Here I grow again!

[OG_TGR]

This is my third coco grow. The last one was side by side recirculating and DTW. While I was hoping to garner some valuable information as to the benefit of one over the other; there were so many little issues here and there that I had to deal with along the way, the data would likely not really support one over the other, accurately.
So anyway, here I am again, DTW, but with a slightly different set up. Before I was using troughs. I have used the same troughs for a long time, previously with RW slabs, and I am looking for a different way so that I can not only lessen the amount of waste at the end but hopefully find other benefits as well. I have employed an old CAP Ebb & Grow set up do allow for more controlled drainage as well as less evaporation to more precisely control RH.
Medium is 60/40 Coco/Hydroton, presoaked in mild nutes and SM90 @ 5.9ph. I am using 3 gallon smart pots, in the buckets. Also you may notice that I have fabricated drip rings out of 14", .25" diameter, semi rigid water line (the kind used to run R/O lines or ice makers) with seven small holes drilled on the bottoms. I have read debates about 1 or 2 emitters and hypothesize that this will in fact eliminate any potential "dead" spots.
I am running a 55g, white rain barrel with the full "Expert DTW" schedule (1/2 "Expert Recirculating") as recommended by GH. In addition I have added 2ml/gal of CalMag to the schedule. I am also using H&G Drip Clean at the recommended dosage. I am currently running only 3 minutes/day to get run off, and I will measure my run off EC/TDS tomorrow. Feed TDS is around 700, and res temp stays about 79 degrees. Ambient air temp is maintained at 80-82 degrees by mini split, and RH is kept around 65-70%. I am using (3) 600w Hortilux bulbs in Verizontal 4' reflectors over 4x4 screens of standard trellis netting, 4 plants/light.
Strains are Blue Rhino, with some Super Diesel in there and one Sharks Breath that I was using for a mom on another run. I'd love to run mono but I'm just cooking with the ingredients I have at the moment! All have vegged waaaay too long (same as my last run). Probably 6 weeks, all the time in 4" RW cubes....
The buckets, mini split and additional dehumidifier drain to a condensate removal pump, which will be plumbed to an actual drain shortly.
I will try to take some decent photos tomorrow, and some with proper white balance!

 

[OG_TGR]

So I tested my run off today and the TDS is 1040, 5.8 pH.
I forgot to mention my feed pH is 5.9-6. I set it at 5.9 but it it seems to drift up a little bit (something I didn't expect, but doesn't seem to be a problem). I have been adjusting it every day, with about 35ml (/50 gallons) of pH down.
I would suspect this means I need to flush?
At first I was really surprised to see the higher TDS runoff but then I remembered, I had reused a small portion of the Coco from the last run;I would attribute this to that factor.

I will take some pics if anyone seems interested, lol.

 

[OG_TGR]

Something I hadn't considered until just now but, does anyone have recommendations as to stage-specific pH throughout the bloom cycle? Never had that option before. I'm sure there is info in previous threads and I will search that tonight when I have time, but just wanted to put it out there.

 

[OG_TGR]

arise......chick-en

arise......chick-en

Flushed with 10g of 5.9/200 and run off is now at <300tds. I backed my nutes off to 540 (1.02 ec). I've read as low as 450 (0.9 ec), we'll see how this goes. I wasn't having any issues, just preventative maintenance.
I have also added Subculture B, to help break down nutes. This may be a tad redundant or marginally beneficial, but I had it and it has a shelf life so I figured it couldn't hurt.

Since I'm just kind of talking to the abyss for my own benefit here, and maybe someone who will dig this up for a reference to do or not do when everything goes well or I completely crash; anyone every notice how the emoticon that is pointing up and laughing is pointing to the emoticon that is mooning?

Until next time!

 

[OG_TGR]

I see dead people....

I see dead people....

Starting to feel like Bruce Willis, lol.
Nutes crept up again today but not too bad, ~640. I left it alone just to see what happens tomorrow. If it continues to creep up, I suppose I will flush again and dilute my nute mix even more.
Here are a couple photos of my drip rings. I have noticed that if they aren't completely on the first time, the memory of the poly combined with the tension of a relatively small radius will cause the ends to stretch and split.
I would put a dab of super glue on them but the line is polypropylene, so it's unlikely that would make any difference. If I keep having them pop, I may heat them up a little bit next time, with a heat gun, to alleviate some of the material memory.

