Hail Hydro 2.0: New Beginnings

[PhatNuggz]

I only broke down about 2 years ago

https://hightimes.com/grow/connoiss...d-plants/?utm_referrer=https://zen.yandex.com

 

[PhatNuggz]

I am amazed how much the plants have bulked up since taking the pics 2 days ago, but I have questions

while my 3 part Emerald Harvest grow is doing fine, a problem early on, when all 4 plants showed sex ~ 3 weeks has perplexed me

I managed to ‘reveg’ for couple weeks. Plants have stretched and buds filling out beyond nicely, although most of the leafs are single blade (what causes that?)

I am wondering whether feeding frequency in the beginning could be the culprit for early sexing, or, could it be too many growth hormones from daily foliar feeding with Kelp. Hmmmmm

Once I transfer from starter lpa aero into F & D totes I feed every 1.5 hours to make sure the transferred roots stay moist. A caution from my old bubbleponics starter days, when roots really weren't long enough, but were hammocking, so I transferred them. Not an issue since switching to lpa aero.

I often forget to increase the pause intervals as they grow. Could this be the cause of early sexing?

It has only been in the last 2 weeks that I increased the pause to 4 hours and a few days go to 6 hours

Not sure if it’s a coincidence, but the plants have grown much faster, and buds are really bulking up, although they should at this stage anyway

Been using mid flower amounts as per the EH chart, including Golden Goddess, King Kola and Honey Comb (+ NPK RAW Aminos and Enzymes)

I have plenty of GG and KK for several more grows, but not enough Honey Comb left for one more gallon. Can I still get excellent results without it?
__________________

 

[PhatNuggz]

I texted my last post to the head chemist at EH. He says the mono blade leafs are due to reveg, which makes sense

 

[PhatNuggz]

Wow. Plants seem to be making up for lost time

I reduced light schedule from 13/11 to ~ 12/12, and will reduce by another hour in 4-5 days

The indica dom on the right under the SPYDR 600 is now 24 x 24. I pollinated a lower branch with the tall indica dom male that was outside. Fingers crossed

 

[chemistry]

Whats your PPM's and your PH? Plants will do better on 12/12.

 

[PhatNuggz]

Now upped to 800+

pH between 5.8 and 6.2

 

[PhatNuggz]

Here are pics of the Air Pots I used back in 14. I'm going to bring them back and do a drip set up in one tent next grow. The upside-down netpot lid (to show size of the net pot) fits over the AP.

Note the NP size provides plenty of stone infill once the starter seedlings are ready. With this method, I don't need to wait as long for roots as I do with F & D. I cut one AP shorter to eliminate the air gap under the net pot

 

[PhatNuggz]

Back on 4/08 I discussed that I already had pistils and that the 2 plants under the SE 250 had not received proper misting due to 2 male plants large root mass in the center blocking them from getting proper feedings. I said this put the 2 smaller plants ~ a week behind the 2 under the SPYDR 600. Did my best to send them back into veg for a few weeks, though they kept budding

well, the 2 late to party girls have taken off. The one on the left (pic #5) was the runt, but damn she's blown past her sister. She looks like a twin to the one on the left under the SPYDR

Hope you can see the many bud sites

IMO not too shabby for 27 days flowering

 

[PhatNuggz]

More good news. The buds I pollinated have seed sacks.

So far I have not dumped the nutes, simply and slowly added bloom nutes. However, they are at the stage in bud development where a lot of crap is being dumped into the rezes. This causes EC//PPM to rise and pH to fall. I have been simply adding water and adjusting pH, but I might dump rezes just to be safe

 

[PhatNuggz]

Update

Perhaps the biggest eye opener is that the 2 plants under the Amare SE 250 (~ 250w actual), that were ~ 7 days behind the 2 under the SPYDR 600 (~ 360w actual) have caught up size wise, though bud development is still ~ 7 days behind. This is a blessing, as I will be harvesting a ton of buds from the first 2. By the time Im done with them, the other 2 will be ready to harvest.

