Twisted Hippie's Official Medical Grow Operation, Recast!

[The Twisted One]

Yes indeed, recast in just about every possible way. So much so, it's probably going to take some time to unpack it all. Some things however will always stay the same.
Same drive. Same passion. Same simple Oklahoma country boy survivor ingenuity. Same roll of bailing wire to patch up whatever. And the very same goal of carving out a local long lasting niche.
And the number one primary directive to this thread? Simply telling it like it is.
The good.
The bad.
The ugly.
That song will always remain the same.
Think of this thread as "Chapter ll Over". I kinda like the ring of that!
It's my sincere wish to make this thread as fun as the last was, and folks, for me it was a HOOT! I've truly missed you guys. Stay tuned and
enjoy the ride!

The Twisted One...

 

[Bill284]

Yes indeed, recast in just about every possible way. So much so, it's probably going to take some time to unpack it all. Some things however will always stay the same.
Same drive. Same passion. Same simple Oklahoma country boy survivor ingenuity. Same roll of bailing wire to patch up whatever. And the very same goal of carving out a local long lasting niche.
And the number one primary directive to this thread? Simply telling it like it is.
The good.
The bad.
The ugly.
That song will always remain the same.
Think of this thread as "Chapter ll Over". I kinda like the ring of that!
It's my sincere wish to make this thread as fun as the last was, and folks, for me it was a HOOT! I've truly missed you guys. Stay tuned and
enjoy the ride!

The Twisted One...

Hello @The Twisted One welcome to 420magazine my friend.
I think I'd get contact lenses if I were you.
Bill

 

[Nine Toed Hippie]

I’m all in. Welcome back Twisted One!

NTH

 

[The Twisted One]

I guess it's about high time to fire this thread up, so let's do this!
First off, a great many changes have taken place and many lessons have been learned over the last three years. Probably the greatest lesson learned is to never sell oneself short, and if it ain't working stop doing it that way and do something different. Well, folks, we are doing things...VERY different and surrounding ourselves with proven winners with the very same goals, and that's to put out the very best genetics available in Oklahoma, and boy do we have a lineup in store!

But wait. It's gets even better, but I really don't want to let the cat out of the bag quite yet, so let me just say you folks are gonna get an inside view into the commercial cannabis industry very few have ever the opportunity to witness, me included. So expect a few tours outside our own facility for some really, and I mean really cool insiders look into the science behind this plant that has captivated humans for thousands of years.
We are also going to get a view and participate into what is required to create those genetics that stand out from the rest of the pack, and see what goes into creating those "winners" everyone is drooling to get their hands on. It's a lot more work than most folks might imagine. Stay tuned on that one.
Oklahoma really has some unprecedented opportunities when it comes to the cannabis arena, and once you see what's in store, if you don't live here you'll probably want to schedule a weekend trip. It will be THAT cool. Think "tourist attraction"

Anyway, since we have to start somewhere, we might as well start in the mother room with clones. Clean clones. Let me repeat that. CLEAN CLONES! Yes friends, if you were wearing my pants, you'd annunciate that too, but that another another story. Heck. It's another thread, but we are moving forward and not backwards. How to get clean clones? Create them in-house and when new genetics are introduced from outside our bubble, well, let's just say they are taken into a quarantine room located away from the primary facility. Here, any genetics outside a seed goes through a specific quarantine regime before being allowed to enter the primary facility. This process takes around 10 days. During this period the new plants or clones are treated AS IF they are disease carriers, and treated and monitored during this period. May sound a little severe, but trust me, it's a required protocol for us from here on out.

Here's our first contender. This is Divinity 33. She is an Indica dominant strain bred by crossing Gelato #3 with the hefty OGKB V2.1. An impressive 34% of THC levels provide very gassy effects and high galeo funk. A long-lasting medicine and stays on the tongue straight after the exhale. It is also known as a powerful relief for those who suffer from any type of pain. Definitely not recommended for a daytime smoke! Hat's off to InhouseGenetics for this strain!

Here's a tray of our Divinity 35. (Yes, that's some major "wood"!)

Even though the industry demands clones in Grodan blocks, my all time favorite way to create a clone is aeroponically. Just something about white roots!

Even though we grow grow using expanded clay, it isn't the only way to grow. Most other prefer a more conventional media.

We use 5 gallon buckets with baskets designed for the buckets. Clean, simple, reliable.

