Glob's Grow: 6-plant PPK, 600w + 400w stack + screens, MBS x [CGxC99] + MBS x MBSO

[gr866]

Anyway, good lessons to learn for next run.
Thanks for stopping by

So Mr. G, are you considering separate screens for future grows? I am not an expert at all, but from what I have seen in the grows I have looked at it seems the separate screens are much easier to work with. But also I guess that depends on the size of screen and size of plant.

I like that individual screens.

Great looking grow buddy, and I hear you about the ackes and pains of growing, especially when you get my age. LOL.

GR

 

[Globule]

So Mr. G, are you considering separate screens for future grows? I am not an expert at all, but from what I have seen in the grows I have looked at it seems the separate screens are much easier to work with. But also I guess that depends on the size of screen and size of plant.

I like that individual screens.

Great looking grow buddy, and I hear you about the ackes and pains of growing, especially when you get my age. LOL.

GR

Hi there yourself Mr.G!

All five of these plants are currently on their own individual screens. The screens start about 2' (just above the medium/root-filled upper container) and are 20" wide x 4' high.

Yes individual screens are definitely easier to work with, however my problem is that all of the plumbing for the flood and also the return lines have no way to disconnect the plants from the plumbing. So essentially that means I can't move my plants without first disconnecting the plant from the plumbing which is a pain in the sphincter.

Next run I will introduce disconnects for the plumbing and buy some better 19mm/3/4" polypipe that won't kink so easily.
It definitely makes things a lot easier to have some wiggle room around your plants!

Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by you old codger!

 

[gr866]

Hi there yourself Mr.G!

All five of these plants are currently on their own individual screens. The screens start about 2' (just above the medium/root-filled upper container) and are 20" wide x 4' high.

Yes individual screens are definitely easier to work with, however my problem is that all of the plumbing for the flood and also the return lines have no way to disconnect the plants from the plumbing. So essentially that means I can't move my plants without first disconnecting the plant from the plumbing which is a pain in the sphincter.

Next run I will introduce disconnects for the plumbing and buy some better 19mm/3/4" polypipe that won't kink so easily.
It definitely makes things a lot easier to have some wiggle room around your plants!

Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by you old codger!

I do hope Mr. Ichabod Crane does not mind me using his post as an example, but love his set-up here. Good job IC!

I will be doing something similar to this, but using two feed line per plants grown in pure coco. When you want to pull them out to work on them, just remove the lines from the risers, have a place to fasten them. When you are finished working on them you move the plant back inside the tent and you attach the drip line back to the riser and you are good to go.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=242646&page=2

Yep, you got that Ol' Codger right, not telling my age but I have been smoking for 53 years now.
Just thinking of all the monies I could have saved if I had been growing all those years. LOL
I am getting so antsy and ready to start my next grow, but I have some obligations first and it is about to get damn hot around here, so I need to have patience!
GR

Clones for my sons outdoor grow this summer. He has a wild idea, will fill y'all in as he begins his first grow.
Little Exodus Cheese ladies!

First attempt at starting clones in straight coco, have been cloning with great success in RootRiot cubes, but want to try something new.

GR

 

[Miraculous Meds]

gr866 has a pretty good solution for ya for the mobility of the feed lines. Ill expand a bit on that. I have used the cheap raindrip 1/2" hose. Its cheap, but the flexibility n the lack of ability for it to sit flat sucks. But its super easy to use. I ran a line from a small 400gph pump to a circle manifold, then 1/4" open end lines to the plants. I just ran them thru drip stakes, and they were very easy to pull out n move the plant. If u leave enough slack, u can sometimes just move the plant without taking the line out of the stake.

Another alternative I did was to use the good year hose as the circle manifold, and ran a line up to the plant and built a drip ring out of the hose as well. It was very flexible being made from garden hose, and the drip ring would allow for some movement when sliding a plant out to work. The only downfall here was that I needed a bigger pump to run it. And the infrastructure of the heavy hose was overkill.

