Rosy Bubbles - Blue Mystic/Jock Horror Autoflower Grow

[Mr.Rose]

Nice for you to join me for this posting. I have noticed that 420magazine seems to have quite a few techies on board and I would like to say Hi. I do work in Open Source/Linux/IT/Datacenter/Network/Enterprise areas and throughly enjoy it!

Now to the setup

What strain is it? 1 x Blue Mystic Fem Auto-flower, 2 x Jock Horror Fem Auto-flower, 2 x Bag Seed

Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Indica, Sativa Dominant, Unknown
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg
If in Veg... For how long? 3 weeks

Indoor or outdoor? Indoor, 4'x4'x6.3' Grown Tent
Soil or Hydro? Hydro
27 gallon reservoir w/ 12gal of Water
What size pot? 3in net pots
Size of light? Veg-400watt MH / Flower-600watt HPS

Is it aircooled? Yes , 4in ducting w/ Elicent 4in inline exhaust

Temp of Room/cab? 82F
RH of Room/cab? 50%
PH of media or res? 6.1

Any Pests ? Nope

How often are you watering? every two days

Type and strength of ferts used? General Hydroponics Maxigrow/Maxibloom @ 800ppm

First up is the general layout of the Grow.

Next up is how I keep the house from burning to the ground. I consider this an important part and it allows me to sleep soundly at night. The back board wont be moving unless you remove the 5in lag bolts.

Air cooling for the HID lamp

This is a 4in inline Elicent 152cfm fan. Works wonderfully to cool the 400watt MH and keep the air refreshed in the tent. I plan to add a Phat Carbon Filter 4"x12" and is rated at 200cfm.

Time for the bubbles - 35watt Ecoplus 3 Air pump

I run this air pump on a separate timer that does 15min on / 15min off. This helps to cut back on waste heat in both the tank and the general room.

And the bubbles it makes

I also use another air pump that runs 24/7 that I call the Life Pump.

Hood that I chose & hangers that are mounted directly to the floor joists. Again Safety FIRST! The Xtrasun hood also has the glass inserted.

I insulated this tank shortly after I started using it. Without the insulation, water temps were reaching 87F in the tank. Once I insulated the lid and box my temps dropped to 76F. Once I had a 2Liter of ICE, it will maintain 68-70F for quite a few hours before creeping back up. I am debating on building a chiller from a small mini-fridge and some copper tubing coiled up.

I will get some pictures of the plants growth shortly.

 

[Mr.Rose]

First up is a Nirvana Blue Mystic Fem Auto-Flowering seedling. This seed was added on 7/17/10 with just a tap root.

The following is a Nirvana Jock Horror Fem Auto-flowering seedling. Again added as a taproot on 7/17/10

Here they are at week two. Blue Mystic is on the Left.

Beginning of week 3. Plants on the right are two random badseed and it appears I got one random indica, and one sativa.

Today!

 

[Mr.Rose]

Another shot of bagseed today

Topped bagseed

Jock Horror - Today

Blue Mystic

Disclaimer - Bag seed plants were started in dirt and I rescued them. They were already two weeks+ into growth when I put the in the tank as the same day as the tap-rooted seeds.

So far I have noticed that the auto-flower seeds are not growing in height nearly as much as the regular bag-seed.

I am going to see about LST for the bag seeds plants while I wait for the auto-flowers to flip.

 

[ItsChrome]

High Mr.Rose!

Very nice grow room you have there and your ladies look wonderful as well! I am excited to see this journal as I have had my eye on growing Blue mystic for a while now. Though I though it was a photo period bloomer not an auto flower. In any case I'll be watching this one for sure!

 

[Mr.Rose]

Blue Mystic is available in both an auto-flower and regular fem. I wanted to see how the auto-flowers grow in height and their potency. I believe one of the bag-seed plants is a male which I don't mind as I would rather have the room to bush out the jock horrors

 

[ItsChrome]

Oh ok, cool. Can wait to see how it does as well.

 

[Mr.Rose]

Here are some tools of the trade when working with bubbles. I have found the Milwaukee PH600 meter to be fantastic and accurate. I can't stress enough that you should buy the solution to store the ph meter in so that it stays accurate.

