Skybound
Well-Known Member
Hello 420, it's been a while since I had a journal as it's been a while since I had a grow. That said, I found me a new spot to give it my best, and my best is what it's gonna get! The link in my signature goes to a blog entry I began here on 420 nearly 2 years ago and it outlines the beginnings of my quest to COMPLETELY AUTOMATE my grow. What this entails is to electronically manage every electric aspect of a typical indoor hydroponics grow with the use of a very popular microcontroller, The Arduino. This thing is all over YouTube and the greater web so a simple web search of the term will return tens of thousands of hits.
Essentially, all of my plumbing has been tied into the buildings inlet and drainage, and all of my reservoirs will tie into it all, so from the time my system draws water from the RO reservoir, fills each site, adds in nutes, mixes the nutes, checks PPM and PH multiple times every day, pumps to plants to feed them, then pump it all into the drainage once every 7-10 days, and repeat, all will be controlled by the Arduino. Not to mention, so too will the HID lighting, fans, dehumidifiers, (heater if needed), air temp and RH will be measured and High/Low points can be programmed to manage any other device, but generally speaking, it can all be controlled by one thing, and this one thing can be programmed and/or connected to a free app for Android and IOS to also manage everything remotely.
I know it's a lot to comprehend, and believe me I have been beating my head against a wall for 2 years trying to build this thing, teach myself how to write the needed code, learn how to build small circuits and all else that is entailed, but thankfully I am so very near completion of this project that I believe it will be complete on or shortly after my first (of hopefully many) harvest(s). My new spot affords me a closet for veg, and two 3'6" x 3'6" flowering rooms that I aim to have offsetting harvests month to month, and I hope to pull a pound from every harvest. I have 5 seedlings now that have sprouted from the rockwool cubes 4 days ago. Their first true leaves just opened and things will be underway shortly.
I am still in the construction of everything and will likely take me a few weeks before the flower rooms are built and everything set up. I have my veg devices connected with cheap timers till I can find the time to augment my code to run veg only. As this grow develops, I will stop posting updates and just shoot video so I can explain things out a little more.
My growing style is top feed over rock wool. My nutrients are General Hydroponics, and all supplements are also from GH. I use beneficial bacteria weekly, or when root concerns warrant additional use. I have a 4' 4 bulb T5 in veg, and I will be using 600 watt HID/HPS for bloom. I top often to build out the canopy, and ideally I veg for 10 or so weeks, though with the limited bloom space, I may change that slightly to better suit my goals. This will be my 3rd run with this method and it taught to me by The Capn who is no longer a 420 member. After harvest, I also wash my buds according to Doc Bud's wash recipe.
That's about it for now. I likely forgot to mention a lot, but that's the downside of reinventing the wheel while stoned, too many fleeting thoughts, not enough order. I'll add more as I remember.
And lastly, welcome to my 3rd journal, I hope many subscribe! Peace!
Essentially, all of my plumbing has been tied into the buildings inlet and drainage, and all of my reservoirs will tie into it all, so from the time my system draws water from the RO reservoir, fills each site, adds in nutes, mixes the nutes, checks PPM and PH multiple times every day, pumps to plants to feed them, then pump it all into the drainage once every 7-10 days, and repeat, all will be controlled by the Arduino. Not to mention, so too will the HID lighting, fans, dehumidifiers, (heater if needed), air temp and RH will be measured and High/Low points can be programmed to manage any other device, but generally speaking, it can all be controlled by one thing, and this one thing can be programmed and/or connected to a free app for Android and IOS to also manage everything remotely.
I know it's a lot to comprehend, and believe me I have been beating my head against a wall for 2 years trying to build this thing, teach myself how to write the needed code, learn how to build small circuits and all else that is entailed, but thankfully I am so very near completion of this project that I believe it will be complete on or shortly after my first (of hopefully many) harvest(s). My new spot affords me a closet for veg, and two 3'6" x 3'6" flowering rooms that I aim to have offsetting harvests month to month, and I hope to pull a pound from every harvest. I have 5 seedlings now that have sprouted from the rockwool cubes 4 days ago. Their first true leaves just opened and things will be underway shortly.
I am still in the construction of everything and will likely take me a few weeks before the flower rooms are built and everything set up. I have my veg devices connected with cheap timers till I can find the time to augment my code to run veg only. As this grow develops, I will stop posting updates and just shoot video so I can explain things out a little more.
My growing style is top feed over rock wool. My nutrients are General Hydroponics, and all supplements are also from GH. I use beneficial bacteria weekly, or when root concerns warrant additional use. I have a 4' 4 bulb T5 in veg, and I will be using 600 watt HID/HPS for bloom. I top often to build out the canopy, and ideally I veg for 10 or so weeks, though with the limited bloom space, I may change that slightly to better suit my goals. This will be my 3rd run with this method and it taught to me by The Capn who is no longer a 420 member. After harvest, I also wash my buds according to Doc Bud's wash recipe.
That's about it for now. I likely forgot to mention a lot, but that's the downside of reinventing the wheel while stoned, too many fleeting thoughts, not enough order. I'll add more as I remember.
And lastly, welcome to my 3rd journal, I hope many subscribe! Peace!