Something wicked this way comes

tilopa · Aug 18, 2019

I was about to come on here and ask if anyone knows of a good replacement for perlite, something that is sturdier. And it seems like the growstones are it. Sucks they are out of business.

I've been using coco and perlite, about half and half and I feel like it never seems to drain fully. I'm looking for something else also. Have you tried that floor dry stuff, I was going to look into that next, but it does not sound great.

Earlmarne · Aug 18, 2019

I go super heavy on perlite to dry down faster. Im going to use coco perlite next round

Gry · Aug 18, 2019

Still sifting floor dry.

420ish · Aug 23, 2019

still using turface over and over.only thing that sucks is breaking up rootballs and cleaning as much roots out before reusing

newguy41410 · Aug 24, 2019

420ish said:
still using turface over and over.only thing that sucks is breaking up rootballs and cleaning as much roots out before reusing

you just re-use the turface instead of throwing it away and using new turface? Do you find it a lot less work that way?

Gry · Aug 24, 2019

Some times I am able to reuse it a couple of times, other times I may get only a single
use out of it. Glad it not more expensive, and available near by.
Pain in ass to sift through it either way.
Use an old 2 cup flour sifter with a modified screen, it is always an
experience, when I do it, I remind myself that all labor has
dignity.

420ish · Aug 25, 2019

it is not much easier than sifting new when you add in the rinsing off trying to get the roots out.for the last nine months i just used new since i was bringing in water bottles.i now have enough once i clean it all to last for years.i prefer reusing due to the powder that you breath while sifting new material.

indianajones · Apr 6, 2020

Growstone is available again, but even more expensive than before. Brand name is buddystone.

Earlmarne · Apr 6, 2020

I always throw my medium out in the garden. Ive been super impressed with coco and perlite. I found some #8 perlite for tail pipe. Then use #4 for a layer on bottom with a sprinkling of coco croutons then #2 with light coco then coco prrlite top layer

Earlmarne · Apr 6, 2020

Going to be using a mix of coco and bokashi inoculated wheat bran for this run. Ive had fairly good results adding bacteria to my ppk system so I figure why not.
Going to be trying a lower input ec this round also.
Ive been screwing with the ratios. Ive settled in on 2mil a g fulvix2 mil a galslf100. 3 gr jacks 2 calnit 1/4mkp 1/2g ca-10 I mix this for for gallons and fill to 55 as Im a simpleton and havnt done the math to dilute. I think at full strength that puts me at 1.3-1.4 ec which is too strong.
Im shooting for a 1.0 ec and hopefully with this ratio I can go even lower

Snook · Apr 6, 2020

Earlmarne said:
Going to be using a mix of coco and bokashi inoculated wheat bran for this run. Ive had fairly good results adding bacteria to my ppk system so I figure why not.
Going to be trying a lower input ec this round also.
Ive been screwing with the ratios. Ive settled in on 2mil a g fulvix2 mil a galslf100. 3 gr jacks 2 calnit 1/4mkp 1/2g ca-10 I mix this for for gallons and fill to 55 as Im a simpleton and havnt done the math to dilute. I think at full strength that puts me at 1.3-1.4 ec which is too strong.
Im shooting for a 1.0 ec and hopefully with this ratio I can go even lower

Funny E, I've been going the other way, up to 725ppm. Same scale as original. 435ppms jacks & 291ppms cal. What benifit is there to lowering PPMs? :dunno:

Earlmarne · Apr 6, 2020

Snook said:
Funny E, I've been going the other way, up to 725ppm. Same scale as original. 435ppms jacks & 291ppms cal. What benifit is there to lowering PPMs?

Less excess. Kind of always my goal to feed my girls as little as necessary. Is that not a normal thing?
Even with my de lights and co2 my ec rises and eventually needs water added back. So it only makes sense to me to lower input until that is no longer a thing

newguy41410 · Apr 6, 2020

Earl, is it hard finding Turface/oil-dri/pumice where you are at, I'm surprised you're using coco! It works well? I'm still running Turface and #4 Perlite. Good to see some activity in this thread, just wanna say I hope every one is doing well in these crazy times. Bless you all!

Earlmarne · Apr 7, 2020

newguy41410 said:
Earl, is it hard finding Turface/oil-dri/pumice where you are at, I'm surprised you're using coco! It works well? I'm still running Turface and #4 Perlite. Good to see some activity in this thread, just wanna say I hope every one is doing well in these crazy times. Bless you all!

