Indoor GrowJournal - 2021

I’ll leave it to @dbrn32 to share the vpd chart, he’s VERY knowledgeable and well respected for his skills here. rh is relative humidity, and the vpd chart shows a “sliding scale” (i think if i remember right, color coded maybe it was) that shows what temp/rh ranges should be :wink:

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Thank you both - @dbrn32 has proven his knowledge and gained my respect very quickly. I really appreciate the help as I believe this is what this lifestyle is all about !

It is a very humid past couple days, it’s very muggy right now and were supposed to get lots of rain starting tonight until tomorrow night. Once that rain falls the humidity will drop !

I need to do my homework - I’m just basing my humidity off of feel as my monitor is only temperature. I’ve been meaning to make a post about suggested monitors to monitor all indoor and outdoor levels.

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Got love that east coast weather. My outdoor babies hardly got any sun last few weeks

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LOL @YankieDoodle you should see the 70’s vintage (possibly late 60’s, lol) Thermo/Humidity wall thing I have. Knock on analog all you want, no batteries EVAHHH, and i’d bank it’s accuracy against any modern digital one as being +/-1 accuracy to it :wink: it WORKS! that’s all that matters. I got a CHEAP “analog” MODERN one with the CHEAP light i initially bought and sent back (accidentally left that out but i did someone a FAVOR, trust me). That thing NEVER changed from 35% humidity, Even when you could FEEL the difference and the vintage one i had measured it with every fluctuation up there

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My QB260 rspec is the same, no blue in there at all and my plants are all in great shape so don’t think your issue is light. Drooping and light pots is a sure sign to increase your watering a touch as well. If your VPD is out your plants will sweat more which will deplete the water in the pots at an alarming rate. Not sure on your light intensity, Dbrn is best placed to answer that one. I picked up a light meter from Amazon to give me an idea of light levels around my canopy. It gives me an idea of how my light is hitting the edges of my grow

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Thank you - Very helpful information. I need to get myself some proper meters as soon as possible.

This is my very first solo run all on my own and I am doing my best to understand the entire process and step my game all the way up !

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Personally I think you’re on fire but agree on the measurement thing, we need to check oddball things like light penetration, runoff etc so worth investing in decent kit. It’s just more expense initially but worth it in the long run :sunglasses:

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Lots of VPD, vapor pressure deficit charts out there. Many are too complicated or technical (leaf temp based for eg.) so I like this one from Scyence LED DOT com / VPD chart.

I like grow weed easy for reference and knowledge reading. This is a good article about temp - humidity and a little on VPD

As for light intensity heights
I don’t trust dimmers so I use kill-a-watt meter to set power draw or confirm rheostat’s accuracy. Absent PAR meter or an accurate phone application refer to mfg PPFD charts or test data. An inexpensive LUX meter is informative.

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Thanks for the charts to all!

I don’t think I would bet the house on accuracy of the the temp and rh sensors i have owned. But they have provided a reference point, and that gives you at least a way to see which way your environment is trending. There are a handful of ways you can test them too.

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Thank you everyone for the charts and articles, I’m looking forward to reading up and learning.

July 17th

Last Nights Observations

Some of my plants’ pots were light and droopy while others showing signs of leaves beginning to taco.

Light and driver were becoming very warm to touch.

Room temperature was remaining at 83°

Last Nights Decisions

I fed all but one plant with Jack’s at half strength - 32oz between (19) plants.

I rearranged my 8" clip fan to blow down onto the top of my light and driver - turned fan to second setting.

Added 12" isolating fan sitting on the floor and circulating airflow underneath the canopy.

Clip fan set up.

Babies fed.

Current Observations

This morning room temperature has lowered three degrees and is now at 80 degrees.

Still a few plants showings signs of drooping and others beginning to taco.

Some of the pots are already very light and dry.

Dehumidifier reads 64% when empty and usually 59% once full - currently my only idea on humidity level and not expecting much accuracy.

12 hours after last nights feeding - babies partially dry.

Current Questions

Should I increase the amounts of my watering ?

Should I raise my lights height, increase or decrease the strength - based on looks ?

Should I put the clip fan on a timer and turn off during lights out ?

Current digital thermometer is an AcuRite and has done me well. Any suggestions on meters for RH and all else we have discussed - I’m just learning about this now and I’m unsure what I’m looking for.

All knowledgable guidance and advice greatly appreciated !

