Incredible Bulk - First grow (advice welcome)

[Hydro4life]

Ohhh really!! I’ve had fungus gnats when growing in soil. Plant growth ended up coming to a grinding holt! Those bastards were the main reason I tried hydro.
Apparently they eat the beneficial bacteria in the soil then once depleted they move on to the roots! Don’t have to worry about them in dwc lol.
I wouldn’t recommend 10000ppm of co2. Never tried it but have read it’ll kill your plants and you if your in the room too long!
I know the yellow sticky traps are pretty good.

 

[auzziebrat]

Ohhh really!! I’ve had fungus gnats when growing in soil. Plant growth ended up coming to a grinding holt! Those bastards were the main reason I tried hydro.
Apparently they eat the beneficial bacteria in the soil then once depleted they move on to the roots! Don’t have to worry about them in dwc lol.
I wouldn’t recommend 10000ppm of co2. Never tried it but have read it’ll kill your plants and you if your in the room too long!
I know the yellow sticky traps are pretty good.

Maybe I'm too late. Ill get sticky paper today so I can confirm.

I am building my own co2 controller. I read high ppm of co2 would kill bugs, good to know about killin the plants. Won't pursue that avenue.

Thanks again!

 

[Hydro4life]

Maybe I'm too late. Ill get sticky paper today so I can confirm.

I am building my own co2 controller. I read high ppm of co2 would kill bugs, good to know about killin the plants. Won't pursue that avenue.

Thanks again!

It’ll kill most organic life in high doses I would imagine haha. I think at 5000ppm? it becomes toxic to humans. I think a good controller is worth the $ personally.
And yep get some yellow sticky traps and put some around your medium and hang a few around your plants. You’ll know in no time how bad it is or isn’t.

 

[auzziebrat]

It’ll kill most organic life in high doses I would imagine haha. I think at 5000ppm? it becomes toxic to humans. I think a good controller is worth the $ personally.
And yep get some yellow sticky traps and put some around your medium and hang a few around your plants. You’ll know in no time how bad it is or isn’t.

When I started planning this build last year I was amazed at the price of timers that have 1 sec resolutions. $40 got you a basic 1 sec timer. These units offer nothing in regards to flexibility. For $30 on fleabay one can grab a sonoff 4 channel wifi relay and with a bit of patience, rum and full bowl, anyone can build their own.

Trying doing this for $30...


Now couple this with a small IoT device called nodeMCU and a ndir CO2 sensor, 50 buck CO2 controller. The software used (home assistant) contains all the logic.

Been running this system for just over 3 months with 0 issues.

 

[Hydro4life]

Nice!! I’ve now gone wifi timers myself. Haven’t had an issue with them YET lol
Nothing worse than having unreliable timers!
My co2 burner only needed a co2 monitor, I set the desired ppm and ppm range on the generator itself and it controls it all from the reading off the monitor. Really easy. I just have the co2 generator hooked up to the same timer as my lights so not to waste co2 during lights off.
They add a lot of humidity to the room but I find it much easier to get humidity down rather than up
My co2 generator is a 4 burner,
My flower room is about the same size as yours Aussiebrat. 3m x 3m.
And it does the job with ease.
What size co2 generator do you have?

 

[auzziebrat]

Nice!! I’ve now gone wifi timers myself. Haven’t had an issue with them YET lol
Nothing worse than having unreliable timers!
My co2 burner only needed a co2 monitor, I set the desired ppm and ppm range on the generator itself and it controls it all from the reading off the monitor. Really easy. I just have the co2 generator hooked up to the same timer as my lights so not to waste co2 during lights off.
They add a lot of humidity to the room but I find it much easier to get humidity down rather than up
My co2 generator is a 4 burner,
My flower room is about the same size as yours Aussiebrat. 3m x 3m.
And it does the job with ease.
What size co2 generator do you have?

Good direction on the wifi. I purchased a second wifi router and use a hidden ssid.

I got a really good deal for a 20lb bottle of CO2 and I have a magnetic regulator. Cost of the setup did not exceed 300.

