My Continuous Auto Closet Grow - Pink Salad!

[BigIrishDoode]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Oh yes the seed business is insane, I can understand as a breeder the work involved,but when 1 plant can produce thousands of seeds in a standard growing cycle,asking for more than a couple bucks is just gouging,and in the case of autos that you can't clone it's just robbery! That and most are s1's feminized so they don't have to stabilize (the hard part) one of the main reasons I got into feminizing seed was to combat the cost of autos that are not offered as ergs, the problem with red is they are often f1's so further breeding often gives poor unexpected results, with frms they are just coots of the mom

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Yeah it's been my thinking as well. The pink salad was stated to be an f5, and is somewhat stable. They've been breeding it for a small pink budded plant, but it still has three phenotypes. Pink, purple, and green. I'm happy to have all three myself. Each is a little different tasting. It adds variety to my limited selection of genetics.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Yeah I have a small but interesting auto selection,but with the auto genetics I can create new auto strains by crossing with reg strains when I grow out the offspring I only breed the ones that auto,the rest I just enjoy the cross icrossed GDP with himalaya blue diesel "grand mama blue" did not auto but was a fast growing beast that yielded very well and had a great flavor when you cross an auto to a reg only 10-15% will auto you cross those and it goes to about 25% by the time you get to f5 or 6 your close to 100% and have a fairly stable new auto or an auto version of whatever you started with, it's just selective breeding only real catch is you have a limited time frame so hopefully you find a male first and have pollen ready when a female pops up! ,so this is why my auto breeding project is super slow,I guess I could back cross to the auto dad? Hmm

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Yeah I've backcrossed to the same three dads pollen every time so far. That is the few times I've made seeds after my initial seed run. I saved a lot of pollen from the three males I liked, and still use it sometimes. My attempt at breeding is to separate each plants seed in it's own storage bag. I label each bag with basic characteristics. Next time I make seed I'll know the direction it's heading. I plan to keep doing this, and date each one.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Yeah I've backcrossed to the same three dads pollen every time so far. That is the few times I've made seeds after my initial seed run. I saved a lot of pollen from the three males I liked, and still use it sometimes. My attempt at breeding is to separate each plants seed in it's own storage bag. I label each bag with basic characteristics. Next time I make seed I'll know the direction it's heading. I plan to keep doing this, and date each one.

Yeah I like to keep good records of PHENO and genotypes there's a super nifty program you should get called herb IQ. It's free covers about anything you could want ,keeps track of everything from seed stock,equipment,light cycles,veg & flowering times, you can create notes & categories,how many hours on a light bulb, how long yo have had something curing,when & how much you got, family tree,it can even hook up to real time sensors for temps and so on just search for herb IQ or I can get you a link,might even fit in an email there's a couple of us on here that use it,you can encrypt all the data and password protect it, some dude tried telling ppl it connects to the net..it does not,you can even save video and pics to each plant & strain it looks very basic like a win 98 program but it works really well I call it my pothead or brain cuz it remembers everything i would normally forget ! Lol it's always open when I'm working with the girls lol

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

My thoughts, and facts about power consumption.

I'm running two HPS 150 watt lights in my little grow room.

They do create a bit of heat, and my low cost solution is to leave the door open.

Two fans vent the mini grow room. One on top pulling out rising hot air.

The other bellow pushing air inward, and moving it across the plants.

Without the fans going heat does build up quickly.

Both in the grow room, and on the lamps themselves.

But with the fans going the temperatures remain the same as the room it vents out to.

The HPS lamps are cool to the touch on the top of the hood.

I control over all room temperatures with a window AC unit in my bedroom.

I've calculated the cost of running my HPS units the way I do at under ten dollars a month.

The cost of cooling is unknown, but overall my bills are less than previous years here.

I achieve this by saving money on electricity in other areas of the house.

CFL's have replaced regular bulbs throughout the house,

I've stopped using central AC, and only light my bedroom Va HPS.

My electric bills before ran 150 to 250 a month, and now go 125 to 175.

Autoflower plants make this all possible by not needing a light tight environment.

To seal off my mini grow room would require a light tight venting of the space.

Tents are a good option, but also require expensive fans, ducting, and venting adding even more money.

Options like expensive LED units seem attractive in many ways.

I love new technology, but at this point my attitude is if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Yields on autoflowers are low, but if I can meet my needs from a bedroom closet it's enough.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

In just a four, or five more days my new plants should be showing sex.

The ones on the right are the newspaper pots I transplanted early.

Everything is doing great, and I see no signs of stunted growth from either side.

I'm planning on making female seeds this round so many of the new girls will get sprayed with CS.

About three weeks after males are removed I'll start a smaller batch of seeds in newspots to have new females to pollinate.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

-----------------------------------------------------

Total cost 60 day grow worksheet.

