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Noobin up a PPK

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
Now that ive been using it, noticing that it smells sweet, and seeing it brew all sorts of gunk in the res, ive looked closer:
Ca : 5%
Mg : 1%
Molassses : 10%
Cane Sugar : 2.5%

So im paying for sugar not calmag. What a joke.

If it makes ya feel better it has the same amount of ca and mg as regular cal/mag. It's designed to be hand watered in (hence the sugar), so be careful keeping it in your res. Will cause root rot if to much is added without enough aeration. I don't know what kind of stores you have over there, but you might try looking up a farm/fertilizer supply store. See if they sell calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate (A.K.A. epsom salt). These are the raw ingredients for cal/mag. Can be had over here for very cheap. Comes in a powder form that is mixed just like any other powdered nute. Probably have to buy 25 lb of the cal/nit (bout 30-40 dollars here). Epsom salt you might find at the pharmacy/drug store in smaller quantities. One 25lb bag will last you years.
 
D

DaveTheNewbie

Plant looks happy though... and really starting to stretch. Are you going to do any training, or just let her run?

First run im trying to see what a PPK does to a plant i know well. I want to let her do her own thing before i get in there and fuck things up. Down the track who knows.

If it makes ya feel better it has the same amount of ca and mg as regular cal/mag. It's designed to be hand watered in (hence the sugar), so be careful keeping it in your res. Will cause root rot if to much is added without enough aeration. I don't know what kind of stores you have over there, but you might try looking up a farm/fertilizer supply store. See if they sell calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate (A.K.A. epsom salt). These are the raw ingredients for cal/mag. Can be had over here for very cheap. Comes in a powder form that is mixed just like any other powdered nute. Probably have to buy 25 lb of the cal/nit (bout 30-40 dollars here). Epsom salt you might find at the pharmacy/drug store in smaller quantities. One 25lb bag will last you years.

i should be able to find both in reasonable volumes at the local hardware. I guess then the dosage is something i will have to work out. If i have pure cal-nit and mag-sulf then it would be tiny amounts per 30 litre mix of nutes.
 

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
i should be able to find both in reasonable volumes at the local hardware. I guess then the dosage is something i will have to work out. If i have pure cal-nit and mag-sulf then it would be tiny amounts per 30 litre mix of nutes.

Do a little searching around, many ppk'ers use cal-nit along with jacks professional. d9 or hl45 could probably give you a good dose to start with. I'm getting some jacks and cal-nit in the near future so i'll have doses once I plug the analysis into my nute calculator :tiphat:.
 
D

DaveTheNewbie

Do a little searching around, many ppk'ers use cal-nit along with jacks professional. d9 or hl45 could probably give you a good dose to start with. I'm getting some jacks and cal-nit in the near future so i'll have doses once I plug the analysis into my nute calculator :tiphat:.

i believe that they use 1/3 cal-nit to 2/3 jacks.
can you give me more info/direction regarding the nute calculator?
 

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
i believe that they use 1/3 cal-nit to 2/3 jacks.
can you give me more info/direction regarding the nute calculator?

They use a 1 to .666 ratio. I think that works out to just under 2 grams per gallon, don't quote me on that though. As for the nute calc, here is a direct link (http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/download.htm) Download "premixppm", this is the calculator. Instructions are on the first page when you open the calc. Feel free to ask me any questions if you don't understand how to use it. Not sure if the link will stay up, if it doesn't just google "Cannastats nute calculator". Scroll to the bottom of the page, click "downloads", then click "premix ppm" to start the download.
 

hotboxes

Member
looking good dave, yeah once they take hold of the container then the vertical climb starts, about the sugar in the bottom that mister D was speaking about causing the rot. this shouldn't happen since the roots are formed and sustained in the top container as air roots and not sitting in the bottom container in water. so the only way this could effect the roots up top is from a massive ph swing IMHO.
 

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
hey, dave, i just remembered something. back when i first tried coco i was still in maxibloom at about ec 1.5 and was getting some displays.

so keeping the maxibloom at 1.5 which would be 750 ppm at the .5 conversion i added first 50 ppm magnesium sulfate and then 100 ppm calcium nitrate. bringing it to ec 1.8 or 900 ppm total.

this did 2 things. it totally stopped all displays and brought the nitrogen level up to a more effective one for a fast growing plant than the maxibloom alone provided.

this works!
 

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
looking good dave, yeah once they take hold of the container then the vertical climb starts, about the sugar in the bottom that mister D was speaking about causing the rot. this shouldn't happen since the roots are formed and sustained in the top container as air roots and not sitting in the bottom container in water. so the only way this could effect the roots up top is from a massive ph swing IMHO.

Was actually referring to the nutes going anaerobic in the res causing root rot once watered in. The sugar will cause a large bloom of bennies followed by them dying from lack of food, creating anaerobic conditions ripe for causing rot. It may not effect him at all if there is enough oxygen being introduced to the system. Was just pointing out that nutes with heavy sugars (molasses, etc) are usually designed for hand watered soil grows, and he should pay attention to his res. If it starts stinking, dump it.
 

hotboxes

Member
Your right Mister D I know what you mean or meant, there is peeps out there that really should have killed plants in these with super high PPMs, warm water temps, ect. and the plants just keep rockin. good looks though
 

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
Your right Mister D I know what you mean or meant, there is peeps out there that really should have killed plants in these with super high PPMs, warm water temps, ect. and the plants just keep rockin. good looks though

Agreed, the ppk is pretty bullet proof. I actually understand why people are able to get away with the things you listed above, but brewing what amounts to an anaerobic tea and constantly feeding that to your roots will cause root problems in ANY system. As I mentioned before it's possible that enough air is being added via drippers, waterfall, air pump or otherwise that the small amount of sugar in his cal/mag won't have a negative effect. I was/am just edging towards caution :tiphat:.
 

