153 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
153 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
Message-ID: <070311Z27101993@anon.penet.fi>
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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
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From: an39827@anon.penet.fi
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Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 06:54:15 UTC
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Subject: Nomadic, Clandistine, Hydroponic Garden!
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I've been exploring hydroponic gardening lately, and thought y'all might
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be interested in hearing about my setup:
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Materials ->
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1 Footlocker or trunk, bigger is better.
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1 Rubbermaid dishpan that just fits on the bottom of the trunk, when the
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trunk is turned on its side (this will make more sense in a few minutes,
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I used a 12 quart one)
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3-4 blocks of FLORAL FOAM (Preferably agricultural grade, as it does not
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have preservatives in it, but Oasis will do if it is completely
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rinsed/soaked first)
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1 Muffin Fan (look in computer surplus stores)
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1 50 WATT High Pressure Sodium lamp (Or your lamp of choice)
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1 roll of tin foil
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Comments on Cost ->
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If you bought all this stuff, it would run about 100 bucks... However, I
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got my trunk at a yard sale for $5, had the fan lying around, and through
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some creative scrounging on a public bike trail late at night, came up
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with the HPS lamp and ballast for free. The dishpan came from a
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'Everything's a dollar' store, and foam is cheap... I think I spent $30
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total (including fertilizer, which I will discuss later)
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What to do with this stuff->
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First, cut the handle off of one end of the trunk, then stand the thing up
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on that end. Sitting it on a phone book with the door hanging off the end
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makes it much easier to open and close.
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Then install the fan... I put mine on the top of the box, but It could go
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in the top back corner if light leakage is important. A good deal of
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light will be exiting the fanhole (well, more than anywhere else)... keep
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this in mind. I also painted the fanblades white in an attempt to reflect
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the light back into the box, but Im not sure if it worked... it probably
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isnt necessary.
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Put some intake holes along the bottom of the box, these will be covered
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with foil later, so not too much light will be leaking out.
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Cover the entire inside of the box with foil, excluding the fan area, and
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where you plan on installing the lamp. I used duct tape to affix it to
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the walls/door, and I LEFT IT UNATTATCHED AT THE BOTTOM so air could come
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through the intake holes.
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Install the lamp! I put mine at the very top center of the door, with the
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bulb sticking straight out, so it enters the rest of the box when the door
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is closed. This made it easier to wire, but In the future, I would put it
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on the back wall of the box, as less of your room will be illuminated when
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you open the thing (it's kind of like opening up the sun).
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Thoughts on Lamps->
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According to Ed Rosenthol (believe him if you want to, ignore him if you
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dont) HPS lamps are some of the best growing lamps made, especially when
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efficiency is an issue. These lamps give off an amberish glow, and are
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often used to light parking lots, bike trails, etc. They operate on a
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very high voltage, and require a transformer or ballast to work. Metal
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Halide lamps (used in photographic and theatrical lamps) are smaller, and
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much whiter, and usually do not require ballast, but they use up a hell of
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a lot more energy.
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I used a Flurescent to sprout the plants, and switched to HPS after
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they had developed 3 sets of leaves (about 48 hours after germination)
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This was acceptable.
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Next, it is time to deal with the foam and plant. I soak the foam
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overnight in a nutrient-water mixture (more on that later) after rinsing
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it extremely well. Then I cut a brick or 2 into 1" cubes, and plant one
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seed in each cube. Planting in foam means you place the sead on the foam,
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and push it in with a small wire or something similar, so the seed is
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surrounded as much as possible by the wet foam. The cubes are placed in
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the dishpan, and 1/2" of water-nutrient mixture is added to the pan. The
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foam will suck up water and nutrients as necessary, so it is important to
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try to keep the water level at about 1/2". It is better for the water to
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be slightly too low (but not dry) than too high.
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The seeds can take as long as a week or 10 days to germinate, do not worry
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if nothing happens at first, and it seems that I never get more than about
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15% of my planted seeds to sprout. This suggests a fault somewhere in my
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system, but I havent identified it yet, no do I especially care. I just
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plant a LOT of seeds, and then use the best seedlings for my gardening.
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Usually a smoking-buddy or someone will take a free marijuana seedling off
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your hands with a minimum of hassle.
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About 3 days after germination, a few pairs of leaves should've formed.
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Now is the time to transplant. And transplanting is the glory of foam.
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All you need to do to transplant things growing in foam, is put the small
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block of foam (with the plant in it) on top of the larger block , and rub
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them together a few times. The roots will grow out of the small cube, and
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into the bigger one in a matter of days. I managed to find foam in 12"
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cubes... cutting these in half gave me 2 pieces of 12"x12"x6" foam, and
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each of those can easily hold one plant, probably 2. I personally grow
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only one plant in each trunk, but 2 smaller ones are probably perfectly
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acceptable.
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Lighting->
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When I transplant is when I turn on the HPS lamp. It then stays on for
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24 hours/7days until the plant is 8-15 inches tall. Then it is time to
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force flowering. This can be done by giving the plants a 10-16 hour dark
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period in each 24 hour day (this should be done using a cheap timer like
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people use when they go away on vacation in an attempt to foil burglers)
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In a matter of 3 weeks, sex should be apparent on the plants... REMOVE THE
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MALES. Keep the dark period constant until it is time to pick, dry and enjoy.
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A word on water-nutrient mixtures->
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Floram foam should be totally inert, meaning it does not provide the plant
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with ANYTHING except something for the roots to grow in. Thus all
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nutrients that the plant would get from the soil MUST be in the water.
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Read a few books on hydroponics to figure out what mixture suits you best,
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I personally use a liquid plant food that shows on its label an N-P-N
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count of 10-15-10. This seems to work fairly well for me. I know people
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who use 20-20-20, and quite a few who use different foods during different
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stages of growth. Read up on the subject and decide for yourself.
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Anyway, this was not ment to be a 'HOW TO GROW WEED' type of post, but
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apparently it has become one (sort of). It was ment to talk about my grow
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room, as it was described earlier in this post. I have found that a
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single plant can grow to maturity without any trouble in this space, and 2
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smaller plants (forced to flower at about 8 inches, instead of the 10-12
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that I personally use) would probably be ok too.
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This grow room is very portable (unplug it and take it with you)
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clandestine (it looks like a trunk to me (not an uncommon thing in a
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college dormatory if you are a student), and it can be locked with a
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padlock) and effective (trust me!)
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I assume one could grow using standard soil and such in this thing, but I
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have had great success with foam, and it is much easier to keep it
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watered. Rockwool has been sugested to me as a medium, but I dont even
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know where to buy it... apparently it is much like foam in that it is
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inert, and transplanting is a breeze.
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Happy Growing
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