-----------------------------------------------------


Nutrient Cost

Cost of my 50 pounds of JR Peters nutrients $103.00

These dry nutrients mixed as gallons = 7000 gallons.

120 gallons will be used @ two gallons a day in a 60 day grow.

Total cost of my nutrients in grow $1.77


Coco Mix Medium Cost

Cost of 2 cubic feet coco coir block $13.00

Cost of one cubic foot rice hulls $6.85

Total coco mix cost $19.85

Total number of grows coco mix is used = Six

Cost of coco mix each grow $3.31


Filtrete Under Sink Water Filter

$31.00 every six months makes monthly cost = $5.17

$5.17 @ two months = $10.34


Electric Cost

Cost of electric to run two 150 watt HPS 60 days $20.00


Total basic cost of growing 12 autoflowers $38.42


Cost per autoflower $3.20


Of course there are more things I could include. Like bulb changes.
I bought a case of bulbs to get a discount, and payed $5.85 each @ every six months.
AC costs, but my electric bills have been lower this year.
Water bill, but 120 gallons every two months?
Seeds, but I've made my own, and have lots!
My equipment costs, but these are hard to calculate because of undetermined use in total grows.

 

[Cerdito]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

3 dollars for a plant that can get you several hundred dollars worth of medicine? Sounds like a none brainer to me!

I like the way you do things. I wish I had considered the long term ease when I bough to mostly photo strains and only a couple of autos -now I am thinking autos would have been the way forwards.

Oh well, I will just save the photos for outdoors summer maybe?

xx

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

3 dollars for a plant that can get you several hundred dollars worth of medicine? Sounds like a none brainer to me!

I like the way you do things. I wish I had considered the long term ease when I bough to mostly photo strains and only a couple of autos -now I am thinking autos would have been the way forwards.

Oh well, I will just save the photos for outdoors summer maybe?

xx

Yeah thanks!
I'm getting like a half oz per plant right now so 12 plants could be as much as six oz's.
Six oz's for about 40 bucks ain't to bad.
This is the first time I'm growing 12 full size plants at the same time tho.
So yields per plant could be lower.
But I keep improving, so it also could be better.

 

[efcc1]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Nice toker,how wood I convert your nutes into liters?newby question,or a lazy one lol,peace n' respect

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Nice toker,how wood I convert your nutes into liters?newby question,or a lazy one lol,peace n' respect

One gallon = 3.78541 litters.

I'm pretty sure the company I buy nutrients from doesn't ship worldwide. Hydroponic nutrients for commercial greenhouse production are definitely going to be available tho, but you may have research to find dry nutrients in your part of the world. Hydroponic greenhouse production is being done in even in many of the poorest nations in the world. Some people may complain about the high prices of supermarket food, but place cannabis next to the tomatoes in the supermarket, and it will help you understand why nutrients available for things like growing tomatoes can't be sold at price levels for nutrients available for cannabis. Yet many growers use products like Miracle Gro Tomato Food to successfully grow cannabis. So if you're really interested in pursuing a more commercial type greenhouse production of cannabis find sources in your part of the world. Mixing instructions included will most likely be regional. Thus solving your conversion problem.

[video=youtube_share;-E73fitaGOE]

[/video]

In this example video this grower tests Miracle Gro Tomato Food Vs General Hydroponics base nutes.
The test is done in a 75% Coco 25% Perlite mix.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Cost Vs Flavor argument

What stocks your cupboards at home? What's in the fridge?
The finest organic produce, and wines money can buy?
What type of car do you drive? Only the best built available to man?

If you're like me you've compromised taste to suit cost.

Of course you would like to drink only the best of wine, and beer.
Eat only the most flavorful, and healthy organic foods.

There will always be others willing to speak up, and say you're making wrong choices.
You should never eat at McDonalds. (I agree, but they make billions)
Oh, and only drink finest wine, and drive expensive fast cars.
But in reality only one in a million can enjoy such an extravagant lifestyle.

I see the current state of cannabis hydroponic nutrients much in this same light.
Factions of growers who all have valid points of view, but most are living the high life.
They show off their flashy expensive grow equivalents to BMW's, LAMBORGHINI's, and TESTAROSSA's.
But the 80% of the rest of us may wish make practical decisions based on our incomes.
And maybe even more people would grow hydroponically if it weren't so darn expensive.

We should compare costs more to real life hydroponic growing techniques,
and not to over inflated cannabis black market dollar values.

The information that is available gives the newbie growers the idea that no other options even exist.

People interested in pursuing grows at moderate expense are often slammed, and shamed in forums.
So far everyone at 420 has been great! Thanks I don't think I'd make it elsewhere!

If cannabis ever becomes 100% legal, and sold in stores many brands will become available.
Some very costly with great flavors, and aroma, and likely many many more at a lower cost.
Just like any other product sold. Eighty percent of us will compromise for our price point.

