2 King Tut growing in RDWC

[stltoed]

AgiSil 16H 10x stronger, 100x cheaper thank me later

Agsil is a Potassium based product that isn't at all like mono-silicic acid. Stronger isn't better here. So, thanks.

 

[logic]

Agsil is a Potassium based product that isn't at all like mono-silicic acid. Stronger isn't better here. So, thanks.

opps sorry my bad..

either way AgiSil 16H is a great product, much more plant available silicon than power si.

 

[Cashmeh]

So to let you know, I understand how far advanced you are compared to my knowledge. I would be more involved in this thread, but being im pretty new to growing, im more less just studying. In order for me to even understand what you all are even talking about, I gotta wait a day and re-read the shit. I think you mentioned something about it not being very active somewhere. Im on here all the time, but I only use this hydro section. So dont ever feel like your posting in vain, I just might not say anything due to not knowing what to say. Yet you are teaching me thats for sure, especially when I try to understand your alls convos.

As for the king tut strains, I did one on my first grow, it was such a small plant when compared to my gelot.og. It also seeded up on me. That said, the shit grew a great level canopy, and was heavy sativa. Mine was a bit airy due to the plant next to it overshadowing it, but overall it is by far my favorite.

Time to watch one of your videos above and pause it alot. . :)

 

[stltoed]

AgiSil 16H 10x stronger, 100x cheaper thank me later

Agsil is a Potassium based product. Here's the rest of the article for you...

Manic Botanix

manicbotanix.com

opps sorry my bad..

either way AgiSil 16H is a great product, much more plant available silicon than power si.

Actually no. Heres the rest of the article.

Manic Botanix

manicbotanix.com

 

[stltoed]

So to let you know, I understand how far advanced you are compared to my knowledge. I would be more involved in this thread, but being im pretty new to growing, im more less just studying. In order for me to even understand what you all are even talking about, I gotta wait a day and re-read the shit. I think you mentioned something about it not being very active somewhere. Im on here all the time, but I only use this hydro section. So dont ever feel like your posting in vain, I just might not say anything due to not knowing what to say. Yet you are teaching me thats for sure, especially when I try to understand your alls convos.

As for the king tut strains, I did one on my first grow, it was such a small plant when compared to my gelot.og. It also seeded up on me. That said, the shit grew a great level canopy, and was heavy sativa. Mine was a bit airy due to the plant next to it overshadowing it, but overall it is by far my favorite.

Time to watch one of your videos above and pause it alot. . :)

Well I thank you for watching my thread Cashmeh.

I hope you can get something useful from my ramblings. If you EVER have questions please feel free to ask.

Tut is a great strain. But anyone can have a slow seed. Try it again if you get a chance... let's face it there are tons of killer strains out there, and even more shitty seeds. Heres a chart showing the probability of a good seed (and a bad one for our conversation)... taken from Mr. Cervantes' " The Cannabis Encyclopedia" a great book if you don't have it yet.

Not a great picture. Sorry.

Theres plenty of time to grow it again. That's what I'm doing. I grew it successfully once, but I feel I can do better in hydro, with gas, and an improved diet. Swinging for the fences this time.

Thank you so much for taking time to say what you've said. It means a lot. A slow forum can be a lonely place. I'm just glad to see there's someone else out there

 

[logic]

Agsil is a Potassium based product that isn't at all like mono-silicic acid. Stronger isn't better here. So, thanks.

This patent describes how to prepare mono-silicic acid solutions that are stabilized by carnitine and several other additives, in the region from 0.01 to 8% silicic acid by weight. The great thing about this process is that we can start from potassium silicate, which is readily available. The concentration of Si obtained will be significantly lower than what is possible when generating ch-OSA – where solutions can reach 40% mono-silicic acid – but the fact that we can prepare it from readily available materials might compensate for this to some extent. It is also worth noting that this process comes from an unexpired patent, so it should not be used commercially without licensing the technology from the owner of the intellectual property.

Extrapolating from the contents of the patent and the examples given, we can come up with a process to brew our own mono-silicic acid at an 8% concentration. Here are the things you will need:

Note the amazon links below are affiliate links. This means that, if you choose to purchase through these links, I get a commission for your purchase, at no extra cost to you.

