First Poly Carbonate Auto Northern Lights Grow

[growinggold]

Hello All,

 

Long time lurker and big time novice indoors and out.

Not having much success indoors atm (few might've seen my Auto indoor grows finding things a steep leaning curb, let me know if people want links) 

So i thought id chuck a couple of Northern Lights into my heated poly carb house below.

 

These are seedstockers auto northern lights - Day 27

Re-potted into flower buckets in standard MPC couple days ago, with splash of water.

 

Plan is to next water feed her 1ml Biobizz grow. Dont think this will be for good few days though. Soil seem very moist atm.

This seem about right to all?

 

Did think about putting them in the quad-grow with water tank below so they could drink up all the water they like, however i think they like things on the dryer side so flower buckets it was.

How long will these run for do you think?

 

All advice welcome, Thanks

GG

[Grover Sativa]

hey fella - good luck.

 

They look healthy so whatever you are doing keep it up.

 

I did know a guy who bottom fed and it went oK for him but here was always a big pool of water below the plants - not great for keeping pests away or mould issues. Sick to your top-feeding

 

Don't overfeed or overwater... it is actually better to feed when the soil is moist and not dry but I don't think Auto NL cares.

 

Start of a great journey... stick to polycarbonate and outdoors if you can - I always prefer sun-grown and it is easier with heat issues, etc... 

 

 

[Moobman]

They are clawing slightly maybe to much water? 

[growinggold]

Ill keep the h2o away until its done dry. 

 

[Socksnsandals]

Nice greenhouse (I think I have the same one!) with, in your case, a neat floor solution.  I have soil around 3 sides and a path down the middle, so snails and slugs are an issue for me.  May just be the exposure in the picture but it looks a bit shady between the tomatoes, cucumbers etc - with a rather impressive ?chilli or pepper at the end and those plants against the walls are obviously doing really well.  Did the weed grow in that location or did you move them there?  If they grew there ignore my concern over the light levels as they are clearly doing fine.

[growinggold]

hello @Socksnsandals Its great little polycarb for great price also was v cheap.

The floor was also very cost effective and quick and easy, really recommend the plastic tiles tbh. 

With regards the light the photo was taken at dusk 8/9pm, but you are right the plants was started under lights inside.

I do feel it little to congested, the 2no potted chillis will go out in the sun when we eventually get some!

 

The GH gets light from morning still 2pm ish and bit it evening once around some trees, need to thin it out but tbh.

So far have in there toms, cucumbers, peppers, melons, chillis. love it!

Also really recommend the quad and chillis grows form greenhouse sensitisation so much easier on watering side things. 

 

 

[growinggold]

oh and the auto openers from amzon for like £14 are great also! if you need a link PM me. 

[Socksnsandals]

All looking good and you got a bargain with the openers.  I'm good for those at the moment thanks with three auto roof vents and three sets of auto louvres low down to ensure airflow.  Despite those the temperature hit a high of 39.5 when we had the heatwave (it was 28 inside the house, so I don't think that +10c was too bad in a greenhouse out in the blazing sun, if anyone can remember what blazing sun is after this long wet spell!).  Surprisingly the plants, not only canna but even lettuces etc didn't seem to mind.  Because I grow in the soil, or for the canna, in about 10-15L of coco surrounded by soil, watering has not been an issue as the plants can always tap the soil if they get thirsty.  The drawback is slugs 'n' snails but that will reduce next year when I put a brick foundation in so that they can't enter under the steel base and as I continue to squash any I spot. 

 

One issue which we all face is humidity and mould - the poor guy with a Stardawg auto in the Autos thread has just been hit by mould in his colas in the conservatory.  I have three autos a couple of weeks into flower at the moment so not yet at the high risk dense bud stage but as a precaution am getting a dehumidifier.  I put electricity into the greenhouse and yours is heated so presumably you have it too.  They cost a bit, but if you lost even one fine auto in full flower that would be more than the investment. 

 

For anyone interested, there are two types of dehumidifiers; one is essentially like a fridge, with a compressor compressing refrigerant and then allowing it to expand, cooling a condenser on which water from the humid air condenses.  Those do not work well at low temperatures (like at night-time or autumn in the greenhouse) as they have a tendency to ice up.  The other type is a desiccant dehumidifier, which has a belt covered in a moisture-absorbing substance like silica gel.  The belt passes a heater which drives off the water (which then condenses on the comparatively cool intake heat exchanger and ends up either in the reservoir or piped away) and regenerates the desiccant so it is dry and ready to absorb more moisture when the belt passes through the incoming humid air.  This type doesn't mind low temperatures and, as the heat it uses to dry the desiccant is released into the air it is drying, helps to warm the air in the space you want to dry, so this is said to be the best type for unheated "rooms" like basements, garages, caravans, (and greenhouses).  The magazine "Which" gives six of this type a best buy rating.  Equal top rating are Meaco DD8L Zambezi, Meaco DD8L, then in descending order Ecoair DD3 Classic, Ecoair DD1 Simple, Electriq DESD9L and Ecoair DD122 FW Mk5.  They range from about £140 to £240.

