QB light experiment. What else should i run?

  • Thread starter redshift75
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
R

redshift75

Guest
So im thinking of just running some promix organic mix with fox farms happy frog conditioner. I can get them cheap. They have PRO-MIX® All-Purpose Professional Grower's Mix or PRO-MIX® Ultimate Organic Mix. I can get those for about $4 a cu ft vs $12 for Fox farms per cu ft. I really want to stick to something that is a blend of off the shelf without going into super recipes. But i dont want to go just cheap bags of manure amended with my coco mix+conditioner. As its a picky blend more designed to harden my plants for outdoors than to grow a cycle indoors. I dont want to go with a straight coco as ive never done it... so dont want to have that be a reason for a learning curve. I also ordered an RO water purifier, This way the run off can go to my holding tanks then i have a tank for the main RO water. So i can eliminate waste water. Essentially having a 0 waste water RO system as its all salvaged. But i need it as my new well has been swinging from 7ph to +12ph lately. SOooooo i needed it for my greenhouses and such regardless.


for some options
I have 3/5/7/10 gallon fabric pots. Im working on a way to set the fabric pots in the tents to catch run off. Looking at upgrading the energy usage monitors.

I cant think of anything else i really need to lock in. Have nutes and all that, have tds,ph,ec, meters etc. Hangers, got the air stuff. all the smalls. Minus the energy usage meter.


any adjustments or things i should consider please let me know... especially if there anything else im missing that i should have on hand for this experiment? or for accurate results. I was just assuming for the most part to start a grow diary and do some set daily criteria for measuring
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
So im thinking of just running some promix organic mix with fox farms happy frog conditioner. I can get them cheap. They have PRO-MIX® All-Purpose Professional Grower's Mix or PRO-MIX® Ultimate Organic Mix. I can get those for about $4 a cu ft vs $12 for Fox farms per cu ft. I really want to stick to something that is a blend of off the shelf without going into super recipes. But i dont want to go just cheap bags of manure amended with my coco mix+conditioner. As its a picky blend more designed to harden my plants for outdoors than to grow a cycle indoors. I dont want to go with a straight coco as ive never done it... so dont want to have that be a reason for a learning curve. I also ordered an RO water purifier, This way the run off can go to my holding tanks then i have a tank for the main RO water. So i can eliminate waste water. Essentially having a 0 waste water RO system as its all salvaged. But i need it as my new well has been swinging from 7ph to +12ph lately. SOooooo i needed it for my greenhouses and such regardless.


for some options
I have 3/5/7/10 gallon fabric pots. Im working on a way to set the fabric pots in the tents to catch run off. Looking at upgrading the energy usage monitors.

I cant think of anything else i really need to lock in. Have nutes and all that, have tds,ph,ec, meters etc. Hangers, got the air stuff. all the smalls. Minus the energy usage meter.


any adjustments or things i should consider please let me know... especially if there anything else im missing that i should have on hand for this experiment? or for accurate results. I was just assuming for the most part to start a grow diary and do some set daily criteria for measuring
The more drainage the faster the growth imo. That is as long as you can water enough to keep up.
 
R

redshift75

Guest
The more drainage the faster the growth imo. That is as long as you can water enough to keep up.

thats another reason i dont want to go straight coco hydro mix. Because i cant focus on it all day as i have an actual farm to run. So anything can randomly occur and i have to disappear to make it happen for 8 hours. Or even rush over to help a neighbor with a problem(since thats how we roll). I can have others to check my greenhouses of produce, but is only 1 or 2 other people id trust with that and odds are they would be right there with me working on whatever is keeping us from our ladies 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂


But i had another thought that is i dont have enough proven time to run a "soilless" setup to say one way or another. Im a soil grower. So i dont want to create a variable where i can easily screw one up over another.


Thats why i was considering 10gal pots (large i know). but if i do one of these strains i have that thrives outdoors. Most of that has to do with the root space. So my thought was eliminate root binding maximize the open space. Then SCROG my way through the tents. I know its big, just given my outdoor genes i figure why not eliminate the pots size as to the failures in the past with indoor on these genes. i thought about somewhere between 5-10gallon


Since you said about more drainage i was debating throwing either 2-4cu ft of perlite or vermiculite in the mix or a blend of the two as im thinking ill go 16cu ft pro mix 6cu ft fox farm happy frog conditioner and was going to go 1 or 2 5kg bundle of the expanding coco and mix. More than what i need but i have lots of other stuff i grow so would be nice to have some good soil for my veggies. but i was considering adding something like that to help with drainage and aeration. thoughts or recommendations to amendments?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
thats another reason i dont want to go straight coco hydro mix. Because i cant focus on it all day as i have an actual farm to run. So anything can randomly occur and i have to disappear to make it happen for 8 hours. Or even rush over to help a neighbor with a problem(since thats how we roll). I can have others to check my greenhouses of produce, but is only 1 or 2 other people id trust with that and odds are they would be right there with me working on whatever is keeping us from our ladies 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂


But i had another thought that is i dont have enough proven time to run a "soilless" setup to say one way or another. Im a soil grower. So i dont want to create a variable where i can easily screw one up over another.


