Hail Hydro 2.0: New Beginnings

[PhatNuggz]

Time honored McCree Curve data was sorely overdue for a 21st century re-evaluation, due modern tech

This should have a major impact on LEDS designed for horticulture

https://fluence.science/redefining-t...te-university/

 

[PhatNuggz]

time to make up a fresh batch of nutes since the plants have grown a lot since 11/09, which means they shit lot through their roots (and mine haven't exactly been the healthiest roots in the previous 3 weeks of flower.

Foliar Spray: I neglected to do this in my prior seedling attempt and had unusually long spaces between nodes. Thinking those were 3 probable males, I tossed them, so... early veg foliar seems to pay dividends

The babies close spaced nodes and large developing leafs seem to be due to foliar feeding 2xs/day just started this past week

Let's have a look

 

[PhatNuggz]

Thought I would show what grows under the hood, probably because I use NPK Raw Enzymes and maybe the Yucca, which is a whetting agent. OR, it could be the O2Grow 2020.

Of course I cleaned it all out, and used chlorine to kill anything that might be attached to the plastic tote

Fresh nutes @ 500ppm

 

[PhatNuggz]

Just made fresh nutes for the babies

Also, increased pause to 40 minutes for the big girls

 

[PhatNuggz]

Frustrated by the clogging, I FINALLY changed out the high pressure mist heads for low pressure (see pics). Now the "problem" with that is the roots will get too wet (my lowest timer setting is 1/2 minute), BUT better too wet than too dry, as I found this morning-yet again.

I also double wrapped the pump filter area though that might not be necessary now

The babies look amazing now

 

[PhatNuggz]

Flowering Plants: buds are on the not so tight side, so I made a fresh gallon of a bit more concentrated nutes, plus more Root Wizard. FYI, the roots are showing signs of new growth.:badboy: The pistils have darkened quite a bit in the last 5 days, a bit faster than I recall

Babies: I trimmed roots and a number of large shade leafs (looks like 2 males, maybe 3), plus added more nutes as they are sucking it up

 

[PhatNuggz]

While nuggz did firm up a good bit, I decided to add 10 more mls each of Emerald Harvest Cali Pro Bloom A & B to ~ 6 gallons of mixed nutes

 

[PhatNuggz]

UPDATE

Nuggz are phattening up, though they aren't close to past grows which had much better root systems (and 2-3xs the diameter main stalk), but MUCH better than one would expect considering the miniscule root balls

The nasty looking and very tiny root pic is from the vertical bud picture. Who would have thought?!

Babies: In spite of growing them under the same LED as the others (Amare SE 230), but off to the side, they are doing really good. I trimmed a bunch of shade leafs yesterday as they were completely darkening the lower branches, which were stretching to get some light. This exposed the min stems which are almost the same diameter as the flowering plants, as they should considering the nice rootballs. I did move one (I think it's a male) to the big girls tote to make room in the bubbler for the other 4

 

[chemistry]

That root rot is a bitch.

 

[PhatNuggz]

That root rot is a bitch.

Thanks. :cool: You reminded me to start doing something I did only once a while ago, but should have been repeating probably every day- soaking the roots in ~ 3% h2o2. :mad:

I used a 32oz cup into which the 3" net pots fit. Filled with enough RO water to fully submerge each net pot. I added ~ 2 droppers full of food grade 35% h202 and let it soak for 10 timed minutes. I then dumped the water, and repeated thee procedure for the other 2 plants. I will repeat in a few hours

 

[PhatNuggz]

Young Ladies

Looks like all are females. I wanted to minimize hammocking between plants so I moved 2 of them to the aero tote which has bloom nutes. 2 are now in each corner on one side and the third is in the middle on the opposite side for maximum separation

Mixed Emerald Harvest 2 Part Bloom nutes + CaMg + silica + yucca to the DWC tote

They are almost as tall as the mature Ladies, so I lowered the dwc tote. It is now at the same plain as the aero tote, putting the canopies ~ 15" below the light.

Older Ladies

I dunked each for 15 minutes in the h202 solution this morning

 

[PhatNuggz]

I had a Brilliant Brain Fart this morning, and not a minute too soon!

