Everything under 1kW

[Schwarzenbart]

Howdy folks!
Some may remember me as blackbeard from OG back in the day when I was first getting started with a WW x SS clone.
Nearly a decade later and I haven't given up, with only 3 complete sessions harvested.
Fast forward through the bullshit and drama of the struggle, you all know or have known it, I'm back in action with an operation that is designed to be the safest perpetual garden I can do in the space.

Features:
One 2x2x6 area with a 2 foot 4 lamp t5 for moms below
Two 2x2x6 flowering cabinets with a 250W HPS each
One 2x5 shelf (five flat spaces) with a 4 foot 4 lamp T5 for clones
6" Inline fan and Carbon filter ducted outside
4" rigid adjustable duct to 120MM PC fan intake
80mm silent PC fans for each HPS pushes cooler air in and out the top of each hood through duct to warm the shelf and up to exhaust
4 200MM PC fan circulation one for each space

I am still figuring out how many moms I can fit comfortably under the 2 foot 4 lamp t5, thinking two, and thus how many clones I can cut per week from each, thinking 3-4.

The idea is to use less than 1kW/hr^2 to perpetually produce enough clones to pay the rent and power, have no sound at night, and enough flowers to stay powered up all day and pass out at night.

If I can take 4 cuttings a week from 4 moms, that’s 64 clones/month, which isn’t very productive but will still provide plenty of selection once a month when I pick two to flower out, one on the side of the finishing one in each cabinet.

Got these clones from various sources and have been watching them carefully, thank god not mites, gnats, or PM. I planted in EB Stones Formula 420, am spraying once a week with equal parts safer and neem and feeding foxfarm full line without the Bembe, because I still have plenty of molasses left. Veg temps are 65 - 77 night to day and the far side (right side) bloom cabinet doesn't have active intake to pull cold air from the other side but it will.

Right now bloom cab temps are 75 left 80 right. I leave the PC fans on 24/7 and run the 6" inline from about 20 mins after the hids turn on to about 30 mins after to really flush all the heat and still safe power as the 6" is only on about 13 hours a day. We'll see when the flowers actually start smelling.

Gotta transplant soon, but I have to find the moms among Blue Dream, Double Dream, Mango, Sweet Tooth, Chocolope, Romulan, so the first round of cuttings and seeing what bounces back first, then what roots fastest, and if that doesn't work I'll order seeds. I have mixed feelings about the mango because I am not trying to raise some butch dyke weed but aside from that it's all good because I have tasted it before and know it works.
I am thinking of using the awesome pots with the closed top, but they don’t list dimensions and I need to know before buying two of them because I need to feet roughly one 15 gal and one 3 gallon pot in the two 2x2 flower spaces. Anyone with the Awesome Pot know the dimensions?

Particular props to House of the Great Gardener, Bubbleman, Michigan420Caregiver, Medicropper, Bologna Sheets MD, VaderOG, BigDan and 1LB club for keeping me motivated. HygroHybrid you suck for that subscription because you are taxing the poor and that is not irie or rock and roll so poop on your thug self.

BTW thanks for looking, I am open to advice and AMA!

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Lessons learned so far:

1.5 cu ft soil bag = 11.22 gallons
2 cu ft soil bag = 14.96 gallons
double listed water pump lift height for pressure at height
1/2" grommet cut 7/8" hole
3/4' grommet cut 1" hole
Always use conical step bits for plastic and seal with 100% silicone where needed
aquarium check valves on air pumps lower than highest water level if any
larger cfm or diameter hole for air intakes than exhaust
All lamps must be air or liquid cooled, I have active exhausts and passive intakes throughout my system, with active main intake
All pumps and fans that may contact water (not surface mounted or hanging) must be low voltage or rated for specific use and in good working order
Automatic fire extinguishers over hotspots
Baking soda for ph up nutrient
Lemon juice for ph down
Down is easier than up in temp, rh, ppm, ec, and ph

Correct me if I am wrong please!

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Stats:
Veg PPM 750
Veg PH 6.3
Bloom PPM 1150
Bloom PH 6.3
Veg: 73/60%
Bloom: 79/60%
That's with the sensors in the soil.

