Uni-slab aka Uni-Bag inspired grow

[Casimpi]

Like I mentioned I am just going to start a stand alone rockwool unibag thread so the others growing in this style can all have a more streamlined manor of comparing.

I am 100% inspired by @Dirtbag 's threads to give this grow style a try. Then I was so encouraged to see @tobh @PK1 @Dub_City405 and others doing the same with great results.

Here is my first attempt to learn this style while only 3 grows in total under my belt. I dropped the seeds on 11/06 so here is a photo dump to bring you up to date.

-2 Solfire Gelly Biscuit
-2 Solfire Lemongrab
-2 InHouse Genetics Velvet Breath - I landed up killing one.
-1 Barnesy Green Crack clone you can kind of ignore as I will not be flowered

 

[Casimpi]

I do not know why for the life of me I cannot get rid of the last two photos and I do not have the time to try anymore so ignore.

As you can tell I am starting to get some deficiencies it seems. I am using a brand of nutrients called Richmond Hydroponics and the owner has been pretty good about communicating with me via Instagram. He thinks its because I had used some fish shit in the water as it forces a plant up actively uptake Phosphorus vs passively.

Additionally I was watering a little bit at a time every day just until the starter cubes had runoff as wanted to keep moist. He recommended that I water more everyday until 20% runoff which I have been doing and started to keep a detailed excel log to try and track some data.

More photos:

 

[PK1]

thanks for the tag, they need more light cuz their stretching allot. The taco leaves is because of heat. but overall it looks good

 

[Dub_City405]

Ya. By far best quality of product. You give the best oxygen for roots and it drains extra moisture. I get really frosty stuff.

 

[Casimpi]

Here is the update from today. Below is my log I started to keep of the plants.

Day 3	PLant	Date	Time	TempF	RH	runoff per 150ml	Nutrients	PH in	EC in	PPM in	PH out	EC out	PPM out
	Lemongrab #1	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	60 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690	6.34	1.547	770
	Lemongrab #2	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	45 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690	6.27	1.661	830
	Gelly B #1	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	55 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690	6.14	1.795	897
	Gelly B #2	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	30 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690	6.3	1.414	707
	Velvet Breath	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	75 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690		1.634	817
	GC Clone	12/12	1:15 PM	79.2	61%	60 of 150	7ml grow A+B	5.75	1.38	690	6.27	2.061	1030

Seeing as we are all caught up, I will introduce you to each plant in greater detail.

The runt of the littler the Inhouse Genetics Velvet Breath

Barneys Green Crack Clone that I took just to practice

Solfire Gelly Biscuit #1

Gelly B #2

Solfire Lemongrab #1 - this has been the stud of the run from day 1

Lemongrab #2

Group Shot

 

[PK1]

overall looks good except the leaves curling. have you addressed that>?

 

[Casimpi]

overall looks good except the leaves curling. have you addressed that>?

I am not fully sure why they are curling like that. When it comes to curling from my research here are the potential causes:

-Heat - I do not think this is the case as my tempt have never gone over 75F

-Over watering - I do not think this is the case as I am in Rockwool and it will still retain 20% oxygen when fully saturated

-N deficiency - This might be a factor as I am also noticing some yellowing of leaves

-Cold - Not the case as temps have never gone below 70F

-Wind damage - Only recently have they been left uncovered by a dome, so most of their lives they had minimal wind

-Too much light - This could be the case as I dropped my light a little lower to try get a better ppfd spread. I have since raised the light back up a little.

-Root rot - Doubt this is the case as all roots that are visible are very white and healthy looking.

If you can think of anything else please let me know so I can keep crossing things off the list and work towards the healthiest plants possible.

 

[PK1]

on your temp reader find out what the highs/lows of the temps are.
You mentioned you brought the light down, this can be a cause of curling leaves if there is not enough air circulation or the light intensity is way to up.
Online research are fine, but there is a lot of misinformation.

 

[tobh]

I'd say those are ready for to be put on the slabs. The leaf curling looks related to VPD imo. Temps are a little low, 79F - 82F is more ideal with LED during lights on. RH needs to be up around 60% at this stage as well. Once those two variables are dialed in, the leaves should level out. If not, then two variables that have the biggest impact (imo) with LED are ruled out and we can move forward with evaluating air circulation, light intensity, etc.

 

[tobh]

It would help to know leaf surface temp as well. Without knowing that, ambient temp is almost useless. It's like walking with a blindfold over your eyes, especially when running LED. There's just too much opportunity for the leaf temps to be wildly different than ambient and that is the one of the most critical metrics for helping the plant transpire effectively.

 

[Casimpi]

I'd say those are ready for to be put on the slabs. The leaf curling looks related to VPD imo. Temps are a little low, 79F - 82F is more ideal with LED during lights on. RH needs to be up around 60% at this stage as well. Once those two variables are dialed in, the leaves should level out. If not, then two variables that have the biggest impact (imo) with LED are ruled out and we can move forward with evaluating air circulation, light intensity, etc.

I agree and am very eager to get these on slabs. I won, yes won a plant via Instagram from a local grow shop. That changed my plans for my grows so as of now I have these in a closet. Hence why I also cannot get Temps and Environment as dialed as I would like.

Once my last plant finishes drying in my 2 x 2.5 tent I will move things around a little. I have to cull or give away 3 of these plants as here in VA I can only grow 4 at a time. My lady is adamant that I stick to those rules and I love her more than I will ever love this plant so what she says goes.

So that being said I think I might take 3 of these maybe 1 of each strain Lemongrab, Gelly B, and Velvet B to flower in my 3x3. Or I might only move 2 over to that 2x2.5 and flower and let the last one become a monster.

