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Hello from Germany
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So, due to it being some sort of Holiday today, it be best ifn i didn't do any heavy machining... drilling, sawing, carrying on...
I have been playing with an alternative idea, as how to feed the girls, if i am not here to do it. Every so often i go on travel duties with the company, varying lengths of awayedness.. And too, one does want to go on vacay every so often.. can#t very well take the girls with me, though they would enjoy the sunlite..
Nevertheless, I had everything, Hardware aswell as in my minds eye, set up for a fully automated system. Nute tanks, airpump, perhaps a fogger or 2 for good measure, drain tanks/collectors, water pumps and water heaters.. Sounds like fun already, no??
NO!
Too many what-ifs..
The tank runs dry, causing pump and/or H2O heater to overheat.
The pump/timer goes awry and pumps the whole reservoir through the perlite into the drain collector, which then overflows...
And then the bitter reality: I haven#t the room. I would need/want min. 3 nute reservoirs (1 ea H20 Pump/Heater per reservoir!!!). 1 for seedlings/newbies in the grow area. 1 for mom plant, further down the line in age/nute requirements. 1 for the Bloom area, though 2 even better due to perpetual garden, so there aswell 2 stages of bloom/nutrients etc.. 2 much!! Too much that 'could' go wrong, too much Murphys Law, not enough control...
K, came up with the idea of using Garden Shower bags. They come in varying sizes/shapes/colours even!!
I opted for the 20L/5 gallonish bags. (On sale 2 ea for 12 EUR, bought 2 x 2). They come with a 50cm piece of clear hose, folded, with knicks... There is a valve that you screw directly onto the bag, has 2 stop/off positions. Filling port is at the top... doh!! Theres a finely engineered piece of soft rubbery plastic which they deem shower nozzle.. We will not be needing this... aw shucks..
As a controller for the flow of water, I intend on using 12v magnetic solenoid valves. This has 2 main reasons.. a) 12v is like nothing, like charging your handy/cell fon. b) they are, when 'currentless' closed/off... (BUT!!!! Be careful when connecting the 2 cables. Wrong connection would cause them to stay open!!! 12v will even, when in contact with water not kill you.. give you a tickle, but NOT life endangering... still, be careful, always pull your plugs before doing anything, no matter how 'insignificant', aight??!! Now say yes papa, Amen...) More to electricity/connecting your valve(s) below..
Connecting the hoses, IN and OUT to the valve is quite simple. You have a few ways for doing this aswell.. From cheap as "§)(/!! to a few dollars worth of eye candy. The valves are threaded, both sides, standard 1/2 inch pipe thread. (Whitworth I seem to recall). You can install push-un connectors, and clamp them down with a hose clamp, you can buy thread on fittings (Inner thread 1/2 inch), or use a hose with an inner dia that fits over the valves thread, and tighten it down with a hose clamp too..
Ok, now to connect your valve to the wall/Current: Are you using 1 valve or many. Are your feeding times the same, do you with to power all valves with one trafo/power supply? For 1 valve, a standard Fon charger will do it, if it delivers 12v (USB is only what, 5v?? so not enough...) If you8 want to power more than one, a laptop power supply is best. also only delivering 12v (Look at sticker!!) but needs an Amperage of say 2000 mA/2A or a min of good 60w. My valve sticker says 3,6w. I plan on using 3, so i need a minimum of 3 x 3,6w, say 12w. If i took a 6ß w supply, i would know for sure that i have a buffer, and that it would not overheat.. It could run off on you if used too much, at overcurrent, but the watering should be a matter of minutes each day.. no time for it to overheat... Connecting multi together, to one power supply I would recommend you use 'Wago's'. These are quick connectors for wiring.
Good so far? How do you regulate amount of water?? Via the valve (red plastic) directly on the bottle/bag. Below/behind the magnetic valve you could install an normal inline valve. You could install drippers that are adjustable..
As you see, the idea 'should' work. Use what you want for parts. Make it as nice or fugly as you like..
I will be testing and further updating this new project...
Mounty
I have been playing with an alternative idea, as how to feed the girls, if i am not here to do it. Every so often i go on travel duties with the company, varying lengths of awayedness.. And too, one does want to go on vacay every so often.. can#t very well take the girls with me, though they would enjoy the sunlite..
Nevertheless, I had everything, Hardware aswell as in my minds eye, set up for a fully automated system. Nute tanks, airpump, perhaps a fogger or 2 for good measure, drain tanks/collectors, water pumps and water heaters.. Sounds like fun already, no??
NO!
Too many what-ifs..
The tank runs dry, causing pump and/or H2O heater to overheat.
The pump/timer goes awry and pumps the whole reservoir through the perlite into the drain collector, which then overflows...
