First Time DWC/Coco/LED Tent Grow - Hawaiian Headband

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by calikevin87, Apr 24, 2018.

  1. So I'm confused about the silica a little bit, is it something that gets mixed with the nutrient water then fed to the plant, making changes internally? I was under the impression it worked more like a topical gel that softened only the spots I wanted weaker for super cropping. Fixing pH isn't a problem as I did get the pH Up/Down from GH, I just want to be sure I know how its supposed to be used before I start using it.
     
  2. Silica supplements usually just come in liquid quart or larger bottles and are applied to the res like any other liquid nutrient. You just add the silica first. I think I usually add like 2ml/gallon.

    The only difference to my routine with silica supplements added is about 2 extra drops of ph down in the formula.
     
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  3. #103 Tbone Shuffle, May 11, 2018
    Last edited: May 11, 2018
    I don't think the brand of nutrient is that important. Any of the top brands is going to be capable of good results. I think you're better off getting to know the brand you use and what works best for that brand.

    I know that when you switch brands you pretty much have to throw all your stand by routines out the window and figure a new one out from square one.

    My recipe for success is lots of air, change the water at least once a week to 10 days, Feed lite and often. I always top off with nutrients, never just water. When I water change and top back off again with nutes I usually feed about 50-60% recommended strength.

    My ppms are low. About 350-500 in veg. About 600-800 in flower. I use 0ppm rainwater so I have to add quite a bit of nutrients to even get to those levels.

    I recommend Gh armor si. It's cheap, effective, strong, and lasts a long time. You can find it at pretty much any sizable hydroponic supply store. They are the #1 brand in the world for hydroponics.
     
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  4. This is my veg tent. I've only supercropped the skunk #1 in the corner one time. That's all the training I've done on it. Nothing tied, no topping. Haven't trained the other plants at all. What can I say I'm lazy. The plants pick up the slack for me and train themselves into a canopy.

    I'll transplant all the plants on the right side before flower. The skunk on the left is already in a 7 gallon smart pot of promix/perlite. I'll be flipping this weekend.
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  5. #105 Tbone Shuffle, May 11, 2018
    Last edited: May 11, 2018
    I've vegged that crop with only Gh floranova bloom. I just ph down some water and add about 4ml's/gallon. Ph about 6.0 for hydro. I added extra dolomite lime to my promix this time in hope of being able to leave out the cal/mag. It's working. I like being lazy. These are one bottle plants pretty much. 4-8-7. I do feel like GH maxibloom dry and Gh floranova bloom are the best single nutrient solutions for hydro if you want simple.

    Either of those products can be used with success pretty much by themselves for NPK in veg and bloom. Maxibloom is better for drip type systems because it's less prone to clogs. I think FN bloom is better for coco or promix type hydro if hand fed. FN bloom is like mud and clogs up sprayers but it's got lots of organic ingredients that's why it's so thick and the plants love it. FN bloom is more full or micronutrients then maxibloom dry but maxibloom dry is stronger for flower. It wouldn't be a bad idea to veg with FN bloom and bloom with maxibloom. Maxibloom is 5-15-14.
     
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  6. Botanicare makes silica blast and that's pretty popular but like I said earlier it's percentage of silica is 5x weaker then GH armor si. When I wanted to buy a silica supplement I researched all the top brand I was thinking of and GH was by far the strongest. All I want is to add a little silica to my res I don't care about added water or other additives in the mix.
     
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  7. Damn tbone thats crazy big for such little training. Is she grown like that last beast? Less light more time sorta vibe?
    I feed similar to you. Keep em as light as i can and up whatever depending on where turns yellow.
    I actually scream inside when i see guys giving seedlings 600ppm n stuff lol.


    Sent from my SM-J330FN using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  8. That last beast I sat on in veg for two crops. It held out a crop to get big enough. It was only because it was a slow vegging plant. It took about 4 months total but I had to time it right so I purposely slowed it down by unplugging lights. I could have gotten it larger. I have 18 jars of weed from that plant. I'm pretty amazed. These are normal fast vegging plants. They've only had last flower cycle really to get that big. About 2 1/2 months. I have 4 qb120 boards in that 4x4 veg area but I'm only running 3 right now so 180 watts total. I think it's amazing for that power level. I'm happy I can veg good plants and save that much money. Top level leds are pretty nice for veg for sure.
     
