Back at her, and ripping along

woodsmaneh · Jul 9, 2011

Well got fired up and running again, last grow was a bit of a mess due to my old ways vs the right way. So moved the room around and changed food to DM Gold and doing the full line as recommended by the online calculator. Moved the chiller and ballast into the side room as I will be adding the jumbo big blue machine , (9 30 gal pods, 1hp chiller, 220 watt air pump, 2500gph pump, coming soon)

Here some pics day 22 of flower, the smell is wonderful, the tallest plant is 34 inches.

There is something going on here with how the system works, last grow the 2 plants in the end pods grew the best and it's happening again, you can see from the pics. Any ideas or is the only happening to me?

mastacheeser · Jul 9, 2011

any chance your room is on a slight tilt? only other guess would be a different reflector or the light is closer down there.
fan placement can play a role too

looking good, what strain you running?

woodsmaneh · Jul 9, 2011

mastacheeser said:
any chance your room is on a slight tilt? only other guess would be a different reflector or the light is closer down there.
fan placement can play a role too

looking good, what strain you running?

I am growing a cross of my own I call Blue Storm or BS for short. Named after my Dog.

The room is not tilted and the reflectors are the same. There is a fan at the end but also on the side.

Thanks for dropping by.

Chronic Monster · Jul 9, 2011

looks real nice , are your lids made out of wood :wondering?

crossouttheiis · Jul 9, 2011

things are looking good. do the plants on the end seem sturdier because of the fan? or more stout

woodsmaneh · Jul 9, 2011

Chronic Monster said:
looks real nice , are your lids made out of wood :wondering?

Yup just for this run, I went to 12" HD net pots so the 8" that came with it don't work. Will get a sheet of black laxan for the next run.

woodsmaneh · Jul 9, 2011

crossouttheiis said:
things are looking good. do the plants on the end seem sturdier because of the fan? or more stout

I'll have a closer look tonight but they are 8" taller than the other 6?

Shady · Jul 9, 2011

Nice work woodsmaneh! Very interesting about the plants furthest from the epicenter... I've been wondering the same thing, but I guess I'll find out in my next run... :thinking

woodsmaneh · Jul 9, 2011

Day 24 Flower Blue Storm aka BS

Just took these pics and I can't believe the wonderful smell, I never smelled them like this WOW and starting to pack on the res and size, I'm just giddy.

crossouttheiis · Jul 10, 2011

your plants are looking awesome. Just to pick your brain a little bit though...

do you feel that using the larger net pots taking up more space in the buckets will leave less room for your roots to grow/thrive? I believe last time your roots filled up your buckets all the way?

woodsmaneh · Jul 10, 2011

8" vs 12" net pots

crossouttheiis said:
your plants are looking awesome. Just to pick your brain a little bit though...

do you feel that using the larger net pots taking up more space in the buckets will leave less room for your roots to grow/thrive? I believe last time your roots filled up your buckets all the way?

The 12's are 1 1/2 inches deeper than the 8's but I used 1" plywood and the lid sits on the top of the pail so I am only about 1/2 inch deeper than the 8's. I changed because I felt the 8's did not give enough support to the bigger plants. The 12's only have holes starting 2 1/2 inches down so no light gets in and there is more room for the roots to spread out over the 12 vs 8 inches. The 12" HD are also much stronger than the 8's. The 12's have larger slots in them and I think that alone is worth it. The tap roots are constricted in the 8's and that's not a good thing. I don't know it it will be an issue as I hope the roots aree spread out over a larger area right from the start so I don't think there will be less room for the roots, but just in case I have a new system I built with 30gal barrels with 4" pipe that I will fire up soon. Here are some pics of the pots for comparison.