I preferred the first method. But both these ideas were designed to just slip off the connector piece that holds the screens together n slide a plant open like a door, so u have access right to the front of the plant so u can train without putting ur arm thru, or having to lean over much.

 

[Mr Blah]

I think like the last posted have stated having a good length of hose to work with would be the best solution vs a disconnect. If you disconnected it, than you would have to worry about the feeds and water in the system.

Very cool set up.

 

[Globule]

I do hope Mr. Ichabod Crane does not mind me using his post as an example, but love his set-up here. Good job IC!

I will be doing something similar to this, but using two feed line per plants grown in pure coco. When you want to pull them out to work on them, just remove the lines from the risers, have a place to fasten them. When you are finished working on them you move the plant back inside the tent and you attach the drip line back to the riser and you are good to go.

Yep, you got that Ol' Codger right, not telling my age but I have been smoking for 53 years now.
Just thinking of all the monies I could have saved if I had been growing all those years. LOL
I am getting so antsy and ready to start my next grow, but I have some obligations first and it is about to get damn hot around here, so I need to have patience!
GR

Clones for my sons outdoor grow this summer. He has a wild idea, will fill y'all in as he begins his first grow.
Little Exodus Cheese ladies!
View Image
First attempt at starting clones in straight coco, have been cloning with great success in RootRiot cubes, but want to try something new.

GR

Hopefully Mr. Ichabod Crane won't mind too much as I also loved his setup and have copied his vertical screen design featured in your post. I didn't have enough T's to do the connectors at the top of the screens but zip-ties also work for keeping individual screens connected.

gr866 has a pretty good solution for ya for the mobility of the feed lines. Ill expand a bit on that. I have used the cheap raindrip 1/2" hose. Its cheap, but the flexibility n the lack of ability for it to sit flat sucks. But its super easy to use. I ran a line from a small 400gph pump to a circle manifold, then 1/4" open end lines to the plants. I just ran them thru drip stakes, and they were very easy to pull out n move the plant. If u leave enough slack, u can sometimes just move the plant without taking the line out of the stake.

Another alternative I did was to use the good year hose as the circle manifold, and ran a line up to the plant and built a drip ring out of the hose as well. It was very flexible being made from garden hose, and the drip ring would allow for some movement when sliding a plant out to work. The only downfall here was that I needed a bigger pump to run it. And the infrastructure of the heavy hose was overkill.

I preferred the first method. But both these ideas were designed to just slip off the connector piece that holds the screens together n slide a plant open like a door, so u have access right to the front of the plant so u can train without putting ur arm thru, or having to lean over much.

Thanks for that MM!
Last run each PPK unit had its own return line to the main res but this got very cluttered on the floor so I tried to make something a bit cleaner this run. Seems I got a 'cleaner' looking solution but a less-efficient one.

I can see now that next run I need to focus on making individual plants more mobile for training.

Can't change as much as I would like to at this stage though, so will modify the plumbing next run and then sit back and marvel at my own brilliance at fixing all my problems

I think like the last posted have stated having a good length of hose to work with would be the best solution vs a disconnect. If you disconnected it, than you would have to worry about the feeds and water in the system.

Very cool set up.

Thanks Mr.B!

I have my pump-timer set to do a full flood of the PPKs every 90-minutes right now so it is not hard to time any maintenance within a 90-minute window. Also my timer unit allows me to turn it off completely and then turn it back on after any maqintenance is finished while still keeping the same timer on/off cycle as before I started maintenance if that makes sense?

The difficult part is finding disconnects that do not restrict flow. Most disconnects restrict the internal diameter of the flow so the trick is finding ones that don't.

Anyways it's good to have options for re-designing the irrigation for next run and lots of options to consider.


More photos to follow tomorrow as it is the WEEKEND and I get to play in my grow!!

 

[Mr Blah]

Do you have 1/2" ID? If so
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Melnor-2-Piece-Metal-Starter-Set-45C/100257129
They also make PVC ones.

I got an off topic question for all PPK users; Is it a must to use RO water in this system?

