Change Those R.O. Filters !

In the words of my daughter, "like OMG" !

Our Tall Blue pre-filter and Merlin Garden Pro have been doing a great job giving us water for our greenhouse and grow room.  We have a system on each due to the physical locations.  The grow room has been serviced for a little over a year now without a filter change so I thought it was time.  I normally change the filters in the house every 6 months due to the heavy use.

Well, I think I will be going to a 6 month cycle on the grow room as well.  When I pulled the filters out, set them in the sink, and poured the excess water out of the filter housing about two inches of "scale" material came out of the housing.  The filters weighed about 10 lbs, some I am sure was water, I can only imagine how much was particulate mater taken out of our municipal water system.


Moral of the story - CHANGE THE FILTERS!

New Tomato Grow - Grow 7

The configuration changes in our room are complete.  The new Stealth Grow LED Veg and  Bloom lights have replaced the HIDs and the Monster Ebb n Grow is now the home of a few tomato plants.  We are a little behind on posting updates to our blog due to another project we have been working on here at the ranch.

We started Grow 7 about a month ago.  Several new tomato plants were started from seed including some of the hybrids tried in a previous grow as well as a few new ones.  We are really looking forward to the "ice" tomatoes which are basically white cherry tomatoes.  We wanted to start a new grow with the new LED lights so we could assess the full impact on the plants from seed to fruit.  The plants did incredible under the Stealth Grow Veg LED and now they are under the Ebb N Grow system (small pots)

We transplanted three of our 9 month old plants from the PowerGrower into the Monster Ebb n Grow system.  We had issues with the PowerGrower and large tomato plants with root creep clogging up the plumbing.  With the tomatoes all transplanted we are hopeful that the aggressive pruning we did (literally hacked them down to an 8 inch stalk to start new growth) will allow them to continue to produce.  So far they are putting on new leaves and looking well.

Stealth Grow LEDs Added

We have completed our previously planned configuration changes in the grow room.  We have finished the installation of our Stealth Grow Veg LED and Stealth Grow Bloom LED.  These lights operate with much lower electrical requirements and heat output.  As we recognize, they are still a little expensive to acquire but recommend that you do a "total cost of ownership" calculation.  They pay for themselves in a very short time.

WOW, what a difference.  After removing the 240 volt / 30 Amp service to the room and the HVAC system is running about half the time, the electric bill plummeted.  The HID lights were putting out an enormous amount of heat, even with a venting system.  When you have over eighty days of 105+ temps outside, the venting didn't help much.  The HVAC was running constantly and not able to keep up to well.



The plants love the new lights as well.  Although not as "intense" a light, there certainly seems to be more than enough lumen in the correct color spectrum to make the lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries happy.

We have also removed the PowerGrower and replaced it with one of the Monster Ebb n Grow systems from the Berry House (outdoor greenhouse).  Although the PowerGrower served us well, we had challenges keeping roots from growing so large that they plugged up the water loop.  The drip rings would also clog up from salt buildup from the nutrients.  Yes, we know that constant maintenance could prevent both of these situations but constant maintenance makes this hobby less enjoyable.

We have built some new plant support structures as the Ultimate Plant Cage didn't fare so well against our tomato plants.  The PVC DIY is has a very stable base and we can extend 4 support poles out of it for each plant (and install cross members if desired).  We will show more of this as this tomato grow continues.

Berry House Configuration Changes

It has been a brutal summer with over eighty days of 105+ temperatures. Normally we get a week here or there in August, but nothing like this. Couple that with a severe drought, and the rest is history.

We learned a lot about operating a greenhouse in the summer. A comment was made in one of our posts about burying the water reservoirs. I absolutely recommend this - except where you have caliche (sand/water compacted like concrete) as we do. Nothing short of a jackhammer, or some dynamite, can penetrate. Hence, burying was not an option for us - only a chiller.

The heat stress on our berries was pretty intense. We also noticed some sagging in our grow trays. This occurred over time and most likely was a combination of weight from the Hydroton and the heat. We are rethinking medium for next summer.

The raspberries and blueberries were doing ok until the intense heat of summer. We did have a heat / drought tolerant blackberry that did great - right up to the point where we took drought to an extreme by losing a system controller. Those that survived that incident are doing well again.



As you can see we removed the mixing tank and two grow systems from the house. Our thought of having that many systems in one greenhouse was misguided. We are down to one Monster Ebb n Grow, and the three stands for the strawberries. We will continue with this plan for next summer with a few other re-engineering thoughts between now and the cool weather. Once winter hits we will do some additional changes and hopefully next year have a better result in the greenhouse.

