passive plant killer

[catman]

Considering the size of the operation we are talking about. What is the reasoning behind not just pairing up a bulb with a ballast and purchasing a second timer? Still 'flip-flopping' the lights to achieve efficiency regarding production and energy. Little more expensive? Yeah, but otherwise a better option in my eyes.

 

[delta9nxs]

i love my job!

i love my job!

hey catman! you could be right! the ballast kits are only about
$125 each so that's 625 plus freight and 5 more timers at 25 each plus freight. so that's a minimum of around 850 with freight. i've spent 1400 on the lights and cool tubes already. with the relays about 125 more so around $1525 for basic parts using the existing ballast opposed to $2250 buying additional ballast. not a huge difference.

when i move i would have to buy 10 additional ballasts and timers as well as the lights and tubes, so that's an additional $1700.

add to that the 850 that i would have to spend now if i didn't run the relays and it's $2550 more money minus the additional relays, approximately, of course.

i have never had one of these ballast fail. they are built for continuous operation and the relays are simple electromechanical devices that rarely fail.

and i get to use the money for play.

 

[catman]

I certainly haven't seen any resource that would give me the confidence to say that relays rarely fail;however often rarely is. I just think more like what mrcreosote said about the guy who was selling flip-boxes online. With relays you have relatively little to gain and so much to lose that the extra expense might be worth it for only peace of mind. If time is money, the savings from flipping from a ballast aren't going to be so much over just pairing a ballast with a bulb. Don't pinch pennies if it might cost ya thousands. Sounds like your pretty set in your ways, but I wonder what the ROI would be if you used digital ballasts. If you used a dimmable digital ballast, you'd have some more options and control over your space. Do ya know if anyone has played around with the quantum light meters and dimmable ballasts? I just wonder how 1k bulbs dimmed to 600w compare to a normal 600w bulb. The 1k would have the obvious advantage of having a longer lighting element and I'm curious how much this matters. Just thinking, the more sources of light, the better.

Anyway, I got a link in my signature to show what I've been up to. I've just been top feeding the layered turface/perlite mix. Been reusing the runoff that drains below into 2 gallon buckets as to water the medium and not the plant like you have said. However, this past week I've just been doing DTW and I'm really impressed with how dry (light weight;been measuring with a scale) I can let the medium get without any wilting. There are air roots less than an inch below the surface even with less than 15% humidity. So being I haven't actually had the tailpiece in water yet, one might think I've been under watering, but I got roots pushing through the bottom of the tailpiece. Even though I don't have a hempy rez per say, I'm thinking turface just holds on to so much water it serves as one. Been asking myself if the tailpiece is any different than just a 1.5'' hole in the bottom of a bucket being there is no upwards wicking action, but there is still the effect of downwards wicking which at least gives me 6'' more room to play with as to avoid drowning/suffocating what is above.

If I allow the tailpiece roots contact with water, they will obviously grow into it and though the roots might be a better wick than the medium; I don't want roots in stagnant water. I could add a single air line, but I don't think I will even need any more roots to yield at most a 1/2# from a 5 gallon bucket. If I rip off the roots like I've read you guys have done, what stops them from growing back? Do you just do this up until the stretch is over? Again, I got no problems with the medium in stagnant water, but I don't want root tissue in contact with it. Maybe I just won't ever let the roots come into contact with water allowing the air to prune them.

What sort of root growth have you guys noticed during the stretch? With all the extra time you guys say you have, how about some more pics!?

 

[mrcreosote]

LOL,
Just made a long (for me, because my dog can type faster than me) elegantly reasoned post and wiped it out (damn page back habit) regarding flip vs. ballast.
I'll just add to clarify what I read. Relays will fail...eventually, like everything else. People have been hot -flipping for years on the same relays, no problems at all. I gather that most failures come from using improper wire, terminals, plugs and cords that are not rated for 600v. rather than the relay itself. Like putting go-kart wheels on a Mack truck.
The flip miester prefers to build his load center/flips with a few more parts to give it a cold flip capacity to add to the relays life. Makes sense if your running 10-20 ballasts.
Maybe not so much for less when you can just keep a couple of $20 relays on hand.
I dunno.

5 relays $100 + $50 timer Vs. $625 +$125-$175 Ship + 220 contactor board power center for 10 ballasts 2x30 amp + heat etc.
No brainer.

I'd be more worried about an asteroid collision or a Canadian invasion.

