Repuk Goes to the Jungle (2020)

[repuk]

Progress

Progress

After probably too much thinking, I made up my mind on the exhaust setup.

I am all for KISS, also wanted the minimum amount of fittings, elbows, etc in the ducting so I'm using a 250mm 90º elbow as exhaust exit mounted as 45º so that it acts as a "cap" for (vertical) rain, etc.

It's placed on a rather tight space outdoors, with really close trees acting as borders, so they'll block horizontal rain/wind from entering.

From the outdoor side looks exactly the same, 45º angle.

I noticed natural convection exhausting hot air already (ducting/scrubbers not setup yet), really noticeable.

Boy I am sore... opening the hole (hand tools), fitting and filling the hole back with mortar left me destroyed

Will be finishing to refill it today. I used concrete mixed with pieces of the wall and some sand; today will apply a sand/concrete mix only to finish it.

My idea is to place the scrubber, extractor (sucking) and one way valve as a column on the elevated "seats", scrubber resting on the seat "floor" (where the vertical fan is now), or propped to be higher, Then duct straight up to the exhaust exit:

I think air circulation, and the fact it won't be resting on the floor, but elevated like half a meter/1 meter from real room floor will make up for effectiveness even while hot air rises and ceiling is the optimal spot to fix a scrubber.

If this isn't the case, then I'll hang scrubber and the rest.

Fitted some wiremesh on the outdoor exit to prevent critters from lurking if the exhaust is not being used (otherwise I think they'll be blasted outside):

.

Missing: finish lightproofing to start flowering ASAP!

 

[bsgospel]

Sucks about those Lebanese. Maybe next time, eh?
I'm looking forward to more O x Pan action, though.

 

[repuk]

@bsgospel: yes.... next time, mother Nature rules.

For the sake of some experimenting (not exactly my cup of tea, Afgani x NL x WW) I sow two autos I got as gifts. If they sprout (testing also a different method) they'll be brought outdoors. Testing coco outdoors with autos this time.

Have to finish the flowering ASAP... Untrained plants can become a problem, Kali China become huge, Violeta is going the same route. Have much more space this time though, hope not to screw with available space.

Oaxaca x Panama looking killer! cannot wait to see her in flower!

 

[repuk]

Control App

Control App

Loving this system, ditched my Raspberry + sensors etc... too unreliable and too much fussing for not that much features, though Mycodo is impressive.

This (SmartLife app) controls all the smart sockets (most smart sockets sold on amazon and elsewhere are compatible):

MainWaterControl is a Smart powerstrip which controls RO production and RO Delivery pump.

Not missing (unreliable!) timers at all. Programming works even if internet is lost, each smart socket "remembers" it. I can check at a glance all the devices in a second, regardless where I am, no need for VPNs, nor setting anything extra.

Next phase I'm into is integrating this with LoRa and IFTTT, though I have too look at SmartLife app "smart scenes" and automation features, though smart sockets with sensors aren't as cheap as LoRa (same as Arduino) ones, where there's a good array of good priced offerings for sensors of any kind (e.g. CO2, light intensity, soil dampness, you name it).

Final step will be to add my own IoT server/flash my smart sockets so that don't rely on a third party (Smart Life), though not much motivation, been using this for a year and really happy with it, zero issues so far and less stuff to maintain, I want to spend the time with the girls, not with the gizmos.

Using smart sockets can be a challenge depending on the spot, as they require Wireless connectivity. But, you can overcome that problem easily: e.g. on my previous growing (metal sheet) garden shed wireless didn't reach (as the shed acts as a faraday cage); as I had to lay power wires anyway, used them as "network" cable by using a pair of PLCs, setting up the PLC at the shed as wireless AP too. Problem solved.

 

[Legalcdn]

Repuk.. you are really a DIY engineer.
I made the DIY stanley blower. It really is strong. I even made a DIY carbon scrubber to insert into ducting.. i am amazed at the work you are doing.

Keep safe and healthy. I like southern spain. Nice country. I was given a brick of Moroccan hash while visiting there.

Just finishing my winter grow so i can watch your work. Happy growing.

 

[repuk]

Repuk.. you are really a DIY engineer.
I made the DIY stanley blower. It really is strong. I even made a DIY carbon scrubber to insert into ducting.. i am amazed at the work you are doing.

Keep safe and healthy. I like southern spain. Nice country. I was given a brick of Moroccan hash while visiting there.

Just finishing my winter grow so i can watch your work. Happy growing.

Thanks legalcdn!

Yesss... Southern Spain is a veeeery nice place to live. Did you enjoy the hash?

Update
Had some time today to work, I finished refilling the walls with the finer concrete mix, happy with the outcome, I'm getting better.

Propped everything up to discover the duct I was sent is the wrong diameter... I need 254mm ducting and I was sent like >300mm

Will think on a way to adapt it... I would be receiving the replacement next week in any case, so I may start flowering and just leave passive exhausting in the meanwhile.

Tickitape
Loving it. Expensive, but incredibly useful.

Thinking retrospectively, I should have used it to lightproof the metal profiles on the door supports before screwing the plasterboards... used it on one of the door supporting profiles where metal was exposed and works like a charm!

It's like aluminum duct tape, but nylon reinforced and more flexible.

will focus on lightproofing the remaining spots.

 

[repuk]

Lebanese update

Lebanese update

I couldn't take them down... one of them, the tallest and most vigorous plant, hasn't fully expressed sex yet; if this is the case I'll wait a little for some male flowers to collect some pollen and may pollinize a branch:

Detail

so tiny... really hard to pic them. Dunn owhat it is even if now I have the hunch it could be female.

