I hear you and I live where I should not grow. Your shed is a great idea with dogs and more than one use. Neighbors are not a problem here we live semi remote. I built a clear plastic deck cover to stop fly overs from seeing it. In door growing is much more fun because I can control the lighting.
I started this to help a friend that grows his medical crops. He had all the usual pests and he needed to up grade his system. So, I built the systems for him and spent two year working on the organic nutes and pest prevention. He grew in soil, grow medium, and now dwc. Now we have no pests and good strong growth with organic DWC. All growing set ups are good and fun but DWC is still the best when it is done right. We don’t do any thing but add water/nutes and trim as needed. It was hard getting it to work this well but now we mostly just watch the grass grow.
I look forward to learning from all of you.
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Donaldj
What is LEC?
I have a friend that dose theater lighting and had some old xenon hid arc stage lights. They work great. 150w power in and close to 450 w of light out. Lots of uv and full spectrum. I just tried it as a test and they are good. Now I need to find a supply of new ones as my friend has very few old one left.
Your LEC might help here.
I am more of an engineer that a grower so I can build thing and make solutions but my friend is the farmer grower. Now I am becoming a grower and learning to like it a lot.
I have good systems and good solutions and good lighting but know very little about the plants and need to learn.
Thanks
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Microbes are better IF you end with the right microbes and let them autolize. This ends the life cycle of all but the final ones. This also makes the solution mostly ezymes and they are good for the plants and bad for pathogens.
I have done this with different manures and used this in dwc with no issues. I have also terminated the microbes at the end and that works good too.
I am running a test now with different ending microbes to see what happens. The plants look good so far.
Look forward to hearing what you find out with your test. I bet it works. Go fot it.
Light Emitting Ceramic or Ceramic Metal Halide they have better PAR and CRI than conventional hid hps/mh over double bulb life and at 315w comparable footprint to 600w HID
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You would need enzymes and microbes to break down manure based nutrients it would be much like in soil where you let compost cook for months before using. I have had very good root development using Liquid Karma which is organic but mainly in my bubble cloner aside from that I have good results simply manipulating NPK using GH flora series. I was experimenting with GH subculture B has good results in flower where root mass is dense enough to support fungi and microbes
What’s the price comparison on those vs conventional HIDs?
That depends some like Sun system come with ballast built into shade and when I look prices are always Canadian$ I paid 350 for one with bulb and shipping and bought the other local for 400. Would be less US since I think I explained before our dollar is .70 us I have to pay duty charges and shipping plus Taxes which at times can double cost entirely for me. Even an Ipower 600w HID set which is 169 for you is nearly 300 for me lmao but there are other things which factor into price point like the fact I replace MH bulbs every 5-6 months at that 6 month point the LEC bulb is still running at better than 80% where the MH is around 50% so less bulb changes and energy waste. The 3100k bulbs work for both flower and veg so no changing out to flower 315w so cooler less heat to get rid of as well as dim options can use existing shades though glass reduces UV so vented shades cool tubes are counter productive my plants always look like they are under real light. For the one time investment I save on power use only need to replace bulbs every 18 months don’t have to try and pick out issues in yellow or purple light and the UV makes Mold and bugs hate life plus adds to resin production (plants natural UV protection)
All I can really say for sure is so far I am not disappointed in the investment and will likely buy a third for Veg
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Thanks
I remember reading on those months ago and they look very good for uv and full spec. Thanks for reminding me I may need them in the near future.
So far I like the xenon hid arc I found. I think I found some new ones for about $40 a bulb and I own the drivers already. I need to test the life of these bulbs.
I just set up two of these lights over a new grow with no other light so I can see what the growth is like.
I have 3 dwc systems up and running now and can have up to 4 plants in each system. I harvest and start clones about every 4 to 5 weeks. More than enough for me and friends. I also have a clone system that is dwc for the bottom of the containers and a fine fog spray for the tops that fogs every 3 hrs for 15 seconds.
I like to build things and now I am getting to like growing.
Your plants and your shed are all looking good.
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Thanks my idea was to run 3 light rotation 2 flower spaces 1 month apart all but mothers in hydro as I still like soil for seed starting and keeping mothers (easy to keep them happy and slower growth) Also 4 strains which are in rotation so without slowed growth I would have monster mothers and little to no need for cuttings except once per month. Mothers are kept under t5’s and in soil with time release fertilizer.
Just did res change on my veg unit starting my learning curve with GH Maxi series cheap powdered nutrients starting with 2/3rd strength 15 tsp to 23 gal
plus 60ml Cal Mag and 70ml Aussie tonic PH set at 6.1 ppm 750 they are rooted clones and have been in nutrients for 3 weeks if they show signs of burn will simply drain and water down some. Before change I rinsed res and roots then misted with 3% peroxide to clean them up so will be adding h2o2 tomorrow at 2 day intervals 1ml Gal until satisfied res is sterile again
just a few update pics mothers PK and strain B all happy under t5’s
just for scale trunk are nearly 1" thick I will not be splitting them
Frosting and fattening up nicely the purple is strain pheno
they will get 1 more feed week then entirely cutting nutes and starting flush they are drinking 1 1/2 gal each every 2 days bone dry if left for third day so will get 2 more feeds bringing them to week 7-8 flush hopefully they are as thirsty then too or will add a week 9 want fan leaves almost entirely withered by end
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Your plants look great and the way you set up crop rotation is nice. I am still learming all this and I am on my first rotation ever now my grows are all good. No pests and no nute problems.
As I am new to this I may be missing something here???
