Jack og
Supporter
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Wow holy trichomes Batman! Sweet nug bro
Organikz
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Thx
F
FutureGrower
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- 93
I think watering should be discussed because it's a different train of thought from nutrient based. Also a lot harder to dial in, one of the few things that I feel organics may take more effort in.
I just got a blumat system but I'm still hand watering.
For hand watering the best way I've found for me is watering daily, using a sprayer with a fine mist, something around 1/4 gallon for 15 gallon pot but I don't measure. I start by soaking the edges just enough so I can very lightly see the liquid through the fabric pot. I do this around the entire pot.
Then I focus on the center of the pot never staying still unless I'm a large distance away and don't see any puddling of any form. I then go back to the outside edges but not on the pot itself, water around a little and let it sit.
I give it about 10 minutes and come back and throw a small bead of water around the fabric pot and if it soaks through fairly easy my soil seems to be happy.
@Organikz anything you can point out to improve my hand watering or give general advice to others?
This is the area I single handedly struggled the most with. I never grew anything before and only threw water in a couple snake plants with perlite and miracle grow.
I still dont know if I'm doing it the most efficient way but it works good for me. I only have one censor and it reads around 150m bar or whatever it is. I just base my other 3 around that ones soil moisture
I just got a blumat system but I'm still hand watering.
For hand watering the best way I've found for me is watering daily, using a sprayer with a fine mist, something around 1/4 gallon for 15 gallon pot but I don't measure. I start by soaking the edges just enough so I can very lightly see the liquid through the fabric pot. I do this around the entire pot.
Then I focus on the center of the pot never staying still unless I'm a large distance away and don't see any puddling of any form. I then go back to the outside edges but not on the pot itself, water around a little and let it sit.
I give it about 10 minutes and come back and throw a small bead of water around the fabric pot and if it soaks through fairly easy my soil seems to be happy.
@Organikz anything you can point out to improve my hand watering or give general advice to others?
This is the area I single handedly struggled the most with. I never grew anything before and only threw water in a couple snake plants with perlite and miracle grow.
I still dont know if I'm doing it the most efficient way but it works good for me. I only have one censor and it reads around 150m bar or whatever it is. I just base my other 3 around that ones soil moisture
quirk
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OldSmokie76
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@CrimsonEcho you mind detailing your irrigation. Hell, anybody? I've thumbed a few threads in the archives. I'm curious to set up a drip system myself and just in the planning stages. I have a water timer, plan to use a large reservoir with bubbler to aerate the water, and in the market for an inline filter to dechlorinate my tap water. I'm interested in specifics regarding type of drip emitters and any others suggestions. Thanks for any info or direction.
OldSmokie76
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Beautiful plant. Colors and overall health look amazing. The description of aroma sounds delightful.
crimsonecho
Self-Proclaimed Don Quixote
Supporter
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Very nice, i looked into all of those and said hell and just hooked a timer to my faucet and used it directly out of the tap. No problems at all.
OldSmokie76
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That's awesome. Did you piece together lines and emitters yourself or buy a kit?
crimsonecho
Self-Proclaimed Don Quixote
Supporter
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I actually bought a mini drip kit. A very basic stuff, not even adjustable drippers. But it worked very well as it is an indoor grow and the normal drip lines are thick and bulky. These were much like aquarium hoses. Very cheap stuff.
F
FutureGrower
- 606
- 93
I went with blumats but your system sounds like it would work great too! Do you monitor your soil moisture or just by weight?
crimsonecho
Self-Proclaimed Don Quixote
Supporter
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Just by weight i get a feeling how much time it takes for them to dry a bit (not much, microheard and all.. always moist with no runoff) then set the timer accordingly after a couple of weeks, or until they show some water deficiency then i increase the time.
F
FutureGrower
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Nice man! I love DIY fixes :)
cloudyhelads
- 352
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Sorry to Ghost on the thread. After posting and struggling to find out how my soil was hurting my plants, I finally caught sight of a tiny mite. After some research and hours of straining my eyes through my microscope, I determined that my issue was BROAD MITES. Ugh! the buggers are so small that, if you don't know what you are looking for, even with a microscope, you might never see them. The effects on the plant look like classic nutrient def or lock - clawing and contorted leaves, twisted growth yellowing etc. (see pictures above). The mites were also on the leaf tops, not the undersides like spider mites.
