We spent a few hours in the grow room yesterday installing the Nutramist machine and transplanting Grow 2 seedlings. Parsley, Buttercrunch, Romaine, Yellow Peppers, Arugula, Leeks and Fennel were all put into the AeroFlo36. Roma and Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Grow 2 Leeks and Fennel were transplanted into the PowerGrower. We now have the second HID light activated over the PowerGrower sporting a 1,000 watt SolarMax metal halide bulb.
Nutrient concentration was increased to 1160 ppm, with a pH reduction to 5.8 for the PowerGrower plants. Previously we had these plants in the AeroFlo36 with nutrient levels around 780 ppm and pH at 6.2ish. The plants were all big enough where full strength nutrients made sense.
Our C.A.P. Hum-1 humidity controller manages the humidification level in the room. The Nutramist machine activates when the humidity drops below 40% and is deactivated when humidity levels reach 50%.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
We're Fogg'n Now !
I was pretty excited to get the Nutramist Fogging machine the other night but ran into a little plumbing challenge getting it connected to my 55 gallon reservoir. A trip to the local Ace Hardware and a visit with the "helpful hardware man" and we came up with enough fittings to make it work. Connected the unit to a C.A.P. Humidity controller and we were producing fog to humidify the room. Photos and video coming later today.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Fogg'n Tomorrow
UPS just arrived (kind of late at night - what dedication!) with the Nutramist fog machine that I will be using to add humidity to the grow room. Going to be tough sleeping tonight anticipating having it functional tomorrow.
Grow 2 Is Going Green
And we couldn't be happier.....Even the parsley germinated in Grow 2! The buttercrunch, romaine, and arugula are now at a point where we will begin to "weed out" the small sprouts and leave one per cube for transfer into the AeroFlo36. The cherry and roma tomatoes from Grow 1 are getting bigger every day. We will transplant them into the PowerGrower when we move the Grow 2 seedlings. We are anticipating the move in another week. We want to see a few roots exiting the Rockwool cubes before we move the seedlings.
AeroFlo36 Stats: pH 6.4 ppm 802
Environment: Temp 76, Hum 31%
Still have not received the Nutramist Fogger!
AeroFlo36 Stats: pH 6.4 ppm 802
Environment: Temp 76, Hum 31%
Still have not received the Nutramist Fogger!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Grow 2 Seed Germination
Grow 2 continues to show fantastic progress. The seeds in this grow, from the same seed packages used in Grow 1, were placed in Rockwool plugs soaked overnight in Europonic Rockwool Conditioner. We planted red and yellow sweet peppers, spinach, buttercrunch, romaine, arugula, parsley, leeks and fennel.
A significant difference between Grow 1 and Grow 2 included the use of the "plug tray". We believe that this tray allows more airflow around the seed plug, as well as within the tray (notice holes between the tray plug rows). We have not added any water to the tray since inserting the seeds into the Rockwool plugs. We have not seen any mold, fungus, or algae growth on these plugs as we did with the 98 STG cubes used in Grow 1 that were placed (packed) into germination tray. Grow 2 seeds were planted about 7 days ago. Humidity dome was removed for photos. The plug tray sits on top of a standard flat with approximately 3/4 inch of water in the bottom of the flat. The plugs in this tray do not touch the water in the flat. The water is in the flat is there to help keep moisture / humidity under the dome.
Above you can see a close up of our first yellow pepper plant germinating from Grow 2. Other pepper seeds have started to form primary growth. Seed packet indicated normal germination rate of 10 to 25 days. We have seen germination after 7 days. Exciting!
Our fennel grew about a half an inch between yesterday afternoon and this morning. We are now seeing the first leaves from the seed appear. These leaves were not seen yesterday. An overnight wonder! The leek seeds in the row directly to the left of the fennel (far right) are also showing progress and we anticipate we will see their first leaves in another day.
Grow 2 was germinated under "dark" conditions until we saw the first signs of leaves (buttercrunch, romaine, and arugula) and then began a 16 on / 8 off light cycle under a T5 florescent lamp. We are now planning Grow 3 and experiment with Rapid Rooter plugs, Rockwool plugs, and Sure To Grow (STG) cubes all in one modular tray.
Grow 2 was germinated under "dark" conditions until we saw the first signs of leaves (buttercrunch, romaine, and arugula) and then began a 16 on / 8 off light cycle under a T5 florescent lamp. We are now planning Grow 3 and experiment with Rapid Rooter plugs, Rockwool plugs, and Sure To Grow (STG) cubes all in one modular tray.