Survived The Storm

We had quite a storm night before last with quarter sized hail, 65 mph horizontal winds, and an inch of rain in less than an hour. We needed the rain desperately but I would have rather had it come in a different format.

I thought the greenhouse and all of our work was toast for sure, and since it happened at 11:30pm I couldn't do a damage assessment until yesterday morning. Let me just say it could have been a lot worse.

We had one side window and 5 roof windows blow out of the greenhouse. After finding all of the parts and pieces on the ranch we began putting it back together. Three hours later we were buttoned up again as if nothing happened. All the plants survived, the control systems that got drenched with rain were all fine (thank goodness we used a waterproof control box) and even the pumps survived the multiple power outages/restorations.

I think the shade screen that we installed late last week helped keep all the roof windows from blowing out. Rion states that the greenhouse can survive 80mph winds. With 65 mph and only minimal disruption, we were pleased and continue to say this is one of the best greenhouse kits on the market

We Have Power and Plumbing

We turned on the electricity in the greenhouse today. First switch I flipped was for the exhaust fans. It has been getting pretty warm working inside there these past few days. We still have to do complete systems tests on all of the circuitry, solenoid valves, Rain Bird, System Pump, etc.

We started our grow system plumbing today as we finished all of the electrical distribution within the house (sans Chiller which arrived late today). We have three Ebb and Flow tanks plumbed for the strawberry grow tables, and tomorrow we will finish the three Monster Ebb n Gro systems for the berry bushes (rasp, black, blue).

We are in the final days on the critical path as I got an Email from Burpee today indicating that our plants will be here on Tuesday next week...still so much to do between now and then. I think we will make it though.

Water Systems Complete

We have installed the Tall Blue pre-filter and Merlin Garden Pro R.O. systems. Final hookup to the main water supply will occur today. We have also started moving the grow systems into the greenhouse so we can finalize our electrical and plumbing distribution.

Tasks to complete include:

Electrical distribution to grow systems
Plumbing distribution to grow systems
Exhaust fan connections
Chiller installation
Main system pump installation
Main 300 gallon water tank installation
Grow system final placement/connection
Misting system installation
System test

Clones Potted and in the Rail

We potted up six of the clones - some Cherry and Roma tomatoes - and placed them in the AeroFlo36 today. Each of the clone cuttings had about 12 inches of root mass that had to be curled up in the net cup. I thought about putting them directly into the PowerGrower or Ebb n Gro system, but thought it better to get some more veg and stronger stem base on them first. We'll see how they do and report.

Cha Cha Cha Changes......

Many changes to the grow room occurred in the last two weeks.  Thought I would wait and post all at the same time.   With the EZ Clone, we needed more light above the unit.  We installed a new 4 bulb T5 to replace the single bulb unit; installed an expansion kit of 5 pots onto the Ebb n Gro system to handle some of our larger root based plants; installed another LED, this time a 540 Watt "Mother Ship" from SuperNova; lastly a dehumidifier was added to remove excess humidity in the room.  Doing so allowed us to turn the CO2 back on and wow what a difference.



General water changes continue with new nutrient mixes every two and a half weeks with plain water top-offs in between.  We check pH and balance as necessary every few days.  The CANNA nutrients are working so well for us we just can't imagine others would be better.  We are following CANNA recommended doses of base (Aqua Flores or Agua Veg) and additional nutrients (Cannazyme, Rhizotonic, Boost, and PK13/14) according to plant growth stage.

Wish I had doubled the size of the room now !

EZ Clone Up and Running

We received an EZ Clone 60 from Santa this year so I put it into immediate service with some cuttings from our huge Cherry Tomato plant and our healthiest Roma, Pepper, Basil, and Spinach plants.  I used Olivia's Cloning Gel and Solution to get the cuttings off to a great start.



We will start using the AeroFlo36 exclusively as our starter system for our large plants while dedicating it to lettuces and herbs.  The PowerGrower and Ebb n Gro systems have proven themselves with Hydroton as a growing medium.  We have 2 empty modules on each, waiting for the cucumber and white eggplants to be transferred from the AeroFlo36 once matured.

Grow 5 seedlings are doing very well.  Nothing exciting in this grow, just more romaine lettuce to keep the family fed.

Santa Brought Me a Cloning Machine

I must have been a good dude at least part of the time as Santa brought me an EZ Clone 60 unit for the grow room.  I set it up the other day and started the first test-batch of cuttings.  We used Olivia's Cloning Gel on the cuttings and Olivia's Cloning Solution in the tank. 

