Celt’s Cavern Of Chaos

I am with ya @Weaselcracker :) I said to someone yesterday that the reason I have so many issues with pain is because I worked and played “all-in-balls-out” most of my life :rofl: and did so up until about 6-7yrs ago when the issues with my neck got severe enough to cause chronic pain in my right arm causing me to lose strength and limited use in that arm.

It took about 4 years, after giving up on pharmaceuticals and taking up cannabis, for me to regain most of the use of that arm. Sad thing is, I still live by a NoFear attitude. Not sure how I survived this long but maybe the Ole Man was right and “I DO have a golden horseshoe up my ass” :rofl:
 
Afternoon guys, just a quick update .

Still waiting on valves and calibrating powders for my pH pen, but have had the main reservoir running steady for the past 2 days. I had set things up so I could unscrew the manifold supplying the buckets and screw in a cap allowing me to run the main reservoir without supplying the buckets.

Two things have occurred with the solution, added hydrated lime and the pH has risen, to where I don’t now yet, somewhere between 6&7. Secondly, and not unexpected, the temperature in the reservoir is running around 90, much to high to maintain good DO and warm enough to cook things :rofl: lobster boil anyone :rolleyes:

As I said, this wasn’t unexpected and I intend to run 15 mins an hour, once the valves arrive, to see how the temps are then, but I also need to be able to check DO levels doing this to ensure they don’t drop off to much, not overly concerned yet. I bit the bullet and sprung for a DO meter, should have it early January.

Even though I really won’t be able to monitor DO levels till the new year, I will still pop seeds in the next few day (For those yet to vote). Even those going into this system won’t be in the buckets till I am ready, I’ll just grow them in the net pots, in the buckets with no solution, going to use my LOS as a medium in the pots anyway.
 
OK friends, I will be running 4 different strains in this grow, one of each in this hydro setup, and a 2nd of each strain in LOS soil. Two of the strains are already decided as I am doing a sponsored grow for DopeSeeds.

This leaves spots open for 4 plants and 2 strains. As the 2 supplied by DopeSeeds are mostly indica, I want to grow with similar growth rate and timing. Here is a list of what might fit that I have on hand and I am leaving it up to a vote by you to decide the 2 strains, we have about 2 weeks before I drop seeds so here are the options, and the top 2 will be what gets grown :)

Dutch Passion. - Friesen dew (H)
World of Seed - Ketama & Afghan Kush (both pure Indica Landrace)
Reserva Privada - Kandy Kush
Resin Seed. - Bubblicious
Barneys Farm. - Blue Cheese
Nirvana. - Blackberry

and also a number of different Bomb Seed strains, but as I have grown most of them in the past, I am leaving them out of this run.

Let the voting begin, the 2 strains with the most votes is what I will drop when ready :)
I vote for the blue cheese and kandy kush
 
Morning guys, was just checking tracking on incoming packages. DAMN Canada Post is doing a great job, IF we lived 100yrs ago...one package took 7 days to travel fro. Edmonton, AB to Montreal, QC.

I have drove from the Sylvan Lake, AB to home here in NS in less time than that and because my young fella was following me with a 2nd truck and trailer, I limited drive time to 12hrs a day.

Learned my lesson on the first cross country trip and driving 36hrs straight cost me my truck and broken ribs when I rolled it down over a 50 foot bank in northern Ontario.
 
I did, however, get my 1-way valves this morning. Installed 10 mins ago and the system equalized without me having to relieve airlock. Now it is running 15mims on, 45 mins off to see how the reservoir temps change. We started at 69.2F this morning by my temp gun.

Fingers crossed it continues to cycle on/off with the 1-way valves installed and I will check temps later in the day. Too bad my DO meter won’t be here until, the new year, itching to get this grow underway :)
 
Afternoon guys, just a quick update .

Still waiting on valves and calibrating powders for my pH pen, but have had the main reservoir running steady for the past 2 days. I had set things up so I could unscrew the manifold supplying the buckets and screw in a cap allowing me to run the main reservoir without supplying the buckets.

Two things have occurred with the solution, added hydrated lime and the pH has risen, to where I don’t now yet, somewhere between 6&7. Secondly, and not unexpected, the temperature in the reservoir is running around 90, much to high to maintain good DO and warm enough to cook things :rofl: lobster boil anyone :rolleyes:

As I said, this wasn’t unexpected and I intend to run 15 mins an hour, once the valves arrive, to see how the temps are then, but I also need to be able to check DO levels doing this to ensure they don’t drop off to much, not overly concerned yet. I bit the bullet and sprung for a DO meter, should have it early January.

Even though I really won’t be able to monitor DO levels till the new year, I will still pop seeds in the next few day (For those yet to vote). Even those going into this system won’t be in the buckets till I am ready, I’ll just grow them in the net pots, in the buckets with no solution, going to use my LOS as a medium in the pots anyway.
I’ll say Blue Cheese and Kandy Kush as I was just eyeing that one up today!