And then the bitter reality: I haven#t the room. I would need/want min. 3 nute reservoirs (1 ea H20 Pump/Heater per reservoir!!!). 1 for seedlings/newbies in the grow area. 1 for mom plant, further down the line in age/nute requirements. 1 for the Bloom area, though 2 even better due to perpetual garden, so there aswell 2 stages of bloom/nutrients etc.. 2 much!! Too much that 'could' go wrong, too much Murphys Law, not enough control...
K, came up with the idea of using Garden Shower bags. They come in varying sizes/shapes/colours even!!
I opted for the 20L/5 gallonish bags. (On sale 2 ea for 12 EUR, bought 2 x 2). They come with a 50cm piece of clear hose, folded, with knicks... There is a valve that you screw directly onto the bag, has 2 stop/off positions. Filling port is at the top... doh!! Theres a finely engineered piece of soft rubbery plastic which they deem shower nozzle.. We will not be needing this... aw shucks..
As a controller for the flow of water, I intend on using 12v magnetic solenoid valves. This has 2 main reasons.. a) 12v is like nothing, like charging your handy/cell fon. b) they are, when 'currentless' closed/off... (BUT!!!! Be careful when connecting the 2 cables. Wrong connection would cause them to stay open!!! 12v will even, when in contact with water not kill you.. give you a tickle, but NOT life endangering... still, be careful, always pull your plugs before doing anything, no matter how 'insignificant', aight??!! Now say yes papa, Amen...) More to electricity/connecting your valve(s) below..
Connecting the hoses, IN and OUT to the valve is quite simple. You have a few ways for doing this aswell.. From cheap as "§)(/!! to a few dollars worth of eye candy. The valves are threaded, both sides, standard 1/2 inch pipe thread. (Whitworth I seem to recall). You can install push-un connectors, and clamp them down with a hose clamp, you can buy thread on fittings (Inner thread 1/2 inch), or use a hose with an inner dia that fits over the valves thread, and tighten it down with a hose clamp too..
Ok, now to connect your valve to the wall/Current: Are you using 1 valve or many. Are your feeding times the same, do you with to power all valves with one trafo/power supply? For 1 valve, a standard Fon charger will do it, if it delivers 12v (USB is only what, 5v?? so not enough...) If you8 want to power more than one, a laptop power supply is best. also only delivering 12v (Look at sticker!!) but needs an Amperage of say 2000 mA/2A or a min of good 60w. My valve sticker says 3,6w. I plan on using 3, so i need a minimum of 3 x 3,6w, say 12w. If i took a 6ß w supply, i would know for sure that i have a buffer, and that it would not overheat.. It could run off on you if used too much, at overcurrent, but the watering should be a matter of minutes each day.. no time for it to overheat... Connecting multi together, to one power supply I would recommend you use 'Wago's'. These are quick connectors for wiring.
Good so far? How do you regulate amount of water?? Via the valve (red plastic) directly on the bottle/bag. Below/behind the magnetic valve you could install an normal inline valve. You could install drippers that are adjustable..
As you see, the idea 'should' work. Use what you want for parts. Make it as nice or fugly as you like..
I will be testing and further updating this new project...
Mounty
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Above: Last night I gave the girls, 4 of them, a final rinse. Just Canna Flush, no molasses, no calmag, zero. Water pH'd to 5,8-5,9ish, ppm was a low of 60!! Last few feeding had been with calmag and molasses, alongside the Flush. Molasses is SOOO thick. It boosted the ppm up through the roof (ruf), over the 2k range!!! They took it like champs..
The drain lines i installed are not totally 'level', or when water runs through them, they sag a little, causing a somewhat slower sickering away of the drain water. I took my larger eye dropper/baster/pipette, and blew air into the piping, through the mesh screen, also pushing any partikels further through. Takes a few times, but when it flows, it evacuates quite rapidly.
I found out why some of my girls are sickly. It is of my own doing... 1st: Using transparent Solo cups was a sheit idea.. a) algae can form in wet sunny conditions, b) ADDING ALGAE MIX, hmm how should i say this, lest venemously, well it helps the growth of said algae... Fork me with a spoon!!! I discommunicated them from the other cultists (Lovers del Sol), and gave them a hardcore bath/dunking, 3 actually... 1st was in a slurry of Peroxide Water (H2O2 H2O) at a ratio of 60ml @ 15L water.
Then i dunked them in a slurry of Canna Cure, 10 ml @ 1 L water. Let them each sit in each bath for approx 2 min. Holding them down, till no more air bubbles came up. This i am sure to say, it a hell of alot safer with Perlite than any other medium/substrate. ALOT of the Perlite swam off the top, away from the sides, but ok, it is/was infested, so be gone with ya... even though it had been then rinsed yet in clear un pH'd R/O water, i threw away any Perlite that was left over, swimming atop the baths. I could have thrown the water/Perlite in with the Perlite I have from the 4 plants I harvested this morning, being washed atm. But the risk is too big for me. Why add another risk, contaminate a hamper full of Perlite, just to save/recycle 3 L of water.. I think not..
