Bentley's DIY Aeroponic HPA, Northern Lights Auto, Grow Journal Jan 2021

[lvumlow]

Now that we are getting to the final weeks, I have been researching the mysterious question of when to harvest? This entire project has been so much fun and so overwhelming at the same time; there is an incredible amount of data available so now the real question is how to interpret it? I have grown outdoors and thought I knew when the plant was ready but now I am learning that it is easy to miss important signs that help you zero in on the most ripe time to harvest.

I will admit my only real education here is watching videos and poking around forums like this but with so much data out there, how are we to filter out the relevant points to us? I have seen posts where two people perform that same basic strategy and have completely different results and one area that seems to be an easy trap for new guys like me is to harvest too early. I think we all get excited towards the end so its natural to focus on the end game but this can and IMHO likely leads to many new growers harvesting too soon. Most of us will have read a few posts about trichomes and jewelers loops but I found a video that I believe has some solid advice for guys like me so I wanted to add it to this journal.

I am in the final phase of my first grow so I will be the first to admit I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew in one session but I seem to be prone to challenges naturally. One of the things that confused me a little was flowering time... We see breeders give estimates for flowering times and you can get some basic ideas of how a plant will grow but for me, I started with an autoflower with a 50/60 day flowering time. I am currently on day 103 of my grow and feel like I may have weeks to go so what gives? Anyway, the video below does a real good job of explaining variation and how to view your final days so you can pick up on the signs of ripeness that will get you the best product possible. One thing about this is not only do you lose potency by harvesting too soon but you also lose a lot of (potential)weight. If you start to harvest once you see milky trichomes, you could miss out on a lot of mass from the final days of swelling that occurs so don't cut yourself short.

 

[Spitz]

Wow... First journal I've ever read where the plants were not what interested me most. Cmon man... 1st grow really? Absolutely insane read. Loved it! Good luck on your harvest. Any chance we'll get the "DIY walk in cannabis humidor drying and curing room" addition to the end of this journey? Just kidding. Maybe. Not really kidding at all.

Beautiful!

 

[lvumlow]

Wow... First journal I've ever read where the plants were not what interested me most. Cmon man... 1st grow really? Absolutely insane read. Loved it! Good luck on your harvest. Any chance we'll get the "DIY walk in cannabis humidor drying and curing room" addition to the end of this journey? Just kidding. Maybe. Not really kidding at all.

Beautiful!

Lol, I guess I went a little crazy with all the DIY stuff and likely did that more for a chance to tinker in the garage. Some of it is typical scope creep whereas you get so far into a crazy idea that you are committed to making it work... Either way, it has been a very fun project and I really did not expect to enjoy it as much as I have. I have grand plans for a v2.0 and hope to produce something special in the future (I see lots of opportunity to improve on mistakes).

COVID and a cold winter have led me down this road, as we are all stuck at home and need something to keep our minds busy; this fit the bill...

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Spitz]

"Scope Creep"... I get it. I experienced that when I added nutrients to my last soil grow. Glad you found something to keep you sane through this lockdown. I intended in no way to downplay your plant. It is lovely. Peace!

 

[lvumlow]

Now that we are through puberty, it's time to strap her in preparation for those buds to swell up like beer cans up so I thought I would try some of these plant yoyo's for extra support...

I have never used them before but pleased I decided to give them a try. They are awesome and make it so easy to support everything neatly. Easy to put in or take down for times when you need to get to the back.

I feel like a puppet master!

So, now that she has some firm support we are waiting for the swell... she is still drinking 1.25 gal/day and I hope she puts all that food into some oversized cans. I can't wait to see how she ripens.

 

[lvumlow]

I thought I would post up some full scale pics so here is the progress over the last week... I felt like she was slowing down but looking at the weekly progress, I feel confident she is filling out nicely. This concluded week 6 of flower so we have a couple more weeks...

 

[leblanca]

Your roots seems to be developping better than mine, im at 2 sec on and 4 min off timer and i have long stringy roots, i tried to reduce timer and plants were wilthing :/

 

[lvumlow]

I would consider the pressure and nozzle type you are using? One thing I did that seems to be different than others is direct my nozzles away from my roots. The only mist that reaches my roots are reflected off the wall. Most of us are going to run into the same problem whereas root space will be a limiting factor. Once the roots reach the bottom, your Aero project is essentially over and you have transitioned more towards a DWC configuration.

I have a rev.2 root chamber on order to try and address this but we will have to wait until my next grow to see if it works better...

 

[leblanca]

I would consider the pressure and nozzle type you are using? One thing I did that seems to be different than others is direct my nozzles away from my roots. The only mist that reaches my roots are reflected off the wall. Most of us are going to run into the same problem whereas root space will be a limiting factor. Once the roots reach the bottom, your Aero project is rescission over and you have transitioned more towards a DWC configuration.

