New & Experimental Cultivation

[Redhawk44]

It is currently heading into winter in my locale and so I have decided to try growing 2 plants at this time.

The strains of C. Sativa (L) I am cultivating are Dutch Passion Auto White Widow and Royal Queen Seeds Royal Dwarf. Both are Autoflowering varieties.

The Grow is in a tent 1x1x1.4m in size.
It is located in my loft.
Method of cultivation DWC
Lighting at present is 3x Sansi 15 watt LED grow lights with the option of having more lights should the need arise but all will be LED.

At this time of year it is starting to get very chilly in the loft so heating is required.
I have a 60 watt tube heater in the tent but that is inadequate for the task but it will maintain the temperature in the tent at about 10 degrees C just about. The main heating is an even lower power 25 watt immersion type aquarium heater which brings the reservoir temperature up to 24.5 degrees C.

There will shortly be a submersible 5 watt UVC sterilising lamp in the reservoir in a holder which allows the water/nute mix to be irradiated It isn't in there at the moment because though I made it I can not actually find it at the moment. I designed the holder for the UVC lamp so that I could 3D print it. The Water/nute mix is passed through the holder via the pump. Temperature is regulated by a separate thermostat as well as the thermostatic control on the immersion heater. When the UVC lamp is in the reservoir it will assist in keeping the temps in the required range.

The DP Auto White Widow was planted on Nov 10 germinated in my living room and sprouted on the 13 No the RQ Royal Dwarf was planted on Nov 17 and sprouted on 19 Nov. Both have now, 05 Nov, been placed in the tent temps are stable Heating is on 24/7 lights are on 18/6. Total power consumption with all operating except the UVC is 139 watts. I do not expect the total to exceed around 145 watts per hour all up voltage is 240v.

 

[garybo]

@Redhawk44, good day to you, though it is probably evening there in jolly ole England, and personally I think Britain is still "Great". I love that Roger Whittaker song, "The Last Farewell".

"I designed the holder for the UVC lamp so that I could 3D print it."

3D printing is technically a little over my old head, guess I'll have to study up on that subject.

Thanks for your post, it is interesting how your grow is planned, hope it work out and good luck with it.

garybo

 

[Redhawk44]

Thanks for that,
I finally found the UVC lamp and it is now in the res between the pump and the outflow.

The Dutch Passion AWW is looking good but it has only been a few hours since I put it in the tent The Royal Dwarf is a a tiny little thing but that is mainly because I completely completely buggered it up by snapping the stem. so naturally I panicked and just shoved the stem back into the peat pot and hoped for the best then ordered some rooting hormone from amazon with next day delivery. When it arrived I cut the seedling below the leaf nexus and dipped it in the hormone and put it back into the jiffy pot. It has started to grow new leaves as though nothing had happened.

3d printing is not difficult there are thousands of sites online that can help with designing stuff if you need to and there are millions of things with pre made designs to print. Anything I design and they are mostly simple designs are on Thingiverse a repository of things all of which are free to download and use. I have just retired from work so have plenty of time on my hands I'm 66 Years young.

 

[Redhawk44]

It is currently heading into winter in my locale and so I have decided to try growing 2 plants at this time.

The strains of C. Sativa (L) I am cultivating are Dutch Passion Auto White Widow and Royal Queen Seeds Royal Dwarf. Both are Autoflowering varieties.

The Grow is in a tent 1x1x1.4m in size.
It is located in my loft.
Method of cultivation DWC
Lighting at present is 3x Sansi 15 watt LED grow lights with the option of having more lights should the need arise but all will be LED.

At this time of year it is starting to get very chilly in the loft so heating is required.
I have a 60 watt tube heater in the tent but that is inadequate for the task but it will maintain the temperature in the tent at about 10 degrees C just about. The main heating is an even lower power 25 watt immersion type aquarium heater which brings the reservoir temperature up to 24.5 degrees C.

There will shortly be a submersible 5 watt UVC sterilising lamp in the reservoir in a holder which allows the water/nute mix to be irradiated It isn't in there at the moment because though I made it I can not actually find it at the moment. I designed the holder for the UVC lamp so that I could 3D print it. The Water/nute mix is passed through the holder via the pump. Temperature is regulated by a separate thermostat as well as the thermostatic control on the immersion heater. When the UVC lamp is in the reservoir it will assist in keeping the temps in the required range.