It would help to know leaf surface temp as well. Without knowing that, ambient temp is almost useless. It's like walking with a blindfold over your eyes, especially when running LED. There's just too much opportunity for the leaf temps to be wildly different than ambient and that is the one of the most critical metrics for helping the plant transpire effectively.

This is good advice and I will purchase one today. Thank you again

 

[Casimpi]

Little pre and post out of town update. I went out of town for 4 days and set up an automated watering system that seemed to work well enough. The only thing I was really worried about was the PH rise of the reservoir, especially as it was only 4 gallons of water. Well, they seemed to be just fine and actually look the healthiest they have looked so far.

Before I left

After

I also was able to get them onto the slabs and am excited about their growth

Close ups

Velvet Breath runt of the 3

Lemongrab

Gelly B

Also I have found 2 of these little guys around my grow over the last 2 weeks or so. I think its a rove beetle which from my research is actually a good bug to have around. I am assuming if its a rove beetle it came from my soil tent right next to my closet, as I had a small fungus gnat problem there. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

[Casimpi]

This grow has kind of been on cruise control. Or at least I have been so busy with other things that I have not put too much focus on this grow. Everything seems to be fine however, so I landed up topping a few days ago. I did clean up the lower 2-3 nodes of all plants.

I should have only toped the the two Solfire plants and left the middle Velvet Breath alone, but what is done is done. I did however only LST the Solfire plants last night, and not even 7 hours later and are upright again.

Gelly Bwith LST clip

Inhouse Genetics Velvet Breath just being

Lemongrab with some LST

Group Shot

 

[Casimpi]

Here they are 7 hours later

Gelly B

Lemongrab

Top shot:

 

[Casimpi]

Man oh man has it been a little bit since I updated and boy has a lot happened. The plants were outgrowing the closet, or more so I could not control the environment as much as I needed to. I got off my lazy ass and moved them to the 2x 2.5 tent I had upstairs in my dogs room. I could only really fit two of the three, so I decided to leave the Velvet Breath in my other tent seeing as it was the runt. Figured by the time I flowered the other two I could have the Velvet ready to go.

That was all New Years Eve and I was quick out the door to go to me buddies. Well I forgot to push the tent flush against the wall. My one dog the lab got her head between the wall and tent and was able to open the vent on the side of the tent.

I came home and opened the door to the room to just see a slab in the middle of the room with a nice big ole chunk taken out of the middle. My heart dropped as I opened the tent to see both plants off their slabs and thrown into the corner of the tent. I was devastated hence my lack of updates, as I have not been motivated to share and relive this huge set back.

This is them right after I moved them and had them all set up.

This is some of the what I came home to. I could not bring myself to take pictures before picking them up.

 

[Casimpi]

I said that moment nope I am making changes. So I sold got rid of my big L desk and put a long skinny desk in so I could move the upstairs tent downstairs. Luckily I had not moved all three over so I added the Velvet Breath back into the tent.

I just let them go kind of mad at myself so I did not pay too much attention to them and think I watered a few times with too high of PH. I started to pay more attention here in the last 4-5 days and I think they are starting to come back. I did notice they had sustained more damage than I thought from their physical abuse and more branches died due to being partially ripped or torn.|

Lemongrab on the Left
Velvet Breath Center
Gelly Biscuit on the right

LemonGrab

Velvet Breath

Gelly Biscuit

This is the deficiency I am seeing across all three plants. It is only on 3-5 leaves per plant and most lower but 1-2 uppers as well. I think it was a PH issue and I have been watering with 5.5 last 4-5 days and it does not seem to be getting worse.

 

[Casimpi]

I was also building a second layer of screen for my other tent for the Green Crack I have in flower. So I decided why not build a screen for this tent as well. With the three plants in here and me being upset about the set back I am just going to try and get these to flower ASAP.

The new screen and a view from under. I wanted to not force any more stress on these, so will at least give them a chance to grow into the net vs being wrestled down by it.

Bonus pics of the GC at day 5 of flower in the 3x3.

 

[Casimpi]

Looking back at my last update it is crazy to think how fast these things grow, and I don't even have the perfect environment dialed in.

I was able to get my automated watering system set up. Its an interval based one which I do not like but we will see how it goes as I keep messing with it.

Photo dump update over the last 9 days ending with a decent under skirt cleaning and defol tonight.

Enjoy

 

[PK1]

nice done man. Yours is growing faster then mine. how many cycles are you feeding them at what ec?

 

[Casimpi]

nice done man. Yours is growing faster then mine. how many cycles are you feeding them at what ec?

I recently changed to an automated system like I previously mentioned its an interval based system. I won a coupon code that gave me a pretty good discount off the system so I said why not. Its made by a company called Growtek USA based out of Washington State.

Prior I had been feeding once a day till about 20% runoff leaning on the higher side vs the under. I am using a local nutrient company and just following their schedule which in veg is 15 ml per gallon of each their Grow A and B. My starting water is coming from a Hydro Logic Small Boy starting at 7 PH, 200 ppm and .49 EC.

After Foxfarms PH down and the 30 ML of nutrients per gallon my water is PH 5.5, 106 ppm, and 2.1 EC.

The fertigation system has been live for 4 days and all I do is add 2-4 drops of PH every day to maintain the 5.5 PH, but there has been feeding with some drift. I am still fine tuning the system but as of now I am feeding them 200ml of water every 2 hours.

I was lower but was not noticing any residual water in the drip trays so wanted to up it some to at least start to pool water knowing I am getting runoff. I know I should be allowing some dry back so might have to adjust but so far I am just holding my breath.