Geek growers?

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spindles

Active Member
Hi folks, I'm on my first grow and, being a complete geek I have gone all out on the geekiness :)

I've got a 750x1000x2400 (2.5'x3'x8' approx) closet coated with mylar, collection of exotic lighting (you name it I bought it, never give a manic depressive a creditcard when he's on the up!) and I've run a USB hub into the room, sited a PC right outside (which helps hide things from random chance visitors) and have a webcam running stopmotion, USB thermometer/hygrometer and pretty much anything I can do to further automate processes, remote control shit or generally geek it up in the grow process I'm enjoying doing.

What I want to know is, am I alone? Is anyone else out there playing around with such geeky aspects? It seems to me that growing really brings out the inventiveness in people so I'm wondering whether others are taking it in the same direction.

I've found using a webcam for stopmotion is really useful, for example. I can look at 8 hours of growth in a few seconds and see reactions to different situations quite quickly, as well as getting some really funky video of how they grow (I've basically got almost every minute since they were ickle clones).

Anyway, geeks?
 
speedyseedz

speedyseedz

Well-Known Member
spindles said:
Hi folks, I'm on my first grow and, being a complete geek I have gone all out on the geekiness :)

I've got a 750x1000x2400 (2.5'x3'x8' approx) closet coated with mylar, collection of exotic lighting (you name it I bought it, never give a manic depressive a creditcard when he's on the up!) and I've run a USB hub into the room, sited a PC right outside (which helps hide things from random chance visitors) and have a webcam running stopmotion, USB thermometer/hygrometer and pretty much anything I can do to further automate processes, remote control shit or generally geek it up in the grow process I'm enjoying doing.

What I want to know is, am I alone? Is anyone else out there playing around with such geeky aspects? It seems to me that growing really brings out the inventiveness in people so I'm wondering whether others are taking it in the same direction.

I've found using a webcam for stopmotion is really useful, for example. I can look at 8 hours of growth in a few seconds and see reactions to different situations quite quickly, as well as getting some really funky video of how they grow (I've basically got almost every minute since they were ickle clones).

Anyway, geeks?
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lol, be prepared to feel disheartened.
 
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Prot3us1

Guest
I dunno what to say..look up all the stealth grows..theres guys with pc case grows where the pc case has a small 12v linux-on-a-chip with vga adapter so the pc literally works.

Theres cabinets that do everything including adjust their own ph.

I hope you mean correct spectrum CFL or HPS or MH HID lights are exotic...plants dont grow under just any lights!

I have away envisioned a grow so stealthy cops could raid my house and miss it...that would peak me geek-o-meter the most.

Hygrometer, thermometer, EC-TDS-PPM meters, ph meters, co2 equipment, carbon filters, pumps, timers, fans - So most people dont have half this stuff laying around, but in a grow room these things are standard.

Definitely triple check your lights...also are you running in soil or hydro...hydro has many more geekable options..auto ph adjusting etc

prot
 
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spindles

Active Member
Heh, yeah, the unfindable grow is a lovely thought, but I think if they came in to look I'd be kidding myself to think there's anything I could do that they wouldn't think to look for.

As this is my first grow and I'm still setting up as I go I'm just using soil at the moment (my hope is that whatever I get is in time for glastonbury and I save myself a heap on my festival stash) but am really hoping to move to hydro in the autumn if funds allow.

I'll keep digging around and reading (there is SO much to read of interest around here), I'm also hoping to find some good ideas for how to develope. I would really like to eventually bring everything under control of a single PC and really start to play, but we shall see. Exotic lights just means I bought a bit of everything (I'm using a collection of 6400k CFLs at the moment and will move over to a 400w HPS when I flower) in a bit of a mad spree when I was first setting up. Since then I've calmed down (well, run out spends:p) and now the only real cost is feeding the meter.
 
johnnytsmitw

johnnytsmitw

Active Member
I thought it would be pretty cool to have a webcam that I could access remotely through a secure connection. I was out of town for a week and just being able to watch my darlings would be comforting. The stop motion thing is brilliant imo. I only have my laptop though, and take it with me everywhere so I couldn't really do either. I would be interested in seeing you stop motion. send me a message if thats cool. You could also animate it, thats pretty geeky and also pretty fun.

