Mr.Sparkle’s Arduino Controlled 5 Gal Bucket Micro Grow 2017

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm more than likely gonna go the three plant route


Now i have something to add to this thread.

Mistakes happen, so i have something to share in regards to the soil sensor in my bucket build.

About 4-5 days ago when i pulled out my soil sensor as i was pulling the plant out to clean the inner tray due to a water issue i caused which there is no point in getting into, i noticed my sensor was corroded and thought that it was strange to be corroded as my other sensors weren't like this one, but proceeded to clean it up with some steel wool and putting it back figuring it was caused by this mix and nutrient fluctuations, and just passed it off, well today when looking at things and thinking about set points and testing between different pots in my other cases then going to the bucket to check, i noticed a quirk with what was being shown or i should say lack of what was being shown, as typically with my programming when you do a manual check the first numbers to show up are a low false number as the sensor hasn't been on long enough to check, and you have to leave it on for a bit to stabilize once you freshly plant the sensor, as it making its connection points through your mix between the two probes.

Well it was giving me the accurate readings right away with no fluctuations with the refreshes, "Bing" the light bulb goes on this sensor has been running with the power fed to it 24/7 thus the corrosion, sure enough that was the case, due to me wiring the vcc of the sensor to a 5v common terminal instead of Digital Output #10 of my Arduino.

So this is why i built my programming with functions to only have the sensor powered when its in use in order to prevent corrosion and increase longevity.

The picture below included two sensors made of stainless steel, the one on the left has only seen 60days of use powered with 5v 24/7 and was cleaned 4-5 days ago, the one on right has seen over 1.5+ years of use with it only being turned on when in a reading takes place.
If you were running a steel probe or plated like the cheap eBay ones, your sensor would be Gone and you would run into a failed sensor situation which could and has for me in the past resulted in a flooding situation where my plants got killed, which is also the reason why i have some sensor fail safe code built in because of that.

So if your automating your grows with similar soil sensor techniques this is why you need to turn off your sensor between use, as the left side on the left sensor its actually all split and bulged in multiple locations.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Day 62 total with a initial trim a couple days ago and chop this morning, so will get roughly 14g dried which is what i expected after the rough start and what it looked like, so only about half way to the goal, but can really complain for a first run of this bucket and the ironing out of issues, so im just gonna do a quick clean up of things, make up a new 4 light mix spectrum lid and get some plants going for the next cycle

 

[Tbonegrower]

Nice results regardless.

Looking forward to the new lid. An ounce a bucket seems doable.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Nice results regardless.

Looking forward to the new lid. An ounce a bucket seems doable.

I believe so, and the new lid is in the works, need to starting mounting things and do some soldering, but it will look the same just 4 lights vs 3

 

[Phagoos]

In the arduino code I see that that between 22:00 an 24:00 you are switching the light relay on and off. I guess the on-time is too short to really turn on the relay but you might want to change it anyway.

if (currentTime >= startTime && currentTime < stopTime){ // If true does below{
digitalWrite(Relay_1, LOW);} // Turns relays on reverse polarity
if (currentTime > stopTime){ // If true does below
digitalWrite(Relay_1, HIGH);}} // Turns relays off reverse polarity

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

In the arduino code I see that that between 22:00 an 24:00 you are switching the light relay on and off. I guess the on-time is too short to really turn on the relay but you might want to change it anyway.

if (currentTime >= startTime && currentTime < stopTime){ // If true does below{
digitalWrite(Relay_1, LOW);} // Turns relays on reverse polarity
if (currentTime > stopTime){ // If true does below
digitalWrite(Relay_1, HIGH);}} // Turns relays off reverse polarity

You would be correct, thanks for catching that ill change and update the code when i get home.

And yeah the timing would of been so quick that i never noticed over the last 1.5years or so of using similar code.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

New lid now running at 35w Total, and i like the spectrum a lot better, ill make a comparison later.

