballast (and the 'broken' one broke again) so I'm back to 3x400w hps. Spent all of $46 on it, shipping included, had it wired and lit in about 15 minutes, and just installed it and a small space heater (hung from ceiling) with the green light. My girlfriend left town for the holidays so I "borrowed" our bathroom heater. Yep, it's mine now.

I had a boo-boo on day 2 or 3 of 12/12 and flipped my timer from 'timer' to 'outlet' while I was doing a little testing and forgot to flip it back, so they had 2x12/12 then a 20+ hour day, then back to 12/12. I beat myself up over it pretty bad but the plants seem to be doing fine. Hopefully no herms, but it's really early for that.

The only issue was that it happened on the first day that I had 3 lights in the tent. The plants didn't like the jump in lighting very much -- they were still getting used to 800w after only a few days under both lights, and the little one right in the middle took the full brunt of the lighting. She was drooping at every branch tip the next day -- didn't even look like the same plant for a while. A couple of the others showed signs of fatigue as well, but recovered within a day. I'll keep a very close eye on what's happening in there tonight, since it's the first day since then that I'll have 3 lights running. I lifted the third light up quite a bit, hopefully it will allow them to grow accustomed to the lighting. I usually don't run so many lumens in such a small space, but I'm trying it out.

 

[whythefnot]

Even my girlfriend get sick of listening to me. Cause I always wanna talk about my new idea or system or something and she's just not into it.

Was just reading back through and this caught my eye. Story of my life, brother. I've probably mentioned I'm a software developer, and not for the money, well at least not originally. I have a strong passion for "cool stuff" which usually involves something very technical or mind-blowing. Her? Not so much. She shuts down at the first mention of anything to do with growing or coding, or any of my other pointed interests.

 

[whythefnot]

In the interest of stability (and because of a small windfall I got) I'm considering going with something like this line-voltage day/night cooling thermostat, then running my heater for 15 - 30 minutes out of every hour to bring the temperature up high enough to kick the fan on to clear out the moisture.

Seems like a solid plan, except that the humidity itself will still be a consequence of an interplay between a timer (heater) and a cooling thermostat (fan). Maybe I can put the heater on a humidity-lowering humidistat. That way it will just keep forcing more heat in, keeping the vent fan on, until the humidity is optimal. If it all works it will definitely be a far cheaper and more energy-efficient solution than buying a dehumi and putting it on the floor in there.

The whole plan hinges on the basement being cold, so I'll have to modify it to always vent in the summer, but that should be pretty simple to do when the time comes.

Edit: I picked up a CAP TMP-DNE, which does all the same stuff (heats/cools, day/night settings) so now the only other thing I should ever need for humidity is a humidistat for keeping the humidity low. I have one that keeps it high already.

 

[whythefnot]

I just picked up a dehumidistat. I'll hook it up between the timer (for lights off) and the heater so that the heater will continue to run as long as the humidity is too high, which will keep the vent fan running.

I figured I was gonna want/need it eventually, and for $25 it might as well be now. So now I can leave my basement dehumi running, and leverage the dry air it produces in the cold basement to dehumidify the tent with pretty minimal wattage (just a space heater and vent fan).

Maybe I'll spend the rest of the week on re-building my big ass humidifier and setting up blumats. Depends on how far I get with my other work. Wish me luck...