Good, so 4 Girls harvested, meaning now have room to move 4 over, BUT do not have enough pots, in the size i want to use. Ok, quickly gave the freshly harvested pots a scrubbing, then had to decide which of the 7/8 plants I wish to move into larger pots, keep in Veg for another 4-5 days so the shock from transplant AND change of light cycle dosen#t send em looping... 1 I had to, 100% repot. She was soo big. I had put her in a too large pot after the jiffy stage. Goofed that up.. Therefore there is 1 AF in a too small solo cup.. looks ok and all, just small, dwarfed, oopppss...
Alright, so I looked at the 7 girls, examining, comparing looks, colour, node builds.. mind you, these are all of the same strain; Blue Dream, Feminized. Thats when I saw these strange looking dark spots, on the roots, in the transparent cups. If ever an auto-ass-kicking were due, this were that time...
Measure taken, girls are outside on the balcony/Quarantine. Give em a few days and see if they need to be chopped/erradicated/removed from causing further danger and/or having a non enjoyable life..
Pix for now: A mix of harvesting, repotting, moving around, rinsing, you name it..#
Oh, i took 4 Autoflowers and put them in the 12 hr bloom area. I think the 4-5 days I want/need for the other girls to accustomise to their new shoes/habitant, will not cause the AF's any distress.. There are rainy/dark days in Autoflowerland too, where ever that may be..
I checked the run-off from 1 ball of roots.. nothing scientific. Just put a wad of roots/perlite in a cup of R/O'd water. pH was 6,5, though i feed with 5,8-6,0... ppm's were around 800.. ok too, me thinks
Mounty
The drain lines i installed are not totally 'level', or when water runs through them, they sag a little, causing a somewhat slower sickering away of the drain water. I took my larger eye dropper/baster/pipette, and blew air into the piping, through the mesh screen, also pushing any partikels further through. Takes a few times, but when it flows, it evacuates quite rapidly.
I found out why some of my girls are sickly. It is of my own doing... 1st: Using transparent Solo cups was a sheit idea.. a) algae can form in wet sunny conditions, b) ADDING ALGAE MIX, hmm how should i say this, lest venemously, well it helps the growth of said algae... Fork me with a spoon!!! I discommunicated them from the other cultists (Lovers del Sol), and gave them a hardcore bath/dunking, 3 actually... 1st was in a slurry of Peroxide Water (H2O2 H2O) at a ratio of 60ml @ 15L water.
Then i dunked them in a slurry of Canna Cure, 10 ml @ 1 L water. Let them each sit in each bath for approx 2 min. Holding them down, till no more air bubbles came up. This i am sure to say, it a hell of alot safer with Perlite than any other medium/substrate. ALOT of the Perlite swam off the top, away from the sides, but ok, it is/was infested, so be gone with ya... even though it had been then rinsed yet in clear un pH'd R/O water, i threw away any Perlite that was left over, swimming atop the baths. I could have thrown the water/Perlite in with the Perlite I have from the 4 plants I harvested this morning, being washed atm. But the risk is too big for me. Why add another risk, contaminate a hamper full of Perlite, just to save/recycle 3 L of water.. I think not..
Good, so 4 Girls harvested, meaning now have room to move 4 over, BUT do not have enough pots, in the size i want to use. Ok, quickly gave the freshly harvested pots a scrubbing, then had to decide which of the 7/8 plants I wish to move into larger pots, keep in Veg for another 4-5 days so the shock from transplant AND change of light cycle dosen#t send em looping... 1 I had to, 100% repot. She was soo big. I had put her in a too large pot after the jiffy stage. Goofed that up.. Therefore there is 1 AF in a too small solo cup.. looks ok and all, just small, dwarfed, oopppss...
Alright, so I looked at the 7 girls, examining, comparing looks, colour, node builds.. mind you, these are all of the same strain; Blue Dream, Feminized. Thats when I saw these strange looking dark spots, on the roots, in the transparent cups. If ever an auto-ass-kicking were due, this were that time...
Measure taken, girls are outside on the balcony/Quarantine. Give em a few days and see if they need to be chopped/erradicated/removed from causing further danger and/or having a non enjoyable life..
Pix for now: A mix of harvesting, repotting, moving around, rinsing, you name it..#
Oh, i took 4 Autoflowers and put them in the 12 hr bloom area. I think the 4-5 days I want/need for the other girls to accustomise to their new shoes/habitant, will not cause the AF's any distress.. There are rainy/dark days in Autoflowerland too, where ever that may be..
