An Aggie and His Hippie Trees - First Try indoors

[aggiefarmer]

Well my first go was outdoors it is still going but has been a shit show. After 80 days and summer heat just bearing down on me I decided let’s try indoors.

After spending the last couple months researching and watching videos. Comparing this that and the other I decided upon.

5x5 ACI Pro with the AI controller and EVO 8 light.

This will be a living soil grow. I will be using Natures Living Soil AutoFlower Concentrate. I plan to use Happy Frog/Ocean Forest/Strawberry Fields as the base.

Strains:
Atlas Seeds - Face Fat
Barney’s Farm Strawberry Cheesecake
Fast Buds - Blue Dream
Fast Buds - Papaya Cookies
Fast Buds - White Widow

They are all in the ground with a dome on. Light is about 2.5 feet away set on lvl 5 with sunrise/sunset set for 2 hours

My Light Schedule is 6:30pm to 12:30pm
So basically the light is out from 12:30-6:30 during the hottest part of the day and will be running during the coolest times.

I still have to work my Window Unit duct better I got tired and just started using sub par southern ingenuity. At first I was maintaining temps in the 70s but then I moved something and now they are topping out at 82.

I will work on that more the coming days.

In the pictures you will see 2 trays. One is the fun stuff the other lettuce, lemon drop peppers, zinnias, marigolds. Main reason I went with the 5x5 was so that I would also have room to start my flowers and then move them outside.

Until 3 months ago I had no idea how much joy gardening would bring me.

 

[Gmix]

Never trust a hippie ; they will smoke all your stuff


Interesting strains bar the white widow

Joking aside might tag along I’d be interested in how the Papaya Cookies turns out & its aroma/taste

 

[aggiefarmer]

Never trust a hippie ; they will smoke all your stuff


Interesting strains bar the white widow

Joking aside might tag along I’d be interested in how the Papaya Cookies turns out & its aroma/taste

Hahaha Well that is what got me here. I kept smoking all my stuff

Papaya Cookies is the one I am most excited about.

2nd most is Face Fat. I have one that is in my shit show of an outdoor grow. She is by far the frostiest and densest buds.

As always looking forward. Next year I will plan my photo period grow to line up with Flowering with around mid June. So that I can get the most efficiency out of my equipment.

 

[aggiefarmer]

I am running into my First Gripe about the controller and maybe I just need to better understand how to set it up.

Currently I am running in AI mode. When in this mode you can set Max and Mins. Well whatever I set the max at the controller just seems to always run the equipment at the max speed.

What I have figured out is my temps kept climbing anytime I would allow the controller to run the exhaust fan at 6 or higher due to it simply running at to high of a speed and pulling AC air out to fast. In fact if I turn the exhaust speed down to the minimum it gets about 10-12 degrees cooler.

I kind of expected the AI to figure that out but it has not.

I ended up decided to go with a clear tub and tossed the pots in the tub and put a lid on it. Basically I created 100% humdity for several hours as the box was drenched. Temps were very comfortable so hopefully didn’t fry them before we even got started lol.

 

[aggiefarmer]

This part is agonizing! I just want to go dig in the dirt and see if they started yet.

Anyways Tent is running great. So we wait.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Well thankfully I got blessed just a couple hours ago I was complaining about waiting on breaking ground.

It is official the first plant to break ground is a Double Flame Red Zinnia.

By the time I wake I believe the Strawberry Cheesecake will be above ground as well.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Woke up to a treat this morning.

Strawberry Cheesecake
Papaya Cookies
White Widow

All broke ground and shed their helmets no assistance required.

I’m trying to work out my air in the tent.

Tent is in a detached garage no AC. In the heat of the day it is 95+ degrees in the garage. Nights it will drop into the 70s.

Currently the only air going into the Tent is from when the window unit kicks on. So when it is not on then no new air is being pushed into the tent. Is that an issue?

 

[Grownsince95]

When you say "no AC" but then a "window unit" I'm confused.

I grow in a tiny shed in my backyard. I pump intake air to the tent directly from outside. Today it's 82° outside and in the tent, but 94° in the shed. I set the intake much higher than the exhaust and the positive pressure keeps the hot shed air out of the tent and I never run the lights during the hottest part of the day.

Hope that helps

 

[Grownsince95]

I read through again and see what I missed now about the AC. You can set the limit to how high the exhaust will go so it never overpowers the AC. The tent walls have to just puff up a little for it to work otherwise your just going to be sucking in all that garage air.

 

[aggiefarmer]

When you say "no AC" but then a "window unit" I'm confused.

I grow in a tiny shed in my backyard. I pump intake air to the tent directly from outside. Today it's 82° outside and in the tent, but 94° in the shed. I set the intake much higher than the exhaust and the positive pressure keeps the hot shed air out of the tent and I never run the lights during the hottest part of the day.

Hope that helps

Thank you for taking the time to help. Hopefully the pictures make it make sense.

So I have a window in the garage and put my window unit in there and then I made a vent so the window unit blows directly into the Tent.

Then have exhaust fan at the top.

So tonight I added the little fan blowing air into the tent. I added it because I was thinking I need a constant supply of fresh air. But yea it is blowing the air from the garage.

