Another kick at the can.

[airedog]

It's all dead-hung, plants took a major hit by outgrowing propagation tent and sitting under ambient light for a week. Cut all the damaged growth off and set them under LEDs but it looks like i may be better served by taking cuts and rooting them in a cloner, sex them and keep females for outdoor and my first run next fall. In the meantime i've popped some feminised Kosher Kush and i'll run those once they root.

If it can go wrong, it's done so with this setup, from contractor's medical issues mid build through delays getting needed parts and finally nicking a supply line and having to take down part of the ceiling and replace pipe. While the furring strips allow an air gap between drywall and vapour barrier they also play holy hell with accuracy of my deep scan stud finder. Buckets with 1.25" lines leaked way too much and got binned (at least Wet vacs worked properly).

Last bits of gear are ordered or on the way, in the meantime i have moderate control of the environment and can maintain temps and a reasonable level of humidity. Ideal Air humidifier should be here Saturday and i'll run a 1/4 line when laundry sink/tap is replaced next week; Titan Controls EOS complete humidity controller is coming.

 

[airedog]

Here's one of the smaller 2 outlet Matala manifolds running off an Alita 40 and aerating my RO res Brutes. You can see the lightproof black 3/8 airline that fits snugly in the can. Aeration is strong enough at 20 lpm/Brute to throw a heavy mist in the cans; i have a Hiblow 100 feeding the 2 rooting bubblers at 50 lpm through 4 outlets.

 

[airedog]

Tote 1 has recovered enough that i could take cuts off of 4 of the 5 plants; no sense cloning the runt. I've usually taken really small cuts and tried to avoid that this time leaving more leaf than usual. Given my track record with this grow so far, i'll welcome suggestions. More and more i'm remembering why i used feminised seeds for my 4 site grows.

 

[airedog]

Finally looks as if there are hairs showing on one of the plants.

Like most everything else regarding this endeavour it's running contrary to expectations as it's the largest healthiest looking plant in the totes.

Center plant in the tote,

Here's my shiny, new, high-tech measuring device.

 

[airedog]

It's taken a while but there are finally cuts in the buckets. True to form for this grow, all 4 Joint SpinTights leaked heavily; seems the plumbers forgot they had only friction fit them and did not solvent weld. Everything is now watertight and leak-free, just need to take some more cuts from the totes and maybe keep a couple of the females, then bin the rest and cleanup the room/rerun electrical.

Roots are just peeking out of Delta blocks so i have nutes just under the air line cutouts in buckets and i'm pushing 37 lpm through the air diffusers in order to have bubbles break inside netpots.

 

[airedog]

Picked up a couple of 20 gallon Brute garbage cans today to use for closed-loop chiller res, and top-up res. Put my 1/3 hp (4000 BTU) Arctica chiller on a couple of milk crates to make hose connections higher than the level of water in the res and have it set for 60°; currently nute temps are at 68°.

1200 gph Danner Mag 12 sits in Brute and feeds my chiller which then sends water through a 25' * 1/2" stainless steel wort chiller in my epicenter, water returns chiller res. I'm just running tap water as it never comes in contact with nutes and will not react with tubing or coils in chiller loop. Should be enough flow to ensure that chiller does not ice up; if there is a problem i can add some food grade glycol to the water as i have enough chiller headroom to take the drop in efficiency.

Nutrient strength is 570 ppm; nute temp is 68° F and pH has increased to 6.4. pH Perfect nutes make that value a non-issue.

Once top-up res is in and hoses and cords are cleaned up i'll post some pix.

 

[airedog]

One week later; pictures taken about 3 hours into what is their dark cycle.

I'd be happier if these roots were all tea colored, not slimy to the touch and you can see some of the foam that the heavy aeration causes; nutes are AN pH Perfect Connoisserur Coco base (can't find the regular formulation in the size i want at a decent price point due to shipping costs). Supplements currently are RhinoSkin (silica); B52; HydroGuard; Orca (liquid Great White); and H&G Roots Excelurator.

M21 LF

M21 RF

M21 RF

Nutes

Environment, vented room currently.

Room is vented with a temperature controlled 8" CanFan; there is a 50 pint/day dehumidifier and an Ideal 70 pint/day humidifier connected to the humidity controller; both have hose connections for constant operation.

