RoninGarden 2013 Glog

Welcome to another season of RoninGarden,

In this episode...

2013 is here, and a new season is upon us.

This season I got a good head start on the summer outdoor season. I've started a few new strains for 2013 as well as carrying over a few from 2012.

Currently the kids are residing in my closet, within a makeshift grow room.
All are in Airpots varying in size from 1/2 liter for the new sprouts, to 1.5 gallon for the 2012 survivors.
Lighting is a dual bulb t8 fixture running 6500k lamps.
My growing medium is Promix Bx.

Here's the lineup for 2013:

2012 survivors in closet grow area:
7 Pot Douglah
7 Pot Red Brain Strain
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (thanks Taxing)
Giant Bhut Jolokia
Trinidad Scorpion
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion #2
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion #3
White Habanero
Yellow Devils Tongue

Kitchen table:
Atomic Starfish

Bedroom Desklamp Bonchi:
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion #1

2013 newbies in 1/2 liter airpots:

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#9
#10
#11
#12

Thanks to Jedisushi06 for the seeds in #'s 2-12!

#14 sprout is currently in root booster bubbler contraption.

Seeds currently in Rapid Rooters on wifi:
#15
#16
#17
#18
#19

Thanks to PepperProblem for the seeds in #'s 14-19!


Here's a few pics of the kids..

Left:

Middle:

Right (new sprouts):

View from above:

Sprout #14 in bubbler:

All peppers will receive nutrients via General Hydroponics General Organics series.

I used these nutes in 2012 with great results, so I'm sticking with what has worked for me...


Having recently moved, my summer growing space has been reduced by half compared to what I had in 2012.
None the less, I'm planning on moving all peppers outside once summer rolls around so they can enjoy the wonderful Colorado sun..
At this point, the plan is to move them into root pruning pouches approximately 5-7 gallons in size.
We'll see how that all goes...
2012 was a great learning experience, can't wait to see what 2013 throws at me...



Thanks for stopping by!




Until the next update.....

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Very nice! Thank you for the close up picture of the myco applied, because I'm using the stuff for the first time this year and the visual really helps.

No problem Stefan! I post all I do so everyone can see my process and the results. Glad it helped.

Looking good, Ronin!

Thanks Doc!

Welcome to another edition of RoninGarden,


Today I upgraded a few sprouts to the root booster bubbler contraption.
#'s 16, 17 and 18 got the upgrade and are now living with #14.

I didn't have the time to upgrade the remaining 4 peppers to 1.5 gallon airpots today, but this will happen in the next day or so...

Here is a pic of the family:

On another note....
There is still no activity in the Rapid Rooters with added myco.
Nothing to be disapointed about yet.. They are at the timeframe that my other seeds have sprouted in the past.
So the one thing I can come away with so far is the myco doesn't seem to aid in germination time. At least not for me...
I'll post more info once I start to see some action..

Thanks for stopping by!



Until the next update...

 

[Stefan_W]

Very nice looking grow so far I love the deep greens. I haven't mastered the art of keeping them stout yet, and mine are often a bit on the leggy side in the very early stages.

 

[WalkGood]

Very nice crop, can’t help but think of the song “Roots, Rock, Reggae” Great success in 13!

 

[DocNrock]

Lush, green, and healthy. Nice.

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Very nice looking grow so far I love the deep greens. I haven't mastered the art of keeping them stout yet, and mine are often a bit on the leggy side in the very early stages.

Thanks Stefan. It's looking more like a green carpet. I generally keep the light as close as possible, and move it up as they grow. I also have a fan on a timer to help "train" them for the upcoming summer wind.

Very nice crop, can’t help but think of the song “Roots, Rock, Reggae” Great success in 13!

Thanks WG!
That's a classic.
For those that aren't familiar..

Lush, green, and healthy. Nice.

Thanks Doc.
I just try keeping them happy.


On this episode of RoninGarden,

Final four upgrade.
Everything that was in 1/2 liter airpots are now in 1.5 gallon airpots.
Here's a look at everyone.

View from above:

Close-up from left to right:

Close-up of what I think is #10:

Here's the newest sprouts in the bubbler booster.

Only one of these is going to make the cut.
I am hoping to select one and go hydro with that one.

