PlumberSoCal
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Both ends of the leaf or both ends of the leaf miner?
PlumberSoCal
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I'm getting some pretty good growth in my Kratky bottles. Green beans popped 2-3 days ago and a few tap roots have grown into the water.
I noticed yesterday morning that the ones with their roots in the water and the waterline below the baskets were drying out so I started to lightly water them but keeping the waterline below the basket.
Simple enough but I've never heard of anyone mentioning this before. I've got 2 in red cup shot glasses, about an oz of coco, and one has roots a couple inches below the basket.
While the Kratky bottles are full of condensation, as you can see into the clear bottles,
I assume the condensation will help keep the coco moist but this one was pretty dry yesterday morning.
I also assume I will have to change the water every 1-4 weeks depending on their size. We'll see as the days/weeks pass.
Adding air to a few 3 gallon buckets soon. I expect even better growth and will no doubt be doing DWC in the garden next spring. I'd love to grow some melons and have 8 spots on top of a rise where I've grown them in soil. All toll I've got room for about 40 buckets in the garden and want to get away from soil growing, rotating crops and gophers.
oldskol4evr
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both ends of the minor,you just crush them and rest of leaf does it jobBoth ends of the leaf or both ends of the leaf miner?
oldskol4evr
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see thats the problem i came into,supose to just let the plant absorb allthe water ,not adding anything,my roots were exposed to the humidity in the can but wasnt enough,the pdf i have says dont add nothing after inital start,not in my heat,this is my third go at it,since i top off the can every 2 days and fill back with 5.8 ph and im running 1400 ppm not by choice,the swing from morning to evening is burning up my watermelon plant,but i sure got further with the air,another thing the post didnt mention is ro water,that the only water i get to work without a ton of work
oldskol4evr
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i want to get this shit down,next spring im have 3 18 gal totes against that wall,watermelons,canaloupe,pumpkins,all grow on that wall and across that top deck,that should keep some them damn bugs off,especially the pumpkins and watermelons,i had 3 pumpkins and 4 watermelons,ruined by grubs ,they ate a hole right threw the hull made a circle inside the fruit ,exited and the whole inside could be poured out from what the magets and earwigs left behind,one melon was 30 pounds
PlumberSoCal
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Bugs will always be a problem.
I've read the same on the Kratky method, just put 'em in and let 'em grow. I don't think that will work as well as tending when needed but I'll see, they're all still small.
Part of me wants to nuke the greenhouse but the other part wants a natural balanced environment.
Leaf miners are long gone as no new damage in 2 weeks but I did see a spider looking insect with the loop. Couldn't see it otherwise. So I'm torn, to nuke or not to nuke. That is the question.
I've seen lady bugs, lacewings and miniature wasps hanging out and would hate to decrease their numbers. I saw a new munched leaf end this morning so something is enjoying my plants.
Death, taxes and bugs!
oldskol4evr
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go out there after dark with flashlight in hand,you find them they cant camo in the dark and stick out like a sore thumb,ya the minors hasnt got anything of mine in a few weeks now you mention it,must be breeding season for pry mantis,benn catching them on my fence ,big ones,putting on my watermelon plant,they wiped out the aphids i was trying to get,tore the larvae up,i just couldnt spray from all the flowers so i caught 4 big bastards and put on the plant and vines ,all in seprate spots,i have no more aphids
PlumberSoCal
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Days 48/18
Pulled another in a 1 gal pot with coco coir, no coco dust/peat. Only 1 out of 4 left and it's the smallest.
Won't do that again. The ones in 1/2 gal are dust/peat with coir added on top like mulch and are growing well.
The gang got trimmed up and bent up.
Little ones are 2 wks old and should start taking off. Their 1/2 & 1 gal pots are 95% dust and 5% coir with 20% large chunk perlite. Seems to be working well.
Giving them 4 waterings today and tomorrow. Thinking of setting up a tank and pump and make this automatic and give them 5 or 6 waterings a day.
Kratky bottle plants doing well.
And this basil root is adding a half inch of growth daily.
