Twisted Hippie's Official Medical Grow Operation, Recast!

[Azimuth]

Bucket grow or SOG? The race is on! What say you?

That depends on how you measure success.

Per round I would bet on the buckets, but per year it would be the SOG almost assuredly since there's essentially no veg time and therefore at least one extra round per year, maybe two.

 

[The Twisted One]

That depends on how you measure success.

Per round I would bet on the buckets, but per year it would be the SOG almost assuredly since there's essentially no veg time and therefore at least one extra round per year, maybe two.

We are hoping for a minimum of 5 lbs of dried, cured bud per table. Each table holds 98 plants. The jury is still out, but soon enough, we’ll know.

 

[The Twisted One]

Today has been a long day to say the least. We picked up two 110 gallon reservoirs yesterday and plan on using these to power the entire room.
The game plan is a room with twelve 4x8 flood tables. The two 110 gallon reservoirs will be tied together. Flood times are divided up where one row of 4 tables floods at the same time, with the remaining two rows of 4 tables per row all being flooded several hours apart from one another.
A little plumbing and three 900 gph pumps with three individual timers and we should be in like flint. Four more 4x8 tables need to be built, then time to finish the overhead electrical outlets being fed from my country boy home built and designed 32 light flip box controller. Because of our limited electrical service, I built a large flip box light controller that would allow Flower Room 1 and Flower Room 2 to share the same electrical input. I did this using bullhorn relays, then divided rooms between normally open and normally closed circuits. Meaning as soon as the lights go off in Flower Room 1, Flower Room 2 is energized. This only works with 12 and 12 schedule, so these rooms were designed as 12 hr flower rooms only.
This is the first time we've been able to bring two of our three proposed flower rooms online, so this is really a big move for us, requiring a lot of timed coordination between rooms. So in an average day, I think I’ll kill the lights at 2 pm in one flower room and it should give us enough time to be able to service both rooms during the day when lights are on. Take care of one room in the morning, and when lights go off and on the other room, service it as well.

Tomorrow involves bringing three more cloners online and taking around 300 clones. Time to free up a full table in the mother room and transfer our next line of 6 genetics from the cloner into mother buckets. This also means my Peanut Butter Pie and GMO Pie moms have served their purpose, and need to go to free up space to be 3rd in line for flowering.
If FL-2 is a success, we’ll be looking at a harvest every 30 days. On a rotating schedule, we could be harvesting every two weeks. Things are getting busy. So busy it’s time to take a break and smell the roses…..err….buds…
Here’s today’s pictures right at a week away from harvest. Enjoy!

 

[The Twisted One]

There simply isn’t enough time in a day, meaning I only got about half of what I wanted to get done. Between jobs that need done like clockwork and building stuff to support another room I’m spread way too thin.

We picked up two 110 gallon reservoirs the other day for about twenty five cents on the dollar. This room will consist of twelve 4x8 flood tables, with 4 tables being flooded at a time. Three pumps in the reservoir, each one feeds 4 tables and all three are controlled with timers staged several hours apart from each other.

As we get a little further along, I’ll go over the plumbing. We removed our temporary wall we had to bring the room up to its full potential. This also means I need the ability to take a lot more clones, so I began on adding more cloners into an already jam packed room. This involves creating a new rack and modifying two existing ones.

As usual, I began with 1x1 and 1x2 square tubing. I needed to be able to house three 96 site cloner, and do so in the same space currently being used by a single cloner.

Tonight, I mocked up the frame, and went to work on the lighting for the project. Since we’ve proved we can easily go directly from the cloner into 5” net baskets with expanded clay in a dedicated 12/12 room, I needed to improve the lighting I’d normally use for cloning duties. I needed something with a little more spank, and be able to dial that spank up and down as needed.