Tomorrow everyone will get fed.
General Organics all around!
On my next watering I plan on using some of the Stump Tea sampler I have.
I'll post pics when I do.
Still nothing to report regarding the myco filled rapid rooters.
Patience is key...


Thanks for stopping by!



Until the next update....

 

[Kramer Chids]

Everything is looking great. I wish I had room for the 1.5 gallon Air-pots. Your peppers are going to be monsters by this summer.

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Everything is looking great. I wish I had room for the 1.5 gallon Air-pots. Your peppers are going to be monsters by this summer.

Thanks KC.
I'm hoping for monsters!


Today on RoninGarden,

Feeding.
Everyone got a nice healthy liquid meal today!
General Organics all around...
I thought I'd share one of my "tricks" of the trade...
Here's how I water and feed my kids.
Recycle,reuse,repurpose...

An old camelback bladder..
This makes getting at each plant a great deal easier.

Hard to see but the stream of fluid is easily controlled by the bite valve.

This is much easier than trying to pour fluids out of a cup..

Hopefully this may help or inspire someone.
No news on the myco seedlings yet...
And the new sprouts in the bubbler are showing some growth.
All is good in RoninGarden tonight.




Thanks for stopping by!







Until the next update...

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Welcome to this Tuesday edition of RoninGarden,


Today I'd like to introduce a new toy that was made available to me recently..
It's called Kill-A-Watt.

Amazing device.
I got ahold of it primarily to find out how much energy was being consumed by my indoor grow set-up.
I found out my set-up is costing me just over $2 a month in energy. This is includes T8 light, fan and air pump.
Needless to say.... I'm scouring craigslist for T5's...

This revelation also helped me to go forward with my hydro project.
Got a few more parts today...

3 gallon tote, hose (1/2" & 1/4"), rockwool cube,some more myco, and a timer. The only part missing now is the submersible pump. Soon to be acquired.
I had my local grow shop (Thanks Jason!) order me a dripcap. It's a new product for rockwool cubes that covers and waters.

Great way to mitigate algae growth and really focuses the water for even distribution.
We'll see how it goes..

The sprouts in the root booster are showing signs of growth in both leaf and root.

Battle for the hydro begins.
Here's a close-up view of some stemmage on one of the 2013 kids in airpots.

No news on the myco rapid rooter seeds. They're still chillin on the wifi.

Thanks for stopping by!


Until the next update..

 

[DocNrock]

Love the updates, Ronin. $2 a month is cheap! I agree, time to scale up. Are the reflectors on top of the root booster to keep bugs off the underside or to get more light to the leaves...or both?

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Are the reflectors on top of the root booster to keep bugs off the underside or to get more light to the leaves...or both?

Thanks Doc.
Here's what it looks like without the reflective surface.

No bug issues luckily, it's there to keep the moisture spray from getting out (from the gap between the rooter and holder) as well prevent any algae growth and my thoughts are that it helps keep the water temp down by being reflective bubble material..
Extra light reflection is a great side benefit.

Thanks again for stopping by.

 

[Kramer Chids]

Everything is looking good.

 

[Jamison]

Beautiful plants Ronin. They are soooo healthy. I love the Folgers can too man. Awesome grow!

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Everything is looking good.

Thanks!

Beautiful plants Ronin. They are soooo healthy. I love the Folgers can too man. Awesome grow!

Thanks Jamison! I just feed them when they tell me..
Unfortunately the Ghetto bubbler is gone now... Upgraded to a new ghetto hydro set-up.


Today on RoninGarden,

Upgrades and cutbacks...
Everyone got fed today. GO nutes all around..
I lost my Atomic Starfish to a fall off the kitchen table..
I then cut 3 of my overwinters out of the closet grow area.
Real estate is a premium in RoninGarden.
Had to make room for the new 2013 kids as well I needed space for my new drip system project.
This update will focus on my DIY drip.

Gotta thank my local shop for ordering in the drip cap for me.
And for hooking up a grip of samples of Roots Synthetic and Roots Organic nutes.

This cut a good deal off the total $ on this project.

The system will have 2 airstones that'll run 24hrs in the reservoir and a submersible pump that will run on a timer to run the drip.

The submersible pump 1/2" to 1/4" ghetto adapter and dripcap.
Had to do a bit of macguyvering to the cap to get it to operate properly. Poor manufacturing, but still a great design.