 

[Sqydro]

Globule explained it a bit. PPK, passive plant killer. A sarcastic play of words for a system that started out passive, n easy way of growing healthy, large plants. Its since been tweaked n developed a thousand times over to what its evolved into today.

A recirculating system, that shares a wick system. Thus u don't ever dry out the roots n die from pump failures or under watering. It features a reduced pwt, due to the hydraulic effect of the wick/drain system in the right medium. Another of the huge benefits is that u get fast rdwc like growth, while keeping the roots in a medium, safe from water born disease like pythium that ravage water grown roots. No more worrying about water temps like in rdwc, where u have to compensate by a cooler room or running a water chiller. Also no need for added o2 from air pumps/stones, etc... So in essence u have the performance of rdwc, with the safety of roots grown in a medium. A kind of blend of the best of both worlds.

i was religious RDWC tree grower horitontal, then vert trees, but never had a worry/problem free grow ever and lost one to root rot these sound to good to be true

After the shake-up in the chicken coop the other day things are settling down:

Flower-Day18 : Group Shot:
View Image


Flower-Day18 : MBSxMBSO#2
View Image


Flower-Day18 : MBSxMBSO#3
View Image


Flower-Day18 : MBSx(CGxC99)#3 (Bonus Shot)
View Image

Training shall continue - stretch is slowing but hasn't stopped.

Appreciate you all stopping by!

looking all lush now and filling out those screens, shame one had balls but more light for the rest , every cloud etc

all the best mate

 

[Globule]

Do you have 1/2" ID? If so
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Melnor-2-Piece-Metal-Starter-Set-45C/100257129
They also make PVC ones.

I got an off topic question for all PPK users; Is it a must to use RO water in this system?

Thanks Mr.B. I know there are a few options out there for me to consider for next round to make my grow more mobile. I'm in Australia so don't have access to Home Depot but we have similar sort of fittings available. Just need to have a think about which option I want to use.

Regarding the RO water, I believe McKush answered tha question for you in another thread but no you don't need to use RO water in PPKs. I just use tap water myself (I use Maxibloom, CalMag, Silica, Drip Clean) but as McKush mentioned, the growers using JR Peters dry hydro nutrients tend to use RO water as that is what it is designed to be used with. Don't know much about it myself sorry.

Thanks for stopping by!

i was religious RDWC tree grower horitontal, then vert trees, but never had a worry/problem free grow ever and lost one to root rot these sound to good to be true

looking all lush now and filling out those screens, shame one had balls but more light for the rest , every cloud etc

all the best mate

Thanks very much Sqydro
Yeah I'm not too worried about the male to be honest.
I've got 5 lovely healthy adult plants 24 days into 12/12.

I can see that I could have filled my screens better in hindsight but that's something to improve on next run.

I first started growing in a cabinet using DWC then lost my plants to root-rot, etc.
Moved on to coco hand watered and then coco with Blumats and now finally am using PPKs with Turface.

It just keeps getting better and easier!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Globule]

DAY-24 of 12/12

DAY-24 of 12/12

Hello everyone,

Last night I transplanted the backup-clones from bucket-cloner into pots of Turface being feed on a re-circulating dripper (1/4 strength nutes) 2x per day. Will bump up to 3x per day once roots have established a bit better.

Interestingly, the MBSx(CGxC99)#1 clone had substantially more root growth than any other clone and this is the one where I accidentally stripped off a string of plant material off the side of the cutting when I made a 45-degree cut.
Kind of like how celery string strips off the side. Anyway something to experiment with next time to see if it was just coincidence or maybe has a positive effect.

Here's a couple of group shots from above @ Day-24 of 12/12 (from seed):

It is a bit of a jungle in there but stretch looks to have stopped and bud-development looks to be kicking up a gear!

Those photos make it look more overgrown in there than it actually is. A lot of the volume is top growth that is leaning in from the top of the screen. Center of the plant hub is pretty open and airy down below.