We took some Cherry, Roma, Basil and Spinach cuttings to try out the unit.  I was a bit concerned that I would go back in the grow room the next day and the two leaves on each cutting would be drooping, wilted, dried up or just plain dead.  Nope, still look healthy after three days now.

LED Survives Fall

Hats off to the SuperNova LED folks, the light survived a crash after the hook holding it to the suspended ceiling grid decided to break.  Lesson learned - not all hooks that look alike are created equal.  Certainly if this had been one of our HID lights, well, lets just say broken glass and dead plants would have been the outcome.  Only one pepper plant suffered a few leaf burns were the SuperNova had been sitting on it for a few hours - yes the light stayed on even after the fall.   Pepper plant is alive and well, only minor tattoos from its experience.

LED Installed, Ebb and Gro in Production

The SuperNova LED installation was fast and simple.  Wish I could say that about the cumbersome reflectors, bulbs and ballasts associated with the HID lights.

Kind of looks like an alien space ship getting ready to land.  The LED has separate and controllable hue settings for blue and red light.  Nice!   We have the LED on the same timer as the HIDs which is controlled by the 240/120v Power Box unit.

The Ebb and Gro system is now in full production.  We transferred 12 plants from the AeroFlo36 today.  We now have more room for Grow 4.  Transfers included Romaine, Basil, Parsley, Roma Tomatoes, Yellow and Red Peppers, and even a few Leeks.

The plants transferred to the Ebb and Gro were from Grow 2 and Grow 3.  We have a pretty equal split of plant species between the STG inserts and Hydroton grow media in this new system.  I will admit, STG is spot on when it comes to preparation time.  Take the insert and put it in the pot, versus, washing Hydroton which took about 20 minutes for 6 pots.  Hint - use the top pots from the system to help rinse the dust out with the hose - the holes in the bottom make a great sieve. You can see that the LED puts off a pretty red / pinkish spectrum.  Compare that to the more yellowish hue (HPS bulb) in the photos below with the Grow 2 Basil, Parsley, and Yellow Pepper plants that are in the PowerGrower. 

An update on our Spinach - all hope is not lost, we now have two sprouts in the Rapid Rooter cubes and one in the Rockwool cubes from Grow 3.  We are hoping to get more sprouts, but after two unsuccessful germination attempts, I will take what I have at this point.

LED Has Arrived

The awaited day has come.  The SuperNova enhanced LED light arrived last night and we are very excited to get it installed, some plants transferred to our Ebb and Gro system and start monitoring the progress with this new set-up.  We will update with some photos later.

Grow 3, Grow Room Update, AND HARVEST !

Significant changes were made to the grow room in the last few days.  We added a 30 amp circuit to provide 240 volt power to a new Power Box; we split some existing electrical circuits, added some outlets, and eliminated all but one extension cord; we changed the routing and support system for the exhaust fan which kicks on when the room is too hot (due to HID heat output); and we installed a new Ebb and Flow system from C.A.P. called Ebb and Gro.



The Basil plant has been picked several times for recipes over the weekend, not to mention the great salad we made with Buttercrunch and Arugula.  Nice to finally have some rewards for all the hard work.  Grow 3 continues, and it is a toss-up between Rapid Rooters and Rockwool.  STG has been a dud.  I think we may continue with Rockwool due to its ability to hold moisture better than Rapid Rooters even though Rapid Rooters had a faster germination rate.  In the end, Rockwool caught up - and didn't dry out.

Ebb and Gro has arrived

The Ebb and Gro system arrived and we were excited to get it up and running.  It is an Ebb and Flow system made by C.A.P.  We have 12 modules that we plan on using for our larger plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, etc.  The Power Grower is doing great as a drip system but we wanted to expand, and try a new system at the same time - with an LED light.

Although we don't have the SuperNova LED yet, we went ahead and installed the Ebb and Gro yesterday since we had all the electrical work finished.  The instructions were easy to understand, the system was easy to install, and our water test was successful - aka - no leaks !

The instructions indicate that the system was designed for Hydroton.  We are going to do another experiment.  Sure To Grow (STG) designed a product with their medium to work specifically with this Ebb and Gro system so we are going to try it.  We really believe in the concept that STG has for their Hydroponic medium even though the seed germination product just isn't working as well as the traditional mediums of Rapid Rooters or Rockwool (at least it isn't for us).

