Electrolights said:

@rDWCNoob ever used the grodan slabs? i just put the 3 of them ontop of the 6x36x6 slab and idk if i should be putting a drip stakes in or just let hte ones on the hugos drain into it

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I havent, bit overkill imo if youre not growing large plants. I think you can just let the hugos drain into them, but youll have to watch the hugos dont get too drained by the slab, at least until the roots grow into the slab. If youve got the sensors setup they should take care of that for you and just keep watering the cube as the slab drains it. How often are they getting water? Or do they still remain saturated for multiple days?

It takes about 24 hours for them to dry down 10% rn

Electrolights said:

It takes about 24 hours for them to dry down 10% rn

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and youve already got them on the slabs? If thats the case youre probably good to go.

Below are my current mums in 4x4x4 deltas. Theyre in a 2x2 tent with a 100w spider farmer above at maybe 20-24". I have to feed them about once every 2 days till runoff and if i leave them any longer they will dry out completely within another 24hrs. Theyre at a point where they drink enough that i could put them on a timer and feed 100ml or so every 2 to 3 hours and not have too much runoff. I dont really care about dryback at this point as the plants will ease into that on their own as they start drinking more. Most important part is they dont dry out completely, so I have to keep a close eye on the weight of the cubes and slowly increase my feed timers, or frequency in the case of the mums, to maintain the wc as the plants get bigger.



But its a bit more accelerated for me in my flower room because i use clones and push them with high light very early.

Oct 1st - clones freshly transplanted to the deltas



Oct 15th - first day of flower



Oct 30th - after stretch and defoliation



This is under a 1000w hps running at 600w to start, then 750w on first day of flower, then 1000w after stretch. By the time stretch was over im about 18 inches from my HPS, they stretched a lot more than i was expecting. This last one is about a week or 2 before harvest




The mums I have in the 2x2, wont ever get more than one feeding per day, to runoff. Its not ideal, but the plants adjust their growth to match the feeding schedule. The plants on the timer i just feed till runoff manually, count the number of seconds till run off and then set every feeding to that time, so at first it gets runoff at each feeding. But it gets less and less each day until there is no runoff on the first and maybe second watering of the day. Thats probably around the time where i flip to flower and then they really take off and sometimes i have to almost double my feed times over the period of a week or 2. Then after w2 flower, i defoliate and have to drop my feed times again because of both shock and decreased transpiration due to the lack of fan leaves. Within about 2 or 3 days they start feeding normally again and i have to increase my feed times again.

Your sensors do all that work for you, assuming your triggers are set. You could almost leave them on autopilot and just keep refilling the res. Adding the slab might actually be a good idea until youve finished a grow or 2 as it acts as a safety net. So if your pumps break or sensors stop working or something, you could miss a few feedings and the plant wont notice. In my case with the deltas, I accidentally left my pump unplugged after changing the timings, had to manually feed to an extended period just to refill the cubes, then did it again the next day. The plants definitely noticed lol, and it wasnt long after that i started seeing nutrient burn on my tips.

You should post a pic or 2 with each update. Everyone likes seeing pics and it allows others to maybe spot deficiencies you might have missed. The last pics you posted look good though, youve got nice strong looking stems and the plants look healthy enough to me.

Okay just topped them two days ago and didn’t even effect growth on the 2 the 3rd one with the close up I’m not sure what it’s trying to tell me it’s missing or has too much of, same diet and watering as the other 2 but it does achieve runoff before the other two I think I have to let it miss a feeding to see if it can balance them all out.

Nice, theyre looking good. Hard to see through the trellis but the 2 closest look nice and healthy. Im not sure about the other one either, but sometimes they do weird shit when grown from seed and could have different nutrient uptake. I think itll sort itself out once it finshes rooting though. I find they can get a bit twisted like that with root stress from transplanting and then they grow out of it. If i think theres a problem I just go back to the res and check and recheck the values there. If its one plant and im certain its getting the same feed as the rest and theres no issues with the res I usually just let it do what its going to do. Especially from seed, you really dont know what you might get, could just be a bunk plant, but they usually pull through and sometimes end up the best plant.