For you perverts, a cheeky peek up their skirts from behind (huffa-huffa-slurp-slurp):

Final shot for today and no, it isn't a Viking cock-warmer or Great Grandad's merkin, it's the rootball from the MBSxMBSO#1 that turned out to be male. Shook a lot of the turface out of it to wash and re-use so it is looking a bit straggly:

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Globule]

DAY-38 of 12/12

DAY-38 of 12/12

Hello everyone,

Past couple of weeks have been a bit hectic so haven't had time for any updates or much other than the bare essentials like making sure my plants don't die...

I've found a very special plant in the garden methinks - MBSx(CGxC99)#2 smells absolutely amazing (very deep, lingering, sweet fruit - like passionfruit/mango?) and is spitting out big, fat, juicy pistils everywhere. She is the plant I have two clones of going strong which I'm very happy about as I think she is a definite keeper based on smell alone. Unless potency is missing in the final product then I will definitely be growing her again next run!

This is one of the smaller (yet still very beautiful) MBSx(CGxC99)#2 budsites at the back of the screen (smells so good!)

MBSxMBSO#3 also looks to be the beefiest of the two MBSxMBSO crosses I have flowering. Big chunky buds are stacking as I type. I will also grow her again in the next run I reckon

Some other shots of the hub from the outside:

 

[Globule]

DAY 38 of 12/12

DAY 38 of 12/12

After this run I am definitely moving the filter/fan/vent-work over to the far-wall. It's taking up valuable vertical space in the middle of the hub:

Upskirt Lights-Off:

Upskirt Lights-On:

View from below (after regaining consciousness on floor whilst looking upwards):

Looks to be lots happening on the forums the past couple of weeks that I am behind on so am looking forward to catching up on everyone else's news very soon!

In the meantime, thanks very much for stopping by and hope all your growing-lives are going great!

 

[Globule]

Oh and yes I know it's a bit of a jungle in there; what you might call slightly overgrown, but I'm managing.

Humidity is only peaking at 65% after lights off otherwise is around 55%.
Max/Min temps: 20C/26C

Lessons learned to make me invincible next run!

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Looking great Glob! One thing id suggest is pruning the branches that are stuck in the corner. they get shadowed n become larf.

 

[Sqydro]

Thanks very much Sqydro and welcome!

I've just spent the last 15-mins trying to find a GIF that one of the PPK-ers posted recently on one of the threads (which was great for helping understand the mechanics of the PPK).

Unfortunately, because PPK is only 3-letters, ICMAG is excluding it from my search terms. How rude!
Maybe the acronym needs to be changed to "PPKK" to make it acceptable for the ICMAG search engine. (Either that or a custom rules engine to be added allowing 3-letter search terms to be used if they are common ones...)

Can anyone else please share where that PPK animation is located?

I'm new to growing myself, and even though I got my PPK build wrong initially (tailpipe was too short) others here helped me understand/fix my issues. Really generous and helpful PPK community here on ICMAG. We are very lucky here I reckon

The best advice I would give anyone is to read through the main PPK threads (I linked them earlier in this thread) and really soak it in.

In trying to find a low-maintenance, robust and forgiving grow system I've tried DWC, Coco, Coco + Blumats and the PPK.

PPK has a bit of a learning curve but if you sink some time into it, it will help you understand plants better in general I reckon (at least for me). It's a bit daunting given the number of posts in the threads but I cannot recommend getting your PPK on highly enough.

I'm only on my 2nd PPK run but it has changed my life for the better (that and I love the sound of the pump coming on and flooding those plants with nutes!)

Cheers Sqydro!

did u ever locate this giff been looking all over for it with no success gl with the rest of the grow glob

 

[Globule]

Looking great Glob! One thing id suggest is pruning the branches that are stuck in the corner. they get shadowed n become larf.

G'day MM and thanks for the advice

I've done as you suggested and trimmed away anything on the outskirts of the grow that is not receiving direct light.
I've been taking off fan leaves here and there too. Nothing too aggressive, just getting rid of those that are blocking budsites from direct light and also trying to open up some of the denser areas of growth for better airflow/lower humidity.