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
1 vote for the constant recirculation creating an aerobic environment unsuitable for anaerobes. Anaerobes lack the oxidase enzyme that allows aerobes like ourselves to detoxify oxygen. Keep pumping the solution around and you'll be fine.

D brings up a point about the exponential growth of microbes, followed by their exponential death... They start dying off when they have consumed all of their resources. Molasses isn't the only source of sugar... So the colony will rebuild itself to a level sustainable by the resources present.
 
D

DaveTheNewbie

all i wanted was a bit of calmag. i didnt know it was full of sugars when i bought it
im not super excited about the idea of blumats clogging up with sugar slime, never mind the PPK
 
D

DaveTheNewbie

ok 2 weeks of flower, looking like a very nice plant.
its still not tall enough to justify the third lamp in the column so i know im not going to get a decent GPW.
i would turn off the top lamp except the other half of the room is sure using it.
the amazing thing to me is that i never topped it (or FIM or whatever), and it looks like it has multiple main colas

picture.php
 
D

DHF

Growin stem never increased bottom line returns with taller lankier increased internode spaced sativa`s Dave , and .....from the looks of this plant`s shorter internode spacing during stretch , along with the strain dependent multi taller limbs becoming dominant without topping.......

I`d haveta say from the looks of things we`re lookin at baseball bat sized colas once dialed if juice and ph levels can stay within dialed parameters....and from the looks of things IME......

That`s a Sat/Ind hybrid with more leaf width and bushier plant structure while still providing vertical stretch , as well as not bein top cola dominant and stretch crazy , or is this something you've run before.......regardless....

I vote thumbs up on the PPK....proof`s in da puddin......and.....

I predict decent yields without needin the upper lamp , but glad it`s helpin the rest of the room....anyways......

Good luck Dave....

Peace....DHF....:ying:.....
 
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Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
all i wanted was a bit of calmag. i didnt know it was full of sugars when i bought it
im not super excited about the idea of blumats clogging up with sugar slime, never mind the PPK

Do a google search for EM-1 suppliers in your area. I use it for 100's of things in and out of the garden. I realized a couple years back it does a very good job at keeping organic/sugar sludge/buildup out of reses and drip lines. Added at 5ml per gal. to all nutes from cut clone til harvest. Has positive effects on the root zone also. A quart costs about 20 bucks over here, and can be "activated" to make something like 20 gals. At 5ml per gal, a quart will last you forever. Really good shit, recommend everyone look into it. Stuff has endless uses, I even drink it daily.
 
D

DaveTheNewbie

Do a google search for EM-1 suppliers in your area. I use it for 100's of things in and out of the garden. I realized a couple years back it does a very good job at keeping organic/sugar sludge/buildup out of reses and drip lines. Added at 5ml per gal. to all nutes from cut clone til harvest. Has positive effects on the root zone also. A quart costs about 20 bucks over here, and can be "activated" to make something like 20 gals. At 5ml per gal, a quart will last you forever. Really good shit, recommend everyone look into it. Stuff has endless uses, I even drink it daily.

very interesting, its like benes for people as far as i can tell.
im suprised ive never heard of this before.

you use it daily and give it the thumbs up D?
i think im going to have to look much further into this stuff.
 

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
very interesting, its like benes for people as far as i can tell.
im suprised ive never heard of this before.

you use it daily and give it the thumbs up D?
i think im going to have to look much further into this stuff.

Actually it's benes for lots of things. There is em-1 sold especially for human consumption (same stuff just processed in a food certified facility). I just buy the regular stuff and let it activate for at least 60 days before consuming any. Though I have many times drank it earlier (as long as the ph has dropped below 4) without any ill effects, people much smarter than myself have recommended it not be consumed for at least 60 days. You can drink the mother culture (straight from the bottle) immediately if desired. I also give it to all of my animals in their water, makes them act noticeably younger. I spray it on oil spills, dog and chicken shit, it will deodorize and consume pretty much anything organic and stinky, makes a great cleaner/degreaser for kitchen bathroom and garage, totally safe and non toxic, the list goes on and on. There are actually books on it's many uses. So ya I give it my daily stamp of approval. You can't over use it either so no worries with it fucking anything up. Awesome stuff really.
 
D

DHF

Do a google search for EM-1 suppliers in your area. I use it for 100's of things in and out of the garden. I realized a couple years back it does a very good job at keeping organic/sugar sludge/buildup out of reses and drip lines. Added at 5ml per gal. to all nutes from cut clone til harvest. Has positive effects on the root zone also. A quart costs about 20 bucks over here, and can be "activated" to make something like 20 gals. At 5ml per gal, a quart will last you forever. Really good shit, recommend everyone look into it. Stuff has endless uses, I even drink it daily.
So this is the reason you don`t concern yourself with "dripclean" huh Dbro......:moon:.....You da man......and.....

Less is more .....bet on it....

Peace....DHF.....:ying:......
 
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