Joshua Auto - Brock's Seed's

[MindSoup]

Sounds good man, hopefully that will go a good way to boosting your growth rates. 

[RUFUS HOUND]

@MindSoup I thought it would be more complicated to set up but only took a minute to sort out - could you post your settings on here to give me something to aim at please.

My 600W mini oil rad is only on its first heat setting (200w). I have the TS=24'C, HD=3'C with the rad thermostat turned to max (so always on) to allow the inkbird to control the rad on/off, (it cant turn on the rad if its onboard thermostat has it turned off!)

The probe has been buried 3 inch into the soil of the largest pot (orange bucket containing the Kush) and is controlling temps between 23 and 27'C.

Im getting a little overshoot of temp at initial lights out (11am to 3pm)  but nothing major, I'll post screen shot later of the tent canopy trend, once its got a bit of history to look at.

inkbird settings

Edited October 3, 2022 by RUFUS HOUND

[MindSoup]

My inkbird (probe brried in the bed) is set to 25°C with a +/- of 0.5° (copied that from one of BPBs diaries iirc), it runs both my tube heaters . My fan speed controller (controller 67) is set to gradually ramp up and down with the air temps, so as it gets colder it slows down and keeps the heat in and as it gets hotter it speeds up and stops things overheating. If you're still just heating the air coming into the tent then your probe position should be fine, but if/when you heat with the cable (from below) you'll want the probe just a couple of inches from the bottom of a pot so you don't cook the bottom of the roots, there can be quite a difference between the top and bottom of a pot as I found out in my veg tent which has a heat mat under the bed running off a cheapo temp controller that I mentioned previously.  

 

Below you can see a typical readout of my AIR TEMPS over a 24hr period. Fairly stable lights on, but lights off (midnight-6am) it varies quite dramatically, that doesn't seem to bother the plants at all. My inkbird doesn't have WiFi so no graph to show you, but it's extremely stable despite the air temperature fluctuations.

 

 

I'll go out on a limb here and say that IMO/E air temps are far less crucial than soil temps within reason (still needs to be in the right ball park), pretty sure BPB says this as well and we both know how knowledgeable he is. Of course both being perfectly dialed in is best but I have to choose one or the other (not enough plugs available) and since focusing on the soil temps more I've had much better growth and far less issues than when I was trying to measure leaf surface temperatures etc (how that's even possible I don't know, I got different readings on every leaf, sometimes even on different parts of the same one). 

 

Wo bit of an essay . 

Edited October 3, 2022 by MindSoup

[rolio]

15 hours ago, RUFUS HOUND said:

@MindSoup

 

@Crow RiverIve bought myself a 6M (90W) heated cable, I should be able heat trace the entire floor area of the new 120x60 tent

 

 

 

 

Why have I not come across these heated cables before 

 

These will be ideal for what I need! 

[RUFUS HOUND]

@MindSoup cheers mate, I dont know yet if I will loop them round the pots or do the floor, probably give both a try out to see what works best.

[RUFUS HOUND]

@roliogot mine off fleabay have a look for greenhouse or reptile heating cable - they do come in various watt per metre, the one I got was 15w/m.

[MindSoup]

24 minutes ago, RUFUS HOUND said:

@MindSoup cheers mate, I dont know yet if I will loop them round the pots or do the floor, probably give both a try out to see what works best.

I think highgrower raps his pots with heat mats so that could well be a good idea yeah. 

[RUFUS HOUND]

So Ive had a few issues controling the root temps with the oil rad, as its getting the tent to hot 32/33'C before the root zone had chance to warm up to 25'C.

Tried different settings of the HD (hi temperature differential) but nothing seemed to work, so hookd up my rather shit heat mats as a tempory solution until I sort my heating cable out in the new tent.

 

meanwhile back at the ranch the girls are merrily growing, I did a little LST and removed a few fan leaves that were covering the budsites.

They are getting on in age and still no sign of flowering - might have to change to 12/12 or go dark for 48hrs to kick start them off

 

The Kush top left is really filling out now- I might have to chop the rear right as I need the space and it was always a bit weak compred to the other.

 

 

[RUFUS HOUND]

I chopped the kush that was top right and it gives me some much needed space so Ive potted up the topped Joshua to its final 8L pot reusing the compost from the chopped Kush after removing what little roots were in it and aerating it by giving it a good mix up (bottom left in this pic)

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by RUFUS HOUND

[MindSoup]

23 hours ago, RUFUS HOUND said:

getting the tent to hot 32/33'C before the root zone had chance to warm up to 25'C

Once they're up to temp it will level out more and more (as long as the +/- is set to a small amount like ≤0.5 °c) its just that initial period where youll see big spikes. 

Edited October 10, 2022 by MindSoup

[RUFUS HOUND]

@MindSoupI think its the lag time, especially after the lights on, its heated up nicely then the lights come on and increase them futher. 

Even after the inkbird has turned the rad off, its still got a lot of residual heat in it, not like the tube heaters - I left it a few days but it had a 10'C difference 22 to 32, which was worse than using the oil rad thermostat. Having a temp controled fan to cope with the high temps would help as well.

It might get better control as it get colder for longer as ambient temps are low on night but quite high still daytime.

Edited October 10, 2022 by RUFUS HOUND

[MindSoup]

Oh yeah I didn't think about the fact the rad would hold its heat for so long. Hopefully the mats/cable work better.

[RUFUS HOUND]

Not really a post regarding the Joshua but on their neighbours OG Kush - the poor performing one I chopped was quality controlled last night and it is the best I have ever grown.

 

Even after drying a few buds in the microwave (not advised for best quality but dries them quick) its bloody great

Lovely spice/earth flavour and total relaxation, cut early so a bit more racy but slept like a log (best sleep in ages). made me very creative, I was coming up with ideas how to improve everything I laid eyes on  A few cons though - hide all the snacks it makes you ravenous and a bit of dry mouth that came and went.

 

I like this so much Im going to get enough seeds for a few runs next year - cant waiting to try her sister, which is a far superior plant. 

 

adios amigos, have a good day 

[RUFUS HOUND]

I eventually sorted out the heating - Ive got the inkbird is set at 26'C but I have it out of the pot, measuring the air temp.

 

I made a sponge cover for it so it protects it a bit from the fan and light and its working a treat 

Day 47 - put them on 12/12 hope it doesnt turn the mac an crack

Edited October 15, 2022 by RUFUS HOUND

[Goodbloke]

Did popping a cover on the probe tip when measuring air temps show any noticeable temp reading difference compared to no cover?