Soil sog grower needs mentor to switch to hydro

[gisisi]

Northwest Skunk:

I know describing your methods is not the purpose of this thread.
Could you describe a website and handle where we might find such information?

I have recently been gifted a large amount of soil and would like to use it in beds like yours. How deep are they?

 

[antimatter]

Antimatter Thank you or your advice. Well I do currently re use my soil, but I was looking forward to using a new system where I could avoid the rota tilling, amending it, etc. I think I may have to be steered in the direction of using rock wool and hand watering the beds because of the size of res I would need by doing a E & F system.

How about this: I have found that the magic measurement for my spacing of plants in my sogs is 7" apart in my beds to achieve the best yield. What If I put rock wool in my beds and just hand watered them like I do currently with soil? Would you guys expect that if the system was the same in all other ways it would outyield the soil beds? Not sure if they make rock wool in sheets so I could make it custom fit in the beds, but worse come to worse I could put 6" blocks in.
This raises another question though; if I do it with rock wool cubes in the beds where do the roots go under the rock wool? Do they just cruise around on the bottom? I saw some youtube hydro vids where they put some kind of sheet or cloth type of stuff on the bottom of flood beds for the roots to surf around on. Would you guys suggest that stuff for doing it the way I'm thinking?
Doing just one bed this way in the room with the other two still using the soil method would be the ultimate comparison the only thing is that the center bed in the room always gets the most light because of the extra side light from the other two beds so if I did it in the center bed it would have an unfair advantage. The end bed against the wall is second best usually. I could do it on that one.

I hear yhea rockwool is what ya want is it, handwatering is a pain in the ass, hence why flood tables are used, could just just set up a drip system with open spaghetti lines.

Your thinking of lining the bed with a coco mat to for more root space?

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=90481&pp=15



Id also check out the cogr slabs for what your trying to do

http://www.cannagardening.ca/node/1433

Reuse

Due to its solid structure, COGR can be reused 3 timeswithout any problems or quality loss.

•Harvest the plant and remove the plant remains abovesoil level, see (1).
•Rinse the COGR granulate thoroughly with a double doseof CANNAZYM and allow it to rest for 24 hours, see (2).
•BUFFERING AGENT is no longer necessary, so you canbegin planting immediately, see (3).

 

[FARM THIS]

i would not line the bottom with coco mat, with sog the cubes will be close enough to make shade for others . coco mat can promote gnat growth ( big time )
i know this from experience !

 

[Northwest Skunk]

Bobby Smith

NWS, as a rule of thumb, the more often you feed, the faster your growth.

That's why DWC and aero are generally the fastest (feed constantly), and other hydro setups (E&F, top feed) are next, and then last is soil being fed every couple of days.

The rockwool would probably let you feed it several more times a week than your current soil setup (a few times a day vs. once every few days, I'm guessing) so it would be marginally faster, but again, I wonder if the incremental increase would be worth the extra risk of flooding and hassle of a gargantuan reservoir.

I'd stay with what you do, personally.

I have read that also about the more you feed the better the yield also that's the reason I was going to swith but like you said i'm just not sure it's worth it. Actually I just increased my res size for the number of lights I'm running to see if having the beds wetter longer with food will have some effect on yield and I think it is having a possitive effect but it's hard to know for sure cause I've also changed my feed schedule so that was dumb on my part changing two things at once. Not sure what I'm going to do now. I'll post up some pics of my current OG that looks so amazing right now and I think it's due to the stronger feed schedule super agressive bloom feedings and the more moist soil.