I believe the humidity is up because I put in a recirculating system so I can feed both cabinets from the same tank and achieve the undercurrent effect. I planted two blue dreams in the 3 gal prune pots filled with happy frog and put the prune pots in the appropriate bucket lid net basket placed in a networked 3 gallon bucket. I have seen how big the 5 gallon dwc plants get so I am trying to keep the height down with the 3 gallon. 1/2 inch valve controlled in, double 3/4 inch out to adjust from gentle creek to raging rapids. Two airstones in the control bucket and I just plug the sump out in my utility bucket to the pump out in my control bucket, and it flushes the system. I unplug from the system pump, feed the garden with the flushed stuff. I refill the utility bucket, add nutes one at a time, checking ppm along the way, balance the ph, and then turn off the system pump, plug back into system pump, and then plug in the sump pump for refill. When done slowly there are no spills and until I have one of those nice ph controllers and an RO filter with a fill valve like the big boys I can't just top off.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Got too hot so I had to change it to night time operation. I am not worried about FLIR right now, the PH targets are 5.8-6.3. Bloom PPM is down to 800 at the end of this week from 1150, added a gallon and PH down with lemon juice and leftover GH stuff. The microbe brew and kangaroots kind of take days off and sometimes I get a big head from the molasses, I add it instead of Bembe, sometimes I don't. I definitely got a bigger head from the organic stuff, this grandmas must be stale or something. The two airstones are doing the job of aerating, but I can't open the valve on the 184 ecoplus pump all the way without the last bucket being emptied and the reservoir being flooded, it's just sucks too hard. I need to put a half inch external fill like the UC systems. I wish I put the 3/4 up top and the 1/2 inch feed in the bottom but I could only achieve the bottom up current by cutting the top holes to 1 inch or greater for return instead of cutting them half inch for feed and leaving the 3/4 returns.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Lemon Diesel is a picky bitch, she likes to stay dry and hot.

The mango automatic, blue dream, and lemon diesel are all pm friendly.

I am not, so after chopping them down and training em out, I am continuing daily neem spraying in five days on, 1 day off.

That's what Dynagro said to do, and they said not to mix it with Safer insect soap, but to use dish soap instead. I am using Dr. Bronners liquid dishsoap to emulsify it as prescribed because I haven't been convinced I should use Protekt or anything else.

I am building 2 32 site cloners from 182gph pumps and ezclone sprayers and collars, and I have no more stretching from the two Double Dream girls in flower. I am sick as fuck of these damn trays, lids, and domes not fitting together. I must have spent 100 bucks on mismatched mondi shit over the years and I am not impressed. There has to be a better way to maintain humidity on these plastic flats or a better manufacturer.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

The double dream just grows. It's almost as fast as the sweet tooth, but the chocolope is slow as shit and the blue dream is average. I'm using a photocell to turn the ceramic wall heater on when the lights are off to keep my off daytime temps over 65 and my nightime temps are now 69 bloom area off with 67 veg area on, and 80 bloom area on with 77 veg area on. The 4" intake is straining the 6" hurricane fan and its making noise keeping that negative air pressure vacuum.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

The fungus gnats are nearly gone, and I have the spider mites and pm under control but not yet eradicated yet. I am not getting clones from that guy again now that I found a pro farther away. It was a two hour drive but I got some Ancient OG. That Iranian Landrace and Snow lotus combo really does the trick for me and Bodhi seeds just makes some really vigorous stuff I need for this small setup. Thanks HighOnFire420 for the hygienic cuts. You saved me a month of quarantine time. I wish we could say in the Bay Area that we don't get the pm and mites from craigslist, but we do, really bad. Glad I found a pro to help this patient out.

 

[jay-toker]

.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

1kw is not "micro"

Wait, so two 250W flowering cabinets packed in next to a clone nursery and mom lounge, with all lights for all three areas running under 1kW is not micro?

Check out the latest pics and let me know if this is still micro to your tastes IC forum!

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Added a micathermic panel heater on a photocell with thermostat down low to keep my night time (daytime) temps in 60s, because the 50s was really slowing down growth. Also, I am putting a drop of clonex down the hollow main stems when I take cuttings from the younger less developed plants. It dries like a vitamin b plug and keeps the plant from forming a knuckle around the embolism that usually forms on young plants when a hollow main stem is cut.

With 8 moms under T5s how many cuttings a month should I be able to take? I am following the OG bonsai mums guide and it says 10 every two weeks.

I am going by the plants and how many 5+ fingered leaves and where I want the branching they will have left to end up, as well as Misterito who said top and cut them into a cup shape with the main stalks being from the lower nodes.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

1kw is not "micro"

Also, is micro defined by watts, amps, or harvest size?

I have a kill-a-watt on the setup and here's what it says:

118.9VAC
.97PF

Veg
416 Watts
3.63 Amps

Veg and Bloom
916 Watts
7.79 Amps

 

[Dank Demon]

Nice healthy plants, good luck with your grow mate.

Peace

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Nice healthy plants, good luck with your grow mate.

Peace

Thank you sir!

Any advice is totally welcome!

