Hail Hydro 2.0: New Beginnings

[PhatNuggz]

I test cut a feed/drain hole in the 5g tote. The hole saw is slightly larger diameter than it needs to be: it leaks. Either the inside gasket hole is too big or the outside diameter is too small

Going to hardware store to see what I can find

The 4 remaining girls are growing quite well considering that initially they weren't getting sufficient spray

A bit hard to see but there are tons of root hairs on the many fish bones (lateral roots)

 

[PhatNuggz]

I am having leak issues with the new ActiveAqua fittings. First the 1 1/4" hole saw from Harbor Freight is slightly oversized. I managed to fill the discrepancy up with silicone. New hole saw purchased, but it's too long for my mandrel. Borrowed my neighbors, but the shaft is 1/2", had to borrow his drill, which is a beast. It had so much torque, and his fatigued bit snapped as the saw bit into the plastic. The hole saw tore across the tote, causing a few holes that I patched. Testing for drips, should be good to set up 2 totes this morning

Water drawn, ready to mix nutes

Pics later

 

[PhatNuggz]

wow, a lot more cleaning/prep involved than I remembered

Recleaned the; stones, square net pots, the mortar tub underneath (in case of spills). I connected the 730 gph bottom draw pump. Time to test (water only). Dumb ass me, I forgot to open the shutoff valves and blew about a gallon of water, on the tent floor. lol.

Adding nutes diluted to < 1EC/500ppm; pH 6.2

Sadly, the ActiveAquas didn’t do what I was hoping (at least not as configured). They are designed for flooding tables, not horizontal filling. I may need to close off half of the slots closest to the bulkhead in order to increase pressure of the spray/DO. These I’ll leave as is, but will adjust for the 2 smaller ones, whose roots do not yet reach into the net pots inside the totes, so still in the lpa

These are under the SPYDR 600 10 hours a day for a couple weeks, then 12ish

Flooding every 1.5 hours for a couple days, then increase pauses

 

[PhatNuggz]

Did anybody hear a loud CRASH?

DAMMIT

My table was off balance, causing the totes to tilt and crash into the rez. The good news is the plants are OK, but both bulkheads snapped- they're hard plastic

Just finished wet vacing the nutes (no, the mortar tub did not catch any).

I cobbled it together, one new Active Aqua and one old style. Those bulkheads are nylon

Made fresh nutes, and away we go

 

[CaliRooted]

Curious why you flip such small plants?

 

[PhatNuggz]

I didn't intentionally 'flip' them. They shot pistils at 3 weeks in veg @ 300ppm/0.5EC

 

[PhatNuggz]

I've been challenged on whether plants secrete waste products through their roots, well, I came across it today thumbing through Indoor Marijuana Horticulture Bible

The solution transported through the vascular bundles or veins have many functions. The solution delivers nutrients and carries away waste products

There's only one place to carry/move them to, and that is down the main stalk and into the roots for elimination

 

[PhatNuggz]

Transferring to the f & d totes requires careful prep. I neglected to properly check water level inside both totes (the new totes are deeper)

The left plant root system is much longer. The plant on the right was a bit droopy, so I ran a flood while watching the level inside that tote. It was barely enough to get some of the roots wet/fed. this result with rez fully drained. Since the level in my igloo rez was low enough, I simply added more nutes and increased the flood cycle time by 4 seconds.

Also, going to bump the light schedule from ~ 12/12 to 14/10

 

[PhatNuggz]

I added a flooming pump to the igloo rez. It's on the same timer as the fan and the lpa pump in the other tent. Also, added a 1/4 tsp of NPK RAW Kelp

Looking at the roots, I need to get moving setting up the second tent with the Amare Technologies Pro3. Will use the Mega Crop nutes in that set up

 

[PhatNuggz]

Roots are sufficiently long enough now. An all day affair, but I now have the second 2 tote system up and running

Much of the time was taken up testing the 2 totes bulkheads to make sure no leaks before going into the tent. That took a good while

