You don't see any issues with heavy metals like copper and aluminum or even solder toxins from the evaporator coil? -growtender
In all seriousness is the dehumidifier you are using ancient? Im not sure how yours is set up but mine has a separate reservoir away from the coils. it "should" be safe to use. Worst case try it out on a single plant / bucket and see how it works out for you.
More on dehumidifiers In addition to saving energy, you also might be able to recycle the water that your dehumidifier collects. The water that shows up in your dehumidifier's bucket is considered greywater. That means it's not suitable for drinking, but can be great for watering houseplants and flowers, since it's less salty than tap water. However, you should check first to see if there are any restrictions on using greywater in your area.
That's pretty much what I read. The plan I have is not to attach the hose to the provided hose outlet on the back, but rather drill a new hole in the dehumidifier's reservoir close to it's bottom. Then I would run that line to another reservoir through a float valve. The water would collect in there until it fills up and shuts off the float valve. This in turn would start the dehumidifier's own reservoir filling until it reaches capacity and automatically shuts off, preventing any overflow from happening. I would use a light-tight container like one of those Rubbermade Brute bins with a lid and have an air stone and recirculating pump going. That would keep the water moving and prevent stagnation. The dehumidifier itself is brand new and it's reservoir is separate from the coils. At least that's the plan anyway. Lot of growers I know use their dehumidifier's water and say they have success. I would just be concerned with what's it the water even though it is only 30 ppm -growtender
Week 8 begins tomorrow and despite the gnat/pm warfare the ladies look good. Final neem oil soak, dehumidifier running, and hopefully I don't lose too much in the end. Gonna start flushing in a couple days. Here's some pics: Getting the logistical plan together for post harvest cleaning of the entire grow room. Anybody know how I should go about cleaning the grow to keep the pm from coming back? It'd be nice to get some advice from blades who've dealt with powdery mildew since this is my first time dealing with this nasty shit -growtender
That's definitely on the list. Gonna probably disassemble the electronics and all that. Any tips on cleaning fans? Also I've heard some guys say after the bleach thing burn sulfur. That seems a bit extreme to me...what do you think? -growtender
My favorite is to pop a smoke bomb. It'll cover everything and get in the nooks n crannies. Also makes a hell of a mess lol. "Don't let the past remind us of what we are not now." 1000 watt Scrog Journal
I don't have any easy tips for the fans, just spray it all down the best you can. If your worried try a sulfur burn. It won't hurt, if it gives you more peace of mind. I have never done one. No matter what you do, if you don't control your environment the PM will come back. Lots of air moving and lower humidity.
Time for flushing! The trichomes look good and a lot of the fan leaves are dying off and I haven't added any nutrients for a couple weeks now, just topped off the reservoir with RO water. Gonna change the rez to straight RO water and let it flush for two days. Then I'm gonna stop all watering and let the plants dry a bit under the light for two days then it'll be lights out and darkness for three days. Then chop and trim! Taking a page from Jorge Cervantes on soaking the freshly cut bud in a hydrogen peroxide bath for five minutes to wash the pm off of them. Hopefully it works! Seems like a lot of folks do it as part of their harvest routine. Wish me luck! -growtender
Week 9 begins today. Ran two days of flushing through the irrigation system and beginning both days poured a whole pitcher of RO water through each pot. On Tuesday right at lights on I pulled the reservoir and as of just before lights out today the soil is drying out nicely. The dehumidifier is definitely doing its job seeing as the rainy fall season is in full effect. It's keeping the RH at about 33-45%. The fan leaves are rapidly dying off and the buds are hardened and glistening with trichomes. I think as soon as I feel the soil is completely dried out I'll shut the lights off for three days and get myself ready for harvest! Gonna be some big work doing the H2O2 bud soak, pulling out equipement, and cleaning the shit out of the flowering room before I put the next crop in. Here's the current crop so far: On Tuesday night I finally got around to trimming back the vegging crop. Unfortunately I had to pitch the LSD mother, all the Dark Star, and a couple Headband due to the powdery mildew. Didn't want to risk it. They look a little haggered, but considering the fact that I plan on doing SCROG for this crop I think I'll still get a decent harvest if I play my cards right. Gonna flower my AK47 mother as well as the three Afgooey's and three Headbands I have left. Also made sure to get 12 clones of Afgooey for the next veg round. I really liked how that strain performed and I'm anticipating a great yield from the four Afgooey's I'm about to harvest. And that's the only strain that didn't show a single spore of powdery mildew! All for now...just waiting patiently for the ladies to be dry and ready for chopping! -growtender