Do I really need constant air being blown in? Temps and humidity were better before adding the new fan.

By tomorrow all 5 will be above ground I believe.

 

[Grownsince95]

Thank you for taking the time to help. Hopefully the pictures make it make sense.

So I have a window in the garage and put my window unit in there and then I made a vent so the window unit blows directly into the Tent.

Then have exhaust fan at the top.

So tonight I added the little fan blowing air into the tent. I added it because I was thinking I need a constant supply of fresh air. But yea it is blowing the air from the garage.

Do I really need constant air being blown in? Temps and humidity were better before adding the new fan.

By tomorrow all 5 will be above ground I believe.

It's about finding the balance of adding enough air from the AC without extracting it too fast because you don't have a lung room. The humidity when the plants are inside is the biggest challenge. Don't be afraid to run a little hot either. That tent is big and holds a lot of air/CO2 so it doesn't have to be constantly pumped in. I'm stuck running 80° lights off and up to 88° lights off without additional CO2 right now because my fans run so much it's useless.

If the plants are well fed and well watered with a good vpd you'd be surprised how much heat they can handle.

 

[aggiefarmer]

It's about finding the balance of adding enough air from the AC without extracting it too fast because you don't have a lung room. The humidity when the plants are inside is the biggest challenge. Don't be afraid to run a little hot either. That tent is big and holds a lot of air/CO2 so it doesn't have to be constantly pumped in. I'm stuck running 80° lights off and up to 88° lights off without additional CO2 right now because my fans run so much it's useless.

If the plants are well fed and well watered with a good vpd you'd be surprised how much heat they can handle.

I am also running my light at the coolest time. For me that seems to be a 6:30pm to 12:30pm schedule for me.

It is for sure a dance between the 2. I think I can figure out how to get my AC on the UIS system. That way the AC is getting controlled by temps in the tent.

Oh I have seen what they can handle with my outdoor girls. Hell with the beating I have given them they have still stood up to 90+ degree with 70% humidity for the majority of their life.

End up removing the fan on the outside. Although I will be able to use it when we are in a different season.

Everybody is above ground. Face Fat did not shed his helmet will give him the day to work it out.

Moved them closer to the light.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Well today I figured out my AC even when losing power maintains its settings. So I ordered the ACI UIL plug.

This should allow me to set my AC to the on position and then use the triggers from temps in the tent.

Ordered my natures living soil autoflower concentrate and also got the soil revival.

Now just waiting for the light to kick on and check on things.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Everybody is above ground.

Face Fat was standing straight up with Helmet still full on. She’ll just barely cracked enough for the tap root. Had to gently crack the shell and slide it off. The 2 leaves were trying to open at last glance.

Temps and humidity within range all day. I can see I will prolly need a dehumidifier for flower.

I download the app photone it is telling my Par at the plant tops is 480.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Pretty much on cruise control. Tent environment stays nice.

Blue Dream has a twinge of yellow on the very tip. I think it was not liking all the light

 

[aggiefarmer]

So after playing around with the fan for intake air I just decided screw that and ordered the 4” ACI Fan. That way I can plug it into my controller and well control everything. Also will cut down on a needless light leak with the way I had it.

 

[aggiefarmer]

I am really glad I went with the 5x5 it gives me plenty of room to play around with different flowers and vegetables.

Will be adding micro greens this evening.
I like to have several projects going so that I am not constantly messing with the girls.

 

[aggiefarmer]

Tonight I got the ACI outlet connected to the window AC and then connected to the controller.

I switched from beginner AI to Advanced AI. Will adjust settings over the coming weeks as I watch it.

It is already running the tent significantly different. Turning AC on and Off, Actually adjusting ventilation fan speed.

I’m not sure if I like how often it is kicking my window unit off and on. It is actually probably terrible for the window unit compressor.

I do like the advanced AI better for now. I will probably eventually move to manual triggers or I may just take the AC unit off AI and run manual triggers so that I can set the minimum run time.

Today I planted some micro greens and then 3 different varieties of cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomato’s marigolds and zinnias will live in the tent for as long as I have room. Then in September they will go to the outdoors.

 

[Oldchucky]

I’ve never liked the way the older style window, ACs kick off and on all the time! There’s not enough spread in temperature between the on and off! Would be nice if you could adjust that! I think most of them are only about a 3° spread! The inverter ones are a little quieter about it! I wonder if your AC units internal thermostat is fighting with your controllers thermostat! Just chirping!

 

[aggiefarmer]

Photo Dump… For now everyone seems content and tent is operating well.

Other projects winding down outdoor veggies. Going to start doing top dressing nutes on a couple plants as I am running out of the trio and honestly with so many different plants in so many different phase and just all the different types mixing up liquid nutes just blows.

Already looking ahead: I chose to grow autoflowers based on I thought I was going to be growing outdoors just never planned on actually being able to take my grow indoors like this. I personally think as a newbie I should be working with photo period plants.

So next run or maybe within the next few weeks I’ll be adding photos in.

At the moment I have really no clue how much space the 5 autos are going to take up. Sorry 5 out of the 7 of my outdoor girls are very small and would barely take up any space.

So I will wait and see if these are gonna grow into something decent if majority are tiny like my others then will get to add photos sooner.