8 Plants x 8 Lights. Farmer's New Toys

The science is all there if you're willing to read papers about legal crops. Not very exciting stuff, but if you understand the reason a concept works, you can apply that knowledge to alot of situations. There's definitely an advantage from the extra minerals being used by the plants for reasons science doesn't fully grasp atm, as well as the added buffering capacity that can be used to create a nice slow steady swing in ph, allowing for optimial uptake of all nutrients.

Mister_D said:

The science is all there if you're willing to read papers about legal crops. Not very exciting stuff, but if you understand the reason a concept works, you can apply that knowledge to alot of situations. There's definitely an advantage from the extra minerals being used by the plants for reasons science doesn't fully grasp atm, as well as the added buffering capacity that can be used to create a nice slow steady swing in ph, allowing for optimial uptake of all nutrients.

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Finally.....Real shit.......

As plants eat, ph rises and ppms drop........Teach em D Bro.......Gone fishin.....

Peace....Freds......

What would be your thoughts when the tap is really hard? I tried mixing half and half when I started with tap coming out at 550 @ .5 and even 1/4 tap 3/4 RO and was getting really unhappy plants with a lot of leaf curling - went back to RO and adding cal/mag before anything else and everything settled down.

Kit Kat said:

What would be your thoughts when the tap is really hard? I tried mixing half and half when I started with tap coming out at 550 @ .5 and even 1/4 tap 3/4 RO and was getting really unhappy plants with a lot of leaf curling - went back to RO and adding cal/mag before anything else and everything settled down.

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I'd first question what the make up of that 550 ppm is? If it's something like iron, a simple iron filter could make it usuable without striping all the other elements. Hell in most cases a 40 dollar whole house filter will do the trick. First step is getting it tested just like any commerical grower would. In a lot of places your county extension agent will have a recent water analysis on hand. They will usually even give you a copy for free. Or there are several labs that will test for 20-30 bucks.

Thanks guys,

Going to try supplementing for now until I can get my water tested.

I'm currently on a really funky well and my PPMs are sky high (around 600 last time I checked). I get a ton of clay type of buildup on my whole house filter and sediment filters. After the holiday I'll look into getting it tested to see what I'm working with.


I do have both epsom and Cal-Mag Plus (that has been sitting unused) so I'll have to run some experiments to see what they respond to best. I gave them a foliar spray last night of epsom at around 3/4 tsp in a Quart. We'll have to see if they respond at all.

FlowerFarmer said:

Thanks guys,

Going to try supplementing for now until I can get my water tested.

I'm currently on a really funky well and my PPMs are sky high (around 600 last time I checked). I get a ton of clay type of buildup on my whole house filter and sediment filters. After the holiday I'll look into getting it tested to see what I'm working with.


I do have both epsom and Cal-Mag Plus (that has been sitting unused) so I'll have to run some experiments to see what they respond to best. I gave them a foliar spray last night of epsom at around 3/4 tsp in a Quart. We'll have to see if they respond at all.

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If the buildup looks like red clay, I bet it's iron. My well water comes out at .9EC, and I use 2 carbon sediment filters, 1 in a whole house filter and 1 in the RO unit. W/o the double sediment filter, I could still taste the iron in the water, and my EC was 0.1 out of the RO. Now it's 0.0.

Not sure exactly when, but these are some of the final shots I took before harvest. Had continuous problems throughout running 6/9 in RO, but ultimately the garden still put out acceptable weight for me. When growing horizontally I got around 1lb per 1k, so anything over 1.5 lb per 1k I'm happy with. 1st time growing trees and it sure was nice only dealing with a few plants. My next round is pretty fucked right now after having only received straight un-pH adjusted RO for nearly 2 weeks while I was away, but looks to be bouncing back now. Still experiencing deficiencies across the board with 6/9 in RO so I'll be switching back to Maxibloom at 7g/Gal from here on out.









Total yield 10lbs from 6400w sealed w/ co2. Not great, but a successful chop none the less.

Payin the bills and still stroking is what matters....10 lbs works .....Respect FF........

Hope yas find yer sweet spot with every setup yas run , be it coco or fast hydro........

Happy Ho Ho....DHF...........

god i would have nightmares about trimming all that. nice work

I certainly don't love it, but this one wasn't too bad.

