If you were running 1000 square feet in 5ga bags of coco and feeding drain to waste, would it be cost effective then?
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How much does the desalination equipment cost? And recurring costs associated whit new filters and such?
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Well for a simple home grow I am wondering if a 50 GPD RO system could work on the nutrient waste waterā¦ I would assume it would need to be pre-filtered for larger solids.
For something larger, I would have to create a spreadsheet to calculate water usage per square foot and size a desalination system based on the water consumption rates.
Right now Iām working on the simpler, easier calculations like light costs, lease fees, utilities, insurance, etc.
Trying to see if I can come up with a configurable balance sheet so I can run some feasibility studies.
I have a 401k, live in a legal state, and like to grow weed. Somewhere in that mix is the potential to start a Tier 1 grow op in MA. I have to determine if a Tier 1 grow op can sustain me and my family.
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14 days under 12/12. 15 days since the clones were put in the tray (one day under 18/6 light). Lights currently at 450W. 4th day since formulation of first flower clusters.
Still seems like the nutrient load is just a tad higher than Iād like, but all in all growing okay. Clearly these are not going to fill this tent (or come close)ā¦ weāre almost through the stretch so I donāt think they will get a whole lot bigger - I expect they will start stacking pretty soon.
Assuming they donāt get a whole lot bigger, perhaps Iāve found the process to get 25-36 plants in here at once.
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Wow. They responded well in just a couple of days. Looking nice.
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Well, seven days away was no bueno for the flower tent. I have deficiencies all over the place. Last night I did a complete reservoir change and set the reservoir up at 1200ppm and a PH of 5.96. When I got back from our trip, the PH was at 4.91. :o
The mom in the veg tent, on the other hand, looks great. She only had about an inch of water left in her bucket when we got back, but was in solid shape.
I am strongly considering cutting down the flower tentā¦ if I let it go I have another 5-6 weeks to run it, and the best case scenario I think would be something around a 6oz harvest. I donāt really think thatās worth the investment to finish. Iāll be pondering it a lot this week.
Iāll post some pics tonight and you all can help me decide if I should reboot or not.
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Hmmmā¦
My plant resevoirās ph dropped into the 4ās twice from long road trips plus got burned and I still got tenā¦
You really think youāll only get 6oz?
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My plants arenāt any bigger than the last pic in this thread, really. So yeah - plant size is the major issue here.
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Sorry I couldnāt really help more there. I knew enough to give them a little time in my setup, kinda figured you would be a little more rapid growing in yours.
Is mom ready to produce more cuttings? May be good idea to just take them now while you ponder course of action.
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Well, I think that the day I had with the pump not running really screwed things up. I have some rough looking root masses on some of the plants. The ones closest to the drains recovered well but the ones farther away didnāt as much. In any case, lesson learned - let them sit in the cloner another week.
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Okay, here they are. Looking small and rough.
Mom was in surprisingly good shape after 7 days with no TLC:
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Run em out and see how they do. This was an experiment anyway and you will get a yield. If nothing else, ediblesā¦
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These smell better than the previous ones I didā¦ or I just donāt remember maybe. But the trichomes on them right now come off on your fingers smelling like fruit punch.
At this point I feel like I donāt really understand my feeding regimen and wonder if I shouldāve done a flush prior to resetting the reservoir.
I also would like to get a sample tested from this batch to see if changing up the nutrient line has any significant impact on the results. And I only have another 5 weeks or so left on them so maybe Iāll just keep it going. Might as well at this point, I guess. Itās only $300 in electricity right? Heh.
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FYI I had mom on a 1/2 strength GG Jacks formula, and on Sunday I put her on a full strength GG Jacks formula, so weāll see if I fry her or not. 
I am trying to figure out the Jacks system, and previously when I figured out the GH Flora system, I had a lot of veg time in my grows to screw around and see how things reacted.
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Youāll get more than 6 oz for sure
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Iād probably be okay with 4oz yield. Which is about what I personally expect. That would more than cover my costs, still.
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Hard to judge whatās there, but I think you have the tools to do better than 4 zips. Iām just not sure plants have the room to put on a lot more than that. For what its worth Iām gonna say 6-8 lol.
As usual, I like where your head is at. We know this wonāt be your biggest grow, but thereās still a lot that can be taken away from it. Also, based on layout of table and size of plants, Iām betting you could dim lights and drop them without giving up much. Itās about light intensity levels not how much power youāre drawing. The coverage is built into fixture, and you donāt need them to put in work with plants that size. In short, you could probably drop that $300 by 50-100 if you want.
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Yeah Iām currently running them at 500w - I think I could run them closer to 300w if I lowered them a bitā¦ help me with the temps, too, which are peaking some nights at 86F.
Speaking of temps - Iāve been considering a dual ducted AC unit - one of the 14k BTU Wynter ones. You think I could rig that up to cool my two big tents? They arenāt SUPER expensive ($500) and when I get the funds to do the build out in the basement, I can use it as a stop gap until I feel like forking out the dough for a mini split system.
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Well, they were all monster clones so they have little nerf football sized masses of leaves and bud all knotted up in them. Mostly I just want the bud to be as good as I can get it at this point.
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And a growing note, I decided to test out some Botanicare Sweet Original Berry stuff - which I introduced before I went out of the country.
That could be contributing to the enhanced/slightly-changed smell. Its definitely more berry than the previous flower run with this cut. The first run was much more orange-peel and lemon.
I was curious if these supposed terp boosters/sugars do anything, so thought this would be a good time to experiment with one.
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