Help with RDWC establishing roots

[Aqua Man]

So the protek is potassium silicate.

How and when are you mixing?

 

[login]

As dirtbag said you don't need to ro your water.
I posted here once what my starting well water ppm once with lots commenting i should almost be dead. Very high alkalinity (natural buffer?) 2000 ppm starting 40 to 80 after ro

View attachment 1191058

Wow 2000 ppm source water! Was there oil companies fracking near you?
That happened to a buddy of mine out in Colorado.

 

[login]

So the protek is potassium silicate.

How and when are you mixing?

It's the last thing that gets dosed into the water line. At around 40 ppm.

It goes in this order......UC roots....5-12-26.....15-0-0....protek.

Should I be adding the protek first?

 

[smokedareefer]

Wow 2000 ppm source water! Was there oil companies fracking near you?
That happened to a buddy of mine out in Colorado.

No fracking near me. Yellowstone county, 17 miles from billings Montana. Hard water is probably an understatement. Plants seem to do fairly good with the water

 

[Aqua Man]

It's the last thing that gets dosed into the water line. At around 40 ppm.

It goes in this order......UC roots....5-12-26.....15-0-0....protek.

Should I be adding the protek first?

It absolutely needs to be added first. let it mix well for 20-30min. Then PH down to 6.5 and then add your cal mag and nutrients etc. And last ph down to your desired ppm.

 

[login]

There doing much better now.

 

[Aqua Man]

There doing much better now.

Still to much light or heat or fans on them. 1 of the 3 or maybe combo. But yup looking better.

 

[PK1]

he should drop a video of the entire room so we can see what is not proper. This one plant sure looks better

 

[login]

Actually my room temperature got to low down to 72. So I just put a heater in there until I can finish installing the heat pump.
I've been sick with flu like symptoms all week and today was the first day in almost a week I've been to check on the plants.

 

[Dirtbag]

Actually my room temperature got to low down to 72. So I just put a heater in there until I can finish installing the heat pump.
I've been sick with flu like symptoms all week and today was the first day in almost a week I've been to check on the plants.

Did you type flu there? Or..

 

[Shayne010944]

wow this hydro stuff looks like can run issues so easy. Im about to start my wilma XL 4 pot grow and now in nervous haha

 

[smokedareefer]

wow this hydro stuff looks like can run issues so easy. Im about to start my wilma XL 4 pot grow and now in nervous haha

I have run a 4 site current culture for the last 8 years and find it forgiving and quick to respond.

I always seem to limp to the finish but results are always better than expected.

 

[WhatsHeDoingToday]

What a nice setup! Big grow and C02 also! I want to give you my suggestion based on some recent past experience. Although there are much more experienced in hydro (Aquaman for example) I still would like to give you my own suggestion. From my Ive read, the reason C02 is used to enable the plant to handle higher light and nutrient level. Bottom line is I actually think you need for light and higher nitrogen and a touch of Cal Mag to make get these plant growing faster. I dont see light burn signs and I dont see nutrient burn on the tips. Test the PPM and Bring it up to about 700 ppm by increasing nutrient levels, bring the lights down to about 24" and turn them up to about 60%. If you have a laser thermometer, point it at the top of the leaves closest to the light and measure the temperature. If shouldnt be above 81 degrees, if it is, raise the lights and make sure you have a fan blowing lightly circulating the top of the leaves and blowing the heat away from the lamps. You want the top warm 77 to 79 Ideal. and Root water temps about 70 degrees. I noticed your formula is a tad low on nitrogen in the mix you have. In fact, it looks like you are using a flowering mixture during a the Veg cycle of growth. IMHO, I think I would think outside of the box and also add more nitrogen to the reservoir so that the actual nutrient mix is higher in Nitrogen for the Veg state that you are in now. I'd go 20/4 on the lights during the rest of the veg stage. Make sure you mix your nutrients proper order, cal mag, hydroguard, micro, then flora grow, and keep em from touching directly as concentrates. (Premix with water to avoid nutrient lockout before combining) then lastly, perform a Ph test and adjust it to 6.0. I know it's a lot of changes and too much advice but I really feel that just need to make a few tweaks and those plants need proper nitrogen balance, a little air circulation and higher PPM and more LUX on them. The CO2 is there so they should be handle the extra light and PPM. Other wise they would show light stress and tips would be nutrient burned and turning yellow imo. This goes against the advice of others and I hope I am not wrong about this. I know they are not fully developed and just coming off seedling but based on my current experience here, my plants handling that level of lights and nutrients without C02 and im running 600ppm. I ran my first RDWC at 412 ppm and grown was slow to medium and I did that to play it safe. It worked out fine but nowhere near the results I am now getting with a higher nutrient PPM. I noticed when I ran higher ppm that the plants needed more light to process the nutrients faster. I am using Spiderfarmer SF-2000 for all my lighting.. They are working well at 24 inches for veg and 12 to 18" for flower...Im learning its fun to push them hard. Kinda fun to see them on the fringe of greatness, albeit the peril of overdoing it always a greater risk. I love your system and its pretty rad... Would like to know what lighting you are using and overall pics of your set up. That set up as so much potential.... Good Luck with the rest of your grow...

