Sandmans Journal to infinity

[sandman83]

Still just watching and waiting...harvested most of the other plants out for dinner. Last blackened oranges struggling to catch up to the pack, PPFD from the panel is avg 350 or so across the plants. PH drifted up a tad and ppm up, will probably drain and refill shortly to reset the numbers.




2x Auto's looking good, 1 still runty but I'll leave it be for now. I raised the lights a tad to lower the ppfd from the sf2k panel on these but looking decent. Humidifier added to the grow tent for the autos. 5.9ph 500ppm

 

[sandman83]

Seems like Mono-Silicic Acid is the way to go vs the old potassium silicate that was giving me issues? That stuff is pricey but I really liked the thick stalks/strength from adding silica. Flower room is just about ready, need to rehang the carbon filter and check for light leaks. Really tempted to grab a second tent instead....3 more weeks of veg planned then an early flip with a clone taken from each....

 

[sandman83]

Urge to buy new gear is really high as always , so many strains and new lights/versions of things that I'd wanted previously. Hoping to save all my pennies and grab a cannatrol cool cure.....quite the price tag on them suckers but sure would be nice to have automated curing.

 

[sandman83]

Looks like some decent used equipment prices on ebay, tempted to grab a 3rd bar light fixture to throw down the middle of the 2x sp250 I currently have over the larger ebb and flow. Been testing ranges between 12-18" and hitting ppfd of 500-600 with some fall off between the middle, for 100 bucks I can grab another panel to cover 2x4 space in the middle and space em out a tad more.

6 grow sites occupied ~ 3 x 6 area, plenty of space on the sides and the reflection isn't great so I like to overdue the side lighting. 55 gal tank was moved outside the room this time and I have a pump to drain each week for refill; should make my job easier and more reliable.

Do I really need 1000+ ppfd over the middle for flower? I had these much closer last time but the buds started bleaching out.

Otherwise a new improved panel ex ks5000 or se5000 will set me back a bit more..... better half already agreed the automated curing box is a solid investment if I plan on doing a few grows again.

 

[sandman83]

Pictures loading really slow, apparently I need to use the proper file format! Mods if you can delete I'll reupload.

 

[Tvanmunhen]

Welcome back! Congrats on moving and simplifying your reservoir.

Looks like some decent used equipment prices on ebay, tempted to grab a 3rd bar light fixture to throw down the middle of the 2x sp250 I currently have over the larger ebb and flow. Been testing ranges between 12-18" and hitting ppfd of 500-600 with some fall off between the middle, for 100 bucks I can grab another panel to cover 2x4 space in the middle and space em out a tad more.

6 grow sites occupied ~ 3 x 6 area, plenty of space on the sides and the reflection isn't great so I like to overdue the side lighting. 55 gal tank was moved outside the room this time and I have a pump to drain each week for refill; should make my job easier and more reliable.

Do I really need 1000+ ppfd over the middle for flower? I had these much closer last time but the buds started bleaching out.

Otherwise a new improved panel ex ks5000 or se5000 will set me back a bit more..... better half already agreed the automated curing box is a solid investment if I plan on doing a few grows again.

I think the feed and environment is going to play a key factor on how much ppfd is needed.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Pictures loading really slow, apparently I need to use the proper file format! Mods if you can delete I'll reupload.

I’ll try to remember to resize them and replace them this weekend.

 

[Zaphod420]

Still just watching and waiting...harvested most of the other plants out for dinner. Last blackened oranges struggling to catch up to the pack, PPFD from the panel is avg 350 or so across the plants. PH drifted up a tad and ppm up, will probably drain and refill shortly to reset the numbers.

View attachment 127852


2x Auto's looking good, 1 still runty but I'll leave it be for now. I raised the lights a tad to lower the ppfd from the sf2k panel on these but looking decent. Humidifier added to the grow tent for the autos. 5.9ph 500ppm

View attachment 127853

Great looking plants Sandman and a very cool looking dwc rig! For some strange reason I now have the urge to put one on top of a constantly slowly spinning marry go round with 1 light over 2 plants that some how magically flowers 6.

 

[sandman83]

Great looking plants Sandman and a very cool looking dwc rig! For some strange reason I now have the urge to put one on top of a constantly slowly spinning marry go round with 1 light over 2 plants that some how magically flowers 6.

I have made the mistake many times of running too many plants in the system....3 at most is best, 2 is better. I went ahead and culled the weak looking auto, the roots hadn't penetrated into the hydroton at all, other 2 have tap roots sticking out the base reaching the water already. Single sf2k over the unit right now ~28" above the plants. There's room to grow but not enough head room to flower.

