Welcome to my Grow Log! This is my third attempt at growing hot peppers using a custom-made "space bucket". This setup is two 5-gallon buckets outfitted with two LED lights to create a controlled, efficient environment for plant growth. While my previous tries have taught me a lot about lighting, watering, and plant care, this time I’m aiming for success with a goal of eventually automating the entire system.
My first bucket looked like this:
And although was really cool looking had some flaws. Most notably:
1. The light was terrible quality, and broke after a month or so.
2. The bucket itself was too short, and I think was too intense for the new plants.
3. I was terrible at growing peppers, and didn't understand how to water properly.
I then upgraded the bucket to something like this:
With the changes being:
1. Another bucket flipped, and stacked on top of the first one.
2. A camera hole.
3. 2 Par-38 wide angle LEDs.
That bucket is my current setup. However, I was still terrible at growing the actual peppers. I've recently read a lot more on maintenance, feeding, watering, and what not, so this is now my third attempt at a pepper, and I'm happy to announce that so far so good!
I also just set up my first version of my "automation". Not much is happening, but I have an ESP32 micro-controller with a capacity soil sensor that is reporting the moisture level. This morning I just finished building a little dashboard that I can view wherever I am. I plan on having a watering system that will, on either schedule, event, or manual trigger, activate a pump and do the feeding.
I'm looking forward to updating with progress on the plant, the bucket, and the automation front!
My first bucket looked like this:
And although was really cool looking had some flaws. Most notably:
1. The light was terrible quality, and broke after a month or so.
2. The bucket itself was too short, and I think was too intense for the new plants.
3. I was terrible at growing peppers, and didn't understand how to water properly.
I then upgraded the bucket to something like this:
With the changes being:
1. Another bucket flipped, and stacked on top of the first one.
2. A camera hole.
3. 2 Par-38 wide angle LEDs.
That bucket is my current setup. However, I was still terrible at growing the actual peppers. I've recently read a lot more on maintenance, feeding, watering, and what not, so this is now my third attempt at a pepper, and I'm happy to announce that so far so good!
I also just set up my first version of my "automation". Not much is happening, but I have an ESP32 micro-controller with a capacity soil sensor that is reporting the moisture level. This morning I just finished building a little dashboard that I can view wherever I am. I plan on having a watering system that will, on either schedule, event, or manual trigger, activate a pump and do the feeding.
I'm looking forward to updating with progress on the plant, the bucket, and the automation front!
