Junk's Growing Log

[Bodean]

That red fade is so pretty!

 

[SmithsJunk]

That red fade is so pretty!

Thanks.

I think it's from bolstering the potassium. Cold might have helped it along. The Royal Nepal I grew turned red but not as much as this Chocolate Nepal and none of the other Banana Ice Cream got this red.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 12/26/18

Still cold so I stuck the phone in the tent to take pics.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 12/27/18

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 12/28/18

 

[SmithsJunk]

Because of the colder weather I kicked the heater up to 250w in the tent...

...not bad. That's two degrees above min healthy soil temps. As long as the air stays that warm the soil should follow suit.

 

[SmithsJunk]

As pretty as this is I'm going to check potassium levels in the soil tomorrow to make sure they're still on track. I was reading more on why cannabis gets the red color and I found that the cold can cause a molybdenum deficiency and that turns them red as well. If it is "K", then it's an easy fix with a tsp of Krazy Kelp. I want to make sure they stay healthy for the seeds. This is something I'm unaccustomed to doing since it doesnt matter with sensi.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I was looking up something else in the Cannabis Encyclopedia and happened to see Cervantes' little write up on colloidal silver again. Decided to reread it since I think he has very little idea what he's talking about regarding the smoking of treated cannabis. I've read a lot of his book and know that he's very opinionated in a lot of his hippie ideas with little or no scientific evidence to back up his claims.

Not smoking treated plants is one of these areas in which I believe his ignorance borders on absolute nonsense. I've read a lot on the subject of the effects of silver on the human body over the years and I've found no evidence that incidental ingestion of silver in small amounts will cause any harm to the average person. There are people with silver allergies that will get skin irritation etc from contact but this is rare. The people who get argyria are generally ingesting large doses of colloidal silver over a protracted period. Usually many years. I handled silver daily for over a decade, so much so that it would often turn my hands black, no problems. I tested silver with acid that produced fumes with no protective gear almost daily, no problems. The guy who introduced me to precious metal trading took high doses of colloidal silver daily for decades with no side effects. I've know glass blowers who would come to me to buy precious metals that they would fume into pipes to give them colors and only one I knew had damage to his lungs and it wasn't even from the silver, but gold instead. Every single American carried and touched silver almost every day as change until 1964 and for years afterward until most of the silver change was collected in 1980 when the Hunt bros. caused it to jump to $50ozt for a "short" time.

It's my opinion that smoking a plant that has branches treated with colloidal silver is highly unlikely to cause anyone harm if it's not something done on a daily basis. Even then, if smoked daily, it would have to be the treated branches and over a years and years. If the treated branches are avoided then I see absolutely no risk at all.

I think Cervantes is the one who started this ignorance and it has been perpetuated by the growing community for years. So much so that it has been forgotten that the source of this information is the some hippie who often touts many of his uneducated opinions as facts. Just because this guy is a growing legend doesnt make him the final word on anything. I know people on this forum that are far smarter and more knowledgeable about growing than he is.

So, blah blah blah, shut up you stupid hippie!!! Go smoke a big bowl and enjoy your celebrity status, you cannabis Kardashian.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 12/30/18

Stuck the phone in the tent for pics again to avoid letting the warm air out.

I'm really starting to see the difference in growth patterns between the pollinated and sensi plants. The Chocolate Nepal and Banana Ice Cream #4 look somewhat thin and sparse, while the flowers on BIC#5 are robust (or as robust as they can be considering she had to recover from the cold temps and potassium deficiency).

 

[SmithsJunk]

One step closer to an all solar grow. Trading has been very slow so it's been really hard to get the money together to do this project but my mom is helping me out by covering part of it. First step was to power my 5th wheel. I'll have that done by next week. The trailer only really needs 100w-200w to power the batteries running the fridge, furnace, lighting, etc... I already had the equipment to do this except for the second battery. Her donation to the cause is adding 2-3 100w panels, the second 12v 100ah battery, upgrading the charge controller, and buying misc parts/cables/mounts/adhesives. I'm probably going to remove the roof AC/heater to make room for more panels since I don't ever use it.

What's going to make it possible to use this solar generator to power the grow lights is the upgraded charge controller. The original charge controller was a 30a PWM and the new one is a 60a MPPT. The PWM was limited to 2 batteries at 12v/24v and 3-4 100w solar panels. The MPPT an run numerous batteries in 12v/24v/36v/48v in multiple configurations and up to 900w in panels, also in multiple configurations. It is 15-20% more efficient, has a variable charge algorithm, tracks cloud cover, can handle differing input/output rates, and charging is even fine tuned and adjustable enough to handle lithium ion batteries (their charging temps have to be perfect). Been putting the system together in my head but I won't be able to sort it all out till I have everything in front of me and can do mockup cable runs.

60a MPPT charge controller, $158 on Amazon

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 12/31/18 #1

I turned up the heater, added Krazy Kelp to the last feeding, and lowered the 65w about 2". It looks like the Chocolate Nepal has snapped out of it and shot out a bunch of sugar leaf spikes overnight. The stigma also appear to be entering into senescence more rapidly. It could have been too cold or just the natural stall before the flowers shift into swell. Either way, it looks like that's done now and we can get on with growin them baby beans.

Not the best pics. I'll see if I can get some good close-ups with the mirrorless today.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Couldn't resist these deep blue silhouette daybreak shots.