The other day we picked up two Mars Hydro 6 bar lights. The emitters on these bad boys are none other than the tried and true Samsung LM-301b’s that I am oh so fond of. Mars made it easy to move around or completely remove each light strip. My kinda guys right there! This made it easy(er) to remove each light bar and reposition them on the cloner rack. I’ve set up each 96 site Turbokloner to have two of those Mars light bars. I’ll have to scrap their cool secondary lighting harness as they simply won’t reach in their new locations.

These lights should provide more lighting than I’ll ever need here. I’ll keep them down low as the clones are sprouting roots. At around day 8 or 9, I’ll ramp the light up and let them explode in the cloner for another 5 or 6 days. We did this last time, and when we transplanted them in 5” net pots in a 12/12 room, a day later those gals that were exploding from being in the jammed up cloner simply unpacked and spread their wings.

Using all the cool hardware from the Mars light that I could, I welded a few stand-offs and mounted the driver to the upper side of the rack using their hardware and tapping a few 1/4” threads in the 1x1 angle. I then arranged the light strips for even coverage over the cloners and drilled and tapped 1/4” threads for the cool wing nuts Mars assembled their lights with. I dig repurposing stuff, and they gave fun stuff to work with.

The driver on this light is a solid 480 watts, distributed along two channels driving 3 light bars each. This drives each light bar around 80 watts, for a possible total of 160 watts per cloner. I mounted the driver for easy access to the dimming knob.

 

[The Twisted One]

After a small setback on wiring the MARS lights into a custom harness for the repositioned lights in the now dubbed “Twisted Hippie Cloner 5000”, today the correct male plug came in for the MARS Hydro from Amazon (next day delivery) and my second guess was correct, and they fit the MARS female plugs like it was meant to be! (For those curious, MARS used a 5.5x2.5mm plug, and not the common 5.5x2.1mm)

Then, on a plus side, the 5.5x2.1 mm pigtails I originally ordered for the MARS lights just happen to fit the fans on each of the TurboKloners small 12 volts fans.
I took a 115/12 volt power supply rated at 14 amp, built a harness and instead of three small transformers I only have one driving all three fans.

Today, the wifey started loading off the new cloner rack.
The final issue I had to deal with was to design a light for the top cloner that could be removed with ease. Why? Because of the cloners now acting as cloners and veg beds, I needed more clearance between the lights and the top of the canopy. This clearly shot me up past the ability to move cloner from one room to another because of the limit in doorway height. The ceiling are 10 ft, but not the doors.
Here’s my solution.

This now puts us being able to have well over 500 clones at any given time.
I’m putting this one to bed, and moving into the next series of issues, one being needing to come up with a chiller solution for the 220 gallon reservoirs now occupying flower room 2 which will be driving twelve 4x8 flood tables.
It never ends.

 

[The Twisted One]

This morning I topped off the cloners and got them filled to capacity o turned my attention to preparing the next run.

This weekend is harvest time with next week spent prepping the flower room for the next crop that is ready and begging to get into flower. This upcoming crop will be the largest crop size wise I’ve ever flipped into flower, commercially anyway. I’m pushing to up the ante and hoping for a legit 3/4 to 1lb of dry weight buds per plant. I need to up the ante on my son’s SOG grow in case he meets his expectations…

Two of the 4x8 SOG tables have begun flowering. That is going to be a busy 32 sq ft area. We need to get busy building more 4x8 tables. We have about two weeks to get ready for what’s in the new cloners, and time marches on.

Moving onto FL-1. The girls are in their last stretch. PPM’s are now below 100, the girls received a 10 deg drop in evening temps about a week ago along with lights losing about 100 watts per light, so the girls have been seeing and feeling the seasons close. Today, I began lights out, and dropped the room’s final humidity to 40% respectively. Sunday is harvest. Here’s a few photos from today.

 

[420]

@Mycelium Farmer

 

[The Twisted One]

Today was IPM day for the gals heading into flower Monday. Even though we haven’t had any issues with insects (visible to nearly invisible), I fully understand why growers implement seemingly crazy protocols, because after going through what we went through? Never again. Those mundane tasks remain. Live and learn.
The girls in veg go into flower Monday, and are by far the largest I’ve sent into flower, commercially anyway. Might have to double trellis this run.