Grow 1 Plants in AeroFlo36
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Lumen, Nutrients, and pH Measurements
Received the light meter yesterday. Measured a little over 2500 lumen at top of plants on the Aeroflo36 and the seed germination tray. Was happy to see this as I had to guess on distance when placing the lights above the plants for this initial veg stage. I had read that 2500 was a good rate for this stage, slowly increasing to 8 to 10k lumen during flowering stage - provided that you don't torch the plants. Got to love those little light yo-yos
Running Aeroflo36 at 770 ppm of nutrients (yes, I think it should be higher, maybe around 1000 ppm - using Canna Aqua Vega, Cannazym, and Rhizotonic). I have been bringing the pH down from 6.7ish to about 5.8ish over the last 24 to 36 hours as ideal pH level, according to Canna literature, should be 5.2 to 6.2. I will continue to drop it more tomorrow to get within the ideal range. I think the air stone addition to the Aeroflo36 reservoir increased the pH a few points as it was lower when the water/nutrients were first put into the system.
Water temp holding with room temp at 75-76 degrees F
Running Aeroflo36 at 770 ppm of nutrients (yes, I think it should be higher, maybe around 1000 ppm - using Canna Aqua Vega, Cannazym, and Rhizotonic). I have been bringing the pH down from 6.7ish to about 5.8ish over the last 24 to 36 hours as ideal pH level, according to Canna literature, should be 5.2 to 6.2. I will continue to drop it more tomorrow to get within the ideal range. I think the air stone addition to the Aeroflo36 reservoir increased the pH a few points as it was lower when the water/nutrients were first put into the system.
Water temp holding with room temp at 75-76 degrees F
Seed germination update
Grow 2 is turning out great. We used Rockwool plugs in a plug tray, pretreated with Europonic Rockwool Conditioner. The buttecrunch, romain, and arugula all showed their first leaves after three days. At six days now, we have leeks and fennel starting to emerge.
Grow 1 plants survived the transfer to our Aeroflo36 except a few seedlings we knew weren't looking good. Roma and cherry toms are almost doubling in size each day, basil isn't far behind. Grow 1 was started in STG cubes with a 25-30% germination rate, but again, I think that was due to my performance vs STG.
Grow 3 experiment will have Rapid Rooter plugs, STG cubes, and Rockwool plugs all in same germination tray, same nutrients, and seeds to see which germination medium produces better results.
Grow 1 plants survived the transfer to our Aeroflo36 except a few seedlings we knew weren't looking good. Roma and cherry toms are almost doubling in size each day, basil isn't far behind. Grow 1 was started in STG cubes with a 25-30% germination rate, but again, I think that was due to my performance vs STG.
Grow 3 experiment will have Rapid Rooter plugs, STG cubes, and Rockwool plugs all in same germination tray, same nutrients, and seeds to see which germination medium produces better results.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Hydroponic Systems and Components
Systems and Components - Logic
Several systems and components have been installed in our grow room to provide our veggies and herbs an environment in which to provide the highest yields possible. Your comments in areas where we can improve (or question our logic) are always welcome. Many of these systems are generally thought of after the enthusiastic grower has plants and figures out how to manage the expansion of their growing environment. I put in all of these systems and controls so I could focus purely on the plants in the future without having to crawl all over the room to make things fit and work.
Hydroponic Systems
The grow room started with a General Hydroponics Aeroflo36, and eventually grew to include a General Hydroponics PowerGrower Water Farm to handle larger (taller, bushier, vine based) plants. The AeroFlo is a combination of aeroponic and hydroponic technologies combined. The PowerGrower is a drip based system with a master reservoir with reservoirs in each power grower module. Growco (4hydroponics.com) has complete manufacturer installation instructions for these systems in PDF format. This is one of the few web sites I found that does that - and it is great information for those that want to know more about the systems and how they are put together. Hats off to Growco ! We will add a cloning system when we get to mature plants to help increase our re-planting rates.
Lighting & Ballasts
I chose 1000 watt light bulbs due to the actual footprint of the systems they would cover with light. Each digital ballast can manage high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) light bulbs at watt ratings from 400-1000 watts. I used SolarMax bulbs at the recommendation of my local grow shop, Texas Hydroponics (texashydroponics.com) due to their reliability and warranty as well as for the types of plants I would be growing. They are currently using 120v / 20 amp circuits but I may be changing it to 240v / 20 amp circuits for lower power consumption. At the time I purchased these lighting systems, I did not have knowledge of the new LED lighting systems now in the market. I plan on an experiment with eggplant with a single PowerGrower module with a LED grow light (can't wait till Christmas comes).
