Get a harvest every 2 weeks

[Al B. Fuct]

Thanks mon. Gets the job done. The new one is better, but as said, still needs finishing- and I'm snowed under with harvesting at the mo. I'll get to it sooner or later... bearing in mind that v1.0 was used for 7 years with some masking tape put over old fan locations that didn't work so well in the proto-prototype engineering pass...

Did you ever try wireing a dimmer switch into a dehydrator circuit?

[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by 4:21oops

Did you ever try wireing a dimmer switch into a dehydrator circuit?

BudDryer v1.0 already has one.



This is the BD v1.0 schematic. It will work for 110V-240V but temp control is manual. Connect the 470R resistors to the dimmer in parallel for 110V. Probably won't get warm enough if in series, but you can try it that way first.

v2.0 doesn't need the dimmer as the resistor values have been matched to the 240V mains voltage. Now using 4x 1.5k ohm in parallel, directly wired to 240V. Each 25W aluminum body 1.5k resistor is dissipating 38.4 watts- keep in mind they are on a fan-cooled heatsink- and thus don't overtemp. A Jaycar thermostat is used to control temp. Fans stay on 24/7, heater resistors get switched on & off by the thermostat.

You could modify a standard dehydrator by putting a high-power dimmer (500W min) in series with the heating element. Check the wattage rating of the dehydrator before buying your dimmer. It is much cheaper to build the whole thing yourself- and you'll get a lot more room for buds, too. However, modding up a commercial food dehydrator will get the job done for rather small amts of buds equally well; more costly as you're buying a whole dehydrator, but with less fuss. It'd be a 20 minute job to mod up a commercial dehydrator.

No, I mean a simple dehydrator appliance. Like one of those stackable types. It is just a cylinder with stackable trays and real simple heating element in the bottom. The only problem would be the need for additional upward airflow. When drying jerkey you do have to rotate trays to allow for uneven drying but there is always somewhat of an upward airflow. I just don't think its enough for bud. However, there is adequate heat, probably too much. Thats why I was wondering, so that you could cut back the heat a bit.

[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by 4:21oops

When drying jerkey you do have to rotate trays to allow for uneven drying but there is always somewhat of an upward airflow. I just don't think its enough for bud. However, there is adequate heat, probably too much. Thats why I was wondering, so that you could cut back the heat a bit.

I can't see why you couldn't use a commercially made food or herb dehydrator, provided you could dial down the temp from their usual 100-160F operating temps. An incandescent dimmer would do fine as heating elements are purely resistive, just as are incandescent lamps.

If the dehydrator has a thermostat and you have had to choke off the current to the heating element, you may be using temps outside the range of the unit's original thermostat. You may have to find a tstat capable of closely regulating temps at 29C and work out a way of installing it so its temp sensor is in the warm airflow.

Food dehydrators also often have very small vertical height between trays, limiting how much bud you could do at one time.

When you really have to start doing serious modding up of the commercial unit, you may find that it's the same or less work to cook up your own.

There's some other cannabis-specific features you can put in a dryer of your own making as well, such as fitting flanges for flexible ducting to the air output of the dryer so 'stinky' air can be ducted elsewhere or through an ioniser or carbon filter.

[Al B. Fuct]

BTW, if you do cook up your own dryer based on a plastic storage tub with tight sealing lid, use a hot soldering iron to cut the holes for the fans. Sawing or drilling the cheap plastic tub material will crack and shatter it. Rough edges can be easily removed with a Dremel fitted with a sanding drum, also without cracking as trimming edges with a razor knife might produce.

If the lid doesn't seal or is deliberately loose to provide ventilation in normal storage use, hotglue some strips of foam along the underside of the lid edge. Most tubs have carrying handles which double as lid latches. The airtight seal will force air to be drawn only via the fans and not through lid edge leaks.

Thanks for all the great info. Yes, you got a point. The dehydrater would be a lot of mods by the time I got through.

[Jimi001]

I can't smoke the same strain straight for more than a week or so, don't you grow a strong tolerance to that strain?

Are the four groups under the same light? What kind of light would I need for 16 plants? I'm thinking about starting with two different strains and taking about 3 cuttings and using the better two of them both to harvest 4 plants every two weeks.

How do you start the cycle? I'm going to get seeds and grow a couple of each strain and use two of them for the mothers, and smoke the rest while the new shit grows. After that I should have a good understanding of what to do.. Now that I think about it, 18 plants + clones is kind of a lot.. would I be able to do two or three plants every two weeks or would that be inefficient?

[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by Jimi001

I can't smoke the same strain straight for more than a week or so, don't you grow a strong tolerance to that strain?