The larger pots may cause a larger root mass and if that happens it will be an issue and I will need to do some root trimming, I would rather go to the dentist than do that, but we will see. I am not a big look at the roots guy as it disturbs everything in there and also the air stones will move in the root mass and may get pushed to one side.

crossouttheiis · Jul 10, 2011

You should check out the burpee cages too... they offer awesome support for the plant and fit the bucket snugly. Those dont seem that much bigger and good idea. The wood gets nasty when moisture builds up in it. I know you are getting lexan next time though so it is all good.

UCHQ · Jul 11, 2011

What your observing is likely a result of doing add backs of concentrated nutrients or pH adjusters in the epicenter........assuming you do add backs, if not disregard this input ;)

The concentrated nutrients contact the roots of the first and subsequent modules with this high ppm solution. This seems to have a slight stunting effect on the plants closest to the epicenter, causing a graduated increase in plant health as you move away from the dosing point.

If this is the case consider further diluting your solution before adding back. Or better yet try using a top off res and let you additions come via the float valve.

woodsmaneh · Jul 12, 2011

Add backs

UCHQ said:
What your observing is likely a result of doing add backs of concentrated nutrients or pH adjusters in the epicenter........assuming you do add backs, if not disregard this input ;)

The concentrated nutrients contact the roots of the first and subsequent modules with this high ppm solution. This seems to have a slight stunting effect on the plants closest to the epicenter, causing a graduated increase in plant health as you move away from the dosing point.

If this is the case consider further diluting your solution before adding back. Or better yet try using a top off res and let you additions come via the float valve.

Last run was done that way now all is done auto from the res. Makes sense, I was thinking that the water speed picks up in the last 2 buckets due to the proximity to the pump. (closest to the pump)

Thank you

UCHQ · Jul 12, 2011

Gotcha.

The dynamics of our sub current culture are such that the flow through the entire system is dictated by the exit flow from the end modules via the return manifold. If the solution were leaving the end modules more quickly than any other mods the system would quickly become imbalanced and overflow the epicenter.

If you've any further questions please feel free to post them in the "questions and concerns" thread.

woodsmaneh · Jul 12, 2011

UCHQ said:
Gotcha.

The dynamics of our sub current culture are such that the flow through the entire system is dictated by the exit flow from the end modules via the return manifold. If the solution were leaving the end modules more quickly than any other mods the system would quickly become imbalanced and overflow the epicenter.

If you've any further questions please feel free to post them in the "questions and concerns" thread.

I understand what your saying but I'm not convinced that's the case here. 3" pipe is hard to over flow when pumping from a 3/4 source as it will have a max flow rate not = to the capacity or the 3' pipe. I am suggesting that as the pump pulls from the end manifold the water speed in the end pod is faster than the speed of flow in the first pod. So in short my guess is the faster flow rate is letting the last 2 end pods get more due to the faster flow?

UCHQ · Jul 13, 2011

Plants look great

No doubt there is a substantial draw from the end modules via the return manifold that perpetuates the flow through out the system. Though, it's necessary that the prior and opposing modules flow just as quickly to displace the solution, otherwise the system will imbalance, which it generally doesn't.

Having said this, I am confident that what you are observing is relavent to your scenario. I should say that this would be one of the few reports to date (out of 1000+ systems in the field) of this increased growth rate in the end modules. (other than, as I'd mentioned earlier with the concentrated pH/nute add backs)

As many threads on this site have exhibited, the growth tends to be even throughout the system, assuming all other inputs are equal as well.

Your plants look like your doing very well, keep up the good work!

woodsmaneh · Jul 13, 2011

Week 4 Day 28 Flower

Killing it this round, the smell is wonderful, light, sweet, jasmine, buds frosting up nice...

:banana1sv6::banana1sv6::banana1sv6::banana1sv6:

DM Nutrients working so well, using the liquid light this past 2 weeks, DM is hard to get up here.

Ph 5.5, PPM 760, temp in res. 63, humidity 60%, room temp 80, anticipation High

Had some issues with my other 9 plants that were veging but back on track and should have the new humungous DIY UC running soon. The air pump is the size a big loaf of bread and weighs a 25 pounds.