Mobile Micro-gro on wheels

[ozzydiodude]

this subforum will have what you are looking for in it
http://marijuanapassion.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=23

Here is one of my favorite things to make http://marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34929

 

[Prospector]

After looking at the different soil mixes I noticed one included a form of kelp.
I purchased a 1 pound bag of kelp powder for spraying on the leaves, or so it said. Since I have added the blood and bone meal as well as more moisture, would there be any gain from adding the kelp and let it cook for a while as well? The bag said 40 plus % humic acid. Is there some other household items that I could add so the microbes will work better, something else that I might have laying around to add also to the mix?

It just struck me that coffee grounds are used for compost, or so I heard. I drink very good coffee and throw out the grounds. Is 2 months or a little longer enough to decompose grounds?
Thanks

 

[ozzydiodude]

IMO the more thing you add to the mix that can be used by the plants the better.

 

[Roddy]

You can only use the yard light if it is a high pressure sodium or a metal halide. You cannot put a high pressure sodium bulb in a mercury vapor light fixture. And a mercury vapor light is no good for growing. The ballast is specific to the type of bulb and you cannot use different types of bulbs (unless you have a convertible or electronic ballast and yard light do not have those). However, keep your eyes open for the same type of fixture, but with a HPS bulb and ballast. I found the ones I got for $2 each. The "cool tube" is a pyrex tube I got off e-bay that is meant to bake round bread loaves, but I love to repurpose things. Your fan should work fine with your smaller space. Do you have a cfm rating on the fan--that should tell you if it is too much. You can also get a fan speed controller to slow down the fan if need be.

I am not familiar with the cloning products you have mentioned, but that really means nothing. I like Olivia's and Clonex and generally just stick with those. Do not use too much peat moss--you actually want the medium to dry out somewhat between waterings. Too much water retention will result in not enough O for the roots. I am more of a water baby so cannot offer much advise on soil grows (haven't grown soil for 15 years or so).

If you are unable to get some kind of HPS, I would go with 5-6 42w or larger CFLs in the 2500-3000K range (and keep looking and/or save for a HPS as your yields will probably double)

Well water in general tends to be more acidic than alkaline, however you will know when you test your water. You are also probably going to want to test for undissolved solids in your water. For soil grows you want a pH of 6.2 to 6.8. For a hydro grow the pH should be in the 5.5 to 6.0 range.

Remember that this is a product that sells for $300 or more--it is going to take an investment of time, effort, study, and (unfortunately) money to reap a decent yield. A small space can still give you a decent yield, but you do need to try and optimize what space you have.

Trust in THG she knows her stuff!

 

[Prospector]

Thanks Roddy,
Last night was entered the winning bid for my second HPS. It is a 2 month old 150 watt with bulb for $62 shipped. The new 250 watt HPS is in shipment. I did this after H.G's advice. Next will be to get set up with a wet gro, as soon as I learn how and have all I need for it. First things first though, I need to get this gro perfected, so-to-speak and will do so with all of the good advice I am getting!

Although I never owned one of their albums, "I'm a Believer", GYO is the way to go.

 

[Prospector]

H.G., I noticed that the pods were opening and I saw something that looked very familiar, a seed! One dropped when I tried to recover it since it was mature, but I grabbed my trusty Hemostats and captured my first home grown seed which I will sprout soon. You were correct when you said that it was a sign of it being a mature plant. It is only a couple months old but throwing it into 12 on and 12 0ff mode matured it early, I wonder if I should go back to vegatative state and revive the plant into growing more height?
I read about it being done by others. Those 2 Hermaphrodyte flowers put out more pollen than I realized.

 

[ozzydiodude]

If you are planning to reveg the plant that hermied on you your are just asking for trouble

 

[Prospector]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, in an earlier post I mentioned that I had removed a total of 5 plants, 4 males and that hermie. I found 2 flowers had opened before hand. No, it was cut into several pieces and to the dump it went.

I went to flower stage way too early not knowing how hard it would be to contain it in a small area. The plants ranged from 10" to 16 " tall when I went from 24 to 12 hours of light.

I am trying to decide if it is time to split my gro, if so then I will use one for each stage, after my new lights arrive.

 

[Prospector]

I wanted to provide an update on my "micro gro". The 250 watt HPS has been installed and I see new growth on top of a previously damaged plant, it was done by those headlight bulbs. It caused the meristem to split into two. The original had stopped growing so I just cut into live growth to see if I can get it to split into two more, making 4 or more meristems. I have two other damaged plants that grew two meristems as well.

The pH solutions arrived so I now know my well pH, which is 7.2. I am adding vinegar, and will see how much I need to add to each watering.

The computer fan is working great in the top bannana box, near the HPS . I am using a bottom box flap to control the air flow when needed since I now have my container as air tight as possible between the top and bottom.

I installed the Mylar and it really reflects now. I left the aluminum foil under it to possibly reflect the 2% to 8% of the light that passes through.

Next is to finish setting up my second grow and transplant to one gallon containers that I have(milk jugs).

Thanks again to T.H.G, Ozzy and all who contributed to my first project. I will post photos later and you can judge how good of a job that I did.

 

[Hick]

If you are planning to reveg the plant that hermied on you your are just asking for trouble

as is growing seeds from he-she parentage...

 

[Prospector]

Thank you Hick, Soon after I mentioned something about planting the "hermie seeds", it struck me that I would have an increased number of similar plants.
I instead built a self wetting seed germinator with more of the junk that I have been saving. It came from kitchen items that had been hiding under the pots and pans etc. for years. I have no idea what one of the two pieces are but it looked very useful, especially since the previous tray that I was using for that purpose, has become my rolling tray!

