the med cave

[inthetrees]

My God what a cave it is !

Yeah shes coming along finally!

Girls bouncing back?

With a vengeance... That system loaded with lemonberry took the worst of it, but I'm finally seeing some lateral roots appearing out the sides of the net pots here and there so they will explode in the next couple days. All x10 in that system looked fubar, but with the help you guys gave me they U-turned within 8 hours. Just needed to up the PPMS, and top feed way more than I was. The Velvets are in the other system and those things took off. I've never seen plants grow this fast, even in my low pressure aero tubes. Mind you back then I had no idea what VPD was.

 

[TheSadVeryBadMadGrower]

Yeah shes coming along finally!


With a vengeance... That system loaded with lemonberry took the worst of it, but I'm finally seeing some lateral roots appearing out the sides of the net pots here and there so they will explode in the next couple days. All x10 in that system looked fubar, but with the help you guys gave me they U-turned within 8 hours. Just needed to up the PPMS, and top feed way more than I was. The Velvets are in the other system and those things took off. I've never seen plants grow this fast, even in my low pressure aero tubes. Mind you back then I had no idea what VPD was.

Yea just save that chart I posted and turn to it any time you got problems. 99.9% of the time, itll get you back on track. Its sooooo helpful in hydroponics.

 

[inthetrees]

God I'm gonna be thrilled when temps drop so I can crank these fuckers up!

Yeah no doubt hey? That's the thing up here too... You get everything dialed and then the season changes and your making adjustments. I'll be buying a place here eventually with a shop and doing my hvac properly. I miss having minisplits and not caring if its -30 or +30 outside. My last place had an unfinished basement so those concrete floors and walls were a godsend.

 

[inthetrees]

Yea just save that chart I posted and turn to it any time you got problems. 99.9% of the time, itll get you back on track. Its sooooo helpful in hydroponics.

Lol thats my bible now bro. I printed it off and laminated it. Shes hanging on the wall in there. Thanks for that!

 

[sfrigon1]

Yeah no doubt hey? That's the thing up here too... You get everything dialed and then the season changes and your making adjustments. I'll be buying a place here eventually with a shop and doing my hvac properly. I miss having minisplits and not caring if its -30 or +30 outside. My last place had an unfinished basement so those concrete floors and walls were a godsend.

The good ole basement has its advantages

 

[inthetrees]

Its been a lazy 3 or 4 days here. I did manage to get the top-off reservoirs setup and tied in finally. Anywho, here's what I'm battling this week...

Res Temps... I'm hittin 79-80F in both systems and its got me super sketched. 6mL/gal of UC Roots per change, then 3mL/gal every 3 days for maintenance. During res change & system clean there was some brown shmag on the bulkhead pipes, and a bit in the corners of the buckets. First I thought it was root rot or algae but given its consistency I think its sediment from the hydroton. Found brown hydroton flakes as well. The roots are white still... Not mega white like I see other guys, but my nutrient fluid has a slight brown color to it to begin with.

I'm going to pull a ghetto move and try x2 frozen bottles in the epi center so long as it doesn't displace too much. My VPD is dialed and low as I can get things. Temps fluctuate between 74-77F and humidity is @ 68-70%. Hoping once I have a canopy and some shade over the system & plants start drinking more I'll be able get the temps down a little. There's used chiller online, but that's a 1000 KM round trip drive and $300 each. Fall/winter is also coming so that will help things out big time. My overnight temps are only getting down to 71F so the buckets aren't cooling down during lights off given the insulation. I'd hate to dump a grand on chillers and not need em in a few weeks time...

Calcium Dust? I'm using a 10-disc ultrasonic fogger panel inside a rubbermaid tote with a CPU fan as my humidifier. It works amazing, probably burns 1.5L/hour though.. Problem is I've been using my municipal water to fill the tote up. I now have what I'm assuming is calcium build up on the tops of the pots...the panels...f****** everywhere...starting to us the RO now. Never had this issue before at my old place. Same water system.

