Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG

Veg Predicament continued...​

I thank you all for your input. The latest scores were. The Coco lady lives on.

cenario 1 - FlowerScenario 2 - Cull
@Dabeast09@copperrein
@Bill284@GoogleGenie
@Rexer
@420ragz

I'll be honest, I was also leaning to the cull option. But you guys persuaded me to give it some more thought, so i did.

I've come up with an auto watering system which is driven by the moisture level in the coco. I have a prototype working. I have a better quality moisture sensor on the way as the proof of concept works. And this is what I will use to water this plant. It cost me about £50 to setup (excluding dripper and pumps etc).

In a nut shell, it's a Smart Power Socket and a Raspberry Pi Zero


which is connected to a moisture sensor in the coco:

Which does what it says on the tin. When the moisture goes below a certain threshold, the Pi turns on the smart socket (which is connected to the pump) for 1 minute. This pumps ~0.6L of nutrient through the drippers.


After that 1 minute, the pump is turned off. And the sensors wait for the moisture in the coco to drop below that threshold again before turning the pump on again.

I use these clips to keep the drippers in place on the pot:


A benefit of this whole project is that it means that the coco will never be dry but will be allowed to dry out to moist/barely moist. If i could do this by hand i would, but it's time consuming.

Another positive is that I won't have run off unless I want run off.

I'm still playing with the moisture levels and thresholds, I'll have them sussed in a few days, the concept is working. And it's saving me the trouble of having to hand feed. Which is a huge relief.

Here is my make shift case for the Pi until I work out a more safe home for it.


And here is the monster pot this plant is in. I usually don't like plants in really big pots, and I would only grow one with a pot this big if i t was automated, hence this project. I usually favour 12L-16L pots when I grow a few smaller plants, but this is quite big plant. I'm going to try and form a nice big root mass in that pot before I flip in about a week or so. It's a 35L pot filled about 2/3 of the way. 70/30 Coco/Perlite.


This is my makeshift drainage solution until I can think of something better. It will be better when I can move this into the tent that Audrey and Co are in as that has some more head room.

I'll probably cover this whole project with a separate journal, I just thought I'd let you guts know where I'm at with it and what I've been up to the past few days.

:peace:
Tag me into that as well. Looking forward to it
 
I couldn't tell you where the dam seeds came from originally, a friend said they were blue dream. It was the never ending hermie hell. At the time I kept rotating plants into the tent. One out one in. Those dam plant's took turns hermieing if thats a word and ruining every other girl in the process. It was months of misery. Being new didn't help so probably made it worse.
Now 10 out 10 in and never get mixed. Also I run the best genetics I can get,and clone like crazy. So just reading the strain bd gives me anxiety.
In my 3 pack of fems I found a keeper and the other one was all fluffy.... and I killed one... but I like it now. I just lollipop it and it grows good.... it takes a little bit longer to mature but it is killer smoke. I think dude said try positronics blue rhino... that looks good.
 
I was debating the CBD Blue Dream more for it's medicinal value, as i've heard good things about it. But I think I need to do some more research on the strain before I do. Sounds like it is easily stressed :(

Man that sounds horrible Bill! Sounds like a stressful time. Especially if you were new to it. I'm glad you stuck with it though and saw it through :high-five: :passitleft:
Oh I never said.... people kept talking to me about fake blue dream this and that... blah blah blah. One dude got mad and said you don’t have “real” blue dream....shit was ridiculous.
 

Veg Predicament continued...​

I thank you all for your input. The latest scores were. The Coco lady lives on.

cenario 1 - FlowerScenario 2 - Cull
@Dabeast09@copperrein
@Bill284@GoogleGenie
@Rexer
@420ragz

I'll be honest, I was also leaning to the cull option. But you guys persuaded me to give it some more thought, so i did.

I've come up with an auto watering system which is driven by the moisture level in the coco. I have a prototype working. I have a better quality moisture sensor on the way as the proof of concept works. And this is what I will use to water this plant. It cost me about £50 to setup (excluding dripper and pumps etc).

In a nut shell, it's a Smart Power Socket and a Raspberry Pi Zero


which is connected to a moisture sensor in the coco:

Which does what it says on the tin. When the moisture goes below a certain threshold, the Pi turns on the smart socket (which is connected to the pump) for 1 minute. This pumps ~0.6L of nutrient through the drippers.


