LED vertical scrog

[Ichabod Crane]

Today I decided that I would go over my PH meters for those who are new and have not used one.

I get my meters off of Aliexpress. I buy them cheap because I am not worried when they go bad. I paid about $8 per meter the last time I bought one. I bought I think 6 last time. That was about a year ago and I still have two brand new ones left.

So you can get them in a bag like this.



Or in a box like this.



It don't really matter. One thing about buying them is to make sure they come with batteries. Some don't and the batteries cost about as much as the meter.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Lets go over the meter a little so you understand how to work on it a little. And I mean a little because there is not much you can do.

First lets see how to adjust it. There is a hole in the back of the meter. This is where you will adjust the PH at with a screw driver and dipped in PH solution. You just put the flat headed screw driver in the hole and turn it. Come on it is not rocket science. Here is where the screw hole is and a screw driver I received with the meter.



Next is where are the batteries. Well just pull the top up and there they are. I like to save batteries when a meter goes bad. That way I don't have to buy more latter if they come with dead or weak batteries . I don't think I have replaced the batteries but two times in about 8 or 9 years. You can tell when they go bad because the display fades.



I like to check the PH meter about every week. And this is what I use.



It is cheap at about $7 or $8 for this bottle. I think it is a pint.

But I don't like to waste it so this is how I check the meter and save a few cents. I use a new cap from a meter I have not used yet. I fill it about half way up and dip the meter in the solution. Doing it this way I only need about 7.5 ml of PH solution.



If I use that same measuring cup it takes about 28 ml to read the same meter. And that cup is only about the size of a shot glass. You will need more if you use a bigger container.



You can see it is just barely covering the probe at the bottom of the meter.

Now how I work this is I use one meter and take the lid off of a second meter. The lid off the second meter then stays with the PH solution. I use the cap with the PH solution to check the meter in. When the first meter fails I grab another meter and put the cap from that meter with the PH solution. I then use the old cap that was with the PH solution as the new cap for the PH meter now being used.

When I get to the point that all that is left is a meter with no extra cap I order more meters. I then use the cap off the old meter instead of the cap with the PH solution.

By rotating like this I don't have to worry about build up in the cap affecting the PH solution I am using.

Also by using the cap I only use 1/4 of the PH solution and I save a few dollars every 1.5 to 2 years. Yeh I am that cheap.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I am sure that was boring for the guys around for a while but it had to be out there for the new people.

So for the rest of you here is a bud at day 51 of flower. CBanana #4.

 

[ReikoX]

I got tired of buying those cheap meters, so I got a nice Bluelabs one. Of course, I have since gotten rid of it since I'm doing living soil. I keep some pH drops around in case something wonky happens.

 

[Cmoon]

beautiful site

 

[Ichabod Crane]

beautiful site

I like ICMag as well. Been here a few years.

I got tired of buying those cheap meters, so I got a nice Bluelabs one. Of course, I have since gotten rid of it since I'm doing living soil. I keep some pH drops around in case something wonky happens.

I had a Bluelab meter and it barely lasted longer than these cheap ones and cost me 16 times what I paid for these. I just throw these away and don't feel bad about it at all. But hey to each his own someone will always want something different than the other guy right.

I prefer these but I can see why you like the Bluelabs.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Here are a few pictures of the plants that I took looking threw the lights. I have not shown thing angle yet. You can see better how full or not full the screens are from this view.

Here is the front plant closest to the door. It seems to be the fullest plant of the three.



This is the center plant. You can see some yellow leaves. These are mostly the fans I left when I first put the plants into flower.



And finally the plant in the back of the room. This is the plant that was in the center but I moved back.



All these pictures are day 52 of flower.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I also took a bud shot from each plant.

This is from the plant closest to the door.



This is from the middle plant. If you look in the above post you can see these buds up about 2/3's the way and on the left but the thin spot.



Finally is a shot from the back plant. This picture is at the top of the screen and not shown in the last post above.

 

[Grassizgreener]

Sticky icky

Sticky icky

What’s the strain again? Fire watever it is..

 

[Ichabod Crane]

What’s the strain again? Fire watever it is..

It is CBanana. It is from a seed that Hammerhead put out as a tester but never sold because he had someone say it hemied on them. It is from Relentlesses CBanana which was back crossed so this is a S-1.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Those look killer, bud! Nice big fat calyxes, and some excellent color. Do they smell like banana? They get huge in those pots, too. What are those, 3 gallons of straight coco?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Those look killer, bud! Nice big fat calyxes, and some excellent color. Do they smell like banana? They get huge in those pots, too. What are those, 3 gallons of straight coco?

I have a bad sense of smell so take it with a grain of salt. It smells fruity to me and a little like fuel. Small bit though. Others have told me they smell banana's but I don't.

Here I am using 5 gallon bags of straight coco coir. It is a little small for once a day watering but just barely. They do a little better in seven gallon bags with this size plant and screen.

Thanks!

 

[Beaucephus]

Plants lookin bomb ick. I like to fill any spaces with extra cuts i’m going to cull otherwise. I throw tester plants in 3/4g pot on floor for test runs. They get little love till they prove worthy.
I’m sure u posted, but what distances have u played with running the leds?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Plants lookin bomb ick. I like to fill any spaces with extra cuts i’m going to cull otherwise. I throw tester plants in 3/4g pot on floor for test runs. They get little love till they prove worthy.
I’m sure u posted, but what distances have u played with running the leds?