No, its cheap and easily accessible. I just like to screw with stuff. I had a round a few back that was too heavy on turface and I made the switch after that.
This virus has been a blessing to my garden. Ive had a lot of time to put into it that I did not before. I hope everyone is fairing well. Numbers are pretty low around here thus far

Snook · Apr 7, 2020

Earlmarne said:
Less excess. Kind of always my goal to feed my girls as little as necessary. Is that not a normal thing?
Even with my de lights and co2 my ec rises and eventually needs water added back. So it only makes sense to me to lower input until that is no longer a thing

I thought when total water amount declines during growth, ec will go up at any PPM level as they grow. The concentration of nutrients becomes greater as water amount decreases, raising ec. You are still talking ppks, right? My setup has shown the same results every time: starting at 600ppms. the pump rez PPMs is usually 50-150PPMs higher than start and when run is finished, the ppk rez is at about 1000 ppms. the only 'add backs' that occur is at the control bucket after plant demand is called for after a feeding. I also thought when using co2 (dont use co2) that there would be a higher plant demand for nutes and ppms and should be higher anyway. :tiphat:

Earlmarne · Apr 7, 2020

Snook said:
I thought when total water amount declines during growth, ec will go up at any PPM level as they grow. The concentration of nutrients becomes greater as water amount decreases, raising ec. You are still talking ppks, right? My setup has shown the same results every time: starting at 600ppms. the pump rez PPMs is usually 50-150PPMs higher than start and when run is finished, the ppk rez is at about 1000 ppms. the only 'add backs' that occur is at the control bucket after plant demand is called for after a feeding. I also thought when using co2 (dont use co2) that there would be a higher plant demand for nutes and ppms and should be higher anyway.

Im not really sure.
Yes thus far in my ppk adventure Ive yet to not have ec/ppm rise. I do though believe there has to be a sweet spot. Just trying to find that.
I am under the same impression as far as lights and co2. I think I have my room maximized as far as lighting per
Sq. I cant have the lights turned up til flowering with some strains. I do so an increase in uptake with lights at100% and co2 . I also see least excess thus far with original ratio. With that I very often see deficiencies though. So in there lays my issue. My dtw plants do not show me any deficiencies so I connect the dots that the ratio needs higher count of certain elements. Ca is my focus this round.
Im far from well versed in all this. Im just trying to learn through experimentation. Albeit I do not go about things in a manner that make results easily identifiable sometimes.
Run before last I pulled 6.5 units out frome under my 2 de 1ks with 630 in between over 4 ppk buckets. Best Ive ever done. That was just adding mkp to original ratio. But I also showed a severe deficiency in both my headbanger cuts. This was also a run that I kept total ec down by adding back water. And cutting calnit at 6 wks or there abouts.
With not being perpetual I have a want to steer my solution more so than originally intended.

gmanwho · Apr 8, 2020

Earlmarne said:
Im not really sure.
Yes thus far in my ppk adventure Ive yet to not have ec/ppm rise. I do though believe there has to be a sweet spot. Just trying to find that.
I am under the same impression as far as lights and co2. I think I have my room maximized as far as lighting per
Sq. I cant have the lights turned up til flowering with some strains. I do so an increase in uptake with lights at100% and co2 . I also see least excess thus far with original ratio. With that I very often see deficiencies though. So in there lays my issue. My dtw plants do not show me any deficiencies so I connect the dots that the ratio needs higher count of certain elements. Ca is my focus this round.
Im far from well versed in all this. Im just trying to learn through experimentation. Albeit I do not go about things in a manner that make results easily identifiable sometimes.
Run before last I pulled 6.5 units out frome under my 2 de 1ks with 630 in between over 4 ppk buckets. Best Ive ever done. That was just adding mkp to original ratio. But I also showed a severe deficiency in both my headbanger cuts. This was also a run that I kept total ec down by adding back water. And cutting calnit at 6 wks or there abouts.
With not being perpetual I have a want to steer my solution more so than originally intended.

something id like to point out, headbanger is a difficult plant to grow without deficiencies. i dont run her no more. i find other varieties like ecsd, sfv an other og's can be problematic. while i can have a different plant feeding the same a few spots over and not showing any signs of deficiencies.

i think your on the right path with increasing calcium across the board. lately ive been playing with adding different mineral sources. calcium for example. i use not only calcium nitrate, but also amend the medium with gypsum calcium, and also use dissolivine calcium edta. then metalosate calcium as a foliar. hit it from multiple angles as they all have different absorption rates. just as phosphates an phosphites are absorbed differently. nitrates nitrites

not just using epsom (magnesium sulphate) but using magnesium nitrate as well. i find the magnesium nitrate works alot quicker, even as a foliar. but the magnesium nitrate you wouldt want to use late flower as it will produce calyx fox tailing.

ya i had a love hate relationship with the headbanger.

the rabbit hole goes deep......

best of luck with your experiments.