Everyone has a different reaction to weed. Some develop a tolerance to particular strains or all weed rather quickly; some never lose the 1-cone, 3-4 hour buzz. I guess I'm lucky being the latter. I guess I'm luckier yet that everyone who smokes my buds is the same.

Are the four groups under the same light?

No, there's one 1000HPS for each pair. Two 1000s covering the 4 trays.

What kind of light would I need for 16 plants? I'm thinking about starting with two different strains and taking about 3 cuttings and using the better two of them both to harvest 4 plants every two weeks.

A 600 HPS over a roughly 3' square tray would do pretty well.

There's some advantage to using 4 individual trays and tanks as you can tailor the nutes to the plant's particular phase of growth. If I only had 1 tank feeding all plants, I could not add my P additive in wk3 per the mfr's instructions (Canna PK-13-14) without treating all other plants which are in different phases due to staggering the feed of plants in and out of the flowering area.

How do you start the cycle? I'm going to get seeds and grow a couple of each strain and use two of them for the mothers, and smoke the rest while the new shit grows. After that I should have a good understanding of what to do..

Start with a few mother plants. I can get 30 good cuts every 2 weeks off of 8-10 mums. You really only need one mother but it's often very good to have a backup mum in development. Once you have some nice thick stems developed, you can start doing batches of clones. Those will take 10-12 days before they are ready to flower, during which time your mums will recover and be ready to donate the next batch. Cut a few more than you'll need. I cut 30, can only use 23 for each flowering batch.

I know that killing spare clones will make some ppl cry, but you gotta do what you gotta do when your flowering trays are full and you don't need any more replacement mums. Console yourself by composting your plant waste and put the rich compost on your vegetable patch.

Now that I think about it, 18 plants + clones is kind of a lot.. would I be able to do two or three plants every two weeks or would that be inefficient?

When scaling this op down, figure on about 1/2oz per SoG style plant when you're just beginning. Work that out against your smoking needs. When you get things really dialed in, you should be seeing 1oz per plant. You can put only 1 plant per 2wks in to flower if that's all you need.

[Al B. Fuct]

As it occurs to me, when doing small onesy-twosy numbers of clones, you can afford to do many more than you need. Not every one of my clones roots as well as the next; it's nice to be able to pick the very best performing clones to go into the flowering area. Your mother plant will need to be cut back anyway and if you don't use the material for clones, it's just compost. May as well increase your overall chances by increasing the number of cuts. Not that much extra work.

[Jimi001]

thanks for answering all my questions, i really appreciate it. one more thing, once the mother plants veg and flower can you harvest the bud and still get clones from it?

Morning Al, This is my largest mother. She is now starting to show some good side shoots and really filling up the inside nicely. How much longer should I let her go until I try and start taking clones. At best the longest shoot on the interior is maybe 3" but I am wondering whether or not she'll ever produce the kind of stock that you normally cut from. This plant is really super bushy! I will need two healthy clones for my flower room. With my bubble bucket set-up I feel that this number will work best to allow for 2 additional buckets the last 2 weeks or so of flower. I would love to have maybe 4 levels of maturity but my space won't allow for it. Unless I did 4 levels of maturity with 4 buckets. But even that would be pushing it. I just don't have the room...Thanks

[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by Jimi001

thanks for answering all my questions, i really appreciate it. one more thing, once the mother plants veg and flower can you harvest the bud and still get clones from it?

The mother plants are never flowered. They only are grown vegetatively. The cuttings taken from them are flowered.

Mother plants wear out, in my case rather quickly. I replace them about every 4-6 weeks with one of their 'kids.' Old mothers are chopped up and composted.

[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by 4:21oops

How much longer should I let her go until I try and start taking clones.

My mums are about 18-24" tall when I take cuttings; about 8-10" tall when pruned back after doing a pass of cuts. Veg em WAY up before you do a pass of cuts. You're gonna cut them down quite a lot so they won't grow into the lights before the next pass. This will give you some tall, fat stems to choose from.


mums just after a pass of cuts...

and just 15 days later under a 400HPS

Originally Posted by Al B. Fuct

My mums are about 18-24" tall when I take cuttings; about 8-10" tall when pruned back after doing a pass of cuts. Veg em WAY up before you do a pass of cuts. You're gonna cut them down quite a lot so they won't grow into the lights before the next pass. This will give you some tall, fat stems to choose from.


mums just after a pass of cuts...

and just 15 days later under a 400HPS

Thats a really severe prune then isnt it? Since the plant is in veg cycle it can recover quickly I assume? Then 2 weeks later its ready for another round of cuts? Would it be helpful for me to try and stretch mine a bit at this point? Do you prefer the hps as opposed to the flouro or MH? Thanks for the reply and the great info.