21st Century Flood & Drain

[PhatNuggz]

Quick Update: Lonely Lady is not quite finished, but close. In addition to the main cola there are half dozen lower branch buds that are now golf ball size and still growing. Also, I decided to spray her in the mornings with plain RO water. Seems like this resulted in significant pistil development.

New Grow: Maybe 2 weeks ago I raised the height of the mist heads near the top (to better mist the long roots), and put the lava rock under the grate.

Yesterday, It occurred to me that the plants 'should' be better off if I raised the grate, so I put 3 large drink cups under it, thus moving the long roots very close the mist heads. I think this will do a better job of misting them and make it easier for them to deliver the nutes to the plants.

The inside of the pod is quite warm, so I upped the amount of Zone as pr DM instructions. The lava may be part of the problem; will remove it this morning.

hth

 

[PhatNuggz]

Since she only has a few days to go, I trimmed most of the fan leaves to provide a better view of all the buds.

 

[PhatNuggz]

Current Grow Update:

The biggest plant (BC Mango) is rockin, close to volley ball size. I pinched it about a week ago.

The 3 Bubblegum X Lowryder Xs were stalled due to high pod humidity which killed the root hairs. I figured out how to get rid of the high pod humidity with a simple pvc vent. Since installing, RH has dropped 20+ points and the AFs are growing nicely again.

Note that I put an elbow on the vent to prevent light getting into the pod. Also my circulating fan which is out of the picture, is on the right side of the vent, which helps draw hot air out.

3 are AFs, from which 9-10 seeds has not been stable. Lonely Girl is from those seeds and has taken 5 months to grow and 6 weeks to finish.

It's already hot here, 4 weeks puts me into mid-May, 6 weeks June, so I decided to sacrifice total yield to prevent heat related issues. I cut back light three days ago to 13/11, tomorrow 12/12 to harvest

 

[PhatNuggz]

Pulled Lonely Girl this morning, unlike bldg 7, she had to come down

Privately purchased Lowryder X Bubblegum seeds. Germed in early November. Had to force flowering. Unstable genetics.-only one of 10 seeds sexed in 3 weeks- a male that hermied.

LG was on the small side height-wise at 10”s of bud BUT she has a PHAT bottom

Entire plant is loaded with thick gooey buds.

Yielded 100 gms wet, including 3” of main stem (~6gms)

Dry weight should come in at <half

Leaving me with ~ 2.5 ozs of primo dank

If one were to buy this this locally, it would easily run $350/ and probably $400

Things I learned from this, my 4th TAG grow:

1. NUTES: Keeping low PPMS is beneficial when deep cycle feeding: Max veg 450, Max flwr 650. DM Gold nutes rock- no clogging, no pH swings

2. ROOTS: You want a timer accurate to at least one second intervals; +/- 5 seconds can allow or prevent root hair development, which are the Mother Lode of efficiency.

3. POD SIZE is critical for proper mist circulation. 30G is proving excellent for up to 4 plants

4. POD HUMIDITY about 2 weeks ago (long before normal) temperature began hitting high 80s. Inside the pod RH was high 80s-low 90s (pre heat vent). This probably caused 3/4 plants to become males. Anybody want to swap my BC Bud Mango pollen for some seeds? Prefer AF type for quick harvest: Max height 30”

5. WET/DRY CYCLES I was forced to use 30 second wet cycles which created the baseball bat roots seen in the current grow root shots (see previous post), where softball shaped are much more effective when atomizing nutes.

hth

 

[PhatNuggz]

Hurray. I found a better PVC Coupler at Lowes. This one has much shorter threads AND a locking ring. The shorter threads will help the mist to reach the young roots breaking through the starter cube. The locking ring will help keep the plant from listing/falling.

Part # 25018. Schedule 40 called a Slip Joint Nut and Washer 1 1/2". Comes in a baggie, so you might need to ask where the display is. $2.66 each set



PVC CAUTION article:

 

[PhatNuggz]

The game has changed, or should I say "MY" game has changed.

I have taken F & D to another place or me, using lava rock as it drains quickly. This has many benefits, like...

Instead of moisture retaining mediums (RW/CocoCoir/S2G...) which retains nutes for hours, I can flood every 20 minutes which means the roots get more time to dry, which makes them hungry between each feeding, and thus slurp up the extra feedings. Growth has been phenomenal.

Cleaning between grows is a snap, just soak in H2O2 then rinse.

I am also using aquarium bulbs which are available in numerous PAR ranges. This allows me to select a variety of bulbs for grow and bloom, offering the benefits of LEDs, but with the ability to swap out various bulbs during grow and bloom cycles.

The combination is both easy, and highly rewarding.

I was going to post pics, but the method used here is archaic. Other sites allow me to pull directly from my computer instead of having to create an album. You can google petflora an alias

 

[St3ve]

pretty sweet

 

[mastacheeser]

Good read, I learned a lot

Herb looks dank. Keep up the hard work

 

[frenetic]

hows that orgone generator working out?