CalBear4Life's Grow Diary (Flood/Drain: OG Kush and ChemDawg D)

[CalBear4Life]

Well, looking at that setup, I would say it should be enough, RW, has its own aeration properties. Just dont carried away with flood times.
you can overwater RW.

Its not like RW is dependent on dissolved oxygen as much as a Deep Water Culture. I ran an E&F for my clones without an air pump. But I was running hydrotron with my clones sitting in RW cubes.

In theory it looks like it will work.. I think my buddys E&F table has the same specs. Hes running pearlite tho, thats even more airy.

You'll just have to watch for problems.

I plan on adding hydroton soon. I was planning on running three floods per 18 hr lighting cycle...what do you think? Right now only running 1 per 18 hour light cycle and checking to make sure the RW is draining well enough.

 

[CalBear4Life]

Update!

Update!

Okay so I started adding nutes last night and awoke to the girls looking alright all things considered. My piece-of-junk HydroFarm water pump went out on me so I went and bought a Little Giant NK-2 at the hydro store. Here is some pics of the conditions, the rez, and the girls today. I am still working to figure out how many min/hour to run the exhaust fan to keep the temps optimal but I am close!

 

[CalBear4Life]

I prefer the lucas, or RezDog formula even if its in coco. It works all around. Run your numbers on the NPK profile, and it comes out pretty good. You can grow without buying the grow formula.

Might as well use the grow formula.

If you really want to simplify things, just buy a one part bloom formula, and buy something inexpensive like maxigrow for the veg stage.

I know Lucas is supposed to be easier but I already have the Grow formula and think I should go with something that actually uses it. I think I'm going to go with the 1-2-3 method, but thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to try the Lucas formula on the next grow.

 

[CalBear4Life]

Quick update: Everything is still looking good and I am still trying to figure out my E&F schedule. It seems that 1 time/day is about right until these girls start drinking more so I am going to stick with that for now. I got temps of about 75 deg, humidity of about 50% and am currently running at 5.8 ph and 500 ppm. I would say that everything seems to be moving in the right direction!!! Please feel free to critique what I have going on, I always want to make things run better!!!

 

[CalBear4Life]

Updated Grow Room specs

Updated Grow Room specs

I feel like I should update the specs of my growroom since things have changed so much:
My tent is 6.5'x4'x8' homemade from Panda Liner
1000w Lumatek dimmable ballast with Hortilux bulbs (1 Blue MH and 1 HPS)
3x6' flood table with a 70 gallon reservoir (Botanicare)
Hydrofarm Active Air 7.8 lt/m air pump (2 outlets with airstones)
Little Giant NK-2 water pump (325 gph)
General Hydroponics 3-part (1-2-3 formula) with Cal/Mag+
1 passive and 1 active intake (both 6")
Active exhaust with 6" Vortex (Runs through hood straight outside)

27 plants total: 16 Chemdawg D and 11 OG Kush

 

[Don Juan]

bump

 

[CalBear4Life]

Good Morning! So I awoke this morning and checked on the girls, and I can tell they are growing, but not nearly as fast as I was hoping for and they are starting to get a yellowish hue to the leaves. Some of the leaves are even drying and cracking.... I want to make sure I am getting the whole "two-way communication" with my plants from day 1. It looks to me like she's ready for more nutes, but I don't want to overwater. Any ideas?

Picture 3 shows that the new-growth (on top) is pretty yellow.

 

[CalBear4Life]

Please help!

Please help!

Okay so I need your guys help...the above pics are a little worse yet having only flooded 2 days ago before finally flooding again today. The yellow fading of the leaves is turning to a little dry and crack spots. Current conditions: 72 degrees, 70 degrees rez, 55% humidity. The cubes seem to be pretty wet. I am going to wait a few more days before the next flood...how long do the roots usually take to make it to the bottom of 6" rockwool?

Please help me figure out whats going on...thank you

 

[CalBear4Life]

Pics Please Help Me Out

Pics Please Help Me Out

So what should I do? Are my plants nutrient deficient? I had a bad experience before with adding too many nutrients and I want to make sure I balance these things out well

This one is for whoever helps me out...