1. Potassium silicate (at least 32% K as K2O) <--- AgSil 16H
2. Carnitine hydrochloride
3. Phosphoric acid (85%)
4. Propylene glycol
5. Distilled water
6. Scale to weight the materials (precision of at least +/- 0.1g, max at least 500g)

To prepare around 425g of stabilized mono-silicic acid, you could follow this process.

Before continuing please make sure you understand what you’re doing. Wear adequate eye and body protection, carry this out in a place with enough ventilation and make sure you read the material safety data sheet (MSDS) of all the materials used. These instructions are provided for educational purposes only, follow them at your own risk.

1. Add 10g of carnitine hydrochloride to a clean 1000mL beaker
2. Add 65g of distilled water to the mix.
3. Stir until all the carnitine hydrochloride dissolves
4. Add 10g of propylene glycol.
5. Add 240g of 85% phosphoric acid.
6. Put the mixture on an ice bath with ample ice.
7. Wait for 15 minutes, so that the mixture cools down.
8. During the course of an hour, slowly add 125g of potassium silicate to the mixture with constant stirring. Add more ice to the ice bath if needed to keep the solution cool.

After this, you should be left with an acidic, completely translucid, carnitine and propylene glycol stabilized mono-silicic acid solution that should be around 7-8% w/w of Si as elemental Si. If there’s any precipitate in the solution then the stabilization process did not go well and the silicic acid formed polymerized into silica. This solution should then be used at around 1g/gal, which will provide ~18-20ppm of Si as elemental Si in your hydroponic solution. When using this solution,. the silicon present at the pH used in hydroponics should be much more stable than when derived from direct addition of potassium silicate.

 

[stltoed]

This patent describes how to prepare mono-silicic acid solutions that are stabilized by carnitine and several other additives, in the region from 0.01 to 8% silicic acid by weight. The great thing about this process is that we can start from potassium silicate, which is readily available. The concentration of Si obtained will be significantly lower than what is possible when generating ch-OSA – where solutions can reach 40% mono-silicic acid – but the fact that we can prepare it from readily available materials might compensate for this to some extent. It is also worth noting that this process comes from an unexpired patent, so it should not be used commercially without licensing the technology from the owner of the intellectual property.

Extrapolating from the contents of the patent and the examples given, we can come up with a process to brew our own mono-silicic acid at an 8% concentration. Here are the things you will need:

Note the amazon links below are affiliate links. This means that, if you choose to purchase through these links, I get a commission for your purchase, at no extra cost to you.

1. Potassium silicate (at least 32% K as K2O) <--- AgSil 16H
2. Carnitine hydrochloride
3. Phosphoric acid (85%)
4. Propylene glycol
5. Distilled water
6. Scale to weight the materials (precision of at least +/- 0.1g, max at least 500g)

To prepare around 425g of stabilized mono-silicic acid, you could follow this process.

Before continuing please make sure you understand what you’re doing. Wear adequate eye and body protection, carry this out in a place with enough ventilation and make sure you read the material safety data sheet (MSDS) of all the materials used. These instructions are provided for educational purposes only, follow them at your own risk.

1. Add 10g of carnitine hydrochloride to a clean 1000mL beaker
2. Add 65g of distilled water to the mix.
3. Stir until all the carnitine hydrochloride dissolves
4. Add 10g of propylene glycol.
5. Add 240g of 85% phosphoric acid.
6. Put the mixture on an ice bath with ample ice.
7. Wait for 15 minutes, so that the mixture cools down.
8. During the course of an hour, slowly add 125g of potassium silicate to the mixture with constant stirring. Add more ice to the ice bath if needed to keep the solution cool.

After this, you should be left with an acidic, completely translucid, carnitine and propylene glycol stabilized mono-silicic acid solution that should be around 7-8% w/w of Si as elemental Si. If there’s any precipitate in the solution then the stabilization process did not go well and the silicic acid formed polymerized into silica. This solution should then be used at around 1g/gal, which will provide ~18-20ppm of Si as elemental Si in your hydroponic solution. When using this solution,. the silicon present at the pH used in hydroponics should be much more stable than when derived from direct addition of potassium silicate.

