La Diva: Day 64-harvesting soon :)

mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Hey RIU peoples,

Here's my 64 day old La Diva auto. I've had her in the dark for 24 hours right now; I'm planning on keeping her there for the next couple days I think. Basically, I ran out of room for her. I had some issues with calcium/magnesium and watering at first, but I worked them out and she was able to recover. I grew her in a mini fridge with just a 100W blackstar flowering LED, under a 24/0 light cycle. Next, I've got a Critical Jack Auto coming up in about 5 weeks I think....

day64.jpgtodays_frosty.jpgtodays_main_cola.jpgtodays_underneath.jpgtodays_whole_view.jpg

The first pic is from today, the next four are from yesterday. Seems like a success for my first grow ever:)
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Thanks a lot guys! I appreciate the kind words....I'll let y'all know how it turns out in the end
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Thanks a lot mamakush! You're gonna laugh, but I just used Miracle Grow "Liquid Houseplant Food" at 8 drops/24 fluid oz of H2O and Cal-Mag Plus at ~800 microliters/24 fluid oz. I watered when she needed it and besides that, I pretty much just watched it grow. The MG is at 8-7-6 and I used a bit less than recommended in the directions.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Well, I chopped her down. Honestly, I wish my mini fridge hadn't gotten too full for her as I think she still could have gone for at least another week. The next La Diva will go for at least 70 days... Scissor hash got me pretty stoned though, so I'm still happy and I can't wait until she dries and cures :)
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Did a bit of sampling on her and man, it's some good stuff. First grow success! She's still got to dry some more and cure, but overall it La Diva isn't a bad strain.

One thing I think helped me have a successful micro grow was the fact that for about a month before I even grew the plant, I grew some random houseplant that I bought for about $3 from the grocery store. This allowed me to torture a plant that didn't matter with high temps, humidity and other issues while I perfected my intake and exhaust airflow and carbon filter. That way, growing the real thing went relatively smoothly and there were no technical issues with the box that could negatively affect my plant.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
NugHunter said:
nice grow..mini fridge huh? any pics of the setup?
Click to expand...
You can pretty much see it all in the rightmost pic of the first post. The refrigerator is a small Magic Chef mini-fridge that I acquired for free. I started by removing the compressor from the back of the fridge and using that space to hold all my electronics and carbon filter. Basically, there is a 92mm 115V AC fan for intake on the bottom left, behind the gray pot. The vertical rectangular tube on the back right contains my exhaust system. There are two 92mm fans installed in series inside that tube pushing air through a carbon filter that I made sitting in the back of the fridge, where the compressor used to be. In this area behind the fridge, I mounted a power strip that everything can be plugged into so that only one heavy duty power cord leaves the back of the fridge, exactly like the original refrigerator. Nothing protrudes from the back of the fridge and there is no light leakage, so it looks stock-except for the additional refrigerator lock I installed.

I used AC fans because the noise they make seems to be lower in pitch, leaving the fridge to sound pretty normal. It basically sounds like the compressor never shuts off. The black wire going into the vertical tube is a temperature sensor for my thermometer so I can measure exhaust temps in addition to plant level temps in the fridge. Temperatures stay about 5 degrees above room temp. Sorry I don't have more pics, I've got Critical Jack auto going in there right now with training ties all over the place and I'm not feeling like taking her out so I can get pics of the setup....
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
todays_whole_view.jpg

Hey RIU people,

I upgraded my mini fridge lighting to an Advanced LED Diamond Series 100W light:) http://www.advancedledlights.com/3w-led-grow-lights/new-diamond-series-leds-extreme-3w-led-technology/

It barely fit, but the plant loves it. I've already noticed improved growth in the two day's I've had it installed. I left the power cord for the Blackstar 100W in place so that I can keep it as a spare. The fridge runs a little hotter- now about 7-8 degrees above room temperature at plant level, but things still seem manageable. Also, I misspoke earlier: the intake fan is a 80mm AC fan.