 

[jim_browsky]

I posted in your other thread and after looking at your set up, which
is very clean by the way, I have noticed a few things that others
may have brought to your attention at some time. First, you don't
need that oscillating fan while they are that young or really ever, I
don't use any fans as many don't. Also, the 550 GPH is over kill
your flood time would be like one minute. Thirdly, you don't need
an airstone in your reservoir. Add an extra submersible, like a 120
gph in the res to circulate the water, you still will get more dissolved
oxygen that way. And again, careful with the watering at this point,
hand watering may be the key. Good luck!
Subscribed

 

[CalBear4Life]

I posted in your other thread and after looking at your set up, which
is very clean by the way, I have noticed a few things that others
may have brought to your attention at some time. First, you don't
need that oscillating fan while they are that young or really ever, I
don't use any fans as many don't. Also, the 550 GPH is over kill
your flood time would be like one minute. Thirdly, you don't need
an airstone in your reservoir. Add an extra submersible, like a 120
gph in the res to circulate the water, you still will get more dissolved
oxygen that way. And again, careful with the watering at this point,
hand watering may be the key. Good luck!
Subscribed

Thank you thank you. Okay...going to do away with the oscillating fan for now, reduce waterings to once every 3 days and water by hand. As I posted before, I ended up switching out the 550 gph pump for a Little Giant NK-2 (325 gph).

Does anyone else have any opinions about removing my airpump and replacing with another submersible pump? Maybe use both?

So in your opinion this looks like it could be overwatering? The 6" rockwool seems to take forever to dry out so I'm hoping that you are right. When do you think I should top off the nutes? I was thinking about adding another 1/5 strength to the rez before the next feeding (2 days from now).

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Yes, overwatered! I'm a soilmix grower now for 42 years (yup, straight), but I recently started using the rockwool cubes to make cuts for other local growers. Rockwool has many advantages, but some drawbacks too. The first and main one is that it holds LOTS of water, and the bigger the cube, the more it holds. That much water at the roots means not enough O2. The cubes have to be allowed to dry enough for the roots to get oxygen between waterings, and looking at the size of cube you're using for those plants, that's going to be a couple days at least. I actually started shaking as much excess water out of the cubes as I could before putting the cuts in. Maybe if you stick some of them in a basket or something and swing it around in a circle, you could drive out some of the excess? Sounds like a nutty idea, but if my plants looked like that, I'd probably try it.

 

[jim_browsky]

Mr.GG has a point about trying to get out some excess moisture.
Maybe a light squeeze on the outside of the rockwool might get a
little out.
As for feeding, once roots are established I get right to it. You
could bring your EC up to .8 or so then 1.4 for the remainder of
veg.
Do you plan on res changes? If you use Lucas from the get go no
need for res change.
As for your sub pump vs air stone ?? I prefer the sub pump
because it doesn't clog or have to be replaced and a submersible
is like >$10. There are some convincing arguments out there that
using air pumps/stones actually decrease the amount of O2 in the
water from it's escape through larger bubbles "eating" the smaller
O2 bubbles. Using a sub pump, all you are doing is breaking the
surface tension with the water flow from the pump that is on 24/7
and increasing O2 that way.

 

[CalBear4Life]

Mr.GG has a point about trying to get out some excess moisture.
Maybe a light squeeze on the outside of the rockwool might get a
little out.
As for feeding, once roots are established I get right to it. You
could bring your EC up to .8 or so then 1.4 for the remainder of
veg.
Do you plan on res changes? If you use Lucas from the get go no
need for res change.
As for your sub pump vs air stone ?? I prefer the sub pump
because it doesn't clog or have to be replaced and a submersible
is like >$10. There are some convincing arguments out there that
using air pumps/stones actually decrease the amount of O2 in the
water from it's escape through larger bubbles "eating" the smaller
O2 bubbles. Using a sub pump, all you are doing is breaking the
surface tension with the water flow from the pump that is on 24/7
and increasing O2 that way.

