wtfn's 4000w legal medical soil food web organic grow show

[Mister_D]

Its not hate, its called tough love.

I like to think of it as encouragement to do better

 

[whythefnot]

I got stood up on the a/c tonight. I work until midnight, so I made plans to meet there from 12:30 to 1, and I have the email records to back it up. At 12:30, after driving for 30 minutes away from home and calling at least 5 times and getting no answer, I turned around and headed back home. A little after 1, I got the email saying that he had just gotten home, and basically asking when I was going to get there. I was a little incensed, but then the guy blamed me for screwing up the deal, naturally (remember, he was not home at all during the 30 minute window I gave him in our last conversation). To be honest, I nudged him a little. I told him in a short email that I do a lot of craigslisting and had never seen someone be so inconsiderate and irresponsible setting up a deal (he had already dropped the ball on the first meet earlier in the day). By the time he got back with me I was 15 minutes from my house, and 45 minutes away from him.

SO. FUCKING. PISSED.

Meanwhile, my plants are going to approach 80* during lights off tomorrow. FML.

I have 2 more meets set up for tomorrow. Wish me luck.

 

[bobblehead]

You may want to consider running half your lights for half the photoperiod, and the other lights the other half until you get your a/c situation sorted.

 

[whythefnot]

You may want to consider running half your lights for half the photoperiod, and the other lights the other half until you get your a/c situation sorted.

That's a great idea. But where I expect to run into problems is during the lights off period (middle of our afternoon, hottest part of the day). It's not too bad right now, and the plants seem to like it all the same. If things get too hot during lights on I can just move some ducting around so that I'm air cooling all 4 lights instead of just 2. Outdoor temps have been in the 30s here at night the past few days.

 

[whythefnot]

I picked up an 18,000 btu unit. It's a little older than I'd like (the frigidaire from last night was pretty much new) but it's newer than the last one, and it's a bigger unit. That should help with my humidity issues, I would think.

Unfortunately I can't install it right now since the lights have been off for almost 2 hours and installation would require that I leave a gaping hole in the plywood for light to pour in, even if just for a few moments.

 

[whythefnot]

I think I figured out the mystery plant in the room that looks so great. I sent a photo back to my clone guy and he said it looked just like a Blue Cheese that he never had a mother of, but had a few cuttings when I went to buy. He still does not have a mother for it, but said that he has some Blue Bubba that is pretty similar, and raved about getting 4.6lbs from 20 small plants with them. I said I'd take it. He said he'll have hundreds ready within 2 weeks, of a few different varieties, so I'll be making a trip back down to OC soon.

I don't have a dedicated space for clones yet and I ended up wiping out the whole crop of cuttings I took, so I'm having to buy more for next round. Once I have money again I'll set up a tent with maybe a 400w cmh for moms and clones, but for right now I just don't have that luxury. I'm gonna get a couple GS Cookies for next round too, see what last year's hype was all about.

So, looks like it's gonna be more sublimes for next round (I really like this plant!) with some blue bubbas and GS Cookies. Maybe a couple lemon OGs too. I like variety.

 

[whythefnot]

Blue cheese

Mardi gras colors on the burnt sublime buds:

 

[whythefnot]

I want to note, if you go to my photobucket library you can see these photos at original resolution (BIG photos).

 

[whythefnot]

I don't know what the deal is with this window unit. Sometimes the compressor won't kick on, regardless of the room temperature. I know it's an issue with the thermometer/potentiometer rather than the compressor itself because despite the room being in the 80s, when I put it on "power saver" mode the main blower fan won't even kick on, indicating that the signal to 'cool' is not being given. It worked great all day yesterday and last night, but it did this same thing the night before, and when I went in the room to check the temps today about an hour after lights off, it was 88*!! Crap! Something is happening that I do not fully understand...

And I have to leave town for 3 days next weekend, so that's the time crunch.

 

[whythefnot]

It was the thermostat/potentiometer. I ripped the metal cage off the front of the unit (behind the plastic veneer) with a big ass hammer and a wood chisel. Torn to pieces. Then, I disconnected the two leads to the POT and touched them together to confirm that the compressor was still good. It is. So thermostat was bad.

