Variety Grow - Perpetual, "Mini" ScrOG's, DWC in a Cabinet (First Timer)

right on

by trade im a plumber but ive also spent a few years framing but now i work more on the contracting side
I could tell that you have the technical knowledge to design something properly and build it cleanly just from how seemless the box looks & some of the products you used

keep it up

how many gallons/litres are your resevoirs?

Adosbulc said:

right on

by trade im a plumber but ive also spent a few years framing but now i work more on the contracting side
I could tell that you have the technical knowledge to design something properly and build it cleanly just from how seemless the box looks & some of the products you used

keep it up

how many gallons/litres are your resevoirs?

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Plumbing?!?! (shivers) My wife and I thought it would be a good idea to remodel a circa 1923, 1200 sq ft CA Bungalow into a 2-story 2400 sq ft CA Ranch. My worst nightmare was trying to splice a new 3/4" tee into the main line under the kitchen. Even the street valve wouldn't completely shut off the water so I couldn't get the solder up to temp to make a good seal! Oh did I mention the crawl space was about 14" with lot's of scary things around and it was about 105* outside. It's the closest I've come to truly "losing my mind".

My rez's are 16L Sterilite at 7"x16"x12". The mother plants run with just under 2 gal of water and the clones run nearly full within 1/2" of the top. I have to top the mothers off every 3 days.

Just wanted to say, you are very innovative in your design and are surely the McGuyver of making practical growing cabs! Cheers, jsgamber!

Dameon said:

Just wanted to say, you are very innovative in your design and are surely the McGuyver of making practical growing cabs! Cheers, jsgamber!

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Thanks bro! I think I need to get a little bit better on the "grow" side of things.

And now for a brief update. No pics right now since everything sort of looks the same. I had a few of my new clones die but the rest are doing great. I've been keeping a much better watch on temps and pH and it's helping a bit. Almost all of the clones are getting little white bumps on the stems. This was the part I missed last time I wasn't paying attention so I'm hoping to go home to some roots tonight or at least by tomorrow night. Clone reservoir has been maintaining 70-74* (warmer to promote roots at the risk of pathogens development), ph 5.4 - 6.3 (have to readjust as some clones die) and running 1/4 strenght nutes using the "cuttings" recipe.

Mums Larry OG and KK are getting bushy again. After KK's massive root-ectomy, she is doing as I hoped. Lot's of new little white root hairs showing up on the main tap roots. Also Larry OG is getting the same showing so I think I'm getting better at running the chemistry. Mum reservoir has been maintaining 67-69* (with ice bottles), pH between 5.75 and 5.95 and ppm dropping as I add water. I'll get some root shots and leaf shots up and maybe we can start seeing what I'm missing.

Cherry AK-47 is coming along nicely and I'm going to join her up with Larry OG and KK. I can expect to start taking cuttings from Cherry AK-47 in another two weeks. I have one last clone from last batch who is barely surviving (remember I fried them while testing my 430w bulb in the chamber below over night). Yes this is learning experience.

I'm now at the mental stage where I'm not going to try and bring things back from the dead. I've run into too many instances where the dying tend to infect the others in some way whether it be pH or something else. All of my other attempted rescues were information gathering for me and my final conclusions are:

• Success in numbers - I only need 1 or 2 healthy clones every 2 weeks. If I plug in 16 and 14 die and 2 go on to flower....success!
• Time and energy - worrying about 2 dying plants is no fun. I like watching the living!

Remember in the beginning I said I didn't want to be one of those growers who stresses for 3 months over one plant only to have it die 1 week from harvest. I'm a lazy SOB and sometimes I'll forget, so I just need to always have a backup plan.


pics tonight ... hopefully.

peace

jsgamber said:

Plumbing?!?! (shivers) My wife and I thought it would be a good idea to remodel a circa 1923, 1200 sq ft CA Bungalow into a 2-story 2400 sq ft CA Ranch. My worst nightmare was trying to splice a new 3/4" tee into the main line under the kitchen. Even the street valve wouldn't completely shut off the water so I couldn't get the solder up to temp to make a good seal! Oh did I mention the crawl space was about 14" with lot's of scary things around and it was about 105* outside. It's the closest I've come to truly "losing my mind".

My rez's are 16L Sterilite at 7"x16"x12". The mother plants run with just under 2 gal of water and the clones run nearly full within 1/2" of the top. I have to top the mothers off every 3 days.

Click to expand...

