OldOne's 3rd cab run - almost same as 2nd, but better :)

[oldone]

Hi everyone and welcome to my third run.

I've made a few changes detailed below but I'm still using a wick based passive hydro affectionately called the Passive Plant Killer™. Some of us believe this is the simplest, most efficient growing method out there. See my sig for the thread that stated it all; Delta9nxs's PPK.

Post Index;
Grow Log; 2nd post updated 11/7/11 10:00am
The Build; 3rd post updated 11/3/11 12:00pm
The Plant; 4th post updated 11/3/11 1:14pm


I'll keep this index and grow log posts updated as needed. At least thats the idea right now...

OO

 

[oldone]

Grow Log

Grow Log

Feeding Jacks Professional and JR Peters Calcium Nitrate in RO water. I pulse once a day delivering ~750ml (25 oz) at plant's midday. Pulse fluid is from the ppk rez.

list format is E.C/P.H
date___ppk_______bulk
1028 1.8/5.4 - 1.8/5.4 - new ppk liftoff!
1029 1.8/5.5 - 1.8/5.5
1030 1.8/5.6 - 1.8/5.6
1031 1.8/5.7 - 1.9/5.7
1101 1.8/5.6 - 1.9/5.6
1102 1.8/5.6 - 1.9/5.6
1103 1.8/5.5 - 1.9/5.7
1104 1.8/5.5 - 2.0/5.7
1105 1.8/5.5 - 1.9/5.6
1106 1.8/5.5 - 1.9/5.6
1107 1.8/5.5 - 1.9/5.6

Not much to say, really. I have noticed a slight tip burn on some older fans. The reason I'm using 1.8 is that I can measure the Jacks and calcnit very easily to get this everytime.

 

[oldone]

The Build

The Build

For this run I made 2 significant changes;

Media wick. Run 2 used micro fiber wicks and I had significant root growth in the ppk rez. I think this is a bad thing because of observed ec/ph swings. Part of the design philosophy is simplicity so we dont arearate either rez. See here for pics. My new media wick is a plastic standard sink drain fitting available anywhere. I dont have any pics but it is just like those done by others. It has 2 layers of nylon window screening fixed over the end. Simple.

Pulse feeding. I ran into an overfert problem 7 weeks into flower. It was my own complacency that did it. I had done no top watering at all and salts accumulated badly. Lesson learned. The new system is pictured below;


I fixed the pump to a piece of plastic to try and get it to stay upright. Pumping from a shallow 4" rez has challenges. I also had to bolt the pump's cord to help control its position.

The ppk is a 10" plastic garbage can with the top 3" cut off. It was very flimsy so I used the cutoff as reinforcement.

You can see the 1/4" holes on 1"ish centers. They do extend all of the way up to within 1" of the top.

pulse plumbing;

in action;

Ok so the spoons with the melted holes are a little funky but it was cheap and it works. I think I'll have to reposition them though to even out the flow.

I use this HD timer;
GE 7 Day Indoor Plug-In Digital Heavy Duty Timer with 2 Grounded Outlets
Model # 15079 Internet # 100685884 Store SKU # 545912

20 on/off cycles, 2 heavy duty 3 prong outlets. Cant go wrong.

and this HD pump;
80 GPH Fountain Pump
Model: AD40080 Internet/Cat #: 900691 Store SKU #: 1000509271

Today I sacrificed my veg chamber and moved the bulk rez into it. This allow me to center the plant for a more even canopy.

The black tubing is standard 1/4 x 3/8 clear vinyl wrapped in electricians tape.

Thats about it,
OO

 

[oldone]

The Plant

The Plant

Arjan's haze #3 from GreenHouseSeeds.

My little girl is deceptively old. She is a clone of The Bitch taken July 21 and then pretty much ignored for the next 10 weeks. Here she is at 74 days;


2 days later I transplanted her into my old style ppk
day 76 veg............................day82........................day87........................day90

I cut her down to the first 4 nodes on day 87 because of the scrog. For run 2 I only bent her and had some crowding problems.

On day 96 she was transplanted into the new ppk;


Day 98...no transplant shock here;

before and after screen installation.

As mentioned, I moved my bulk rez so I could center her today, day 102 veg:



lookin good so far,
OO

 

[green.is.good]

Whats up oldone, taking a seat

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

So the gears are turning now...

VEG ON THE RES!

SPOONS!

You already have roots growing out your 'pruning' holes. What's that about. They're supposed to prune. Just because they are negative space doesn't mean they can slack.

Looks like a perfect PPK. Better get that screen up and that lady flipped. Wait... I looked again. And the screen is up. Fast, man.

You are fast.

 

[oldone]

Whats up oldone, taking a seat

typing a lot..Hi green.is.good, welcome aboard.

 

[delta9nxs]

looking good!

that's great news on the timer cycles. 20 cycles gives a lot of adjustability. i studied their literature and it doesn't say that anywhere.

what interval and what volume are you using? did you restrict the pump or was it not necessary?

 

[oldone]

looking good!

that's great news on the timer cycles. 20 cycles gives a lot of adjustability. i studied their literature and it doesn't say that anywhere.

what interval and what volume are you using? did you restrict the pump or was it not necessary?

Hi D9,

My package says 10, but you can program 20...go figure.