I found a new one online for $81, which is $6 more than I paid for the unit itself, so that's out of the question. Then I considered going to lowes and buying a home thermostat and a small contactor and hooking it up. It was probably going to get a little expensive, and I'm not sure if I could get everything I need right now, which would put me ordering stuff online on a saturday while in the middle of a time crunch, also not really a good idea.

Then I had a HPS bulb go off on top of my head. Remember that old 14,000 btu portable mistake I made a few months back? I still have it lying around, its organs being harvested for parts. After a little head scratching, wire chasing, circuit-reading, and troubleshooting I've managed to harvest the digital thermostat (w/ display) and contactor from the unit and I fully expect it to be capable of running the larger unit, as long as the contactor is sized adequately.

If this works out, I will have attained full MacGuyver status today.

 

[whythefnot]

The contactor was not, to maintain phrasing, sized adequately. It was only rated for 15 amps and the original was 20. I'm dumb enough to try it anyway, but fortunately my air conditioner is smart enough to not let me do that.

Anyway, after a little running around, I ended up getting (then returning, and then buying again) a thermostat that's made for a heat pump. In other words, it's an inline thermostat that is capable of carrying a 20 amp load, but it works the opposite of the way I need it to (turns ON when room temp is LOWER than room temp). So I spent about an hour carefully opening it up and drilling holes and attaching an extra wire so that it runs in reverse. Capice?

It looks like all hell but I think it double-qualifies me for the full Mac-G trophy. My girlfriend can't even figure out how to turn these things down (I asked her to check the temps and turn it down so she turned the fan speed up, did nothing to the temperature, and accidentally turned my co2 burner off), but this is the third a/c unit I've completely made my bitch in three months. It was still cheaper than buying a new unit, but it's looking more and more like I shouldn't have skimped on the a/c, even if it was just supposed to be for the first or second run. For another 2 or 3 hundred, I could have had a mini split.

I'll grab some photos tomorrow.

 

[Skunkpassion]

Hope after all your efforts, you get a good crop..

Stick at it dude...

 

[whythefnot]

I'm sure I'll get a decent crop. At this point I'm not very worried. Outside of this a/c junk, It's been a pretty trouble-free grow. I had some fungus gnats, but who doesn't with a 14 bags of fox farm? I'm just ready to harvest so I can get the next round in the ground. That's when we're gonna see some real dank

 

[whythefnot]

Day 42

Update time!!

All in all it's been an ok week. Hectic, but ok. I spent most of the week without a working a/c unit, and without co2. As of tonight I have a system that works pretty well, and with which I feel satisfied, although the temperature swing during compressor off/on cycles might be a little more than I'd like. I'm still testing it and dialing it, but it'll do for the next few weeks/months I think.

The plants are looking good, although they didn't like the low humidity they were subjected to throughout the week. I think it got down to 23% @ 75-77* at one point. The sublimes didn't really like it, but the ppks are usually a little slower to respond to that. They're all perfectly fine, just some of the leaves feel a little drier than I'd like, and I've noticed a few new brown tips, which is backtracking from the direction I've been going over the last 3 - 4 weeks.

The PPKs are starting to show some real good trich development, looks like it's gonna be some killer. If you ever get your hands on this girl, DO NOT TOP HER. The plants I topped are going to produce maybe 1/4 of what the untopped plants will. That's the only thing I can attribute that to. I could be wrong.


On to the pics...

 

[whythefnot]

Here are some PPKs:

 

[whythefnot]

Blue Cheese:

 

[whythefnot]

Sublimes:

 

[whythefnot]

 

[whythefnot]

The A/C, as it is, has a temperature swing of about 8 degrees. During lights on, canopy temp high point is about 84, low point is about 76. I'm thinking of turning it up just a hair, so that the high is 85 - 86. All in all, I think I can live with it this way, esp for the next few weeks.

I meant to get a picture of the thermostat as I was modifying it. With a little bit of elbow grease, I basically created a hot/cold temperature controller from a $16 line voltage thermostat from the HD.

I'm sure I'll do another one like this eventually. I'll be sure to post a tutorial on it.

 

[whythefnot]

Certainly not the prettiest grow in the world, and with all the mayhem in there surrounding the a/c unit I've been kind of careless about pet hairs, but for a first round in a new spot across the country, I think this harvest will suit me just fine.