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Quick update:

The double dreams exploded and hit the lights. I had to take them off the ratcheting pulleys and just hang them. That's from a rooted clone in a fabric pot, in a net pot lid, in a 3 gallon bucket. The bottom stays moist, but the rest of the roots about halfway up to the topsoil stays dry on top. This wicking action is badass, but I doubt the heaviest nutrients are really being wicked up through the fabric into the roots. I don't want to do top feed though, because unlike the terra cotta rolled pumice balls, AKA hydroton/hydrokorn, the happy frog soil stays moist for 3 days from a top feed. I am going to mount the pump inline and run 1/2 inch to fill and leave the two 3/4 for drain so I can get that UC type flow. Right now the 3/4 circular leaves the last bucket draining faster than the rest unless I turn down the pump like I am now, and I still only get a gentle swirl. I think that flushing power will keep the FoxFarm nutes mixed up because all the solids start sticking together by the second day, even with two stones in the res.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

I read the kill-a-watt wrong, everything on but the night time heater is 904 Watts at 7.81 Amps.

The soil and hydro schedules are really different and I already bought the whole line except for the Bembe, which I am using molasses for instead, but I still can't figure out why the PPMs are supposed to be so high.

I let my PH drift up to 6.5 before I knock it back to 5.5, but if left unattended for 3 days they will drink about 3 of the 9 gallons and leave the PH at 7. A little bit of PH down or lemon juice and plain water the rest of the week, then I drain, fill with sledgehammer, which is mostly yucca extract, flush that, and refill with whatever weeks doses are prescribed. This session is week 5 and I believe theres another 5 weeks to go for blue dream, so maybe the double dream finishes the same or sooner. Also found a seed in some pure truth that popped in rockwool. We'll see if it wants to rock with the big girls.

 

[hush]

1kw is not "micro"

If he was using a 1000w HPS I would agree with this... but since he's not, I disagree.

Very nice micro grow you got going here. I like how it's all packaged up into the one closet like that. I'll follow along.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Got some citric acid for the PH down, the used speedster I got doesn't make much noise and it slows down the hurricane fan, and the lux win 100 heating/cooling thermostat is set to cool. It has 4 setpoints, whatever times you want from 12AM to 1145 PM and I set it 6AM 12PM 6PM 1145PM cool to 75. I got some ona blocks for the fan off time, and that way the fan will turn on anytime its over 75 anytime, instead of turning on with the lights. I will adjust the fan speed to reach the optimal balance. I may switch out this bulky noisy fan setup with a hyperfan, because I am really tired of lining grow shop and distributor pockets for half baked advice and the wrong gear. I walked into the shop, gave them my cubic feet, and they advised me to get another 4" fan which never worked the two other times, and they said hurricane and elicent are all they will sell. It's all about which distributor, NGW, Hydrofarm, Sunlight Supply, DH, etc. they all choose to use. It has nothing to do with the best product being made available, it is strictly about the margin they get. Compare receipts from different stores and you'll see how much you get ripped off, and see how much you pay for each problem to be solved compared to how much you could have solved it for if you could have used the right product instead of the substitute and you'll get it.

 

[blynx]

Nice setup! Neat and clean! Looking forward to seeing the girls in flower.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Thanks man!

More pics to come!

If he was using a 1000w HPS I would agree with this... but since he's not, I disagree.

Very nice micro grow you got going here. I like how it's all packaged up into the one closet like that. I'll follow along.

 

[Schwarzenbart]

Been a while. So the seed popped and suddenly died.

I beat the PM with neem and bronners liquid, and I beat the spider mites with mighty wash every 4 days for two weeks. It's good for emergency and as part of the clones quarantine and inoculation program.

I wish I could afford azasol, but for alternating IPM tactic I use organicide, pyrethrin, and safer soap. None of these really works that well by itself because they build immunities and resistance so I change them up. Organicide smells like fish because its sesame oil and fish oil, and pyrethrin spray does not smell like chrysanthemum but something bad. Neem oil is also pungent and unique, but tolerable. I use gnatgnix as a top dressing for the moms too, but it's expensive for all it is (100% recycled glass).

In hindsight, I should have topped the girls, especially the Double Dream, because they hit the lights. I gave them to my buddy for outdoors and they will be ready so maybe he'll hit me back with some of the end result but as you will see the buds are fried.

What I am doing now is providing mom hosting for patients, with about 60 cuttings a month from 27 bonsai moms, and I fill up flats and deliver them every 3 months. PM me if you are in the Bay Area we should break bread. I have Blue Dream, Double Dream, Lemon Diesel, Super Sour Diesel, Romulan, AncientOG, Chocolope, Girl Scout Cookies, Purple Urkle, and Sweet Tooth. I also have space for 10 flats of cuttings to queue up orders.

Pics soon