Noopin’s fridge conversion

[Noopin]

I believe that I suggested the extract fan (4" domestic) could be expected to fail at some point.  Guess what...two extra lamps (as the plant was lower) raised temps to 32, so WAC1 up to no.3 and it gave up some point after.  But it had been running for 16 hrs per day, for weeks.

It's been a matter of squeezing the 5" RVK into the bottom of the lower cabinet, it's a bit awkward but happily shifting air on no.1.  And quieter than the other.

I'd already switched the fan to come on 3 times briefly during darkness because the humidity at lights-on was waaay up.  It'll just be a matter of balancing the new suction against the heat (which is only provided by the lights), which might mean restricting the top intake slightly.  Humidity will then look after itself...

[Noopin]

On setting 1, it’s pulling the temp down to 22, so I’ve very slightly restricted the intake, which is only a 2” pipe through the top.
 

[MindSoup]

Enjoying this thread, a grower after my own heart. Make do and mend. 

[Noopin]

Since I couldn’t reduce the extract rate and shutting off the inlet can only go so far, I had no option but to use an old 15W CFL as a heater.  In a small, controlled space, the lights are usually enough to deal with keeping temps up.  I think there’s plenty that can be gained by careful routing of airflow from in to out.

My fridge is in the cellar, so the intake air is several degrees cooler than upstairs.  Last year, I had real difficulty in keeping temps high enough in a shower room grow, largely because the ambient temp was low.  But it doesn’t fluctuate much, either, so that I can leave things alone once everything’s balanced.

For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why so many people had big problems with keeping temperatures down.  I decided later that it was probably testament to how leaky the room was, with the fan working correspondingly harder.  See, I’d done all my research on extract rates, room volumes, negative pressure (never mind the risks of not getting it right), oh yes - I wasn’t going to be happy until the pressure almost closed the door for me.

Now, the 5”RVK is pretty quiet, with acoustic ducting and a big filter, so I didn’t realise just how much cellar air was being drawn into a porous space.  Still, they grew and flowered at 22C because I couldn’t find a way to raise that without adding more energy just to have it blown into my back yard.  
I got as far as sketching out a heat recovery system for the extracted air to warm the intake air.  My room was several metres from an outside wall, so I preferred a concentric pipe system.

Anyway, that aside, it convinced me that I needed to start again with a grow environment that I could control...and here we are.

 

Just been for another look and it’s 26.5C & 48%, that’ll do for now.  Lights out at 9.  Remembered to check that the heater lamp was plugged into the timer, as well.  Cos that would be a shame at this point...

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Noopin
Just finessing the style...

[Noopin]

I thought I’d not disturb things too early this morning, so sauntered down at midday - lights look as though they’re on, open the door and whoosh, bathed in tropical humidity.  44C, it said, or rather croaked.  The extractor wasn’t on and the rotary timer wasn’t moving.

Yesterday, I reset the fan timer because I thought I’d not set it properly the day before.  Evidently not the case, so it’s off to get another.  Digital, methinks, because I can’t afford to have the lighting timer failing as well.  Someone earlier mentioned that mechanical timers have more to go wrong and thank F it wasn’t the lights.  The failed one has been in use for a few weeks only, the other did all the work last year, so that’ll go on the fan and new one on lights.

Mind you, the plant itself was looking huge and vigorous as a result, meaning that I had to thoroughly tuck in all the fan leaves again.

 

And it’s time to fess up that I don’t know that this is female...last year, every seed I found came up female.  I’m not yet convinced that it is, and three-branchers are often hermies, apparently.  I’ve persuaded myself that I can see tiny pistils but I’ll have a better idea in a day or so.

[MindSoup]

Fan timer? The ones in morris' supermarket are good, only 7ish quid..

Edited April 2, 2021 by MindSoup

[Noopin]

We have 3 of those “bit of everything” places, all think they’re the new Woolies, plus Tesco and a proper hardware store.  In one tiny former milltown.  Without the option of getting a decent one - £15-odd - it’s a standard 7d/24h timer with a screen that’s far too small to read for 4.99.  I’ll have to presume it’s less likely to fail than the rotary ones, hence it’s going on the lights.

 

Several hours later, final check of timers, temps...

Now you’re all smart, rational people and one or two of you will have followed my problems with the extract fan, so tell me what’s wrong with this -

It’s not entirely clear but I know you’ll have figured it out.  The timer is in line after the speed controller,  Since the WAC1 is on setting one, there’s not enough of Signor Volta’s little units to run the motor to turn the timer dial.  Discovered just in time, again.

 

[GG88]

The wac1 drops the volts the lower the number, I would assume the time needs 230v to work correctly (setting 5) you will need to run the time before the wac1 to work a is my guess 

 

I have my fan running 24/7 on setting 3 

[Noopin]

The Black Orchid arrived at my front door - this dame was trouble from the ground up, her lips a scarlet I hadn’t seen...oops, wrong Black Orchid.  Fitted that and rescued the RVK, which can’t have been happy coming on for 15mins every hour at setting 1.