Thats why i was considering 10gal pots (large i know). but if i do one of these strains i have that thrives outdoors. Most of that has to do with the root space. So my thought was eliminate root binding maximize the open space. Then SCROG my way through the tents. I know its big, just given my outdoor genes i figure why not eliminate the pots size as to the failures in the past with indoor on these genes. i thought about somewhere between 5-10gallon


Since you said about more drainage i was debating throwing either 2-4cu ft of perlite or vermiculite in the mix or a blend of the two as im thinking ill go 16cu ft pro mix 6cu ft fox farm happy frog conditioner and was going to go 1 or 2 5kg bundle of the expanding coco and mix. More than what i need but i have lots of other stuff i grow so would be nice to have some good soil for my veggies. but i was considering adding something like that to help with drainage and aeration. thoughts or recommendations to amendments?
I'm new to soil myself. I just did a mix of 4 parts sunshine #4 (which has 25-35% perlite in it) and 1 part vermiculite for the added silica. No idea how it will work but i would say 30% perlite added would not be a bad thing. I would hold off the vermiculite maybe as others have expressed some concerns over it to me.
 
R

redshift75

Guest
I may just try that blend without amendments. Keep it simple and whats readily available at most big box stores where people may not have grow shops :) but without going to the level of commercial garden/top soil (that is super hot)
 
threatco

threatco

594
93
I may just try that blend without amendments. Keep it simple and whats readily available at most big box stores where people may not have grow shops :) but without going to the level of commercial garden/top soil (that is super hot)

Soil scares me.

I don't expect to convince you do join the wet side. But my ebb and flow flood table set up can be left on its own for a week no problem. The water buffers the pHs it's self with mature plants and dialed in nutrients. It helps to keep pushing it down to 5.5 but letting it stay for a bit at 6.5 like it naturally wants to do does not seem to hurt anything. Every few days I haul a couple 3 gal nutrient solution buckets to top it up. And every few top-ups I drain it out and give it fresh.

No risk of a mess-up that I can not immediately fix. I might spend an avg of 5 mins a day dealing with them. I can instantly watch my plants give feedback and adjust their environment as needed.

TLDR, hydro can be very very easy.

But I am blessed with consistent 6.7 ph tap-water with <30 ppm. Your farm may be more hydro-challenged

Also, for a grow diary. I don't know if your thinking of just doing a forum post that gets updated. But I find the way this site structures diaries really cool. It reminds you to add all the variables you can. And random little grow questions get answered FAST. https://growdiaries.com/diaries/584...n-lights-5-x-haze-grow-journal-by-sticky-icky
 
Last edited:
R

redshift75

Guest
TLDR, hydro can be very very easy.
send me a pm maybe we can discuss some ideas. Im looking at making a drainage rack type setup for the smart pots. Maybe im missing it in my searches but i cant seem to find what id use for the run off of smart pots besides people say a tray(like boot tray) and shop vac. So I came up with a way to make a 4x8 wire rack. cause i cant find any other way. While i was over there doing that i was thinking to myself. Sheesh at this rate im one step away from an ebb and flow setup catch my run off, drain it to reservoir. :) :)
 
threatco

threatco

594
93
send me a pm maybe we can discuss some ideas. Im looking at making a drainage rack type setup for the smart pots. Maybe im missing it in my searches but i cant seem to find what id use for the run off of smart pots besides people say a tray(like boot tray) and shop vac. So I came up with a way to make a 4x8 wire rack. cause i cant find any other way. While i was over there doing that i was thinking to myself. Sheesh at this rate im one step away from an ebb and flow setup catch my run off, drain it to reservoir. :) :)


1589167803056

1589167780732

1589167946047
1589168324329



1589168257631
1589168083016
1589168365007

1589168004285
1589168396344


1589168132245



Just let that all fall together like tetris. And bam. Away ya go.
 
R

redshift75

Guest
ill work up to that level yet. simply because id have to do both tents. I think i can do em that way in my fabric pots as well? I have a great grow store near me. That has all the stuff i need. I was pricing out a 4x8 tray :) :) but was like man $150 idk...
 
threatco

threatco

594
93
ill work up to that level yet. simply because id have to do both tents. I think i can do em this way in my fabric pots as well?

Yeah, you can. Fill the fabric pots with the Hydroton clay, and put those pots in the flood tray. You can use anything for it, I found under the bed totes were good to cover a 2x4 area. I use two of them in my 100cm x 100cm tent. You could do 4 in a 4x8

The benefit of using the pots is if you want you can move the plants around individually. I did it that way for my first grow in this set up. I just hate cleaning them after. And moving around the whole tote is not too hard if I want to clean up the grow room or something.
 
Top Bottom