I may be doing it wrong but the surface of my soil never gets moist using my SIPs and I don't think it should. The soil would be way too wet at that point I would think. I've had my girls on their SIPs for several weeks now and they seem to be doing fine. Only the bottom 3-4" or so of my fabric pots are damp to the touch. I keep them from sinking into the perlite by positioning them when the perlite is dry and then watering it. The pressure from the pots keeps the perlite from spreading and allowing the pots to sink. $0.02
I think you're right. The top inch or so of mine dries out pretty quick, but below that it feels ok. I'm misting twice a day and watering every other day right now. (Watering the Hempy cups, not the perlite.) I checked the failed bag seed cups today and every one of them had a Jiffy pellet. The ones started directly in the soil have done the best. This other one (below) started in the Jiffy pellet but I transplanted it a couple of days ago. It seems to be hanging on, but looks a but warped from the experience. Any thoughts? (Forgive the horrid phone pic.) More good news, the three Northern Storm Auto Fem's broke ground today. It is officially on! There be ladies in the house! (Too small for phone pics. I'll break out the macro tomorrow.)
They can start out all deformed n it's no big deal. She looks fine to me. She'll start growin normal soon enough i'm sure! Wooot game on buddy! Ladies inda house! my first grow
It looks healthy but twisted. I can relate... Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
A few more pics from this evening. First up, The Bagginses. They are 20 days from planting. Are they fairly well on track? Seedling stage is about 21 days, isn't it? These did start out under some regular fluorescents for a few days before I finished up the room. They have roots down into the perlite of my mini Hempy cups. Not a mass yet, but they are there. BS1 BS2 BS3 BS4 (The Hopefully Twisted Sister) And Introducing The Known Ladies! Northern Storm Auto Fem's planted just three days ago. Those plant tags are pieces of window blinds and are about 3/4" wide for reference. They also make a nice white balance target. NSA1 NSA2 NSA3 Something I noticed in these shots that my poor naked eyes wasn't sure about is residue being left on the leaves. Is this because I have my light too close and am drying up the droplets too fast or is it that my RH rarely gets above 40%?
White balance target? That a photography thing? They look good man! A little slow growing perhaps, but I'd chalk that up to CFLs and cold temps (perhaps?). My tiny girls have practically halted growth due to cold temps. Your girls seem pretty happy either way.... no wilting or discoloration. That residue.... do you think it's calcium from your water? Last grow I had little white blotches on my leaves that I figured was calcium left from my hard water. If that's what it is, nothing to really worry about.
Yes, white balance is how you offset the odd color of the MH or HPS lamps. I use Lightroom for post processing and with a good target color correction is one click. I am right now about to swap out my heater for a newer one I won't mind leaving running. Then I've got to get a humidifier. I think that well help a lot. And the residue might be calcium or it might be from the Pro Tekt I added to my mister. I'm not too worried about it. Mostly I am curious if higher humidity would let the drops dry slower and any dissolved minerals be absorbed. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
Lightroom can work wonders. I've developed a couple presets for MH and HPS lights that I find to be a great starting point for my photos. You can see the results in the thread in my signature. I'd be happy to share if you'd like but looking at your photos it doesn't seem like you really need them. What are you shooting with?
Love me some Lightroom. I'll give them a try. If I don't have a decent target they might come handy. How did you deal with the color shift varying by distance? I've got a couple of Nikon bodies (D700 & D300) and an assortment of lenses. You? Oh, and those were shot with an off camera flash in my left hand. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
A Right and Proper Tea. At least I hope it's right but it was properly measured this time. 2Tbsp. Compost 2Tbsp. EWC (Yay!) 1 Tbsp. Kelp Meal 3/4 Tsp Azomite - For the Hell of it 1ish Tbsp. Molasses First pic has the cup with the dry ingredients mixed well with the spoon, and the material sock and string I'll use. After tying up one end of the sock I put it over the cup (second pic) and then just turn it over and slide it off. The third photo shows the bag all tied up and ready to go into the bubbler. That tubular "sock" came from the grow store where I got the compost. I think they were 30 cents each and I've done three rounds with the first one. (Cut into three pieces, not reusing.) Could probably do four if I was careful. The molasses went in after the water was churning and I just dropped the metal spoon on in there as it takes forever to get all the molasses off of it. Might use a plastic spoon next time though. Although any minerals should help. My next acquisition is an aquarium heater so the tea can brew at a steady 70 degrees. I know it is much colder than that even though I have the room dialed into the upper 70's with the new fan.
Rugh Row Raggy! As I was rearranging things today I took the pots out of the SIP tray and noticed a couple of things. One, the smart pots have been slowly sinking into the perlite to the point they were almost 2 inches into it. Secondly, there is a bad smell starting to come from the water in the reservoir. Apparently there has been some runoff from when I top watered the smart pots without taking them out of the SIP. Lesson learned on that one. As a remedy I left the smart pots out for a bit to drain while I treated the perlite and water with some peroxide. I stirred about a cup into it and smoothed the perlite back out nice and flat. Good idea on the peroxide or not? The pots are sitting on top a little better now, but you can see how far they were into the perlite before. I did dig down the side of one and the soil doesn't smell bad. Just nice and earthy. From now on any top waterings, especially with compost teas has to be done outside the SIP tray.