Once I figured out they where they were and how to see them, I discovered there were a lot of them. 4 plants i deemed beyond saving, went in the outdoor compost pile. I rigged up my hepa shop vac with a (woodworking) router speed control, and vacuumed off every branch actually sucking the branches and leaves into the vac hose, hoping to suck the mites off the plants. All the veg plants then got submerged in a tub of water with neem oil, spinosad, and dish soap, swished and dried with a fan. I repeated the vacuum and dip 3x then released some predatory mites I got from Arbico organics. It was kind of trippy to release these things into my grow. They came in a spice jar and I just shook them out onto each plant, into the canopy and on top of the soil.
Fortunately, my flower room did not seem to get the broad mites, so those plants only got the predators and obviously not the dip. I used the californicus species. I would have preferred andersoni, based on descriptions, but those are only available in huge quantities and my grow is small.
After letting the mites work it out amongst themselves for a couple of days, I brewed up a EWCAAT added aloe and coconut water ( I keep aloe plants in my grow, but uses trader joes coconut water) and gave the soil a good drench. I have seen the predators killing the broad mites under the microscope, and can see them spread out on the canopy with the naked eye.
In the mean time my logan lab test report came back and seemed to indicate that my soil was more or less on point except that my Potassium numbers were really (like 3x) high. I did add a few cups of pure potash to the original mix so maybe too much? I found a really good article on reading and interpreting the lab report at growarchaea.com, which was very helpful in determining what I might do to further amend my soil. Apparently gypsum will lower Potassium while giving calcium a boost. I added some to my mix.
After i am sure that I have this broad mite thing in check, I am going to put the bottom best of my soil in another 200 gal smart pot in a new tent, add more worms, and grow a cover crop. I would like to continue to grow in a perpetual manner, harvesting a single plant every week or two. I don't know if anyone has experience with this, id love to hear if they do. Its all I can do to control the smell with only one plant maturing at a time, I can't imagine how my space and house would smell if I had a half dozen plants all terming out at the same time.
Anyhoo... Thats my update. Thank you all for your suggestions and interest. The mites were a setback and had me guessing for a few weeks. I hope this is a learning opportunity for me and that I will up the ante on my IPM game.
Once I figured out they where they were and how to see them, I discovered there were a lot of them. 4 plants i deemed beyond saving, went in the outdoor compost pile. I rigged up my hepa shop vac with a (woodworking) router speed control, and vacuumed off every branch actually sucking the branches and leaves into the vac hose, hoping to suck the mites off the plants. All the veg plants then got submerged in a tub of water with neem oil, spinosad, and dish soap, swished and dried with a fan. I repeated the vacuum and dip 3x then released some predatory mites I got from Arbico organics. It was kind of trippy to release these things into my grow. They came in a spice jar and I just shook them out onto each plant, into the canopy and on top of the soil.
Fortunately, my flower room did not seem to get the broad mites, so those plants only got the predators and obviously not the dip. I used the californicus species. I would have preferred andersoni, based on descriptions, but those are only available in huge quantities and my grow is small.
After letting the mites work it out amongst themselves for a couple of days, I brewed up a EWCAAT added aloe and coconut water ( I keep aloe plants in my grow, but uses trader joes coconut water) and gave the soil a good drench. I have seen the predators killing the broad mites under the microscope, and can see them spread out on the canopy with the naked eye.
In the mean time my logan lab test report came back and seemed to indicate that my soil was more or less on point except that my Potassium numbers were really (like 3x) high. I did add a few cups of pure potash to the original mix so maybe too much? I found a really good article on reading and interpreting the lab report at growarchaea.com, which was very helpful in determining what I might do to further amend my soil. Apparently gypsum will lower Potassium while giving calcium a boost. I added some to my mix.
After i am sure that I have this broad mite thing in check, I am going to put the bottom best of my soil in another 200 gal smart pot in a new tent, add more worms, and grow a cover crop. I would like to continue to grow in a perpetual manner, harvesting a single plant every week or two. I don't know if anyone has experience with this, id love to hear if they do. Its all I can do to control the smell with only one plant maturing at a time, I can't imagine how my space and house would smell if I had a half dozen plants all terming out at the same time.
