Aspen's Alaskan Purple In Soil - 2022

[lootznbootz]

If I have learned anything about you aspen is that you have 2 qualities I struggle with myself.
Patience and Persistence
Congrats sticking it out with the AP there is definitely growth on that one.
What light were you using before I wonder if that variable is the catalyst to this new surge of growth their showing

 

[AspenCultivator]

If I have learned anything about you aspen is that you have 2 qualities I struggle with myself.
Patience and Persistence
Congrats sticking it out with the AP there is definitely growth on that one.
What light were you using before I wonder if that variable is the catalyst to this new surge of growth their showing

Haha, thanks. Don't let my nonchalant posts throw you off though, I'm pissed the purples are on day 36 and look like that. I shouldn't have waited so long to drop more seeds. But it's all good, the new strains will be in hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I should have a good idea if I'm going to stick with the blueberries or drop the new seed by then.

And speaking of, here's a list of what's coming in:

The light was an HLG100V2 3000k. Only 100w from the wall, and no 4000k or 5000k. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it as well, but people use 100w or less to get seedlings into early and mid veg. I'm convinced it's the plant itself at this point.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Haha, thanks. Don't let my nonchalant posts throw you off though, I'm pissed the purples are on day 36 and look like that. I shouldn't have waited so long to drop more seeds. But it's all good, the new strains will be in hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I should have a good idea if I'm going to stick with the blueberries or drop the new seed by then.

And speaking of, here's a list of what's coming in:

The light was an HLG100V2 3000k. Only 100w from the wall, and no 4000k or 5000k. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it as well, but people use 100w or less to get seedlings into early and mid veg. I'm convinced it's the plant itself at this point.

I really think if you up-potted the Alaskan Purps to 1 gal. pots they would take off. I'd up the nutes just a little also as they are getting light green. JMO

 

[lootznbootz]

Haha, thanks. Don't let my nonchalant posts throw you off though, I'm pissed the purples are on day 36 and look like that. I shouldn't have waited so long to drop more seeds. But it's all good, the new strains will be in hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I should have a good idea if I'm going to stick with the blueberries or drop the new seed by then.

And speaking of, here's a list of what's coming in:

The light was an HLG100V2 3000k. Only 100w from the wall, and no 4000k or 5000k. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it as well, but people use 100w or less to get seedlings into early and mid veg. I'm convinced it's the plant itself at this point.

BUBBA KUSH
NORTHERN LIGHTS
HELL YEA!

My opinion drop both of those as soon as you unwrap the package! Don’t waste any time just drop whatever seeds you have of those
My absolute 2 favorite strains to grow and smoke hands down it don’t get better than those

 

[AspenCultivator]

I really think if you up-potted the Alaskan Purps to 1 gal. pots they would take off. I'd up the nutes just a little also as they are getting light green. JMO

I'd have to go get some 1 gallon pots to give that a try, but I'm so over these two I don't really care to throw more stuff at them if I'm being honest. The seed was improperly stored for 2 years (same for the blueberries, but they seem to be doing better so far) so yeah, I'm not sure. The general consensus a few pages back was to pop more old seed to see what they do and place an order for fresh seed. So I'm kind of in limbo land as we observe the blueberries and wait for the seed.

BUBBA KUSH
NORTHERN LIGHTS
HELL YEA!

My opinion drop both of those as soon as you unwrap the package! Don’t waste any time just drop whatever seeds you have of those
My absolute 2 favorite strains to grow and smoke hands down it don’t get better than those

Yeah I've been keeping an eye on your BK to see what it looks like. As for the northern lights I I love that strain too so maybe those will be the first two dropped if the blueberries decide to be stunted like the purples. Like I mentioned I at least want to see if the blueberries can bypass the purples. If they can, they'll go into the sips and the seed will just live in the fridge until the next run. If the seed comes in the next 2 weeks I'll at least have 2+ weeks on the blueberries which I'm hoping they'll be ready for transplant at that time. Not like the purples which are 36 days old and still going 4-5 days to dry the cups out.

 

[lootznbootz]

I'd have to go get some 1 gallon pots to give that a try, but I'm so over these two I don't really care to throw more stuff at them if I'm being honest. The seed was improperly stored for 2 years (same for the blueberries, but they seem to be doing better so far) so yeah, I'm not sure. The general consensus a few pages back was to pop more old seed to see what they do and place an order for fresh seed. So I'm kind of in limbo land as we observe the blueberries and wait for the seed.



