That sounds like a lot of work. Sounds like it could cause issues with RH at lights out too. Don't think I'd do that. You'd be better off devising some form of heat exchanger to bury below the frost line, to take advantage of geothermal cooling. Pump water through that exchanger to cool it. Then use that cooled water for cooling whatever.
My humidity stays at 45 50 I run a dehumidifier in my soil grow it's already set up for soil so I would just need to build the cinder block retaining wall. Might even make a aqua duct for runoff pump out my sub pump into my garden outdoors. hell yeah ........sounds about right
My only concern is going to be my work schedule what's the easiest way to switch between reservoirs? hell yeah ........sounds about right
Frozen bottles are a bit of work but they work very well and pretty much fault proof. I only need to worry about temperatures 2 months of the year so buying a chiller or even rigging something up just isn't worth it for me. I'm not sure a cpu cooler could make any significant difference, but I guess it won't hurt to try. Yeah the plants are fine at a pH of 8 for a few minutes, they will be fine for a few days. You don't need a stone in the control res, but it makes sense to do so in my opinion. The more air the better really. Yeah keep it circulating while you adjust. Glug some nutes in and come back at least 10 minutes later to test again once it's mixed up. After a while you will get quite good at guessing how much nutes to put in and you won't be far off on the first go. If you have nutrient solution running through metal tubing it needs to be either titanium or stainless steel
For now since I only had 3 plants ready to go into buckets (#2,3, and 5; #1 from the paper towle was doing really well with 2 & 3 and then just stagnated...) I'm not plumbing them together. I have a pump and the sight line through which i can take samples and pump in nutrients once they're mixed and plus this way I can customize each plants nutrient intake. They may not be exactly on the same dose every time and if one is slower than the other's I risk burning it to feed a big/fast grower the proper concentration. When/if I do go R-DWC I will use flexible tubing. Also my budget dried up here at the end what with the AC needing fixed and several other things around the house that need repair. Right now i'm having a heat nightmare. I finally ran AC straight off the supply line into my air cooled reflector and it still gets up to 100F during the hottest parts of the day. So i'm thinking I may have to run my cycle at night. How should I do that? Run them one night until 6am and then just have it turn off at 6am and come back on at midnight? Also like I said my AC is not blowing very cold air right now (compressor issue or freon, R12, R40 whatever they use now I think), it only blows out like 60F air, it should be blowing out around 45 or 50. Once the AC actually works, heat may no longer be an issue. Since moving the 3'' cubes into the big buckets with HEC and grow stones I sucked some of the nute out of the bucket and top fed that first day since the cubes were dry when i transplanted...how many times should i have to top feed before i see roots out of the bottom? They had roots coming through the bottom of the 3'' cube that's why I moved them. Also I noticed my EC went from 1.0 to .8 overnight, was that the TDS in the tap water evaporating off? I'm using Canna Substra Hard which is designed to be used with tap water and automatically factors in an example EC of .4 which is exactly what mine happens to be. Is this normal? Should I top off or wait until they have actual roots to drink the solution and then add more nute water? Would I use Ro and measure it to the EC i'm trying to increase it by. IE: If my target EC was 1.2 and I was at .8 I would mix nutrients to an EC of .4 and add that into to make 1.2?
Thank you for all of your help...I suppose I need to get a journal going but I'm a little hesitant. I keep extensive personal records and pictures and I know plenty of people share pictures...it does make it easy to diagnose a problem...mind looking at few and telling me if I'm on the right track?
Hi, I just to buy red fox fertilizer growing OG indoor. My yields were all right but I used to spend a lot of dollars in nutricion for my plants. I friend of mine talked me about a company that sells greenhouse grade fertilizers and since then I haven´t used anything else. What I do I use tap water and mantain my hydroponic system between 2.00 and 2.5 and change the solution every two weeks. I produce more than everybody I know and super stinky buds. I bought it here: Hydrogrowth 13-11-12. vegetative hydroponic fertilizer. Nitrate test 4 free.5lbs I hope it helps
I only have a PPM meter. We are on our 5th grow. So, if the PPM is lowering, I need to raise the strength of the nutes? And if the PPM is raising I need to lower the nutes? I thought that the PPMs lower because the plant is eating the shit out the solution, which was what you would expect? Pretty much only know to raise the nutes when it shows deficiency, and only know to lower nutes from signs of burn on the foliage. I wasn't aware that I am supposed to try to keep the PPMs to stay stable. Hmm.. learn something new everyday. Do I have this correct?
