Ok @Nicky I just ordered some Cal-Mag because I didnt have any and from reading around these parts it seems like it is a absolute must have. Should I go ahead and put some in tomorrow when I put in my air bubblers in and clean my totes and whatnot?
Also is there anything else you think I am going to need? I have the FF trio Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom.
I just got a small vinyl decal order and now is the time to order anything I may need. I should be ok with the 2 lights I have right? They sure are growing fast and looking happy. I cant wait to post my weekly update pics on Wednesday because they have really progressed.
Also advice on what I need to make THC vape juice would be appreciated. Do I just mix the concentrate with Terpenes and throw it in the cartridge? Yes I know I’m way ahead of myself but I like to be prepared both physically and knowledgeably. Sorry to be picking on you in particular. I don’t know who else to tag.
You don’t need cal mag yet, it’s hard to say because of your size of the actual soil in the Coffee cans but it’s still to early, your gonna be at least 4 weeks in before I would consider it the plants really haven’t ate alot.
Your system is different so I think your going to have to wing alot of it.
Normally we would read run off and I don’t think we can do that in your system. Once you have done it a couple times you’ll know how to treat it but yea I think the best thing we can do is watch your plants really closely.
Ok thanks brother. Wouldn’t I be able to measure the runoff by what is in the tub? I would think it would be near accurate as long as I didn’t take the readings right after adding nutrient solution.
You guys are so awesome here. If I see anything in between my weekly update photos that concerns me I will be sure to post pictures immediately. Karen is slowly slowly growing and I think improving overall. I do believe she was too wet. Susie and Sally are blowing my mind how fast they are growing.
I hope this system works out well. The theory sounded good in my head. I’m far from a horticulturalist or even a gardener but theory is theory. I’ve fixed many cars just by understanding the basic principals of a combustion engine, finding out which of the 3 components they need to run is missing, and tracking down why it is missing (or out of spec). Thanks again @Nicky!
I agree your run off should be accurate I jsut wasn’t sure if there was a good way to catch and test it, the pebbles and stuff won’t alter your run off.
Can try at least right monitor it, post it and keep a note pad near your grow so that when you do see issues with your plants you can see if the run off numbers are working or not
Yep I have a planner book that will be here tomorrow (I love Amazon lol). I already have a desk calendar that I have been recording some info on but I am going to record AM and PM readings of the PH TDS and EC in the planner. I also have a bluetooth temp/hydrometer that data logs so I can keep an eye on that as well.
Ok @Nicky and all the other incredible folks. Let me give you some numbers. First off I must ask for your thoughts and prayers. I decided last night to cull Karen. She just wasnt growing at a good rate in comparison to the other 2 and I had only intended to grow 2 plants and was only set up for 2 plants. So I decided I’d rather have the room in the tent. We held a touching service and plants came from far and wide to attend her transition to her next to final resting place. The trash man comes tomorrow. LoL
Ok enough with my nonsense. Lets get to business. Last night I installed my air bubblers and took that opportunity to clean out the tubs, pumps, hoses, and halo rings. I then added fresh nutrient solution. Keep in mind that Susie and Sally sprouted on 12/18/2019 so I assume that 01/01/2020 will be considered the start of week 2 via the charts. Please correct me If I am wrong. At the end of this post I will post the feeding schedule that I am using.
Ok so I should add that I am using distilled water. Last night I added 15 ml of Big Bloom per gallon and 5 ml of Grow Big. Here are my readings from last night.
Susie: PPM 516 - EC 1093 - PH 6.43
Sally: PPM 524 - EC 1114 - PH 6.32
Now per the feeding schedule chart the PPM/EC is a bit low for this stage. So this morning I added another 5 ml per gallon of Grow Big. After checking my reservoirs after adding the nutes my numbers are as follows.
Susie: PPM 794 - EC 1668 - PH 6.20
Sally: PPM 819 - EC 1753 - PH 6.13
From what I can tell after adding the nutes I should be somewhere near the target. Please advise me otherwise. Im still holding off to post pics until my weekly update photos on Wednesday but if you need to see them sooner let me know. Wow are they gorgeous! Here is the chart I’m using. Note that I do not have the hydro version of Grow Big. Just the regular version.
That being said no they are not in week two of veg. They are in seedling stage, this can last two to four weeks, once they show five to seven leaflets then they are in veg stage.
Don’t feed them that much it’s way to strong for them.
Just slipping in to post last Wednesdays pictures and update pictures from today. I took these pictures last Wed I just failed to post them here. I do believe I have started flowering.
Can you give us a full pic to, I just want to see how big they are at first sign of flower
Just starting to flower you are correct, keep the nitrogen going for another 2 weeks as this is when your stretch is going to happen.
Plants look really healthy, look like mine at that stage most of the time… They are going to be beautiful babes
Coming right up @Nicky . I had to set my lights back up so you could get a better feel for the actual color. The regular lighting in our bedroom is horrendous.
Ok so right now we are still on Big Bloom and Grow Big. Should I wait a couple of weeks before I introduce Tiger Bloom or should I start slowly adding some now? I think I am going to change to 12 hours of light from 16 on Wednesday unless you think I should get on it right away.
Thank you I am so glad to hear you think they look healthy. This has been surprisingly easy up to this point. Up until breaking one of my cheap mirrors today as you can see in the photos I’ve been lucky so far.
Ok hopefully these pictures will give you want you are looking for.
Great pictures and beautiful plants.
Your little tub setup is Intresting
First thing you need to do is determine when you want to flip and here is a way to do that:
Take the total amount of vertical (height) growing space you have in inches/cm.
Take the total from #1, and subtract the height of your lights when it’s at its highest point.
Next, subtract the height of the pot/container your plant will be in.
Finally, subtract the amount of space you’ll need between your light and your plants.
This varies depending on the lights and the size of coverage needed for how big your plants are. Refer back to your light info above to ensure your light is able to have enough coverage area for each plant (as you have 1 light covering 1 plant x2)
When your plants height reaches half of the number you’re left with, initiate flowering!(for sativas)
In a more basic sence your plants are 65% sativa, sativas stretch up to 50% and indicas 25%, so maybe 30-35% is what your going to see.
So raise your lights up to the tallest setting and whip out your lux app and make sure your plants edges are going to get 12000 lux.
Because at 12000 lux for a burple light your getting about 1000 PPFD (umol/s/m2) and thst over 12hr gives you a DLI (daily light Integral) of 43.
For flowering you want as close to 43 or more but after 1000 PPFD the other variables play a big roll in how effective more light is, like VPD & co2
Once you find when you want to flip you will want to flush if your using fox farms nutes already. Follow the chart.
From the flush after veg
Thank you. Yea over the years I have seen photos of people’s hydro systems. Never really looked deep into it. Read an article here and there. My biggest issue with the idea was the plants had to be supported in other ways than by the roots and I read where many people would run into trouble when they started tying down their plants to keep them from falling over.
So I sat and thought about it and debated what I would lose by using soil as a root medium however allowing that soil to freely drain so that I could keep recirculating the nutrient solution which is why hydro is so much better in plant production.
It’s not perfect. I have some tweaking to do. Even the smallest pumps I could find put out way too much for my current setup and it will flood the plants so I just run the pumps for about 10 minutes twice a day when I take my readings.
Next grow I am going to use the shorter coffee cans and instead of just cutting out the bottom I am going to drill holes in the sides as well to facilitate as much drainage as possible while still adding a good sturdy medium for the plants to root into.
Other than that going by your instructions I would say its probably time to flip.