Yeah I've been keeping an eye on your BK to see what it looks like. As for the northern lights I I love that strain too so maybe those will be the first two dropped if the blueberries decide to be stunted like the purples. Like I mentioned I at least want to see if the blueberries can bypass the purples. If they can, they'll go into the sips and the seed will just live in the fridge until the next run. If the seed comes in the next 2 weeks I'll at least have 2+ weeks on the blueberries which I'm hoping they'll be ready for transplant at that time. Not like the purples which are 36 days old and still going 4-5 days to dry the cups out.

Oh yea definitely stick to your plan it’s already solid and makes plenty of sense timetable wise

I may have let my excitement for those strains boil over a tad my apologies

 

[AspenCultivator]

Oh yea definitely stick to your plan it’s already solid and makes plenty of sense timetable wise

I may have let my excitement for those strains boil over a tad my apologies

No apologies needed! I'm extremely excited to just get something going at this point. You mentioned patience yesterday but it's something I'm running out of hah! I'm seeing everyone's amazing results (those that started near the time I did, like you) and it'd just be nice to get some plant material in the tent. It'll happen! Either with these blueberries or with the new seed coming in, it'll happen.

And speaking of I couldn't stand to look at Purple #1 any longer. So I took the opportunity to take some pics of the roots and really go through the soil to see if I can spot any discoloring, pests, nests, rot, etc. I found nothing. I found some really healthy looking white roots...but only some. The humidity has been right, the temp, the vpd has been spot on, they've been watered, fed, watered, wet, dry, wet, dry. The last two feedings were at half-strength week 1 and then week 2 nutes on the FF soil schedule. In fact here's the schedule that both Purples have gone by up to this point:

One thing to note is the first feed wasn't until day 20, and that was only at half strength. So now the next time the blueberry's reservoirs need filled they're going to receive a 1/4 strength feed. Maybe even 1/2 strength. Now let's take a look at Alaskan Purple #1's roots:

Alaskan Purple #1 Day 37

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

Alaskan Purple #1 Day 37 Roots

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

Alaskan Purple #1 Day 37 Roots

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

She's just...sad. All around weak and sad. Good to have her out of the tent because I'm tired of her bringing down the vibe. At least #2 has some leaf pray action haha.

Alaskan Purple Day 37

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

I'm still seeing new growth but nothing explosive and exciting.

And now I know I updated the Blueberries yesterday but they have some visual growth so since I'm taking pics around the tent anyway here they are:

Blueberry #1 Day 5

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

Blueberry #2 Day 5

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

Blueberry #3 Day 5

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

I don't have a pic at day 5 of the alaskan purples but I did have day 3 and day 7, and so far I believe the blueberries are on schedule to outpace the purples which is what I wanted to see. It's still too early yet to tell, but like I said on the next res water I plan on feeding 1/4 or 1/2 strength week 1 Fox Farms nutes and not waiting like I did with the purples.

And lastly, I rearranged the tent again and got a good angle on the camera. The base is the exact same size as the light bar, so a bit of velcro and now I have a birds eye view of inside the tent that'll raise up as I raise the lights. Also, Aspen (the official cat sponsor of my tent) decided to make an appearance.

Tent Rearrangment

• AspenCultivator
• Jan 2, 2023

That's it for now folks! Still super slow goings. You'd think after 8 pages of this journal we'd be somewhere better but hey, that's not always the case. I appreciate every single person that's come in here trying to help diagnose the Purples, I've learned a ton that I wouldn't have gained had I not done the journal, so in the end it's worth it even if things are slow right now.

 

[AspenCultivator]

You know, I was just taking a look at my temp and humidity graphs and it hit me...one thing that hasn't been talked about in this journal is rate of air exchange within the tent. In my tent pic above in the last post, take note of the flap that's open on the bottom right wall of the tent. That's all I have for intake (passive). BUT, the exhaust fan has been off the entire grow because I want to maintain humidity levels without going through a ton of water.

This gets me thinking...the only thing running 100% of the time is the tower fan, and it's at level 2 out of 5 so it's not blasting air around the tent but I do have air movement throughout. But without the exhaust fan on I don't have any negative pressure. One thing I remember from my last grow is I had the exhaust fan and the tower fan going 100% of the time and didn't worry about humidity because it was RDWC in a seriously humid south eastern state. But there was a constant exchange of air from the outside to the inside of the tent.