With the cure room prepped and ready, tomorrow morning is a go. In the next few days I’ll update the side by side results of our “tin foil hat” theory on grounding the root zones vs ungrounded root zones. I’ll be able to line up and compare 32 grounded vs 32 ungrounded rootzones in an 8 week unbiased test. Also, we pumped the girls with Terpinator this run, so hoping for an increase in terpene production, with testing performed at the same lab and with the same equipment, and bring you the unfiltered results. Either way it goes, to be fair, we began the introduction of Terpinator at around week 3 or 4, and clearly needs to be introduced much sooner, so to make up for it, I started Terpinator in veg on the upcoming crop and will continue through flowering at manufactures recommendation. That will be the tale of the tape. If any of you guys have had personal experience using this product, feel free to chime in!

 

[The Twisted One]

Had to slam the brakes! Harvest has been put off! Gonna have to go a little longer….
Patience is a virtue in this department, so today was spent defoliating the mother room. This should buy me a week

 

[The Twisted One]

I’m guessing that last post needs a better explanation. In simple terms, I’m pretty anal when it comes to harvesting. I need my 20% amber, and she simply wasn’t there. Harvest too soon and couch lock. Mind you, some like being slammed, but for most, it seems too intense, if that were possible l, right?

I bought a microscope some time back, and it gives me the ability to view on a small or big screen, take pictures, etc. I’ll snap a few photos of the trics when they hit what I call their sweet spot. Musta been a 9 week strain after all.

Here’s a few photos of where the girls are right now. Weds is now the scheduled harvest. We defoliated the crap out of the upcoming crop, allowing me another week.

This last week, while mostly silent the last few days, we’re still making progress. I built 4 more 4x8 roll around flood tables, and only need one more. This will make 12 4x8 flood tables with each table containing 99 plants each. We have the lighting and controls temp’d in for now, but next week we flip the room over to the 32 light controller that has been faithfully taking care of lighting duties in Flower Room 1 from the git go. Because of 400 amps being the max we could pull into the building, I had to be able to distribute that power as meager as I could. So what I did when I built the 32 light controller and I used single pole double throw “bullhorn” relays rated at 30 amps each. Flower Room 1 and Flower Room 2 have 64 lights being powered by one feed. FL-1 and FL-2 were designed as 12 and 12 rooms only, meaning the split second the lights go off in FL-1, they come on in FL-2. I can power two independent flower rooms on about 100 amps this way. When we flip FL-2 over, I’ll probably set lights off in FL-1 to around 2pm. This should give me the ability to service both rooms on a normal 12 hr day…

The girls on two of the flood tables have began flowering, and are looking good, with staged tables coming up behind them, this is going to be a busy room! I’m proud of my son for venturing fearlessly into an area neither of us have ever ventured. He’s a lot like me, and really digs in educating himself and me as well. Blood is thicker than water and it seems the apple never falls far from the tree, as both my boys seem to excel at whatever they put their heart to. I’m a proud dad, and yes, this is a plug and shout out to all that have made this dream a reality! From my wife who has fearlessly stood beside me for a good 30 years, to both my boys and few faithful friends who are as determined for our success as we are.

 

[The Twisted One]

Then there’s you guys (and gals). I’ll probably feel like a moron saying this, but if you guys knew how many threads on 420magazine I have dissected over the last 5 years or so, educating myself off 100’s of years of wisdom that lurks these halls, you’d probably wonder why I’m growing and not pursuing another pastime….speed…..
No. Not THAT kind of speed. My own medicine is ALL I need in that department, but another kind of speed, and maybe the kind you’d have never expected from a silly dirt farmer from NE Oklahoma.