So far, I'm really happy with this brand of light. My blackstar was okay, but it didn't have the light output that I really wanted. Also, the three watt LED's are super bright compared to the 2W of the blackstar!
 
FranJan

FranJan

Well-Known Member
Great use of light, space and autos MC. +Rep for making me think of autos differently. Also I really liked what you did with the BS and the La Diva.

The Advanced's lenses and less than stellar cooling are not helping your temps, then again the output is significantly greater than your BS too. Of course you could do some modding and lower temps but what I wanted to ask you was are you thinking of adding any side lighting? Could really up your harvest by "killing" popcorn and adding some density. Good Luck and Happy Growing!
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Thanks a lot for the compliments Bumping Spheda and FranJan!

You're right, the Advanced light is a lot brighter and hotter than the blackstar- it caused me to need to redesign my home-made scrubber for better airflow, but now temps are acceptable again at 3 degrees above room temp at exhaust-I'm sending ~50 cubic ft/min through that little fridge lol. Now, it actually runs cooler than before:)

With the blackstar, I had to keep as much of the plant as close to the light as possible because it is a bit underpowered. However, now my problem is that I have to constantly keep the plants at least 3 inches from the new light because it is so powerful. Also, with such an increased in the rate of growth, my magnesium deficiency started to surface again. I've been slowly upping her meal sizes until she's happy again. So far, I've gone from 0.8 mL of Cal-Mag+/24 oz. H2O to 1.2 mL/24 fl. oz. and she's still showing a slight deficiency.

As far as additional lighting goes, I have thought about adding a few lights to provide additional side lighting, but I haven't actually done anything yet. I guess I want to see how the girl does under the new light first. Right now the whole setup uses ~130W of power total and I've been trying to keep it as low as possible. For this reason, I have been a bit hesitant about adding more/new lights. Power consumption was the reason I initially went with the lower-power Blackstar 100W flowering light, but it just isn't really adequate to provide primary lighting for a plant. I bet two or three together would work pretty well though. Do you have any low-power recommendations for supplemental side lighting that I could use?

Here's my scrubber (sorry about the caulk mess, I can't use that stuff without making a huge mess...):

back.jpg<-I've gotta trim those little pokey wires off of it still. I figure I'll poke myself 3 or 4 more times before I fix it haha.
 
FranJan

FranJan

Well-Known Member
^^^Well floodlights would make too much heat for your space, but LED light bars, which are non flexible strips of SMD LED lights, could be perfect for you. They come in many different sizes and are a simple DIY job. No caulking :)! Regardless any strip is going to put out some heat so you may want to look around for ones that don't put out too much heat, AKA good ones ;). Here's an example;
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/rigid-light-bars/
 
Scotch089

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
Eh Fran, I recently picked up a couple PC towers up for free and been wanting to convert these fuckers into some mother housings to free up some extra space... and of course, I've been all over the place looking for these strips. Thank you.

Any word on the PCB board strips? Looking for a little direction in determining what's the best bang for the buck.

Dont think heat's going to be an issue as Ive got a few high cfm 120mm axial fans (103, 120cfm!! :clap:) WOO! So im thinking the Aluminum heatsinks not even necessary, though you always get at least one surprise from a new setup.

Sorry for jacking. That fridge it 2 legit 2 quit. Fuckin tight...literally. But sweet, kids seem to love it. If you are wanting to save on headroom, get some "plumber's tape" and make your own mounts from the side of the panels to a 90* bracket on the fridge, dono how long your stock mounting wires are... but I saved 4-6" minimum.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Oh neat, FranJan. I've never seen those little strips before, but they really do seem perfect for what I'm doing here. I'm going to definitely add a couple light strips in the future... Thanks a lot for the great recommendation:)
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
todays_main.jpgHey everyone, I figured that I'd get a shot of the main cola in the back of the fridge for ya :)
 
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