Earlmarne · Apr 9, 2020

gmanwho said:
something id like to point out, headbanger is a difficult plant to grow without deficiencies. i dont run her no more. i find other varieties like ecsd, sfv an other og's can be problematic. while i can have a different plant feeding the same a few spots over and not showing any signs of deficiencies. I really like the idea of adding gypsum to the media

i think your on the right path with increasing calcium across the board. lately ive been playing with adding different mineral sources. calcium for example. i use not only calcium nitrate, but also amend the medium with gypsum calcium, and also use dissolivine calcium edta. then metosalate calcium as a foliar. hit it from multiple angles as they all have different absorption rates. just as phosphates an phosphites are absorbed differently. nitrates nitrites

not just using epsom (magnesium sulphate) but using magnesium nitrate as well. i find the magnesium nitrate works alot quicker, even as a foliar. but the magnesium nitrate you wouldt want to use late flower as it will produce calyx fox tailing.

ya i had a love hate relationship with the headbanger.

the rabbit hole goes deep......

best of luck with your experiments.

You are dead right here. I actually tossed this cut. Was just a freakin pain in the ass all the way through. After 1st harvest I was so glad to see one of the plants still alive outside. Best smoke Ive ever produced.
So while I keep popping beans, this last year a lot of my evolution and such has been directed at keeping that 1 girl happy.
Ive never had anything else complain about the og ratio.
Heck she also dont act right when I cycle as regularly as any other cut. I think at the end of it all. Getting to know her is making me a better grower.
I got my 4 sites loaded today. With extra attention to very high perlite. Actually noticed slight deficiencies showing as I mixed the last rez with no disolvine.
got the system Dry tonight will fill with solution tomorrow. Watered in with em1/garden fr. fungacide/kelp. Going to let them dry out a few times before starting the cycle timer and pay a lot closer mind to keeping them drying down this round.
I think for initial fill Im going with 3jacks 2 calnit 1disolvine and possibly some epsom. Just to get that coco charged up

gmanwho · Apr 9, 2020

Earlmarne said:
You are dead right here. I actually tossed this cut. Was just a freakin pain in the ass all the way through. After 1st harvest I was so glad to see one of the plants still alive outside. Best smoke Ive ever produced.
So while I keep popping beans, this last year a lot of my evolution and such has been directed at keeping that 1 girl happy.
Ive never had anything else complain about the og ratio.
Heck she also dont act right when I cycle as regularly as any other cut. I think at the end of it all. Getting to know her is making me a better grower.
I got my 4 sites loaded today. With extra attention to very high perlite. Actually noticed slight deficiencies showing as I mixed the last rez with no disolvine.
got the system Dry tonight will fill with solution tomorrow. Watered in with em1/garden fr. fungacide/kelp. Going to let them dry out a few times before starting the cycle timer and pay a lot closer mind to keeping them drying down this round.
I think for initial fill Im going with 3jacks 2 calnit 1disolvine and possibly some epsom. Just to get that coco charged up

try amending the coco with gypsum, i do 2 cups to a bag of tupor. which i think is 1.5 cu ft of medium.

think at one point i was saying 4 grams per gall of dissolvine, but i have since learned about the high sodium in it. now which i run 2 grams per gal , an use other sources as stated.

another point is the cal nit, which are not all created equal, haifa cal nit prime is said to be the cleanest on the market at this time. an what i mean by clean is said to have the least amount of sodium and chloride content comparing to other cal nit products. when recirculating these can build, then cause more phantom deficiencies due to toxicity. chloride scorching can look like k or mag deficiencies. maybe the headbanger was more sensitive to either of these elements??

hope it works out for u!

bwell

Earlmarne · Apr 9, 2020

gmanwho said:
try amending the coco with gypsum, i do 2 cups to a bag of tupor. which i think is 1.5 cu ft of medium.

think at one point i was saying 4 grams per gall of dissolvine, but i have since learned about the high sodium in it. now which i run 2 grams per gal , an use other sources as stated.

another point is the cal nit, which are not all created equal, haifa cal nit prime is said to be the cleanest on the market at this time. an what i mean by clean is said to have the least amount of sodium and chloride content comparing to other cal nit products. when recirculating these can build, then cause more phantom deficiencies due to toxicity. chloride scorching can look like k or mag deficiencies. maybe the headbanger was more sensitive to either of these elements??

hope it works out for u!

bwell

Very possible. Ive never ran the disolvine higher than 1g yet. I searched out haifa calnit when I started using jacks so is all I use. Due to the reasons stated.
My first run with her it came to mind that I was having lockouts due to high ec. In veg I flushed and lowered ec bellow 1.0 for periods to try and chase that theory to no avail

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