Here’s a few photos of whats been sitting in my garage, basically untouched since this cannabis venture began almost 5 years ago. She’s a 74 Stingray that had a Ralph Nader endorsed 190 hp 350, an utter embarrassment to me and countless other Chevy fanatics. This won’t do!
To he’ll with the purists! I ripped that puppy out and shoved a late model blown LS between the fenders, and for years she’s been waiting for me to finish her off. It’s coming! Enjoy!

Now back to your regular scheduled Cannabis programming….. hope you enjoyed!

 

[BeccaBuds]

I'd like to sit in @The Twisted One. This is like attending Oaksterdam University except a shorter commute and more fun, lol, & I love that Corvette!

 

[The Twisted One]

Before the ritual grind begins and another harvest is at hand, this grow, I’m going to harvest using science and not what I’ve used forever, simply because it’s what everyone else did. Case in point: we don’t have much definitive science in an area we all have our deep rooted personal opinions on, and that’s the end of harvest protocols.
For well over 40 years now, I’ve been a firm believer in a good flush. Why? Well because of popular opinion I guess and with hydro, I can do a really, really good job, and, well, let’s face it, old wives tales passed down from generation to generation. Tales we’ve all heard that people swear to, even ourselves. The list goes on and on and on.
I know. It hurts to hear, but I assure you, I’m surrounded with young minds that tend to keep me young, at least in the thinking department. I’ve also followed several guys much smarter than me that have recently been afforded the financing and licensing to perform studies I could only dream of.
Well, two such studies have been conducted, and the results seem to be a no-brainer, both in the science aspect and even taking in to account the human element, a panel of testers, which both prove conclusive. So much so, it’s time for me to prove it to myself, because if this proves conclusive to me, it’s what’s been burning in the back of my head for decades. Time to put it to rest, results be damned!

With personal results under my belt from the exact strain harvested right before this one, it’s basically a repeat, with the exception I did add Terpinator at around week 4 on this crop. Because of the results of these two independent studies with financing way beyond my means, I’m changing several things around before the upcoming harvest in just a few days.
Here is my theory. First off, I’ve been battling proving hydroponics can not only produce as well as organics, but clock the same if not better numbers than organic growers, both in THC content as well as terpene production. I’ve already proven with verifiable results I can grow faster than organics, and I have now proven with 3 consecutive strains, repeatable I might add, I can exceed total THC content on EXACT strains grown organically, by someone who KNOWS how to grow organically. The results speak for themselves In that department. Yea. They weren’t happy either. However, even though we banged damn near 10% more THC than organically grown using the same strain, we fell short .43 on our terpene ratio comparison. Mind you it wasn’t the same laboratory that did the testing, but still. Time to improve those terpene ratios, hydroponically!
Then I began to question a few local laboratories that do testing, and apparently from what I gather, the higher the THC content, the lower the terpene ratio no matter how it was grown, across the board. Period. Those boys see far more results than I do, so no arguments here.
So I began to dig in. Things like secondary metabolites we seldom hear about tend to be brought up when growing organically, and what I learned was was the big argue point between organic and say salt based methods are these secondaries, but what I didn’t know was as soon as organics broke those secondary metabolites down, they resulted in the same core components of salt based formulas. Wow.
It’s this area that has me captivated, and I aim to find the solution.
1. I’ve already proven targeted stress works, ESPECIALLY in the last 2 to 3 weeks of flower. It simply works, increases terpenes, and the 10 degree reduction in evening room temps and reduction of lumens over the canopy does indeed bring out the colors, and may play a role in terpene production as well, so it stays in the game plan.
Removing nitrogen at this stage is also beneficial for those curious. Stress increases terpenes, if timed right, and I have the proof on that. What has changed this go round and something that I really need to know, and that’s this time, no flushing. I mean none.
Nada. Zilch. I know. It sounds harsh and goes against everything we’ve come come to accept, however the science says otherwise. I intend to prove it myself.
Stay tuned!

