BoohdahLovah's Soil Purple Juice Auto Grow Journal 2023

[Azimuth]

Only things I'd do differently is spin one of the boxes around so the air has to go to the far end to get out rather than staying close to that front wall. Your baffle will help some there, but I think it would be a better design if you turned one opposite.

The second thing I would do is use a hygrometer that records highs/lows for a 24 hour period. The extremes are what you are interested in, especially those in the middle of the night when they're highest.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Only things I'd do differently is spin one of the boxes around so the air has to go to the far end to get out rather than staying close to that front wall. Your baffle will help some there, but I think it would be a better design if you turned one opposite.

The second thing I would do is use a hygrometer that records highs/lows for a 24 hour period. The extremes are what you are interested in, especially those in the middle of the night when they're highest.

Great points.

I’ve just ordered a hygrometer that records, so I’ll apparently be able to see a graph as well as the highs and lows. It should hopefully arrive tomorrow.

When I was thinking about the design of the thing I was going to put the inlet and exhaust on opposite sides, the inspiration being an offset smoker . I only ended up going on the same side because it fit a lot better where I have it situated. I’ll change it around when I get home from work.

Thanks heaps for your advice.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

So I cut the six biggest buds off the plant and put them in the box last night. As I was cutting I noticed that the tops of the colas were ready, but the bottoms were still green. Rookie mistake.

Another issue I didn’t factor in is Melbourne’s weather. It’s been raining all day today and we’ve had almost 30mm (1 3/16”) of rain. The humidity of the bottom hygrometer is 76% and the top is 74%. Tent two is showing as 58% and the fan is on full.

I’m hoping that as it’s been less than 24 hours since cutting them off that there’ll be no damage to them.

I’ve got a mini dehumidifier that I can put in the tent that exhausts into the box. It’s going to rain over the next few days here, but the temperature is going to be 12°, 13° and 12°C (53°, 55°, 53°F) which isn’t very good for my plan with drying.

the silver lining is that the plant’s still got buds on it, so it hopefully can’t be a total loss.

Please pray to the canna gods for me.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

The hygrometer that records data hasn’t arrived yet, so I don’t know what the minimums and maximums are.

The mini ones that I’ve got on the box are 76% and 75% so I’ve put in the dehumidifier. I’ll be checking it throughout the day today. Hopefully it helps the right amount.

Tent two has the fan going and the reading is saying it’s 59% humidity. This weather we’re having isn’t helping at all. It’s cold, wet and humid. A couple of days ago it was 27°C (80°F) and today it’s going to be a high of 12°C (53°F). Spring is great.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

It’s now been delivered and I’ve put it in the box and have some readings from the last hour.
In °C:

And in °F:

I’ll post more data later on so I can get a better idea of what’s happening.

The app also has dew point and VPD if anyone wants to know. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that VPD is used for living plants so it’s probably not helpful in drying.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Here’s a bit more data from today. I’m not freaking out as much as I was before this little thing. For reference to the mini hygrometers I have in the box, the top one says 65% and the bottom one says 64%. Tent 2’s fan sensor says 46% and the fan isn’t running.

I’ll post the over night ones tomorrow if I can before I leave for work. Otherwise it’ll be when I get home in the evening.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

I managed to get the overnight data this morning. First pic is in °C and second is in °F. It got cold, but the humidity wasn’t too bad.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Hey @Azimuth, while I’ve got you and you’re a SIP expert, I’ve looking at your SIP club thread where you’ve given instructions on DIY SIPs. I’m going to try to put together a 5 gal one sometime in the future. But for now on my newest grow I’ve started, I’ve got the plant in a 5 gal fabric geopot. Would it work well enough to get a suitable sized container with perlite in it with the geopot sitting on top?

I’ve seen instructions to leave a level of about an inch from the top of the water to the top of the perlite. I’ve also seen the depth of per light should be about 6 inches. Does this sound alright?

Would it be more worth my while to put some drainage pipe with slits cut in it in the bottom of the container under the perlite so more water is able to be put in the reservoir?

Sorry to pepper you with questions, but I really respect your opinion.

 

[Azimuth]

But for now on my newest grow I’ve started, I’ve got the plant in a 5 gal fabric geopot. Would it work well enough to get a suitable sized container with perlite in it with the geopot sitting on top?

Well, now your talking about a swick. @Carmen Ray has a good thread on them here: Everything Swick and that thread is a good resource for those. I would say yes, with some caveats.

I’ve seen instructions to leave a level of about an inch from the top of the water to the top of the perlite. I’ve also seen the depth of per light should be about 6 inches. Does this sound alright?

Carmen and @Gee64 have done some hands-on grow research on these and I think Gee came to the conclusion that the size of the perlite container should match the amount of perlite in your mix. I think I have that right but maybe he'll weigh in.