Have a look for heatsinks for the top of your driver. You can use heat conductive tape rather than the heat conductive paste. It helps a little. I use these to monitor my rh. They’re also great for keeping an eye on your harvest as it cures. I would still water as required, a light dry pot is never good in the early stages. My clip on fan is on constantly and has been for two years now, it never gets switched off. My pedestal fan is on full time as well.

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July 18th

Current Situation

Last night table was fed at half strength - increased to 48oz throughout.

Light is still on 6 clicks and hanging 18” above canopy.

Both fans are still running full time.

Current Observations

This morning a few more plants are looking sad and droopy.

Some pots feeling light again but not quite dry.

Room temperature is at 79 degrees.

Foliage does not seem as dark and full green as a week ago.

Noticeable new growth throughout.

Current Thoughts

I have not yet fully soaked my plants until run off at feeding - just enough before they begin to soak through. Wondering if I should continue to increase my amounts.

When I mix my Jacks, I mix two and a half gallons of each from powder into two separate concentrated mixes. From there I mix my gallons as needed with my desired ML per Gallon.

The Jacks that I am currently running is from a concentrated mix that was mixed years ago and had been stored and sitting.

I have been feeding my outdoor from the same mix and haven’t had any issues, so I haven’t considered this as a potential cause of my indoor issues.

I’m now wondering if that batch of Jacks is no longer good and I plan to mix more as soon as possible.

Would really like to get things under control - All knowledgable guidance and advice greatly appreciated !

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I’m thinking I would water to runoff and make sure there’s no chance of anything drying out. Not sure if N has a shelf life but I would sideline the old stuff and try fresh mix. New growth is always light green anyway so no issues on that side

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Thank you man, I’m a bit frustrated - mostly with myself as I know I can do better. Just been doing a lot getting set up on the fly. Got to remember that’s my situation and not go too hard on myself !

Headed to the store and spending the day getting things taken care of :call_me_hand:t3:

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Couple meters at Walmart - looking for some opinions as I’d like to pick one up.


About $40 a piece.

You have to remember that skill to do comes from doing. These things take time, patience and practice. You’re learning a full new skill set that can cost a small fortune so don’t be too sore on yourself :blush:
Can’t help you on those stations as I’ve never used them. The ones in the link I posted are handy as you can also stick them in your jars and keep an eye on the cure :face_with_monocle:

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@YankieDoodle … I grow in coco coir, only.
From what I have seen in the pics of your babies is this.

  1. It seems that you didn’t buffer your coco. I may be wrong.
  2. Calcium & Magnesium, binds to the coco, stripping it away from the roots causing stunted growth, wrinkled up or deformed leaves, and yellowing leaves, & brown spots. That’s why we buffer, and then, feed with a cal-mag product that feeds to the plant.
  3. NEVER, NEVER, let coco coir dry out like soil… it’s NOT soil. You can not over water!
  4. NEVER, just water coco coir. ALWAYS feed! When you just add PH’d water, it flushes away any remaining nutes and the calcium & magnesium that was in the coco coir. This is probably what killed off the seedlings that you lost.
    Always remember this… Coco Coir is NOT soil. You can NOT over water it, I’ve tried. It is as close as you can get to hydro, & you need to treat it as such.
    I use the full line of Advanced Nutrients PH Perfect for Coco Coir. The sweet spot for the PH in coco is 5.7 for their veg & flower nutrients. I water 5 times per day with my automatic watering system, every 4 hours. Starting at 4:00am, lights on and last at 8:00pm at lights out. This is called ‘Fertigation’.
    Here’s a site that will explain how it all works.
    Growing Cannabis in Coco Coir with High Frequency Fertigation - Coco For Cannabis

Hope my info will help out.

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Nice answer, I’m a soil grower with zero experience in coco :sunglasses:

@Davyg . Yeah! Love coco!! I left soil a few years ago, and never looked back. It’s a little more work than soil, to get started, but the benefits are worth it. On the site that I mention above, they have the full parts list & links that you need to build a fully automated watering & drainage system. Includes a reservoir to water halos on the plant to drain saucers below the plant to collection bucket with pump that pumps the used nutrient solution out of the tent to a waste collection bucket. All I do is fill the res & empty the waste bucket, trim a few fan leaves. Less work, much less than soil, once you get going. I’m getting ready to switch over to a RDWC system that I have designed.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to tune in and pass that along for me !

The Coco that I used was out of a bag and from my experience there was never a need to buffer out of the bag ?

As previously mentioned somewhere in a post - A few of my plants and I’m not sure which, were planted using Coco left over from a previous run years ago.

I’m not sure if the Coco that sat may be what is giving me issues.

I’m going to look into the link, thank you again and feel free to stay tuned in !

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