 

[login]

The veg room has 24 120 watt QBs.
Flower will have 24 480 watt QBs.

 

[WhatsHeDoingToday]

 

[WhatsHeDoingToday]

Cool! Since you can track your EC (PPM) and PH changes, this chart may come in handy. Just curious, How much Lux is reaching the top of the plants? Light meter readings? I know your in VEG and don't need as nearly as much as in flower. And since your finishing your flower room and you don't want fast growth until its completed, I guess you want these to grow slow and healthy. Looks like you have a lot of variables under precise control so you could adjust one of the lights higher or lower depending on your Lux readings and see how she responds before adjusting them all at the same time. Thank you for sharing the overview of your system. Got any close ups of a few plants you could share with us? Like to see how the new growth is responding to your adjustments.

 

[WhatsHeDoingToday]

Ive been experimenting around with bringing the nutrient up into the net pots immersing the hydroton and rockwool cube and then letting the nutrient level drain back down below the net pots. I have a timer switch set for 48 seconds on and 19 minutes off and it run 24/7 immersing the net cups and hydroton throughout the day and night. I leave 2 airstones on inside each bucket that run 24/7. I have included 2 videos of it working so you can get a clear idea of how it performs. My buckets have a drain installed on the bottom of each bucket which lead back to the reservoir. Im running Hydroguard and a chiller at 70 degrees nutrient temp. So far its working fantastic! I have a prior grow in the same setup to compare the performance to since the addition of the timer switch. It allows me to wet the net pot and roots every 20 mins in nutrient and then allows the roots to get direct air as the levels subside. Although I am running with 2 airstones per bucket, this new timer circulation of nutrient into the net basket has caused a big increase in growth. My colas are twice as large at 4 weeks as they were during the first grow. I like to keep the hydroton wet with nutrient until the roots hit the nutrient in the reservoir. If you can't set up something like this then handwater the nutrients and keep the hydroton really moist with nutrient until the roots have reached the into the nutrient solution. Looks like something hindering magnesium uptake. I recommend the Flora Trio and also there cal mag 1-0-0 as they are formulated to work well together. That is what I used and also had good experience with liquid Kool Bloom during Flower. It will take that part of the mystery out of the equation. Then you can concentrate on the other environmentals... light, humidity, temps, etc.

 

[Aqua Man]

I should clarify the reason I listed light/heat/wind was I see spiked edges on many leaves, swelling in the upper leaves and some twisting inward at the middle of the upper.

So usually that's a result of those in one way or another. But....

Thoughts outloud:

That folding inwards at the middle of the leaves make sme think possibly early mite or other bug since its starting at the petiole and working outward.

The cupping upward and V shape lead me to believe while the light may not be to much for the age, it maybe to much for a plant in recovery and cooler temps although I don't really see signs that temp is an issue yet.

I agree about the IR for testing leaf temps also. With co2 I prefer 77-78f personally.

The spiking at the leaf edges on varying heights makes me wonder if the is a residual issue of lack of magnesium. If it were just the top then I stick with my last post but looking back I'm not so sure it's not mag.

 

[login]

How does this one look?

 

[PK1]

looks good, nice green leaves, stalky. maybe a bit of low stress training to open those branches out for better air flow and light