Our strategy is to plant one STG and one Hydroton module of each plant type from the same Grow to see how each medium works in the Ebb and Gro system.   More to come on this...

Grow Room Upgrades

Wow what a busy few days.  With the coming addition of an Ebb and Flow system we decided to split some circuits, add some outlets, get rid of all the extension cords, and most importantly get our HID lights on 240 volts to reduce our power consumption.  Both lights were on 120v circuits, drawing twice as many amps as they would at 240 volts.

We ran a new 4-wire 10 gauge cable from the circuit panel to the grow room on Friday.  The cable supports a new 30 amp circuit in the panel and a Power Box system with four 240 volt circuits and two 120 volt circuits.  The Power Box has a built in timer that replaces the little timers each light was plugged into before.  The two 120 volt outlets on the Power Box can either be constant on, or controlled by the timer.

Power Box makes several models in 30, 50, and 60 amps.  The 30 amp unit we purchased doesn't have all the features of the larger models but is the right size (with growth) for our room.  One feature that would have been great on this unit would be a "delay on" for HID lights after power outages.  Funny, in the new catalog that came with the box it was shipped in...."New for 2010" - a separate "delay on" box that you can attach.  Didn't see that on their website, or in any of the on-line Hydroponic stores.

I can proudly say that now all the extension cords are gone and the Power Box is up and running our HID lights. 

New System Experiment

We will add an Ebb and Flow system (Ebb n Gro) to our grow room in the newly reclaimed space.  We are also going to do an experiment with both Hydroton and STG Deluge which is designed specifically for the Ebb n Gro buckets.   It will be interesting to see which medium does better with our plants. We have an eye on the red and yellow pepper plants currently in the AeroFlo36 as potential transplants to the new system.

As heat is becoming an issue for us (or certainly will in summer), we have also chose an LED lighting system.  We selected the Super Nova Enhanced Spectrum light.  It sports a nice function of custom selecting blue and red spectrum mixes to support the cycle of your plant's growth.  The manufacturer also provides a three year warranty, first year 100%, second and third prorated.  Look for that warranty on LED lights you are considering and be careful of the knock-offs on EBAY.

The Super Nova we selected provides light output for a 3x3 area that is supposedly greater than a 600 watt HID.  It will be interesting to see if that is true.  I am really excited about little to no heat output from the light and 1/8th of the amount of energy usage in the grow room.

Grow Room Changes

We finished the nutrient swap today by draining the FloraKleen solution that ran last night in the PowerGrower and then adding the Aqua Flores, Rhizotonic, Cannazyme, and Boost solution.  The Metal Halide bulb was changed to High Pressure Sodium yesterday, and as you can see in the video it definitely has a different color spectrum.



The grow room went through a major reconfiguration today.  We removed a large workbench to make room for our next system.  A new station was set up with a narrower work surface (not as deep as the workbench) to give us a small working area as well as seed germination and cloning space.

Equipment and Nutrient Change Tomorrow

Nutrients
We have seen the Generative (aka flowering) stage begin on our Cherry and Roma Tomatoes in the PowerGrower.  Our nutrient solution in the PowerGrower is Canna Aqua Vega, Rhizotonic, and Cannazyme delivered at Canna's published rates.  We will now switch to Canna's Aqua Flores, reduce the Rhizotonic concentration, keep the Cannazyme about the same, and add Boost.  All of these products are available in different size containers (1 liter, 5 liter, etc).  We will continue to follow dosing rates per Canna's literature.

Lesson learned - if you have two big systems like I do, and run successive grows back to back - get the big jugs of nutrients.  You will also need one of those big syringes to get the nutrient out of the big jug (unless you like funnels and big measuring cups).

I have not experimented with other nutrient manufacturers' products, nor am I endorsing any product for any type of financial gain or consideration.  All I can say is that this Canna stuff works extremely well for me while following their recommended dosing and while also using their nutrient additives (like Rhizotonic, Cannazyme, Boost, etc) to the base products of Aqua Vega or Aqua Flores.

Lighting
We will change the HID light bulb above the PowerGrower from Metal Halide (MH) to High Pressure Sodium (HPS).  A metal halide bulb has a high concentration of blue light spectrum and is primarily used during the Vegetative stage.  A high pressure sodium bulb has a high concentration of red light spectrum and is primarily used during the Generative stage.  Either bulb will provide results for you.  If you want the best results, use them during the identified stages, if you can, to improve your results.  The MH bulb in the HID above the AeroFlo36 will remain since those Grow 2 plants remain in the Vegetative stage.