 

Will be interesting to see what a difference it makes to the rh.  On the one hand, it has a small space to dehumidify, on the other, the floor of that space is soil and it is full of plants transpiring moisture. I will update. 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Socksnsandals
Typo

[AutoAberdeen]

I have a Meaco Zambezi, is brilliant for in the house (we had a damp smell in a room when we moved in and it’s gone) so gonna pop it in the greenhouse and check my humidity levels now my auto is close to the end of flowering. 

[growinggold]

Hello @Socksnsandals And @AutoAberdeen

 

Thanks for the very detailed and informative response. I actually bought a little indoor dehumidifier a couple of months back when setting up my little cupboard space  (insert link here).   It’s a Pro Breeze Dehumidifier 500ml Compact and Portable Mini Air Dehumidifier £40 from the big online retailer.  I believe it’s a Thermo-Electric Peltier Tech, so hopefully will be okay in my new shed space when I get this sorted. I did use it to remove some humidity when drying my first flowers in there last month, seemed to work okay. I don’t think I will look to use one in the greenhouse and let nature just take its course. I feel Id be better saving the money and buying an 150w or 200 DIYLED light for the shed, tent and carbon is already installed, got couple fans waiting to put in. Im hoping with the light on this will lower the humidity and add few more degree warmth as I will look to have the light though the night and off midday. However I feel I will also need a heater to keep this stable all year around. I was wondering what is best.

1.Oil rad in box under bench in main shed as shown below, this has passive air intake to tent.

or

2. Bar heater in tent- if so what W?

or

3. Oil rad in tent

 

Id probs look to hook up one of the above options up to a Inkbird ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller Thermostat. I did also think about putting a raised floor intent to make sure the pots wasn’t sat on shed/tent floor hopefully giving a little more insulation underneath the bottom of the pots. Probs over thinking this, as per. All watering will be done through tropf blumats through tank above bench as seen on photo below, this goes through wall and into tent.

 

These are temps and humidity im getting atm in the tent with no light, just carbon fan on.

 

 

Sorry getting a little off track here, Thanks. Look forward to your updates Socksnsandals.

GG

 

Shed Photo

Screen shot temps

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by growinggold
pics

[Socksnsandals]

Thanks but i am a beginner in small scale cultivation in the greenhouse / garden with no knowledge of the world of indoor grows so best to hope for someone who does! (or try posting about that in the indoor fora).  

 

The Peltier effect was new to me and looks (Wikipedia page on Thermoelectric cooling) to be an alternative to compressed gas refrigeration with strengths and disadvantages.  Essentially it uses a material which responds to an electric current to generate a temperature difference between the two sides of the mechanism.  An advantage is that there are no moving parts unlike compressor fridges or belt/fan desiccant dehumidifiers so they are quiet and no moving parts to fail (though the cooling unit will fail in due course), that they can be very small, of odd shapes and also that you can get very precise control of the temperature (not important for dehumidifiers though useful when dealing with microelectronics like cooling chips).  The major disadvantage seems to be a low efficiency.  Dehumidifiers use the Peltier system to make a cold plate on which the water vapour in the humid air can condense and then drip into a reservoir.  On a quick read including of the instruction manual couldn't confirm but I suspect that they will have a tendency to ice up as do refrigerant / compressor systems and would therefore be less useful in a colder environment like an unheated shed or greenhouse.  However that isn't where you are planning to use it so is not relevant.  

 

So, interesting, and thanks for alerting me to some new knowledge about something I'd never heard of but sorry, no help to you! 

[growinggold]

Hello All,

 

So here we are day 38 one watering we couple ml of biobizz grow added.

Think ill water again soon with biobizz grow and bloom.

 

 

 

[growinggold]

Hello All,

So here we are on day 45.

Had another watering of biobizz grow and biobizz bloom.

Think i went bit heavy on this.

 

Greenhouse door to start:

 

 

Plant 1. Few leaf issues here, not sure what it is? any idead?

 

 

Plant 2 looks bit healthier, no issues i think. 

 

really trying to refrain from watering. 

 

Also some more greenhouse shots below for your interest. Got a melon in back corner coming along and big jim is starting to turn red.

 

 

 

@Socksnsandals

@inapond13

@AutoAberdeen

 

thanks yall

[inapond13]

Really nice looking greenhouse.  I wish I started my edibles earlier this year.  I only have a few tomatoes set at the moment, the largest the size of a satsuma.  And my cucamelon (small, round cucumber that has the skin of a watermelon) are flowering but no fruit set yet.  Apart from that it is just cannabis this year  

 

Maybe the feed has been a bit hot for that plant with the leaf damage or maybe something else?  It doesn't look too bad though so as long as it doesn't get any worse and affect the new growth, I wouldn't worry too much

[AutoAberdeen]

I’ve got about 20 cherry tomato plants in the greenhouse, pretty much all have fruit growing so will see how many I get in the end. Tried cucumbers but only managed to get one off three plants.
 

Next year I’ll be more organised with my greenhouse setup as this time it was just set up with tables and things I had kicking about the shed. Might do a polytunnel alongside it too for more space to grow fruit and veg.