Since I only have 4 plants and am quite low on buds from my last pathetic yield, Im sticking with EH. I probably won't finish it off this grow either, but for sure will fire up the Mega Crop next grow

 

[PhatNuggz]

Update

In previous grows using my DIY shallow bubbler, the roots outgrew the tote. That caused root hammocking, a problem that forced me to move them into the F & D too soon. Often, the roots simply were not long enough, which resulted in droopy plants. Not with the lpa system, where transfer had no droop in ~ 16 hours

Picture with diy rez is of the 2 smallest plants. These were started at the same time as the other 2. I was using a 4 head manifold which was not ideal, AND, the large root mass male (was in the middle) blocked these roots from getting proper wettings. It was removed a few weeks back. Also I redesigned the manifold

The roots bounced back, but most likely these plants will be stunted. Dunno. Fingers crossed, but as usual; lessons learned

 

[PhatNuggz]

Trying to stop the bud development, or at least slow it down, I added ~ 200ppm of EH Grow, bringing TDS to ~ 700ppm/1.2EC. Crossing my fingers for some decent stretch

Also, I defoled the 2 biggest plants, which may or may not help kick them back into veg

 

[PhatNuggz]

2 smallest plants made a nice jump overnight

pH pen was reading low. Calibration was way off, but on the low side. That never happened

I plan to bump the nutes again, currently ~ 515, will bump to 600+/1.2EC

 

[PhatNuggz]

Since defol a couple days ago the low branches on the indica dom have grown quite a bit, the other 3 seem more 50/50, but the inner node branches seem to be taking off

Over the last 3 days I have been replacing ~ 1/2g of EH 3 part veg/day. EC now ~ 1.2 (500 scale)= ~ 580ppm

I think it's working to kick start veg growth. Fingers crossed

Here's an article on enzymes https://www.maximumyield.com/enzyme-energy/2/2101

 

[PhatNuggz]

Update

Decided to defol the 2 smaller plants today. WTF? I noticed that the feeder tube had separated from the pump riser= no nutes feeding the plants. Good thing my nutes are clear enough to see. I did notice secondary leafs were curled, which could be from not getting fed or from blending grow and bloom nutrients in my effort to reinvigorate growth

It's only been 4 days since i defoled the two bigger plants, but damn, the bottom has exploded, especially on the right side, which is indica dom, whereas the other 3 seem more 50/50

 

[CaliRooted]

On your other thread you said "dude these pics are 2 years old".... These structures look the same as the old ones bro. I believe you tried to give me advice on using Veg+Bloom in another thread.

 

[PhatNuggz]

While reading a fascinating article about a Geezer who recreated/back-engineered Northern Lights, I decided to use the tall Indca male (harvested 6 days ago) and pollinate a low branch from the Indica dom female

 

[PhatNuggz]

On your other thread you said "dude these pics are 2 years old".... These structures look the same as the old ones bro. I believe you tried to give me advice on using Veg+Bloom in another thread.

you can simply unsubscribe

 

[PhatNuggz]

Taking Care Of What Takes Care Of You


By Charles U. Farley / April 16, 2018
Genetics and environment, that’s what separates phenomenal cannabis from the ordinary. There should be no great debate on which is more determinant, just like the Christmas movie Trading Places, it's both genetics and environment. With cannabis, great genetics can overcome the adversity of a poor environment and still produce above average THC levels, much more readily than average genetics can produce in an optimal environment. In my experience, there is no dramatic improvement to be gained by attempting to super-optimize the environment with exotic fertilizers, soil additives or CO2 supplementation.

Begin with superior genetics, provide the proper environment and take care of the plant as it develops.

Lotta truth there. I really do need to invest in seed quality

 

[PhatNuggz]

Update

as mentioned earlier in this thread, all 4 plants were started at the same time, but 2 plant roots (that turned out to be males) were in the middle of the lpa aero misters which prevented the smallest 2 from getting sufficient nutes. consequently, they're ~ 2 weeks behind. Will they catch up? dunno, but, they are bulking up, and stretching

the 2 biggest are really packing on the bulk since defol, best seen in the dark with a flash light