New Guy Needs Advice

TrichromeFan · Sep 1, 2010

Duck,
the girls look pretty healthy there. How many days are you into flowering exactly? 8 Days? If so, the stretch is definitely not over. Have you switched to your flowering nutes yet? That will help a bit.
You could do some training with a horizontal trellis if they start to get too close to the light. I know that skunk#1 is not too tall of a plant itself. Don't know about the lamb's bread.

jakew215 · Sep 1, 2010

i would try to figure a way out to be able to raise it higher. just in case, you might be alright, should be almost done with the big stretch if its grown 8"s in a week. it will be close either way and would prepare for it accordingly.

plants look lushes green and healthy though, well done.

jakew215 · Sep 1, 2010

TrichromeFan said:
Duck,
the girls look pretty healthy there. How many days are you into flowering exactly? 8 Days? If so, the stretch is definitely not over. Have you switched to your flowering nutes yet? That will help a bit.
You could do some training with a horizontal trellis if they start to get too close to the light. I know that skunk#1 is not too tall of a plant itself. Don't know about the lamb's bread.

^^^ take this guys advice over mine!!! lol.

i thought stretch last about a week but heard two weeks. i think it depends a lot on the strain...

those are all good ideas.

motherlode · Sep 1, 2010

some strains will stretch up to three weeks, casey jones is a good example...

jakew215 · Sep 1, 2010

motherlode said:
some strains will stretch up to three weeks, casey jones is a good example...

jesus, good thing i didnt try to grow those. almost did to, i dont like all that stretch.

Disco Duck · Sep 1, 2010

Yes... I've seen tents with a net stretched across them. That ought to solve the problem, I can put a net in and start running the plants through the net if they get too high. What height should the net be at? 24" below the light's top position to give 6" of growth room above the net is what I'd do on my own.

And I switched to my own "transition" formula I listed in a previous post on the same day I switched the light. Then on monday, Day 1 of Week 2, added the rest of the nutes to bring my modified "transition" formula (one that let me just add more nutes to create the bloom forumla). So They spent the first week on the first mixture listed in the original post, and since 9PM monday night have been on the bloom formula. 817 PPM, 5.8 PH last night.

TrichromeFan · Sep 1, 2010

I would say, put the trellis maybe 6" below the max safe height from your lamp. Start with the tallest ones, that will let the shorter ones catch up in height.

Disco Duck · Sep 2, 2010

This is perfect timing then, the plants are still about 2" below that level. I will get a net tomorrow and put it in just in case. I called the dispensary I got them from and talked to the guy there who has experience growing this. He said they "almost double" after the switch but the biggest one is now 21 1/2 inches, after being just barely 12" when I switched 1 week and 2 days ago. They grew more than an inch yesterday and show no sign of slowing down, so I am still worried. I'll get the net to be safe.

The Rainforest with the chiller I modified into it is what I would credit with the plants being so exceptionally healthy and explosively growing. I do have a perfect environment... 75-78 lights on, 70-74 lights off, always 60-72 humidity. Getting everything right is the key, one thing off blows it, but from my perspective the chilled Rainforest is what is making me look so good. That thing just kicks major ass. The only complaint I have about it is that accessing the resivior is very difficult... but the plants love it.

The other thing I am doing different than most others is that I am using the entire GH "expert" lineup. I did that assuming that I wouldn't ever encounter any kind of deffecencies. The only real problem I am encountering is the plants growing too fast, too wide, and too tall... and they won't stop:-)

Disco Duck · Sep 4, 2010

I have the net in now, and of course the plants seemed to slow growing a lot as soon as I put it in. It probably isn't necessary now but is in there in case it is.

I need to change the water on Monday. Monday will be exactly 2 weeks of flowering, and they are supposed to go 9-11 weeks. I am trying to work out a schedule for the next 7-9 weeks. The GH schedule has 3 phases from here on out: Bloom, Aggressive Bloom, and Ripen. I also need to flush for 9-10 days or so.

Bloom is 1:2:3, Agressive Bloom is 0:2:3. Week 1 I used a "Transition" mix, Week 2 I upped that mix to the "Bloom" mix. When should I switch from Bloom (1:2:3) to Agressive Bloom (0:2:3)? That is my biggest question.

Right now I have 7-9 weeks left. I want a later "couch lock" harvest so I am assuming 11 weeks total, 9 weeks left. The last 2 weeks are for the flush, so 7 weeks of nutrients left. The last 2 weeks of nutrient are the "Ripen" mix, so I have 5 weeks to divide between "Bloom" and "Aggressive Bloom". So far I am thinking 2 more weeks of Bloom, then 3 of Agressive Bloom.

So that would make the complete flower schedule...

Week 1 - Transitition

Weeks 2, 3, 4 Bloom

Weeks 5, 6, 7 Agressive Bloom

Weeks 8, 9 Ripen

Week 10 Flush with Flora Kleen (3-4 days)

Week 11 Flush with plain RO water

Does this look good? I am most confused by when to switch from Bloom (1:2:3) to Aggressive Bloom (0:2:3). Also, is my dual flush a good idea? Taste is very important too me, I know that "fish tank" taste and definately don't want it. I've seen a lot of people talk about flushing for 2 weeks so I thought using FloraKleen for a few days, then without for week to to get rid of any taste FloraKleen might leave behind. Am I going to far with the flush?