 

[airedog]

Changed out the res after last pics and dosed the netpots last night with about 2.5L of RO water with a some SensiZym and a double dose of HydroGuard. I'll probably keep hitting the netpots with that mixture until things clear up. Here are the plants this morning; root mass is increasing but there is still discoloration, and leaf issues remain, particularly on RF and LB. Nutes and environment are as shown. FWIW, i'm running a 25 foot 1/2" wort coil in a closed chiller loop fed with a 1/3 hp chiller set at 65° in a UC4XXL and nutes run 66 - 68°.

Right Front

Left Front

Left Back (roots appear fine to my eye, so no root pic)

 

[airedog]

Forgot to mention, nutes are still well above normal operating level, in order to get that heavy HydroGuard dose to them.

 

[airedog]

Plants are responding to treatement suggested by Aquaman and i'll start to let nute levels drop to their normal level. Nutes are staying relatively stable and drinking moderately. Added in a 20 gallon top-up res this week and nutes are staying relatively stable, running between 690 and 740 ppm; 66 - 68°; and pH 6.4 - 6.9 (AN pH Perfect base). RH runs 45 - 60% and ambient temperature runs between 70 and 78°, depending on light cycle. Vented room for this grow; once i'm comfortable with the room and have a few consistent grows i'll setup my fuzzy logic controlled, bottled gas, CO2 and seal the grow area with DuroFoam panels and TEK tape.


March 30 during Lights ON

 

[airedog]

The room was built by a contractor friend while i was recovering from knee replacement surgery and drywall was fastened to 1 * 3 furring strips, leaving a gap between drywall and vapor barrier/studs. Even on DeepScan my studfinders can't find squat; so much so that i nicked a water line while hanging lights; dumb luck prevented nicking a power line during that period of false readings. Needless to say, no more drill bit surprise for me; i need to come up with a new way to add in plant support. Currently, either a PVC or 2 * 4 frame around each bucket with trellis netting seems to be the easiest. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

 

[airedog]

Here are the plants on their second day of 12/12, drinking about 15L/day. Nutes are currently 960 ppm and pH is 6.2, nute temp is 68℉.

 

[Ghosttrainx]

A few years back i had a really bad year, rippers hit my outdoor, coming through my suburban next door neighbour's yard to get to mine; and, i used questionable clones from a source that i trusted and got a wicked case of PM. On the indoor, my wife was watching the grow while i healed from some knee surgery so the PM was well beyond the point of no return when i saw it. Tossed the UC system and retired the chiller (i'll see if i can replace the coil and any internal tubing/piping). I eventually disinfected the basement even going so far as to toss compromised framing, drywall and insulation.

Earlier this year i had a contractor buddy start rehabbing the basement space. I have a roughly 17 * 10 area with a tad over 7' of headroom. I have 8 duplex boxes in the space, each on its' own breaker as well as a dedicated 240V cct that runs a 4 outlet timer. There's a spare 240V cct that can be used for a mini-split should i choose to go that way. The space has been built as a sealed environment with boots around the electrical boxes and taped and sealed vapour barrier behind the bathroom/kitchen drywall walls and ceiling. Drywall has been sealed with Kilz Premium and covered with Panda plastic; there is also DuroFoam should i choose to cut the space down a bit. I'll use a UC4XXL13 RDWC system lit with (4) 640W adjustable spectrum LEDs; i need to lengthen and widen the bucket footprint by 1' in length and width in order to fit the LEDs array needs. I can run the room as a vented space and will do so until i'm comfortable with the new UC and lights, there is also a fuzzy logic CO2 and tanks ready to add-in when i go sealed.

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Seeds were started week of Dec 14; and went in rooting bubblers on the 31st.

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LEDs will be hung this week and I'll use a wort chiller coil to isolate my 1/3 hp chiller from the nutes to avoid contaminating the chiller should i have pathogen issues. I have oil filled heaters, domestic humidifiers and dehumidifiers that will run on humidity or temperature controllers and will monitor the solution strength and pH with a Blue Lab Guardian. Seedlings are 3 weeks old an in rooting bubblers currently but will hopefully go in the UC the week of Jan 11.

Gotta admit after having that horrible year in 2016/17 i was ready to change my name to O'Toole, fearing that Murphy was the eternal optimist. I'm amazed at how much has changed in the 3 years i've been dormant as there hadn't seemed to be huge changes from 2002 - 2016 (other than digital ballasts and DE fixtures). LEDs that you can flower well with as well as VPD and other concerns i'd blissfully been unaware of make me very grateful for the resources and knowledgeable people available here and at similar forums.