Water Purification
We live in a rural area but have "county" water. The water out of the tap has approx 400 ppm of "stuff" in it, not to mention a slightly chlorinated taste. With a combined requirement of the hydroponic systems being about 75 gallons per nutrient water change, a "kitchen sink" R.O. system just wasn't going to do the job. In steps the Hydro Logic Merlin Garden Pro. It produces about 750 gallons a day (you need to get some barrels - check out www.globalindustrial) and the water is pre-filtered with a Hydro Logic Tall Blue de-chlorinator filter. Using the pre-filter removes the chlorine that would damage or reduce the life of the R.O. system filters.
For unattended functionality of the R.O. system, I installed two shut-off valves in the primary water barrel. The control water flow is managed by a Merlin Electronic Shut Off Kit which uses a solenoid valve, the second is a Merlin manual float valve. Water moves from a "T" connection in the main plumbing (you also can connect so a sink faucet) to the Tall Blue, then to the input side of the Merlin Garden Pro. When the water level in the primary barrel reaches its shut-off float point, the solenoid shuts the valve, and the water flow stops. If the electronic valve fails, the manual float kit cuts off the water flow (talk about belts and suspenders, but hey, better than a flood).
I installed a second barrel that I pump water into from the primary. I use the second barrel is to do final pH adjustments and mix nutrients solutions for the plants in the two systems. After I begin pumping the water into the second barrel, the float in the primary barrel drops, allowing more water to be processed through the R.O. system into the primary barrel. After pH and nutrients are mixed into the second barrel of water, I pump it into the AeroFlo36 and PowerGrower separately using a small utility pump. I use about 35 gallons to fill the AeroFlo36 and about the same for the PowerGrower. It is much easier to mix, then pump it into the systems vs pumping R.O. water and mixing nutrients in the grow systems.
CO2 / Temperature / Humidity Controllers
I had a small CO2 tank on hand so I chose to use it and a C.A.P. dual tank CO2 Regulator/Emitter. The C.A.P. CO2 PPM monitor controls the release of CO2 based on my set points entered into the PPM monitor. The CO2 is activated (on/off) by the CO2 side of the C.A.P. CO2-4e controller. The 4-e automatically turns off all exhaust fans/AC (our HVAC is controlled separately so we use the outlet for an additional circulation fan) to the room while CO2 is discharged. The exhaust systems are managed via temperature and humidity set points on the 4-e as well. When the exhaust systems activates due to high temperature (caused by lighting systems mainly) in the room, it deactivates any CO2 discharge that was taking place and delivers power to the in-line Cap Fan. Humidity control is managed by activating a plug for a DEHUMIDIFIER. I don't have an issue with to much humidity as it is managed through the HVAC system previously installed in the room (Daiken spit system). My issue is maintaining enough humidity. Enter the Nutramist fog machine and C.A.P. HUM-1 humidity controller. Will post more when they arrive this week and are installed.
All of this technology is a bit costly, but worthwhile for the person that has to work for a living and can't spend 3 hours a day in the grow room. Besides, our mission was to provide the best possible environment to produce the highest possible yields.
Since we moved the seedlings to the AeroFlo36 and activated the CO2, we are seeing almost 50% increase in growth every day on our seedlings. WOW !
Nutrients
Talk about a confusing selection of seemingly great products. We totally punted the decision on this one to the experts at the grow shop and selected the full Canna line of nutrients. So far we don't have much practical experience with these products but we are seeing fantastic results in the plants transferred to the AeroFlo36. More updates on this as we progress through the veg stage and into flowering.
pH / EC / TDS Monitoring
I selected the "all-in-one" Hana pH/EC/TDS (HI3M) meter as it was durable, extremely accurate, and did all tests with a single device. So far it has worked fabulously.
Several systems and components have been installed in our grow room to provide our veggies and herbs an environment in which to provide the highest yields possible. Your comments in areas where we can improve (or question our logic) are always welcome. Many of these systems are generally thought of after the enthusiastic grower has plants and figures out how to manage the expansion of their growing environment. I put in all of these systems and controls so I could focus purely on the plants in the future without having to crawl all over the room to make things fit and work.
Hydroponic Systems
The grow room started with a General Hydroponics Aeroflo36, and eventually grew to include a General Hydroponics PowerGrower Water Farm to handle larger (taller, bushier, vine based) plants. The AeroFlo is a combination of aeroponic and hydroponic technologies combined. The PowerGrower is a drip based system with a master reservoir with reservoirs in each power grower module. Growco (4hydroponics.com) has complete manufacturer installation instructions for these systems in PDF format. This is one of the few web sites I found that does that - and it is great information for those that want to know more about the systems and how they are put together. Hats off to Growco ! We will add a cloning system when we get to mature plants to help increase our re-planting rates.