 

[Azimuth]

Harvest too soon and couch lock.

Other way around, I think. Harvest too late and the thc-a starts to convert to cbn-a leading to cbn which is the sleepy time cannabinoid.

Harvesting early (mostly cloudy, little amber) brings more of a racy, energetic high.

 

[The Twisted One]

Azimuth, I stand corrected!

 

[Azimuth]

Pretty wild operation you've got going there. Obv in a legal state. But  very impressive. And you've got mad skills from welding to electrical to plant science.

The rest of us can only dream (well, excepting @Mycelium Farmer and maybe a couple of others...)

Do you have any regulatory limitations to your operation or is it more physical space limits?

 

[The Twisted One]

Pretty wild operation you've got going there. Obv in a legal state. But  very impressive. And you've got mad skills from welding to electrical to plant science.

The rest of us can only dream (well, excepting @Mycelium Farmer and maybe a couple of others...)

Do you have any regulatory limitations to your operation or is it more physical space limits?

Things are crazy right now in Oklahoma when it comes to regulatory issues. They put a moratorium on licensing and are now talking about limiting canopy size to increasing licensing costs on larger grows. It also matters where you set up shop. If your in county, and outside the city limits it isn’t regulated like it is in the city. Every county is different.
This said, we’ve endured two inspections thus far and passed with flying colors.
I also run a small HVAC company in Tulsa, so I get my head in a lot of local grows, and from what I’ve seen personally I can see why inspections should be required. Oklahoma has also been dealing with a LOT of illegal Chinese grows, and they are slowly but systematically being removed. Even testing labs are complaining about failed test samples and unauthorized pesticides. It’s this kind of crap that kills it for folks like me who take an helluva lot of pride in the products we produce. Apparently they have also been purchasing a LOT of Oklahoma land. Why if why Governor Stitt?
Because of this, and the mess it creates when grows get shut down, the latest news is we now have to get a liability bond that goes into a slush fund to clean up abandoned properties. Bottom line is they keep adding hands to the cookie jar, and it won’t be long before growers quit putting cookies in the jar, then what?
In closing, we are still waiting for the dust to settle and cannabis pricing to stabilize. What small mom and pop grows have going for them is quality over quantity, and it’s this area we hope to carve a small survivable niche. Been a very, very long road my friend and all that glitters isn’t gold.

 

[Azimuth]

No successful business is all peaches and cream. It's the behinds the scenes grunge work that really matters.

Well done on your operation. Your passion for the business clearly shows.

 

[The Twisted One]

No successful business is all peaches and cream. It's the behinds the scenes grunge work that really matters.

Well done on your operation. Your passion for the business clearly shows.

Thanks for the kind words my friend!

 

[The Twisted One]

Quick update on the now dubbed “Cloner 5000”, which is basically three 99 site Turbokloners. More than an update though, because the Cloner 5000 has followed the reality of every power cloner I have ever used. Heat. Those who know me already realize how I feel about root zones, and the length of trouble I went through to address it. Well, now it’s reared it’s ugly head, and before I address like I’ve done in the past, this is a shout out to those who use a power cloner.
My problem? The reservoir temps just slowly increase over time. The magnetic pumps don’t create a lot of heat, but the heat they do create is added to the reservoir. Right now, in the Cloner 5000, the reservoir temps have crept up to around 75 degrees in a room that is maintained at 72 deg.
Other have addressed this by doing things like putting the reservoir pump on a timer, something I’m not nor ever have been comfortable with. For now, every 4 days I’m adding 3% peroxide to prevent coodies from forming under the hood.

This was such an issue to me, I built a cooling solution for both reservoirs using a 10th hp aquarium chiller. Moving chilled water from a chiller only reservoir into cooling coils located in each 144 site cloner reservoir. Does it work? Sure does.
Does it seem I’m the only bloke doing this? Sure does.… So, if you clone using a power cloner, please chime in.