Cheers MM and thanks for your help!

did u ever locate this giff been looking all over for it with no success gl with the rest of the grow glob

Hey there Sqydro!

Sorry, no I didn't. I am pretty sure it was in the current PPK thread but it also might have been in one of the older threads. Might have even been in one of the PPK-grower's threads

Thanks for the well-wishes Sqydro. If I ever come across that animated-GIF again you'll be the first to know. Cheers mate!

 

[Donald Mallard]

Gee certainly is a jungle ,
they look good globule ,
should see some real development on those flowers in the next 2 to 3 weeks i suspect ,
im keen to see how that colombian hybrid goes ,
the ones i grew made some real heavy buds ...

 

[Globule]

Day-47 of 12/12

Day-47 of 12/12

Gee certainly is a jungle ,
they look good globule ,
should see some real development on those flowers in the next 2 to 3 weeks i suspect ,
im keen to see how that colombian hybrid goes ,
the ones i grew made some real heavy buds ...

G'day Don

Can't wait to watch that happening over the coming weeks mate!

I will get some more budshots cranking so that your keen eye can help me choose a good harvest time.


As an aside, I have a very early smoke report to share with you all - don't judge me...

I trimmed off a couple of small branches yesterday (@ Day-46 of 12/12) that were unlit at the back of the grow and quick-dried a few of these immature buds using the trusty old microwave steamer method (paper towel on plate, bud chunks on paper towel, damp paper towels on top, microwave on 30% for 5-7mins) and just smoked a joint of them.

Boom-shanka! I have wanted to get a feeling like this from smoking weed for a long time. Made me feel at total peace. Taste was rough obviously but my head soared!
Sitting on the front steps and the sun came out and colours brightened all I could do was think of the things I was grateful for and felt happy and content.

It was some of each of MBSxMBSO and a bit of MBSx(CGxC99) so not sure which is to blame or probably both. Cheeky rascals that they are the both of them!

Bloody jeebus if this is what it does at 6-and-a-bit weeks then I'm a bit scared what it is going to do to me come harvest time. Hope I'm man enough to handle it.

Will get a few budhsots up later this week.


Cheers everyone!

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Nothing wrong with a little early smoke test bro. Id suggest though, taking the branch u want to test, and give it some natural dry time. so u know u want to smoke test some more right? Just cut a small amount n hang it, n it will be close to ready in a week. a small amount each day n u will know exactly when u like to harvest that strain.

And hey, if it ends up being stronger than u like, its just that much less u have to smoke to get the effect u want! Its a bonus, ur stuff will last longer.

 

[Globule]

Nothing wrong with a little early smoke test bro. Id suggest though, taking the branch u want to test, and give it some natural dry time. so u know u want to smoke test some more right? Just cut a small amount n hang it, n it will be close to ready in a week. a small amount each day n u will know exactly when u like to harvest that strain.

And hey, if it ends up being stronger than u like, its just that much less u have to smoke to get the effect u want! Its a bonus, ur stuff will last longer.

Hehe - yeah I was only partly kidding MM. I actually like my weed as strong and full-on as possible

I reckon I'll be man enough to handle it but I'm worried more about my loved ones to be honest. They are all a bit soft and mushy when it comes to weed. I don't want to damage their dainty heads too much initially.

For the record, I'm not normally in the habit of stripping my plants before they are ready I hope you know, but in this instance I was willing to make an exception

I needed to trim these stems anyway, as they were at the back of the grow in the shadowy corners. They were like Baby in "Dirty Dancing" and I was their Patrick Swayze liberating them out from the darkness and into the light… of my microwave! Muahahahaaa!!

I'm not too desperate for smoke just yet (although the bottom of the jar is drawing near…) so I've been hanging the other trimmings in case I need them over the coming weeks.

Those two little buds were just smelling so good and so fresh and they were just daring me to smoke them so naturally I had to have them.