Nutes, TDS-3 meter, and GH PH down

Close up of the Intermatic T101 Timer. These usually run between $55-75 new and its worth the cost even then. I got mine from ebay for $34 shipped! When working with HID lamps you seriously do not want to put 400+ watts thru a cheap plastic timer. Google will reveal plenty of horror stories involving them bursting into flames. If your going to spend the $350+ on an air-cooled HID, spend the extra $50 on a heavy duty timer.

Here is a close pic of the timer wiring to show how easy it is.

Finally some more plant porn

 

[TorturedSoul]

Good advice on using a HD timer. Do you know if that brand offers one that is capable of running 15 on / 12 off?

Was it wise to run different strains with differing amounts of sativa and indica in their genetic makeup? It would seem that you'll end up either overfeeding some or underfeeding others.

Speaking of combining plants with different characteristics, you have both autoflowers and bag seed in the same room? Are the bad seeds autos too or are you going to veg them under 18/6 or 20/0 for ~70 days while the autoflowers do their thing?

 

[Myzz617]

Damn now you got me a little P-noid about using the Circuit breaker timer

 

[Mr.Rose]

Good advice on using a HD timer. Do you know if that brand offers one that is capable of running 15 on / 12 off?

Check into the Intermatic ET1705C model. Its an electronic 7day timer with 28 set points. Its going to run you $100-150 depending on where you get it.

Was it wise to run different strains with differing amounts of sativa and indica in their genetic makeup? It would seem that you'll end up either overfeeding some or underfeeding others.

No it was not wise at all but the Blue Mystic is from a bad batch of Nirvana auto-flower seeds so I have no idea if it'll take off or even be female. If the two bag seeds do well its a plus but I won't be upset if 1 or both are males. Basically I am after the Jock Horrors

Speaking of combining plants with different characteristics, you have both autoflowers and bag seed in the same room? Are the bad seeds autos too or are you going to veg them under 18/6 or 20/0 for ~70 days while the autoflowers do their thing?

Bag seed is not auto-flower so I will be letting the auto-flowers just grow why the bag seed is under 600watt HPS in 12/12. From what I have gathered the auto-flowers should grow fine under those conditions. I don't plan to flush the bag-seed, as soon as its finished itll chop it after the last 12hour dark cycle.

I also believe that one of the bag-seeds is a male but I don't know for sure. I plan to switch the tent to 12/12 within 2 weeks if not sooner. I am currently doing some LST to the bag seed plants to keep them under control.

Basically I will be happy if the two Jock Horror plants turn out well and produce. I have also topped just one of the Jock Horrors so that I can compare the two in size and decide if its needed in the future for an auto-flower.

Damn now you got me a little P-noid about using the Circuit breaker timer

It depends on what you have attached to it and what it is rated at. I have a plastic outlet timer rated at 1875watts and I sure as hell wouldn't have much more then a fan/pump running off of it. I just don't believe its safe to run a HID off anything but a heavy duty timer that has a set of solid copper contacts. 400+watts plus high amps just isn't something I feel comfortable letting be controlled by a smaller set of contacts that will burn out eventually.

 

[scaredeecat]

nice set up , i am in on this one

 

[Myzz617]

It depends on what you have attached to it and what it is rated at. I have a plastic outlet timer rated at 1875watts and I sure as hell wouldn't have much more then a fan/pump running off of it. I just don't believe its safe to run a HID off anything but a heavy duty timer that has a set of solid copper contacts. 400+watts plus high amps just isn't something I feel comfortable letting be controlled by a smaller set of contacts that will burn out eventually.

I hear you. I have a circuit breaker timer and a cheap one from walmart. Thing is I cant really do much wiring as I down Own the space I am growing in. What would be a cost effective safe solution for people who rent and want to use HID's? Eventually I imagine just using LED lights but thats after I get some exp and get my money saved up and all. in advance

 

[Mr.Rose]

nice set up , i am in on this one

Thanks!

