Tobh's 2sqft Box

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Toaster79

Toaster79

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If you're planning to take clones of this plant make sure first that she is healthy. Helathy mom healthy babies. About humidity, you can put a bowl of water in ther with a towel hanging and touching bottom of the bowl. Should work just fine.

Keep it green!
 
tobh

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Thank you! I was searching google the other day for that chart. Used to have it along with the overgrow grow faq's which really were an invaluable resource. I moved away from soil years ago when I realized coco is similar but more hydroponic in practice without the complicated nature of hydroponics. once I realized that, I kind of left soil for house plants only.

After giving her some BioRoot last night, she perked up A LOT. I didn't pH the water as per most of the organic soil posts here, and she responded well. With time she'll perk up even more I'm sure. I'll probably invest in some caps bennies soon as well, as I'm sure all of my plants will benefit from them, not just the cannabis.

Thanks for dropping by and giving me advice! I have a bowl of water in there with a towel, and it only raised the humidity a few points of a percentage (from 22% to 25% overnight), so I'll be going to Walgreens and grab a compact personal humidifier. Will be investing in a whole house humidifier in a few months though, I never knew an arid home could cause chronic sinus issues, which I've had for YEARS. Knock out two birds with one stone with one of those whole house units. @Toaster79 you rock, kind sir.
 
tobh

tobh

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Here's a little update. I took some cuts last week, four to be exact, and today I've got roots! 100% success rate from the looks of things. Love cloning in coco now, easiest most stress-free method of cloning I've ever experienced. Not bad for 8 days since being cut. Still working out some of the issues mom has, but she's doing much better as well. Roots have hit the bottom of her four-gallon container and she's throwing them branches like crazy.

BioRoot is really the tits, imo. Cheaper than Rhizotonic by a lot and seems to actually perform a bit better.

So how long should I let these clones sit before setting them back under the full strength of all the CFLs? I've had them under three for the rooting period, and since they have roots, should I be good to go ahead and turn the others on now? Sorry for lack of pics, I'll post some later once I strip the exif and metadata.

It's interesting, with RO water after adding the nutrients the pH drops to 5.1-5.3. Been buffering it back up with my 8.1 pH tap water to 5.7-5.8. Considering I'm using tap as my pH up, should I be concerned about excess cal/mag? Don't want to lock anything out due to using CaliMagic as my cal/mag source. I'm unsure of what's actually in the tap water, perhaps a sample sent to a lab would be worthwhile? How much do those tests typically run and can a local university do the testing for me or is that something the Dept. of Ag. handles?
 
tobh

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As promised, here's some pics
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Roots are coming in great, I'd say. The ones in the square containers haven't hit bottom yet, but both the yogurt cups have ^ this going on. The tiny hairs on them roots are incredible, BioRoot has a place in my cabinet as long as it's made. Hell, one of those roots has two tips, not sure what that's about, but it's cool as hell. Will be up-potting probably tomorrow, need to prep more coco for the one gallon root pots. Should I be prepping the pots any way in particular? I've never used smart pot style pots before, not sure if they have some special use instructions or not.
 
tobh

tobh

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Excellent. Thanks for the info on the smart pots @DeceiverZ I was unsure if I should be concerned and treat them similar to Rockwool, i.e. pH soak or something. I spent probably three hours searching online for my local municipality's water stats, but they don't have what they amend the water with anywhere. Probably should take a sample down to a lab and see what they have to say. Either way, with a tap PPM of 220 I'll continue grabbing RO from the machine down the street and PH back up with tap.

I will be running a scrog, so they'll be under the full 14k lumens shortly to fill the screen quickly and get into flower. I just wasn't sure how the clones would react to more light with their fresh roots. Right now I have six bulbs running, and once they're under the screen, all nine will be on. They're perking up a lot and just from the time I took those pics a few hours ago, the roots have increased significantly.

Fed them 896 PPM today, PH 5.7, 8 mL Canna Coco A&B, 1 tsp CaliMagic and 1 tsp Bio Root. Debating running the CaliMagic every feeding as it alone raises my PPMs by like 414 PPM. Rather have more room for other nutrients, ya know? Not sure if these are considered fast growing annuals (the label says to use every time for these) though. I would assume so?