TrichromeFan · Sep 6, 2010

Duck,
you might want to check with other people's aero grows, to see about how much flushing you need to do. I know that with DWC, since there is just the water, and not much media, you can only flush for so long, before the plants have nothing left to live on. 10-11 days seems a bit long. Also, don't forget that the cure has a massive effect on taste and potency. It would seem that during your "aggressive bloom" stage, that you might want some sort of bloom booster as well. It seems that the only difference that you are stating between the two stages is a lack of Nitrogen.

Disco Duck · Sep 7, 2010

I have the dry Kool Bloom to use during the Ripen during the last two weeks of nutes. I must have been seeing soil growers talking about 2 week flushes. How long will the flush last? That seems to be the hardest thing to plan for.

I changed the water tonight and tonight is exactly 2 weeks of 12/12. Starting week 3. You can already see bud sites just beginning to form. The plants are too wide for the tent and are hitting the walls, is that bad?

Seafrost · Sep 7, 2010

Be very careful not to use too much of that Kool Bloom powder. Some strains are very sensitive and your buds can turn out overdone and also finish too soon.Ive also had it make the buds turn out very light fluffy while i was running a Diesel,and we all know Diesel nugs are supposed to be nice and dense. So just use it sparingly. Big Bud is a decent bloom boost too, ive used that many times.

TrichromeFan · Sep 7, 2010

I wouldn't worry too much about the plants hitting the sides. I would have expected that. As long as you have good air circulation you are fine.

Plants look great. You should look up other people who use forms of aero. Then you can find out flushing time and other specifics for that style of hydroponics. Otherwise I am just guessing for you at best.

Disco Duck · Sep 7, 2010

SeaFrost: Yes, the guy at the store told me the same thing. He said to only use it at half the schedule strength and also warned me that "it will kill your plants fast" if you use too much. That fits in exactly with the rest of the nutes though, it all needs to be at 50% of what the scedule says so I am already used to using everything at half-strength. The powder does sound particularly potent though, I might actually start at 1/4 at that and add 1/8 on the 2nd and 3rd days just to be extra careful.

I wonder it all these nute schedules would work great at 100% if you were growing tomatos... that would explain a lot:-)

Trich: Thanks again, I got an answer fast. If nobody else contradicts him, someone has already suggested 7-10 days with H&G's cleaner for aero flush.

Disco Duck · Sep 9, 2010

A couple fan leaves on one plant are starting to turn brown, and then the brown turns yellow. It is starting in the central area of the leaves, not the edges. They are two big fan leaves, the top ones on the highest part of one of the plants.

I took some pictures below but had to take them with the HPS light on and I have a very cheap camera. Hopefully they help. It's only these leaves, although the very tips of most leaves are starting to turn white, just the tips so small it is barely noticable. This is the first time any leaves have discolored at all in a couple weeks.

Can anyone tell what this might be, the two leaves turning brown then yellow from across the whole leaf, not starting at the edges.

TrichromeFan · Sep 9, 2010

Duck, Some better pics would help. You should start a thread in the infirmary too. How's the PH?

Disco Duck · Sep 9, 2010

I will get better pics tomorrow morning when the light goes off on it's own.

I always keep the PH at 5.8, it is 5.8 now. Looking more closely, I only noticed the two most noticable leaves up top, a lot of leaves are starting to turn brown.

They turn brown kind of uniformly across the whole leaf. It doesn't start at the edges. From reading all night it seems like possible Calcium or Magnese (not Mg, Magnese) but those are just wild guesses, I am pretty lost trying to figure out what it is.

I changed the water on Monday and noticed this starting on tuesday. The water change was the same "bloom" forumla they were already on but at 1100 PPM instead of the 900 they had been at.

I know people over prescribe CalMag as a solution, but I've also read if you are using RO water you probably really do need it. I am wondering if I just need CalMag because I am using RO water?

TrichromeFan · Sep 9, 2010

I would suspect your new batch of nutes. Did you use that cool bloom this batch? RO does not mean that you do not need cal mag. It means that there is no calcium in the water to begin with, as opposed to some in regular water. If it is a calcium def, then a foliar feed with light strength solution will let you know. Check the sprayers inside your unit as well. Make sure that everything is ok under the hood so to speak.

Disco Duck · Sep 10, 2010

I had spent all night that night reading and comparing pictures. It really seemed like either Calcium or Magnese. I had also read that if you are using RO water you may need to add CalMag. But is was very hesitant to decide that's what it was because from what I have read CalMag is like a false cure-all (As a Rush fanatic I sould probably say "Panacea":-) that gets prescribed for just about anything.

But I decided to get some CalMag and try it since everything seemed to point too it... and it really was what was needed in my case. The browning and redding stopped right away, the leaves that just looked dirty turned completely green again and it stopped. I only have a few damaged fan leaves from the whole incident, so it isn't bad at all.

I did make the new mix a little too strong, too. Leaf tips turned white on the newst leaves, just the very tips. It's diluted down to about 1050 now from about 1190 when I first put it in. I had done 8 gallon strength with 12 gallons of water, but that was slightly too much. It is at about 7 gallon strength formula of the GH schedule "Bloom" recipie in 12 gallons of water now.

Oh, a Rainforest doesn't have any spray nozzles that can clog. A very powerful pump slams the water into a plate shaped disc that sprays a fine mist 360 degrees from the center of the plate. The holes for slamming the water into the plate are big, and wouldn't ever clog. It really is a very clever design. Low maintenance Aeroponics:-)

TrichromeFan · Sep 10, 2010

I would always go conservative on the ppm levels. Especially for a system that is basically media less. You should also flush the plants if they got too concentrated of a nute batch. Some people flush a bit on each res change or two. Helps to keep salt buildup at a minimum.

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