 

[OG_TGR]

Everything seemed relatively fine today. Other than widespread leaf burn, which could have only been attributed to the foliar spray of Spray N Grow & SM90 I did yesterday afternoon. Never had this issue before but I haven't used SM90 as a wetting agent. I suppose it remains longer than what I used previously, and burnt the leaves when the lights came on.
I am getting considerable pH drift in my res and I don't understand it. Today it was up to 6.3! that is from 5.9 yesterday, about 18 hours ago. I have taken the air pump off the 15/15 minute cycle as it was only helping the temp by 1 degreeF (79/80) and I don't know if this may somehow contribute to the drift.
Every day I am having to add about 30/35ml of pH down per 55gal, and I just think there has to be something more solid. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas....I would really appreciate it.

 

[Globule]

Hey there OT and nice detail in your grow diary.

I switched from dwc to 100% coco two grows ago and was just curious what the benefit is that you are getting from adding hydroton to your coco (or vice versa)?
Never thought of them as complementary mediums that would benefit from being mixed? What's the deal there?

Good growing to you
Globs

 

[OG_TGR]

Hey Globule, thanks for looking!
Everything I have read calls for some sort of additional medium to allow for more drainage as well as more O2 to the roots. I believe this is mainly to thwart any potential compaction from unavoidable settling of the Coco. I have used both Hydroton as well as chunky Vermiculite. I prefer the former over the latter as it is just easier to handle imo, and very easy to separate from the used coco, and reuse.
I assume you haven't seen any issues like this in 2 years of running straight coco? That's very interesting.

 

[Globule]

Hey OGT

Sorry but I'm still pretty new to Coco. I'm on my 2nd grow with it - not my 2nd year

And I've actually had shitloads of issues growing in coco; but none of them to do with the coco itself as far as I can tell. More to do with my piss-poor "authentic-uninsulated-garage-winter" environment that I seem to have perfected.

But I haven't reached the point where I can identify with something as sexy-sounding as "compaction from unsettled coco" so now I'm thinking I could stand to learn something new.

What is this compaction you speak of and should I be scared?

More pics please sir! And colour this time please
I'm always looking at my plants through an HPS-yellow hue so any green you can give me I would cherish

Good growing to you bro.
Globs

 

[OG_TGR]

Hey man, my second, too! I don't know where the F I got two years, lol.
I have read about pockets getting compacted and basically causing "dead spots" where nutes or leftover plant matter coalesce and basically rot. This grows as molds and the like reproduce in these pockets and eventually cause issues. I believe this is more likely to happen if you are reusing the coco multiple times, and there is a high concentration of old roots and plant matter that hasn't decomposed fully. I wouldn't sweat it, really. Besides this, it seems to me that the 60/40 mix of SOMETHING is pretty standard. Allows for better aeration, drainage, etc. I like the hydrotons because a) they are pretty easy to clean and sterilize, if necessary and b) I have a giant bag of them sitting around! Ha. I've got some of the chunky pearlite and it is just a pita to mess with, imo.
Good luck with the "garage"! I'll try and get some more pics up after the weekend!

 

[OG_TGR]

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The last 4 are still plumbed together but were huge monsters so I just threw them in anyway, and adjusted their height. So far it is working just fine.

 

[OG_TGR]

Here's just a few more pics of the irrigation system I am put together. Member LEDNewbie used some really neat distribution blocks from Home Depot and although they didn't have the specific units he was using available near me, I did find these. This unit ($11) has nine, individually controllable outlets. I was surprised to find that even though the valves are essentially just pressed in, you can literally shut off one outlet with very little deflection, and it is truly off. No leaks at the base and nothing coming out of the emitter hose.

Here's a photo of the small holes I made in the line. Some came out cleaner than others but considering it is DTW, I'm not worried about small pieces getting in the pumps or whatnot.

Here's a full light. I had 11 to go in so I used a "T" on two outlets and adjusted them all for even output by measuring each individual lines output over a short period. Time consuming and probably somewhat unnecessary, but effective.

I inserted the spikes on an angle (this time) so they could get a bite on the small RW cubes below, and therefore gain a good footing and remain stable.

 

[OG_TGR]

New (Color!) photos....