I have a rev.2 root chamber on order to try and address this but we will have to wait until my next grow to see if it works better...

Im using those nozzle, i have 4 stainless and 2 brass per tote, they are not directed to roots either, im runnin my system between 120-150 PSI
Stainless
Brass

Heres a picture of my layout from my 2020 journal
Tote

 

[lvumlow]

Im using those nozzle, i have 4 stainless and 2 brass per tote, they are not directed to roots either, im runnin my system between 120-150 PSI
Stainless
Brass

Interesting? I wish I could be more helpful but this is my first attempt at this, maybe I just got lucky? I have to be honest in that I never expected to get this far on an untested setup like this ( I literally germinated only one seed). I can say that my pressure is set to 80 psi and my average cycle times are 5s on and 5m off. I did experiment with lots of settings and always seem to come back to the 5/5 setting. I would love to have a camera in the root chamber some day.

You may consider some type of baffling also. I believe the stringy roots indicate too much water, whether directly, or indirectly (misters on too long). If there are too many water molecules bouncing around your roots, the will combine and drip down resulting in long trailing roots. You want them to be moist and never dripping...

 

[leblanca]

Interesting? I wish I could be more helpful but this is my first attempt at this, maybe I just got lucky? I have to be honest in that I never expected to get this far on an untested setup like this ( I literally germinated only one seed). I can say that my pressure is set to 80 psi and my average cycle times are 5s on and 5m off. I did experiment with lots of settings and always seem to come back to the 5/5 setting. I would love to have a camera in the root chamber some day.

You may consider some type of baffling also. I believe the stringy roots indicate too much water, whether directly, or indirectly (misters on too long). If there are too many water molecules bouncing around your roots, the will combine and drip down resulting in long trailing roots. You want them to be moist and never dripping...

Yeah thats my problem they are a bit dripping, i have to try maybe reduce the sprayer from 6 to 4.

 

[leblanca]

Interesting? I wish I could be more helpful but this is my first attempt at this, maybe I just got lucky? I have to be honest in that I never expected to get this far on an untested setup like this ( I literally germinated only one seed). I can say that my pressure is set to 80 psi and my average cycle times are 5s on and 5m off. I did experiment with lots of settings and always seem to come back to the 5/5 setting. I would love to have a camera in the root chamber some day.

You may consider some type of baffling also. I believe the stringy roots indicate too much water, whether directly, or indirectly (misters on too long). If there are too many water molecules bouncing around your roots, the will combine and drip down resulting in long trailing roots. You want them to be moist and never dripping...

Well you did had a plan on what you were going to do and its not like you are trying something that has never been done before, there is information online to help us design, my system also worked the first time, some stuff didnt work as well but i got a harvest, the important as you have noticed is to try to react in time if things goes sideway and to learn from our mistake.

You are on the right path as you plant is doing very well.
Im curious as to what light you use, im not familiar with them.

 

[lvumlow]

I was a total "greenhorn" and walked into my local hydro store and said give me everything I need for a small pocket grow (3x3).

I have never seen anyone use my light or a review of it online. I speculate it may be obsolete today because I purchased it two years ago and there have been a ton of huge developments in that technology over those years. I am pretty sure you can get better for less money today? The model and info should be in the first post of my journal if you want more information. Carson Technologies is the company, I got their 3x3 240W full spectrum series (comes with 4 light rails) and it took awhile for me to start this project so I recently ordered 4 additional light rails to add to it so I know they are still in business. It is basically a 480W full spectrum LED.

 

[leblanca]

I was a total "greenhorn" and walked into my local hydro store and said give me everything I need for a small pocket grow (3x3).

I have never seen anyone use my light or a review of it online. I speculate it may be obsolete today because I purchased it two years ago and there have been a ton of huge developments in that technology over those years. I am pretty sure you can get better for less money today? The model and info should be in the first post of my journal if you want more information. Carson Technologies is the company, I got their 3x3 240W full spectrum series (comes with 4 light rails) and it took awhile for me to start this project so I recently ordered 4 additional light rails to add to it so I know they are still in business. It is basically a 480W full spectrum L

Nice, seems like they are giving good result as your plant is quite dense.
I went check out those lights and they look pretty good and 480W in a 3x3 thats like 53W per sq/ft thats nice, im at 56W sq/ft but it costed me 4k....
You could add a couple of uvb tube to increase thc in your plant too.

 

[lvumlow]

Heres a picture of my layout from my 2020 journal
Tote

I just looked at your tote and have some input...

Let's look at this from the perspective of what we do know .vs what we don't. I believe your condition is a sign of too much water (such that it is accumulating to the point that it drips).

I only have 4 sprayers in mine so assuming they are similar in flow rates, we know you are pushing 50% more water per second than I am. Try capping two of them and observe your roots over time. You are striving for them to me moist, not dripping.