So far once a day about 3 hours after lights on. I want to be sure I can watch the results everyday. I'm pumping about 750 ml or 25 oz. Its the best I can do with 1 minute intervals.

later...
OO

 

[green.is.good]

looking fantastic, how much longer are you going to veg?

 

[oldone]

Hi everyone,

day 102 veg...................day 106 veg

4 days...wow

I did a partial defoliation today;

I dont want to go all the way because I have low humidity and its only going to get worse. Is there any simple way to add humidity besides a fan blowing on water? Room temps at 22° to 20°C, 30-40% RH.

looking fantastic, how much longer are you going to veg?

Good question...hmmmmmmmm. My plan is to let the branches reach the outer walls then top them. Should I then immediately flip to 12/12 or let them recover from the topping?

Here's what The Bitch did:
flower day1............................day 7..........................day14....................day21........

I am hoping the topping will help control the stretch.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
OO

BTW, I've updated post 2 nute log...bottom line...boringly stable

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

If I were in your shoes, would consider the size of the finished flowers from last run and consider how much room each one should get in a perfect world. From there, try and figure out where each flower should be growing (i.e. a four inch grid with one flower cluster on each intersection).

Prune terminal junction when it hits the edge should push secondary growth on limbs... but you already have a pretty nice structure into your screen. You might want to consider removing some of that secondary growth early to hit your ideal flower spacing.
As you move into flower, you might consider removing some of the additional nodes of the secondary growth to keep crowding minimized and really manage your airflow and light penetration.

Judging from the first 21 days of flower pic, you'll get plenty of stretch over the first three weeks of flower... you can manage a bit of this stretch with variations of supercropping... but my guess is that you are going to be in the best spot if you flip a bit before everything is right where it needs to be... so you can continue training for the first seven to ten days of flower.

 

[organicsquirrel]

Hey man, you can make an easy passive humidifier by putting perlite in a shallow bowl (I've used canning jars in a pinch) and then filling with water. The porous surface of the perlite will put more moisture in the air. These are used pretty successfully in mushroom cultivation, and if I don't fill a seedling tray I usually will add a few to keep the rh at a good level. Edit: make sure that air has easy access to the perlite (you wouldn't want to have the perlite halfway up a deep bowl where the air would have to go into the bowl pretty far to hit the perlite), you want the perlite to be close to the top edge.

 

[touchofgrey]

My plan is to let the branches reach the outer walls then top them. Should I then immediately flip to 12/12 or let them recover from the topping?

I am hoping the topping will help control the stretch.

What do you guys think?

Hey OO, nice looking start there!

If you top I don't think you need to wait for recovery - they'll be slowed but recover fine and it will force the side branches. But if you don't top you can just make a 90 degree bend and go fill in the corners. IMHO, the trick is to keep it horizontal until strech is nearly done which also forces the side branches.

The general scrog guideline is flip when the screen is about 3/4 full and then keep weaving as long as you can. With a heavy streching sativa I think you can flip a little earlier. The side branching will also be stretching and need to be made horizontal too.

In my last grow I was making U turns to go fill in an empty spot while the stretch was heavy. I found they bend a little easier when the pot is dry and they're thirsty.

good luck on the new run... tog

 

[delta9nxs]

?

 

[oldone]

Not a hell of a lot happening. My EC/ph is stable (as predicted) and running 1.9 to 1.7 EC over a 5.6 to 5.8 Ph range. She's growing like a weed(!). I flipped on Nov 10th....

Its the trademark PPK boring grow...
OO

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

How about some boring pictures from this boring grow?

 

[delta9nxs]

Not a hell of a lot happening. My EC/ph is stable (as predicted) and running 1.9 to 1.7 EC over a 5.6 to 5.8 Ph range. She's growing like a weed(!). I flipped on Nov 10th....

Its the trademark PPK boring grow...
OO

you sound disappointed!

 

[oldone]

you sound disappointed!

Disappointed? Au contraire mon ami...

I bet all second run ppk growers are experiencing the same thing. IE, no questions to ask, no problems to solve, no worries...all we have to do is watch 'em grow. Oh and occasionally filling the bulk rez. The epitome of boring...

Any "disappointment" comes from the fact there is nothing to talk about. There is a thread here that asked how often we change our rez. I posted "never" (on page 3) but was met with mild disbelief. I'd like to shoot the fucker down but have not gone through a whole run on Jack's yet. Why dont you guys post there and we'll all have some fun.

Pics? Sure I'm taking some but it looks just like the first run except for my better/earlier defoliation and LST efforts. I think pics at this stage are a waste of bandwidth.

Nice talking with you guys,
OO

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

Why dont you guys post there and we'll all have some fun.

That wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be, except to 'learn' that plants "defecate" high pH something out their roots in flower.

My plants shit high pH, baby.

Out their roots, baby.


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New news to me.

Um... so... I guess that's pretty cool... I mean... I guess...

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A lesson that could be taken away from that: Next time you go for a walk in the woods, clean your shoes carefully. You might have stepped in some high pH, and god knows you don't want to track that through your house.

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SARCASM EDIT: Petwhatever has the largest disconnect between his level of arrogance and his level of success of anyone I've encountered on this board (except maybe me). But maybe he's learning faster than anyone else, and is about the change the grow scene forever, and I'll win the undisputed "Clueless Title"... but before I leave this post, I'd like to emphasize the word 'maybe' (so I used bold) above. (Look at all this punctuation. There is a lot.)