DonBrennons 'Unconventional' organic gardens

DonBrennon

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Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
After a bit of research, shock at prices and me being a cheapskate, this is what I've come up with............time to get the tools out lol
Yeah, unfortunately I've spent close to 10k on gear over the years. Shit isn't cheap by any means.
The vid looks sound and thoroughly composed. This is a good alternative to buying a name brand short interval timer.
Great job researching!
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
Yeah, unfortunately I've spent close to 10k on gear over the years. Shit isn't cheap by any means.
The vid looks sound and thoroughly composed. This is a good alternative to buying a name brand short interval timer.
Great job researching!
It works, I've just made my 2nd one, thats at least $150 dollars not going to the hydro man. I simplified the 2nd one by doing away with the washer and just glued the 2 gears together, same effect, 1 less part. No need for cutting the shaft/peg like he does, not sure why he does this, his timer is a slightly different design from mine, but doing this caused me alignment problems with the gears.
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
It works, I've just made my 2nd one, thats at least $150 dollars not going to the hydro man. I simplified the 2nd one by doing away with the washer and just glued the 2 gears together, same effect, 1 less part. No need for cutting the shaft/peg like he does, not sure why he does this, his timer is a slightly different design from mine, but doing this caused me alignment problems with the gears.
Nice job bro! What are the intervals?
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
96 x 1 minute intervals, tested with a fan hooked up to it for a few hours last night and all seems fine.

My nozzles have just turned up, I wanted to get them installed and test the system, but realized I've left all my tools at work. It'll have to wait until Monday now
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
What's the gph on that pump? For low pressure aero i think a min of 500gph is required otherwise not all the Jets will operate.
I'd give some thought to plumbing it to be an inline external with a venturi valve on a air pump. This will keep the temps low and eliminate any stone inside the chamber. You'll get much more disolved 02 using a venturi valve.
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
Make sure to clean all pvc with bleach first before fitting it together. I never use pvc cement for joints, but rather silicone. It's water right and can be seperated if needed later.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
What's the gph on that pump? For low pressure aero i think a min of 500gph is required otherwise not all the Jets will operate.
I'd give some thought to plumbing it to be an inline external with a venturi valve on a air pump. This will keep the temps low and eliminate any stone inside the chamber. You'll get much more disolved 02 using a venturi valve.
The pump does 3500L/H or around 920Gph, just researched the venturi valve, never heard of one before and it turns out the pump actually came with one, no instructions though, but I think I've figured it out now
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
The pump does 3500L/H or around 920Gph, just researched the venturi valve, never heard of one before and it turns out the pump actually came with one, no instructions though, but I think I've figured it out now
Holy shit batman, that's a very powerful pump and absolutely must be external! Your water will hit 80-90F if it's in the rezi.
With that much flow you must use a check valve on the air line otherwise your airpump will get wet internally. Back pressure is a bitch but easily overcome.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
Holy shit batman, that's a very powerful pump and absolutely must be external! Your water will hit 80-90F if it's in the rezi.
With that much flow you must use a check valve on the air line otherwise your airpump will get wet internally. Back pressure is a bitch but easily overcome.
Hahaha.......you were right about the pump..........it's way too powerful. I tried softening it a bit with a fan controller, but the motor cuts out before I'm getting enough reduction of pressure. It's on the back burner at the mo, cos I'm having to travel a bit to work and it's adding 2 hours to my working day.

I think it's a fairly simple fix, I could either drill some small holes underneath the manifold to ease pressure or get a new less powerful pump, they're only cheap and I could use this one for filling my water tank, the one I use at the moment takes ages.
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
Hahaha.......you were right about the pump..........it's way too powerful. I tried softening it a bit with a fan controller, but the motor cuts out before I'm getting enough reduction of pressure. It's on the back burner at the mo, cos I'm having to travel a bit to work and it's adding 2 hours to my working day.

