5Lbs/1Kw Challenge-The Quest for 80 Zips with Galactic Grape

[Swampwater]

Thank's for the reply AK. I did read the tips n tricks thread(in fact I've read all your threads-fantastic stuff). I especially like your mom tea recipe.
I've been wanting to use DM for a while now and your recipe sounds like a winner. I'll be popping beans soon for some long overdue Bros Grimm breeding projects(been planning since Overgrow lol) and the first round testers will more than likely be grown in coco 2gal hempy buckets. I'll give it a go there.

And Those galactic grapes look fantastic, I'm routing for ya man. I see no reason why you can't hit 5, or damn close to it. This will definitely make icmag history.
K+ your way

 

[~Shhh~]

Aero do you find that fan leaves about 1/3 - 1/2 way down the plant find their way up to the canopy level when you train the plants down like this? I have found this with a couple of my strains that I trained to have many colas kinda scrogged without the screen.

It's a royal pita as they block light from penetrating the canopy. I've snipped most of mine of but I see you still have quite a few fans left on yours. Sorry if you've covered this already bro, damn stoners aye

 

[aerokrafter]

Day 28 Bloom Update

Unit:


Bud:


Track Plant:


Data:


The plants took a couple days to resort themselves. After contracting the trellis, they took a step out. It is one solidly woven cube of plants.

At this point, I can honestly say I've done about every thing possible large or small to max these plants - and they certainly have responded! I now have to put my trust in the plant and let it direct me as much as possible to assist it in pushing out bud.

I will keep a light touch on the nutes. I want to keep them just a step away from hungry, while anticipating needs, and accelerating nutes only as the plants ask for them.

I am starting to pluck leaves from the top of the canopy. Anything that pokes or shades gets pulled. It will take a week or two - but soon there will be no fans in the canopy at all. I'm doing this over time vs just stripping the plants, to help direct the final canopy formation by keeping leaves till they need to go. Fans below are redirected downward. ~Shhh~ is right - the leaves try sneaking up and get pushed back. I'm keeping these bottom leaves as long as possible to keep wicking nutes into the plants. I've restarted foliar sprays - but only for the bottom leaves. You can see on the data sheet when they have been done - the semi-circle S indicates a bottom spray.

Thank you all for your comments. Ya made me blush! But really, my greatest hope is for everyone to consider what THEY would do to max out their plants. AND to consider sharing it with us!

As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

 

[Pimp Aurora]

Looks great so far! I hope you achieve your goal. Clearly you are able to grow great looking weed whether beating a challenge or not you'll still get a great harvest.

Staying tuned

 

[Scottish Research]

How much water are you having to add back on a daily basis? I may have asked this already.




R.Fortune

 

[ElusiveQuark]

Aero-

Thank you for so generously sharing your knowledge. I just read through all of your posts in your sig. Your posts are clear and concise, with a positive and enthusiastic tone. This middle-aged newbie would like to say thank you for the quality contained in your growing and posting.

Query: Do you let the pump run 24/7 throughout the veg in the cloner? Do you ever use bleach in your active res?

 

[joesilver]

Damn that is a ton of quick growth

 

[catalyte]

great grow ya got AK!

 

[aerokrafter]

- R.Fortune

These plants are transpiring about an inch and a half a day now. That’s around 5-7 gallons. Topping the res at a consistent time is required - for both the plants and to get useable readings.
　

- ElusiveQuark

I leave all pumps on 24/7. These small pumps just don’t last long using a cycle timer. A cloner pump failure is a huge disaster.

I can’t think of a good reason to put bleach in an active res. I’ve never seen it do good things to plants. In fact one of the strangest things I’ve seen happened when I didn’t rinse the cloner pucks enough. The roots grew into the pucks rather than be exposed to the bleach that had leached into the res solution.
　

Thanks for the questions guys!


Reader Mailbag

Amongst the questions in pm's that I get, there were questions raised that I thought would be worth sharing here.


Your ppms are incredibly low. How is this possible?

One of the greatest secrets to be learned in aero growing is that low ppms are best. I had a hard time adjusting to this myself - I was used to jamming 1800 - 2000 ppm at max feed in DWC. Now it is rare to cross into 500 territory.

The problem becomes finding a low ppm recipe that covers the plants needs and has a stable pH. I spent a few years experimenting before formulating my current mix. You can read more about that journey in the tips n trix thread.
　

Your threads are so packed with useful things I don’t know where to start! If you were to pick the one most useful piece of advice for the average grower, what would it be?

I would have to say the first thing that everyone needs in order to improve is information. Data gathering is the first step in understanding. In order to learn from both mistakes and success, you must know how you got there.

Here are blank sheets:


　
These are set up for hydro - however the idea can be adapted for just about any situation.
　

Galactic Grape Thread Update

I recently finished a shakedown run and updated the GLG thread with 3 sisters of the plant we are growing here.