Harvest day! This was actually a pretty smooth day. Spent the first 4-5 hours chopping and trimming. My lady and I took our time starting with the Afgooey, then the Dark Star and finally the Headband, trimming everything off the buds and stems. Each branch we finished was immediately put into a garbage bag (the plain non-scented kind). One bag per strain. We did this to limit the spread of the powdery mildew. The worst case of it was all over the Headband. As we got to that one I gotta say, our spirits were pretty low Wish I took a pic of that for you but I dropped the ball. After finishing the trim work we immediately moved the three bags of plants into the house. I focused on setting up my downstairs bathroom for drying while she gathered materials for the H2O2 soak! Chose to do it there because it has a small exhaust fan that draws the air to outside the house. Placed a 440cfm fan with a carbon filter to scrub the air, two oscillating fans, the dehumidifier, and an ionic breeze to kill germs etc. In my upstairs bathroom we filled a bin with seven gallons of plain water and added 16oz H2O2 (3%, the regular stuff from the store). Started with the Headband because it had the worst case of powdery mildew. We put the whole yield in it. I found the bud floated relentlessly, so I weighted it down with a heavy glass baking dish. We let them soak for ten minutes before thoroughly rinsing them off. Then we proceeded to Dark Star and finally Afgooey. Kinda strange doing this to plants after you've spent a week drying them out towards the end of flowering, but after rinsing I couldn't see any of the powdery mildew. I think the true test will be after it has dried. The room is staying at a nice 76 degrees with less than 35% relative humidity. The buds already feel dry to the touch and I'm hoping the air circulation and dehumidifying will keep anything else from getting to them. I got more than I expected to in the end. I just hope the H2O2 soak did the trick! On a sad note, I decided to get rid of the plants I had in veg. Noticed a bit of powdery mildew on them said "fuck it!" I brought my twelve Afgooey clones and AK47 mother in the house and shut the whole grow room down after harvest. Such a sad photo: But it needed to be done! My plan now is to clean the shit out of the grow room and set my AK47 mother up in the flowering chamber for SCROG and hang the T5 over it for a bit. At least I can get that plant going and take some clones from her before I flower her. I think I'm also gonna get some better intake filter material as well. Despite the hurdles I think my first run in this new facility was pretty successful. Let's hope the next run is even better! -growtender
Good looking harvest! I've never heard of anyone soaking the buds in h2o2 solution to get rid of powder mildew. Did it work? I really want to see your weight totals when you have them. I haven't seen anyone up cut that far up the plant. Why so high up?
I heard about the H2O2 soak from a Jorge Cervantes video. Seemed to work well, but I think I'll know once the drying process is over. I cut high to just below the first knuckle. No reason why. I'll be getting total dry yields out in a few weeks after I'm well into the cure. -growtender
Harvest seems to be drying very well! No sign of the powdery mildew on any bud branches I've checked this far. Room is at 78 degrees with 34% relative humidity. And I've got my AK47 mother and Afgooey clones hanging in my front room with my bearded dragon and other plants under his T8. At least I've bought some time to wait until next week to clean the grow room because I've got so much shit to do for work this week/weekend I'm glad I can just relax a little bit after work. At least in the house I can pay close attention to these plants and make sure none develop any powdery mildew. Meanwhile the grow room is getting damn near freezing each night and that's gonna kill a whole lotta things for me before I clean -growtender
Stems all snap well, so bud is dried and in the jars they go! Here's the stats so far. Afgooey 166grams 5.9oz Dark Star 236g 8.4oz Headband 70g 2.5oz Total yield: 472g 16.8oz Meters in the jars read about 45% relative humidity. That's a little drier than I've done in the past, but I wanted to go a little drier this time around. Should see the RH go up a bit with the curing process drawing moisture from within the buds. All for now. Gonna roll an Afgooey joint! -growtender
I'm glad to. Was a bit worried about the gnats and powdery mildew. Now I'm worried about my Afgooey clones...four of them rotted. I hope at least two survive :/ -growtender