 

[delta9nxs]

personally, i'm really worried about those evil Canadians. they are poised on our border en masse, armed to the teeth with hockey sticks.

they have already sent in assassination teams led by alex trebek and jim carrey.

they want to kill people who start arguments about ordinary, mundane things in places where no arguments existed before.

apparently they consider this to be a form of pollution in Canada.

unlike molson's canadian or labatt's blue.

the u. s. counter intelligence forces are "in country" in an attempt to start a grass roots movement to occupy the tundra.

"counter intelligence", now there's a term! does this mean we have agencies that are "against" intelligence"?

this is motivated by Wall Streets' desire to corner the global peat market.

it's a real can of worms, i tell you! who knows where it will lead? what new levels of corruption will this unveil?

one can only imagine the perverted sexual acts that will be uncovered. moose e-mailing each other explicit nude photos depicting themselves in weird relationships with squirrels. you know, brown on gray, no respect for the laws of god and nature.

are the leaders on all sides really in it together to control the masses to feed their own greed? (this soap opera needs a few conspiracy rumors)

stay tuned for our continuous updates on this unfolding tragedy. after all, as ppk growers you have nothing else to do.

d9

 

[oldone]

Be Afraid. Be VERY Afraid!

(But not until after the the NHL season is over)

Yes we are a Dominion of Evil.

Our children are raised in the Canadian martial arts of cross checking, spearing and the greatly feared slashing.

Our canoes are poised even now for swift, silent invasion ready to go as soon as everything melts.

Our moose, bears (polar and otherwise) and wolfs have been trained and are ready.

Our breweries are on a war footing, producing vast quantities of the golden ambrosia to sustain our troops.

Our growers are churning out mountains of green goodness to lull our enemies into a slumbering stupor.

And now our secret weapon...Celene Dion! Gasp in horror as all you can hear is her maniac screech for days on end and you will beg us to make the noise go away!

Oh yes be afraid my American friends....we are coming....



**************************************
Great post D9, I laughed my ass off...
OO

 

[delta9nxs]

gasp! no! not the Celine Dion card! a true weapon of mass destruction!

she makes our heads explode like in "Mars Attacks".

but we have a weapon that can make an entire nation comatose, Barry Manilow! you don't want us opening up that can "o" whup-ass on ya!

and we have already anticipated you trying to "Robert Goulet" us, so we have Barbra Streisand on wartime standby.

one false move and things can get ugly in a hurry!

 

[disciple]

 

[delta9nxs]

"

"celene (?) dion has the voice of an angel the magnificence of which is surpassed only by her etherial beauty."

yes, she certainly is stunning but she can't compete with streisand! have you seen that beak? you would have to have prehensile lips just to kiss her!

"(kidding)" (not kidding)

"Delta9... hey in your new pulse manifold/terminal you said you deliberated for (6) months to come up with it and one of the requirements you were looking for was even distribution with no back pressure penalty...."

"so this detail is important and I just wanted to ask you about it... and avoiding the introduction of back pressure is a reason to NOT just use 1/2 or 3/4 poly in a ring with screw/punch in emitters (barbed emitters)....."

well, you could use the larger line to the manifold, but the bigger you go the more pump you are going to need. the whole emitter technology was developed for those needing equal drip delivery in a large set up like a greenhouse tomato operation. they operate on the principle that pressure is equal in all parts of a pressurized system. they are expensive, troublesome, maintenance intensive systems.

the "open line" concept works well for pulse. equal length lines get you equal delivery. almost no maintenance because nothing clogs up. large pieces of crap just blow right through it. these aquarium pumps are blowers really and the less back pressure the more efficient they are. for this manifold to work properly you just need a level floor. the buckets are level so the manifold sits perfectly parallel to the floor.

and there is the question of "how much is enough?" i'm putting 32 oz's onto each plant once per hour in a 15 second pulse. there was an almost visual acceleration of growth going to this over what i was doing before with the drip line and the little t's. same pump. a 950 mag drive.

"so the terminal fills up and drains quick enough through the (4) 7/16" holes that there is no back pressure and flow is good.... am I getting this right?"

yes, there will always be some back pressure, but we can minimize it.

"and there is an even enough discharge through those (4) holes that you are satisfied that the solution isn't re-forming into a funnel sub-surface as it makes its way down?"

yes, going into a wet medium hysteresis causes excellent lateral dispersion. within a few inches the moisture is uniform.