I eyeballed everything bulky and worthwhile and de-faned/hung to later do by hand. Everything lower went through a borrowed Twister. Not too thrilled with it. Maybe for large large hauls, but I didn't have enough product to keep it moving through the drum. Prop it up one end and it'd come out shaggy. Noisy as well. Didn't do anything I cant achieve with my Rotor.

Twister shit dried on a rack the hanging stuff I waited until it was almost dry on the stem, but was looking like it'd be impossible to get it all done before I had to leave for 2 weeks. I binned up the branches..dry but not snapping stems yet and drove it to my brokers where we were going to finish trimming it. Came back the next day to my surprise and found that he pulled and all nighter solo and was DONE!

I've been told to stop stressing myself with harvest time/trimming (focus on the reload) and have been given the offer to contract out all of my trimming work to my broker and a few of his close people for $20/hr. I'd be responsible for hacking it down branch size and de-fanning - they'd do the rest. I'd remain 100% anonymous aside from my broker knowning who I am of course. I'm all over it because I'm unworried about my broker cheating me, but can't come to grips with the logistics of getting it down and 25min drive across town while still fresh. Seems like a major risk unless I can devise some type of odor proof containers or bins to make the trip with. I was thinking foam insulation board boxes that I can seal shut just before driving with flex tape. Any thoughts?

Trimming fucks me up bad - sinus/respiratory issues. That is my main motivating factor. I'm not afraid of the time/work.



Anyways, after this next run I'd like to try PPKs in this tree room / 7 plants. I'm a feign for hydro and coco/blumats just isn't filling that craving. I'd like to grow in a media which doesn't hold nutrients and have the CEC concerns of coco.

Going to do 7 trees in between my checkerboard light pattern. Look into ideal containers now. Any ideas? Not sure Delta's type of containers would give me the ground floor stability that I'm looking for. I wont be caging them, only yo-yoing branches to the ceiling so I don't want anything that can tip on me.

Not a problem since the bottom bucket hold some water?
Would turface/rice hull mixture in a large smart pot w/ tailpiece down into a yellow top lowes strong box be ideal?

Any reason to source tire stems and the appropriate sized lines or can I just use 1/2" grommets/drain fittings and regular hydro-shop 1/2" tubing?

Good size pump to pulse 7 trees?


Can hardly wait.

Join the ppk tree club! You will not regret it.

I used a tomato cage initially and eventually tied the cage to the ceiling with a three strings.

I honestly feel that the only reason I was able to harvest when I was breeding root aphids was because of D9s ppk.

As for moving the wet herbs, They make carbon filter duffel bags, while they are a bit spendy they do work. Just throwing it out there. They are called "freedon fighters" i think...

Good Luck

I only use danner/pondmaster pumps. I have a 950gph and it works great for 10 sites. I could be wrong but I think d9 suggests around 100 gph per a site...

Cant wait to try some PPKs.. going to start acquiring supplies.... right after I trim this circles room, transplant more shit, re-setup the circles room. Fuck.. the tasks never end.

Here are my current trees in the sealed room..not even blumat yet. Same shit, different crop. Watered with a wand/pump to run-off daily.. Co2 ran out for a short bit (gotta keep extra tanks on hand).. back on now @ 1200ppm. Wish I had an alarm to tell me my PPMs have fell below my set point. Raised my temps a bit to give me a leaf temp of around 83F.

These plants were nearly dead and starving after they barely survived my leave away. (RO only for nearly 2 weeks..not pH'd). Once I got back I hit them with 6/9 with little improvement. Said fuck it and switched everything back to maxibloom and they started blowing up.

Here they are now. Flipped to 12/12 on the 26th so that makes us what?..round' ~9 days flower.

They are loving the Maxibloom @7g/Gal + 5mL Grotek Pro-Silicate (added 1st), but still are exhibiting some deficiencies that move from the bottoms upward.. progressing to the point its got me worried I wont take it to the finish before buds are effected.

Is this Mg? (add epsom to my maxibloom's 7g/gal)?
P- ?
I was thinking about foliaring with some epsom. Recommended dose?

pH is 5.8-6.0. EC I'm unsure, but maxibloom typically put me at 1.6-1.8 if I recall. Run-off pH is same as it goes in..maybe .2 higher. Not sure run-off EC as my truncheon is being used elsewhere.