I decided to go with a 6" cube with the thought that if the roots go too crazy, I can always stack it on another 6" or 8" cube or slab.

So the ability to upgrade is there..

Sprout #14 was the lucky one to make the cut for the drip.

Now happily in the cube:

Made the square peg fit the round hole pretty well..
I snipped off some of the cube from the bottom to backfill the plug hole.

Here is the final set-up.

3 gallon container holding 2 gallons of fluid.

Here's some close-ups of the dripcap.

I've already run it and there is no excess splashing or overflow when the water is running.
This cap really focuses the water into the cube.

Here is everyone in the re-arranged grow area.

Thanks for stopping by!



Until the next update....

 

[millworkman]

Looking AWESOME. I cant wait for my guys to start getting largeer.

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Looking AWESOME. I cant wait for my guys to start getting largeer.

Thanks Mill!
I'm with ya on the waiting game...




Today on RoninGarden,

Well it appears that my hydro pepper is still alive... Therefore I haven't killed it yet..
It's looking like all the research I did is paying off...
As of now I have the pump running once a day for 5 minutes. This will get adjust once it has become well rooted.
I set the pump on the lowest setting. It's amazing that the rockwool cube can hold well over 1/2 gallon of fluid.
I checked the ph and had to adjust it a bit, but everything else is going smooth so far..
I added a piece of reflective bubble material to cover the hole on the top of the dripcap.

Just trying to prevent any algae growth.
Close-up:

Nice and deep green!

All the other kids in airpots are doing great.
Since moving them up to 1.5 gallon airpots they have all taken to their new homes really well.
Some are showing a jump in growth..
I did have to go through and clip a few leaves that weren't getting any light or were just overlapping its neighbor.

Huge leaves..

Here's the rest of the crew.

I'll end this update with a pic of my desktop lamp Butch T Bonchi, basil and pepper sprouts.

Thanks for stopping by!




Until the next update.....

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Today on RoninGarden,

Snow, snow and more snow.
With weather like this what is one to do....
Scan craigslist for deals.

Score!

The kids are getting a Huge upgrade.
I scored a Quantum BadBoy T5 12 lamp fixture NIB.
$100 cash..

Top

Bottom:

Gotta love living in Colorado..
Everyone thinks they're gonna make a grip of cash growing "other" crops, until they find out they have no green thumb...
Good news for the rest of us!

Next up is to score a good size tent.
Time to scour the net again...

Thanks for stopping by!



Until the next update....

 

[DocNrock]

Looking great, Ronin! Love the growth and the new hydro system. Great score on the T5 fixture. But the weather looks cold!

 

[ColoradoRonin]

Looking great, Ronin! Love the growth and the new hydro system. Great score on the T5 fixture. But the weather looks cold!

Thanks Doc!
The weather was cold... But that didn't last long. Back to the 50's and sunny during the day.
And speaking of growth...

Here is the hydro pepper on the 28th:

Today:

Looking good..
Here's a side view:

Here is the rest of the kids:

Little do they know but they'll be getting a bright upgrade in the near future.
I was able to score a dozen bulbs for my new t5 fixture. 8@6500k and 4@3000k.
This thing is like the sun!

A real nice feature is it has 3 power switches, so I'm not stuck with running all lamps. 4, 8 or 12. Nice way to conserve power...

I ordered a 4x4x7 tent online today, so I'm hoping to have the entire new setup rockin by Monday or Tuesday.
I'm definitely looking to be way ahead of the game once the last frost date rolls around.
With the new set-up I'll likely keep a few indoors and set the rest out for the summer.
It'll be nice to have some extra space for my kids. Up until now I have had a limited space indoors.
Hopefully on the next update I'll have the new tent and light up and running....


Thanks for stopping by!



Until the next update...

 

[PIC 1]

That light looks great I can feel the heat from here......ha
That fixture will grow some big babies. I'm looking forward to watching those plants through the rest of the indoor grow !

 

[chsy83]

awesome! wish I could score deals like that around here! Right now, I am having fun trying to sketch out a new design of power strip, y splitter cfl set-up that more efficiently uses the space. I like the amount of light that it puts out, and I want to upgrade my other tent as well. Your hydro stuff looks kickin'!