It seems like there is a lot of nute mixing and water change outs and over and under feeding work and pests. Maybe I just got lucky or something because I don’t need to do any of that. I just have two nutes. One is a plant extract for pest prevention (used systemicly and spray) the other is organic manure converted with a 4 step microbe set up (systemicly and small amounts spray). Ph is done with the nutes by setting the nutes to 5. I never chang water and have grown two crops in the same tank with the same water. I just add what the plants drink. It is ebb and flow with two water drops for airation no air bubbler.
I hope I am not offending anyone but this is all true with my set up.
I have been told this is not possible but it is working now.
Have I done something special??? Or has it been done befor???
I don’t know many growers so my exposure is very limited to all this.
All input is welcome. I need to learn about what I have done.
I have asked this befor and get very little response???
Is it no big deal or is it a good thing?
Help Please
if it works by all means go with it I am a conventional grower in that I use products and don’t make them but in essence Aquaponics uses same principles you feed the fish the fish feed the plants. Living in Canada things like hydro guard Azamax are not for sale so many of the organic nutrient lines can just be a problem waiting to happen and DWC unlike ebb&flow or NFT roots are constantly submerged so air is a must my next improvement will be circulation pumps in each res to keep build ups off bottom. Simple solar pond pumps would do the trick
Thanks
I not sure where to start to give you a fair response back???
The dwc can be an ebb and flow. You need two drain out levels. One to fully cover all roots and one with a restrictive flow out that lets the water drain down over about 30 mins. Then the restrictive drain will be the one that sets the final water level so you have air roots of one to two inches. Lower if you are in bloom. The pump will only fill up the grow tank to the upper drain Then slowly drain back for air gap. A pic would do much better than words. So if you want to see how I do it I can post a pick. It is easy with the right valve. Cheap too.
Your thinking my solution is like aquaponics is close but the microbe breakdown is fully complete before I put it in the plant tank. So no active microbe that can infect. The final microbe is one that can prevent other infections, much like making pickles to preserve food for us. I preserve the plant tea. The last microbe can be active or dead.
Azomite is not as good as mixed rock dust from more than one rock quary. Rock dust and wood ash mixed with an acid make a great mineral tea with all you need in it. This is easy to make. You can even get the rock dust from a retail decorative rock yard.
Airation is done by then water dropping into the plant grow tank and the when draining back to the nute tank it drops again. Two water falls make good air. No need for an air pump.
By looking at your pics you are by far a better grower than me. I just got my first good crop one month ago with no pests and no issues. Now I am learning about growing so one day I can be a good grower.
I will catch up with you soon with growing - this said with respect. LOL
Still my main question. Have I done something special with no pests and no water change out??? I mean no issues at all. I just water, trim and watch the grass grow now. I do lower the nitrogen and shorten light for flower. That is it.
What do you think?
It is too bad that so many organic nute sellers have done it wrong. Is that why people don’t believe me when I say I have? They think I am like the other organic solutions??? If that is the case then I have done something special.
What part of Canada are you in? I could throw a bottle of my nutes over the border so you can try it. HEHEHEHEHEHEHE
Can you can catch it?
Thanks for the input.
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I go with what works for me individually. I’m willing to try just about anything to reach a better harvest, but in the end, it has to work in my life.
I’m hoping that within a couple years I’ll be able to get it done without any bought nutes.
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Well second side job of the season on the books making shed paid in full 
next couple pay for extra’s ladies look happy tonight
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It took me 2 years to get it right. I started out helping a friend make a system to sprout grain for animal feed. He had problems with water infections so I created a solution to stop this. It worked. Then another friend that grows his own medical mj wanted to try it in his ebb and flow sytem. and it worked. Then I modified it for a spray for his plnats.
The birth of an organic pest control.
Then he asked me to work on feeding the plants. As I have worked with micrones befor I gave this a try. One year later I have 3 ways to convert manure to a safe nute that works.
Now I got the bug to grow mj because it is fun. I just got invited to work with a large group of medical growers to see if we can help them get safe organic grows. I think they are going to like it and I will get to learn a lot from them as they are pro growers. They are all legal in the state of Washington with huge grow rooms. Being in a large room full of plants is a very cool thing to see.
What a change in mj growing. Legalizing it sure change things and not all for the good. The growers now have to have recordings of all grow areas 24/7 and have a lot of paper work just to keep track of state tax money. But it is still cool to see the changes in this mj culture.
Thanks for the input.
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All the regulations is the main reason I’m not interested in signing up as a care giver. There are a number of people that want me to grow for them, but I feel the government is already too far into my life.
Once you let them in it’s nearly impossible to get them out! Damned vampires…
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Actually hit double digits today +12c balmy 53f outside was T shirt weather out of the wind managed to roof first 1/3 of trailer in about 5 hours the way I started tin meant I could stop every 7 runs the owner was tickled pink by the way it looks. Also had more than a few neighbours watching as I went like I said advertisement for more in the area it will sit all week a visible before after shot for people to think on and I’ll finish it next weekend. Owner and I discussed the don’t tell people what I charged factor I would quote others slightly higher she’s a friend of the misses and on a pension so not charging standard 100 per roll only around 60 so went from a 3500 quote to about 2800 but still better than the 5k our company would’ve quoted. I am also eating cost on gas propane nails garbage lumber all the little things that will nickle and dime me a couple hundred.
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This very close to what I am doing. I compost in water with air bubblers and temp controle. The only difference between traditional compost and water compost is in water there is no organic mater left over to ferment with pathogen microbes. I filter it all out, nothing to rot.
So what you say is right on.
I missed something you said here. The term convential grower is new to me as I am new to mj growing.
So a convential grower buys most of what he needs and just grows?
A non convential grower will invent and create most of what he needs?
It looks like I had a very bad misconception about growers. I thought most growers lean toward non convetion. Like you building the shed and your growing racks.
I am still learning about the mj grower culture.
I now see my misstake. Sorry
Thanks for the education.