Some questions if I may?
- do you fill room for X hours, vent and repeat?
- to save CO2, I assume you are using a dehumidifier instead of exhaust vent cranked up?
- what temp range have you found best and what strategy do you use for climate control?

Thanks again!!

 

[Hydro4life]

Good direction on the wifi. I purchased a second wifi router and use a hidden ssid.

I got a really good deal for a 20lb bottle of CO2 and I have a magnetic regulator. Cost of the setup did not exceed 300.

Some questions if I may?
- do you fill room for X hours, vent and repeat?
- to save CO2, I assume you are using a dehumidifier instead of exhaust vent cranked up?
- what temp range have you found best and what strategy do you use for climate control?

Thanks again!!

I actually have an exhaust fan running on low setting. I’d say my room is 95 - 98% sealed. So it has a little negative pressure in the room to not let smell escape. I have my carbon filter up high in the opposite corner to my co2 generator to draw the co2 through my plants.
We can buy large lpg gas bottles for $130 which will last roughly 2 months.
I generally have my co2 set to 1300ppm.
I do use a dehumidifier that gets emptied once a day, currently set to 50% humidity and does a bloody good job holding it where I want it lol. I run inline cooltube 600w hps that’s set up to the exhaust fan.
I have a portable reverse cycle (found a near new second hand one, as I think they are now illegal in Australia and have to be fixed and fitted by a licensed tradesman)
That way it just recycles the air inside the room without wasting co2!!
And I find, depending on strain and how healthy the plants are that around 30 degrees Celsius works great.
Keep a close eye on how much the plants drink. I’ve learnt to control my temp and humidity a lot on this. You don’t want your plants drinking too much, but you want them drinking more than they would when not dosing co2.
Hope that’s given you a rough idea Aussiebrat!?

 

[auzziebrat]

I actually have an exhaust fan running on low setting. I’d say my room is 95 - 98% sealed. So it has a little negative pressure in the room to not let smell escape. I have my carbon filter up high in the opposite corner to my co2 generator to draw the co2 through my plants.
We can buy large lpg gas bottles for $130 which will last roughly 2 months.
I generally have my co2 set to 1300ppm.
I do use a dehumidifier that gets emptied once a day, currently set to 50% humidity and does a bloody good job holding it where I want it lol. I run inline cooltube 600w hps that’s set up to the exhaust fan.
I have a portable reverse cycle (found a near new second hand one, as I think they are now illegal in Australia and have to be fixed and fitted by a licensed tradesman)
That way it just recycles the air inside the room without wasting co2!!
And I find, depending on strain and how healthy the plants are that around 30 degrees Celsius works great.
Keep a close eye on how much the plants drink. I’ve learnt to control my temp and humidity a lot on this. You don’t want your plants drinking too much, but you want them drinking more than they would when not dosing co2.
Hope that’s given you a rough idea Aussiebrat!?

Definately gives me a good idea. I have plenty of time to design the setup as I don't plan to use it until my 3rd run in 8 weeks time.

Do you think the fan on low wastes much CO2? I was thinking of fans off while CO2 on. I have a window aircon configured to work with my heater using a bang-bang config. Would love the reverse cycle as my in window unit is not in flower room and only air output ducted into the airbox.

I've done all my own wiring for this op, won't hurt to do my own reverse cycle. lol

 

[Hydro4life]

Definately gives me a good idea. I have plenty of time to design the setup as I don't plan to use it until my 3rd run in 8 weeks time.

Do you think the fan on low wastes much CO2? I was thinking of fans off while CO2 on. I have a window aircon configured to work with my heater using a bang-bang config. Would love the reverse cycle as my in window unit is not in flower room and only air output ducted into the airbox.

I've done all my own wiring for this op, won't hurt to do my own reverse cycle. lol

Haha. Reverse cycles are great and a must have for a 100% sealed room.
Yes it does waste some co2 but I get lpg pretty cheap.
Generally exhaust fan off during co2 dosing, yes. I’ve heard of some guys never venting their room and using a bubbler that draws fresh oxygen to the roots from outside the room for dwc/rdwc etc.