Light distance... Unsure what to be running these panels at for height or dimming. I know my CMH's fairly well but I'm new to these LED's. They are a nightmare to adjust the height on them given each corner has a yo-yo. Lower one corner too much and it twists the shit outta the panel. No bueno.. I had them set @ 4' high, running 100%. Looked like the CMH were catching up so I just dropped everything to 3' above canopy. Idk if I'm shorting myself big time on the potential given I have no par meter... The CMH plants are super perky and look awesome, but the ones under the LED look "heavy" for lack of a better term. They aren't drooping, but only a few of them are looking on point.

Air Stones are plugging up in some of the buckets. I bought the cheap vivosun units of amazon and its weird because some of the buckets are rocking with bubbles, and others aren't. Tried soaking them in 29% h2o2, then boiling them, still f*** all for action. Ordered a bunch more regardless.

Pics are prior to lowering lights...

 

[Streetpro09]

Its been a lazy 3 or 4 days here. I did manage to get the top-off reservoirs setup and tied in finally. Anywho, here's what I'm battling this week...

Res Temps... I'm hittin 79-80F in both systems and its got me super sketched. 6mL/gal of UC Roots per change, then 3mL/gal every 3 days for maintenance. During res change & system clean there was some brown shmag on the bulkhead pipes, and a bit in the corners of the buckets. First I thought it was root rot or algae but given its consistency I think its sediment from the hydroton. Found brown hydroton flakes as well. The roots are white still... Not mega white like I see other guys, but my nutrient fluid has a slight brown color to it to begin with.

I'm going to pull a ghetto move and try x2 frozen bottles in the epi center so long as it doesn't displace too much. My VPD is dialed and low as I can get things. Temps fluctuate between 74-77F and humidity is @ 68-70%. Hoping once I have a canopy and some shade over the system & plants start drinking more I'll be able get the temps down a little. There's used chiller online, but that's a 1000 KM round trip drive and $300 each. Fall/winter is also coming so that will help things out big time. My overnight temps are only getting down to 71F so the buckets aren't cooling down during lights off given the insulation. I'd hate to dump a grand on chillers and not need em in a few weeks time...

Calcium Dust? I'm using a 10-disc ultrasonic fogger panel inside a rubbermaid tote with a CPU fan as my humidifier. It works amazing, probably burns 1.5L/hour though.. Problem is I've been using my municipal water to fill the tote up. I now have what I'm assuming is calcium build up on the tops of the pots...the panels...f****** everywhere...starting to us the RO now. Never had this issue before at my old place. Same water system.

Light distance... Unsure what to be running these panels at for height or dimming. I know my CMH's fairly well but I'm new to these LED's. They are a nightmare to adjust the height on them given each corner has a yo-yo. Lower one corner too much and it twists the shit outta the panel. No bueno.. I had them set @ 4' high, running 100%. Looked like the CMH were catching up so I just dropped everything to 3' above canopy. Idk if I'm shorting myself big time on the potential given I have no par meter... The CMH plants are super perky and look awesome, but the ones under the LED look "heavy" for lack of a better term. They aren't drooping, but only a few of them are looking on point.

Air Stones are plugging up in some of the buckets. I bought the cheap vivosun units of amazon and its weird because some of the buckets are rocking with bubbles, and others aren't. Tried soaking them in 29% h2o2, then boiling them, still f*** all for action. Ordered a bunch more regardless.

Pics are prior to lowering lights...

View attachment 69709View attachment 69710View attachment 69711

Try hitting your stones with a wire wheel on a bench grinder or wire brush. It seamed to help one of mine.

 

[inthetrees]

So the water temps were outta control, and the frozen water bottle cheat is for small setups.... Found x2 Ecoplus 1/4 HP chillers on marketplace. 12 hours and 1000 KM later I had em home and unloaded. Units were apparently only used for 1 round and I got em for 1/4 of the cost for new. Only downside was that buddy neglected to flush them out after he shut down. Needless to say they were f***ed on the inside. Set 'em up in the bathroom and started the process of flushing extreme amounts of h2o2, vinegar/water, and UC Roots through them. 12 hours later they were clean. Flushed for another 12 after that.