Prepping the flower room, final clean then a Sulphur burn and bring the room temps up to 120 deg or so for 4 hrs and BOOM! Clean slate ready for some real action!

Here's a view of the feed distribution lines in the flower room. One of the issues we had from past experiences was a line inadvertently popping out of the bucket and begin dispensing around 60 gallons of nutrient solution all over the floor, Not a fun event, and it's happened more times than I can count on my fingers, so....being the handy guy I am, I did what any dad with a near genius son would do....create a fix!

Usher in some high tech solutions in the form of "if you don't have it, can't buy it because nobody makes one, print one!"

Here's our first "test batch". After some fine tuning we ended up with a product that's just as good if not better than a store bought one....provided there was such a thing....and there isn't, until now.

Yes indeed. It not only looks cool, it works flawlessly as well!

Note how it clamps to the basket. It literally "snaps" into place and allows perfect positioning of the feed lines. Most important of all? No more dropped feed lines! Now I just need a few hundred of them printed...

From clever minds come clever solutions! Hat's off to you son!

 

[Nine Toed Hippie]

I’m all over this ride. Best of luck to you! Looks like tons of work!!

NTH

 

[oldmanjj]

In for the ride, this should be cool! I'm a total automation geek with an extensive programming background so this has my interest peaked!

 

[420]

 

[DeeCee112]

My life was missing this and now it’s back

 

[cr8grow]

Yes indeed, recast in just about every possible way. So much so, it's probably going to take some time to unpack it all. Some things however will always stay the same.
Same drive. Same passion. Same simple Oklahoma country boy survivor ingenuity. Same roll of bailing wire to patch up whatever. And the very same goal of carving out a local long lasting niche.
And the number one primary directive to this thread? Simply telling it like it is.
The good.
The bad.
The ugly.
That song will always remain the same.
Think of this thread as "Chapter ll Over". I kinda like the ring of that!
It's my sincere wish to make this thread as fun as the last was, and folks, for me it was a HOOT! I've truly missed you guys. Stay tuned and
enjoy the ride!

The Twisted One...

Well, gotta catch up here too…

 

[The Twisted One]

I’m back and look forward to bringing everyone along once again! When I say a helluva lot has transpired between now and my last post, please understand that is an understatement of monumental proportions and let’s just leave it at that and move forward.
Still kicking in this industry in Oklahoma at this time is saying something. Grows have been dropping like flies and the market is so far down nobody is getting rich. The only thing that has kept us alive is stubbornness and being able to put out a competitive if not superior product.
My goal hasn’t changed, which is to carve out a small local niche and survive the big money boys hell bent on putting small local growers out of business by driving product prices so low many have already tossed the towel in.

This thread will continue with the goal of bringing you along through the good, the bad and the ugly, as real as I can possibly do. First up would be to bring you to where we are today.

Just yesterday, testing came in on our first two strains since the shut down, burn down and restructure, with today marking the first day for scheduling appointments for product sales. Yay! The first two products were our Peanut Butter Pie, which clocked the scales at 35.86%, the highest THC levels we’ve personally ever created. So high in fact, the testing lab performed a retest in disbelief which confirmed their first test. This cost us a day more to get results! (Bragging rights for us rare hydroponic folks). Our second strain clocked the scales at 31.1% THC, and it looks like we’ll be sold out by weekend, meaning bills get paid and the story continues!
Here are a few “just before harvest” on the last crop. This is also the first crop involving a complete change from the General Hydroponics Flora series to Jack’s Nutrients. Not only a serious cost saving for us, but it looks like the results speak for themselves. I’m sold!
Those who knew me then, knew I loved to try crazy out of the box testing that can be confirmed, and my latest grow is no exception.
How crazy? Better put your tin foil hat on, because Im really stepping in it this time.….just for fun, of course!
***The Test***
I have two full rows going on 4 weeks of flower with identical strains from the same mother in the form of clones. Each row consists of 32 plants per row, Each row is receiving EXACTLY the same feeding formula, and EC and PH are monitored closely.
so what’s the change between the two? Row 1 is grounded. The entire root zones of each of the 32 plants are earth grounded, as well as the entire nutrient solution being earth grounded. Every few days I snap a few photos to document their growth. I have a few thoughts but I’ll wait to express them and instead will put together a photo montage of any visual changes or difference. Hope you come along for the ride!