 

[auzziebrat]

yellow sticky pads yeilded no gnays. phewww. thanks for ph tip. my meter needed calibration so after doing that plants are healthier. Thanks so much!


Day 35 now....

Ny mother got some root rot. Trimmed roots up, she is happy again.

 

[DustyDuke]

Good read, love your setup very clean and organised unlike mine lol. I’ll keep an eye on your grows, Im also an Aussie grower well I use the term “grower” loosely

 

[auzziebrat]

Buds are starting to fatten up! One thing I learned over the past few days, never stop trimming! Trimmed a bunch of leaves covering bud sites. Looks great after!

 

[auzziebrat]

Day 43....

Getting close to chop time .Currently reading up on the boiling technique. Happy to hear advice ...





Not game to guess what end yield will be. Hard to tell with my skill level at this stage.

 

[DustyDuke]

I popped 5 incredible bulks on the weekend see how I go. I’m moving to led so not expecting huge buds. Your’s are looking nice, still heaps of white hairs popping and not much browning off yet (could be the light making the buds look that way). We’re you thinking 3 weeks left?

 

[auzziebrat]

I popped 5 incredible bulks on the weekend see how I go. I’m moving to led so not expecting huge buds. Your’s are looking nice, still heaps of white hairs popping and not much browning off yet (could be the light making the buds look that way). We’re you thinking 3 weeks left?

2 - 3 weeks was my guess. Got critical mass vegin, she'll be 60 days in 12 days time so I hope the bulk finishes up on time.


Behind the Critical Mass will be crit +2. Big difference trying a sativa.



Then got white rino behind that.

The final strain will be Red Dragon. Saving the best for last.



Trying to a plant to flower every 4 weeks now my system is dialed in.

 

[DustyDuke]

Nice one perpetual grow is my goal as well! I’m just currently doing a bit of strain hunting, once I’ve got few I hope I can start to run a schedule like yours. I’ve got some Nothern Soul, Cookies Og and Black Sugar flowering which I took a few clones off just in case. I’ve got a few strains at various stages of veg as well Green Crack, Sour Diesel, Cheese and Yantra. I recently received some seeds of a fellow riu grower who has some top stuff so I’m most excited about them, those seeds are Sweet Black Angel x Goofy Grape. You had any experience with any of these strains?

 

[auzziebrat]

Nice one perpetual grow is my goal as well! I’m just currently doing a bit of strain hunting, once I’ve got few I hope I can start to run a schedule like yours. I’ve got some Nothern Soul, Cookies Og and Black Sugar flowering which I took a few clones off just in case. I’ve got a few strains at various stages of veg as well Green Crack, Sour Diesel, Cheese and Yantra. I recently received some seeds of a fellow riu grower who has some top stuff so I’m most excited about them, those seeds are Sweet Black Angel x Goofy Grape. You had any experience with any of these strains?

This is all my first go. All strains are a first for me. Green Crack is high on my list to aquire. I've met a local grower who has that and ak47. I'm trying to get clones now. Bit hard to find strains where I am.

Best of luck with your collection, it's an impressive range. Royal Gorilla is the holy grail I'd sell my left and right nut for.

 

[DustyDuke]

I get my seeds from Yantra seeds google em never let me down, I never send it to my address there is some risk.
But of course I only use them for souvenirs only like the site says

 

[auzziebrat]

day 51... growth is awesome!



Barely any amber on the buds yet though, so I assume they are still fattening up

 

[DustyDuke]

day 51... growth is awesome!

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Barely any amber on the buds yet though, so I assume they are still fattening up

I’ve seen a grow of this strain and the last 2 weeks they exploded like doubled in size. He did ride it out about 10ish days longer than he expected from memory. Yours look awesome mate, nice work.
Been my first grow with out a deficiency or ph imbalance healthy as f plants basically and then I go to a new hydro shop! Bad move, he convinced me that I should give this organic bloom a go, I do organic soil. Now I’ve got nute burn (even with quarter strength) not happy Jan!! I’m kicking myself now, not major burn but I still.