They took the water from 82F to 66F in under 2 hours. With the buckets being insulated they barely come on now which is a game changer. Outside ambients have dropped significantly with fall approaching. My entire room is running way smoother now... the AC doesn't even come on, and with the water at 66F now I'm not trying to freeze the room out in order to keep water temps low.

I let the PPM's get too high in the 2nd tent (700 ppm) and I think it burned and possibly locked out the plants? It allowed the Lemonberry tent to catch up. I also dropped the LED's too close and noticed some adverse effects regardless of the manufacturers suggested distance to canopy. The girls under the LED's started showing a bunch of shit... calmag rust spots... nitrogen claw... The growth was also mega thick and mutant-like. The plants are super short and denes...the lateral branching and leaf development is excessive for lack of a better term. Almost looking like a Boron deficiency? I doubt it was that, but I'm assuming that weird growth was due to root issues from the temps being too high.

I've honestly had a rough go of it so far with this setup. New to hydro... new to these LED panels... Somehow the girls are still alive. I think I've been trying to push things a little too much too fast. I raised all the lights up, and dialed down the LED's to 60% and I can already see the plants reacting better.

 

[inthetrees]

Hello everyone... Time for another novel. Things have been decent over the past week. The Lemonberry under the CMH has done better due to some learning curves with the LEDs overtop the Velvet Underground. If i run into height issues with the Lemonberry (which I'm sure I will) I'm going to swap the lights around and throw the LED's over them to gain some wiggle room. I also threw a 3rd 630w into the tent which will get fired up once i flip. Should get weird...

The CMH tent is ready to flip now, but I'm going to veg the VU another 5-7 days to catch up. Dragged my ass with getting the veg room setup as I wanted to purchase another 4x8 tent to throw the veg tubs and cloner into. Only issue was that the room I plan to veg in has been acting as my lung room now that temps have dropped here. Would have been far too cold to throw any plants in there.

I've decided that once this round is done I'll be taking out the tents and using the whole room to grow in. I'm too old and too fat to be doing the limbo to access the plants in the back. I'll be grabbing another x4 LED panels and removing the x2 CMH next round, as well as building a 3rd UC system so long as the wife lets me. Going to use one of those tents in the veg room once everything gets stripped down. Waiting on my co2 gear to show up this week and then I'll be sealing off the room and the veg room will be usable. For now the clones will go in the laundry room where its warmer.

I got the nets installed this morning. It's not a true scrog i know. The plan is to manipulate the branches as they stretch to fill in the blank spots, but they are more there to support branches during flower. I didn't have enough gas in the tank to install 2 levels of netting and go full retard.

Still fighting with Meijiu to get the damaged LED panel issue resolved. Just trying to decide whether to build them myself, or try a Canadian based company I just found.

Anywho, hope everyone's Labor Day weekend has been laborless...

 

[MtRainDog]

Setup looks super clean, and those girls look like they're going gang busters now!

 

[inthetrees]

Setup looks super clean, and those girls look like they're going gang busters now!

Thanks man. Many lessons learned this month. Needless to say I am very excited to start seeing some bud development... Thanks for stopping by dude

 

[inthetrees]

Day #5 since flip...

Started running out of head room with the Lemonberry so I switch the lights around. Put the x3 630's over the velvet underground which works awesome since they are smaller and the canopy is uneven.

Got ripped off buying x2 used Matador controllers... turns out both of them are fubar so if anyone knows how to calibrate an old Matador hit me up... Ended up buying a new Grozone unit. My arm is still nfg from the crash so I had to opt for the midget bottle. Don't laugh or think less of me...
Installed a couple Plastic dust barrier doors with zippers I found of amazon for 30 a piece. I wouldn't say its hermetically sealed, but its damn close watching the monitor. Running 1100 - 1200 ppm for now. 85F/65-70%. I'll drop the room a bit once buds start to develop.