Anyhoo... Thats my update. Thank you all for your suggestions and interest. The mites were a setback and had me guessing for a few weeks. I hope this is a learning opportunity for me and that I will up the ante on my IPM game.
OldSmokie76
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Damn you went all out! Hope your grow recovers well.
cloudyhelads
- 352
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Thank you, Smokie.
OldSmokie76
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I just read the other half of your post. I grow perpetual. Been turning continuous harvests for one solid year. I'm far from a pro but I'm getting better. I keep mother's, but have replaced the originals twice over the past year with cuttings. If you're comfortable with the cloning process, you're golden. Can you keep a mother? Proper training of the mother and you could take cuttings every 2-4 weeks maybe. Once you establish the cycle, you'll have to care for a minimum of 8 plants at weekly intervals to harvest one a week. Given you have one strain that runs 8 wks to maturity. You have the space and set up for that? Can't remember what set up you're in. I know the 200gal but my stoner brain and attention span skipped all the details.
In my experience and brainstorming, I've kinda found trying to space harvests every two to three weeks apart has worked well. (I can't say that I have that timing dialed in perfectly, but that's my goal.) Cuttings are taken every 3-4 weeks. Once rooted, transplanted to Solo cups and vegged for a month. At that point they are transplanted to the finish container and mix for the flip. I keep about a dozen plants at different stages in the flower tent. Definitely an odor challenge. I'm trying to pull 2-3 plants every 3 wks. It's been a chore with multiple strains, and I'm still working on the cycle. Might change up to just two similar indicas for a more equal flower period.
Well, that's my adventures in perpetual growing. Hope it gives you something to think about.
In my experience and brainstorming, I've kinda found trying to space harvests every two to three weeks apart has worked well. (I can't say that I have that timing dialed in perfectly, but that's my goal.) Cuttings are taken every 3-4 weeks. Once rooted, transplanted to Solo cups and vegged for a month. At that point they are transplanted to the finish container and mix for the flip. I keep about a dozen plants at different stages in the flower tent. Definitely an odor challenge. I'm trying to pull 2-3 plants every 3 wks. It's been a chore with multiple strains, and I'm still working on the cycle. Might change up to just two similar indicas for a more equal flower period.
Well, that's my adventures in perpetual growing. Hope it gives you something to think about.
cloudyhelads
- 352
- 93
That’s awesome Smokie and I see your product is as well. I have been running a similar setup for almost 10 years. Ive been cloning the same seed pop (nirvana white widow) for that long. When I put a plant into flower, I take a few clones. That way I always have starts and clones to give away. I never kept mothers, per se.
What I want to do now is have a large living soil bed which I put vegged plants into for perpetual flower. I am wondering if anyone has tried this. Is there a down side to having a large bed in perpetual flower?
OldSmokie76
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The only downside to the living soil bed is the space I think. Right? If your end goal is a plant per week. You'd have to keep 8 plants at week intervals and your cloning game would be once a week to keep the rotation or allowing clones to beg longer at week intervals and maybe taking clones once a month. Assuming you always get the right number of clones each time to rotate into the tent weekly.
Only other downside I can think of is the plants transition to flower when they are plugged into the flower soil bed with no rebound time in veg. Slow down for a week? That was my concern earlier in this thread, but I guess if everything was on that rotation cycle you wouldn't even notice. Ultimately, I would compare the time and energy put into weekly harvesting compared to say once a month. Yield comparison and all. Perpetual can be perplexing. LMAO
Trustfall
Supporter
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I don’t know how any of you continue to do perpetual, I would feel like im in a never ending game. If you need to do it to ensure you have meds or product that’s cool, but once your established you will find it is so much easier to do the whole light in one cycle.
OldSmokie76
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It is a never ending game. Love it. My room with multiple tents and lights allows a perpetual grow just by sheer nature of the set up. I have a small production level to keep, but nothing difficult. I grow for the love of gardening and the plant itself. Hobbiests with a single light and tent can't enjoy the world of perpetual. Clones to veg, to flower tent. Each environment controlled to growth stage needs. Humidity, temps, light source and cycles. I'm still trying to get it all mesh together smoothly. I do however appreciate the idea of getting thru one crop at a time.
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