Here’s a peek:






Thanx all for the kind thoughts and words.

-AK

 

[Scottish Research]

I included a reservoir temp column on my data sheet. Still need to create a bloom tracking sheet.

R.Fortune

 

[Swampwater]

are you not using co2? Didn't see it mentioned.

 

[Ground Up]

How does one judge density from a pic?

 

[TripleDraw27]

You know what I dig about this challenge, is that fact you set it up to be successful either way lol. 5 lbs off 1k...fricken awesome. And anything above the standard, fricken awesome. Pulling for ya =)

 

[aerokrafter]

Day 35 Bloom Update


Unit:


Canopy:


Bud:


Track Plant:


Data:



Today is the half way point for the grow. All of the work done so far was to successfully get the plants to this stage. The next 35 days will be mostly canopy maintainance and helping the buds reach their full potential.

I have been plucking fans aggressively and will continue my practice of yanking them when they shade or poke. You can see from the canopy shot that I have a slight pillow. I have adjusted the light rail to a 13 count stop to help. However a slight dome is inevitable - without the rail and the adjustments the pillow effect would be much much greater.

I have adjusted the nutes slightly and keep a light hand on the PK boost. I still have just a minute tip burn and I want to keep it that way. Slamming young flowers with nutes will only inhibit growth at this point. I'm sticking with 1 tsp doses of Kool Bloom for now - the plants have responded well to it and 2 tsp at once burnt the plants.


- Swampwater

I quit using CO2 a couple years ago when I could no longer wrangle those big cylinders. I considered going to "burner" generator, but was concerned with heat - specially heading into summer. I have my eye on a water cooled unit that may soon make an appearance! I have hesitated to add it to the room because all of my timing data is based on no CO2. In the past it was worth about 10%, and now that the stretch is over - sounds like a good idea! Might be my ace in the hole!


- R.Fortune

The temp column on the data sheet is good addition. Heat is coming and knowing what your plants can safely handle is great data. Using Zone and Silica help a lot. Environmental control is best, but even it can be overwelmed. I have drop in chillers for emergencies - but you can cycle a couple 2 liter pop bottle ice cubes in the res if it gets too hot for a cheaper cooling method to get through a scrape.


- TripleDraw27

I am a crafty krafter! Tho my plan is for everyone to be winners! And not in that lame "everyone gets a ribbon" way, but in solid knowledge that can be applied to get useful results.


Thank you all for your questions!


As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

 

[Ganja_Grower]

This is the challenge of challenge's.

Good Luck, They look beautiful.

 

[l337purpl3]

Good luck! Hope you make it!

 

[Scottish Research]

Looking great AK! Regardless of yield, I'm really excited to see how this grow turns out.

Heat is a huge issue for me. It would be even worse if I was a step below the fall line...

How can you get these high yields with out CO2?

You must have a great ventilation system.

Have you thought about adding a float valve to your nutrient reservoir? You can place a shut off valve in the line. This seems like it would make daily chores easier. Maybe you are already doing this.

R.Fortune

 

[homeboxdeluxe]

sieht gut aus lass wachsen.

 

[smoooth]

Looking damn good in there! Those ladies are coming along nicely. Can't wait to see the rest of the grow and best of luck with hitting the mark!

Smoooth

 

[shredGnar]

Day 35 Bloom Update






- Swampwater

I quit using CO2 a couple years ago when I could no longer wrangle those big cylinders. I considered going to "burner" generator, but was concerned with heat - specially heading into summer. I have my eye on a water cooled unit that may soon make an appearance! I have hesitated to add it to the room because all of my timing data is based on no CO2. In the past it was worth about 10%, and now that the stretch is over - sounds like a good idea! Might be my ace in the hole!


- R.Fortune

The temp column on the data sheet is good addition. Heat is coming and knowing what your plants can safely handle is great data. Using Zone and Silica help a lot. Environmental control is best, but even it can be overwelmed. I have drop in chillers for emergencies - but you can cycle a couple 2 liter pop bottle ice cubes in the res if it gets too hot for a cheaper cooling method to get through a scrape.


- TripleDraw27

I am a crafty krafter! Tho my plan is for everyone to be winners! And not in that lame "everyone gets a ribbon" way, but in solid knowledge that can be applied to get useful results.


Thank you all for your questions!


As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

Are you talking about the hydrogen or the minigen? I used to have the hydrogen and got rid of it because it was quite the pain... if you use the water cooling option you either need a huge tub of water or a water chiller and a smaller tub of water dedicated just for the generator. You also need a pump that moves a certain amount of water or the unit will not turn on, and the pump I used was OVER the minimum spec and the unit would still not turn on from time to time unless you fiddled with the inlet...

Don't let the water cooling fool you, it hardly did anything in terms of heat reduction. I have since bought the sentinel burner and will never look back!