Moved my top-off reservoirs and air pumps into the soon-to-be veg room so the co2 wouldn't mess with the systems. My 4x8 tent for the veg room still hasnt showed up, but I finished building the x4 6-site DWC veg tubs...

There's a few prospects but I'm pretty disappointed in the velvet underground's performance so far. There's maybe 1 plant that has decent structure, so Ill see how she blooms. Going to pick up a few packs of In House Genetics to rotate into the mix. The one downfall to these systems is the gamble with regular seeds. I was going to hit up Green Point but the exchange sucks and I'd rather order seeds from this side of the border.

Steering the systems is a different experience comin from growing in soil. No problem juggling the pH drift, but the plants seem to eat as much as I throw at em and more. Next round will be much easier.

 

[inthetrees]

Mistakes were made... fml some days.

I changed out my solution in the cloner and forgot to flip the switch on the power bar. Intake fan didn't kick on and neither did the cloner pump. Since I moved the chillers into the veg room the temps get pretty warm without the inline fan going full tilt. Had to take off for a day and a half and came back to find the clones just fubar and the room hotter than hades. I've lost over half the cuts and idk if the others will pull through or not. There's only a few left of the hopeful prospects so fingers are crossed they pop roots. Even those ones look like shat.

After my epic fail I moved the chillers out of the veg room and into the hallway where I keep my supplies. Temps are better, hallway and laundry will do better for temps in the winter, and I freed up that bedroom breaker for the veg tent. Going to drop one of the 630's in the 4x8 veg tent for the winter, than switch to QB's for veg once next summer comes.

That being said, I checked out RMH and they had just restocked some In House Genetics but there were only a few packs left. Picked up some Slurricane, Deluxe Sugar Cane, and Garlic Storm. Thank god the wife and I don't share bank accounts...

 

[inthetrees]

Day 15 since the flip. Got the veg room a bit more together and the pre-veg 4x8 setup. I'm missing a 4th tote as one had a smashed in bottom I didn't see. The little 15# co2 bottle only lasted like 7 or 10 days then tapped out so I upgraded to a 45.

Seems like it's taken forever to get here but it's good to see some buds starting to develop. Been almost 8 months since I tore down the last house and had to move, so it's a good feeling to have everything running smoothly. Knock on wood.

I've adjusted the one LED panel as high as it can go. The girl in the corner better be done stretching as she's almost 6' now (including the 1' 4gal bucket). Just loving these panels. The CMH tent has 2 out of the 3 630's jacked as high as they can go. It's a good thing that tent got stunted or I would be up shit creek if they had grown taller. I may have found a good LED manufacturer here in Canada so if that all pan's out I'll be switching these CMH out soon as chop is done.

Also found a mutant double leaf which was cool. Can't remember ever seeing one before..

Plants are drinking 6 or 7 gallons a day now. Still can't seem to juggle steering the ppm's as they are eating so much. Good problems to have...

 

[Burned Haze]

Man I love your grow! Just shows when a little ocd and some dedication can bring some true dreams to the pictures . Good job man!

im game all the way if you keep trucking in those pictures and info ( you bring that like me, ocd style .. i like that vs when people don’t tell ya shit )


it would be soo cool to try under current . Just such a big investment for me . Looks awesome and the plants are like nitro !

 

[inthetrees]

Thanks dude, it's still a work in progress

I hear ya on the OCD... I struggle with disorganization. That being said, the pre-veg totes will get all the lines cleaned up today. The uneven canopy from growing beans this round really erks me too. Same with these tents... I can't wait to scrap them and use the whole room as it's impossible to access anything on the back rows.

Next round the room will look the way I want it to... No tents, adding wall mount fans, addition of a 3rd x10 site system, and switching out the CMH to LED panels. Also thinking I may put the systems on low profile tables with rollers. I'll only have 3' space to play with if I run x3 4x8 systems... I also need to get a legit environment controller. These inkbird units are decent but the cords for the sensors aren't long enough. Already had the humidity controller relay shit the bed on me a few times now and lock the humidifier in the on position. Sucks walking into a room with dripping walls, wet floor, and 99% humidity.