No thanks.

 

[stltoed]

Thought I'd take a moment to explain my hydro rig a bit... I've talked about it a little, but this will be a much more in depth, detailed explaination.

Its a bit different than other systems. The goal was ease of operation and simplicity. I started growing with one bucket... here's a couple shots of my very first season. I started in DWC with top watering

Northern Lights and Great White Shark under disco lights. So I bought another set and connected the 2 buckets to bring the R to my DWC. The buckets come from a Gen Hydro system called the Rain Forest 6-6, similar to this one shown below, but mine had a motor in the middle the spun a paddle that would fling water at the plants roots, making it an aeroponics style. This model is a drip system. I don't believe they make mine anymore.

EcoGrower Drip Hydroponic System – Simply Hydroponics

www.simplyhydro.com

My system isn't much like the original design. I've cut up and replaced the top part a few times, experimenting with net pot numbers and layout. I can grow 1 to 14 plants in this rig depending on the top plate I decide to use. Each bucket is connected in an undercurrent style. The res. is a 20 gallon Rubbermaid "Brute" series tote. It, and the buckets have 2 inch bulkheads (Hayward) and tubing connecting them together. There's a 1 inch return line inside the 2" tube that's attached to a water pump in the res. the pump pushes water through the 1 inch line to the farthest tub and dumps out. Gravity then pulls water back through the larger tube to the res. If I did it again, I would use 3 inch bulkheads and 3 inch tube. Just the other day roots partially blocked the flow back to the res. I haven't seen that before, but it could be a real issue if I went on vacation. Having the return line inside the 2 inch tube makes a clean design, i don't need to worry about an outside hoses.

If memory serves the water pump is just under 600GPH an EcoPlus Bottomdraw. Quite a bit a bit of water, but I want to keep it moving. It's a cool pump. It pulls water from the bottom so it can damn near drain the system dry... makes for easy water changes. I've had a seperate air pump and 4inch airstone diffuser in the res. to keep the "stuff" moving... no dead spots. I also, on occasion, have a filter bag on the output side of the return pump. I've had some nasty funk in my water in the past. Sometimes it just won't go away. A filter like this REALLY helps keep the funk at bay when the pathogens seem to have the upper hand. It locks up the chunks in a dark place so it's harder for it to get a hold. I use the same pump to remove the water. I change a fitting and hook it to another hose and the old nutrient water goes out through the floor.

I'm a big fan of a lot of air in my system. Last season I had an 80 LPM Air Force pump in the beginning, but it was doing funny things so I bought a 60 LPM Alita. Its a lot quieter, and still puts a shitload of O2 in the mix. So this pump only feeds the 2 17 gallon tubs, but you may use the same pump for 8 similar size tubs if you wanted to. The air flows into 11 inch diffusers and made into baby bubbles

A big pump has been a source of conversation in the past. Some believe air in this quantity will actually damage the roots, or you can only put so much Oxygen in the water. This last part is very true. Oxygen saturation in water stops at about 10 PPM. AND, this is temperature specific. You can get a whole lot more O2 in 60 degree water and may never be able to see the same level of saturation in 80 degree water no matter what you do. It's worth looking up for a better idea of what I'm saying. A big airpump gives you a little insurance that your getting the most O2 possible at the given temps. My room temp has been very high in the past... shouldn't be a surprise considering where I'm growing. But I believe there are other benefits, including a general massage of the roots from the air bubbles, which helps keep them clean. These bubbles also help the nutrients get INTO the root mass which can be extensive. And helps ensure there are no dead spots in the roots where the baddies can start to grow. I've never seen a negative to having too much air.

My meter is a Hanna Growline desktop unit.

