how B. stays Self Reliant

[vStagger Leev]

Great work bro! Everything is lookin dank man! SL

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Lessons Learned from Blumats & Feeding with a Highly Concentrated Solution

Lessons Learned from Blumats & Feeding with a Highly Concentrated Solution

If you've been following my thread, you know that in the process of installing Blumats, I also decided to run only plain water through them. Given that I use straight coco coir for my medium, this presents a problem when it comes to feedings. My solution has been to feed a highly concentrated (1700-2200 PPM mix) nutrient feeding about once every 5-7 days.

This is a quick run-down of what I've learned so far. . .

• My pots have water in them ahead of time and aren't completely dry when I apply the mix, so the overall result as far as the roots are concerned is a different overall PPM concentration than what my I'm pouring in. This is kind of like no-waste coco 101. . .
• With this current system, having plants that are totally "root bound" is key. If not, you will slow down growth in order to feed them because at any given moment the medium is already at the ideal moisture content. This negative effect of adding addition water on top of that is minimized when the roots fill the medium and they're going through the water in no time.
• My Hanna GroCheck Combo (pH/PPM meter) stops measuring PPM's @ around 1800, but my best estimate is that I'm currently feeding them a 2100 PPM nutrient mix. They show no signs of burning, but again, the mix is being fed to plants that are hungry and currently have 230 PPM plain water in the medium.
• I feel like going to a higher PPM mix is not ideal considering that I can't measure accurately. Also, the results I've seen have been fine with the current mix.
• Since I'm not willing to play with the PPM variable much past 2100 PPM's, the only way to dictate how much each plant gets fed is how often I feed the the mix (vs. letting the Blumats do their thing with plain pH-balanced water). I'm still experimenting with this factor, but I'm finding that once a week is a bare minimum, with twice weekly being more appropriate during stretch & mid-flowering. With a 10 week strain that flushes for 3 weeks at the end, that's 7 weeks of actual feeding at an average of once every 5 days, which comes out to be 10 hand waterings per crop. That may not be an ideal system of everyone, but for me it's just about perfect. For perspective, my current strains are all heavy feeders.
• One glaring factor is the fact that I could use a no-feed soilless mix in conjunction with the Blumats and not worry about any of this. The problem is that I live in a place where the cleanliness and ease of hydroponics is key. I wish I could show you where I live, but there's no way bat shit and peat bales are getting mixed here. I've done it before, but to get plants to the size I get them in 3 gallons of coco, it would take 5 gallons of soilless mix and there's absolutely no way that's happening.

Someone hinted that they may have been interested. . .

 

[benzo]

If you've been following my thread, you know that in the process of installing Blumats, I also decided to run only plain water through them. Given that I use straight coco coir for my medium, this presents a problem when it comes to feedings. My solution has been to feed a highly concentrated (1700-2200 PPM mix) nutrient feeding about once every 5-7 days.

[*]My Hanna GroCheck Combo (pH/PPM meter) stops measuring PPM's @ around 1800, but my best estimate is that I'm currently feeding them a 2100 PPM nutrient mix. They show no signs of burning, but again, the mix is being fed to plants that are hungry and currently have 230 PPM plain water in the medium.
[*]I feel like going to a higher PPM mix is not ideal considering that I can't measure accurately. Also, the results I've seen have been fine with the current mix.
[*]Since I'm not willing to play with the PPM variable much past 2100 PPM's, the only way to dictate how much each plant gets fed is how often I feed the the mix (vs. letting the Blumats do their thing with plain pH-balanced water). I'm still experimenting with this factor, but I'm finding that once a week is a bare minimum, with twice weekly being more appropriate during stretch & mid-flowering. With a 10 week strain that flushes for 3 weeks at the end, that's 7 weeks of actual feeding at an average of once every 5 days, which comes out to be 10 hand waterings per crop. That may not be an ideal system of everyone, but for me it's just about perfect. For perspective, my current strains are all heavy feeders.