I'm f I'm not mistaken you are correct. The plant should give off as much as it takes in. So if the EC is rising the plant is not using the nutrients in the resevoir, it is expelling its own nutrients to save itself from the tip burn and signs of toxicity. If the EC drops it is taking up more than giving off, and therefore the EC needs to be increased. I check almost daily if time allows with work and I have been using this method to determine when to top off and when to change my res. It's saved me from doing weekly res changes and in doing saves nutrients and money. He recommended when the plant has drank four times the volume of water you start with (your res) it's time for a change. Other factors determine this for me as well such as when the PH becomes unstable, where I have adjusted multiple times and it spikes within 24 hours or when the EC continues to drop shortly after a top up (less than a week) I also have to attribute some of the ease of use to the nutrient line I chose, Canna. Pricey but worth it in my opinion. That's a different thread entirely but I do have a question about when is the best time to give a PK boost? Canna states only use their PK 13/14 for one week at 6ml/gal. I've read to introduce it throughout flowering starting at 2ml. Any thoughts on that sweet spot to spike the PK for the most effect? Side question: any thoughts on defoliation?
TLR Yes you're correct. I've been using this method and other data like PH and EC to save on nutes, frequency of res changes, and have had healthy, deficiency/toxicity free plants throughout.
Yeah that's the problem, you have to change out the solution because it quickly becomes toxic because the ppm is too high to begin with. When you have it that high, the plants take up more water and less solids resulting in the remaining solution to become stronger and stronger until the process of osmosis stops the plant from drawing up water at a decent speed causing all sorts of problems If you provide a nutrient solution that is the same ppm as what the plants take up provides osmotic balance allowing the plants to take up water and nutrients at maximum speed and by keeping the nutrient solution at the right ppm means you don't need to change out the solution much at all. In fact I have done several hatch to harvest grows without changing out the solution at all. That's like 12+ weeks without needing to empty the reservoir. No negative effects were shown. This is using a 70litre reservoir in a 4' tent with the plants completely filling it out
Yeah you have it spot on. The problem with waiting for the plants to show signs of sickness is that growth will have significantly slowed before you have colour changes. And once parts of the plant are dying off, you have irreversible damage. The beauty of my system is you correct the problems before the plants are effected as much so you don't lose out on so much growth if any at all. Checking every day is the best way to do it but once you get it in the right ball park, it won't shift much day by day so checking every few days works just fine
Yeah you're bang on correct there mate. And I like your idea if the pH swings indicating a reservoir change is needed. That holds a lot of logic in my book. Canna is a great line and used to use it myself. I always had great results with their products. The best time to add the p/k boost is a great question and I wish I knew the answer. I don't add one myself as it throws my pH way up and I have to add a ton of pH down to get it back down. I haven't seen any obvious deficiencies but I have wondered if I might be missing out on some yield. I would follow the manufacturer ''s directions as it's their product and they will have the best idea on how to use it to get the best results You want my thoughts on cutting off the plant's solar panels? The things that collect light, and co2 and convert them in to carbohydrates which feeds the rest of the plant so it can grow lots of bud? The parts of the plant that allows it to transpire which is part of the process that causes water and nutes to be drawn up through the roots?..... My thoughts are, if you chop a lot of bits off a plant, it goes through a period of shock and slows growth. I don't even lollipop any more because of this effect which I've seen several times
