Jellypowered
Member
Mr Sparkle, You plant's are so pretty, and nice photography work too!
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M
Mr. Sparkle
Thanks everyone.
Weekend update:
Did some clean up and work this weekend.
So first Bogan i took out three plants, all the DD F1s just because they were behind the other plants as far as development goes due to the transplant or characteristics of those specific F1's, as i have 3 different varieties as they came from three different mothers, but started two new DD F1 seeds. Also changed the watering set point to run them a bit wetter which i think they will enjoy.
Ashla I cleaned up, and gave the tray a light bleach soak, also changed some piping due to some minor leaks and swapped out one Buck Converter to a beefer one, as i think the other one when certain events would happen would drag the voltage down enough to the point it would lock the arduino, but we will see in time if that's the case.
Now i got 10 pots ready to go for some cheap KC Brains photo periods, whats different is i'll be trying this run with pre-amended coco with the goal of using just straight water through the entire grow, which isn't new to me but just not recent history, so ill be using some general all purpose organic fertilizer that's pre mixed into the coco at its stated mix rate, and will tweak how much i need and what after this run, but i'll use Maxibloom and MaxiGro as back up supplementation when or if issues arise.
But yeah the goal really is to make things easier for me, as one if you have a healthy active medium a lot of potential issues with pathogens can be avoided, vs my past issues of running chemical fertilizers and a dead res that i didn't keep on top of, so the more fool proof the better.
We will see how it goes, anyways here are the pics of the ready to go case, and the cheap seeds, as in price not quality, i just threw into some water along with some DD F1's in the paper towel&bag
As for the bucket did a few more tweaks and details to it, such as hooks, and reservior hook up and such and will have a seed soon to be popping out of the mix in a day or two, as its building its tap root now, but ill start a dedicated thread once the plant is above ground level and is starting to go.
Weekend update:
Did some clean up and work this weekend.
So first Bogan i took out three plants, all the DD F1s just because they were behind the other plants as far as development goes due to the transplant or characteristics of those specific F1's, as i have 3 different varieties as they came from three different mothers, but started two new DD F1 seeds. Also changed the watering set point to run them a bit wetter which i think they will enjoy.
Ashla I cleaned up, and gave the tray a light bleach soak, also changed some piping due to some minor leaks and swapped out one Buck Converter to a beefer one, as i think the other one when certain events would happen would drag the voltage down enough to the point it would lock the arduino, but we will see in time if that's the case.
Now i got 10 pots ready to go for some cheap KC Brains photo periods, whats different is i'll be trying this run with pre-amended coco with the goal of using just straight water through the entire grow, which isn't new to me but just not recent history, so ill be using some general all purpose organic fertilizer that's pre mixed into the coco at its stated mix rate, and will tweak how much i need and what after this run, but i'll use Maxibloom and MaxiGro as back up supplementation when or if issues arise.
But yeah the goal really is to make things easier for me, as one if you have a healthy active medium a lot of potential issues with pathogens can be avoided, vs my past issues of running chemical fertilizers and a dead res that i didn't keep on top of, so the more fool proof the better.
We will see how it goes, anyways here are the pics of the ready to go case, and the cheap seeds, as in price not quality, i just threw into some water along with some DD F1's in the paper towel&bag
As for the bucket did a few more tweaks and details to it, such as hooks, and reservior hook up and such and will have a seed soon to be popping out of the mix in a day or two, as its building its tap root now, but ill start a dedicated thread once the plant is above ground level and is starting to go.
M
Mr. Sparkle
what are those "white hairs" in the above pic?
they look like roots from previous grow/reused coco..
or is it something else?
no just long strand husk fibers, i used an auto color correct for that photo due to the soft white "2700k" bulbs being used in the bucket, so the photo isn't really accurate color wise but a lot better than having everything look yellow so because of that the fibers look whiter than they should, thats all.
I'll probably be bringing in aux lighting for the pictures just for better color accuracy or ill make a default color correction to use, and if i find the softwhite cause a bit to much stretching for my likes in comparison to the daylight bulbs, i'll swap a few out to the bluer spectrum, then we probably wont have to worry about color correction photo wise.
Jellypowered
Member
Mr. Sparkle!
Using your code, I've managed to get a start on my own Arduino Grow controller. I've omitted some things for now, as I don't have everything hooked up yet, I'm adding them in pieces as I go. I plan on trying to learn how to do a menu, and add a couple extra buttons and such.
What I have working so far:
Arduino Micro (The longer skinny older one, not the "pro micro" Had to use different pins, Was trial and error till I got it right lol)
I2C RTC DS3231
I2C 4x20 LCD
DHT22 Sensor
I haven't hooked up the soil sensor or the 2 channel relay board yet, but I wanted to post and thank you SO much for sharing the code.
I plan on making a custom enclosure and custom PCB (from OSHPark) and mounting it to the mini fridge i'm building!
Again, thanks!
Using your code, I've managed to get a start on my own Arduino Grow controller. I've omitted some things for now, as I don't have everything hooked up yet, I'm adding them in pieces as I go. I plan on trying to learn how to do a menu, and add a couple extra buttons and such.
What I have working so far:
Arduino Micro (The longer skinny older one, not the "pro micro" Had to use different pins, Was trial and error till I got it right lol)
I2C RTC DS3231
I2C 4x20 LCD
DHT22 Sensor
I haven't hooked up the soil sensor or the 2 channel relay board yet, but I wanted to post and thank you SO much for sharing the code.
I plan on making a custom enclosure and custom PCB (from OSHPark) and mounting it to the mini fridge i'm building!
Again, thanks!
Tbonegrower
Member
What did you amend the coco with?