I now have all the space available once more, in the lower section.  The rotary timer certainly didn’t like clunking one peg on and off every hour.  The new fan (max.105cmh) seems comfortable at 3 or above but it can be left on full time, which means the growing environment is stable again.  

And confirmation that it is, indeed, female - pistils emerging everywhere.  She’s reaching upwards noticeably, now, and bud sites are forming up the vertical stems.  Remember that this is a tri-branch plant, so there are 50% more branches and bud sites at each node and it’s getting a bit busy.  Lots of lower leaves have been removed and, because this is essentially a ring of 12 flowering stems, I’ve repositioned a couple of lights to reach down through the centre, now it’s opened up.  This plant has behaved differently to last year’s because I “forced” it into flowering mode this time, so everything is a little behind what I was expecting after flipping, but it’s all starting to make sense.

 

2 weeks ago, the canopy was sitting on top of the screen.

 

 

 

I grabbed an aloe vera plant for 4 quid on the spur of the moment and took a couple of cuttings to clone with it.  The cuttings were probably smaller than ideal but it’s worth a try at various stages.  This plant has been so manicured toward producing the 12 main buds that there was nothing very substantial to clone from!

 

The makeshift screen has done its job and needs removing before it’ll cause damage in any case, I shall have to get ready for further growth in good time.  With the screen gone, the pot can be lowered further and I’ll be able to turn it, which will be important later.  I’ll revert to wiring the branches individually, as necessary. 

[Noopin]

Hey Ho, another three days pass and I’ve removed the mesh, tied each branch into position, dropped the pot lower and soaked with Bio-bloom, which is all I’ve ever used during flower.

The plant is now as wide as the fridge’ll cope with but plenty of access down the middle, into which I’ve dangled a spare light.

 

Now then, the aloe vera cutting/cloning thing...of course, all I’ve done is create two tiny, tiny flowering plants as far as I can see.  They were tiny cuttings to begin with and, make no mistake, five days after dipping in the av juice, they seem lively and pert (haven’t disturbed them yet), which is good, but they’ve been under the 12/12 lights and are just carrying on with the flowering process as if still on the plant. 
Which, I suppose, was inevitable.  Think I’ve some more reading to do around this subject.

[Shumroom]

You'll want to give a clone/cutting more hours of light to signal for her to revert back to vegetative state and make roots. 

 

I usually give clones 18-20 hours of light per day. 

 

Can you remove the clones from the fridge and keep them cosy with some light for an hour or so every day during the lights off?(Gaslighting technique) 

 

Atb 

 

 

[Noopin]

Thanks @Shumroom - having learned just how much one can trigger or trick the plants’ cycles, I shoulda figured that out.

 

I had hoped to be able to use the top/bottom sections individually but, since my pot has now started migrating south, there’s not much distinction left.  I had visions of separate growing environments but I can’t afford light leaks to the flowers.

 

Right, I’ll get the two cuttings onto min 18hrs of 6500 light and see what happens.  There’s a small fridge/freezer just appeared on the back street but I’ll improvise while I think about that as a solution.  I know damn well that I’ll first attempt a light-sealed area at the bottom of the current fridge, which is already warm and ventilated.  The main airflow is via an original 50cm-long channel set into the rear casing from top to bottom, so should be simple to modify.  And it’ll only need a single led lamp for now.

 

Time to research light baffling (a condition I regularly endure and, indeed, seek). 
 

Just spent two minutes in a blissful reverie somewhere, pondering the word “baffling” until it became a meaningless sort of mantra and I, well...spaced out, man.  Nice.

 

[Noopin]

Anyway, I wedged pieces of fibreglass insulation around the pot rim, dangled a daylight bulb above the cuttings box, set it to 19hrs and checked that no light reached the top cabinet.  Separate compartments now, on the same ventilation system but different lighting regimes, which is what I’d always hoped to end up with.

 

That aside, while I was out just now, I spotted these - thermostatically controlled 15-30C, 500W, 2-speed fan heater, with timer and 2-year guarantee.  Since I can’t see anything nowadays without considering how it might benefit a grower - there it is, just for information.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Noopin

[Noopin]

A salutary lesson learned except that, if I was going to learn anything, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.

 

500W fan heater? - that’ll be manageable enough, surely...I’ll pop it under the plant, close the door, once the temp had dropped to 12 or so, and monitor the temp.

 

At no point did I think - that’s a fan heater you’ve just set off underneath your cherished plant, inside a fridge, you fucking knob...congratulations, you’ve re-invented the oven.  Next to the fridge happens to be a 500W halogen floodlight and I’d no more stick that in there than use a blowtorch.  No, I just set it off and watched the temp rise to 50-ish in seconds and promptly opened the door.

I’ve trimmed these off and realised that the branch stem has been badly damaged and gone soft in a couple of spots.  She can’t lose a limb now or the viewed from above portraits won’t look half as sexy.

Bad parenting.  

 

[Alys]

Ouch