Hello all! Things have been progressing right along, taking detailed notes, following the schedule and tweaking via this method. PH has become one of my many indicators for when to res change. if I've topped up more than twice and they start drinking gallons overnight. That tells me it's just water. A gallon every three days is the norm for the little trees I've managed on my first time (in a long time). Or EC swings. Or a change in schedule as well as as plant response of course. I'm really wanting to dial in on my nutes and scale back on their use. I read a cup winner from '08 or so used just Canna Coco A+B and BCuzz Bloom I'm well into flowering about 43 days or so; well impressed with #5. She was always the runt (started in rockwool vs paper towel) But easily has the best/biggest/densest colas. She has had more or less precisely the schedule dictated by Canna keeping to the lower end of their recommended range. The other two on the other hand...are disappointing to me. Not bad, the yields will be decent, the trich coverage is insane. But I just know they could be better. I have several ideas as to what wrong such as: an improper FIMing on the one that has a large cluster of green budless (or fluff bud) center that will not produce much of anything worthwhile it appears. Not enough light or poor reflector design to reach to the far left side (only 44" but it was seriously shady at some points) considering using this 600 on MH for veg and getting a 1K HPS for flower. This lamp did incredible for veg but I feel even in my tiny room doubling the wattage will increase yield and production better than any booster or additive. Perpetual is coming soon as I am annexing another room in the house I also might have learned the hard way about defoliation and its appearance of doing good but resulting in a decimation of yield. #5 for the most part was left alone in regards to pulling fan leaves. It's center has developed a nice light green, slight yellow but with some bud production. Again mostly LARF however. The colas however speak for themselves. #2 had the most defoliation done in the name of opening up the canopy. I also trained heavily maybe a little too much for my indica doms I'm running currently. Again #5 was trained but In a more vertical fashion and it has 4-5 major tops that are just frosty and massive. If it's okay with the OP I will post pics and take them down shortly but I just wanted you guys thoughts without hijacking the thread too much although it seems pretty open to discussion-everyone has been very pleasant- I've also been experimenting with FF beastie Bloomz and ChaChing on #2(the most behind and poorly developed; I used them out of order and further reading I learned about N preventing resin production; ChaChing is 9-50-10 :/ ) I have also been experimenting with adding molasses to #5 along with the CannaBoost which is extremely expensive but seems to work. I've been lost for days in a 7 year old thread about a side by side with Boost, Boost&molasses and, just molasses and a control with neither. Boost and molasses won hands down. I don't think I can link to it since its on another forum. Any insights or ideas or personal experience are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for all the knowledge you've imparted already. It has truly been invaluable and will be used and taught to many others if I get the opportunity.
Ive also been reading about am definitely going to implement a super cheap DIY CO2 generator next run. 2liter bottle (maybe bigger if I find room) ; yeast; and sugar. Has to be replaced often I'm sure but anybody have any experience with this or ideas how to improve make it most it most efficient? I thought about hoses or mounting it under the house and tubing it but then thought KISS and figured just set the bottles on the floor near the passive intake vent and let the circulation I spent hours in the attic perfecting do its job. Any thoughts?
Hey GC, so I use Lucas forumula. When "topping up" (getting PPMS back up because the nute strength is too weak) do you guys just add the same amount of the purple, green, and pink nutrients? I can't remember what the purple is called, but the green is GH grow, and the pink is GH bloom. Anyway, say, I feed my plant 1200 PPM, and it is going down and down and down, and the PPM reads 960. Do you put equal amounts of the Purple, Green, and Pink nutrients to get it back up to 1200? I understand that for different growth cycles you need a ratio (vegetative state needs more Grow (green) and less Bloom (pink), and bloom cycle needs less Grow, and more Bloom. Does putting in equal amounts of the three nutrients throw this ratio off??? I am still trying to figure this thing out. I just learned about this whole "PPMs going down means the nutrient strength that the plant is up taking is more than what is in the reservoire, and if the PPMs are going up the nutrient strength that the plant is up taking is less than what is in the reservoire". Up until now I have based whether I increase or decrease nutrients SOLELY on the appearance of the plant (Burns, deficiencies). I just am not understanding how "upping the nutes" because the PPMS have gone down a shit ton will not completely throw off the Ratio that a specific growth cycle demands. I really can't afford to lose my plant because I throw the shit off, really afraid I might end up burning my plant somehow. Just seems adding nutes without doing a full change-out could have devastating effects?? This is my 5th grow and I have grown bomb ass weed up until this point, but I've never had a plant that has not had burn or deficiencies on some level, and I want to try to eliminate that.