Thought I'd post this here since it's a pretty newbie sounding post. I haven't been growing for quite some time and it's kind of bananas how stuff has changed. I'd love to hear any feedback from people who have been growing before, or through out this time period, what you might have to say about changes over time and how this stuff impacts homegrowing. To me, this stuff is huge.
I had a few years of growing starting about 10 years back. Phone apps were so well established but it was not to the point you could assume every single brand had their own app. As far as I know, apps were not part of growing. As far as I can tell, even daisy chaining grow lights was a new technology(could be wrong here). I'm not sure how long coco was used, but it seemed rather new to growing at large and at that time. And, I had some respect for LED's 10 years ago, but none of my friends with expensive LED lights were growing bigger buds than anything I was growing, even 400-600w.
The obvious change since then is LED's, wow less power, wow better diodes, this and that -- but the changes in growing are simply so much more. The technology outside of lighting has added more to grow control than any advances in lighting. That said, (and despite a legal grow) I could not give my later grows the attention they needed because I was avoiding suspicion from a slumlord. Checking in on them, humidity and temperature regulation, even fumbling with the stupid light dial timers... I was a paranoid, and they lived in a chaotic environment because of that. I stopped growing.
When I stopped growing, I was measuring temps with, for a homegrow -- probably considered overkill to some -- a AAA powered, 4-unit temp/humidity controller system with a main display unit. I could click through the different units to read temps/humidity in 4 different places. These systems were like 50 bucks at that time, but really weren't great and didn't control anything, nevermind beyond the house. Otherwise, I literally had a mercury thermometer I would tilt my head to read inside of my flower tent. AC Infinity had recently released a duct fan with a speed controller at that time -- it may have even been temperature based(I think it was). But at that time, using an external fan controller on duct fans was known to damage the fans, so 3 speeds was best you could get. I'm not sure if this was like a 10 speed or if it had a temp sensor or what, to be honest, but I just remember feeling like OK this product would have remedied some of my control issues. My last grows were upwards of 90-100 degrees at the colas.
Fast forward 7 years, there's a whole shit ton of products to control and oversee your grow, at home or out. Personally, I am sick of paying taxes to a government who once arrested me for smoking marijuana and then decided they want to sell it. I planted some autos, and I've invested in some products to keep things going. This is not an ad for AC Infinity.
That said, I went straight to AC Infinity and didn't really look any other way as it applies to apps/monitoring etc, even though I'm sure there's probably dozens upon dozens of options. The humidifiers, fans, and BT control units both come with hygrometers.
Even regardless of app monitoring -- not just in the house -- but anywhere, the simple aspect of my fan turning on at a temperature threshold, the humidifer -- set and it will turn on or off automatically. With newer, and pretty basic gear, you have full automated control over your garden. I hand water with an AC infinity mister, but otherwise the humidity and fans are set to be optimal and automated.
What about lights? Well who cares if a light is bluetooth/wifi. I use the brand KMC for most of my Alexa wifi plugs. You can get them as low as 2-3 bucks a pop. Yes, you could buy a light that has an app, but I find the KMC app to be basic and wonderful, and the devices are reliable, so I just set my light schedules with Wifi plugs. AC Infinity offers devices that plug into their system, so if you need something to respond to a humidity or temperature reading, it can turn analog devices on and off. There's really a solution for every aspect of growing to be both controlled and automated, as well as displayed to the grower while at home and out. I would argue there's not much extra expense for certain types of products to monitor all aspects of modern grows. To me, it basically went from you have no control beyond analog monitoring temperature or humidity to: you can view your humidity and temperature and even have your devices respond, turn on or off, change speeds etc. -- practically overnight. Nothing saves you from fucking up lol, but some stuff sure does help.
I had a few years of growing starting about 10 years back. Phone apps were so well established but it was not to the point you could assume every single brand had their own app. As far as I know, apps were not part of growing. As far as I can tell, even daisy chaining grow lights was a new technology(could be wrong here). I'm not sure how long coco was used, but it seemed rather new to growing at large and at that time. And, I had some respect for LED's 10 years ago, but none of my friends with expensive LED lights were growing bigger buds than anything I was growing, even 400-600w.
The obvious change since then is LED's, wow less power, wow better diodes, this and that -- but the changes in growing are simply so much more. The technology outside of lighting has added more to grow control than any advances in lighting. That said, (and despite a legal grow) I could not give my later grows the attention they needed because I was avoiding suspicion from a slumlord. Checking in on them, humidity and temperature regulation, even fumbling with the stupid light dial timers... I was a paranoid, and they lived in a chaotic environment because of that. I stopped growing.
When I stopped growing, I was measuring temps with, for a homegrow -- probably considered overkill to some -- a AAA powered, 4-unit temp/humidity controller system with a main display unit. I could click through the different units to read temps/humidity in 4 different places. These systems were like 50 bucks at that time, but really weren't great and didn't control anything, nevermind beyond the house. Otherwise, I literally had a mercury thermometer I would tilt my head to read inside of my flower tent. AC Infinity had recently released a duct fan with a speed controller at that time -- it may have even been temperature based(I think it was). But at that time, using an external fan controller on duct fans was known to damage the fans, so 3 speeds was best you could get. I'm not sure if this was like a 10 speed or if it had a temp sensor or what, to be honest, but I just remember feeling like OK this product would have remedied some of my control issues. My last grows were upwards of 90-100 degrees at the colas.
Fast forward 7 years, there's a whole shit ton of products to control and oversee your grow, at home or out. Personally, I am sick of paying taxes to a government who once arrested me for smoking marijuana and then decided they want to sell it. I planted some autos, and I've invested in some products to keep things going. This is not an ad for AC Infinity.
That said, I went straight to AC Infinity and didn't really look any other way as it applies to apps/monitoring etc, even though I'm sure there's probably dozens upon dozens of options. The humidifiers, fans, and BT control units both come with hygrometers.
Even regardless of app monitoring -- not just in the house -- but anywhere, the simple aspect of my fan turning on at a temperature threshold, the humidifer -- set and it will turn on or off automatically. With newer, and pretty basic gear, you have full automated control over your garden. I hand water with an AC infinity mister, but otherwise the humidity and fans are set to be optimal and automated.
What about lights? Well who cares if a light is bluetooth/wifi. I use the brand KMC for most of my Alexa wifi plugs. You can get them as low as 2-3 bucks a pop. Yes, you could buy a light that has an app, but I find the KMC app to be basic and wonderful, and the devices are reliable, so I just set my light schedules with Wifi plugs. AC Infinity offers devices that plug into their system, so if you need something to respond to a humidity or temperature reading, it can turn analog devices on and off. There's really a solution for every aspect of growing to be both controlled and automated, as well as displayed to the grower while at home and out. I would argue there's not much extra expense for certain types of products to monitor all aspects of modern grows. To me, it basically went from you have no control beyond analog monitoring temperature or humidity to: you can view your humidity and temperature and even have your devices respond, turn on or off, change speeds etc. -- practically overnight. Nothing saves you from fucking up lol, but some stuff sure does help.