It's mounted to the wall behind the res. the probe is mounted to the res. lid. I really like it, BUT, it was kind of expensive. I had to replace a probe once and its cost was a disappointment. But, it has its benefits. It only takes 1 reagent to calibrate TDS, and pH. There's only 1 probe. It's very simple to use, but has some pretty cool features. Including its ability to hook up to a computer to store the history of the grow, and it will graph pH and PPM fluctuations at the unit without a computer... cool, but I dont use either. Hanna makes great products and should be looked at if you want top level performance. They make meters for all sorts of things including a diverse set of photometers if you want to measure a single element in a liquid, for instance you could measure your O2 level, or Nitrogen, Iron, Molybdenum, etc. if you decide to mix your own nutrients one of these would be pretty cool. Of course the down side is cost. Not only do you have to pay for the meter you need to buy the reagents, and each target element has its own specific reagent(s). If you are regularly measuring you NPK over time to analyze uptake you will need 3 seperate sets of reagents... Kind of a bummer.

I get my water from my sprinkler system. Water comes in, it's pressure is regulated and goes to a 300 GPD Hydrologic RO filter.

Then on to a float valve on the res. I never ever have to move water, or check my water level it's all done automatically. I can't tell you how cool it is to go from schleping water to my res. to not doing any of that. it's all taken care of.

My plan for this rig design is to grow big plants, in the 4x6 space. I would love to have more space, more power, more plants, but its just not in the cards. I gotta go with what I have to work with. Some aspects of this rig are overdone, but by and large it works well. It's a been an evolutionary project over the last 5 years. I've had some great successes with this system and have plenty of pictures if you'd like to see them.

Thanks for popping in. If you have any questions please ask. Cheers.

 

[stltoed]

I'm bored, so let's talk lights. Considering the extent of my boredom I'm gonna go through all that I have used in the past and finish up with what I have now... I'll try to break it up so you aren't reading about lights you couldn't care less about.

I started with LEDS. Given the size of my first grow space, which is presently my "closet" conventional bulbs were really in the cards. I liked the thought of using new tech anyway, and after hearing how bitchen they were in the sales pitch they MUST be great, right?

PLATINUM P300(2) AND A P4
My very first grow lights. I would love to shoot holes in these disco lights, but honestly, I loved them. My first grow went surprisingly easy, luck played a huge part, but the lights worked well in the small space

Well I loved them till I got something better. I used them for a few seasons but moved on.

SPECTRUM KING 400

An interesting white LED light that has a passive cooling system, no fans of any kind. It uses ferofluid circulating through a huge heatsink. During the hotter months I could hook a duct from the shed exhaust to the heatsink and pull air through it to keep the closet cooler. It's got decent power at 400 watts to a "puck" design LED board. Very bright, but very "beamy" meaning it's footprint is tight and does not do much beyond a 36" diameter at 18/20 inches. It worked very well in the closet. Last season, I lost a driver (there are 2) and the light took a dump. It's wired in a way that doesn't allow plug and play drivers so fixing it has become an issue and I'll probably just throw it away. Kind of a shame. Spectrum King as a company is absolute dog shit. Customer service is terrible, which is a real shame, considering I can drive my broken light to them, but they aren't good people

G8 RED FLOWER BOOSTER (2)
A silly gimmicky little light that probably sold well, but does do much. once farther along in my knowledge I got rid of them.

Black Dog Phytomax 2 400 (2)
These were my entry into high end LED grow lights. It's a bit of an old design. They worked very well, but some may confuse them with other carny colored lights. These are colored lights, but are made very well, light output was outstanding (for the time), and the spectrum really worked. My first plants, there were 2, with these lights gave me 27oz. and my first 1 pound plant.

I did have a CMH in between the 2 lights to ensure everything got some Sun. Somewhere I have pictures of the top of a bud in-between the CMH and LED lights. The LED side had a ton of pistils, the CMH has some, but not the same amount. I thought that was interesting. I took a break growing and spent my money on other hobbies, my old car and stereo stuff. I sold the Black Dogs to help buy some speakers.

I regretted that to some degree, but I went on to try HPS, MH, and further work with the CMH.

As for other LEDs I borrowed a Perfect Sun Dwarf Star from a vet. friend. He was moving around a lot and couldn't grow, I wanted to try his light, and went ahead and used it while I grew a plant for him. It did ok. It's under powered, but gave 7oz.

