Low Watts - High Yield - Let's Smash the 1 GPW Benchmark Together

[steeliesteve]

This

The timer is kind of pricey, would a regular timer with 15 minute intervals be ok until I can afford a periodic timer? Or would running pump 24/7 be ok? Kinda tight on cash atm.

 

[420fied]

was a sound grow that aero grow, seems so long ago now haha

Thanks. Yes it does seem like so long ago. lol. You're from the UK, right cult?

I cant wait to c how this turns out ladies looking goood
It shows me that my possibilities are endless
Um definitely following

Thank you. Good to have you here.

The timer is kind of pricey, would a regular timer with 15 minute intervals be ok until I can afford a periodic timer? Or would running pump 24/7 be ok? Kinda tight on cash atm.

It might.

When I first place the clones in the cloners, I doubt I'd want the clones to have to wait for 15 minutes between sprayings. When they're freshly cut, I want more frequent sprayings. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, I'd just be hesitant to try it. However, once they show roots, the timer you're talking about would certainly work.

 

[420fied]

It's a 14 gal tote, appx 14x20x11"deep, 24 sites, 396gph pump, spray head roughly 10x16, top is not quite 8" off bottom, 28 green 360 spray heads. Room stays in mid 70'sF.

The first batch was 21 cut 11/24, pump ran 24/7 6.0 water, a few drops superthrive, tops appx 8" beneath 1 24" 14W 6400K HO fluorescent, lights on 18/6, harvested them 12/7 looking like this:

I cleaned cloner, pump & spray head with clean water rinse only. Trimmed spray head height & footprint in attempt to alleviate slight leakage issue. Increased amount of water, looking to reduce water temp, which was sometimes topping 80F. 2nd batch had 7 survivors out of 18 I think, and roots not as vigorous. There was a good bit more leaf discoloration, and the failure stalks were limp as al dente pasta. No photos... I seem to be more inclined to shoot success when it's the failures I really need to document. After disappointing results, started worrying about everything. Added pump timer, 45 on 15 off every hour, slid tray dome over top, covered with white trash bag doubled flat to reduce light . Have finally realized gardening while high can be hazardous to crop.. forgot to plug pump back in & didn't realize for 8-12 hrs, lost 90%... currently have new cuts & the few survivors percolating. The one that's thrown roots is pretty weak so far, up top there are a 1/4 that have shriveled and another 1/4 that are drooping. I'm thinking maybe I should drain & clean cloner & start the cuts I'll need to fill out the grow in plugs, which I've been pretty successful at.

Your thoughts (and your readership) much appreciated. I really want this part of the puzzle to succeed.
Peace & Love, MJ13

After reading your information here is my advice:

1. Reduce the number of spray heads on your manifolds to 12-14.
2. Get rid of the Superthrive. Every time I have used it in an aero cloner I have experienced slime.
3. Downsize your pump or get an adjustable one like the ones I use so that you can set it so that the spray barely comes out of the holes if a puck is removed while the pump is on. I am finding that less is more when it comes to spraying clones.
4. Get rid of the light that's over them. There are no lights over top of my cloners. The only light they receive is the ambient light in the room that's put off by the T5s.
5. Get rid of the humidity dome/ trash bag or whatever else you have over them.
6. You mentioned you run 45 on /15 off. Is that 45 on straight then 15 off? If so, I'd look into a timer like mine where you can set up shorter spray intervals. It's my contention that continuous spray will stress the stems of some strains and cause them to either A. root poorly, or B. Not root at all. When I sprayed mine continuously with a high powered pump, I had many, many more failures. After my adjustments, I am running at a 90%+ success ratio


7. Don't forget to plug your pump in.

 

[420fied]

Also,

One positive note as it pertains to my goal:

A few days ago I chopped down a very average 11 inch plant and dried it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it yielded 5 grams, dried. An average of 4 grams per plant would allow me to operate at 1 GPW.

I'd like to average 8 grams per as that would allow me to operate at 2 GPW. The information that I have gathered thus far leads me to believe that a 7-8 gram average will be quite challenging, but not impossible.

We'll all find out together.

 

[canabinerd]

That would be impressive indeed. Especially given that you seem to have a pretty short turn around from rooting to harvest. Which brings me to another point. The GPW that we use so much leaves out a very important unit,..... time. We should use GPW2, grams per watt per week or grams per kilowatt hour. I think attaining the gram per watt benchmark is probably a mute point if it takes you six months of total grow time to get it.

 

[jokerjon00]

After reading your information here is my advice:

1. Reduce the number of spray heads on your manifolds to 12-14.
2. Get rid of the Superthrive. Every time I have used it in an aero cloner I have experienced slime.
3. Downsize your pump or get an adjustable one like the ones I use so that you can set it so that the spray barely comes out of the holes if a puck is removed while the pump is on. I am finding that less is more when it comes to spraying clones.
4. Get rid of the light that's over them. There are no lights over top of my cloners. The only light they receive is the ambient light in the room that's put off by the T5s.
5. Get rid of the humidity dome/ trash bag or whatever else you have over them.
6. You mentioned you run 45 on /15 off. Is that 45 on straight then 15 off? If so, I'd look into a timer like mine where you can set up shorter spray intervals. It's my contention that continuous spray will stress the stems of some strains and cause them to either A. root poorly, or B. Not root at all. When I sprayed mine continuously with a high powered pump, I had many, many more failures. After my adjustments, I am running at a 90%+ success ratio


7. Don't forget to plug your pump in.

Hey you said you changed the way you do clones. I see the 2 on 1 off change, what size pump are you using now? Also I'm trying to build a cloner how do you get the first PVC pipe attached to the pump? Is it threaded? Pump I saw had 5/8 inch fitting PVC is 1/2 inch how does that work? Building it this weekend figured I get the plans right first lol

 

[420fied]

Hey you said you changed the way you do clones. I see the 2 on 1 off change, what size pump are you using now? Also I'm trying to build a cloner how do you get the first PVC pipe attached to the pump? Is it threaded? Pump I saw had 5/8 inch fitting PVC is 1/2 inch how does that work? Building it this weekend figured I get the plans right first lol

I'm convinced that nobody reads the thread. I seem to answer the same questions over and over. lol

Refer to posts #93, #94, and #101 (page 7) in this thread to see my pump and read about changes I've made to my cloning process.