One recommendation I have would be to use some sort of cover for the blocks, if possible, like some panda film or anything that blocks the light. Thatll prevent the algae, which isnt that big of a deal, and also prevents the top of the block from drying out as much due to airflow. Itll retain more moisture higher up in the cube and promote more even and full root growth throughout the cube. The roots will even poke out the top like below

@rDWCNoob Yeah I saw that happen in the starter cube I’ll get covers for them next, also , so my sensor is showing my Hugo at 46% wc and getting runoff there which means the roots have developed to where it lowers field capacity correct?

Electrolights said:

@rDWCNoob Yeah I saw that happen in the starter cube I’ll get covers for them next, also , so my sensor is showing my Hugo at 46% wc and getting runoff there which means the roots have developed to where it lowers field capacity correct?

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That i cant really help with, I dont do sensors so im not sure how they work. Even the term field capacity is foriegn to me but an educated guess tells me it refers to the total amount of water the cube can hold? I would assume that happens at some point, but it could also be due to using the slab. Rockwool holds water in a gradient, so the top is always drier and the water pools a bit in the bottom, where your sensors are. Putting it on the slab is going to change that water gradient and water will pool up a bit in the slab instead of the cube. So, if your sensors are at the bottom of the cube, youre now taking a measurement from the middle of the gradient instead of the bottom? Im just guessing though.

Yes you are correct

Previous jack run

Updated pics right before lights off trying spread out canopy and strip and flip this weekend

Looks good still a little droopy though eh? I know i said you cant overwater rockwool, but I kinda want to revisit that. Generally speaking you cant, especially while the roots are still mostly in the top of the cube, but some plants might like more or less. I wonder if you dropped wc a little if you might be able to get them to perk up a little more? Although as im thinking about this, i wonder if the perkiness/praying might be a sign of generative steering? I often notice my plants will get a little droopy right after watering till runoff, then perk up as they get drier. Heres my mums currently



Theyre about 4 or 5 hours from being severely underwatered. I can start to see them drooping a bit. Earlier today they were praying up at a 90° angle. I neglect my mums though so theyre not always happy with me lol.

And i guess you'll be dropping the wc after flipping to flower anyway right? When do you plan to start generative steering? I usually start cutting back my waterings a little after week one.

Also, im really curious as to how your sensor graphs and stuff look like now, what kind of dryback are you getting between feedings and how often are they triggering a feed? They must be drinking a bit more by now, or are you doing any manual waterings?

The picture was taken when they were about to sleep and they’re finally drinking 10% a day about ready to strip and flip. Haven’t had any runoff though, trying to get ec to start stacking up before stretch and they haven’t overtaken the slab enough to cause runoff at 60% assuming after stretch or from it roots will take over more space in the slab, ec is a bit off Growlink runs about .3-.5 lower then actual

Cool, its a phone app. Is there a desktop app that goes with it too?

Just one watering a day still huh. I guess its the 6 inch cubes, im used to the deltas now. Those 6 inch cubes can grow some pretty large plants and still only need one watering a day when watered by hand, a lot more dryback though then what youre seeing now. Looking at the size of plants youre growing, and considering your setup, I think you could get away with smaller cubes.

Another thing I just noticed is your root zone temp seems to be a little high. I cant see mine so I had to google the optimal values, but it looks like it might be better if you can drop it a few degrees.

Yeah it’s running hot because of the black flood table, I’ll be getting a white one next run. can’t do anything or haven’t figured anything about it to lower it. Feed water is in low 70s and it doesn’t change it here’s the graph on the pc also I won’t be using a slab next run, with the tent size and ability to steer easier it doesn’t make sense to have the slab

Getting these girls stacked up in the root zone flipped on the 19th just barely starting to see pistols will start counting days when they’re clustered

Electrolights said:

Quick update, definitely have everything on point now they’re getting ready to sleep finally got lights under control and they were praying all day roots popping out rockwool now left one still a little behind will probably top them this week, going to hydro store to pick up a 3ft slab to throw these girls on

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Hey Growmie,
New here and to the medium and practice. But i really liked the stand you are using for the block where would i get some of those? I use the big mama blocks btw

Electrolights said:

Getting these girls stacked up in the root zone flipped on the 19th just barely starting to see pistols will start counting days when they’re clustered

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How you getting on with rockwool, growlink..?