After that 1 minute, the pump is turned off. And the sensors wait for the moisture in the coco to drop below that threshold again before turning the pump on again.

I use these clips to keep the drippers in place on the pot:


A benefit of this whole project is that it means that the coco will never be dry but will be allowed to dry out to moist/barely moist. If i could do this by hand i would, but it's time consuming.

Another positive is that I won't have run off unless I want run off.

I'm still playing with the moisture levels and thresholds, I'll have them sussed in a few days, the concept is working. And it's saving me the trouble of having to hand feed. Which is a huge relief.

Here is my make shift case for the Pi until I work out a more safe home for it.


And here is the monster pot this plant is in. I usually don't like plants in really big pots, and I would only grow one with a pot this big if i t was automated, hence this project. I usually favour 12L-16L pots when I grow a few smaller plants, but this is quite big plant. I'm going to try and form a nice big root mass in that pot before I flip in about a week or so. It's a 35L pot filled about 2/3 of the way. 70/30 Coco/Perlite.


This is my makeshift drainage solution until I can think of something better. It will be better when I can move this into the tent that Audrey and Co are in as that has some more head room.

I'll probably cover this whole project with a separate journal, I just thought I'd let you guts know where I'm at with it and what I've been up to the past few days.

:peace:
Amazing, automated watering is the best way to go big or go home! I’m convinced now with the coco. Picking some up ASAP. Will you be keeping all those drippers like that throughout e grow ?
 
Yeah, feel free to tag me in that journal. I've been looking into learning those Raspberry things. This seems like an easy first go.
Tag me into that as well. Looking forward to it
Will do guys, no problem :thumb:
Amazing, automated watering is the best way to go big or go home! I’m convinced now with the coco. Picking some up ASAP. Will you be keeping all those drippers like that throughout the grow ?
I think I will. Only because it’s so big. I couldn’t find a decent ring dripper so just used all of the drippers on the manifold. These sorts of drippers don’t really offer anything in the way of even distribution over the coco itself which is why I have them all in there spread out. They do distribute an equal amount of water out of each dripper which is the handy thing about these manifolds.

I’ve also used this manifold for my veg in coco where I had 3 drippers in each small plant (in 1.5L pots) that seemed to work ok.
 
Sorry I've missed a bit mate. Loving the tinkering you've been up to. I use those pot clips for training. Pound shop by any chance? :laugh:
No worries mate, I know you've had a lot going on with your new setup for your sponsored grow, which is looking sweet :high-five: Thanks for stopping by.

Those clips are amazing, especially for fabric pots. I usually use them for training too, working well for keeping drippers in place though. Without them those dripper lines would be all over the place!

If i recall...i think i just might have got them from the pound shop yea :rofl: And they only cost me £1 would you believe!
 

Veg Predicament continued...​

I thank you all for your input. The latest scores were. The Coco lady lives on.

cenario 1 - FlowerScenario 2 - Cull
@Dabeast09@copperrein
@Bill284@GoogleGenie
@Rexer
@420ragz

I'll be honest, I was also leaning to the cull option. But you guys persuaded me to give it some more thought, so i did.

I've come up with an auto watering system which is driven by the moisture level in the coco. I have a prototype working. I have a better quality moisture sensor on the way as the proof of concept works. And this is what I will use to water this plant. It cost me about £50 to setup (excluding dripper and pumps etc).

In a nut shell, it's a Smart Power Socket and a Raspberry Pi Zero


which is connected to a moisture sensor in the coco:

Which does what it says on the tin. When the moisture goes below a certain threshold, the Pi turns on the smart socket (which is connected to the pump) for 1 minute. This pumps ~0.6L of nutrient through the drippers.


After that 1 minute, the pump is turned off. And the sensors wait for the moisture in the coco to drop below that threshold again before turning the pump on again.

I use these clips to keep the drippers in place on the pot:


A benefit of this whole project is that it means that the coco will never be dry but will be allowed to dry out to moist/barely moist. If i could do this by hand i would, but it's time consuming.

Another positive is that I won't have run off unless I want run off.

I'm still playing with the moisture levels and thresholds, I'll have them sussed in a few days, the concept is working. And it's saving me the trouble of having to hand feed. Which is a huge relief.