I didn't deal with the color shift. So far as I know, Lightroom presets have no ability to use variables. I just use these as starting points. The color shift is negligible over the distance range I've been working with anyway. They're also calibrated for my camera and lighting so I'll be interested to hear how close they are for you. These are LR5 presets so if you have any older version they may or may not work. I really don't know. I shoot with a 7D. I'm jealous of your D700. ;P At one point I was seriously considering selling all my Canon gear and getting a D800 but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the $9000 investment. I'm very happy with my 7D.
Cool. Now I have a reason to take some photos today. Are you using any supplemental light (flash)? Once you get beyond the start of the pro level cameras, there isn't a lot of difference, IMO. Use what works and/or what you have. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
Mixed soil for the next round today. Actually measured things out a little better this time. This is per batch and I did two batches. 2.5 Gal. ProMix Mychorizae 2.5Gal. 50-50 Compost/EWC 1 Bag (8 quarts) Perlite 4 Cups Azomite 3 cups Nutrient Mix* *Nutrient Mix: 2 Cups Kelp Meal 2 Cups Blood Meal 2 Cups Tomato Tone 3 Cups Garden Lime (Actually thought this was Garden Tone. Oops!) 4 Liters of water so far. Will add some of the ACT this evening as a kick start. Planning on adding some Neem meal and/or crab meal as soon as I can get some. (Any tips on where to order it? I can't find neem meal anywhere, just the oil.) Will all that lime be a problem? I didn't figure the ProMix needed it for PH, but maybe the extra calcium will be helpful. By the time I'm ready to start the photo sensitives all should be ok. I think...
I hate to tell you, Ziggy, but I think all that lime will cause you a problem later on. You have roughly 1 cup of lime in 1 cu.ft. of mix, which is twice as much as I would ever use. Also if you add any crustacean meal you will raise your pH even more. I would stretch it with the base as much as I could. I bought my neem meal online, although my local Agway caries "Down to Earth" products too. Here is the link with relatively good prices. http://www.everwoodfarm.com/Down_To_Earth_Organic_Fertilizers/Organic_Neem_Seed_Meal?gclid=CMDYs8280bwCFWUOOgod0WAAag You don't need a lot, small box will last you a long time. Setup looks great
Looks like a good mix man! The best neem is available from neemresource.com or neemtreefarms.com. It's 3x more concentrated than the stuff available from DTE and other suppliers. The lime might be an issue.... here is a link to a website that talks about too much lime in soils: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-add-much-lime-soil-garden-77060.html Is the garden lime calcium carbonate, or calcium magnesium carbonate? You might consider adding more peat and compost/EWC to stretch it out a bit more. You could also add some soil sulfur or Sul-Po-Mag to your soil.... the sulfur will help balance the lime for pH purposes.
No, I use ambient lighting for these pics and the presets are calibrated for that. I tried using an off camera speedlite once for a macro shot but didn't like the results as well. 600W is plenty of light though. I often shoot at 1/320 in there.
Crap. OK. I'll mix in some more ProMix and compost tomorrow. Thanks for the info! About to go read that. Any idea how much SulPoMag to add to balance out the lime? In addition to the extra peat and humus. Oh, it looks like this is calcium carbonate, although from the looks of this label I found online there is both. Also, mine is pelletized rather than crushed, if that makes any difference. Makes sense. I was using a speedlight to try and fill in some of the spectrum. What camera WB are you using? I tried Auto earlier and dang if it wasn't pretty spot on. I was using Flash WB before.
I leave the white balance in auto. I just want the camera to capture a scene as faithfully as possible. I'll adjust what I want in post.
Yup, that's a dolomite lime. Your best move is to add more peat and compost, which it sounds like you're doing. You might want to add some more of the nutrition amendments to make up for extra cubic footage.... You essentially have 2 cups of nutrition and 1 cup of lime right now. So if you add 3 gallons of ProMix, 2.5 gallons of compost, and another 8 quarts of perlite.... you'll have about 2 cubic feet with the right amount of lime. Then add another 2-3 cups of nutrition mix (with no more lime). Just an example... I probably wouldn't add the Sul-Po-Mag, just because the dolomite lime already has a high amount of magnesium.... if you want to add something to help balance the pH, I'd add Soil Sulfur..... or you could apply botanical teas made from the plants on this list (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/duke/highchem.pl) of plants with high sulfur content (including cauliflower leaf, dill plants, parsnip root, and stinging nettle leaf).... or you could blend those plants up and mix them into your soil. Any of the above lol. The soil microbes will make sulfuric acid which will bring pH down (whereas calcium is used to bring pH up). And sulfur is the element which contributes to flavor the most (through production of terpenoids)..... food for thought lol