Cannabis Flavor Vs Cost is still at an untested myth stage anyway.
Most people can't make an honest judgement, and are speaking from a gut reaction.
They simply haven't done a side by side blind taste test like a Coke Vs Pepsi.

Even if taste, and effect tests are done, and low cost nutes lose will they stop being used in grows?
Is McDonald's going outta business anytime soon?

I'm not even saying I feel compromised at all with my grow.
I'm very happy with the cannabis I'm producing.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Haha I was looking over my previous post, and realized it looked like I was endorsing Miracle Gro as a hydroponic nutrient.

I do not, but was using it as an example of a inexpensive nutrient that would work, because it does. I've seen it. Just because it does work doesn't make it your best low cost hydroponic nutrient option. There are much better. If you're interested in real options that are out there you gotta look around, because these companies don't market to the cannabis crowd.

The one I use is Jacks Pro Hydroponic 5-12-26, and Calcium Nitrate. I do recommend trying it, and it's even cheaper in bulk then MG. Another I've tried is Jack's Professional Hydro FeED. It's a one part fert, so you have less control, but worked great for me.

Here's a hydroponic grower with videos I enjoy watching that uses a different inexpensive brand to grow his crops.
He explains a little about mixing a very similar blend to what I use.

[video=youtube_share;vYv9iu2NI3M]

[/video]

Here's the same guy with the results of his Miracle Gro experiment.

[video=youtube_share;TQzgMve9hoA]

[/video]

You can see the sad results of using Miracle Gro hydroponically, but I'm unsure of the exact nature of his testing.
His well water may not contain the nitrogen that may be available in tap water from the cannabis experiment.
He also tests a 20-20-20 product from JR Peters. I'm not sure why. I wish he'd of tested Jacks Pro Hydroponic 5-12-26 against his Master Blend. Master Blend's 4-18-38 formula is too high in K to be a good nutrient for a cannabis grow. The JR Peters 5-12-26 is still a little too high, but seems to work out good. If you want to spend the money these companies will even custom blend a formula. Both of those fertilizers are a two part that blend with Calcium Nitrate. Adding the Calcium Nitrate separately gives you control of the N in the NPK ratios, and makes the fertilizer customizable for the water you use, and the plants you grow.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

My hand watering cans.

I wish I could have found out more info about hand watering cans.
It could have saved me almost twenty bucks! Oh I looked hard for info too!
Which one of these cans would you use? One is a 2 gallon with a rose head sprinkler,
and the other a much smaller 1/3 gallon with a long narrow spout.

I bought the 2 gallon one thinking it was going to be handy watering my closet grow.
The smaller one I had already, and use it watering house plants.
I use the big one now outdoors watering things with the drain to waste water.
It turned out to be too big for my closet grow. The smaller long spouted one I already had is perfect.
It's easy to move around under the bottom leaves.
I do have to refill it several times each watering tho.

I water my plants in the rose buckets once a day for the first week after the seeds break soil. Then I start watering twice a day. Once in the morning, and once around 6PM.

The newspots I've watered much less. More like a soil grow. I water them every 4 days, or more. They don't drain, so I just let them dry out, and water as needed. I may try them on a draining DTW setup next time tho.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Close ups at 16 days old from seed!

I'm almost sure this one is male.

This one is looking female.

This one is looking female also.

Just three close up photos from a few in early transplants in the Rose Buckets.
I'd do some close ups of the newspots, but I can't move them around to get good photos.

Not bad from 16 days from seed. When I say seed I mean from when I soaked them in water.
I do another bad grower thing also. I always start my nutes 3 days after sprouting. lol
Just a super watered down dose.
I mix 1/8 strength nutrients, and in days build it up to 1/4 strength before sex even shows!
This is a total autoflower no no, but I've been doing it awhile now, and it seems to work.

I'm totally guessing sex, and don't know for sure yet.
I think I may see the male flowers forming on the first one.
But I'm really just guessing because of it's size.
The males seem to shoot up faster with this strain.
And the females grow a bit slower.

I should know everything for sure in just a few days.

 

[Jimmy6000]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Sup Toker,Here is what I use to water my girl's.I unscrew spray nozzle on the tip and add a short piece of hose.

You can also attach air line to the end of wand and it will help mixing and add some air.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

I like it buddy! I might even get one. I've seen a few sold around town.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

ROOT BALLS!

I pulled a male outta the newspot bin and examined the roots.

It's pretty tall, and the rootball is kinda small.

I'm not sure what this means. The plant looks way healthy tho.

But the rootball is tiny, and a short taproot.

 

[toker69]

Re: My continuous auto closet grow. Pink salad!

Ok now were talking! ROOTS!!

This is the first female to show her white hairs. She's huge.
I'm thinking about spraying her with Colloidal Silver to change her sex.
Your supposed to use a healthy specimen, but transplanting, and spraying at the same time? hummm

She now resides in Rose Bucket number 04. I'm keeping an eye on my first confirmed female.