 

[The Twisted One]

If I had to pick out of a hat only one item that was MOST responsible for wiping out and nearly killing this dream I have to say hands down it was clones. You heard me right. Clones. I learned in a way that would make the school of hard knocks look like magical fairies, lucky charms, shiny unicorns and 100 dollar bills falling from the sky. Buy a man’s clones and you inherit the man’s problems. Those “problems” nearly required burning the building to the ground. We did a four month “burn down” on the entire building and property, shut the operation down and focused on my HVAC business while we methodically treated everything inside and out, ensuring not even a microorganism could survive. I plan on keeping it that way moving forward. Wish us luck!
Moving on, even after the first “burn down” of the building, somehow the same thing happened. Russet Hemp Mites. And after what we went through cleaning? I couldn’t believe it.
Here is what I think happened, though I can’t prove it. I think we never got rid of the problem, and the problem was in the hydroton or expanded clay. Yes. My automated Arduino controlled hydroton washer works great at both removing salts and plant matter, but I think something lived on, and did so on the expanded clay.

 

[The Twisted One]

So I needed to add another step to the cleaning process. Here is what I came up with.

I needed a way without busting my old balls to get 40 liters of expanded clay sterile, so I found the largest crab pot with strainer I could find then built it into a roll around unit. The expanded clay cleaner now dumps the 40 liters of washed expanded clay directly into a pot of boiling water. At that point, I needed a way to get the boiling hot clay from the pot to a 55 gallon barrel ready to go again. I decided (because of space limitations) to design it as a single, mobile unit. I designed it around a 250,000 btu dual burner and added a Piezo igniter for convenient starting. During the cleaning and transfer process, the burners are never off. This allows a residual workflow and fast progress for only one person.

I then needed a way to get a boiling hot large pot of expanded clay from the burner to the final barrel, so I designed a compact cherry picker with a small electric winch. This allows me to remove the large strainer from the boiling hot pot. But I needed a way to get it into a 55 gallon barrel, again without busting my balls, so I built a transfer device that allows me to dump 40 liters of steaming hot expanded clay into a waiting 55 gallon barrel, and to do so without grunting or crapping my drawers…

So yea. Another crazy unconventional piece of useful equipment that allows this old man to continue to function. Hope you enjoyed another solution to yet another speed bump on our road to success!

 

[The Twisted One]

Another note worth mentioning. When the expanded clay enters the final 55 gallon barrel, ready for reuse, it’s so stinking hot it self dries itself! I’ve not had a root issue since we incorporated this method into the process, and when you have 100’s and 100’s of gallons of expanded clay to clean, anyone who’s even done it should be able to appreciate this hands down guaranteed method of preventing things no mere mortal should ever have to experience…

 

[The Twisted One]

After a few successful grows it became apparent we needed a quicker way to sort buds.
After researching, I can across a few brick and mortar versions. Only problem is like anything in this industry, the price. Over 6k for a manual bud sorter? Really? Mind you it does double over as a tabletop, but still? $6000.00?

There had to be a better way. Well, a cheaper one anyway. Here’s what I came up with.

I grabbed a few 20 ft sticks of 1/4” round and using 1/2” angle I created the grates at 1/4” spacing, 1/2” and 1 “ spacing, welded them up and used appliance epoxy.

I then built a 1x1 tube frame, using more 1/2” angle to place the grates in.

Each various sized “dump” needed a way to direct the buds into the correct tub.

I used that durable rubber wall trim molding we see in hospitals and schools, and welded 1” angle welded at 90 deg and attached them using stainless steel hardware

I bent a few side pieces from aluminum and built a removable final “dump” bucket for those buds simply too nice and big to go with the “normals”

I still need to build the front dump area, but we used it on the last crop and saved countless hours! Another win!

 

[The Twisted One]

Guess it’s time to gear up for the next upcoming rotation, so the mother/veg room is a busy place. We revamped the mother room and steered away from vegging on 4x8 flood tables in 6 inch baskets and made room for around 150 5 gallon buckets in my old 12 pack tables.
So now, we go directly from the cloner into 12 inch net baskets in expanded clay in a 5 gallon bucket.