Another friend was using a Mass Medical Rapid cob fixture, and cob lights from Ursa. I was never really impressed with either. The Rapid light wasn't very bright, and the "full spectrum Ursa started at 4500K color temp. I was very involved with a couple seasons and these lights.

DOUBLE ENDED HPS and MH

Sorry, I don't remember the manufacturer of the double ended fixture. It has a very large XXXL reflector and a huge footprint. It was very bright and adjustable from 600 to 1100 watts. Temps were an issue, but I grew some nice plants with it. I still have it in my attic in case I bump my head and decide to use it again. I used it for a few years. I really wanted to see the pluses and minuses of a bulb light. I even tried a relatively old school trick for stressing out plants to improve oil production. I used a 10000k MH bulb for the last couple weeks. I didn't see an improvement, but to me the theory makes sense. I only tried it once due to my new LEDs, but maybe someday I'll try it again

I really like the spectrum of a CMH. Despite what I said earlier with the pistils. I've grown some nice plants with it. The down sides of course are low power, a tiny footprint, and buying replacement bulbs. This last issue is a deal breaker.

ChilLED X3 500Watt (2)

These lights are still pretty new to me. I've had them for a little more than a season. They are amazing and would put them up against anything of like wattage except for the ChilLED Ultra series. Let's talk about the company first. In LED grow lighting terms this company has been around for a very long time. They pioneered water cooled lights, then later teamed up with Growmau5 to design and build his puck design LEDs. They don't pad their test results,, because they don't need to. Their DIY Growcraft, and Commercial lights make up a large selection of various sizes and strengths. They have another series of lights, the Ultra, one of the most efficient lighting systems you can buy. But it sells out very quickly after restocking. I've never seen a bad review of their work. I like to tell people buy lights like they will be your last set. Get the best you can afford. These are pretty cool, and not nosebleed expensive. 2 of my big lights (1000 watts) was less than 1 Black Dog (400watts).

I had to buy a light meter to properly adjust them. They will do 1000PPF at 24 inches without breaking a sweat, and these are relatively small lights for ChilLED. Really hard to see where you should be without a meter. They don't run hot, and have a decent footprint for this style light at 3x5 feet.

But there was a problem. I was super stoked to put these up. Once I had them together I hung them and life was good. But the ferrels used to make the loop on the ratchet hangers wasn't crimped properly and failed ON BOTH HANGERS. My light thankfully landed on an adolescent White Widow plant, which saved the light but broke every branch on the plant. I was pissed beyond words and told ChilLED all about it. A few months go by and I decided to buy the smaller version of my lights for the closet.

While assembling the light I looked down at the ratchet hanger, still in the bag, and could see it wasn't crimped at all.

I made a video and sent it off to ChilLED. 2 orders, 2 major issues with the hangers. The lights work great, and are durable apparently, but fuck their hangers!

Lights are a funny thing. While I say you should buy lights like they will be your last, something new will come along and shuffle the deck. Colored LEDs, to white, to cobs, to Qboards, and now the rail style. HPS/MH, to CMH, and Plasma. It won't end anytime soon. But if we are talking lights to look at right now, seems like the Q board Diablo series and/or the new ChilLED fixtures seem awfully nice, I can only vouch for the later. They ARE awfully nice.

 

[stltoed]

Good morning. A little vid to update everyone. Plants doing OK. Rolling along. The closet plant probably should be flipped now, but I usually flip all together to keep away from photosensitivity issues. So it's gonna be damn packed in the small space, but im expecting this plant to stretch quite a bit... no promises, but I can hope.

The hydro plants are 31 days in water. They were brought up in vermiculite with a bit of Great White, hempy style, so the roots were very well established. When transplanted they were 6 or 7 inches tall. They arent moving as fast as last season, but speed really isn't all that important. I'm looking for lots of tops in a solid canopy... I like what's going on so far.