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  9. I might try out some qbs or cobs next year but very much blurpling till then. Theres no denying their superiority but just cant afford the upgrade right now :( i get so jealous on here seeing some of the lights folk are making these days lol

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  10. Good, so far I'm doing pretty much everything on THAT list, lol

    Those are extremely low ppms, I don't understand how mine are so high. Here's the breakdown of what was in my initial nurtient mixture for the first month or so, per gallon:

    6ml FloraMicro
    9ml FloraBloom
    1 gram of epsom salt for magnesium (every other feeding)
    .5ml of this Barley Pond Clarifier
    .5ml per gallon of Roots Excelurator Gold
    10ml per gallon once a week of FloraKleen

    Adding this to my already 430ppm tap water raised the total ppm to above 2000 apparently, and I may have added a few drops of RapidStart, Floralicious Plus, and 1ml of the FloraBlend per gallon for most of that first month as well.

    Now that I'm using 22ppm drinking water, that same mixture but modified with Lucas Formula for Micro and Bloom, and taking out the RapidStart, Floralicious Plus, and FloraBlend drops the total ppm to around 600 which still seems high according to your numbers. Then after a few hours of it dripping through the coco, the ppm seems to rise up to over 1000 again. I'll be draining and starting fresh again tomorrow, so I'll get new readings using just the Lucas Formula and nothing else and report back with numbers.

    I also noticed that they make a Roots Excelurator Silver that is specifically designed for hydro systems, but since Ironhead's thread suggested the Gold I went with that one... I wonder if this is throwing off my ppm much when I use it also?

    I'm already using mostly GH products so I might as well go with their line, they seem to be working well for me so far.

    Day 39:

    Here's the only pics I took yesterday, I was letting her regrow all the leaves I removed during defoliation. Bushy af-
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    Day 40:
    Two days after I removed a few larger fans from the top canopy and quite a few other leaves to let light in, we're seeing new tops emerging and spreading out, covering up the main stem again.

    Left-
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    Front-
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    Right-
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    Main top-
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    Now I know I said I wouldn't defoliate again until you told me to, but I just had to, too many new tops that want to grow were being blocked, and I want topstopstopstopstops. It seems to be replenishing the canopy every couple of days.

    Soooooooo here's the end result for the night after a little defoliating, LSTing and tucking fan leaves beneath some smaller emerging tops:

    Example of what was removed-
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    Main top, re-secured down-
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    Here's what was removed tonight, might seem like a lot but watch it grow back in a few days :D

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Your ppms are high because you're starting so high. I'm starting at 0. I have to add a lot of stuff to get to 500. You might want to consider a hard water micro formula or a water filter to drop that a little at least. 400 range is pretty high. I think average is around 250ppm range from the tap.
     
  12. Starting with the 430ppm water, I end up around 900 with the Lucas Formula alone. Using the 22ppm drinking water, I end up closer to 500.
     
  13. Day 41:

    Holy roots! They are absolutely loving the air stone, you weren't lying @Tbone Shuffle! I should have a ball like yours in a couple weeks-
    [​IMG]

    Question- The roots seems to be turning brown when I have them out of the water during refilling times. Is this due to being exposed to the light, or being exposed to air? I'm fairly certain they should be staying a nice bright white, right?

    Left side-
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    Front-
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    Right side-
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    Main top, tied down in a new spot again.. it just doesn't want to stay down-
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    Main top-
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  14. Sometimes nutrients will stain the roots. GH FN bloom is bad for that. Don't worry about them hanging in the air between water changes. It's good to let them breath some air. I'll leave them out of the res for close to 30 minutes or more. I think they like it. I've never seen negative effects from it. Browning can be early signs of root rot but not always. There's generally a little color in there besides white.
     
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  15. Thank you for the reassurance. And it's okay for the roots to be exposed to light for 30-45 minutes or so, or should I turn off my LEDs when I change the water?

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  16. I put mine in a place holder bucket so they don't have that much light when I'm changing water. The air shouldn't bother them at all though. Probably healthy to let them drain off once in a while.
     
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  17. I've been looking for a place holder, either a bucket or glass end table where the glass can be removed but the bucket is an odd hexagon shape so it's a little more work than I was expecting.

    I was also considering getting this net just to help keep the tops a little more evenly spread out, but I'm still not entirely sure if it will make things easier or just make it harder to get to the plant.
     
  18. I would just use a 5 gallon cheap bucket. I bet the round part would accept the root ball fine to hold the plant for water changes and cleaning the actual res bucket. That's what I did. Bought a cheap blue walmart 5 gallon bucket for a place holder for water changes.
     
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  19. Update for day 42:

    Noticing a little yellowing on most of the plant, but I did cut the ppm down from around 1500 to 700 or so, could this be from cutting the nutes? Only thing I can think of would be high temps but that causes drooping right?

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    And some burn on a few of the older fans, seen here-

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  20. It's probably from changing your ppm. Plants get used to a routine. They can react negatively if you change it up.
     
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