I think it's a fairly simple fix, I could either drill some small holes underneath the manifold to ease pressure or get a new less powerful pump, they're only cheap and I could use this one for filling my water tank, the one I use at the moment takes ages.
The speed controller will kill your pump. The magnetic motor isn't a variable one so it's either on full power or not at all.
You do have an option to plumb inline a shutoff valve. Use this to reduce your pressure and gph. Place it on a riser between the pump and the manifold.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
Only been watered twice as well, since re-potting a month ago, had an AACT on transplant and the first of the side by side root drenches last week, one half coco water, the other half fermented SST, with a little immunity boost/ohn, silica and yukka extract for wetting. No real signs of any difference yet, but they all look healthy enough.
 

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
Only been watered twice as well, since re-potting a month ago, had an AACT on transplant and the first of the side by side root drenches last week, one half coco water, the other half fermented SST, with a little immunity boost/ohn, silica and yukka extract for wetting. No real signs of any difference yet, but they all look healthy enough.
Healthy plants just keep looking healthy, despite the coconut water and sst. I've noticed more from my efforts on struggling plants or sensitive strains using sst/aloe/coconut. But to be honest, I've used fermented kelp and have noticed notable growth spurts, even on healthy plants. I don't see it as quickly using sst or coconut.

Silicate tho is something else. I use the shit out of it. I don't add the recommended doseage, but rather just a fraction of it. This way I can give it more frequently without fear of accumulating excess K and fucking with my natural pH buffering.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
Bubbleberry..............22 days since flip.............seem to be getting decent bud growth, but no trichomes yet??????? It's slightly worrying TBH, these were vegged for ages to get that manifold, it'd be a shame if the bud's lame

IMG_3414.JPG IMG_3415.JPG IMG_3417.JPG IMG_3426.JPG IMG_3429.JPG

This is my first test run under my own DIY COB light and I think I've been keeping it too far away from the canopy. I've dropped it by 4", hopefully, the extra light intensity and heat will trigger some resin production.

I also think they may be hungry for a bit of nitrogen, some of the lower leaves are yellowing and dropping already. I'm gonna add half recommended strength of fish hydrolysate to the next root drench, see if I can slow it down.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
The ladies look healthy enough in general, although one of the Purple train wreck's is starting to show signs of a mag def. I'm gonna give them a foliar soon of 1Tbsp epsom salt, 1Tbsp home made Calphos, 1Tbsp Immune boost/pest repellant, 1/2cup freshly blended aloe leaf, 2tsp fulvic acid, a couple of drops of sillica and a couple of drops of dr bronners...............shit, that's quite a list.IMG_3381.JPG IMG_3401.JPG The plant on the right above is the one showing mag def..............looking closer at this picture I can now see that the plant just in shot, bottom left is showing it too.......taking photo's sometimes helps you spot some things you may otherwise miss.

IMG_3384.JPG IMG_3399.JPG

It's currently hard to say if there is any benefit to Fermented SST2 over coco water as yet, if I was pushed, I'd say that the critical kush and the bubbleberry prefer coco water, the PTW's SST2, but these differences could be down to subtle variations in the soils and environments...............I suppose the results from small scale side by sides such as these are therefore far from conclusive. Much larger trails would have to be carried out in my opinion for any solid evidence of benefits to be taken away.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
I've also dropped some beans today to see if the freebies you get from attitude seeds are any good or not. I wanted to have something different to go straight into my 20 gals in my main tent for the next run. All my freebies were fem and autos, as opposed the regular beans I paid for which will be going through sexing, pheno finding and breeding.

I'm doing a thread on this in the seedbank reviews forums, where I'll be keeping a more detailed account, but there will be updates here too.

The beans are -
2 x DNA Genetics - Chocolope Kush
1 x Dinafem - Blue cheese
1 x CH9 Seeds - Super haze
1 x Expert seeds - Maple leaf x Black domina
1 x G13 Labs - Blue Cindy
1 x G13 Labs - Mozzarella
1 x HSO - Mango Sapphire
1 x Blimburn - Tangie Automatic
1 x Blimburn - Northern Auto
1 x Blimburn - Mamba Negra Auto
...............oh, and a few flower seeds for the gardenIMG_3390.JPG

I do a 12-18hr soak in 1% fulvic acid in water, then pop in soil, usually get 95-100% germed
 
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