I hear you. I have a circuit breaker timer and a cheap one from walmart. Thing is I cant really do much wiring as I down Own the space I am growing in. What would be a cost effective safe solution for people who rent and want to use HID's? Eventually I imagine just using LED lights but thats after I get some exp and get my money saved up and all. in advance

If I knew the wiring in the house was solid and could hold the load

and

If there was an outlet that was convenient, I would run an extension cord from that outlet to a timer like the Intermatic T101. I would cut the end of the plug off and wire the extension cord directly into the timer. Then run another outlet from the timer or use the other end of the extension cord to plug the ballast into. Don't cheap out on the electric cord either, get a heavy duty cord and monitor it after turning on the HID. I would mount the timer to a solid board and maybe the ballast to the same board to keep the runs close.

Now if the wire in the building is small and not made for a high load 24/7 then I wouldn't run a HID period.

I'm not responsible for this information, use at your own risk and consult a professional if in doubt. I am only giving my opinion if I had the options I listed available.

I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN

On to the new toy I built tonight. DIY Water Chiller

Total cost: $85

This is how it is added to the grow space. I think I might build the SH cloner from the stickied Deep Water Culture DIY SH Cloner thread. The top of the fridge gets slightly warm and might make a perfect heating pad

Now to the GREEN

8/10/10

Better pic of the random bag seed

Here is the first LST of the bag seed plants why to I try to keep them under control

Good Night, I am off to bed!

 

[TorturedSoul]

Set that Cu coil in a big bowl of water and it will work better - and the refrigerator won't cycle as often.

 

[Myzz617]

I will take some Pic tonight to get some more advice from you. I have a help grow thread I will post the link here once I get the pics up. That DIY water chiller is run into that bottom flap of your tent?

 

[Mr.Rose]

Set that Cu coil in a big bowl of water and it will work better - and the refrigerator won't cycle as often.

Did you mean like this? Or should I try to find a metal container. I am concerned about how well the plastic will let the cold plate chill the water. Guess I will let it run tonight and hope to start seeing the water get icy or just extremely cold.

I also had to add 1.5gallons back to the res so we will definitely see how it works as it attempts to cool the additional water I added that wasn't 70F.

That DIY water chiller is run into that bottom flap of your tent?

I have an intake air duct on the side of the tent where the chiller is. I ran the tubing thru this entrance and sealed it up. If it works well I will design something a little more clean and use quick connections at a couple points and maybe an inline pump so I don't have to keep a pump in the res at all.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Did you mean like this? Or should I try to find a metal container. I am concerned about how well the plastic will let the cold plate chill the water. Guess I will let it run tonight and hope to start seeing the water get icy or just extremely cold.

Oh, ok... Kind of slow today. I was thinking like you'd do with a regular refrigerator. In those little dormitory-style ones like you pictured, the cooling is in that thing that you've bent under the coil. That's the freezer "compartment" right? <DOH!> Ok, if I'm up to speed, lol... Might place the coil directly under that instead of directly over. I'd probably still try to tinker a way to get the coil into a container of water - only now, try to get the cooling plate into it as well and balance the thermostat with the heat produced by your garden so that the water doesn't freeze (water is better for heat-transfer than ice or air) yet there is still enough cooling to keep your reservoir happy.

Then again, I'd probably break it and create an extra-large breadbox.

Next time I'll pay more attention to the picture.

 

[Mr.Rose]

Oh, ok... Kind of slow today. I was thinking like you'd do with a regular refrigerator. In those little dormitory-style ones like you pictured, the cooling is in that thing that you've bent under the coil. That's the freezer "compartment" right? <DOH!> Ok, if I'm up to speed, lol... Might place the coil directly under that instead of directly over. I'd probably still try to tinker a way to get the coil into a container of water - only now, try to get the cooling plate into it as well and balance the thermostat with the heat produced by your garden so that the water doesn't freeze (water is better for heat-transfer than ice or air) yet there is still enough cooling to keep your reservoir happy.

Then again, I'd probably break it and create an extra-large breadbox.

Next time I'll pay more attention to the picture.

I totally forgot to post the pic for you to even look at lol.

Here we go

 

[Mr.Rose]

The Nirvana Blue Mystic from the batch of bad seeds has not only sprouted and grew but has now started flowering and is showing its gender!

Shes not a tall one yet but she is flowering now and it was planted as seed on 7/17/2010!

 

[scaredeecat]

what are your temps with this set up, and what were they before you did this.