So, I have been reading up on using gas and came across an article talking about an equilibrium needed between Calcium and Potassium. It stated that a 3 to 1 ratio Calcium to K is a good idea. It really couldn't be that big of a deal, or else it would be a lot more popular, but I tried it. I added a humate based product with seaweed. It's high in K. And being a humic acid derivative it did add anything else that would be an issue. Long story short, it didn't work. I'm doing another nute change minus the K this time. Just thought I'd try. I will use this product later in mid/deep flower for a couple weeks.

On with the show...



Hope you're all well

 

[BrokenHome]

Could you give me a rundown of the nutrition plan you are running? I know you mentioned the flora trio series, so why did you decide on this line?

 

[stltoed]

Could you give me a rundown of the nutrition plan you are running? I know you mentioned the flora trio series, so why did you decide on this line?

Using the trio. MSA Stout, Rapidstart, floralicious, Cal-Mag Plus, Hydroguard,

I use it because it works. I've tried others, but always came back to the trio. It's been around for 40+ years, it's easy to tune, it's stabile, and not terribly expensive.

 

[stltoed]

Could you give me a rundown of the nutrition plan you are running? I know you mentioned the flora trio series, so why did you decide on this line?

The base nutrients are by and large very similar. When used correctly, a well designed base nutrient line will act just like another. Some nutrient lines leave out some of the micros and other trace elements that plants need... There are 17 elements plants need, some say Cobalt is needed too making it 18, to grow a plant. Most of which are in tiny amounts. Some of which, Carbon, Nitrogen (which is fixed in soil), Oxygen, and Hydrogen basically come from air or water. But we use concentrated nutes to make sure we have the amount we need.

The trio is a very well rounded package. It isnt widely loved, but most of that comes from politics. One big reason I like it is because I can scale just the Bloom nute up, and the Nitro down in flower or with hold some of the Bloom or Grow when doing a nute change and add it later when there's more room in my nutrient load. $60 for a season isn't a terrible price to pay... there are others that are cheaper, but im good with what I have

 

[stltoed]

Shots of the roots. The first pic is the big plant. The roots are bunched up behind the netpot, I'll try to loosen them up a bit when the system is refilled.

The water was black as coffee between the tea and Cytoplus. The roots are stained from these additives, if you're wondering why they aren't white

 

[BrokenHome]

Sorry if I missed this but…Did you start this grow from seeds or clones?

 

[stltoed]

Sorry if I missed this but…Did you start this grow from seeds or clones?

They were seeds. Started the usual way and placed in a 2 gallon DWC, but I didn't clean it properly and the water got funky. So I moved them to cups of vermiculite with Great White in it. The plants were 6 or 7 inches tall when they were transplanted to the big hydro rig. The roots were nice and full, a little too full if I were honest

 

[stltoed]

Kind of funny the smaller plant has a larger stalk and root system...

If the trunk gets really big I may make another pipe.

I made that one out of a large Strawberry Banana a couple years back.

Works well, but when you pull the bark off it leaves holes in the crotches where the branch meets the stalk. I used wax to fill this pipe. Looked a little funky, but it makes for interesting conversation. Second pic was the plant prior to death

Nutrients are back on track, the change went uneventfully.

 

[stltoed]

Some pics

The larger plant is close to 4 feet from front to back. The leaves are a bit ratty, but that will go away. The smaller plant isn't feeding as aggressively so the leaves still look pretty good. What I really like seeing is all the new growth on the big plant. Good times

 

[stltoed]

Plants are pretty much the same. They really aren't showing the growth strength of last season. They're doing fine, but just not the same. Which surprises me. This is a much better strain than the imitation White Widow from last season. The Dark Phoenix is doing fine. Really hasn't shown any mind bending growth, but it actually started out funky. For the most part it's outgrown the funkiness
Maybe this one and baby hydro will find second gear in flower



Here's a video from the end of last season. The hydro plant is just about ready to pop. The Candida plants are still over a week away

 

[stltoed]

No movies this time.

The closet plant (above)

A side view of the big plant. The distance between the PVC pipes is 4 feet. I'd like to see the slower plant get at least this large before flower, but thats asking a lot. The end of September will mark 1.5 months in hydro.

The dehumidifier is on.


Hope all is well