 

[PhatNuggz]

To Defol or Not to Defol? That is the question
Here's another controversy, often criticised by those who never did it

I say mostly yes. However, it seems to depend on how bushy the lower part of your plant is

https://www.zamnesia.com/content/581-defoliation

 

[PhatNuggz]

Oddly, well not really (plants are at that stage of bud development where a lot of dumping goes on), but both rezes > 1000ppm this morning. I double checked with a different EC/ppm meter

Cleaning and changing both rezes out with fresh nutes

 

[PhatNuggz]

I know some of you are up to speed, just forward

This is so fucking basic.

It’s one of the major elements the body needs and is typically deficient. Upping Mg will stop/prevent cramping, which pharma knows, but would rather sell you a drug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsHGYhJilC4

 

[PhatNuggz]

Update

Taking pics with lights on really doesn't do the bud density any favors. I did try to shade the light with one hand while operating my 35 mm camera in the other. This over the SPYDR 600 (first 2 pics) because it does not have an O//O switch like the Amares do. On them I shut the CoBs off.

Im expecting a nice bump after cleaning and fresh nutes.

I've been thinking about my 6 hour feeding schedule: the 'problem' is that the plants only get one feeding while lights are on, now that they are under 12/12. This morning I changed it to every 4 hours

 

[PhatNuggz]

The more I thought about lowering the flood cycles from 4 to 3, I began to think: just how often can I feed? Since my medium is polished stones, which doesn't hold the nutrient solution as rockwool does, meaning I can easily feed 4 xs as often, and maybe 8. So, I just lowered it to every hour= 24 feedings per day. How much better can that be?

My logic comes from my ~ 2 years of growing with HPA, where each mist is ~ 0.05-1 second!. The shortest setting my Sentinel deep cyle timer is +/- 3 seconds, but it still worked, Far from ideal, but I simply increased the pause time to something like 20 or 30 minutes. Adjust by watching the plants response


The science behind HPA is to barely moisten the root system, giving it just enough food, then, assuming the root needs time to process and transport the nutrients up the plant, and be ready to feed/process again, each subsequent misting is identical 24/7. The resulting roots are incredibly delicate, looking like basketball sized cotton candy, multiplying the entire surface area probably by at least an order of ten is why HPA plants grow so fast and big

 

[PhatNuggz]

The issue I have with hourly feeding is the solution gets warm fast. Since I have 2-3 separate f & d set ups, AFAIK it's not feasable to get a single chiller that will accommodate more than one. This means more frequent change outs of the blue ice paks, though I might try 2 in each rez. In the mean time I cut floods back to every 2 hours. If I can remember, I will go with 2 blue ice paks during lights on then cut back to ~ 3 hours at night

 

[PhatNuggz]

The issue I have with hourly feeding is the solution gets warm fast. Since I have 2-3 separate f & d set ups, AFAIK it's not feasable to get a single chiller that will accommodate more than one. This means more frequent change outs of the blue ice paks, though I might try 2 in each rez. In the mean time I cut floods back to every 2 hours.

If I can remember, I will go with 2 blue ice paks and hourly floods during lights on then cut back to ~ 3 hours at night

 

[PhatNuggz]

So far I have managed to remember to increase night feedings (3 hrs) and remember to return to 1//hour each morning. I'm proud of myself.

Now, that said, I am not seeing any dramatic differences during this stage of bud development, but I bet it rocks in veg, and may still as time passes

Pics 1 & 2 under the BML SPYDR 600

Under the Amare Technologies SE 250

 

[PhatNuggz]

I ordered this kit today in hopes of improving the flowering ability of my SPYDR 600, which needs more red than I thought

 

[PhatNuggz]

I have not been able to get in contact with SolStrip, so buyer beware

pH pens. Although I calibrate my Milwaukee pH pen regularly, it was reading between 5.7-5.9 depending on which rez, but the slide button to keep it on no longer lockss so I ordered a new pen from Deeronwer on Amazon ~ $15. I ordered it because the Milwaukee window is too small. Well, where the Milwaukee reads 5.7-5.9, after calibration, this one reads the rezes at 5.4- 5.5, which is too low. Raised both to ~ 5.8, will soon see whether this makes a difference