Sorry if you went over this already, but have you tried lowering the ppms? From the information i ve been seeing, the general consensus is that lower ppms (not low to the point that they are hungry...) produce better nugs compared to the same plant fed a higher concentration.

Since you can only measure to 1800 why not try and back down a little bit?


you probably already thought of this but I figured I mention it to ya.

just my

have a good one!

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Why?!

Why?!

Sorry if you went over this already, but have you tried lowering the ppms? From the information i ve been seeing, the general consensus is that lower ppms (not low to the point that they are hungry...) produce better nugs compared to the same plant fed a higher concentration.

Hey buddy, good to see ya.

I've used hand-watered coco with little to no run-off since around 2005, and most of that time I was following a feed, feed, water routine. My PPM's were always around 1000-1200. This method is basic no-runoff coco. It works great and it's the routine I generally follow in my veg area.

Since you can only measure to 1800 why not try and back down a little bit?

have a good one!

The reason I've been trying higher & higher concentrations is because I need to feed the plants quite a bit of food in as little water as necessary. At least that's what would be most convenient.

I recently installed Blumats, and in an effort to keep things clean in the lines, I run plain water in the Blumat res & hand water a nutrient mix every few days. I'm experimenting with higher concentrations as part of my effort to minimize both the number of hand feedings and the amount of water needed to deliver the needed nutrients.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Glass!

Glass!

A buddy and fellow glass fan cruised by my place and we had a killer session with some really neat pieces. I though I'd share them with you. . .

Manifest Glass Works bubbler with a HMK curve.

4.0 micro oil rig. This thing is great. It cools the vapor enough to make it pleasant, but the volume is very small, so it goes deep!

This is my daily work horse. It's a tiny inline with a HMK curve on it.

This is a Dirty Rico bubbler that works very well with bud or an oil curve.

What would a smoke session be without Zumo? If the oil doesn't put you to sleep, this will.

 

[LouDog420]

Fuckin' oil smoking fiend! Loving the pics bro...

Had a nice 1.5 footer, double perc MGW bong. It had a dome perc in the middle which ended up disconnecting from the tube and just rattling around underneath the ice notches... Such a great bong to fail that way and can't get myself to buy anymore MGW gear after that happened

Gave it to a needy friend who didn't mind the defect, and had a drunken buddy walk right through it... Poor tube had it rough


And the micro oil rig is killer!!!

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Fuckin' oil smoking fiend! Loving the pics bro...

Had a nice 1.5 footer, double perc MGW bong. It had a dome perc in the middle which ended up disconnecting from the tube and just rattling around underneath the ice notches... Such a great bong to fail that way and can't get myself to buy anymore MGW gear after that happened

Gave it to a needy friend who didn't mind the defect, and had a drunken buddy walk right through it... Poor tube had it rough


And the micro oil rig is killer!!!

Yeah, oil fiend is accurate. Takes one to know one though! That sucks about the MGW tube. I'd be furious given what they cost.

My buddy's 4.0 micro is legit. It's a perfect daily work horse.

I have one of HMK's little rigs en route. . . It's transparent green and looks like it'll be just the ticket. I'll post up a pic before I use it when she's still nice & clean.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Kut Curve I

Kut Curve I

Here's the new oil rig!

The back side has more of a stretched pattern to it.

Top of the mouthpiece. . .

. . .and the bottom.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Kut Curve II

Kut Curve II

Very functional.

One corner of the Ti is already seasoned.

All gummed up.

 

[vStagger Leev]

Damn bro... you've got quite the glass collection! All quality too! I still have yet to get on the oil/dabs wagon, not that I dont like it, I just honestly have never made BHO, and have always been more than stoked on full melt bubble Maybe i'll try some bho with my trim from this round. Much love bro, love the collection! SL

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Damn bro... you've got quite the glass collection! All quality too! I still have yet to get on the oil/dabs wagon, not that I dont like it, I just honestly have never made BHO, and have always been more than stoked on full melt bubble Maybe i'll try some bho with my trim from this round. Much love bro, love the collection! SL

Haha, I've got a few nice pieces now, but that's not me holding the glass in the recent images and most of those aren't mine. I wish the 4.0 was though!

