Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 24, 2022

The airstones did not get here today but soon I am guessing.

I did notice a bit of something going on with the largest (oldest) fan leaves on both sides of the same node and a bit of scruff on some new growth, trying to read these leaves so not sure if this is a sign I am looking for that says I need to feed this girl.

Aqua Man · Oct 24, 2022

Lil bit high in N and prob could ise some opening up for airflow

Aqua Man · Oct 24, 2022

To be more specific looks like a transpiration issue caused by lack of air flow through the plant

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 24, 2022

Cool, thanks bro. The plan for tomorrow was to get those seedlings moved to a newly open tent and I have an anchor table ready to go in so I can start some training in the hydro tent. I was figuring I was going to need to do some defoliation already so that will get the air moving as you say. From what I can tell without actually doing it, Ii will remove some of those fans but will likely wait a bit for more growth to tie down and direct. I've only topped one time on the main stem. The side branching is freaking nuts and the close nodal spacing....freaking awesome.

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 25, 2022

Got the initial training done today, removed four of those giant fan leaves to make room for more light and air movement.

Before:

After:

steamroller · Oct 25, 2022

Love it!
What a difference. Plenty of solar panels left.

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 27, 2022

Got the new air stones installed, the old ones looked good, took a couple of photos in case anyone wanted to see. Still fighting a daily drop in ph which has me concerned but going with it. Some thing is not right but I can’t figure it out. Everything looks good from what I see.

I’ve wondered if I’m getting contamination from the construction project going on if that’s where the problem is coming from. I have all the parts to plumb in my chiller next time the res is empty which will help me keep the res lid closed better if anything is getting in there. For now I’ve made a temporary cover of sheet aluminum but it’s definitely not as good as the lid.

Do I see a res change in the near future? Or ride things out?

I’m not really sure where I go next and when.

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 28, 2022

Got up this morning and the ph had dropped to 5.5 overnight. Whatever is going on seems to be getting worse as the ph drop has been larger, quicker and is taking more Tree Trunk to get it back in line. Added 10 ml this morning to get it back to 5.8. I had hoped the new air stones would solve the problem but it seems things got worse after adding the new stones.

With my limited experience, I am thinking I might need to do a res change but perhaps I am overreacting. The roots look nice and white down under the water but there is slight light brown at the surface that I am assuming is normal, seemed a bit more brown this morning. Not sure how I could be fighting root rot but I guess it's possible. I still need to buy a microscope and may need to do that sooner rather than later.

I know I should be seeing an upward trend in ph. Downward trend indicates root rot. Any thoughts guys?

Madmax · Oct 28, 2022

Its strange your getting them holes at base of leaves cause i had same going on on a couple plants .it did go away though..

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 28, 2022

Yea, thanks Max. I do think Aquaman nailed that symptom when he said I did not have enough air flow. Once I addressed that, the problem went away.

Moe.Red · Oct 28, 2022

Hey sweetleaf, sorry I have not stopped by lately. But I have to say I am really curious about what is going on with your PH. This is contrary to my experience. Head scratcher.

OK, so please bear with me, I just posted this on another thread so I got the pic handy in my buffer

This is what a healthy root system in these fallponics setups looks like. They are not fragile, and they are slime free and white everywhere. That is not what I am seeing in your pic, but pics can be deceiving. Are you getting any slime? Are the roots fragile, almost like they start to disintegrate when you touch them? Turning to mush anywhere? If so, that's your PH drop.

I'm starting to wonder about the tree trunk. Is that effectively buffering and you are just pushing past that due to some contamination, or is maybe the tree trunk not actually buffering effectively?

I also wonder if your beneficials are being effective.

Something just does not add up, and I'm not sure what but willing to talk it out with you until we figure it out.

Madmax · Oct 28, 2022

Holy moly,thats insane.looks like a heap of instant noodles

Moe.Red · Oct 28, 2022

Madmax said:
Holy moly,thats insane.looks like a heap of instant noodles

I used to run 6 plants in a 4 x 8 using this same setup.

I backed it down to 2 pots because the plants grow big enough to fill a 4x4 by themselves. These roots are why.

Madmax · Oct 28, 2022

Like they say its more imortant to look after whats happening under the surface than whats on top.big roots = big plants. Same outside.. dig a big wide hole filled with goodies you get bigger plants.

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 28, 2022

Moe.Red said:
This is what a healthy root system in these fallponics setups looks like. They are not fragile, and they are slime free and white everywhere. That is not what I am seeing in your pic, but pics can be deceiving. Are you getting any slime? Are the roots fragile, almost like they start to disintegrate when you touch them? Turning to mush anywhere? If so, that's your PH drop.

I'm starting to wonder about the tree trunk. Is that effectively buffering and you are just pushing past that due to some contamination, or is maybe the tree trunk not actually buffering effectively?

I also wonder if your beneficials are being effective.

Something just does not add up, and I'm not sure what but willing to talk it out with you until we figure it out.

I know, that is what I keep thinking! Racking my brain to identify anything I could possibly be doing that is causing this.

I took a couple of short videos that hopefully show what is going on a little better. I see no fragility at all in the roots, actually to my untrained eye, they look great. I massaged them and no hint of slime, foul smell, no breakage, no mush.

As far as the Tree Trunk, I was wondering a bit too. I've noticed this recently, and before I think I might have mentioned it, that it appeared to be precipitating (if that is the right word) and there were some small chunks of stuff in there. It was actually plugging up my pipette, which was how I noticed them in the first place. In the past, I thought it was buffering nicely, definitely rockets the ph upward with just a small amount.

I was wondering about the beneficials too, thought about adding another 2 ml per gallon of Hydroguard but have resisted the urge to get in and tinker with things.

Thanks Bother.

Aqua Man · Oct 28, 2022

You get your new air pump yet?

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 28, 2022

Aqua Man said:
You get your new air pump yet?

No, but I can't remember needing a new air pump. Do you think the one I have is not good enough? I can get another one if needed but didn't think there was a problem with this one. I did get the new air stones and got them in the system.

Aqua Man · Oct 28, 2022

SweetLeafGrow said:
No, but I can't remember needing a new air pump. Do you think the one I have is not good enough? I can get another one if needed but didn't think there was a problem with this one. I did get the new air stones and got them in the system.

I maybe confusing you with another…. I thought you were looking at the air pump moe suggested?

SweetLeafGrow · Oct 29, 2022

I was reading on the GH website and they recommend changing out the res every 7-10 days. I'm wondering if this is what I need to do to get this PH under control. Moe and I were both wondering if the Tree Trunk might be losing it's effectiveness as a buffer. Last night I tried using PH Up instead to see if this would hold longer, it did not. I've been phing up to around 6.0 and then letting it drop down through 5.6 instead of just bringing everything to 5.8 and leaving it. Not a huge pain but the ph drop does have me concerned. PPM's have not moved much, I'm still trying to understand the relationship between ph, ppm and how they should be behaving normally. I think a lot of my issues is I just don't have enough knowledge in this area and still on that learning hill. I will get it!

So my question is, am I overreacting or should I go ahead and do a res change today? I have the time to do it but don't want to putz with it if I don't need to.

My gut tells me to change the res.

Aqua Man · Oct 29, 2022

It may be the ph stability of the nutrients, the source of silica or aeration being to low.

Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

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Dragons Flame Mac Dragon bx1 in Updated RDWC System

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