Would it be more worth my while to put some drainage pipe with slits cut in it in the bottom of the container under the perlite so more water is able to be put in the reservoir?

I don't think more water is necessarily a good thing as mentioned above. A perlite only reservoir seems to work pretty well, but should be sized right.

Sorry to pepper you with questions, but I really respect your opinion.

No worries at all. Happy to help.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Well, now your talking about a swick. @Carmen Ray has a good thread on them here: Everything Swick and that thread is a good resource for those. I would say yes, with some caveats.


Carmen and @Gee64 have done some hands-on grow research on these and I think Gee came to the conclusion that the size of the perlite container should match the amount of perlite in your mix. I think I have that right but maybe he'll weigh in.


I don't think more water is necessarily a good thing as mentioned above. A perlite only reservoir seems to work pretty well, but should be sized right.


No worries at all. Happy to help.

Thanks heaps for all of that. I’m reading up on it now.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Day 96: Since planting the seed

Not much of an update. She’s still maturing the buds that I left on after cutting the top ones off. I’ll have a closer look tomorrow to see if they’re any closer to being ready.

The pistil hairs are brown and curling in so I’m guessing they’re not far off. There are a couple more buds underneath so I might do another trim and see if I can get those ones to mature too.

The drying box seems to be staying in a good RH over the last day. The only issue now is that the temperature is a bit lower than ideal. The buds themselves don’t appear to have any mold on them and they’re looking and smelling pretty good.

It’s been four days since I cut them off. I didn’t leave as much stem on as I’d like because I wasn’t really able to due to it being so stunted. It might mean they dry a little early. Can’t win them all and it’s only my second grow.

I’ll keep a tally of what the yield is this grow and I’ll also provide a smoke report once I get to trying it. I haven’t smoked in almost four weeks because of the pneumonia so I’m sure it’ll do the job nicely.

 

[Azimuth]

I haven’t smoked in almost four weeks because of the pneumonia so I’m sure it’ll do the job nicely.

Do you consume it in other ways like edibles? I'd imagine that smoking and pneumonia isn't a great combination.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Do you consume it in other ways like edibles? I'd imagine that smoking and pneumonia isn't a great combination.

Last week I finally made some gel caps with coconut oil using the trim and the popcorn buds off the last grow. That’s how I usually do the edibles. Nice and easy to make and consume.

I’m really hesitant to smoke again until I know I’m in the clear. I’m due for a CT scan in a couple of weeks so I should know by then. My advice is don’t get pneumonia.

My preference is to smoke joints. I love the taste and smell (as well as the ritual of rolling) that you don’t get with eating.

 

[StoneOtter]

 

[BoohdahLovah]

I just checked out your Iklwa grow. First off, the breeder’s description on your first post was so good. Then I saw the photo of the plant that you posted from the other day and it blew me away. That thing looks amazing. I feel like a dickhead with my little 6 inch plant.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

I just checked out your Iklwa grow. First off, the breeder’s description on your first post was so good. Then I saw the photo of the plant that you posted from the other day and it blew me away. That thing looks amazing. I feel like a dickhead with my little 6 inch plant.

Hell, compared to that IKLWA, err' body has a 6 inch plant!

 

[StoneOtter]

I have smaller plants sometimes too BL! They're just as important! I'm really fond of the whole story behind her and hope she makes it. My season's coming to an end. My first landrace I think.

Hell, compared to that IKLWA, err' body has a 6 inch plant!

6 inch plants are normal. No shame there!

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Here’s another 24 hours of data from the dry box. I really wasn’t sure it’d work, but it looks like it’s doing pretty well.

The buds drying in there don’t have any signs of mold and look like they’re drying nicely.

The rest of the buds on the plant might still have a few days left before I can harvest.

 

[BoohdahLovah]

I’ve got the data for the last week from the grow box, and it looks not too bad (in my no experience).

I put the buds in a jar with a mini hygrometer on Sunday night (the day before yesterday). It was at 58% after an hour but jumped up to 73% yesterday. So I put them back in the box yesterday afternoon. They’re now back in the jar and have been so for the last couple of hours. The humidity is currently at 50% and I’ll keep monitoring it.

I’m going to cut off a few more buds tonight and put them in the box, leaving some of the ones that have still been covered to mature.

I’ve got a clone of Cereal Milk that I’m going to keep as a mother, so I’m going to take a clone off that to start the next grow.

I’ve got the plan from the YouTube clip from this post by @Azimuth in his thread 'SIP Club - Getting Hydro/Coco Results In A Soil Based Medium'. I’m going to try that out with the clone I’ll take. It’ll be in the same height tent, which I hope will work. So keep an eye out for that journal.

 

[Azimuth]

Good luck with the SIP build and be sure to cross post your project over there.