 

[HuffnPufferfish]

" Mylar can create hotspots"
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[Mr. Sparkle]

Lets say day 1 of round two

Two of the seedlings were lagging behind the Cream Mandarin xl just took off, but the big devil and red poison seemed to stall out for a good couple days possibly older seeds or too newly harvested, the big devil i think will make it the red poison though might have to start another seed.

Anyways, here we go

 

[GROOW]

Ottimo lavoro, la tecnologia in simbiosi con la natura......meraviglioso il tuo micro crescere marijuana.
Mi siedo sul mio divano e con spaghetti in sostituzione ai pop corn, seguo questo ciclo dall'altra parte dell'oceano.

Buon Cultivo e Buona verde Vita.
GROOW.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Thanks for stopping by groow, and beautiful area over your way i did some traveling through Italy a few years back and enjoyed it, would definitely go again.


But ill include the update in this post as well


So a couple of days later and as expected the red poison wasn't gonna make it so i already dropped a seed in some water on the weekend which got planted today, should be above soil in a day or two, also decided to jam in a fourth pot and threw a Dark Devil F1 in some water the other day but its gonna lag behind the others but should catch up, it should throw a tap root in the next day or so then i transfer to paper towel for a couple days.

Don't think i've ever really shared my germination method but its no different that others but what works the best for me is i throw a seed into some water for around 36-48hr then off to some folded wet paper towel thrown in a ziplock bag with some air in it till the seeds throw out some decent tap roots of 1-3cm, but yeah after the first 24hrs soaking in water i come back and usually give the jar or small shaker tin that my seeds are in a rap on a flat surface which usually nnow causes the seeds to sink as they have taken on enough water to drop when the surface tension is broken, then i leave them submerged in the water for another day or so till they have popped and just started throwing out a tail which is when i transfer to paper towel, or to my mix so long as i keep the area where i planted it wet, but paper towel is more forgiving for me with zero chance of drying out.

So lets call the previous day call false and say today is Day 0 just for an average out of the seedlings.

 

[HuffnPufferfish]

i dont see any benefit in soaking over 12h

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Day 4 The new round i was stalling out the top left and bottom right autos by giving them only water for the last while till the others could sprout and catch up so they were starting to show some minor issues, but now that they are all sprouted and started with a light feed things are turning around quick which was expected.

So on we go.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Day 11 upped the feed which is straight maxigro at 500ppm but gonna watch it and feed straight water occasionally to level out the high feed rate at the moment till the plants can handle it in a week or two. I didn't take any mid weeks shots this last week so just getting a weekend shot.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Day 14 Even though i stated i upped the feed in the previous post i might dial it back a tiny bit to maybe 420-450 ppm or so just to be safe as i see a couple tiny signs that could be nothing, but imo better to run a bit too lean than too much.

But definitely picking up now 3 days later, the two bigger plants the roots are coming out the bottom now.

 

[acdc]

Day 14 Even though i stated i upped the feed in the previous post i might dial it back a tiny bit to maybe 420-450 ppm or so just to be safe as i see a couple tiny signs that could be nothing, but imo better to run a bit too lean than too much.

But definitely picking up now 3 days later, the two bigger plants the roots are coming out the bottom now.

View Image

howdy mr sparkle I hope you don't mind me watching your grow along

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

howdy mr sparkle I hope you don't mind me watching your grow along

That's why this is here so welcome

We'll see how this round turns out.

 

[doams]

Is this round 12/12 from seed?

thx.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

nah running autos


Day 21 Moving along could be better though, did some light defoliation just to air things out and remove older leaves that had deficiency issues from the past,

One thing i have changed is now they are getting top watered through a 4 way splitter which is made of three three ways that are combined and i raised the bottom grating they sit on off the bottom by about a cm, just need to change the programming which i'll do shortly, but i'll be decreasing the watering setpoint and increasing the watering time slightly, goal is to get it to a point where a tiny bit of run off comes out the bottom of each pot which will just evaporate or when high enough be re sucked back into the pots.

 

[Scott64a]

I'm subbed, too.

What a great idea. It's fun to watch and learn.