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murihikukid · November 1, 2017

Patti...I hope you do not mind if I check with you first over "the hardening off" process as you raised it months ago .....as I understand I now put my seedlings in air with a temperature of 10 degrees C .....Hopefully the chamber (as I call it) will have a stable 10 degrees C air temperature all of the time created by water flow through radiators within the chamber that have fans attached ....
Controled by a thermostat set at 10 degrees (within the air of the chamber) the water cooler (an old Fridge freezer ) is switched off and on within 0.5 of a degree ...The water circulates all of the time ..Simply when the air reaches 10.5 degrees the freezer switches on and the water will be cooled and the air temperature will also get cooler ...till the air drops to 10 degrees and the freezer switches off....I can make it basicly any temperature setting within reason I want...
So thats the air.....
Theres also lights ...The chamber is lit up with 10 x 150cm LED Tubes which can be put on an automatic timer and provide light for the seedlings for how many hours one requires ....as well as the LED Tubes there are 6 computer fans (3 at each end ..two red and one blue) with 33 LED's in each....The fans go all the time so the seedlings will have air blowing gently over them ...The leds on the fans I have put on a separate circuit and they will light up when the LED tubes light up....May not do any good but I needed the fans so why not use ones with LED lights incorporated to give some extra Kelvin??
As I understand I have covered all the requirements of a hardening off process....

The fans and lights are all in a lid which can be raised or lowered to get at the trays........but the seedling trays themselves will be raised to meet the lights and gradually lowered within the chamber as they grow ....I certainly do not want the seedlings reaching for the light..

With a lid one cannot easily see what is happening within the chamber so I am intending putting a webcam inside which will allow me to monitor on my computer screen how the seedlings are reacting etc plus I need to keep check on growth ....As I understand its critical to keep the height of the seedlings as close to the light as possible ......I am fully aware that there will be different growth patterns from different seedlings but the only way I can fix this is by raising the lid and moving seedlings into different growth groups every few days.....
The seedlings are sitting on capillary cloth in a plastic tray with polystyrene below the cloth and the polystyrene has holes in it so within the tray there is space for a reservoir of water to supply the seedlings..

So all I basicly require is the time pattern for "hardening off" IE how many hours in darkness and how many hours under light ........I presume I have some that say I have wasted my time..Well Maybe ...but IMO why not ..lets give it a go...

I will be posting photographs soon... Its not elaborate ? could be called cheap and nasty? but if it keeps the temperature regulated and there are articles I have read that suggests one can achieve 200- 300 % more buds and fruit...
Regards Ron

November 1, 2017	#90
murihikukid Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Invercargill New Zealand Posts: 1,022	Patti...I hope you do not mind if I check with you first over "the hardening off" process as you raised it months ago .....as I understand I now put my seedlings in air with a temperature of 10 degrees C .....Hopefully the chamber (as I call it) will have a stable 10 degrees C air temperature all of the time created by water flow through radiators within the chamber that have fans attached .... Controled by a thermostat set at 10 degrees (within the air of the chamber) the water cooler (an old Fridge freezer ) is switched off and on within 0.5 of a degree ...The water circulates all of the time ..Simply when the air reaches 10.5 degrees the freezer switches on and the water will be cooled and the air temperature will also get cooler ...till the air drops to 10 degrees and the freezer switches off....I can make it basicly any temperature setting within reason I want... So thats the air..... Theres also lights ...The chamber is lit up with 10 x 150cm LED Tubes which can be put on an automatic timer and provide light for the seedlings for how many hours one requires ....as well as the LED Tubes there are 6 computer fans (3 at each end ..two red and one blue) with 33 LED's in each....The fans go all the time so the seedlings will have air blowing gently over them ...The leds on the fans I have put on a separate circuit and they will light up when the LED tubes light up....May not do any good but I needed the fans so why not use ones with LED lights incorporated to give some extra Kelvin?? As I understand I have covered all the requirements of a hardening off process.... The fans and lights are all in a lid which can be raised or lowered to get at the trays........but the seedling trays themselves will be raised to meet the lights and gradually lowered within the chamber as they grow ....I certainly do not want the seedlings reaching for the light.. With a lid one cannot easily see what is happening within the chamber so I am intending putting a webcam inside which will allow me to monitor on my computer screen how the seedlings are reacting etc plus I need to keep check on growth ....As I understand its critical to keep the height of the seedlings as close to the light as possible ......I am fully aware that there will be different growth patterns from different seedlings but the only way I can fix this is by raising the lid and moving seedlings into different growth groups every few days..... The seedlings are sitting on capillary cloth in a plastic tray with polystyrene below the cloth and the polystyrene has holes in it so within the tray there is space for a reservoir of water to supply the seedlings.. So all I basicly require is the time pattern for "hardening off" IE how many hours in darkness and how many hours under light ........I presume I have some that say I have wasted my time..Well Maybe ...but IMO why not ..lets give it a go... I will be posting photographs soon... Its not elaborate ? could be called cheap and nasty? but if it keeps the temperature regulated and there are articles I have read that suggests one can achieve 200- 300 % more buds and fruit... Regards Ron Last edited by murihikukid; November 1, 2017 at 07:32 AM.