New (Color!) photos....

These are actually for another run [Blue Rhino] that is going to be vertical. I have spent the past week going through every.....single.....post.....from Bobblehead, HGO, DHF, MagaYields, Marlo and a few others and I am convinced. Anyway, that will be another story.
These are 8 days from cutting (5 days out of the humidity dome):

After transplanting it to the 3" cube, I noticed that roots were actually trying to pot out the top of the 1"! I know there is all this new stuff and new solutions and everything but if it isn't broke......this is with Clonex Gel and cubes soaked in Olivia's Cloning Solution for ~8 hrs:

 

[GF-Z]

From my sad personal experience with drippers, everything that is transparent and stays on lights, grows algae, then your nutes comes through, they feed them, they get into the root base, attracts various bugs, they spread viruses, viruses makes fake deffiencies ...
just a small tip (its ok then plants are with big fat leaves, which makes shade, but then plants are young, you can create big problems...
(because some water stays in drippers after feeding, it and you feeding only then lights are on, perfect time for algae and cyano bacteria species...)
in your situation, i would cover tops with some high quallity triple layer sheeting, just until plants would get bigger.
This is just in case, prevention is better.
stay safe.
peace.

 

[OG_TGR]

From my sad personal experience with drippers, everything that is transparent and stays on lights, grows algae, then your nutes comes through, they feed them, they get into the root base, attracts various bugs, they spread viruses, viruses makes fake deffiencies ...
just a small tip (its ok then plants are with big fat leaves, which makes shade, but then plants are young, you can create big problems...
(because some water stays in drippers after feeding, it and you feeding only then lights are on, perfect time for algae and cyano bacteria species...)
in your situation, i would cover tops with some high quallity triple layer sheeting, just until plants would get bigger.
This is just in case, prevention is better.
stay safe.
peace.

Hmm, that certainly makes sense. I was going to use my feed line (.25" rainbird/black airline) but it is hard to drill/cut anything close to a precision hole in a rubber hose! Honestly I am not completely convinced that all the work to make them was worth the trouble. I think distribution is certainly something more of a concern in larger pots, say #5+, but as some have suggested, the wicking of the coco itself usually provides a pretty uniform distribution in something this small.
I'll keep a close eye on it. I think if I start to get algae I will just eliminate them and go go double drippers, as opposed to adding even more labor to this particular set up.

Thanks for the input!

 

[OG_TGR]

Well so far I am not seeing any algae growth in the emitter rings. The only problems I am having with them is the very tight radius rings are splitting on the ends, if they are not pushed all the way on and over the "t" barb.

I'm not convinced they are worth the trouble/time to make them, though. Next time I will probably just go with 2 emitters or just 2 leads off of the "t".

I've got a little showing of some fungus gnats, and I treated with AZAMax. That of course knocks them down, but doesn't knock them out. I applied Gnatrol today to one side, and SM90 soak on the other. Last time I treated the Coco with SM90 and it seemed to do the trick, I will remember to do it again, next time.

As you can see the less dense planting (4/light) is girls that were way overgrown. I put them in and withing the first week I did a foliar application of Spray n Grow and I don't know if it was the SnG that was bad or my wetting agent but, it almost killed EVERYTHING. The next day when I checked all the leaves were badly burnt, almost like when you foliar feed with the lights on/close.
After about a week more of vegging, a couple had died and were replaced with back ups, and what is left is the spotty remains.

Anyway, here is some pics:

The buckets are getting 1 min/3x/day @ 740ppm (1.4e), 5.8-6.0pH and the troughs are currently getting 1 min/2x/day @ 740 (1.4e), 5.8-6.0pH
Full GH FloraNova "Expert" DTW schedule

I am more than please to address any comments or criticisms.
Thanks for looking!

 

[OG_TGR]

Oh yeah, I've got this going, too. Forgot to update, I'll post pics/info tomorrow sometime!

 

[OG_TGR]

Real early on everything got pretty fried here by some crazy shit that happened with a foliar spray.

Almost completely killed everything but, it was holding on enough for me to let it roll, as well as put the other small ones in, just to make up for it.

I've consolidated down to 4 lights.

 

[OG_TGR]

4wks to go @ 10wks:

 

[OG_TGR]

I'm thinking this is nute burn, can anyone verify this for me? Thanks.