420blunts

glad to know that u been safe all this time northwest skunk. i learned alot from you from planetskunk 2 years ago with your sog shows. copied your style for 3 runs with pk but best pull was 1 1/2 per light. got tired of dumping & replacing the sunshine mix. for the last year and some change i've been using rockwool. 6" hugo rockwool blocks to be exact. what i've learned is that the 6" rw blocks holds way too much water for your style of growing single cola sogs. especially with pk since there not heavy drinkers. a very close friend of mine is doing 64 per 1k light of og kush with 4" rockwool blocks at the moment. he's in week 5 right now. he handwaters with a wand once a day. feed/feed/water schedule same as sunshine mix but just daily. so far so good. will definetly let you know the outcome if you're still interested by then. my next experiment with sog will be a custom made aeroflo system to fit 64 per light. the growth rate and bud size from the aeroflo is amazing. i've never personally seen og kush buds that big before

Hey 420 good to see you! I remember you from PS also. How many lights were you running with the beds? The more lights, the better the yield due to the exta side lighting. Too bad I couldn't help you at that time. I've been re using my soil for years now with excellent success. Keep me posted if you could please about your friend using the rock wool with the sog k.

gisisi

Northwest Skunk:

I know describing your methods is not the purpose of this thread.
Could you describe a website and handle where we might find such information?

I have recently been gifted a large amount of soil and would like to use it in beds like yours. How deep are they?

The beds are 7 1/4" deep I use 2" x 8" boards. I used to be on PS my user name was also Northwest Skunk. I took all my pictures off of that forum though back awhile ago because of security issues at the time.

 

[Northwest Skunk]

antimatter

I hear yhea rockwool is what ya want is it, handwatering is a pain in the ass, hence why flood tables are used, could just just set up a drip system with open spaghetti lines.

Your thinking of lining the bed with a coco mat to for more root space?

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=90481&pp=15



Id also check out the cogr slabs for what your trying to do

http://www.cannagardening.ca/node/1433

Reuse

Due to its solid structure, COGR can be reused 3 timeswithout any problems or quality loss.

•Harvest the plant and remove the plant remains abovesoil level, see (1).
•Rinse the COGR granulate thoroughly with a double doseof CANNAZYM and allow it to rest for 24 hours, see (2).
•BUFFERING AGENT is no longer necessary, so you canbegin planting immediately, see (3).

Thank you for the info and links. I just saw the mats used on youtube for some e & f systems. I wasn't sure if it was a necessity or just a preference.

farm this

i would not line the bottom with coco mat, with sog the cubes will be close enough to make shade for others . coco mat can promote gnat growth ( big time )
i know this from experience !

Thank you.

 

[jimbobthe3rd]

Picture of the 48 lighter running smoothly. Sadly it's retired now.

This is my dream room...although sadly i'm limited to 16~ plants. Can't really SoG decently for 10~20lbs with 16 plants haha xD.

4x4 trellis's one plant per trellis with mega scrogging is eventually going to be my dream setup then i guess if i can't have yours Northwest lol.

Just wanted to say that your feats of growing are truly amazing!

 

[Northwest Skunk]

jimbobthe3rd

This is my dream room...although sadly i'm limited to 16~ plants. Can't really SoG decently for 10~20lbs with 16 plants haha xD.

4x4 trellis's one plant per trellis with mega scrogging is eventually going to be my dream setup then i guess if i can't have yours Northwest lol.

Just wanted to say that your feats of growing are truly amazing!

I hear ya I used to grow by med license regs also. I just wanted to start saving for my family's future and it just wasn't cutting it anymore. With this world the way it is it's hard to know what's around the next corner so I'm trying to get er done in a smaller window of time.

Thanks for your kind words.

 

[420king-MASSES]

dude your rockin out in soil with very very nice yeilds you should just stick with the dirt if you are really hell bent on hydro dont convert your whole room dedicate a single light space and see if its really for you you might decide hydro blows for your purposes or you mite find it became simpler for you but dont just convert your whole room until you know that hydro is for you

 

[Northwest Skunk]

420king-MASSES

dude your rockin out in soil with very very nice yeilds you should just stick with the dirt if you are really hell bent on hydro dont convert your whole room dedicate a single light space and see if its really for you you might decide hydro blows for your purposes or you mite find it became simpler for you but dont just convert your whole room until you know that hydro is for you

Yup I agree with you. I'm gonna just try one bed for comparison at first.

 

[jimbobthe3rd]

jimbobthe3rdI hear ya I used to grow by med license regs also. I just wanted to start saving for my family's future and it just wasn't cutting it anymore. With this world the way it is it's hard to know what's around the next corner so I'm trying to get er done in a smaller window of time.