The DP Auto White Widow was planted on Nov 10 germinated in my living room and sprouted on the 13 No the RQ Royal Dwarf was planted on Nov 17 and sprouted on 19 Nov. Both have now, 05 Nov, been placed in the tent temps are stable Heating is on 24/7 lights are on 18/6. Total power consumption with all operating except the UVC is 139 watts. I do not expect the total to exceed around 145 watts per hour all up voltage is 240v.

of course the 05 Nov is wrong it should be 05 Dec

 

[Redhawk44]

The UVC steriliser has been located and is now in the reservoir I might need a more powerful pump the little USB powered pump is working but might be struggling a bit having to pump fluid through the steriliser housing there is still a flow of water to the plants but not as much as before.

 

[EZCalyx]

This sounds fun. Are you combating an issue that you've had previous experience with? Did you have a prior DWC grow that needed water sterilization to improve? I've never done DWC but have heard H2O2 hydrogen peroxide works as well. It would be cool to do a side by side where one grow has UVC sterilized water and nutes and the other does not. It'd be cool to to monitor the water quality and use a microscope to scan for micro invaders.

 

[Redhawk44]

None of the above really. I did notice on my last grow that there was algae growing in the water pipe. That was probably because it was outside of the reservoir for part of the fluid's journey and thus exposed to the lights. That is not the case this time. I just want to be sure that there are no potential pathogens in the root zone. The plants will have a hard enough time at this time of year as it is. The Royal Dwarf was not viable. Hardly surprising really given what I did to it.
So I have literally just planted another Royal Dwarf seed It will be a couple of weeks or so behind the White Widow But I'm going to grow them together once it sprouts which based on past performance will be 3 days from today. I would try H2O2 but it is not as easy to get here as it used to be and it is a strong oxidiser and can damage fragile roots but then again so is ozone so who knows. It is just an experiment to see whether winter growing is feasible.. If it works out it will extend the growing period greatly. If it doesn't all I lose is some time and three expensive seeds and a bit of electricity. The actual measured power consumption of the set up with everything running is actually less than 2 x100 watt lamp bulbs.

Microscopic examination of what? The water in the res? That I can do using one of my microscopes (I have 3), naturally I would use the biological 'scope. So I will and if anything appears I will post it. Hmm, that will be interesting I hadn't thought of that. I have a camera for them too which I haven't used yet.

 

[Redhawk44]

The Royal Queen Royal Dwarf was not as I thought recovering from its snapped stem so I have pulled it. The base of what remained of the stem at the leaf nexus was beginning to rot. I have planted another seed into a 32mm Jiffy pot when She has sprouted I will relocate her to the tent. She will be a couple of weeks younger then her sister the DP AUTO White Widow but that doesn't really matter that much. I forgot to mention in the first post which nutrients I am using. It is Canna COCO. I don't know whether Canna like most nutrient suppliers overstate the quantity of nutrients to apply at each feed but I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume that is the situation. The first feed used when I was preparing the reservoir was a miniscule 5ml each of parts A and B the plant that survived is at best three weeks old so that should be OK when the RQ Royal Dwarf goes in in a few days I may add a further 5ml. Temperatures on the tent are being maintained adequately by my jerry built heating system at 24.5 degrees C If anyone thinks or knows this is too low a temperature please let me know, It is easily fixed.
My lighting as I commented earlier is pure LED 3x15watt. What I didn't mention was the brand. I am using Sansi grow lights. Total power from the wall is as stated on the Sansi site and on the lamps themselves at 15 watts each with a total lighting consumption of 45 watts. Sansi claim they each equate to about 200 watts of lighting, they are bloody bright lights. So Based on this I am providing 600 W equivalent output at the cost of only 45 watts consumed.

 

[AspenCultivator]

Hey Redhawk, this sounds like a cool start (no pun intended!) Do you have any pics of your setup? I'm so happy to see someone using 3D printing to solve problems in the grow room. I've had two printers over the last few years and have used it to make sensor boxes, plant clips, ratcheting devices, etc etc. It's limitless!