I did some math just to figure out why my PPM's were coming out so high and based on todays feeding, this is what I calculated. These numbers are based on 1 US gallon RO water with a starting PH of 6.0, 8 PPM:
CaliMagic PH 6.0 PPM 422 (No PH shift, increase of 414 PPM)
Bio Root PH 5.8 PPM 447 (PH shift of .2, increase of 25 PPM)
Canna A PH 5.6 PPM 845 (PH shift of .2, increase of 398 PPM)
Canna B PH 5.1 PPM 1020 (PH shift of .5, increase of 175 PPM)
Tap water PH 5.7 PPM -127 (PH shift of .6, decrease of 127 PPM)

The reason for the decrease in PPM after adding the tap is I have to pour out ~8oz. of nutrient solution to fit the tap water into the bottle to adjust the PH. While gaining the increase in PH I need, I also benefit from a decreased PPM level. This is why I am reconsidering running the CaliMagic every watering, it seems as if it is unnecessarily increasing my PPM, especially so early in these clones lives. Any thoughts on this matter?
 
tobh

tobh

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Another thought I had was perhaps the PH is shifting so much due to the order in which I add the nutrients? Is this a possibility? I apply them in the order listed in the above information. CaliMagic, shake the shit out of it, Bio Root, shake the shit out of it, Canna A, shake, Canna B, shake, Tap water, shake and apply. Thoughts?
 
tobh

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Thanks man, that's something I've always wondered and never knew what to ask exactly, and you managed to answer a big question in regards to the NPK.

I'm using these small pots due to constraints space wise. I'm hoping to produce enough to get some donations from friends to go up in scale so in a few months be working with at least a 400w CMH. Until then I'll be in these tiny ass pots, pushing my plants to the limit and maximizing yield in less than 2 cubic feet of grow space.

I have banned using the tap for cooking, drinking or watering the plants due to the high PPM and PH. 8.1 average ph and 220 average ppm sometimes higher is outrageous and concerning. Everything we drink or cook with is ran through a brita filter and the plants all get RO water. I have a bunch of veggies and house plants too, they're going to pay the difference my freelancing career is lacking monetary wise lol.

Thanks for again man, you provided really good information.
 
tobh

tobh

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That's straight gorgeous right there. I wish I was running 14k watts, that would mean I'm in a much better financial situation than I am currently haha. I've read some about Jack's Hydro, but wanted to go with something I knew to be reliable (at least to me) to get me over that finish line.

When I first started with coco before life went crazy a few years back, I ran Canna and LOVED to results. Used molasses and Epsom as amendments and had incredible results, similar to above. Wound up moving in the middle of my second grow with it, had to offload all my gear to a friend which included the nutrients, 1200 watts of lights (2 400 MH and a 400 HPS) and 22 absolutely gorgeous plants including the parents of this current strain. Was a devastating moment. Fuck crazy women and shitty landlords.

I'll definitely be looking into cheap alternatives though, kinda how I found GO Bio Root this go. Looking for a cheap alternative to Canna's $35 rhizotonic led me to the $11 quart of Bio Root. I'm always into pinching pennies, I just don't understand the biology quite well enough yet to get real minimalist. Kinda caught up in my computer science studies at the moment to be trying to jam too much biology into my head lol. Do you have a link to a grow thread for that ^ grow DZ? Would love to see that set up, though I run straight coco (you'll never get the brand out of me lol I'd be crucified if anyone here knew where I got it). Do the chip encourage more vigorous rooting due to air space, or at least is that the concept?
 
tobh

tobh

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Awesome on the major part! Except I'm no longer in school. I freelance and am constantly reading something new, be about programming or some fucked up vulnerability that was just disclosed. What is your area of focus? Or more so your plans after you graduate? I was talking with a cat on IRC that turned me on to a college that will work for me once I get a couple certs. When I get the cash, will be taking the A+ and Network+ certs to be followed by Security+ then will apply to go back to school. I quit growing a few years ago when I dropped out of school and this is my recovery moment haha. It's been a long road but I can't complain, proficient in 4 programming languages at this point and have a fairly solid understanding of how networking and the Internet function. Still working out that 64 bit assembly in my head though, those extra registers throw me off for sure.

Good looking sea you've got there. I take it you do sog style grows? What lights are those under, t5?
 
tobh

tobh

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That's definitely my goal, hence this being my first scrog run. figure ~200w CFL daylight spectrum should put out a decent yield under a scrog. I made my screen with 1 1/2" holes, should I have made them 2" like i've read for you bigger players?

On the CS note, I have studied the teaching materials for CCNA twice now, and currently have a SANS book on buffer overflows open on one of my workspaces. I just don't have the confidence yet and considering I don't have a degree no real firm will take me seriously unless I pull something illegal like Aaron Schwartz or Julian Assange. Can't complain though, I'm loving freelancing aside from trying my hand at web design and hating my clients. Haven't had a client in two months but the ole lady banks at her job so just trying to find a network admin position I can telecommute to as I have a lot of agricultural shit going on that will provide cash flow come summer as well. But that still comes back to needing some fancy paper saying I know wtf I'm talking about.

Heh the only experience I have with VMWare is my virtual pen testing lab. Have 9 VMs all different systems with various security levels. Fun little environment though I wish I could set up a managed switch in Workstation.