All of that to ask: is anyone concerned with air exchange within the tent? If I left the exhaust running at its lowest speed so I'm not draining the humid air as fast, but at least there's movement between the outside and inside of the tent, would the plants get more Co2 that way and grow better?

 

[Melville Hobbes]

You know, I was just taking a look at my temp and humidity graphs and it hit me...one thing that hasn't been talked about in this journal is rate of air exchange within the tent. In my tent pic above in the last post, take note of the flap that's open on the bottom right wall of the tent. That's all I have for intake (passive). BUT, the exhaust fan has been off the entire grow because I want to maintain humidity levels without going through a ton of water.

This gets me thinking...the only thing running 100% of the time is the tower fan, and it's at level 2 out of 5 so it's not blasting air around the tent but I do have air movement throughout. But without the exhaust fan on I don't have any negative pressure. One thing I remember from my last grow is I had the exhaust fan and the tower fan going 100% of the time and didn't worry about humidity because it was RDWC in a seriously humid south eastern state. But there was a constant exchange of air from the outside to the inside of the tent.

All of that to ask: is anyone concerned with air exchange within the tent? If I left the exhaust running at its lowest speed so I'm not draining the humid air as fast, but at least there's movement between the outside and inside of the tent, would the plants get more Co2 that way and grow better?

I don't know how it would work for you, but I keep my exhaust fan on when the lights are on, and during lights off the first dark period after feeding.
My humidity is between 30 and 40% this time of year.

 

[lootznbootz]

You know, I was just taking a look at my temp and humidity graphs and it hit me...one thing that hasn't been talked about in this journal is rate of air exchange within the tent. In my tent pic above in the last post, take note of the flap that's open on the bottom right wall of the tent. That's all I have for intake (passive). BUT, the exhaust fan has been off the entire grow because I want to maintain humidity levels without going through a ton of water.

That is all I have for intake as well.

All of that to ask: is anyone concerned with air exchange within the tent? If I left the exhaust running at its lowest speed so I'm not draining the humid air as fast, but at least there's movement between the outside and inside of the tent, would the plants get more Co2 that way and grow better?

So how I do it with the ACI controller is as follows for both tents to keep things exactly where I want them.

Inline fan
Temp trigger 77*
Humidity trigger 62%
minimum speed 0 (if its not needed to maintain above it shuts off)
maximum speed 2 (when the above triggers are hit this is as high as it turns on)

Clip fan
temp trigger 75*
humidity trigger 60%
minimum speed 2 (if its not needed to maintain above it blows at this speed)
maximum speed 5 (when above triggers are hit this is as high as it turns on)

Humidifier
Full speed
It has a hygrometer on it but it's not very accurate anymore, so I just run it on max.
The fan and inline kick on to make sure theres no more heat or humidity than I want and even tho the inline is "off" at minimum speed it kicks on enough for the humidity to make sure I get enough air exchange.

Hope this helps!

 

[AspenCultivator]

I don't know how it would work for you, but I keep my exhaust fan on when the lights are on, and during lights off the first dark period after feeding.
My humidity is between 30 and 40% this time of year.

Thanks Mel. I can definitely set it up so the exhaust fan runs at lights on and off at lights off. I did an experiment earlier and if I turn the exhaust on at its lowest setting I can't really maintain a 65-75 RH range. The humidifier takes around 15 minutes of being on to get the tent to 75%, and then it's only off for 4 minutes before I'm back to 65% and it needs to kick on to get back to 75.

How important is humidity to your new seedlings? I'm reading 43% RH outside the tent so if I just unplug the humidifier and leave the exhaust fan on low but on 24/7, I'd bet it settles between 40 and 45 RH inside. If that's not too low for seedlings, I think I'd prefer to have the lower humidity but know for sure I'm getting proper air circulation to the plants.

Then again, I've grown vegetable starts in this tent with the exact environmental setup and found no issues with growth. I might be over thinking it this time!

Hmm, what about programming up some crazy schedule for the exhaust/humidifier? Like, kick the exhaust fan on once an hour for 5 minutes or something so it pulls fresh air into the tent. During the rest of the hour the humidifier would just keep maintaining the range like it's been doing.