Oh gee, look at the time.
Happy Growing!
Pulled another in a 1 gal pot with coco coir, no coco dust/peat. Only 1 out of 4 left and it's the smallest.
Won't do that again. The ones in 1/2 gal are dust/peat with coir added on top like mulch and are growing well.
The gang got trimmed up and bent up.
Little ones are 2 wks old and should start taking off. Their 1/2 & 1 gal pots are 95% dust and 5% coir with 20% large chunk perlite. Seems to be working well.
Giving them 4 waterings today and tomorrow. Thinking of setting up a tank and pump and make this automatic and give them 5 or 6 waterings a day.
Kratky bottle plants doing well.
And this basil root is adding a half inch of growth daily.
Oh gee, look at the time.
Happy Growing!
oldskol4evr
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hahahahh ya was looking at your cups,i tried several ways myself,what worked for me believe it or not was pea gravel off my drive way,i filled the barrel to 1/2 in up that cup,then just dropped the seed to almost bottom ,turned the air on,after a few days the heat had the water level right at bottom of my cup,but still splashed it ,so i just top feed it water about twice a day to keep gravel moist,on the third day i had a plant hahaah,that damn stem is the size of a quarter now,we had a cool front blow in yesterday,got low as 52 thats frezzing in this part of world,woke to 56 this morn,that barrel over night did not like the shit at all,so might be pulling mine down if it dont get better,i got one watermelon about the size of a footbsll in a sling 8 ft in the air hanging hahaah go figure right,one thing for sure growing them come spring on top that deck above the plant there wont be any grubs killing my shit unless they climb brick wall and dont mind heights hahahah,pumpkins ,canaloupe and watermelons on the second floor,this give me a ton more room for other things in the bottom garden,this system is great for space,im just wondering how flower would do in it,kinda risky imo be a bitch to catch the swing 4 or 5 weeks in flower and lose it,you dig what im saying
PlumberSoCal
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Can't wait to do mellons in this stuff but I'll wait until spring.
I was thinking of using aquarium gravel and rockwool.
I'm gonna pop a few seeds in baskets in 2 weeks. Gotta give it a try. I'll start in bottles and move to airated buckets.
oldskol4evr
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i had no choice but to use air,what is impressive is the growth in the hydro outside,i really didnt think i could pull it off,hadnt seen the record for this year,know that for 4 months never went under 95 daylight,ive lost 2 huge oak trees from the heat,so many acorns on them and so dry ,they just fall over,luckly this cool front that rolled in had winds up to 40 mph and i didnt loose anymore trees,they are down every were ,my first line of defense was wrapping the foil insulation around the can thinking that was my problem ,it wasnt and by third attempt tweeked in to the water as the source,first 2 seeds i put in it just damped off,was using peat moss and vermiculite,when i threw that out and used gravel 3 days i had a 1/2 tall plant coming from it,so ya your fish tank gravel is ideal for sure,worked for me,i believe im gonna to find some 1/4 in copper tubing and get it running to the totes for next year and use a pump to recirculate cool water going to them,the air works great by itself,but also want to build a man ifold to line down my fence and it will need recirulation for that,mama dont mind the noise from the air pump and the house is cender block ,so a small hole running threw wall to keep res cool and easier to maintain inside the house ,then i got house cats to deal with hahaahah
PlumberSoCal
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That would be sweet! I'm too far from the house or I'd think about it. I thought about a chiller for a res tank as we too get high temps for several months. Amazon has a nice one for $165. I've got 5-6' between the new greenhouse and chicken coop that's well shaded and would be cooler throughout the summer.
I could connect all the buckets I plan on putting in the garden but that would require more digging, but something to consider. Circulating water with bubbles might be the way to go.
Got some Blue Dream for motivation and all day to get things done.
PlumberSoCal
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Days 49/19
They've taken well to training.
I've got 3 more but they're not keeping up.
The whole idea is to harvest 3-5 plants each month and why I started 12+ each time, i.e. runts & males. These aren't sexed yet so there will be a few more for the compost pile.