 

[SmithsJunk]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
View attachment New Year 2019 #1.mp4

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 1/1/19

 

[UncleRomulus]

One step closer to an all solar grow. Trading has been very slow so it's been really hard to get the money together to do this project but my mom is helping me out by covering part of it. First step was to power my 5th wheel. I'll have that done by next week. The trailer only really needs 100w-200w to power the batteries running the fridge, furnace, lighting, etc... I already had the equipment to do this except for the second battery. Her donation to the cause is adding 2-3 100w panels, the second 12v 100ah battery, upgrading the charge controller, and buying misc parts/cables/mounts/adhesives. I'm probably going to remove the roof AC/heater to make room for more panels since I don't ever use it.

What's going to make it possible to use this solar generator to power the grow lights is the upgraded charge controller. The original charge controller was a 30a PWM and the new one is a 60a MPPT. The PWM was limited to 2 batteries at 12v/24v and 3-4 100w solar panels. The MPPT an run numerous batteries in 12v/24v/36v/48v in multiple configurations and up to 900w in panels, also in multiple configurations. It is 15-20% more efficient, has a variable charge algorithm, tracks cloud cover, can handle differing input/output rates, and charging is even fine tuned and adjustable enough to handle lithium ion batteries (their charging temps have to be perfect). Been putting the system together in my head but I won't be able to sort it all out till I have everything in front of me and can do mockup cable runs.

60a MPPT charge controller, $158 on Amazon
View attachment 849160

Love it! I’m trying to head that direction as well. Might as well use that free energy blasting at us from space lol. Seems silly not to

 

[SmithsJunk]

Love it! I’m trying to head that direction as well. Might as well use that free energy blasting at us from space lol. Seems silly not to

For real dude. It wasn't a very useful resource for homeowners till recently. The increased efficiency in panels and charge controllers combined with better batteries and high output low watt lights (not to mention increased efficiency in just about every modern appliance) has made it a viable option for today's homeowners. If you're going to use it for anything other than full AC appliances (old style lights, washers/dryers, air conditioners) you'll want to buy a "pure sine" AC inverter. They are less efficient than the cheap inverters but DC circuits need to filter a fully oscillating wave form to operate properly. You "want" to use the cheap inverters to power the simple AC circuits. Aside from efficiency, the pure sine inverters with enough power to operate big appliances are ridiculously expensive and will burn out faster if used for that purpose. So you'll want two separate solar generators, one for simple AC and one for electronics (which one your microwave goes on will depend on the electronic make-up of the oven). Remember that washers/dryers, coffee makers, AC units, etc... often have two stage motors or heating elements that require short bursts of high current. That will require an inverter with the ability to provide that kind of power in bursts. The inverters are rated with a normal operating range and a max range. You want to make sure that "max" range is well above what's needed for those short high current bursts. I've read lots of complaints regarding inverters that popped fuses even though they were supposedly rated to supply the necessary current.

 

[UncleRomulus]

For real dude. It wasn't a very useful resource for homeowners till recently. The increased efficiency in panels and charge controllers combined with better batteries and high output low watt lights (not to mention increased efficiency in just about every modern appliance) has made it a viable option for today's homeowners. If you're going to use it for anything other than full AC appliances (old style lights, washers/dryers, air conditioners) you'll want to buy a "pure sine" AC inverter. They are less efficient than the cheap inverters but DC circuits need to filter a fully oscillating wave form to operate properly. You "want" to use the cheap inverters to power the simple AC circuits. Aside from efficiency, the pure sine inverters with enough power to operate big appliances are ridiculously expensive and will burn out faster if used for that purpose. So you'll want two separate solar generators, one for simple AC and one for electronics (which one your microwave goes on will depend on the electronic make-up of the oven). Remember that washers/dryers, coffee makers, AC units, etc... often have two stage motors or heating elements that require short bursts of high current. That will require an inverter with the ability to provide that kind of power in bursts. The inverters are rated with a normal operating range and a max range. You want to make sure that "max" range is well above what's needed for those short high current bursts. I've read lots of complaints regarding inverters that popped fuses even though they were supposedly rated to supply the necessary current.

Great advice!

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 1/3/19

Taken with my Sony a5000. Still dialing in this camera and I know there are better ways to edit for sise without losing so much picture resolution. Will try again tomorrow under natural light and maybe add some shots with my Pentax. Like I said before, I really want to get a lot more true color shots before these are done. These girls are even more beautimus under natural light and easier to bring into focus.

 

[SmithsJunk]

It's a frustrating thing uploading HD pics. The original pics are crystal clear but by the time I resise them and the uploader web optimises them, they look like blurry sh*t. I think I need to crop instead of realise but I don't think Win10 Paint gives an active pixel count as I crop, so it's a guess. Cell phone pics have given me better results. For some reason they're more compatible with the uploader. Their pixel counts are within the 5000x3000 limit but their raw file sise is often near double my DSLR uploads and will sometimes be bigger than the 8MB limit.

I'm wondering if I need to get a better photo editor program like Photo Shop. I'm going to research to see if there's a guide to optimising web pics while maintaining clarity. It would be cool if Logic would/could increase the allowable file sise to 10MB. Every one of my full HD cellphone pics would fit that without a crop.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Grow Log 1/4/19

Without the grow lights on...