I've never made BHO, but I can say that washing with ethanol is cheap, easy, safe & it leads to the best cannabis product I've ever encountered. Highly recommended! I've been known to acquire ounces of SoCal BHO and re-wash it with ethanol/coffee filters to bring it up to my standards. I usually get about 26 of the 28-29 grams back after the coffee filter takes out the nasty stuff. The difference in quality though is night and day. If you're going to do dabs, you've gotta do dabs of absolute amber, not the waxy stuff full of vegetable oil and waxes. . .

Thanks for stopping by buddy. I'd dab you up if I could!

 

[LouDog420]

Dude that green just pops on that piece... Looks fantastic!! Bet it hits just as nice too ...

If I didn't break my shit so often, I would def have to pick one up

Good vibes my dabbin' buddy, keeping me entertained while your room gets extra funky...

 

[Easygrowing]

ucking Nice shots-no doubt about,you and buddy,got got time 2gether
Fantastic B-Self ..

 

[Ohmless]

I have to say wow about the thickness on that roor piece. thanks for the glass images. well done

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Bloom Day 58 - The Hospice is Crowded

Bloom Day 58 - The Hospice is Crowded

Starting to show their colors.

Two things stand out when you enter the bloom space right now. First is the overwhelming smell of my Casey's Dream cut. It's very strong and wonderful. The other thing is the size & density of the Rotten Banana #2 buds. The other RB cut is also looking great, but for yield-related reasons I'm glad the RB #2 was one of the new cuts that was selected for a 3-gallon pot. I hope it smokes as good as it looks!

Right now, the Sour Cindy cut I'm testing looks like it'll be done first, with my familiar Casey's Dream cut finishing last at around day 74 or so. The Rotten Bananas and the Blue Vixen will probably fall somewhere in between. . .

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Bloom Day 71

Bloom Day 71

I've been out of town for the past 8 days, but just came back last night and everything is looking good. Truth be told, I thought the gals would be a little past their prime, but as it turns out, they all look like they could use another 4 days or so. Unfortunately, I have to get my gas meter inspected on Thursday & it's uncomfortably close to my room, so they're all coming down today.

It's a little nerve-wracking to take off for the final week of bloom, but on the other hand you can't be a slave to your plants, right?

I'll take some pics of the harvest as it progresses. . .

 

[B. Self Reliant]

. . .you can't be a slave to your plants, right?

As it turns out you can!

I just finished as much of harvest as I could. I got about 1/3 of it fully trimmed and hung, including a big Casey's Dream, the Blue Vixen, Sour Cindy & both Rotten Bananas. At least I can evaluate the new strains properly. The last four Casey's Dreams had their fan leaves removed and were hung untrimmed due to a lack of time. Sucks to trim all that product dry, but sometimes it works out that way. It all hung for a few hours before I woke up at 5 AM to bag each strain up individually, pack it in a Rubbermaid bin and bring it out to my detached garage because I had a gas meter inspection at 9 AM and needed my house to not smell like harvest.

The meter inspection was just completed and the house smelled totally sterile while the technician was here. The bad news is that he said this happens every 3 years! What a PITA, and as far as I'm concerned a huge violation of privacy. Oh well, not much I can do I guess except plan for a little downtime for maintenance & inspections every little bit.

Now I have to go get the 3 large Rubbermaid bins out of the garage so I can rehang the wet branches. . .

Livin' the dream.

 

[LouDog420]

Glad to hear all went well bro! Tell me about that rotten banana

 

[silver hawaiian]

Can't wait to hear about this RB! My testers oughtta be here soon..

 

[greenmatter]

just saw a shot of you and one of your girls in the funny pics thread B

i wish you could have gotten away with it back when you were working every saturday night!