I am going to be changing the rez every 8-10 days. After a few weeks I am going to get another submersible pump for oxygenation...thanks for the help

 

[CalBear4Life]

Update: Lightly squeezed the rockwool out yesterday afternoon to increase the drainage...going to feed by hand like every 2-3 days for the next week to two weeks in order to make sure that I do not overwater. I will add some new pics later in order to get more advice

 

[CalBear4Life]

Here they are as of this morning. The cubes are drying out, probably one more day to ensure that they have drained fully.They still aren't looking very happy but I do not see a lot of drooping so they must be close to coming back. Once they dry out more I am going to top off the rez with another 1/5 solution of GH 3-part and Cal/Mag+ thereby bringing the total nutes I've added to 2/5 full strength. I am going to be hand watering until the root systems poke out the bottom.
Temps:70 deg Hum: 60%

Anything else that I should do to help these ladies out?

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Those cubes are much larger than the ones I've been using for rooting cuttings, it's hard to guess how long they'd have to be allowed to dry in order to encourage root growth. Root growth is the thing you want. Top growth only happens AFTER roots grow. If there's too much moisture near the roots, they have no reason to go in seach of more. I have some cuttings now that are getting a bit too large for the smallest size rockwool cubes, which I think correct me if I'm wrong, are about 1-1/2" to the side. My cuttings are about twice the size of yours in the pictures, and showing no signs of deficiencies yet. Also, they use water at very different rates, even the ones that are similar in size. Some need watering every 4-5 days, some need every other, but none need water every day, yet. Remember, I'm talking about cuttings bigger than yours in cubes much smaller. Unless your lights are much more intense than mine, your plants could probably go as much as two weeks in those cubes without water, while you waited for roots to grow. It's just a guess mind you, I could be way off since I'm not there to see in person. I'm just getting interested in your success!

 

[CalBear4Life]

Those cubes are much larger than the ones I've been using for rooting cuttings, it's hard to guess how long they'd have to be allowed to dry in order to encourage root growth. Root growth is the thing you want. Top growth only happens AFTER roots grow. If there's too much moisture near the roots, they have no reason to go in seach of more. I have some cuttings now that are getting a bit too large for the smallest size rockwool cubes, which I think correct me if I'm wrong, are about 1-1/2" to the side. My cuttings are about twice the size of yours in the pictures, and showing no signs of deficiencies yet. Also, they use water at very different rates, even the ones that are similar in size. Some need watering every 4-5 days, some need every other, but none need water every day, yet. Remember, I'm talking about cuttings bigger than yours in cubes much smaller. Unless your lights are much more intense than mine, your plants could probably go as much as two weeks in those cubes without water, while you waited for roots to grow. It's just a guess mind you, I could be way off since I'm not there to see in person. I'm just getting interested in your success!

I appreciate the interest and especially all the help that you guys have provided, if I do succeed it will be largely contributed to this forum. I think I am going to wait until these babies are almost completely dry to water again. I am going to wait until they ask for water haha. I will definitely keep updating this thread as everything moves along!!!

 

[jim_browsky]

I have some cuttings now that are getting a bit too large for the smallest size rockwool cubes, which I
think correct me if I'm wrong, are about 1-1/2" to the side.

If they are the wrapped Grodan, then yes 1 1/2". If they are the
ones you cut apart 3/4". If I start seeds in RW I always use the
smallest size available because of how much water they hold.

Mr Greengenes- may I ask what medium are the clones going in that
you have for your friend?

 

[CalBear4Life]

If they are the wrapped Grodan, then yes 1 1/2". If they are the
ones you cut apart 3/4". If I start seeds in RW I always use the
smallest size available because of how much water they hold.

Mr Greengenes- may I ask what medium are the clones going in that
you have for your friend?

Ya the ones they came in were 1-1/2" rockwool...stuck those in 6" cubes. Oh sorry that wasn't directed towards me