I am on a shoestring budget myself but I can totally dig a geek grow.
 
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spindles

Active Member
I do, and I can, but by using stopmotion (1 frame capture per minute, 30 fps playback = 1 hour per 2 seconds watched) I can see whats been going on with them, see what works and what doesn't (I got great footage, for example, of a bad reaction that meant I was able to make quick adjustments). I actually host a simple webserver which runs 1 second interval webcam updates, shows temp and hygro info which I can log into with my phone but it is the stopmotion video aspect that has really caught my imagination.

Can anyone recommend a good anonymous video upload site where I could put a couple of these videos? I would love to show some footage off.
 
tip top toker

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
i think all of these automated systems are just silly. it's just taking your attention away from actually growing the things yourself.

heck, if your a depressive soul with a credit card, just hire yourself a mexican to do it all for you, how much more automated can you get? and then you have a really genuine reason for having cameras recording the grow :)
 
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spindles

Active Member
Cheers, really pleased with the results.

I can see your point with dislike of automation and how that can take attention away from things, for me it's just that I enjoy messing around with this stuff, so it seemed natural to combine both hobbies.

As for my babies, they are less than 3 weeks out of the propagator and I'm enjoying growing them, this place has been invaluable for learning about what I'm up to. A mate gave me a stumpy little indica this evening that has joined them (and needs some TLC!)

I uploaded a clip of what they have been up to today, it's a bit glitchy because I was off work and in and out making changes and messing with the girls.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcmnnh_march-18th_tech
 
greensister

greensister

Well-Known Member
Ok, you want geeked up.

He is using time lapse or interval photography, not stop motion. Stop motion is taking a photograph, moving and object slightly, taking another picture, and moving the object again in a successive progression. Once all the images are arranged then played in a consecutive order, the illusion of motion (persistance of vision) is accomplished.

Stop motion is an animation technique, time lapse is a photographic technique.
 
Calijuana

Calijuana

Well-Known Member
Yup.. I think lots of us on here are geeks at heart, whether it's because of our strangely strong obsession to DIY things or PC/Server/Whatever grows. Probably just cause we all found RIU, we all have some technical ability with computers (of course :P )
 
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spindles

Active Member
tamjam69 said:
same here i like this a lot, your not a geek mate i might even try this myself.

+rep my friend:bigjoint:
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Thanks very much, just enjoying reading your grow diary.

For webcams they are dirt cheap on ebuyer for one that will capture 640x480 (or stills up to 1600x1200), my setup was £8.50 for the camera and a USB hub from poundland (genius purchase) taped to the wall inside, so as long as you can get a pc close enough (or a usb extension that will reach) you can do this for under a tenner. It gives me some interesting stuff to stare at when I'm stoned :)
 
tonail

tonail

Active Member
spindles said:
Thanks very much, just enjoying reading your grow diary.

For webcams they are dirt cheap on ebuyer for one that will capture 640x480 (or stills up to 1600x1200), my setup was £8.50 for the camera and a USB hub from poundland (genius purchase) taped to the wall inside, so as long as you can get a pc close enough (or a usb extension that will reach) you can do this for under a tenner. It gives me some interesting stuff to stare at when I'm stoned :)
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Very cool, I like the idea...
 
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Immature587

Well-Known Member
Eg autimation is neat but this plant requires a steady hand and to much automation cold eventually be a grows downfall as attention to detail start to lapse. Personally I'd like to have an auomated temperature moniters that give me a graph of temps throut th day and soil ph as well over the course of the grow
 
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