Thanks for your kind words.

Well, the country i live, growing any plants indoors is a criminal offence. But growing more than 18 plants is considered cultivating a commerical quantity...so i like to play it safe with 16, so i can still tell the judge if the day ever comes that it's all for personal use i smoke 20 cones a day T_T.

If i was ever caught with 100+ plants = 10 years jail even if first time offense lol.

 

[420king-MASSES]

yessir i got hit with 98 plants in 97 when i was 19 years old got my own house seized 2 cars 2 quads 1 dirt bike 2 snowmobiles plus all the whistle and stops for a house man that shit sucked and i beat the charge the growroom wasnt in the location or building they said it was[haha fuckin snitches] warrant said shed popo smelled my basement and came rite on in

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

every think of tyring the vert lights and a uc set up? couple of threads here on it?

 

[j wizzle]

yeah, i think thats the only way to improve your yield is a different light setup, 3 per light is good numbers. the reflectors are the only thing holding you back.

 

[antimatter]

The guy runs sogs with 5x5s why would he want to switch over to vertical with bigger plants unless that is what he wants to do it just would not make sense if hes already setup. Vertical lights are cheaper to setup but increase in yield is questionable not to mention there much more difficult to work around.

 

[Northwest Skunk]

Hey guys thanks for your thoughts but ya like Antimatter said the Grow Star reflectors I use are a unique and very important part of the system. They are the only reflectors I know of that can each cover a 5' area. They are specially designed to affectively cover wide growing sog areas.
If I were to change to a LR type of shade with verticle bulbs they would be more concentrated to a narrower growing area. Yes they would be more powerful but much narrower.

If someone were to invent a reflector like a wide 50" Grow Star but with a verticle bulb in it I would be interested to try them in my system for sure.

 

[Geronimo]

WOW! im drooling over that setup

 

[jimbobthe3rd]

Northwest, do you have any grow diaries or anything? I'm thinking i might be brave and do a mass SoG in the future one day like yours but really would need alot of learning before i attempt to setup such a thing. I'd love to learn from you as it is, you look like you know all the ins and outs with sog soil growing. I'm thinking maybe doing 3 4'x8' beds with 32 plants in each (to keep the count under 100), so that's 16 plants per 4x4. With two 1k's over each bed. Do you think i could effectively yield 2lb per 1k light with 16 plants under each 1k? That's only 2oz per plant, would i have to veg for 1-2 weeks before flowering also?

Any information you can contribute to help me learn, i will really really really appreciate XD. Thanks alot for your already inspiring pictures.

 

[antimatter]

Hey guys thanks for your thoughts but ya like Antimatter said the Grow Star reflectors I use are a unique and very important part of the system. They are the only reflectors I know of that can each cover a 5' area. They are specially designed to affectively cover wide growing sog areas.
If I were to change to a LR type of shade with verticle bulbs they would be more concentrated to a narrower growing area. Yes they would be more powerful but much narrower.

If someone were to invent a reflector like a wide 50" Grow Star but with a verticle bulb in it I would be interested to try them in my system for sure.

We were talking about vertical bulbs no shades with the vertical bulb hanging in between the plants, best done with large plants because you have to make up alot of height in order to maximize the light though some do sog octagons and stadiums with levels but its just a pain in the ass on a large scale going with the small plants in a setup like that.

 

[420blunts]

i ran 4 1k on a 9x9 bed using magnum reflectors. at the time i was happy with my results since it was my first time growing ever. but since i barely did that much better on the next 2 tries it just wasn't worth the risk sogging anymore for me if i couldn't hit 2+ plus a light. now i'm close to hitting that 2 per mark with og with 18 per light vegged 3 weeks. i take them up to 1450 on a 5 scale meter. i will definetly let you know my buddies results in 3 to 4 weeks. keep it safe bro.

 

[jimbobthe3rd]

420blunts, when you were strugglin for 2+ per light, how many plants were u running under the 1 light? I'm just lookin to see if i can get 2p+ per 1k with 16 plants in a 4x4 vegged for 2 weeks. Sound do-able or no?