The studs:

This is squatter, but wider, really nice structure:

Quite fast flowering and growing too, the fastest of the bunch:

This one was the slowest to bulk up, but flowering speed wise, at least showing sex, comes a close second:

 

[repuk]

Squat male continued:

Had a look at the soon to be flowering room, definitely natural convection is working at the moment:

A shame that if I shut it up to prevent light from seeping in through the exhaust elbow, of course I'll lose air axhausting...

 

[repuk]

Funny mutation, 12 fingers leave (Violeta)

 

[repuk]

Update

Update

Flower room

Is already light proof (gobs of tikitaping) but for the missing duct... I should get it by Monday.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have space issues when flowering... Kali China and Violeta became monsters.

Cuts
Have it nailed to keep them healthy but in stasis:

They key is using coco as cloning medium, this way they don't suffer when repotted (vs rockwool, then repot in coco), and... they don't need to be repotted, making possible to keep smaller pots.

I feed them mostly EM-1 or rizhotonic (unph'ed, 2ml/L). Only If I see them consuming leaves I give them a very light nute dose (EC 0.6) so that they don't kick into bulking up.

This "method" takes much longer (clonex seems to speed it up) though, at least two weeks or more until tap roots poke out, but the much faster development aftwerwards compensates for it, not to mention tender time is drastically reduced vs the typical dome, remove regularly, etc.

Rather huge Kali China leaf: (32cm/16in from tip to tip)

 

[repuk]

Outdoor Update

Outdoor Update

Lebanese male
Will be culled as soon as first flowers pop and I collect some pollen. Have it under a shade next to a wall so that wind doesn't blow on him.

Lebanese female

Sort of an experiment... the female in fact was slightly confused in the beggining (threw some non viable nanas), possibly due to increasing photoperiod.

But now definitely engaged 1st gear in flowering, tops filled with pistils... will be interesting to see as Dubi said, what is strongest, the semi-auto flowering trait of the Lebanese, or the increasing photoperiod.

If everything goes good, I may have a crop by May... or a reveg.

Worst case she gets hermie and I have to cull... they were 20/4 indoors.

White powder around her is diatomaceous earth to stop the friggin ants from constantly bringing aphids, tho I had a volunteer helping:

 

[noknees]

any kalichakra pics?

 

[repuk]

Sure!

Beautiful purple striped stems. I'd say is going same growth and smell route as the legendary "foxy kalichakra" (burnt rubber) with a superb frankincense/patchouli/berries taste after curing. Same pack. No signs of preflowers, at 18/6 now.

She has been fimmed only, caught me off-guard, really vigorous and hardy plants. Cannot bend her now, so will resort to supercropping and or crunch and bend for sure.

Kalichakra #2 has been fimmed and bondaged so until it develops al bit more there's little to see.

If this one turns out to be a girl I'll probably do the horizontal repot to keep her down.

 

[noknees]

If this one turns out to be a girl I'll probably do the horizontal repot to keep her down.

what a tank! are you not tempted to put it outside?

 

[repuk]

I'm keeping a cut from everything, but I need to restock so this time would be indoors; definitely if worthy, a cut or two will go outdoors for sure

 

[repuk]

I plan to sow some autos, anything else put outdoors now would be too huge by the end of flowering.

I can wait up until August to put out selected cuts and still grow monsters with the right genetics/pick

Have to admit I'm toying with the idea of throwing a pair of fistfuls of seeds on the ground when next rain comes, and try to repeat last year's "mother nature" selection of wild sprouted seeds from crosses Honduras/Ethiopian/Zamaldelica x Honduras / Ethiopian.

 

[repuk]

Flower Room Flipped - Day 1

Flower Room Flipped - Day 1

Ducting finally arrived and finished propping the minimum required to flip to 12/12:

I'm afraid I have honoured the thread title

Around 600W overall with the two lights. Will be adding the HML (190W), The DIY COB if works (maybe 3 of the 4, for around 140W) and a new SILs hood I'm DIYing around 300W. And Maybe the SILs used in veg... so around 1000-1200W overall max.

The extractor is the sh*t! It draws air from the opened main room door when the flower room door is closed! Really happy with the outcome, for the performance I expected it to be louder, the sonoconnect+ ducts I got as replacement surely helped..

Kali china is about 1,60m tall, Violeta exceeds 1.70m and is supercompact and columnar.

Oaxaca '79 x Panama, even trained, is about 1,5m already... suprecropped her yesterday... incredibly, my fingers become gooey with the stalks resin!

All reg plants in there already: Kalichakra 1/2, OTH 1/2 and Nepal Mist 1/2.

Took clones of everything (white solo cups), rest of cuts are healthy and happy.

Only 5 plants (fem) in veg:

Zamaldelica x Panama (lighter green on the left), Orient Express x Nepal Jam (back left), Red Sapphire 1 (Center), 2 (LST'ed on the right) and Purple Pakistani Haze (back right). Seedling is an Auto I got as gift.

 

[repuk]

Lebanese Update

Lebanese Update

Good news... I got a girl and seems to be firm!

She probably got confused for the increasing photoperiod, and hence the handful nanas (not viable)... but currently is budding like a champ!

(P4) Purple Pheno!!! Yay!!!

 

[repuk]

Lebanese Male

Lebanese Male

I kept one of the two: ultra vigorous, productive and superfast!

foiur days ago:

Today:

I am collecting pollen...

 

[repuk]

The Girl of the day

The Girl of the day

Tikal (R7 Peach Incensey pheno) x Panama Goddess.

Yes, I am repeating from last grow!

This one flew even before running out of Zamaldelica x Kali China.

Not only a terpene bomb (apricot gummy, hazey touch), love her high, in words of my mate: "Instant edges off".

What a beautiful plant. Beautiful purple stalks.