2nd Grow - Auto Blue Diesel - DIY LED

[nofene]

Hello boys and girls and welcome to me journal! ​

So here we are, my second ever indoor grow.

​

Auto Blue Diesel from Advanced Seeds. An Auto Blueberry and Auto Biomass Diesel cross. She was germinated on the 16th of Sept, that's when she went in the soil-mix. This mix is pretty straightforward, 50/50 perlite/soil mix. I am not using nutrients but chicken manure pellets, also in the bag I put 3 layers of the soil-mix, and 3 layers of the pellets (50 grams per layer). The bag has a 40ltr capacity but it would have been too much so it is about half full, 20 litres of the mix went in.

​

She is in a 60cm x 60cm tent (4sqr ft-ish). 2 PC ventillators are moving the air inside creating a nice flow. The light is a 54W DIY LED solution, 7 different bands/wavelengths. It is using 54 1W emitters run at 300mA. I learnt a lot from my first try with DIY solutions, better wavelengths, the emmitters close to each other. Obviously the real performance is not 54W, but it is drawing 53W from the outlet, with the one fan that is cooling the light and creating some airflow (some electricity is transformed to heat as well, but I was careful with the design so it is definitely not much).

​

As You can see, we are well into flowering still, I think she has got at least a month to go, but we will see.

​

Also I thought I will try adding some CO2 as well. I used a very basic recipe, 1ltr of water, 1 cup sugar and a sachet of activated yeast (7 gr). I am not sure how it will turn out, but I only put the bottle in yesterday. Also I am not sure if I am doing it right, in terms of, CO2 is heavier than air, so it sinks, we all know that. But I am not sure if enough pressure builds up in the bottle so that the gas would go into the tubing and then disperse above/around the plant.

​

My main goal with this grow is to achieve 40 gramms of buds, which would mean a 0.75gr/W ratio.

I hope all of you will enjoy this little grow journal!

 

[Light Addict]

Subbed up and best of luck!
I'm running a self build light, not like yours though lol. I just had spares etc and had to find a housing.
As for your CO2 rig. Try having a couple of main bottles and one smaller bubble bottle that you feed from main bottles to below the water line of bubble bottle. Then your filtering out the smell and stopping any overflow issues. It also makes the study of its activity levels easier. Also sheild the main bottles from light. Then if you use Champagne yeast it lasts longer!
I also layered sugar and yeast for slow release. Then fed line to rear of fan pushing it across the canopy!
Some say the % provided is below effectiveness. Yet as your area is small in my eyes it can't hurt!
Anyway best of buds!

 

[nofene]

Thanks a lot mate! I already made the adjustments, a half a litre bottle is connected to the big one from the small goes over to the plant, hope It will help giving her a little boost. I didn't make up more bottles of the yeast mixture yet, as You said as well it is a small tent.




Oh and when I am not photographing it the bottles are under some Mylar not exposed to light.

 

[nofene]

Hiya, smallish update here:

I grabbed a couple of spare parts and whipped up a small 9W module, that is now hanged in front of Billie (yep she has a name after Billie Holiday, given by the missus to the plant ). Here it is, how it looks, plus a picture with just the small light going, it reaches the main stem mostly, plus one side branch that already has some nice nuggs on it.
(There is a matchstick on of the pictures as a comparison, it is really small even with the heatsink, around 32mm in diameter.)

​

There is a small 60mm fan hanged above it as cooling plus it creates a real nice airflow around the lower parts of her (no pun intended ).


Here some pictures of some lower nuggs on the main stem also how the space looks now with the additional light.
I Have to say I'm chuffed to bits with how the lower buds look, I know she could be much bigger with a proper big light, this said I still think my little (now 65W, with 2 fans) light preforms reasonably well.

​

Also on one of the leaves I found a very little deformation nothing major at all, just never came across this. (On my first grow... ) Anyways here's a pic.

​

Some infos that I left out from the first post:

- She's under 18/6 since she germinated. Because of the small light I think it can use as much of it as she can get, so I stuck with it.
- I pulled the main light up a touch to its (probably) final position, now it is around 21cm, 7,5" above the plant the small is the same distance from the plant.
- I am watering every two days, Billie takes around a litre, litre and half on every occasion.
- The temps are around 18^oC at night with lights off and around 22-23^o during the day.
- I had a bit of a problem with the RH though, couldn't get it under 63-65% for a while but now with the new fan arrangement it is hovering round 52-55%.