Picked up a 12k BTU dual hose portable AC off marketplace yesterday as well. Gonna get ready for the bullshit Canadian winter and pull out the window banger then insulate and cover the outside as well.

 

[inthetrees]

So the portable ac unit I grabbed is actually 14k BTU and its a piece of shit. I know the guy I bought it off and they only used it for 1 summer here and our temps dont get crazy hot so not like it was running 24/7.

Anywho, I plugged it in and after 2 hours it still only cools 2F lower than what my window banger does. The biggest fml factor is that its sucking my co2 out at a pretty substantial rate. I thought these units were suppose to be better than this for sealed rooms. It's also 1400w as a pose to the 800w my banger is. I'm over this shit. I'm ordering those LED panels and stripping out the x3 CMH. I bet I won't even need an AC unit once I'm all LED. Especially with fall/winter fast approaching. Guess I have an AC unit to sell along with all my CMH fixtures.

 

[Burned Haze]

As a suggestion for “portable “ a/c .since they take out your Co2 , if you apply Co2 in the future . Applying the ducting into a “lung room” than if the temps get to hot, have a diff duct from outdoors with a hepa filter on a temp + probe and if it hits above the temps it turns on. then your “ lung room” isn’t ever too hot. my ” lung room” = storage room and walk way before before my grow room. When I was growing my server portable a/c I did it that way and i even took my intake a/c was even intaking from the lungroom ( since the air was 75fish) once spring hit,i Had to remap myself outdoors ( I had the ducts sitting there airing for the season) I upgraded this summer to mini splits

 

[inthetrees]

Well I was using the bedroom beside my flower space as a lung room prior to running co2 and it was working great in a passive setup. I'm just pushing these plants so hard between the undercurrent and the light intensity that I really need co2. If I go back to that setup I'll be exhausting too much and sucking dollars out the window.

The heat from these CMH lights is my achilles heel. Having tents is making things worse. If I hadn't used the tents at least the heat would be rising to the roof and would be more easily dissipated since the window banger is installed high with it being a basement window... Right now it's getting trapped in that 1' space between the top zipper and roof of the tents. The plants are showing some heat stress on the tallest ones, but they look to be done stretching. I'm going to try unzipping the tent side panels as well to open it up more and get that heat outta there.

Idk what happened yesterday but the room was allot hotter than it usually is. For 2 weeks now the room has been 77F and the canopy 82F. For some reason yesterday the room was 82F and canopy was hitting 89F. Seemed like the window banger wanted to take the day off.

I miss having big rooms and mini splits. The wife and I decided that we are going to buy an acreage in the next year, and I want one with a big shop, like 50x50. Once I have that its go time and I'll be able to do things the right way. Shouldn't be too much longer until our government pulls their head outta their ass and opens up the recreational market to craft producers.

 

[inthetrees]

Update / Note for next time...

I had a little hiccup when I hit the 2 week mark and decided to do a substantial lollipop and thinning of the canopy. I didn't think of the impact on the nutrient uptake and my systems went fuckin haywire.

I was feeding plants with 50% more vegetation and then cut it off so the plants weren't able to uptake the nutrient level after the clean up. I woke up to a substantial drop in ph levels and elevated ppms. I had been feeding @ 850 ppm going into week 3 and was still seeing ph rise and ppm drop. I ended up having to flush 4 days after my previous flush to dilute the systems down to 600 which is still a bit high according to the numbers. They are almost adjusted but it was a definite learning experience.

Had to remove one of the 630's and there isn't enough canopy to fixture distance to keep from roasting the plants.

I also ordered x2 650w 8 bar LED panels from Hortibloom to switch out the remaining CMH to save that crop.

Done with my aerocloner as well. I recut the clones that I had indexed and that got messed up in my cloner mishap. Put them into RW cubes with 5mL/L of Clonex pH @ 5.4. 8 days later all of them are banging out roots. Much easier and no dicking around with water or bacteria.