Have you heard of the rigid propress? Its like a copper fitting press that takes 2 seconds to do. dont have to clean, debur, anything. it uses a battery & hydrolics to create a perfect seal. the fittings cost more and the initial machine costs more, but you could have the water going at 50psi and still create a water-tight seal from a new pipe to an old existing one. if you have to do it again, I would look into renting a machine (as I think the propress runs for $1500-2000) its handy for tight spaces/not having the water off/speed/efficiency

Adosbulc said:

Have you heard of the rigid propress? Its like a copper fitting press that takes 2 seconds to do. dont have to clean, debur, anything. it uses a battery & hydrolics to create a perfect seal. the fittings cost more and the initial machine costs more, but you could have the water going at 50psi and still create a water-tight seal from a new pipe to an old existing one. if you have to do it again, I would look into renting a machine (as I think the propress runs for $1500-2000) its handy for tight spaces/not having the water off/speed/efficiency

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Believe me the next time I need to do anything like that I'll call you and I'll supervise under the umbrella with a Mai Tai.

For all you hydro guys. If you haven't recently calibrated your meter, RUN, don't walk and get it done!

My wife and kids went out and bought a bunch of Tetra's for the fish tank. When I came home last night, my wife was using the Fish Tank Water Test kit to test the pH of the tank (Tetra's need 6.5 pH), you know the type, put 3 drops in a test tube full of water and guess what color it is. I laughed and asked why she wasn't using my pH meter. So we got it out and the tank water registered 8.2. We thought the test solution must be old because the High Range pH test was saying around 7.4. Needless to say, a bit later when checking in on the plants and testing water, I started to wonder. I think I last calibrated it about 2 months ago.

So I pull out my reference solutions and recalibrate. I go back and take measurement of my mum res (the one I though was sitting at 5.95) and get a reading of 4.6!?!? Holy Shit! I went back and recalibrated again with the same result! The fish tank measured at 7.03. Aaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!

Okay deep breath. I did a water change and everything is flushing out in 5.95pH (for real) adjusted water and no nutes. This morning, the mums had spiked up to 6.75 so I brought it back down again. ppm only went from 245 (my base out of tap) to 275 so that's good.

So as it turns out the time I was ignoring them and their pH was hanging out at 6.6 (on my meter), the reality was the plants were sitting in about 5.3 to 5.4 and I kept adjusting that down to 5.8 based on my meter.

So how often do you guys calibrate your meters?

Here's some updated pics. At this point still no roots on my new clone batch.


From my last batch of clones (2 weeks ago). Even though they didn't survive the heat disaster, at least I can grow roots so I'm making progress!


Doesn't this gal just look like she's sitting on the pot trying to grunt out some roots?


Overhead shot. The 3 on the far right are KK clones and the rest are Larry OG.


The KK clones up close.


Larry OG Clones


KK mum - Notice all new root growth up by the basket as well as a good amount of growth all along.


This is Cherry AK-47. Her roots are perfect! The brown tint is from the "Thrive Alive Red" that goes in their veg nute mix.


And finally Larry OG looking good as always!



More to come...stay tuned.

One of the objectives of this grow was to have "variety". Now this becomes an interesting term. Sometimes variety isn't necessarily what you "want" but what you "get".

My initial 5 strains going in were Larry OG, Kandy Kush, DJ's Blueberry, Purple Extreme and OG Skunk. When PE died I went and got another PE clone and picked up Cherry AK-47 at the same time. Needless to say both PE's, the Blueberry and Skunk are gone.

Right now I'm sitting with 3 viable strains that appear to thrive in my environment. Realize these 3 plants haven't had perfect care or perfect environment and yet despite that, they thrive! It's sorta like Harry Potter and his wand. "I don't choose the strains to grow...they choose me!!"

Larry OG has performed phenominally throughout and is a very forgiving strain. I keep wanting to show you guys pics of leaves with issues, but they are all green, no curls, no yellowing and no brown edges. It's survived through the powder mildew and always produces new fresh leaves!

Kandy Kush, even though suffered some root damage in the beginning which slowed her growth, she is coming on strong and her clones (even though a bit thin stemmed) are staying alive and thriving.

Cherry AK-47 has had 1 or 2 yellow leaves and one powder leaf (all cut off) and is just growing fine.


I think it's important to understand and know what you can grow vs. what you want to grow and find that happy medium so you have ultimate success.

jsgamber said:

For all you hydro guys. If you haven't recently calibrated your meter, RUN, don't walk and get it done!

My wife and kids went out and bought a bunch of Tetra's for the fish tank. When I came home last night, my wife was using the Fish Tank Water Test kit to test the pH of the tank (Tetra's need 6.5 pH), you know the type, put 3 drops in a test tube full of water and guess what color it is. I laughed and asked why she wasn't using my pH meter. So we got it out and the tank water registered 8.2. We thought the test solution must be old because the High Range pH test was saying around 7.4. Needless to say, a bit later when checking in on the plants and testing water, I started to wonder. I think I last calibrated it about 2 months ago.

So I pull out my reference solutions and recalibrate. I go back and take measurement of my mum res (the one I though was sitting at 5.95) and get a reading of 4.6!?!? Holy Shit! I went back and recalibrated again with the same result! The fish tank measured at 7.03. Aaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!