M
Mr. Sparkle
No problem that's what its their for
The new stuff is some general all purpose organic fertilizer that's somewhat easy to find out my way, Gaia Green if wondering but its composed of the following Alfalfa meal, bone meal, blood meal, glacial rock dust, mined potassium sulphate, fossilized carbon complex, rock phosphate, greensand, kelp meal, gypsum
Now i just mainly picked it up for simplicity as i personally would prefer different amendments to say bone and blood meal which even though do work and have used them in the past i would just rather have non animal based stuff, just for personal sake. I use to get 50lb bags of alfalfa meal and local earthworm castings and made all my own compost with aerated teas for my veggie gardens of the past, which worked pretty good.
I think my next goal is to get back to organic style growing indoors, but for simplicity get it to a point where all i need to do is mix my initial batch of media and have it run on straight water till the end, while being able to re add amendments afterwards and reuse till say my base coco breaks down too much to be of ideal use indoors.
Or at least that's my idea.
down to earth vegan mix is a good all purpose fertilizer without any animal byproducts in it... ive had great results with it, especially outdoors!
Tbonegrower
Member
Sounds like a pretty complete amendment. I feel you on the bone and blood meal. I try to stay way from them myself.
M
Mr. Sparkle
Bogan is moving along, and have a seed popping from the mix.
Ashla we will call this day #1, have a bunch of seeds popping from the mix, may have damaged one or two, and with a couple not sprouting so i had another cheap pack of some KC Brains - Swiss XT i just threw in water to fill the gaps for now, which is kinda a bonus actually as now i get to run all three packs i had, which speeds up the sample/testing process.
Ashla we will call this day #1, have a bunch of seeds popping from the mix, may have damaged one or two, and with a couple not sprouting so i had another cheap pack of some KC Brains - Swiss XT i just threw in water to fill the gaps for now, which is kinda a bonus actually as now i get to run all three packs i had, which speeds up the sample/testing process.
Jellypowered
Member
So, after verifying with Mr. Sparkle himself. I am gonna put this back out there.
I made a pcb that is fully compatible with your code.
This is beta still, i'm sure i'll change a few things before I actually order it. This is basically a breakout board for all the individual sensors. My fab place I use charges per square inch, so I wanted to keep it small. Future plans are to do a SMD version building all the sensors that I can myself, or make it modular so I can drop sensors in and out as needed. Everything will be attached to this breakout board via pin headers and extension cables. Modular if you will.
Here's some details.
Arduino Pro Micro (Chinese clone)
I2C 20x4 Blue LCD
FC-28 Soil/Medium moisture sensor.
DHT22 Temperature and Humidity sensor.
DS3231 I2C Real Time Clock Module w/ battery backup.
2 Channel relay module.
Currently, two button inputs as used in Mr. Sparkles code. May expand on this in the future.
I'm always open for suggestions/improvements. I don't make PCB's often, and if someone is better at routing them I'd love some input.
I made a pcb that is fully compatible with your code.
This is beta still, i'm sure i'll change a few things before I actually order it. This is basically a breakout board for all the individual sensors. My fab place I use charges per square inch, so I wanted to keep it small. Future plans are to do a SMD version building all the sensors that I can myself, or make it modular so I can drop sensors in and out as needed. Everything will be attached to this breakout board via pin headers and extension cables. Modular if you will.
Here's some details.
Arduino Pro Micro (Chinese clone)
I2C 20x4 Blue LCD
FC-28 Soil/Medium moisture sensor.
DHT22 Temperature and Humidity sensor.
DS3231 I2C Real Time Clock Module w/ battery backup.
2 Channel relay module.
Currently, two button inputs as used in Mr. Sparkles code. May expand on this in the future.
I'm always open for suggestions/improvements. I don't make PCB's often, and if someone is better at routing them I'd love some input.
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Jellypowered
Member
Pics for the above post since once you edit it won't let you re attach pics.
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M
Mr. Sparkle
Hey Jelly there coming up as 1 pixel pictures for whatever reason.
M
Mr. Sparkle
Moved some things around but starting to bulk up in this case
Seedlings and seeds are struggling a tiny bit due to a combination of user error and other factors, if they make it great, but im not concerned if they don't
Seedlings and seeds are struggling a tiny bit due to a combination of user error and other factors, if they make it great, but im not concerned if they don't
Jellypowered
Member
Hopefully that fixed it. If not i'll upload them off site and link em.
M
Mr. Sparkle
they worked
M
Mr. Sparkle
Bogan plucked a few leaves not that i needed to, but just to reduce the humidity a bit, but were probably about 2-3 weeks left for this case.
Ashla is moving along most of the seeds were duds, partial myself at fault with the new mix and the bacteria settling into it plus getting the seeds potentially too warm initially and not keeping them wet enough once in the mix, but also they were underdeveloped when cracking open their shells as alot of them had green tail coverings and a brown tip covering over the cotyledon which is a common trait for under developed seeds that ive noticed.
So because of that started a bunch of random floor seeds i had collected in a eppendorf tube that i will use as testers to try out this new mix, threw them into water a day or so ago, they are all from when i was throwing some Feminized Dark Devil pollen around, so specifically what they are who knows, but i know what possible parents the seeds are from, so it will be a mix.
Ashla is moving along most of the seeds were duds, partial myself at fault with the new mix and the bacteria settling into it plus getting the seeds potentially too warm initially and not keeping them wet enough once in the mix, but also they were underdeveloped when cracking open their shells as alot of them had green tail coverings and a brown tip covering over the cotyledon which is a common trait for under developed seeds that ive noticed.
So because of that started a bunch of random floor seeds i had collected in a eppendorf tube that i will use as testers to try out this new mix, threw them into water a day or so ago, they are all from when i was throwing some Feminized Dark Devil pollen around, so specifically what they are who knows, but i know what possible parents the seeds are from, so it will be a mix.
S
SandyFantasyman
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