Lighting & Ballasts
I chose 1000 watt light bulbs due to the actual footprint of the systems they would cover with light. Each digital ballast can manage high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) light bulbs at watt ratings from 400-1000 watts. I used SolarMax bulbs at the recommendation of my local grow shop, Texas Hydroponics (texashydroponics.com) due to their reliability and warranty as well as for the types of plants I would be growing. They are currently using 120v / 20 amp circuits but I may be changing it to 240v / 20 amp circuits for lower power consumption. At the time I purchased these lighting systems, I did not have knowledge of the new LED lighting systems now in the market. I plan on an experiment with eggplant with a single PowerGrower module with a LED grow light (can't wait till Christmas comes).
Water Purification
We live in a rural area but have "county" water. The water out of the tap has approx 400 ppm of "stuff" in it, not to mention a slightly chlorinated taste. With a combined requirement of the hydroponic systems being about 75 gallons per nutrient water change, a "kitchen sink" R.O. system just wasn't going to do the job. In steps the Hydro Logic Merlin Garden Pro. It produces about 750 gallons a day (you need to get some barrels - check out www.globalindustrial) and the water is pre-filtered with a Hydro Logic Tall Blue de-chlorinator filter. Using the pre-filter removes the chlorine that would damage or reduce the life of the R.O. system filters.
For unattended functionality of the R.O. system, I installed two shut-off valves in the primary water barrel. The control water flow is managed by a Merlin Electronic Shut Off Kit which uses a solenoid valve, the second is a Merlin manual float valve. Water moves from a "T" connection in the main plumbing (you also can connect so a sink faucet) to the Tall Blue, then to the input side of the Merlin Garden Pro. When the water level in the primary barrel reaches its shut-off float point, the solenoid shuts the valve, and the water flow stops. If the electronic valve fails, the manual float kit cuts off the water flow (talk about belts and suspenders, but hey, better than a flood).
I installed a second barrel that I pump water into from the primary. I use the second barrel is to do final pH adjustments and mix nutrients solutions for the plants in the two systems. After I begin pumping the water into the second barrel, the float in the primary barrel drops, allowing more water to be processed through the R.O. system into the primary barrel. After pH and nutrients are mixed into the second barrel of water, I pump it into the AeroFlo36 and PowerGrower separately using a small utility pump. I use about 35 gallons to fill the AeroFlo36 and about the same for the PowerGrower. It is much easier to mix, then pump it into the systems vs pumping R.O. water and mixing nutrients in the grow systems.
CO2 / Temperature / Humidity Controllers
I had a small CO2 tank on hand so I chose to use it and a C.A.P. dual tank CO2 Regulator/Emitter. The C.A.P. CO2 PPM monitor controls the release of CO2 based on my set points entered into the PPM monitor. The CO2 is activated (on/off) by the CO2 side of the C.A.P. CO2-4e controller. The 4-e automatically turns off all exhaust fans/AC (our HVAC is controlled separately so we use the outlet for an additional circulation fan) to the room while CO2 is discharged. The exhaust systems are managed via temperature and humidity set points on the 4-e as well. When the exhaust systems activates due to high temperature (caused by lighting systems mainly) in the room, it deactivates any CO2 discharge that was taking place and delivers power to the in-line Cap Fan. Humidity control is managed by activating a plug for a DEHUMIDIFIER. I don't have an issue with to much humidity as it is managed through the HVAC system previously installed in the room (Daiken spit system). My issue is maintaining enough humidity. Enter the Nutramist fog machine and C.A.P. HUM-1 humidity controller. Will post more when they arrive this week and are installed.
All of this technology is a bit costly, but worthwhile for the person that has to work for a living and can't spend 3 hours a day in the grow room. Besides, our mission was to provide the best possible environment to produce the highest possible yields.
Since we moved the seedlings to the AeroFlo36 and activated the CO2, we are seeing almost 50% increase in growth every day on our seedlings. WOW !
Nutrients
Talk about a confusing selection of seemingly great products. We totally punted the decision on this one to the experts at the grow shop and selected the full Canna line of nutrients. So far we don't have much practical experience with these products but we are seeing fantastic results in the plants transferred to the AeroFlo36. More updates on this as we progress through the veg stage and into flowering.
pH / EC / TDS Monitoring
I selected the "all-in-one" Hana pH/EC/TDS (HI3M) meter as it was durable, extremely accurate, and did all tests with a single device. So far it has worked fabulously.