How does that saying go? "Need" is the mother of invention, so I started sprouting seeds from my last Mex. batch instead, with this sprouter/germinator but I need to warm things up because I have not been using heat at night. It was 63 degrees in here this morning due to the moderate January that we are experiencing.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Temps of 63 are not too cold, just try and keep it 60 or above during lights out.

How does your self-watering germinater work? New seeds do not like it too wet--make sure you are not drowning them.

Have you considered buying some good genetics? I would never go through 4-5 months for mexiweed.

 

[Prospector]

T.H.G, After what you just said, the self watering germinator needs some improvment. The capillary action of the paper towel hanging into the small reservoir below naturally draws the water as it needs it through the drying process in my oven. Now for the piece that sits in the water. I can't describe it very well so I will take a photo and post it soon.

For now, it is the lid off of a plastic coffee container which is less than 6 inches and upside down to contain the water. The light green, round object with a 4.5 inch diameter has three half moon shaped feet that raise this round platform about 3/8" or less above the lid. The platform has 20 eighth inch and smaller holes around the perimeter and within the inner portion. Right in the center is a 2" spike sticking up that I use to punch a hole i the towel, and it helps to hold the paper towel in place. This has to be one of those items that say on the package "As seen on TV"! People fall for all kinds of gadgets and then years later you wonder why you ever bought it!

It is good to know that the over night temps are not an issue, the only issue is that the temps will remain in the 60" throughout most of the day unless I leave the heat on. Will lower temps (below 68), slow the growth?

Now for the genetics, I tend to get high and then make mistakes when I'm just starting out with something. This is why I did not want to waste good money and then screw-up somehow. Once I work out all of the intricacies involved in proper nutrition and care, then I'll invest. Besides, I've already spent way more than I had originally expected. I am using some seeds that were quite good for Mex., that I am growing and currently sprouting for my second set of plants to grow. I am sure that the genetics are greatly better than the quality of the local stuff. I just do not know which to try when I do.
Perhaps someone who has grown their own hi bred will have some extra seeds that I can try.

I'll take a picture of that germinator and post it tomorrow since I am in the middle of building that second micro-gro that I mentioned using that hospital food tray/art department, crank up thing.

 

[Prospector]

I wore myself out yesterday and today building project #2 and it needs more work but items have been ordered, such as another (large computer fan) for the new or maybe I'll switch since the new HPS is only that 150 watt HPS through ebay that I've been waiting for, and a couple florescents, we will see. The 150 watt Hydro Farm is a complete unit, not like my new 250 watt which has a separate ballast. It actually works out for the best with this design, since I don't have the extra shelves that the original has.

If you look closely, you can see the hand crank. It is currently at it's lowest level and will rise another 18 inches, as needed. I wrapped the whole thing in Mylar (the original type) and since the Mylar is only about 92 to 98% efficient, at best. I wrapped the mid section in foil afterwards.

Also the 150 watt HPS is under a banana box to control the escape of light, since I am trying to block as much escaping light as possible because one of my projects is visable when the front door is opened. I have the original on a 15 foot extension cord so when I know that someone is coming then I just wheel it into the garage.
I just realized that I needed to replace the paper towel and also found a (chicken livers) container that just fits over the green inner piece to contain moisture and heat when I put it in with one of my projects to hurry-up the germination by adding some heat.


Again, the germinator is simply two pieces of plactic and some paper towel hanging into the shallow water basin (lid) which draws up the water as needed, but temperature is keeping these seeds from sprouting. It's time to find a warmer spot. It was in the seventies, for the last batch that I sprouted.

The lid did not work as a sump for the water, it would allow drying out too easily. I have a pic of the new design but can't seem to be able to add another photo so I will add it to my next entry.

 

[Prospector]

Primarily to T.H.G.,
I decided to do a search concerning the Westinghouse mercury vapor bulb in it's fixture and found the attached data sheet. This bulb not only has the mogul base but also uses the H39 ballast which I believe is the same type as is in my HID's. What really surprised me is that the bulb has a Deluxe White coating giving it a color temperature of 4100K! Is there something that I am missing? Please look at the data sheet and tell me why I can't use this bulb.
This is an old bulb, built in 1975, now that is the longest lasting bulb I've seen.

By the way, in searching for MH bulbs, the best that I found had a color temp. of 4000 and 4200K. I found some extremely high, such as 21000 or higher but NO 6500K range bulbs were available in the 150 or 250 watt size.

View attachment WestinghouseMercVaporSpecs.pdf

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I cannot answer your question Prospector. I do know that there is more than spectrum involved--mercury vapor lights are not good for growing (neither are halogens or incandescents), but I do not know specifically why they do not work. I do not use MH lights at all anymore and it has been a number of years since I have. I wouldn't worry about spectrum that much if you are in the ballpark. A MH in the 4000K range should be fine.

You should also be aware that bulbs lose intensity over time. Most of us do not use (HID) bulbs longer than 6 months.

 

[Prospector]

Thank you T.H.G,
Do you use a mid range color for both, or what ever you can get the best price on? In that case my 2000K might be a little low for both veg and flower. Come to think of it, in the HPS's bulbs that I've seen with all of the searches that I've done, the 2000K were the ones that came up, and in the MH they were almost all in the 4000K or 4200K, except for some extremely high colors. I was only looking at the cheapest bulbs, are the more expensive bulbs better in the long run, and with a better selection of characteristics?

 

[Prospector]

I have tried to improve the water retention do to the problem with drying out too soon when near a heat source. I cut an oblong hole in the lid of a fresh lock storage container and leave a corner or two open for some circulation.
It is 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" high.

I hope to soon have some sprouts after I figure out how to maintain a constant temp in the 70's, since my heat is left off as much as possible.