Thanks for trying the PPK? thanks for documenting that it works with coco/perlite and for answering all my questions about that and the system in general
you ask good questions, i like how your mind works... you know all of this, but i am going into detail in case someone who doesn't LST is interested in learning how i think about it
ok.
my goal with LST is to have a sea of green covering the pot. So if the laterals below where I top arent given light soon after toping, they won't thrive and won't get to the edge of the pot when they are tied horizontally. i mean they won't provide enough new tops (later) if you don't start the main stem bending soon after topping.
so from seed you have ten laterals below where you topped, and of course they aren't in alternative phyllotaxy - this is a seedling - so you have a good chance of sending a few to the sides of the pot, and you can let a few just grow and become tops with out listing except to move them into even spacing.
my goal is to have the lower laterals at the edge of the pot about the same time as the two tops (that resulted from having topped the plant at 5 nodes) hit the edge of the pot. then i have good coverage, and can continue to tie the two tops heading in opposite directions around the pot, while i continue to tie the laterals and lead them around the edge of the pot. when i decide coverage is good, i stop tying, and at that point the tips of the two top and the tips of the laterals start out heading toward the light, all at the same height above the edge of the pot. when that happens i start training the center of the pot, to keep the canopy even
ok so for seedlings or clones i want the same kind of sea of green
for me its about the timing of the lower laterals and the two tops going horizontal and reaching the edge of the pot at the same time.
i don't grow from clones, i cant keep mothers, to risky for me to buy clones here. but from clones the timing of the topping is the key... you want enough laterals below where you topped so you get good LST coverage of that area of the pot. but you don't want to top so late that the two tops already are at the edge of the pot when you've made that first main stem LST bend. what will happen then is that there will be a LOT more new tops on that side of the pot than on the sides being covered by the laterals, and the new tops from the two tops being trained around the edge of the pot will have more time to grow than the new tops from the laterals. this results in an uneven canopy with a higher number of larger tops on 1/2 of the bucket. it still would work, but requires more training and such things to get the canopy even, which prolongs veg time, yada yada
with a clone i would try for 6 or 8 nodes before topping. you want to have several lower laterals - not all turn into good candidates for sending to the edge of the pot. I like to send the best three to the edge of the pot. some new tops start out pointing DOWN, and never recover, unless you see it and help them to decide to turn up.
the horizontal laterals need to grow new tops at the same rate as whats with those being produced by the two main stems on the other side of the pot. they CAN do so, they are closer to the roots than those new tops on the other side of the pot. in fact many times one of the laterals becomes the main top These lower laterals are closer to the roots, the tips of the lower laterals can outpace the actual two tops once horizontal LST is stopped.
something i didn't mention is that LST also requires you tuck fan leaves a LOT so that the new tops are getting light. especially on those lower laterals.... i tuck several times a day because I now have the time, i am not hand watering. more tucking - more even canopy.... more tops - some just stall and never amount to much, so i try to ge=ive them all a good change of making it by getting them light as soon as possible.
i wish i had the space and height to a vertical LED grow. then i would grow trees and get out of the pot bonsai i am doing now.
Also D9,
I was thinking about drainage....
is there any reason why holes in the buckets bottom PLUS a wick wouldn't work?
the wick would still provide a lowered PWT would it not? and it would still wick up moisture... so the goals of the tailpiece are still met.
and the extra holes means not all drained fluid has to go thru the one tailpiece.
I designed my PPK medium for pulse feeds... I run my PPKs with an inch of 100% perlite in the bucket bottom, covered with screen...
this provides a LARGE area for the coco/perlite to drain INTO. but then that perlite bottom gets drained out the tailpiece, and roots follow that moisture. and clogs happen.
with drainage holes in the pot bottom, the roots wouldn't follow ALL the water out the tailpiece, they would follow the water to wherever it was draining.... and it would just drain like any coco/perlite DTW with some fluid still draining out the tailpiece, but WAAAAY less.
but if that screws up the lowering of the PWT, then its not worth doing
your thoughts?
the plants in the first 4 PPKs are using a LOT of water! 2 liters in two days. I just changed the reservoirs two days ago. this morning PH 5.9, after adding back tap water, PH 6.1.... ppm a little lower because plants are eating.... starting PPM was 800 (.5 scale - jacks and tap water) after the add back the air gap is the same, and PPMS about 740
next add back will be 600 PPM nutrients in tap water.
even the smaller plants used a liter in two days.
still going great today. I increased to the two PPKs that are the most developed from 1 liter every 90 minutes 7 second pulse - to about 1.3 liters... 9 second pulse.
having fun tucking fan leaves to find more new tops. and tweaking the LST wires