Grow Room & Seed Germination Update
Grow Room Update
Equipment shown in the video was acquired from a local grow shop - great educational resource, and retailers with an Internet presence. Special thanks to Texas Hydroponics (www.texashydroponics.com), Growco (www.4hydroponics.com) out of Michigan, and Discount Hydroponics (http://discounthydroponics.com/) out of California for all the great service, selection, and information provided to make our grow room the best we could. Other miscellaneous items acquired locally or had on hand. I am sure that some would go the DIY approach on some of these systems, I wanted to take the "proven" systems and used them first, then experiment with self constructed systems. You sure can learn a lot from the pros, and they deserve to be paid for all those years of R&D.
We finished the grow room ducting yesterday and as you can see in the video we are now in production.
First Seed Germination
Our first germination started several weeks ago and produced less than expected results. We used STG seed cubes and got about 25-30% of the seeds to germinate. I think we know where we went wrong. The process we used included:
1. Wet all cubes in the slab with pH corrected R.O. water, no nutrients
2. Drained excess water from the propagation tray (did not "squeeze" the cubes)
3. Placed seeds in cubes at depth indicated on seed packet
4. Placed humidity dome on the tray
4. Placed propagation tray under T5 light, 16 hours on, 8 hours off
Although we had good rates on the Cherry and Roma tomato plants, the rest didn't come out well. We started to see fungus / algae / mold on top of the cubes. I think due to the high humidity under the dome and poor air circulation in the tray itself (we used the entire block of 98 cubes in the package). After a few weeks, we picked the best 12 seedlings and placed them in the AeroFlow36 system under lights on 16 on / 8 off cycle. We also cranked on the CO2 system to deliver 1500 ppm in the room.
Second Seed Germination
After assuming we had to much humidity, no airflow, and perhaps too much water in the propagation tray, we switched strategies for the second planting. We selected the Rockwool plugs in a 50 count divided tray. After soaking the Rockwool plugs over night in the conditioning solution - noted below - we placed seeds in the plugs at appropriate depths, replaced the humidity dome and left the T5 over the tray off.
After 2 days we began to see sprouts on the buttercrunch lettuce, romain lettuce, and arugula. I waited one more day (today) and saw that we had initial leaves on the same, so I turned on the T5 for 16 on / 8 off cycle. We still do not have germination on the peppers, leeks, fennel, or parsley which all have longer germination rates. Will update as we get them.
Equipment shown in the video was acquired from a local grow shop - great educational resource, and retailers with an Internet presence. Special thanks to Texas Hydroponics (www.texashydroponics.com), Growco (www.4hydroponics.com) out of Michigan, and Discount Hydroponics (http://discounthydroponics.com/) out of California for all the great service, selection, and information provided to make our grow room the best we could. Other miscellaneous items acquired locally or had on hand. I am sure that some would go the DIY approach on some of these systems, I wanted to take the "proven" systems and used them first, then experiment with self constructed systems. You sure can learn a lot from the pros, and they deserve to be paid for all those years of R&D.
We finished the grow room ducting yesterday and as you can see in the video we are now in production.
First Seed Germination
Our first germination started several weeks ago and produced less than expected results. We used STG seed cubes and got about 25-30% of the seeds to germinate. I think we know where we went wrong. The process we used included:
1. Wet all cubes in the slab with pH corrected R.O. water, no nutrients
2. Drained excess water from the propagation tray (did not "squeeze" the cubes)
3. Placed seeds in cubes at depth indicated on seed packet
4. Placed humidity dome on the tray
4. Placed propagation tray under T5 light, 16 hours on, 8 hours off
Although we had good rates on the Cherry and Roma tomato plants, the rest didn't come out well. We started to see fungus / algae / mold on top of the cubes. I think due to the high humidity under the dome and poor air circulation in the tray itself (we used the entire block of 98 cubes in the package). After a few weeks, we picked the best 12 seedlings and placed them in the AeroFlow36 system under lights on 16 on / 8 off cycle. We also cranked on the CO2 system to deliver 1500 ppm in the room.
Second Seed Germination
After assuming we had to much humidity, no airflow, and perhaps too much water in the propagation tray, we switched strategies for the second planting. We selected the Rockwool plugs in a 50 count divided tray. After soaking the Rockwool plugs over night in the conditioning solution - noted below - we placed seeds in the plugs at appropriate depths, replaced the humidity dome and left the T5 over the tray off.
After 2 days we began to see sprouts on the buttercrunch lettuce, romain lettuce, and arugula. I waited one more day (today) and saw that we had initial leaves on the same, so I turned on the T5 for 16 on / 8 off cycle. We still do not have germination on the peppers, leeks, fennel, or parsley which all have longer germination rates. Will update as we get them.
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