Closer than 18 and the plants struggle. I get small buds with a lot of foxtailing. For almost all plants that is true. 18 seems OK but on smaller plants that is a death sentence. Small plants need up to 60 inches. Just depends on the root structure. At 18 they need a good root system. That is why these work so well when I hack them up. They have enough roots to feed the top.

If I don't hack them up 24 inches seems to be good. But only if they have a good root system. Other wise 30 inch or higher/farther.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Only 16 days left and we are done. So what better time to go over how to tell when they are done.

Now if you forget to tag the plant you will need to tell when they are going to be done. Or if you are running a new plant you will be guessing when they are going to be done. So you need a few guides.

I use three to get a idea of when the plant is done. Remember these are guides and not set in stone.

The first is the pistil hairs. When they are brown you can tell the plant is done. But if you rely on this alone you will screw yourself at some point. It is more a guide as to when the plant is close.

Second we look at the tricombs. When you look at a bud you don't want it to shine. You want the tricombs to look kind of like dull galvanized metal. Kind of a whitish slightly grey color. If the tricomb turns milky it will not shine like a clear one will.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about above. Notice the hairs are brown but the glands are clear. This bud is not ready.



Here is another picture that shows some white hairs and clear glands as well.



Both these pictures were taken tonight. You can see some white hairs on one and the other also has a few but is mostly brown. The above two ways are just guides. And in these picture you can see the buds are not ready. When I look at the buds with out a magnifier they glint like diamonds.

The last item and the one that is almost a sure fire way to tell is the plant stops drinking as much and slows down. I say almost because a plant will also drink less if it is having root issues. So if you are not sure check that first.

Now all these are just guides. Some people will take plants earlier than other and some will take them later. It really is personal preference. But I have not heard of many people who complain that they took a plant to late but many who have when they have taken them to early.

If you have a decent picture phone you can get one of these. They clip on your phone and you can get a better picture of how far along the plant is. It is what I took the two pictures above with. And there is none of that bullcrap you get with a small lens like you get at the grow store.

I just hold the camera up to the bud and look at the picture on the phone to tell if I am close. Then i take several picture. Once I have the pictures I can get a better idea of how many glands are milky and how many are amber.

And here it is. It cost less than $20 and is a cheap tool that will help you out when there is doubt.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

I was wondering if you use L.E.Ds for veg as well. Do you veg horizontally or just into the screens with the vertical guys?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I was wondering if you use L.E.Ds for veg as well. Do you veg horizontally or just into the screens with the vertical guys?

I do use LEDs in veg. Mostly overhead. But when they get bigger they are to dense for the light to get far enough down to keep the bottoms health. That is when I will use side lighting. I did it with these plants and posted a picture of that in the beginning of this thread.

I also use HPS. mostly just to get them to stretch out so they are not so dense that I have to cut to much of the plant of when I go to flower. But I use much much less of the HPS than the LEDs.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Tonight in the grow not much happening. Went in and pulled more dying fans. This is what I removed today.



These are the fans I saved in the beginning. You can see in the next two pictures that there are no bud connected to these leaves.





Looking at the pictures you can see the bare spots that will be left when the fans are removed. That is a drawback and a bonus at the same time.

The draw back is that by leaving the fans it is harder to tell when you have fill the screen fully. Hard to tell sometimes when there are so many leaves where the growth tips are.

The bonus is that you have filled every space that has light with a leave. So you are grabbing as much light as you can.

Looking at the plants I saw that the fan on low was wind whipping the upper leaves. So I turned the upper fan off. Tomorrow I will turn it back on but disable it's ability to swing back and forth. He are some of the leave that are being damaged with the excess amount of wind.



I really don't want to cause the terps to evaporate off the buds so the fan has to be stopped from blowing on the plants to hard.

I also noticed that some of the branches that are hanging down are getting to close to the light. This is causing them to foxtail a bit. That is the difference of just 6 inches closer from the light. Just six inches back the buds are not doing the foxtailing thing.



Yikes that bud looks like crap. lol

Tomorrow is day 56. That is 8 weeks since I started this thread. Just 2 weeks left till harvest.

 

[DunHav`nFun]

You know.....If HGO was still around , I`d HAVETA nominate this thread for a sticky.....Jus sayin.....There`s sticky threads in this section of FAR less importance than this 1 as far as actual vertical side lighting is concerned , so Hey Unc…...since our Vert section Mod`s MIA , ……

I nominate the Ickster`s thread for stickiness of the highest order for all the explicit and in depth detail he`s gone to in the effort to try and help folks with this style growing that optimizes yield as well as quality on each plant top to bottom .....especially since jumping from HID lighting to LED and pulling the numbers he is regardless of X amount of veg time since it`s put into the equation for production.....anyways.....

My 2 cents from all those yrs.....so....

Peace.....DHF..... …….

 

[Ichabod Crane]

You know.....If HGO was still around , I`d HAVETA nominate this thread for a sticky.....Jus sayin.....There`s sticky threads in this section of FAR less importance than this 1 as far as actual vertical side lighting is concerned , so Hey Unc…...since our Vert section Mod`s MIA , ……

I nominate the Ickster`s thread for stickiness of the highest order for all the explicit and in depth detail he`s gone to in the effort to try and help folks with this style growing that optimizes yield as well as quality on each plant top to bottom .....especially since jumping from HID lighting to LED and pulling the numbers he is regardless of X amount of veg time since it`s put into the equation for production.....anyways.....

My 2 cents from all those yrs.....so....

Peace.....DHF..... …….

It won't happen. Not enough kitten pictures. And I will not let the globalist kitten cabal take over my thread.