Sorry, I'm thoroughly medicated and go all geek when it comes to computer literate individuals haha.
 
tobh

tobh

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You took the words out of my mouth. That is actually why I am pursuing security and networking. These businesses will need infrastructure. With infrastructure you need security. Imagine, the Walmart of Pot gets hacked, database of 20 million pot users is dumped publicly. Imagine the repercussions. Though I have also been debating developing a rails app that will plug into a grow room controller and enable a grower to check on his system remotely and make adjustments accordingly. Fully automated system. Need a buddy that is into embedded systems though, or I could grab a couple raspberry pi's and figure out how to develop the systems myself. Again comes back to confusing ASM though haha.

I have been reading a lot here, my big issue with using cannabis as my means of income is A) lack of "legal" allowance to grow and B) I'm a nerd, don't have many friends and to offload any kind of weight to the black market would prove to be very difficult. It would be nice to drive the market prices down here locally though. $50 eighths on the black market, $45 through the dispensaries (have a friend that goes for me when my guy is in jail haha) even now with CO just across the border. Oregon was so much better, $200 oz's all day of top shelf. Not this shit that's been rushed to finish, abused by bud tenders and testers and ran through a trimming machine that is shitty at best, knocking all the trichomes off. Suppose it's a matter of learning from those of you who have been successful as to how to safely make an income on this stuff. Sometimes being a loner sucks lol.
 
tobh

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So I got a little work done yesterday. I put some baffling on the bottom of the box to segregate the intake and exhaust, also modified the exhaust slightly. No pics of this stuff though, nothing exciting. I also increased the intake air hole size significantly.

Adding the additional three bulbs increased by temps to 90 at its peak, so I made one hole 3" x 14" roughly to compensate for the 6" x 6" intake. The temps are riding between 79* and 81* with lights on.

I also made a small inclined platform for the pots to sit on and made the screen. The holes are 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" and I'm kinda thinking I should have made them 2" as others do with larger grows.

One clone was up potted to her final one gallon home, and the others are going in their final spots tonight.

Just wanted to make sure they are thoroughly rooted as the first one did have roots shooting out the bottom but hadn't completely filled the cup with roots yet. Want a little more of those side roots for the others.

Here's some shots of the box, post work:
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You can see the one that was up potted was kinda pissed at me last night. She's perked right back up today though.
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And all lights running, RH at 24% and temp at 79*. Going to probably be getting a humidifier this week or next. Gonna need it for the drying process anyways, no one likes smoking weed that tastes like hay.

Here's the momma. I get rather aggressive with tying but it's never disappointed. She's popping back ok. Showing a little nitrogen toxicity due to the Bio Root I fed her a time or two but otherwise she's coming along nicely. Will be glad to be pulling cuts off her for the foreseeable future.

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And in case any of you care, here's what today's project was:
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Got some rutabaga in the ground, some spinach, seeds planted for broccoli and cauliflower as well. Three additional rows ready to accept their plants in a few weeks and room to spare for a cedar raised bed and three more rows. Last frost is April 16th where I'm at so gotta get this ball rolling! May sneak a little somethin' somethin' in here and there too if we don't get a greenhouse built. To the left of the little fenced off area you'll see a little black thing, that's a ring out of the edging plastic material where I will be planting a jumbo melon plant. What you can't see, which is behind me in this photo, is a wall that will be providing us with mammoth melting snow peas all season this year. Exciting times these are! Thanks for stopping by again.
 
tobh

tobh

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Woke up this morning after working in the yard yesterday to find this guy:

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Any idea of what he/she is? Should I be concerned? It doesn't bite or if it does it's not hard enough to feel.
 
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tobh

tobh

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Yeah she's been through hell. Right now she's pissed due to nitrogen toxicity and crappy draining soil. Haven't watered her in a little over a week and her leaves are still at the same level. I'm waiting for her to get real droopy so I know for sure she's dried out.

I will look into BioAG though, as I need her to be healthy since she's the only mom I've got atm. The clones are happy to be in coco though. Probably should be up potting them right now but I'm fuckin with the lawn irrigation system by the outdoor garden. Weird pressure issues going on, and a solenoid that doesn't want to screw in.

The joys of cleaning up shitty tenant's messes and lack of motivation to do simple household maintenance. But at the same time doing all this is scoring me huge brown points with my mother in law haha.

I will be laying to landscaping fabric between the rows once we get the raised bed built. Going to be ordering 30 bags of living organic soil from buildasoil.com as they'll deliver the pallet to my location. Saves me 20 trips in my tiny datsun. Will lay down the fabric then construct a 4' x 8' x 8" raised bed from cedar. I've got three more rows laid out just to the right of the ones in the pic above and will be setting up the raised bed to the right of all of them. Hoping to get some similar looking plants to our chosen plant so I can squeeze in a small outdoor set up. Maybe the tomatoes will break the leaf edges up enough? I'm not sure.
 
tobh

tobh

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So I feel like a jackass. Just did a bunch of research on PPM and EC and TDS. Well, through the research I realized how inaccurate relaying PPM levels are. Problem is, I'm not sure what conversion my meter does. It's not stated in the documentation and now I'm kinda baffled. My guess is it's using Truncheon, but not positive. This is my meter . Any ideas?