 

[Redhawk44]

Actually I haven't but there is nothing much to show anyway all the parts are contained within the reservoir apart from the leads to the electrical components. When I replace the water nute solution I will take some and post them.

 

[Redhawk44]

The Royal Queen Royal Dwarf was not as I thought recovering from its snapped stem so I have pulled it. The base of what remained of the stem at the leaf nexus was beginning to rot. I have planted another seed into a 32mm Jiffy pot when She has sprouted I will relocate her to the tent. She will be a couple of weeks younger then her sister the DP AUTO White Widow but that doesn't really matter that much. I forgot to mention in the first post which nutrients I am using. It is Canna COCO. I don't know whether Canna like most nutrient suppliers overstate the quantity of nutrients to apply at each feed but I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume that is the situation. The first feed used when I was preparing the reservoir was a miniscule 5ml each of parts A and B the plant that survived is at best three weeks old so that should be OK when the RQ Royal Dwarf goes in in a few days I may add a further 5ml. Temperatures on the tent are being maintained adequately by my jerry built heating system at 24.5 degrees C If anyone thinks or knows this is too low a temperature please let me know, It is easily fixed.
My lighting as I commented earlier is pure LED 3x15watt. What I didn't mention was the brand. I am using Sansi grow lights. Total power from the wall is as stated on the Sansi site and on the lamps themselves at 15 watts each with a total lighting consumption of 45 watts. Sansi claim they each equate to about 200 watts of lighting, they are bloody bright lights. So Based on this I am providing 600 W equivalent output at the cost of only 45 watts consumed.

The Royal Dwarf second attempt has gone into the tent the Dutch Passion AWW has started to show pistils already. I Suspect that she will not grow into a large plant it is very chilly outside and has been snowing. So temps in the loft are generally quite low although the reservoir is around 23 degrees C which keeps the tent temps at a reasonable level.

 

[Redhawk44]

The Royal Dwarf second attempt has gone into the tent the Dutch Passion AWW has started to show pistils already. I Suspect that she will not grow into a large plant it is very chilly outside and has been snowing. So temps in the loft are generally quite low although the reservoir is around 23 degrees C which keeps the tent temps at a reasonable level.

The plants are growing slowly which is not surprising given the conditions of the grow but they are growing. The AWW is flowering the temps in the tent and res are running between 23.5/24.5C. Nutrients have been added which may be a little soon for the Royal Dwarf. I am running the electrics 24/7 at present I might have to increase the temps a little to circa 30 degrees C, but it is an experimental grow as I have said so what happens happens. I don't expect much in the way of yield TBH, but you never know until you know.

 

[Redhawk44]

It has been a while since I reported on the grow. Both plants are growing well though a little slowly. The conditions in the tent are acceptable but not optimal as we are in winter so the ladies have to be artificially heated. The AWW is, unsurprisingly, a lot taller than the Royal Dwarf since it is about three weeks older but both are doing well. I have bent the AWW over to try to get her to produce more vertical colas but as both are Autoflowering plants it may not work too well we shall see. If this grow works out OK there will be no problem in getting multiple harvests in a year. Since the plants are autos it is possible I could get up to six completed grow cycles in 12 months again we will see.

 

[Redhawk44]

It has been a while.
Update obviously the grows have finished. The results somewhat disapointing. The Auto White Widow battled the terrible contitions mightily but managed a paltry 7g dried at harvest the Royal Dwarf just failed to produce anything and appears to have died a bit. Conditions were admittely abysmal an attempted hydro grow tent in an unheated loft in winter with reservoir water heated to approx 23 deg C and a 60 Watt tube heater in the tent with 3 SANSI 15 watt led grow lights. Conditions were deliberately sub optimal in order to see what could be achieved at a minimal cost in terms of electricity and in the worst possible time of year for growing Cannabis. Fortunately our government unintentionaly subsidised the power costs although power cost was minimal at around 200 W per hour. The Submersible UVC light I think did very little There may have been water flow issues with the 3D printed housing I made for it. I dont think naked UVC in the root zone would have been at all helpful hence the attempt at a housing.

All in all as a grow it was, while not a total disaster, somewhat disapointing I did get some quite nice weed from it just not much. But if we dont try these things we dont learn anything and I learned that a grow in winter under those conditions is not feasible and it took a lot longer than it should have with Autos.