 

[Papa OG]

You could always recycle the air in the tent. And leave a flap open for fresh air.

 

[AspenCultivator]

That is all I have for intake as well.

So how I do it with the ACI controller is as follows for both tents to keep things exactly where I want them.

Inline fan
Temp trigger 77*
Humidity trigger 62%
minimum speed 0 (if its not needed to maintain above it shuts off)
maximum speed 2 (when the above triggers are hit this is as high as it turns on)

Clip fan
temp trigger 75*
humidity trigger 60%
minimum speed 2 (if its not needed to maintain above it blows at this speed)
maximum speed 5 (when above triggers are hit this is as high as it turns on)

Humidifier
Full speed
It has a hygrometer on it but it's not very accurate anymore, so I just run it on max.
The fan and inline kick on to make sure theres no more heat or humidity than I want and even tho the inline is "off" at minimum speed it kicks on enough for the humidity to make sure I get enough air exchange.

Hope this helps!

Definitely helps! We posted at the same time, but I mentioned at the bottom of my reply to Mel about setting schedules for the exhaust fan. Your schedule confirms there's a missing variable between our grows, which is great! It's something I can 'fix', right? Something that was found that wasn't happening before, and it makes total sense. So you're saying your humidifier runs 100% of the time and you control the range by turning on your inline exhaust? How often do you have to fill the humidifier res?

You could always recycle the air in the tent. And leave a flap open for fresh air.

Did you mean just cycle it? I'm not sure how you mean to recycle unless the exhaust has a tube down into the intake.

But if you meant cycle, that's what has been missing in this whole picture. I haven't had the exhaust fan on, ever (even with veggie grows). It's just that single flap that's open. And of course when the tent door is open the air is cycling, but sometimes I don't open the door for a few days. So the new plan now is to develop a schedule for the fan so it runs for an amount of time per hour so as to evacuate the "stale" humid air inside the tent and refresh it with outside tent air from the flap.

The humidifier is already set to specific ranges so I can tap into that programmatically and do a check for "is the exhaust fan runing?" and then stop humidifying the air. This way I'm not 'wasting' (if you want to call it that) humid air.

 

[lootznbootz]

Definitely helps! We posted at the same time, but I mentioned at the bottom of my reply to Mel about setting schedules for the exhaust fan. Your schedule confirms there's a missing variable between our grows, which is great! It's something I can 'fix', right? Something that was found that wasn't happening before, and it makes total sense. So you're saying your humidifier runs 100% of the time and you control the range by turning on your inline exhaust? How often do you have to fill the humidifier res?

Yup for now my humidifier runs full blast and the inline and clip fan do all the work of making sure there's not too much heat or humidity.
which is how I allow for air exchange. If my inline fan ran on 1 all the time it would remove too much humidity too fast, and I would never be in "balance".
When I go home tomorrow and do the big update for my journal, I plan to highlight this and can show you a screenshot of the controller and how I'm able to track and maintain it. It will make so much sense with the graph in the app.
But I let the temp and humidity build the fans kick on and vent the excess out at which point fresh air is drawn in.
This happens frequently enough that I'm not too worried about replacing co2 constantly

 

[AspenCultivator]

Yup for now my humidifier runs full blast and the inline and clip fan do all the work of making sure there's not too much heat or humidity.
which is how I allow for air exchange. If my inline fan ran on 1 all the time it would remove too much humidity too fast, and I would never be in "balance".
When I go home tomorrow and do the big update for my journal, I plan to highlight this and can show you a screenshot of the controller and how I'm able to track and maintain it. It will make so much sense with the graph in the app.
But I let the temp and humidity build the fans kick on and vent the excess out at which point fresh air is drawn in.
This happens frequently enough that I'm not too worried about replacing co2 constantly

I can definitely get behind it and is what I'm doing just kinda in reverse. I'm controlling the humidifier by turning its plug on and off based on the range I want to try and keep.

So now it's setup so the exhaust fan will kick on once an hour for 5 minutes. This is definitely enough time on the lowest setting to get humidity down 20%. Then the regular humidifier schedule is kicked back on to maintain the range until the next hour when the fan will cycle the air inside the tent.

I'm looking forward to your update!