Originally I had planned to use it to veg plants then move them into larger DWC but after past experience I thought it would be a decent setup to run a few auto batches thru. I'll remove the table to lower the height once in flower and put a frame over the top with some netting.

Girls looking decent other than that, blackened oranges catching up.

 

[sandman83]

Snagged a 32gal rough neck trash can to use for mixing nutes/storing RO water for the larger tank. Wanted the 44gal but tbh I didn't want to pay that much for a trashcan.

Resisted the urge to purchase anything additional so far but my will power is weak . Think I'll move one of the sf2k panels into the middle of the sp250 to boost the middle PPFD for flower. Auto's can make do with a single panel or I can address is with another panel.

 

[sandman83]

Had to rearrange the tent to make room for the new fan/filter combo. 2nd panel was powered off anyways but a single sf2k won't be enough light for a full 4x4 tent, will have to find a way to fit additional lighting or a large bar fixture.

 

[Joebud]

Do you use a par or light meter? I would lower the light a little.

 

[sandman83]

Do you use a par or light meter? I would lower the light a little.

par meter on the phone app and a separate lux meter. was keeping it on the higher side to avoid burning/stunting the autos for the first week and will gradually increase the ppfd. Open to suggestions! Will drop it down to 24" for veg and adjust from there. Girls don't seem to be stretching at all.

Went ahead and dropped right now, per measurements ppfd is avg 450-500 at canopy height.

 

[Joebud]

Rock and roll @sandman83

 

[sandman83]

Eh things are never cheap for this hobby, was looking at the leaves on one of the auto's and it looked curled/brown spot so I checked the water ph. Both pens are drifting again though I just calibrated yesterday, ppm's don't agree between pens either. Best guess I let the probes dry out with improper storage and they simply aren't accurate any more.

Amazon to the rescue with new bluelab pen/truncheon for ppm.... at least if one dies this time I only have to replace one OR the other not both. I've replaced the probe on the hanna combos before but at current prices you might as well get new.

 

[sandman83]

Maybe just the fan was turned up too strong? Spots on one plant are right next to the humidifier as well, starting to think it might've just gotten a few burn spots? I've turned off one of the fans for now and raised the other to just above canopy level to keep the hot air moving around the light. Otherwise the current nute schedule has me at 1.9ml/gal calimagick I can bump that up a tad.

Happy for a 2nd opinion. Ph meter soaking in the storage solution for 24hrs per instructions and waiting for new truncheon to arrive. Other auto look fine just a bit of leaf twist from the same direction as the fan I adjusted. Photo girls looking good, some working on 4th node.

 

[sandman83]

.... Not really sure how to react to this. Checked ph with my old pens, everything looks in range. Check with a new bluelab pen freshly calibrated and I'm at 6.5... I'm seeing marks on the autos so I'm tempted to trust the new pen. Will probably dump the tanks to be safe and fill with fresh nutes again.

Truncheon is pretty cool, just swirl around the tank to see the EC/PPM and now I dont have to worry I'm reading the wrong scale vs the feed charts.





Roots looked a tad beat up on the autos so I turned the air pump down to a single stone for now.

 

[Joebud]

.... Not really sure how to react to this. Checked ph with my old pens, everything looks in range. Check with a new bluelab pen freshly calibrated and I'm at 6.5... I'm seeing marks on the autos so I'm tempted to trust the new pen. Will probably dump the tanks to be safe and fill with fresh nutes again.

Truncheon is pretty cool, just swirl around the tank to see the EC/PPM and now I dont have to worry I'm reading the wrong scale vs the feed charts.

View attachment 127945

View attachment 127946

Roots looked a tad beat up on the autos so I turned the air pump down to a single stone for now.

Morning sandman. Sorry you are having trouble with the autos. I would use a bottle of General Hydroponics ph indicator for comparing the ph pens readings when in doubt. The air bubbles should not hurt the roots. I would guess the marks on the autos are from root issues. I believe @Streetpro09 uses a product called southern ag to keep healthy roots. Maybe he will pop in and give some advice. I call him the hydroponic master. Best of luck @sandman83.

 

[sandman83]

Morning sandman. Sorry you are having trouble with the autos. I would use a bottle of General Hydroponics ph indicator for comparing the ph pens readings when in doubt. The air bubbles should not hurt the roots. I would guess the spot on the autos are from root issues. I believe @Streetpro09 uses a product called southern at to keep healthy roots. Maybe he will pop in and give some advice. I call him the hydroponic master. Best of luck @sandman83.

i put a dash of hydroguard in each tank just to be on the safe side as well. Thanks for stopping in! Even quite vigorous bubbles?

 

[Joebud]

I far as I'm aware of. Even vigorous bubbles should do no damage to cannabis roots unless they are starting to rot. What is the reservoir temp?