"that is cool! now I'm going to begin building a bunch of those!!"

"also was curious if you have any input on the easiest way to mix window screen and (8) zips ties at the bottom of the tail peice to contain Turface (I'm using Perlite not rice hulls)... I've rigged something based on the photos in this thread but would love any feedback!! (you had a screen then went away from it for the coco work then back to it for the turface and rice hulls.... the one set of pics has a caption where you said you shove a piece of screen down the pipe and that it's necessary with that mix - the other pics/caption show the 4" of screen around the bottom of the buckets which I've already done)"

the screen is available in 36" x 80" sheets on rolls. i cut off 4" strips and then cut off a 4" x 4" square from one end, center it over the inside of the tailpiece and shove it down with a finger. when i load the medium it compresses in the bottom of the tailpiece against the wire ties. the remaining 32" x 4" piece fits the inside of the bucket almost exactly.

when loading the medium i will pack the tailpiece slightly to make sure the screen is all the way down.

it will be all wadded up with pleats in it but it works.

"Thank you!

"

no, thank you!


well, i don't know how i did it but i royally screwed this post up! everything in quotes is Disciple's.

 

[delta9nxs]

turbo poster^ is gone!

 

[mrcreosote]

Damn D9,

Just as you mentioned that friggin blaster worm, I got it 2 days later. Guess MS updates don't work to keep it out.
Managed to get into safe mode and open but when i run a cleaner program it says it's not detected. BUMMER.
I can only open bookmarks with firefox but can get online with explorer. Manual removal didn't do jack.

Let's find these guys and kill them...slowly.

 

[delta9nxs]

yeah, i have no idea where or how it got to me. i'm getting my computer totally wiped and linux installed. my brother says i won't even need an anti-virus program then. he runs linux and mozilla and never has any problems.

i started thinking about all the shit i lost and it's no big deal as i know how to find the important stuff again. it's gotten to the point where it's not the data you have stored that matters anymore but rather knowing how to get to what you need any time you want to. it's really already all "stored" anyway.

thanks again for those links. and i'll try not to fry myself. i've been bit a few times and have developed a healthy respect for 60 hz ac.

 

[disciple]

 

[mrcreosote]

Wish I wasn't riding the short bus when it comes to computers.
Hey disciple, If I use the original xp pro disc, can I wipe out everything on the computer and start new? Pain in the ass but I have tried a bunch of stuff to get rid of this blaster worm but the sucker is sticking.

Apologies D9 for cluttering up your thread bud but I'm ready to chuck this thing out the window.

Lol on Canadian invasion...but go easy on Celine. She's like a 12-13th cousin so family honer says I gotta defend the yodelers in the family.

 

[disciple]

 

[delta9nxs]

you got some splainin' to do, lucy!

wtf is the plumbing for? how does it work? and where did you get that black tailpiece?

 

[mrcreosote]

Thanks disciple,
Macs may be the way to go. download Microshafts fix, make better, no sweat worm eraser...useless. When I get less aggravated i'll try some last ditch stuff because i hate losing my stash of collectables.
I'm kinda stumped by what you got going there too. You're a high tech kinda guy... or a union pipe fitter ...lol.
I'm with D9... that black tailpiece is kind of sexy.

Guess I'm gonna have to rethink the smaller pot -smaller plant theory. It doesn't seem to work very well with PPK's. They got some mighty tite shoes but they keep running, you'd need a 20 oz. hammer to get a nail in the 8822. Plants are happy as hell but i'm a little worried about them staying that way for another 5-6 weeks. I got another week of stretch, so hopefully the roots will slow way down. Hate to have to transplant them now and shock em while they're in flower but I don't want to kill em by being too root-bound.

30" LST'd to hell and gone plants in 5 quart buckets probably ain't a great idea.
Stuff you tree growers don't need to deal with. stick em in big buckets and stand back...

Guess noobs gotta noob.
What do you think D9? leave em alone since they're pretty happy and stacking lots of flowers or change pots?

 

[disciple]

 

[delta9nxs]

mrcreosote, i wouldn't transplant in flower. you won't get much more root mass by doing it then.

disciple's got a brand new bag!

 

[huntingbb]

hey delta - good to see you around!!
Ive been offline for a while... god what a story..
How'd your operation work out, are you feeling a bit more solid?
Happy turkey day!!