It occurred to me to swap the young plants with very good root systems to the aero tote, and the mature plants to the DWC where they would get constant food and moisture. WELL...

as I pulled them out of the aero tote the net pots were bone dry! WTF?

Yesterday, I adjusted the 2 pvc sections where 4 of the mist heads were for better coverage, and at some point the pvc connections popped off due to me not pushing them in hard enough, meaning NONE of the nutrients were getting to the mist heads for a good while, probably > 18 hours.

 

[4plant]

Are those potted in a fibre pot and then placed in a net pot? Never seen that before. I bet if you got rid of the pot and used hydroton you roots would explode.

 

[PhatNuggz]

Are those potted in a fibre pot and then placed in a net pot? Never seen that before. I bet if you got rid of the pot and used hydroton you roots would explode.

Believe me, this system works great. The problem was constantly clogged mist heads

See pics. exact same technique (except silica balls were replaced with coco) . The difference was no clogged mist heads

 

[4plant]

Oh Nice, looks good, aeroponic systems are amazing if you can dial them in. Just curious, Is there a reason for the pot?

 

[PhatNuggz]

Oh Nice, looks good, aeroponic systems are amazing if you can dial them in. Just curious, Is there a reason for the pot?

Not following your question 'Is there a reason for the pot?' Are you asking about the net pot or the coco insert...? Both of those are needed when starting from seed, but not for clones . Surrounding the coco pellets with coco attracts the lateral roots instead of seaking out the water below

Look back to ~ October 3-6th to see lateral root exiting the coco

I saw first pistils around October 21st, so, in spite of all the issues, looks like they will finish within normal time.

Just 24 hour in the bubbler and I am seeing calyxes and a lot more trichomes

 

[4plant]

The coco insert , I grew in dwc for years by starting seeds in rockwool then using hydroton in net pots. Just curious why your adding a coco pot inside the net pot? I’m interested because I’ve never seen it done before, Was wondering if it’s to add organic amnendments that otherwise don’t work well in these types of systems.

 

[PhatNuggz]

The coco insert , I grew in dwc for years by starting seeds in rockwool then using hydroton in net pots. Just curious why your adding a coco pot inside the net pot? I’m interested because I’ve never seen it done before, Was wondering if it’s to add organic amnendments that otherwise don’t work well in these types of systems.

I find coco pellets are best to start as once it is wet the roots (especially the lateral roots) can travel sideways, providing a stronger anchor for the main stalk.

First time I used the coco pellets I used stones to infill between the pellets and the net pot, but had coco getting into the rez. due to the cloth breaking down and coco got into the rez. The insert stops coco from getting into the rez.

hth

 

[PhatNuggz]

Timer Swap
I finally made the change

I have a Sentinel MDT 1, which is a digital timer with multi functions. I'ts been idling in my upstairs room all this time. Why, you ask?

Well, Typically, I start the seedlngs/clones downstairs where I am most of the day, so easier to keep an eye on them. And as you know from this grow it was a good thing because of the constant clogging issues.

But, since swapping out the hpa for the lpa mist heads, clogging is no loner an issue, BUT, lpa heads spray a ton more water, and the timer I have been using is only semi-accurate at 1/2 minute, which means the roots are getting SOAKED. No bueno for root hair development

MDT-1 now in place. I started at 10 seconds, but will likely end up in the 5 second area until I get it dialed in for future grows

 

[PhatNuggz]

OK, so yesterday I inserted my digital timer but only plugged in the lpa pump for o/o cycling. It's been a long tme since I used it, and I made a mistake setting it at 6 minutes instead of 6 seconds, meaning the roots were really getting soaked

This morning I corrected to 6 seconds, and included the lights o/o, but was unable to connect my O2Grow plug, Manufacture says 30 minutes on 4 hours off, and I was frequently forgetting to set my timer, so I used my analog deep cycle timer for it. It is above the digital timer in the picture with the O2G plugged in (see photo)

Now 100% automated

Mature ladies are looking good, considering all they've been through. One could be pulled, but I am giving her another 5-7 days in hopes of more trichs and swelling calyxes