I checked the run-off from 1 ball of roots.. nothing scientific. Just put a wad of roots/perlite in a cup of R/O'd water. pH was 6,5, though i feed with 5,8-6,0... ppm's were around 800.. ok too, me thinks
Mounty
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Parts are all in for the garden shower/water bag apparatus. I haven#t had the time to sit down and get er done with this part of the project.. too much else going on, and i really am enjoying the handfeeding. This way i can watch/control run-off or take note of quantity added.
Note to self: Make a graph showing watering routine, amount, nutes added etc for statistics, in prep for auto-watering.
The run-off on the girls just before harvest was freaking scary!! I'd say a good 40%. Poured it on the wifes plants on the balcony, aswell as the excommunicated girls. They be lovin it...
Herbs - Peppermints etc are going apeshit!! I never would have thunk it, that these cheap lights, not sure if the 2 IKEA 10w leds, or the cheap far-away-istan led strips, red/blue, could achieve such growth...
Flesh eating plantz are still coming along slowly.. they digest in time lapse.. like boas i guess..
Got my berry seeds #scarrified... they were in the fridge for 4 weeks, at about 4 °C. This is supposed to let them know spring hath sprung. Better would have been an additional 2 mon. in the freezer. No time for such a ..... (fill in blank). 14 sorts of berries, black/blue/yellow/green strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc. Germinated in petry dishes, marked/named. Just finnished putting the seed in jiffys. 'Light germinaters' meaning the seeds are not to be buried, but kept on the surface, not too wet.
Today a new delivery of seeds arrived from Espanola:
10 ea Cookies (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea Lemon Critical 2,0 (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea London Cheese 2,0 (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea SFV Kush (La Mota Seeds) - F
5 ea Gorilla (Dinafem) - F - (FREE!! 1 free seed for every 30 eur spent, pre shipping costs)
Got the 5 Gorillas in a cup o water right now with a shot of H2O2 - 0,5ml in a glass of water. Haven#t the room nor nerves to be adding another 10 plants to the equation, right now, right now. Maybe later, later...
So, are my excuses good enough for not having continued the waterbag? I hope so..
One more GOOD excuse: I had been off sick for almost 4 weeks, had a cyst removed, and my work enviroment is not 'Rein/Sterile'.. I#m a mech of sorts, more be not said, so I work with fuels, oils, hydraulics. Not the best for an open wound. (Lower back). I have been back to work now for 1,5 weeks, and its ok. Just wished to have been able to do more in the garden while at home... any housework was forbidden by doc.. of course i did a few small things, alot of ebay shopping, and ran so many scenarios, what if#s past my minds eye...
Again, excuse the delay. I will be back at that asap, aight?
Cheers for reading!!
Mounty
Note to self: Make a graph showing watering routine, amount, nutes added etc for statistics, in prep for auto-watering.
The run-off on the girls just before harvest was freaking scary!! I'd say a good 40%. Poured it on the wifes plants on the balcony, aswell as the excommunicated girls. They be lovin it...
Herbs - Peppermints etc are going apeshit!! I never would have thunk it, that these cheap lights, not sure if the 2 IKEA 10w leds, or the cheap far-away-istan led strips, red/blue, could achieve such growth...
Flesh eating plantz are still coming along slowly.. they digest in time lapse.. like boas i guess..
Got my berry seeds #scarrified... they were in the fridge for 4 weeks, at about 4 °C. This is supposed to let them know spring hath sprung. Better would have been an additional 2 mon. in the freezer. No time for such a ..... (fill in blank). 14 sorts of berries, black/blue/yellow/green strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc. Germinated in petry dishes, marked/named. Just finnished putting the seed in jiffys. 'Light germinaters' meaning the seeds are not to be buried, but kept on the surface, not too wet.
Today a new delivery of seeds arrived from Espanola:
10 ea Cookies (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea Lemon Critical 2,0 (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea London Cheese 2,0 (La Mota Seeds) - F
10 ea SFV Kush (La Mota Seeds) - F
5 ea Gorilla (Dinafem) - F - (FREE!! 1 free seed for every 30 eur spent, pre shipping costs)
Got the 5 Gorillas in a cup o water right now with a shot of H2O2 - 0,5ml in a glass of water. Haven#t the room nor nerves to be adding another 10 plants to the equation, right now, right now. Maybe later, later...
So, are my excuses good enough for not having continued the waterbag? I hope so..
One more GOOD excuse: I had been off sick for almost 4 weeks, had a cyst removed, and my work enviroment is not 'Rein/Sterile'.. I#m a mech of sorts, more be not said, so I work with fuels, oils, hydraulics. Not the best for an open wound. (Lower back). I have been back to work now for 1,5 weeks, and its ok. Just wished to have been able to do more in the garden while at home... any housework was forbidden by doc.. of course i did a few small things, alot of ebay shopping, and ran so many scenarios, what if#s past my minds eye...
Again, excuse the delay. I will be back at that asap, aight?
Cheers for reading!!
Mounty
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