Odd thing is however that my RO is no longer starting close to 7 like it was weeks/months ago, but really low (5). Why is my fresh RO so low? Its sort of nice because silicate takes it up.. and maxibloom brings it back down to 5.9 without further adjustment, but I thought RO was supposed to be neutral.

Any ideas? Pics make them look better then they are. They have yellowing that looks similar to Mg- that moves from the bottoms up. Purple stems everywhere! Orange spots on a few, but not much. Will throw some leaf shots up later on tonight.

Some jungle bushes. I want to thin them out, but not sure when. After the stretch? I've done nothing so far really..they are thick and their 'guts' are in the dark.

see bottom right of picture here




My favorite lady of the bunch







Gonna get some close-up leaf shots.. I just want flawless health...its driving me crazy.

Holy tree! :jawdrop:

Looking amazing FF!

Classic Cal/Mag symptoms Bro........Purple petiole`s with yellowed interveinal chlorosis along with the brown/rust spots........

Cal/Mag+ @ 5 ml per gal with every feed till they catch up......and then as long as yas need it to prevent premature yellowing with bigger plants that have bigger demands to be all they can be..........

Holler if I can help......DHF.........

This is what creeps from the bottoms up. Now, these plants blew up once back on maxibloom.. but I still think this issue persists. Unless I'm crazy and it is just old damage. Hard for me to tell, but pretty certain this is continuing to move up the plant.

Appreciate the help DHF.. thanks for the props silver H.

If you say Calmag def then calmag it is. I've been told this before..and figured the switching to maxibloom vs. head would provide me the stronger dose to provide adequate Ca & Mg. It helped, but apparently still not enough with my RO. You think I should supplement botanicare cal-mag or is merely a Mg- that epsom can take care of?

Guess I'm just stubborn.. Waaay too much info in regards to fulfilling the needs of coco's cravings. Some say maxibloom @7g/gal has all the ca/mg one would need.. others say Cal-Mag a must if using RO. The responses vary all over the place...and I'm a minimalist at heart so less it always more. (not a money or workload issue), just stubborn in general to add 'stuff' if its not ultimately needed, if ya can dig me.

I've got both Botanicare Cal-mag and epsom here, but just hesitant to add the extra N and others to the maxibloom profile.

6/9 with Cal-mag previously didnt seem to help much. Maybe I'll have better luck using maxibloom w/ it. I thought raising my pH a hair and ensuring they get hit daily w/ run-off would fix things up, but no cigar. These ladies still craving something more.


On a side note. Picked up a hudson portable atomizer from a friend who felt it was too powerful for his garden. The thing is like a mini water/mist cannon and looks more suited for outdoor use, but my trees would have no problem loving it. Looking to get more into foliar feeding during veg in addition to root feeding maxibloom. Gonna try some alfalfa pellet tea before I spend any money on anything else, but I'd be interested in hearing others opinion on proper foliar programs that give noticeable improvements to garden health. I've got the capability now to blast with a fine, but very powerful mist. kelp? fish? fulvics? What do you guys like? I want lush ass ladies damnit!

PH issues as well as Cal/Mag evidently being locked out causing rust spots and the interveinal chlorosis , but........

X can be anything......Hope yas figure it out Bro.....

Good luck ......DHF............

id go with Pro-Mix HP or Sunshine Mix 4 mix in the future and you won't have cal-mag issues like coco inherently does...

as for this grow i'd bump up your base nutes by 400ppm and if that doesn't take care of it you can always flush and try again...

I hadta add tapwater to my R/O mix before mixin juice to keep from fuckin ppm`s up when I went with full on coco and.........

Dealing with the CEC of said medium that needs dialed before plants can blast off in that hydro-like growth and swellage pattern ..........

I found out early on that 5 ml per gal Cal/Mag even with 1/2 tapwater worked with my plants......well...

Hadta add more with that whore ass Chem D to make her be all she could be , but she was worth it........and 1 more thingy FF.......

Coco will lock onto potassium as well before releasing it back to the plants until a certain level is reached , and that could be a contributing factor as well....I always used Silicablast @ 5 ml per gal for stemwall strength and a K boost for dialed results....anyways.....

Good luck....DHF............