Did any of you guys and girls have any experience with "Blood, fish and bone" meal? Is it any beneficial at all? If so what stages, could I use it now well into flowering?
Also now, that it looks like I got my final setup (for the time being at least), I am already thinking of my next grow. It looks like with no nutes just organic kind of style growing in soil I am comfortable with (I haven't killed a plant yet and Billie looks really healthy and happy), so it is time to take a step forward.
What kind of nutes would you guys recommend me with an Auto Jack Herer from RQS? I have read about the topic, I've written down a couple of feeding regiments, and I am aware that autos are really fussy/sensitive with nutes. But no-one said what kind of brand I should buy. What's the best in terms of price/value? What regiment did you pals use for your autos?

As always every input, comments are welcome!

 

[nofene]

Hi everyone, little update here.

Thankfully I found some of my earlier notes so now I know for sure that she emerged from the soil on the 23rd of September which means we are on Day 61.



In the last two days she really started swelling up, more and more white hairs are pooping up even from underneath the main cola top. However I don't think the main cola will grow together properly, the light will be too small for that.

Mostly white hairs yet, but some odd brown ones are popping up on lower buds, the top of the main cola is about 50% white and brown, with some news white hairs popping up. Pop-corn nuggs on the lower branches are growing in size as well it might they will be good enough for smoking nut just the butter .

By the way she isn't smelling too much I know I am used to it, but still not too powerful, however it is amazingly fruity, you can just smell the blueberry in there!

The whole plant is looking extremely healthy and happy and I am chuffed to bits about that. On my first plant I experienced quite bad calcium deficiency, but Billie has not a spot on her leaves, nice deep green, standing tall and proud. (A proud dad here .)

Although I still got time left I'm already browsing for a jewellers magnifying glass so I will have it handy whenever the time comes to inspect.

Couple of questions:
Since I have no idea how long I have got left until harvest I am not sure if it is advisable to use any fertilizers at this point. Throughout the growing I have only used chicken manure pellets so I am looking for some organic solution if it would mean a boost for the last of the flowering. Bone meal for example?

I harvested my last (and first) plant all at the same time, but I really dont think it was a good idea. Is it at all possible to harvest it in two steps? First the main cola then after the lower buds ripened, the rest. Won't it shock the plant two much? Will she be able to finish off the rest of the buds? (I am surely going to be using some form LST for my next grow...)

Now the pictures, on most of the m I used a flash so you can better see what's going on, I'm not sure it was the best idea though

​

Thanks for visiting!

 

[Light Addict]

Ok couple of points its hard to tell from the pics for sure but you have a bit to go yet me thinks, but get a loop asap to be safe!!! As your so far in now adding any other food source may be detrimental. You said it yourself she is happy and healthy! One little thing you can use is some blackstrap Molasses, just dilute a tablespoon into warm water and add to your watering schedule once a week. It has some sugars starches and some base minerals etc. You can use this even during flushing!
As for harvesting in 2 goes, it can be done as I've done it yet you normally have to run an extra couple of weeks to see the benefits to the lower nugs.
Then to training that's my speciality so holla at me anytime! Also for your next run check my backbuilding guide listed below in my quick guides. Should help with your colas in future!

 

[akisunni]

I love your DYI LED build. Where are you sourcing the circle units? I would love to play around with doing one of these myself.

 

[nofene]

Oh drat!

Yesterday I finished the light which means I soldered up my led drivers on a stripboard and then encased it. Until now the drivers were plugged in a protoboard. At last everything is hanged from the ceiling of the tent, so I've got more space for plants plus everything is more accessible (at this point there is Billie and a Hungarian sweet green pepper strain in the tent). But while rearranging unfortunately couple of things just fell and aaargh not a disaster but I am quite mad at myself, anyways a large branch of the pepper broke off plus a lower branch from Billie. It is not a catastrophe but I just lost a couple of grams plus I hurt them badly, the way I never intended to.

But to find some good in it , although it is very much not ready, we are drying that branch out to sample if nothing else...

​

Thank you for all the answers guys!

Light Addict: Had a good look and we are definitely away yet, but I think I will have to chop the main cola in about 2 weeks. No amber trichs yet (as far as I could see with a magnifying glass, but they are clouding up, 20-25% cloudy, the rest of the trichs are still clear. Also new white hairs popping up around the main cola.
I dropped the idea of giving anything else now other than water, but I already ordered some of the blackstrap molasses after your advice and half an hour research. So I will use that.
Thank you for the guides as well I saved them as soon as I'll have time, I will thoroughly go through them.



akisunni: I sourced them from a Chinese company Alibaba is your friend, but I would except some on ebay as well. There are different sizes with different amounts of led that can be soldered to them. These one's are quite small (only 28mm in diameter), but you can find bigger ones some even come with a covering lens as well! They are mostly not advisable to run over 700mA but if you can manage the efficiently you can do whatever you like.