Most pumps have a 1/2" hole to connect to. The piece that I use to connect the first vertical piece of PVC to the pump is called a 1/2" male adapter. The nipple part of the adapter that screws into the pump is threaded, yes. You can buy them for .39 cents at Lowes, all day long.

 

[Xlr8]

The timer is kind of pricey, would a regular timer with 15 minute intervals be ok until I can afford a periodic timer? Or would running pump 24/7 be ok? Kinda tight on cash atm.

For those who want to do a cycle-timer similar to 420fied's, there are some pretty inexpensive repeat-cycle timers on eB@y, though I can't vouch for how good they are, personally. I know one of the other growers here uses one successfully, though (Hozona I believe?).

Do a search for "cycle timer" or "panda timer" and you'll get some pretty reasonably priced repeat-cyle timers. Some of them don't offer quite the same flexibility of a better timer, but they might be a reasonable alternative if budget is an issue - and they'll work better for a cloner than a typical 15 minute timer I'm sure. Anyway, I think you could get something in the $20-$25 range, which is a lot less $$$ than a better quality timer like the one 420fied's using. Again, I haven't used them, but they might be worth looking into more.

 

[DgC 4Life]

also my first run i ran cloner on a 15min on/off cycle & 24hour constant both worked fine

 

[Bassman59]

I'm in, little late, but here! Gotta catch up when I get home from work.

 

[CISCOKID]

Mr 420fied=Mr Miyagi

 

[jokerjon00]

I apologize in advance if this has already been addressed but I built an aero cloner and its leaking out the sides of the cover. I am using a 30 gallon sterilite and I see u glued some type of plastic to yours, is that necessary ? I saw u have more than one cloner n it didn't look like u had that plastic that's why I'm asking

 

[iSmokes]

I made a 420fied cloner too john, the plastic curtain was necessary for me. I don't know if you can improvise with anything else to stop the leaking, but the curtains hot glued to the sides are doing the trick for me
I'm going to try and make a cloner from a coleman instead of a tote to get that extra rigidity + no leaks hopefully.

 

[420fied]

I apologize in advance if this has already been addressed but I built an aero cloner and its leaking out the sides of the cover. I am using a 30 gallon sterilite and I see u glued some type of plastic to yours, is that necessary ? I saw u have more than one cloner n it didn't look like u had that plastic that's why I'm asking

The plastic curtain is ABSOLUTELY necessary in order to avoid leaks. I have modified mine a bit. I started using the 6 mil, rigid black plastic. It makes a nice, sturdy curtain. I super glue the entire length of plastic onto the lid and then use duct tape to build the corners and then reinforce the outer edge seal. These things coupled with the reduction in size of the manifold which allows the curtain to fully enclose it, have put my mind at ease. I don't lose a single drop. Ever.

 

[420fied]

 

[420fied]

I decided to mount my fans to the ceiling tonight. I have them set at the perfect height to blow between the lights and the canopy and it frees up a little floor space. The neck on the fan over table 2 wasn't long enough so I had to improvise and mount it on the side-wall. It's screwed into a joist so it's plenty sturdy. The wall behind them looks like shit but will soon be covered in white poly.

Here's a scale shot of the height of the majority of the canopy.

I have 4 mothers from my old mom and then 1 mother from a new seed. It's Snow White but showing more of a Sativa Pheno. This one is on day 21. It might hit 20 inches. I do not like it's structure. It's(The Mother) going out under the big HPS.

Table 2 coming along

Moms 1 and 2 shagged up and ready for another cutting.

Can you guys smell it?

Good growing everyone.

 

[thinkerr]

what's your ratio of vermiculite to perlite ? and you don't use any kind of layering right ? just that mix until the bottles are full enough

 

[420fied]

what's your ratio of vermiculite to perlite ? and you don't use any kind of layering right ? just that mix until the bottles are full enough

Probably 80/20. No layering. I mix it in a big tub and then fill the 2 Liters.

 

[Bassman59]

All caught up now, Great stuff for sure. I'm learning some things for my little 1 off hempy run of about a dozen while I veg up some new seeds and set a two tent rotation up and mothers for my grow(s).

Quick question: I took clones and put them into root riot cubes in a tray rather than aerocloner setup. They wont root long roots in the tray obviously. I'll have to keep the cubes in place because roots do grow through them. My worry is since I'll have initial short roots when I drop into the hempy bottles, will I have feed less, more often, until it seems like they are growing fiercely (thinking roots down in res then) or stick to a schedule like yours? Any thoughts based on your experience?

 

[jokerjon00]

The plastic curtain is ABSOLUTELY necessary in order to avoid leaks. I have modified mine a bit. I started using the 6 mil, rigid black plastic. It makes a nice, sturdy curtain. I super glue the entire length of plastic onto the lid and then use duct tape to build the corners and then reinforce the outer edge seal. These things coupled with the reduction in size of the manifold which allows the curtain to fully enclose it, have put my mind at ease. I don't lose a single drop. Ever.

Thanks for the quick reply and the pictures. Just one last question on the cloner how much water do u add to the tub? Now that the manifold is smaller looks like there's less water in there. Is it ok to have it just covering the pump? Do u change it or keep same water throughout whole cloning process?