New ACMPR indoor grow. 600wHPS 400wMH Raspberry pi grow controller..

Stay tuned for one cool grow journal and a whole lot more!

Goals.

1. Document my first grow under the new ACMPR regulations. (Canada)

2. Achieve a perfect room. Perfect room being: Always maintaining optimal night / day temps and humidity. maintaining optimal co2 levels, perfect ph (as much as possible).As you read further you will see how this will be difficult to regulate and motor at first as a co2 controller will not likely enter the picture until the latter stages of the flowering cycle. I also will not be purchasing a co2 bottle and regulator until that time. What will i use in the mean time you ask? You'll have to wait and see... well actually i will have it in my build post that will likely be tonight if i can find a phone/ camera that will take an alright picture.

3. Harvest at least a gram/watt.

4. Develop / Build / Program my own grow room controller. This project will be released as open source in the early stages. A free functional open source copy will always be available so anyone can build one. I do plan to market this eventually so free will not be as fully featured.

5. To grow my own and grow in peace.

Cheers guys.

Haroo

 

The build...

So most of this unit is built and is currently undergoing temperature and humidity tests. There are a few missing components that will be discussed as well as pictures to follow.

The setup this far.

The veg/flower room is currently a dr120 grow tent (4.74' x7.9') equipped with a 400w MH for veg and a 600w HPS for flower. The tent is setup as an airtight growing environment. Meaning no air exchange at any time for any reason. The tent is equipped with 6000 btu window type A/C unit to control the heat. One must be sticky when using such a unit as some window units use air from the cool side to help cool the hot site. The one i have is sealed and separated almost like a mini split would be, but not quite. This ensures no smell or co2 escaping. The 400w MH is a shop high light reflector with built in ballast. This will be eventually separated when i have a reflector for it. FYI i bought all 8 of those 400w MH fixtures from a guy closing his shop down for $20.. need one and are in Canada, PM me. The HPS is in a very large silverstar reflector with the glass removed as i will not air cool it.

Currently I'm running the 400w MH with the A/C in the tent. I also have a humidifier and a carbon filter on a 4" vortex fan scrubbing the room. I am experimenting with temperature and humidity control right now. I feel that these tests are crucial right now.I want to see how tight i can get my room dialed in using only the temp setting on the A/C unit and humidity control (dial type) on the humidifier. This will set the baseline for the custom controller to come at the same time it will let me know if its ready for expensive plants. I currently have a cherry tomato in there as well as a cutting i took form it. The cutting is in a home made DWC bubble cloner. (its a margarine tub with a good size air pump / stone for the size.) I like to do things on the cheap as a proof of concept before i go crazy. The tomato had roots in 5 days.

Current test data setup as above:

With the 400w, humidifier fan / filter running the A/C unit has no problem maintaining temperatures as low as 66F.
It's been set to 76F and holds a steady 77 -79 in spots. the patchy temp is likely due to no fans mixing air other than the 4" vortex. (filter upright on the ground in corner blowing air straight up) as of yet.

The dial on this particular humidifier has proven difficult. The built in humidistat has a very large swing range. I may be able to take it apart and adjust the kick in and out point something like a pressure switch but i doubt it. That grow controller sure would come in handy right now. I have also experienced an issue where it will shut down and give me a red light and not turn on despite a good water level. I'm sure googling the make and model will telly me exactly why this is happening. I'm assuming it has a high temp shutdown of sorts and between the heat it makes and the heat of the tent, this may be the case. On high when its working it will swing from 40% RH to 70%. I am testing it on low tonight.

That's it for build and setup so far.

Haroo

 

About myself.

I know its a bit late after diving right into the plan but you know you...

I was once licensed to grow under the MMAR and shut down right before the injunction to repeal. Needless to say i have been a MMPR patient since about 2014. I have grew since those days but not illegally according to the Canadian controlled substance act. I have about 5 solid years of growing in larger scale sealed grow environments. This will be my second smallest to date.

Also I'm from Alberta Canada and enjoy long walks on the beach and good sativa...

I would also like to mention that currently have no cannabis growing. We will enjoy that together when i receive my papers from health Canada. Should he here by the end of the month.

will be popping:
Bubba Kush (green house seeds)
Hawaiian snow (green house seeds)
Green crach (crop king)

Haroo

 

pics and a proper update coming!!! Sooooon i hope, just waiting for a few things before i blow this up with information as to how i do it all. I'm glad someone is watching! I have a ton of experience (was trained by one of the best in BC) and can always help / give advice! reply here or PM me any time. What is left of my life after work / business and family is devoted to Cannabis. Devoted in cultivation, legalization and medical use. Knowledge should always be free, especially when it comes to the plant that will save the world someday!

