Orbad's DIY SCR/SOG under current knock off

[orbad]

.7EC/6.2PH/66° (RES)

79° @ 49% RH (room)

The new growth on the other ones looks like this:

 

[ttystikk]

Too dry! Your humidity should only be that low the last week before harvest, and that goes double for temps anywhere near 80f. RH needs to be 65-70% at 80 degrees F. When you raise it, be sure to raise your EC as well, because transpiration rates will slow.

 

[squiggly]

Too dry! Your humidity should only be that low the last week before harvest, and that goes double for temps anywhere near 80f. RH needs to be 65-70% at 80 degrees F. When you raise it, be sure to raise your EC as well, because transpiration rates will slow.

Second all of this.

These plants grow in the tropics mostly. Most strains (especially sativas) will prefer high RH in veg (especially at nearing 80deg). Talking 60%+ minimum. They'd love 75% of you could provide it.

 

[orbad]

I'll turn down the tent fan to try and raise the RH without heating it up too much more in there.

 

[ttystikk]

A simple swamp cooler both helps cool and aids humidity. Draw hot air from the top of the tent. Between these two, you should be able to keep firm control of your tent's climate.

 

[orbad]

I would just cull that one plant and replace it if it didn't have one of the biggest root systems. I was up to 59% this am. All the other plants look happy, so I'm just going to go with it and see if it doesn't come back around. It may be a bit behind the others, but that's what learning is all about.

My real concern is that plant having root rot later on. As of now it has happy roots and sad leaves.

 

[orbad]

Update: Veg week 1 Complete.

Raised the EC .2 today. They are now at .9 EC/6.3ph/66°

They were looking really light to me so I bumped them up a fair bit. Hopefully they are happy when the lights come on. I know I'm happy because I finally got the second half of my grow room electrical wired in! Now I can split my load up a little bit and hopefully save some money on my bill while adding more load.

Anyways on to some pictures:

 

[ttystikk]

I run my rh at 65-75% for veg, and then EC can be as high as 1.7. I usually run 1.1-1.4, which results in vigorously rapid vegetative growth!

I'm aware most others run lower EC. I get away with it due to maintaining higher humidity, and I get a bonus; if the plant is not having to transpire so much water, it can open its stoma and respirate CO2, leading directly to faster growth and higher nutrient needs!

 

[orbad]

I'm probably going to bump up the EC some more tonight. Not sure how much I'm going to raise it though. They are still pretty pale.

 

[orbad]

Plants were still a little pale so I've bumped up the EC to 1.2/6.3ph/66°F. Ambient temp is hovering about 78 and humidity is at 70%.

I'm planning on being out of town this weekend (I have a sitter lol) so while I'm gone they will probably blow up and leave me with an overgrown mess when I return. Wouldn't be the first time.

I'll try and snag some lights out pics today before I take off for the weekend. I want something to be able to compare them to when I get back.

 

[orbad]

Photos: before and after leg shaving

 

[orbad]

Photo update:

I'm thinking they are about ready to flip. Just returned home from my trip, the girls are looking good.

 

[ttystikk]

Since that's all the spacing you're going to get, flip 'em!

 

[orbad]

Light will go out after 12 hours tonight. Tent is at 75°, 75% RH. Res is at 1.0 EC/ 6.3 Ph/ 67°. Tallest plant is 9.3/4" tall. It's showtime ladies and gentlemen. So excited right now!

 

[orbad]

A little about how I've ran my water this run. I started by marking the level of the bottom of the net pots in my Res with a silver sharpy. I started the water level a C hair above the bottom of the net pots and it has now dropped to about an inch and a quarter below the bottom of the NP's. (I think I want to maintain it around here)

The EC dropped .2 over the last week and I added back 24/16/8 (jacks/calnit/Epsom) today to raise it back up to 1.3 EC at 6.3 Ph, and 66° f. This raised the EC .3, a touch more than I wanted.

So to date I have added no water, only nutes. I plan to add plain water sometime next week. Ph has been super stable, almost creepy. Nor have I added Ph down since the initial adjustment.

And since I have lights out pictures from their morning, here they are. Peace and bong rips to all!

What do you think of the height of my light?

 

[ttystikk]

I would move the smallest plants to spots directly under the light, and the bigger ones out at the corners. Then, raise the light at least 6" and make sure your glass is spotless.

On to another subject; I notice amongst UC growers an obsession with the exact level of the water below the net pots. I point this out because I know you're trying to wet your substrate-but not too much. So, why not take this substrate more seriously? Instead of just rocks, run chow mix- and instead of some kind of ad hoc water level guesswork, why not not actively irrigate this from the top, using the RDWC water?

Now, you have a place for all the soil bennies to do their thing. This is a place the plants can really put down roots, in addition to the water and nutrient salts from below. Plus, if you run twice or three times as much water as these pots need, the chowmix will filter the water while it drizzles down, runs down the roots and back into your RDWC water, bringing all those bennies and their enzymes and so on down with it. THIS IS SOLID GOLD. This activity helps stabilize both ec and pH in your RDWC. It may sound hard to believe, but it works.

Pumping RDWC water through the chow mix in your net pots also beaches pythium and algae that is trying to gain a foothold, which together with the above benefits make the system more efficient, more stable, more reliable, even more powerful and very resistant to disease when temps are kept below 65F. And you will taste the difference, I guarantee it!

 

[orbad]

I seriously thought about doing a top feed rdwc but I don't have any experience in the top feed dept. I also went with this design to minimize the amount of pressurized piping I had in the system. I'm going for trouble free operation as I'm in a basement and spills suck. (Particularly thinking about future auto top offs.)

I've also only got 4" netpots so I don't think that would allow that much interior root zone. I kinda tried to eliminate that issue.

I'm not stressing over the water level too much. I just want to keep it consistent and in a "happy medium". (Pun kinda intended)

Trust me, bennies are on my mind but not in the budget yet.

 

[orbad]

To add another fear of mine revolving around chow mix is fucking gnats. I haven't found a good source of coco that hasn't brought me gnats. I tried to eliminate all outside sources of bugs. Fucking hitchhikers.

 

[ttystikk]

Yeah, I have a few of them. Caps bennies do a good job on them, or just give your little eco system time to diversify. I do not rinse my Coco between runs, I instead add a handful of earthworm castings to the top and water it in. Since I run so much water, the RDWC system drives the ec and pH of the chow mix.

I think I should shut up and patent this lol

 

[UCMENOW]

Once again, the most difinitive information being suggested by growers with no proven track record in rdwc. ?? Confusing.

ttystikk, lets see some pics to validate your experience.