Okay deep breath. I did a water change and everything is flushing out in 5.95pH (for real) adjusted water and no nutes. This morning, the mums had spiked up to 6.75 so I brought it back down again. ppm only went from 245 (my base out of tap) to 275 so that's good.

So as it turns out the time I was ignoring them and their pH was hanging out at 6.6 (on my meter), the reality was the plants were sitting in about 5.3 to 5.4 and I kept adjusting that down to 5.8 based on my meter.

So how often do you guys calibrate your meters?

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HAHA SUCCESS ! i think you have just cracked why your clones kept dying lol . I use litmus paper personally and its about 99 pence for 3 booklets of the stuff , very accurate the past is the past, i see a bright future for this cab. I've gotta admit you had me worried for a while. Happy Growin

This tread I'd better then prime time tv. Great job,you show everyone who reads your stuff that quitters never succeed. How do o subscribe because I'm all in now.

truck79 said:

This tread I'd better then prime time tv. Great job,you show everyone who reads your stuff that quitters never succeed. How do o subscribe because I'm all in now.

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LOL. Even though my crazy mind read "prime time" it translated it to "soap opera". Either way it's got Prime Time Entertainment value with plenty of Soap Opera Drama. I sure hope you figured out to scribe because you'll miss all the good stuff. Get your butt over to my Cabinet Build and see how I'm gonna make a kick ass AC unit for under $20 DIY.

Besides I thrive on failure because without failure there would never be nothin' to fix.

No changes for the mums or clones but took pics anyways. Mums are still flushing but they are thirsty since I had to add about half gallon of water. It's interesting that the pH has been dropping during their flush. Water temp was up to 74* so threw in another ice bottle.

From this morning.




Root shots from this morning The right pic is KK.



Here's what all my current clones look like. At least they are living still!!!! Come on roots!



I forgot about this guy! This was a clone from my last batch!! When I consolodated up last time, it was extra! Rather than throw it away I grabbed a coffee mug, filled it with water, plopped it in, set it next to the kitchen window and completely forgot about it until I took my last set of cuttings!! Sometimes you got to wonder if we are trying too hard to do this!!



Here's some wider angle shots. These are blind shots since I'm up on a stool. Remember this is the top cab sitting between 6 and 9ft above floor level. Looks like Larry OG is gonna need another haircut soon.



peace

Sub'd and rep+. Love your cab

Whelp, just got done reading both your journals. I shall be following you and your en devours... I wanna stick around for some bud porn! Great job so far!

brianc01088 said:

Whelp, just got done reading both your journals. I shall be following you and your en devours... I wanna stick around for some bud porn! Great job so far!

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Oh Lord I can't wait to show it to you too!!

I've got more pics I'll put up later of my latest clone batch (now 5 days old). I've got 2 clones from the previous batch that are still living and roots are forming well. I'm madly working on getting my flower chamber ready to put them in!!!


Thanks for watching!

jsgamber said:

Oh Lord I can't wait to show it to you too!!

I've got more pics I'll put up later of my latest clone batch (now 5 days old). I've got 2 clones from the previous batch that are still living and roots are forming well. I'm madly working on getting my flower chamber ready to put them in!!!


Thanks for watching!

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Excellent i'll watch your while i smoke mine glad to see everything going well now , it was bound to be a mission with the intricacy of your plan !

Havent seen you round my thread for a while though ......

Here's some recent pics of my current clones at day 5. First time I didn't use a humidity dome and I had no wilting at all!!! With the PM and such I'm thinking I may not have the humidity problem I thought I did. I'm going backwards a bit and have removed my humidfier from the system. System remains stable at 47-48% RH as opposed to the 55% I was getting which should be in the acceptable zone.




Here's some shots of the mums new growth. How do they look? I've got lots of questions written down that I want to throw out and I'll get those later. I got to get back to work on my cab so I can get the grils back in their home!



For the plant experts see what you can see, I'll give some environmental info in my next posts later. Basically my mums are in a standard Technaflora vegging recipe and the clones are running purely pH 6.0 and rooting powder.

Thanks all for the props!

God I can't get a break with my clones! Best batch I had going so far and last night I looked in on my cab and found a fucking party going on inside my clones! These fuckers are small but they had webs all over the place, in one fucking day!!

I grabbed a bottle of insecticidal soap and sprayed the crap out of everything in the cab including the mums. I think I'm gonna go out and get a bug bomb and do the whole garage. I hope everything survives. You think since I'm in clone stage just a regular Raid Bug Bomb should be okay since I won't be smoking my mums.

I just wanted to cry!!!

Go to lowes or home depot and get the concentrated neem oil. It is omri I believe so its better for your cabs and plants. Get the organic raid bug bombs for the garage. You may want to pull as much out of your cab as you can and clean it thoroughly. I hate to sound pessimistic but I have read a bunch of horror stories of spider mites, and they are that, HORROR!! Just my .02 good luck bud.