EDIT: Found this in the documentation: "your meter has been factory calibrated to 500 us/cm, which is suitable for most applications." Reading at another forum I found this:


Conversion factor = ppm / ec.

[Note: ms must be converted to us: One millisiemen = 1000 microsiemens (1.0 ms/cm = 1000.0 us/cm)

According to the chart below:
1.0 ms/cm = 500 ppm (USA Hanna)
1000 us/cm = 500 ppm

Conversion factor = ppm / (ms/cm * 1000)
.50 = 500ppm / (1000us/cm) ]

So what does this mean? If 1.0 ms/cm = 1000.o us/cm, this means that my meter was calibrated with .5 ms/cm, correct? Does this mean it's reading on the hanna scale?
 
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tobh

tobh

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Thanks @DeceiverZ that's actually a pretty creative idea haha. Problem is how many factories are there that manufacture Gatorade? That's the only factor I can think being an issue. The nearest hydro shop is about 25 miles away so it wouldn't be an issue to run down to it.

I actually have that chart saved as of a couple hours ago :) figured I would need it so I can more accurately convey the feeding schedule in this thread. Speaking of, all clones are in their final homes. Changed the feeding up a little to 10 mL Bio Root, 2.5 mL CaliMagic, 10 mL coco A, 8 mL coco B. pH 5.7 and 1.7 EC if my meter in fact reads Hanna. Otherwise it could be as low as 1.2 EC, as the solution was 846 ppm. Man this shit is convoluted lol.

I realized I have a misunderstanding if you could call it that, with NPK numbers when it comes to mixing your own solutions. Say you have part A being 4-2-1 and part B 1-3-4. If you were to mix these two at equal parts, will the resulting solution be 5-5-5? Or is there some tricky chemistry going on behind the scenes?

I guess what I'm getting at is, by modifying proportions of solution x,y,z,whatever, is this how you control what portion of the NPK mix is in fact modified? Just trying to plan ahead for flowering time really.

Anyways, here's a pic of the ladies as of ten minutes ago.
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I noticed, now that they're all in there, the humidity climbed 10% in about 15 minutes and then temp climbed 2 degrees. I'm assuming this has something to do with VPD, right?
 
Muckman420

Muckman420

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Excellent. Thanks for the info on the smart pots @DeceiverZ
The reason for the decrease in PPM after adding the tap is I have to pour out ~8oz. of nutrient solution to fit the tap water into the bottle to adjust the PH. While gaining the increase in PH I need, I also benefit from a decreased PPM level. This is why I am reconsidering running the CaliMagic every watering, it seems as if it is unnecessarily increasing my PPM, especially so early in these clones lives. Any thoughts on this matter?
Ph up or ph down will help with that ;) then you don't have to go through the crap making room for the water bottle

Image
 
tobh

tobh

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@DeceiverZ you my friend fucking rock. Thanks for the link, I'll be vegging out on that today for sure. Yesterday's battle was the PPM issue. Todays will be understanding NPK ridiculously well. And yes, of course I bought my ppm meter from Newegg, cheapest spot on the net for shit like that lol. Bought my ph pen there too. Think I spent like $15 total on the combo. Love that site! I'll look into HydroBuddy, see if they're linux friendly. If not, I'll figure out a way to make a version that is. Needing a new programming project anyways, been slacking this week.

Now if only I could get the damn RH to raise higher than 27% that'd be great. The only reason I got it that high yesterday was from me misting the plants every couple hours yesterday. Time to hop on craigslist and try to barter with people for a humidifier, I guess. Dammit. I know for a fact my high VPD is slowing the growth.

@Muckman420 I'm lazy and broke at the moment lol. I'll get actual ph buffer some day, but right now it's actually beneficial to make room because when I initially mix the nutrients, CaliMagic raises the EC so high it scares me to feed the plants that high yet. I mean, seriously, EC 1.7 and they aren't even in flower yet. 50% of that is from CaliMagic. The calcium is such a heavy dose in that formula, I've dropped it down to 2.5 mL (~0.39 EC) from the 5 mL (~0.76 EC) I was feeding just to try and get more room for other nutes.

Mind you, I am currently basing my theory of this off the analysis reports available through the site ran in Washington. Don't recall what it is currently, just woke up. But they do analysis on a ton of hydro nutes and post the results online. Rethinking my initial purchase of this product now, a different supplement may have been more efficient for this small scale.
 
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