These are the gals scheduled for Flower Rm 1. We’ll veg these gals here then simply move the entire buckets from the veg room to flower room. Normally we’d have to transplant from 6inch net pots on a flood table into the 5 gallon buckets. This bypass saves a solid week in transplant recovery as well as preps the plants for top feeding in veg so no transition time here either.
Besides a few mothers and a few test moms, this entire room is our Peanut Butter Pie on the next run followed with our GMO Pie coming up behind her.
My son is wanting to try a SOG setup, so we’ll fire up three 4x8 flood tables with around 90 or so plants per table and give a sea of green setup a chance. He’s hoping for at least 5 lbs a table. I’ve never grown this way nor flowered a gal as small as these will be. I’ll post that setup once complete.

 

[StonedCrumpet]

Welcome

Thank you for bringing all of this knowledge and expertise here, hugely inspirational stuff

Good luck with everything you grow. I'll be keeping an eye out, for sure.

Be safe

 

[Bill284]

Guess it’s time to gear up for the next upcoming rotation, so the mother/veg room is a busy place. We revamped the mother room and steered away from vegging on 4x8 flood tables in 6 inch baskets and made room for around 150 5 gallon buckets in my old 12 pack tables.
So now, we go directly from the cloner into 12 inch net baskets in expanded clay in a 5 gallon bucket.

These are the gals scheduled for Flower Rm 1. We’ll veg these gals here then simply move the entire buckets from the veg room to flower room. Normally we’d have to transplant from 6inch net pots on a flood table into the 5 gallon buckets. This bypass saves a solid week in transplant recovery as well as preps the plants for top feeding in veg so no transition time here either.
Besides a few mothers and a few test moms, this entire room is our Peanut Butter Pie on the next run followed with our GMO Pie coming up behind her.
My son is wanting to try a SOG setup, so we’ll fire up three 4x8 flood tables with around 90 or so plants per table and give a sea of green setup a chance. He’s hoping for at least 5 lbs a table. I’ve never grown this way nor flowered a gal as small as these will be. I’ll post that setup once complete.

Amazing
Incredible craftsmanship.
When I finish building the VIVOHUT I'm definitely building a workshop.
You have inspired me.
And your garden Wholly Molly
Hope everything is going well my friend.
Take care.




#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284

 

[The Twisted One]

Thanks for the kind words! It’s you guys that keep me coming back……with more questions as well, of course! I need to pick some brains on a new grow method. More on that later.
! Quick update. Tomorrow our second 144 site Turbokloner arrives. Ill build another roll around for it (being able to move cloner, light, chiller, pump, etc. from room to room is nice, however I’m going to have to “Siamese Twin” the 1/10 hp chiller, add another cooling coil for the 2nd cloner and bump the cooling tower with another load. (5 gallon insulated Igloo cooler chest modified to play the role of a cooling tower…err….chilled water reservoir). I NEVER circulate my reservoirs into a chiller. The salts will plug the evaporator. Instead I pump 70 deg chilled water into a small cooling coil located in the cloner’s 12 gallon reservoir. (Powder painted single row transmission cooler) The 5 gallon Igloo maintains around 70 deg. I’m thinking that little 10th hp aquarium chiller can maintain two 12 gallon cloner reservoirs at a balmy 72 deg, plus or minus 1 deg of course I’ll chime in on the results.

 

[The Twisted One]

This evening we spent building out a test room of sorts. We divided off 1/3 of an unfinished grow room (FL-2) to gear up for my son’s trial grow method. We are putting together a SOG grow using three 4x8 flood tables. Some time ago, I took 4x8 sheets of expanded PVC and cut 6 inch holes for the net pots. I think I ended up with 98 plant locations per table. This 1/2” thick PVC cover not only holds the baskets, but the entire reason I built it was to keep the algea from forming, and guess what? It does….
it also allows us to use our tried and truly reusable, expanded clay. Our goal is to pull 5 pounds of processed bud per table, or 15 lbs between three tables of nearly 300 plants. Maybe a half a dozen or so buds per plant?
Anyway, I welded sleeves on the tables to allow the 3/4” PVC 15” high trellis. Plants hit 12 and 12 when they are only around 10 to 12 inches in height. I’ve never grown like this before, so the jury is out on that one. If so however, then three tables would equal one of our regular rows that produce around 15 lbs per row, meaning it would take veg times to less than half the time and theoretically take up the same footprint, actually less. Meaning my son would “learn” me…Oh No!!!

 

[The Twisted One]

Will return to my regular scheduled programming…..tomorrow! I’m pooped! Time to smoke a fat one and call it a day!