I’m also in for a lobster boil!! :cheesygrinsmiley:
I'm in!
 
I’ll say Blue Cheese and Kandy Kush as I was just eyeing that one up today!

I’m also in for a lobster boil!! :cheesygrinsmiley:
Kandy Kush is a really nice smoke but I have not grown it yet to see what I can do with it. Reserva Privada seeds are expensive, I bought mine a couple years ago when TNSB had a 70% sale.
 
Morning friends,

I’ve decided to start a perpetual journal to cover my grows and experimentation. It won’t be my last (or only) journal, just an ongoing one.

Welcome to my Chaos, and if you could see my grow room at the moment, it’s much like my mind, chaos to an outside observer, but normalcy for me :rofl:

I’ll start with a little back story to help with understanding why I approach things the way I do. I started growing, and using, cannabis six years ago for medical reasons. Until this year, I have always grown in LOS (living organic soil) for 2 reasons:

#1 - I am a carpenter and engineer and until I took up growing cannabis, I had never grown a plant in my life, although I grew up with a grandfather who was a master gardener and at one time, the rose specialist at a local greenhouse.

#2 - I am a mountain man and gypsy by nature, given the choice, I would sooner live in the wild with my dog. Since I graduated with my engineering 20 years ago, the nature of my work has had me travel a great deal which means I don’t have the ability to tend plants, sometimes for weeks.

I chose the LOS route to satisfy the above concerns, simplicity and water only, whether family or Mother Nature.

I am also an efficiency nut so much of what I experiment with revolves around that and working towards a self sustaining/low maintenance grow, as well as making it easier (physically) for me to tend.

First, a shout out to friends here who might be interested and may offer interesting views into what I do :)

No particular order, just everyone I saw who visited my last journal:

@Weaselcracker @Modest grower @Fredwak @Hplar @PCaddict @Dankman_420 @Bob Loblaw @bluenoserjoe @Strainyourbrain @StoneOtter @InTheShed @StRoostifer @DutchinAB @GardeningGnome @Amy Gardner @NuttyProfessor @DonkeyDick @HashFart @Canadadoes @Pennywise @Kodiak420 @MrSauga @PE636 @Konks Dirt Empire

I hope a didn’t miss anybody :)

Now let’s get on with some of what I have been up to in preparation for this next round.

I upgraded to growing in a 4x8 tent about 3 years ago and also invested in 2 x 630w DE CMH lights. I love the lights but have cursed the tent pretty much since the day I set it up. As I maximize my grow space, it meant my 4x8 tent required an 8x10 space in order for me to access all the plants. This pretty much took up the 11x12 room I took over for growing in. This annoys me because it’s not an efficient use of the space I have.

This led to building a turn table setup for my plants, allowing me to put the tent in a corner and still be able to access all the plants from the front of the tent. There will be 2, one for each half the tent. I still have to build one for the LOS pots, the easy one, the hard one for RDWC is done.

That covers the intro, the RDWC setup will be coming in the next post.
I thought about turn tabled, opted for 5x5 tent with 3 2'x2' hydro trays in a "L". I fit in and can reach all.
 
Evening all :)

A little update and a delay in temperature testing.

Although the 1-way valves solved my issue with airlocking in the return pipes, I still wasn’t happy with the return flow. For some reason, 2 buckets maintained solution levels about an 1” below the net pots, 1 would equalize right at the bottom of the net pot and a 2nd would equalize about 1/2” above the bottom of the net pots. I may have been getting air infiltration in the drain tubes and flow is definitely not equal between buckets, doing things by hand so tolerances are nowhere near machine quality :rofl:

Now given the supply comes through a 1/2 tube and gets jetted down to 1/4” and running above atmospheric pressure, I am guessing that 3/4“ return was just at its limits. In a pressure equalized system, 3/4” will flow 2.25X what 1/2” can, but with the inflow under pressure and return not, this is likely the problem.

Today, to correct this issue, I picked up some 1” pipe and fittings (4X the flow of 1/2”) and am in the process of retrofitting these in place of the 3/4” and actually gluing them this time. The bucket that was giving me the most grief has been retrofitted and reinstalled. Upon firing the system up, solution in that bucket equalized at the same level as the reservoir. Approx 1” below the net pot, even with at full flow. Flow is Adjustable but details will come later when I explain, with pictures, how it all works as a system. I even pulled the inlet jet so it was flowing at 1/2” and it only rose to the bottom of the net pot. I think we may have success :)

If I don’t get too stoned tonight, been holding off all day as I had running to do, I will get the other 3 buckets retrofitted and we will be up and running sometime tomorrow morning and can retry our temperature test :)

OK, time to roll one up, think I am getting the jitters :rofl:

BTW @InTheShed , if you are ever in Nova Scotia, I will hook you up with some of the finest lobster and seafood you’ll ever have ;)
 
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