Look up NPK on utube as silver foil is no good for grow rooms only white or black as silver doesn't rebound the radiation back of red light ☢

 

[airedog]

Day 19 of Flower and plants are really developing well, they drank 15 gallons of top-up in 2 days; going to need to bump up to a 32 gallon top-up res. Despite exacerbating an old back injury, with help i managed to get the exhaust fan onto a stand that puts it near the ceiling, now i need to get the trellis frames in place and start bending stems to make them fit.

Nutes are running in the 840 - 960 ppm range and are currently at 5.7 pH; no sign of tip burn so i'll bump up solution strength on the next change-out. I'm running most of the AN Grand Master recipe on a Conny Coco base, minus the Bud Candy and substituting Hydroguard and Orca for the beneficials. Running Hydroguard near double strength to keep pathogens at bay, so post-grow cleanup will be interesting given that my manifolds and joints were modified with Sch 40 PVC pipe and connectors, leaves a gap at Spin Tight connection.

I'll try to get a fresh set of pictures tonight.

 

[airedog]

Here are a couple of pictures from today;

Plants are bushing out as well as growing tall.

This is a problem currently showing only on that LR plant; the one that had root issues; not sure if it's just a warning of a global issue for me though. To me, it looks like a nutrient issue, just not sure which one. Currently nutes are 920 ppm; 66°' and pH is 5.7.

 

[Anthem]

Here are a couple of pictures from today;

Plants are bushing out as well as growing tall.

View attachment 1113849

This is a problem currently showing only on that LR plant; the one that had root issues; not sure if it's just a warning of a global issue for me though. To me, it looks like a nutrient issue, just not sure which one. Currently nutes are 920 ppm; 66°' and pH is 5.7.

View attachment 1113853

That sure looks like they could use some additional Calcium and Magnesium, FWIW

 

[airedog]

They're getting a big dose already but i'll feed more.

Although i'm in Hydroton, market shortages caused me to run Conny coco base, i've also fed them a double dose of CalMag last change-out (Saturday). They've been drinking fairly heavily though and i hadn't put any in the top-up res. They're on their 2nd top-up this week though and i'll change-out again on Saturday.

 

[airedog]

Just took a look at the end of the ON cycle, solution strength is at 990 ppm (added in CalMag); temperature is 67° (bumped up by a degree on chiller); pH stable at 5.7. In the last 24 hours ambient temperature has stayed within a 10° range and also stayed under 80°.

Plants drank about half of my top-up res in one night. This tells me that plants appear happy with nutes as they are taking them up reasonably steadily given that the increase in solution strength is due to adding in 60 mL of CalMag to the system and 20mL to the top-up res. Unless the plants start drinking the entire top-up in a night i'll leave it until next grow and bump up to a 44 gallon Brute (about half the total system volume once air lines are run).

 

[airedog]

2.5 weeks into Flower. Week 3 nutes had some additions and solution strength is currently 1310 ppm (700 scale); temp is 67°; and pH is 5.7.

Plants are drinking about 6 - 7 gallons/day. I've been adding in CalMag and that is probably part of the increase in solution strength from the changeout strength of 1270 (generally thought to be high for an UnderCurrent system). Leaf tips are white, so i want to stay close to this strength, but leaves still show that i may need more CalMag. I'll dial back base nutes next changeout and hit harder with CalMag. I'm also giving Microbial Mass Pro a try. Hitting them hard with Bud Factor X and they are starting to develop an aroma.

RH is running at 48% 4 hours into the cycle and ambient temps are around 75°; OFF cycle temps are around 70° and RH near mid-40s.

This was the room on March 21

There's no question that i'll be rolling and bending stems to get top branches to grow horizontally under trellis netting.

 

[smokedareefer]

2.5 weeks into Flower. Week 3 nutes had some additions and solution strength is currently 1310 ppm (700 scale); temp is 67°; and pH is 5.7.

Plants are drinking about 6 - 7 gallons/day. I've been adding in CalMag and that is probably part of the increase in solution strength from the changeout strength of 1270 (generally thought to be high for an UnderCurrent system). Leaf tips are white, so i want to stay close to this strength, but leaves still show that i may need more CalMag. I'll dial back base nutes next changeout and hit harder with CalMag. I'm also giving Microbial Mass Pro a try. Hitting them hard with Bud Factor X and they are starting to develop an aroma.

RH is running at 48% 4 hours into the cycle and ambient temps are around 75°; OFF cycle temps are around 70° and RH near mid-40s.

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This was the room on March 21

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There's no question that i'll be rolling and bending stems to get top branches to grow horizontally under trellis netting.

At 2.5 weeks in flower I was thinking the strech may be done and you may have enough room.