 

[Papa OG]

Definitely helps! We posted at the same time, but I mentioned at the bottom of my reply to Mel about setting schedules for the exhaust fan. Your schedule confirms there's a missing variable between our grows, which is great! It's something I can 'fix', right? Something that was found that wasn't happening before, and it makes total sense. So you're saying your humidifier runs 100% of the time and you control the range by turning on your inline exhaust? How often do you have to fill the humidifier res?



Did you mean just cycle it? I'm not sure how you mean to recycle unless the exhaust has a tube down into the intake.

But if you meant cycle, that's what has been missing in this whole picture. I haven't had the exhaust fan on, ever (even with veggie grows). It's just that single flap that's open. And of course when the tent door is open the air is cycling, but sometimes I don't open the door for a few days. So the new plan now is to develop a schedule for the fan so it runs for an amount of time per hour so as to evacuate the "stale" humid air inside the tent and refresh it with outside tent air from the flap.

The humidifier is already set to specific ranges so I can tap into that programmatically and do a check for "is the exhaust fan runing?" and then stop humidifying the air. This way I'm not 'wasting' (if you want to call it that) humid air.

I ran into an issue of extremely low humidity. I placed the intake above the light fixture, and ran the exhaust into the base of the tent. It took the air in the canopy and pushed it into the base, creating about 40% more humidity. I did open the fresh air flaps a few hours a day.

 

[lootznbootz]

I can definitely get behind it and is what I'm doing just kinda in reverse. I'm controlling the humidifier by turning its plug on and off based on the range I want to try and keep.

So now it's setup so the exhaust fan will kick on once an hour for 5 minutes. This is definitely enough time on the lowest setting to get humidity down 20%. Then the regular humidifier schedule is kicked back on to maintain the range until the next hour when the fan will cycle the air inside the tent.

I'm looking forward to your update!

See unfortunately I can't turn my humidifier on and off I considered getting an inkbird to maintain the humidity a little more, but if my humidifier turns off, I have to press a button to turn it back on, so it won't work that way.
I can't buy new humidifiers, so this is how I have to work it for now

 

[lootznbootz]

I ran into an issue of extremely low humidity. I placed the intake above the light fixture, and ran the exhaust into the base of the tent. It took the air in the canopy and pushed it into the base, creating about 40% more humidity. I did open the fresh air flaps a few hours a day.

I tried this and it made my heat and humidity skyrocket, and I couldn't lower it.
There has to be a separate exhaust to eventually get that old air out.

 

[Papa OG]

I tried this and it made my heat and humidity skyrocket, and I couldn't lower it.
There has to be a separate exhaust to eventually get that old air out.

I totally understand! I have a few lights that run ridiculously hot. I have a few that run soso. I noticed if I run a bigger light, at a lower power. I produce much less heat. . . I'm not familiar with what lighting you currently are running. But saying another added source of Venting/intaking is never a bad idea. I want a fan that has a reverse switch so I don't have to keep flipping my motor to get intake or exhaust..

Hard knock life.

 

[AspenCultivator]

See unfortunately I can't turn my humidifier on and off I considered getting an inkbird to maintain the humidity a little more, but if my humidifier turns off, I have to press a button to turn it back on, so it won't work that way.
I can't buy new humidifiers, so this is how I have to work it for now

I literally HATE that device makers are implementing that stupid 'fake power button' because they want to be cool or some shit. My car has the auto start/stop for the engine and there is indeed a button I can press to turn it off, when the car is running. If I turn the car off and back on, I have to press the switch again to turn the start stop off. I don't mind the start stop feature, but a ton of people hate it and I remember when that came around it didn't make sense as to why it couldn't just be a physical button.

I digress. Did you know about AC Infinity's UIS Control Plug? I'm sure, sure you do by now, but it's what I jumped to when you said you have to press a button to turn it back on. Got some wires crossed, whoops. The humidifier I use has a physical button (when I say physical button I mean there's a literal piece of metal contacting the terminals inside) so I just use a wifi plug to turn it on or off (or rather, provide power or not). Since whoever made your humidifier wants to be in the cool person club they gave you a digital button (pressing the button signals to a micro-controller within the unit to turn the unit on, not the addition of power itself).

All of that said, it's time to open that sucker up and bypass the fake button you're forced to press to turn it on. Jump a wire over that button entirely, and boom. To turn the unit on, plug it in. Turn it off, unplug it. Then you can use the UIS control plug with your current AC system without buying a new humidifier!