When I built my tote, I put my hand in the middle (I was planning for a solo plant) and fired up the misters and watched the amount of moisture in the surrounding area (I now wish I had paid more attention to that) . I suspect that I may be a little on the heavy side and wish my timer would go lower than 5s on.

My new chamber is going to be much larger so I believe that will work in my favor when dialing that setup in...

Experiment a little and reduce it to 4 misters and re-evaluate...

 

[lvumlow]

I wanted to take minute to talk about methods of monitoring your trichomes today.

I have tried a couple of the gizmos and gadgets out there and they range from a simple jewelers loop to clip-on lenses for your mobile devices all the way up to full scale microscopes. They use various strategies along with a wide range of magnification options. I have been using a clip on style for my phone which works but can be cumbersome trying to align, focus and ultimately take a photo.

I tried a new product today and wanted to post it up here for anyone who wants to make this process easier on themselves. Most people will spend around $20 for an inexpensive magnifying device but my recommendation is to spend just a little more to unlock some features that will just make everything more convenient as well as give you more options for other applications. I've seen people get by with a 30x lens (my old one was 60x) and this works fine for the basics of what we are doing but how about having much higher magnification, removing all the cables, clips, lenses, etc... for a better experience?

The product below is still very inexpensive (considering its features) and comes with a small stand and a magnification range of 50-1000x. It can also connect via PC (USB cable) or WiFi to your mobile device and has a rechargeable lithium battery.

The thing that made me want to post up is the ergonomics; it has a comfortable zoom/focus dial that is easy to operate while holding it in one hand and even a shutter button on the device so you never have to touch your phone. Simply connect via WiFi from your phone and hold your scope up to your product, spin the focus wheel with your finger and snap a photo. Once the focus is adjusted, as long as you hold the bud up the the base of the scope everything will already be in focus for the next picture. It has some great specs and takes great pictures for $40. I am sold and will never go back to any of my old solutions...

Here is a sample from my girl...

In my humble opinion, you just can't beat the quality and features for the price...

Here is a capture from my old clip-on scope so you can see the difference...

 

[Dabeast09]

I wanted to take minute to talk about methods of monitoring your trichomes today.

I have tried a couple of the gizmos and gadgets out there and they range from a simple jewelers loop to clip-on lenses for your mobile devices all the way up to full scale microscopes. They use various strategies along with a wide range of magnification options. I have been using a clip on style for my phone which works but can be cumbersome trying to align, focus and ultimately take a photo.

I tried a new product today and wanted to post it up here for anyone who wants to make this process easier on themselves. Most people will spend around $20 for an inexpensive magnifying device but my recommendation is to spend just a little more to unlock some features that will just make everything more convenient as well as give you more options for other applications. I've seen people get by with a 30x lens (my old one was 60x) and this works fine for the basics of what we are doing but how about having much higher magnification, removing all the cables, clips, lenses, etc... for a better experience?

The product below is still very inexpensive (considering its features) and comes with a small stand and a magnification range of 50-1000x. It can also connect via PC (USB cable) or WiFi to your mobile device and has a rechargeable lithium battery.

The thing that made me want to post up is the ergonomics; it has a comfortable zoom/focus dial that is easy to operate while holding it in one hand and even a shutter button on the device so you never have to touch your phone. Simply connect via WiFi from your phone and hold your scope up to your product, spin the focus wheel with your finger and snap a photo. Once the focus is adjusted, as long as you hold the bud up the the base of the scope everything will already be in focus for the next picture. It has some great specs and takes great pictures for $40. I am sold and will never go back to any of my old solutions...

Here is a sample from my girl...

In my humble opinion, you just can't beat the quality and features for the price...

I think I bought the Chinese rip off of that for 11$, should arrive soon ill report

 

[lvumlow]

I think I bought the Chinese rip off of that for 11$, should arrive soon ill report

Yes, I looked at that one. Two things pushed me away; it shows 50-1600x but if you look into the specs it shows 1000? Also read in the comments about problematic software but the main reason was I wanted to cut the wires and go WiFi.

Let us know how it works for you; everyone loves to save $$...

 

[lvumlow]

I am monitoring trichomes daily and getting alot of milky but still have some clear that needs to fill in. I snipped a small sample bud today to let dry out. Growth seems to be slowing (I hate this phase; always chomping at the bit for her to finish up) but I'm going to plan for a late harvest and hang in there for the long game. Still pushing white pistils on top... I do have some amber but I think they are bruising from getting knocked around in the floppy stage before I gave her some additional support.

Week 7 of Flower and Day 107:

 

[lvumlow]

This weekend will mark the end of week 7 of flower and things are starting to show some fall colors... Still have lots of white pistils everywhere so planning to let her ripen at her own pace.