Here is my make shift case for the Pi until I work out a more safe home for it.


And here is the monster pot this plant is in. I usually don't like plants in really big pots, and I would only grow one with a pot this big if i t was automated, hence this project. I usually favour 12L-16L pots when I grow a few smaller plants, but this is quite big plant. I'm going to try and form a nice big root mass in that pot before I flip in about a week or so. It's a 35L pot filled about 2/3 of the way. 70/30 Coco/Perlite.


This is my makeshift drainage solution until I can think of something better. It will be better when I can move this into the tent that Audrey and Co are in as that has some more head room.

I'll probably cover this whole project with a separate journal, I just thought I'd let you guts know where I'm at with it and what I've been up to the past few days.

:peace:
GoogleGenius, what a great way to look at the issue of keeping a coco grow good and wet! :bravo:
 

Day 49 Flower​

Hey guys.

We're at Day 49. I anticipate that this will be the final week of full strength feed before I will need to start driving the nutrient strength down.

The readings this morning (and still sat at this level now):

PPM : 600
PH : 6.1

PPM has risen slightly which would suggest they have been drinking more water. I'm going to top up with some water to bring it down a touch. 600ppm/1.2ec is about as high as i'd like these girls to go.


Audrey :love:


Here is one of the more recent flowers that appeared on Audrey. Look at the difference between the more mature flower vs the new ones

:peace:
 
GoogleGenius, what a great way to look at the issue of keeping a coco grow good and wet! :bravo:
Thanks @StoneOtter :high-five:

It was born more out of necessity and this ladie's survival depended on it. Growing in coco is great, but I find more attention is needed than DWC. Plus the handling of run off, can be quite a lot of work when using a standard timer that forces run off.

When i grow in Coco i prefer to avoid run off and keep the coco at least barely-moist all of the time. I just run periodic leeching of the medium if necessary, usually when i switch boosts. I take a sample every now and then to see whats going on too, but overall, try to avoid excessive run off.

I get better results when i hand feed, and feed little and often, over flooding until run off every time. Hopefully this solution can do exactly that.

:peace:
 
Thanks @StoneOtter :high-five:

It was born more out of necessity and this ladie's survival depended on it. Growing in coco is great, but I find more attention is needed than DWC. Plus the handling of run off, can be quite a lot of work when using a standard timer that forces run off.

When i grow in Coco i prefer to avoid run off and keep the coco at least barely-moist all of the time. I just run periodic leeching of the medium if necessary, usually when i switch boosts. I take a sample every now and then to see whats going on too, but overall, try to avoid excessive run off.

I get better results when i hand feed, and feed little and often, over flooding until run off every time. Hopefully this solution can do exactly that.

:peace:
I believe it will do what you're thinking GG. Tuning/tweaking time!
 
When i grow in Coco i prefer to avoid run off and keep the coco at least barely-moist all of the time.
I've been noticing this with the coco myself... the "wetter the better". With straight pro-mix I could let the medium dry out almost til the plant wilted and they loved it... if I try that with coco I get a tinge... if that makes sense.
 
I've been noticing this with the coco myself... the "wetter the better". With straight pro-mix I could let the medium dry out almost til the plant wilted and they loved it... if I try that with coco I get a tinge... if that makes sense.
Absolutely, it’s a must in Coco. Allowing the coco to dry out is one sure way of salt building up and potentially damaging the roots. I find running a wet - barely moist cycle works wonders for building a big dense root mass, especially in veg and early flower :peace:
 

Day 50 Flower​

Hey guys.

The readings this morning:

PPM : 610
PH : 6.2

Pretty stable. I did top up the system in the end last night, so i added water this morning to bring the strength down to:

PPM : 550
PH : 6.0


Audrey :love:

Xena and another big ass cola


:peace:
 

Day 50 Flower​

Hey guys.

The readings this morning:

PPM : 610
PH : 6.2

Pretty stable. I did top up the system in the end last night, so i added water this morning to bring the strength down to:

PPM : 550
PH : 6.0


Audrey :love:

Xena and another big ass cola


:peace:
Hey GG hope your doing good. The girls look great as usual.
Starting to fill out. :thumb:
 
Back
Top Bottom