Disclaimer for anyone asking me stuff or seeking help: My way is my way, I do many things different than what some have been told or read online. I respect the methods of others and am always looking to learn how others do things. Feel free to post such things; The day we stop learning is the day we start dying.

going to check your your link right now.

Haroo

 

Hey Thanks for checking me out! PM me about the light if you're in Alberta i can pass some extreme savings onto you as i have waaaaay more than i need lol.

First thing you need to do to register is see a cannabis friendly doctor. Google Natural Health Services and book an appointment with the doctor. They are a clinic that specializes in cannabis medicine. They are very understanding and compassionate to those of us who have been rejected by other doctors or have trouble talking to a family doc due to the stigma that comes with cannabis use.

So yeah, Book an appointment with them or talk to your family doc. The family doc is the better route as they will give you an origional medical document right there on the spot. If you go that route i would advise you goto the health canada website and print off the sample medical document and bring it with you. That way you know that the document you send in will work with your application. Many local docs will not do this as they do not recieve kick backs from drug companies. Most in Alberta will refer you directly to Natural health services (NHS)

The NHS route goes like this(using the Calgary clinic as an example). You go upstairs, check in, see the doc and discuss your condition and why you wish to use cannabis to treat it. If they feel you qualify for medical cannabis you will be then sent downstairs to their "dispensary" They do not sell cannabis there but they then assist you with the required paperwork to either register with a Licensed producer or register you with the Health canada ACMPR. My advice would be to download, fill out and print your ACMPR application before your doctors appointment. That way you know its good to go when you go in to complete the paperwork(There is a $20 prosessing fee for ACMPR reg.). Now i say to do this for a few reasons. This clinic is open minded and very understanding BUT! Like most private medical practices they are all about corporate kickbacks and additional ways to make money on top of what Alberta healthcare pays them for your visits. They don't seem to want you to register for the ACMPR (i will go in detail on this in my update post tonight). They seem to push people into the LP system and seem to really push a few LPs. I can only assume that the LPs they push / represent are paying them either a percentage of your orders or a fee for signing up clients. My next post will describe how i got screwed out of a month of my time waiting for no reason. They dont seem like they did their homework on the ACMPR application process. They also seem to think that you require landlord consent to grow in you principal place of residence. There is a spot for landlord consent on the forms. BUT! if you read it carefully you will see that it only applies if your grow site is somewhere other than your principal place of residence that you do NOT own. They also like to tell people that you require an RCMP background check. This is also not true unless you are applying to grow for someone else. They uses this false information as a scare tactic to push you to go with an LP.

 

UPDATE!!! BAD NEWS FOR NOW!!!

Still no production license so still no germination... I am at a stand still due to my clinic who will not release my original medical document directly to me. They also refuse to supply to send and origional medical document to health canada. I thought my papers were sent in Sep 7th and should have recieved my papers by now. I followed up with health canada and they had no record of my paper work. I called the clinic and after further investigation i was informed that all the ACMPR papers they sent in were rejected by health canada for being copies. They gave me a stor about getting a stamp approved by HC to they they can stamp copies so they will be accepted as origionals. sounds like BS to me but what can you do.

Long story short I'm told they have been sent on monday.

Cheers HAROO

PIcs coming soon Thought its not much to look at right now. Just an empty room with a large cherry tomato plant and some cuttings taken off of it.

 

yes lots of spelling mistakes on the last post...

 

You are NOT required to acquire starting material from an LP. Its an option but is not mandatory. All you need is your original medical document.

Get your application in ASAP!

Haroo

 

Yeah these honking shop fixtures would be crazy to ship. BUT if you pay the shipping i would be more than happy to strip a raw ballast and mogul socket out of one and send it to you.

Haroo

 

Hey no problem. So my document took a month to get. One it was sent I had my papers in three weeks.

Updates tonight.

 

Some shots of cleaning and reconfiguring the tent.

 

I was gifted 4 bubba kush from a source who shall remain names. Of the 4 this is the best pheno. There is one other that is good but the other two are dogs. One will be put down and the other will be. Budded out. So we will be flowering three this run. This girl has been cloned in a home made bubble cloner. One has started to get roots. Pics to come

 

Bubba 1 again

 

Bubba # 2

 

Bubba # 3

 

Bubba #4 marked for death.

The little guy is Hawaiian snow. Guess someone ran out of sunshine mix #4 at some point.