 

[nofene]

Hey guys, quick update.

Thankfully the small incident didn't stun her (at least not by much), top cola swelling getting bigger day by day. Buds on the lower sites are growing as well, but we're still quite far off.
I changed the supplementary light, same 10W as the one before (so total consumption still 65W), but changed the wavelengths, only reds, proper supplementary light for flowering.

Lights and tent setup now:

​

Some pics of buds:

​

 

[nofene]

Quick update: not much to report, everything is going right even if a bit slow. I have not watered in 3 days the soil was still really wet, now the top layer of about 1 cm is dry, so I am going to water tomorrow morning.
You can really see now the difference in the development of lower budsites, but this was always a test only to see if the light works properly, the spectrum of LEDs is good. I might have mentioned before, next time LST is going to be involved.


Some pictures:

​

 

[J189RFC]

You... made your own LED? That is amazing. And your results speak for themselves. Congrats, can't wait to see more!

 

[nofene]

Thanks mate, well not the emitters themselves obviously , but yeah. Almost all of the parts are from ebay, and then I soldered them on the round PCBs. Hosebomber a very knowledgeable guy here on this forum helped me a lot with his posts on the wavelengths plus experimental grows, loads of them.

 

[nofene]

Hey everyone won't take much of your time, just one pic. To me it looks like I could very well chop the main cola in the morning but I am not quite sure. I'll take more pics in the morning hopefully you can help if it is worth chopping in two parts.

​

 

[nofene]

Hey girls and guys, some advice needed. On my first grow I harvested prematurely and I don't want to do it again. So it is quite clear that I will have to harvest in two steps, since the top bud is ahead of the lower, smaller pop-corn nuggs. I read a lot about harvesting I am aware of the significance of the trichome colouring, but I am just a bit afraid that I will mess it up.

Photos:

​

 

[J189RFC]

Hard to tell just from those pictures but I would say hold off for another couple of days at least I don't really see any darker trichs in there at all. Open up that photo in any old preview or photo editing program and zoom in real good into the area in focus. How many amber/darker trichomes do you see?

 

[nofene]

Hiya everyone,

Today on the 4th of Dec we are on Day 73

I moved her out today to examine the trichomes, amber ones are popping up, I would say about 3-4%, 60% milky and 36-37% still clear. She grew some in the last couple of days and the lower popcorn buds are ripening as well, but since it is a small light and the penetration is not too powerful (to say the least), they are not really growing in size. The top cola I am completely proud of it is dense, compact, grew in size as well, looks nice to my eyes. Had I used some form of training creating an even canopy with competing colas would have resulted in a much larger yield, so that is a must with these smaller lights.

Now pictures:

Some higher res:








​

I think chopping time is upon us soon, probably on the weekend.

for popping in!

O yeah I've forgotten (hence the editing of this post), that over the last 3-4 day some yellow spots emerged on some of the leaves higher up on the plant. They are definitely symptoms of Ca, Mg deficiency, I experienced this on my last grow as well, but it showed up so late in the grow that I am not really thinking of doing anything about it. I am not sure if it would be of any use now this close to the finish.

 

[nofene]

Hey everyone, big news!

Yesterday (Saturday) evening we thought it is time so chopped the very top cola of the Billie, but left most of her untouched, because of the small amount of light the lower nuggs still need some time.
I am really happy with it, it has got a nice peppery, spicy smell it is hanged and is drying out now. The very top of it has got a very nice blue-ish hue, looking just brilliant. Unfortunately a very small portion of a nug broke while manicuring, but oh well, at least we have something to taste

Here we are in pictures:

​

After the cut lowered the light this is how she looks now.

​

Smoke review on its way

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Light Addict]

Chuffed for you my friend, looks tasty to me

 

[nofene]

Hi everyone,

sorry, looks like this is my MO, I am not keeping up with my journal in the end... Might be because the quantity wasn't that much, around 22grams dry material. It was nonetheless and still is some that's left one of the best smokes of my life. Relaxing, laid-back, with some sweet aromas, beautiful, I will definitely try some more blue diesels in the future.
Managed to take one nice photo of the nuggets tho' so here you are:

​

Thanks for everyone following this journal my next one will be up soon as well I hope to catch you there guys!

 

[Light Addict]

Bravo indeed my friend! Really chuffed you got some good quality smoke! Looking forward to your next adventures!