Mainline trained to 8 colas and flipped at 8-9 weeks should give me a couple oz's a month.
One more snip and 2-3 more weeks to flip the first batch. Should be ready to harvest mid to late January.
Happy Growing!
They've taken well to training.
I've got 3 more but they're not keeping up.
The whole idea is to harvest 3-5 plants each month and why I started 12+ each time, i.e. runts & males. These aren't sexed yet so there will be a few more for the compost pile.
Mainline trained to 8 colas and flipped at 8-9 weeks should give me a couple oz's a month.
One more snip and 2-3 more weeks to flip the first batch. Should be ready to harvest mid to late January.
Happy Growing!
PipeCarver
Supporter
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What differences do you see growing in coco over soil? more/faster growth? Is it more work or less than soil? watering daily sounds like a pain if you have more than a couple of them. More nute's too?
Aqua Man
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I did the lst tying for a bit. after a while i found scroggin much less work. The only issue is you cant really move the plants after and feed lines might be needed once they are bigger unless you can find a way to make a scrog net that moves with the plant.
Lookin great bro
Lookin great bro
oldskol4evr
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ive done the scrog thang myself,didnt really like not be able to clean and move around,this trellis under my can is getting to be a pain also,next run will be smaller res for them were i can just lift out the plant and put in another res without making to much of a mess,damn vines have grown all over the top of it and still fighting the swing,got the potassium bicarbonate,it has kept it in range,still high ass ppm and low ph,so i raised the ph to 6.2 yesterday in hope the plant starts to feed again,every thing ive done even with the ro water has had me at the limit of ppm called for,what it supose to be is 5.8 and 1025,it is exactlly that when i drain the whole can and reapply the feeds,week later right back to were i started from,im gonna get this shit down bro,got to it saves so much room haahah.
back years when my father in law died wife went to colorado for her mom,while she was gone i laid black plastic over the whole 2500 sq ft garden ,poked holes in the row and planted watermelon and canaloupe,brother i couldnt give them away after a while,there was a little side hiway produce stand,i sold them to them and got a good hunk of change,same with tomatoes,thats what im trying to acheieve and living on a rock right on a fault line doesnt help one damn bit,shit on me hahahah im gonna figure the stuff out,lmao
oldskol4evr
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just my opinion,ive grown in coco and it does reach on out and get some were AT FIRST,side by side of coco and soil,soil is slow in veg and takes off,coco that damn thing be like a friday night hooker chasing you for money,when i got to flower and flip they pretty much were head to head all the way,i was feeding the soil once a week and coco 4 times a day,feed every time,but i didnt force feed them either so not really very much more nutrients.
one thing for sure i can say,if your inpatient and wont to see plant get it,coco is it,but the headache of feeding by hand 4 times a day sucked,if i use it again it will be on a flood table,or at the least a waste water table to drain
PlumberSoCal
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I'm seeing way faster growth with the coco. 4 times a day is great if it can be done. Weekends usually no problem but during the week I'm only getting 2-3 max per day.
I ordered a 400 gph water pump and I'm going to run it on a timer from a 6 gal tank to the pots on a shower pan and will drain the run-off back to the tank into its filter.
I've been using the run-off on most of the Kratky bottles. It's working well and I moved them all out and off of my shower pan. The pan isn't level so I'll silicone the drain hole and drill one in the lowest corner and run a return line to the tank. Been siphoning the water out after every watering. Now that's a pain but I usually bring a pipe with me and that just makes everything better.
I figure 10-15 min every 2 hrs during lights on outta get some growth out of these girls.
Still need another timer and to run the pipe and tubing but should be ready in a day or two.
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PlumberSoCal
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Thank you. Lotta time spent up there. Getting this frickin' hydro bug (you know I'm blaming you, right?)
Got a used water heater circ pump from a job last week. If that works I may use it to convert my garden into hydro central with 30-40 dwc buckets with air and connect them all to a tank. Lot of work digging the pipe runs and holes for the buckets but I would use a lot less water, avoid gophers and have way better growth.
Damn hydro bug
oldskol4evr
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