MrAwder's Basement Grow 3.0

[MrAwder]

I appreciate all the info. I'll be grabbing a CO2 meter soon.

No kewl pics in this update, took some yesterday but somehow deleted them. Not a lot going on, was on a canoeing trip for a few days and came back wrecked. Hopefully be able to put some time in tonight. Feels like I'm in the home stretch of getting this first table totally automated along with veg. I'll have 4 weeks from flip to get the other setup.

Last night I did the first session of screen trainining. Moved the Midas to the back wall, left and right walls each have 1 Afghani Mango and 1 Pure AK. Front will be the DSD with bamboo stakes.

Little worried about how big the Midas is and no clue what to expect on stretch. It's Albert Walker x Neville's Wreck. Mostly Sativa. I think I can handle 2-2.5x stretch but 3 or more will make things interesting.

The Mango might end up getting overgrown since the AK and Midas are so big already. It should be alright since it's intended for my headstash anyway.

Flipping to 12/12 tonight and getting pretty excited. Popped the Midas and DSD beans a looong time ago it feels like and then kind of forgot about how excited I actually was about them. Getting that feeling again.

Did a rough in of the manifold. The new pump works great and the basket stakes have a nice steady flow coming out. Decided to go with flexzilla from the pump to the tray, everything else plumbed with PVC. Ran out of barbed fittings though so off to the store after work.

Also culled a few remaining males from the DSD/Midas seeds and the associated clones I took. 2 DSD left which are suuuuper slow veggers and have not shown sex. 1 Midas which also has not shown but is huge.

 

[MrAwder]

Day 0 - Flower

Day 0 - Flower

Pump with slip fitting and some flow control



Manifold in place



Veg in general. Moved moms + 2 DSD + 1 midas to bottom shelf. Clones up top and put the yoyo hanger on the T5 and dropped it right on top.

 

[MrAwder]

Day 0 - Flower contd.

Day 0 - Flower contd.

Midas on the back wall



Pure AK (left) and Afgahni Mango (right) on the side wall. Other side is a mirror of this.



DSD up front in a tomato cage



Full shot




So I think I found the cause of the defeciencies I've been seeing. I re-calibrated my pH pen and found it was reading high by 0.4. Hopefully things will straighten out now that I fixed that. First feeding last night looked like:

~20 gallon of RO
CalMag @ 4ml/gal = 80ml
MaxiBloom @ 4g/gal = 80g
SM-90 @ 5ml/gal = 100ml
Drip Clean @ 1ml/gal = 20ml
+ 10g MaxiGrow (wanted to up the N and overall feed a strength a bit to try and overcome these deffs. i was seeing)

= 1.79 EC, 6.1 pH

Definitely won't be running at that high of a feed once I see the plants recovering. However, the Midas does seem to be a hungry lady so I'm going to err on the side overfeeding as long as I'm not seeing tip burn.


Also, my Jack's should be here any day now. Got the hydro + calnit pack. I've seen that I made need to add some epsom salt fot Mag. Any ideas on how much? Whats a good general guideline for jacks per gal?

 

[otis33]

those dsd= deep strawberry diesel, if I remember correct. they are very slow veggers, I was afraid mine would not stretch much, so I vegged them extra big, they ended up stretching 2x after flipping them. right now I have an 4x8 table with dsdv on one side and madness on the other. the madness had overgrown the trellis with no more room for tucking and weaving while the dsd still has bare spots in the canopy. the buds are super dense and deep purple. the smoke is strong and the scent unique. everyone loved this one. the slow veg is kind of a turn off for me, but for now I'm keeping her around

 

[MrAwder]

Yep Deep Strawberry Diesel from Fractal. The one in flower was the fastest of the 5. 2 were males, 2 more still slowly growing and not showing. I also anticipated very little stretch so I will keep that in mind. I'm excited for the strain but it will need to bring forth some very special smoke to make the cut. Too many seeds I need to pop.

I'm getting a bit bored with my Super Lemon Haze cut so it may soon be taking a back seat to Midas. Candy will probably remain my cash crop, for all it's small buds and lanky growth it always manages to outyield anything else. Afghani Mango is just sooo tasty with it's piney/kushy initial taste and fruity on the exhale, fun but somewhat bland hybrid stone. Deathstar is so good for medicinal use I don't think she will ever leave the stable. A few puffs off a joint will dull the majority of my migraine pain (can't hit bongs when my head hurts that badly). I basically only crack that jar when I'm in pain or need a nap though.

My goal is to have 4 strains that really encompass the spectrum from medicinal to soaring sativa high. I can manage 6 long term "mothers" so that leaves 2 open spots to rotate in new stuff.

I was thinking about it and it is probably time to start popping some seeds for a winter grow. Narrowed down to 2:

LouDog's Sour Bubble x Casey Jones IX
Sam The Skunkmans O'Haze x Skunk #1

I think both could do well in vscrog conditions. Leaning towards the SBxCJ since I just did the Midas which is sativa heavy. However, I'm still really interested in getting into the 16wk flowering sativas (less hybridized).

 

[MrAwder]

Quick question for anyone with a cycle timer. I was looking at the CAP ART-DNE. I do not want to mount it inside the flower chamber (where the photocell would make it run only during lights on), so I was wondering if I can put it on the same timed circuit as my lights. Will it operate properly this way?

 

[otis33]

I thought the art-dne operates lights on only or both night& day. I just bought a sentinel drt-1(?). it's about the same$ as the art-dne, but the min/sec adjustment is more accurate and easier to adjust by button pushing instead of nob turning. they both have the option to operate regardless of photoperiod

 

[MrAwder]

Right. I want it to operate regardless of photo period and then plug it into my 12/12 circuit which is already controlled with an intermatic timer. I just didn't know if turning the outlet off would mess up some internal timing mechanism.

To clarify: I want it to be plugged in outside of the room, where my outlets are already mounted. But still only want to feed during lights on.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I forget and don't feel like looking back... how much light are you running? Off that circuit the Intermatic is on? What size breaker? How much pump you using?

I have the ART DNE, should work just fine as you're intending... HOWEVER one time I had a 400W HPS sharing a timer with a PLL 110watt florescent and after about a week one of the PLL bulbs went bad... The hydro store thought it may have been the initial spike of the 400W ballast but I don't know.

What you are talking about is basically similar to unplugging and plugging in your timer with the lights, the only problem I can forsee is all that extra juice the lights and pumps pull on start up.

For what it's worth I run (3) 1/4 Horsepower sump pumps (1200 gallon per hour) off my ART DNE.

 

[postal trout]

Excited to see how the casy jones cross runs. Have you had the smoke from midas? What strains have you had gold results with. I see yall love the gsc, the closest ive had to gsc was a knock off strain

 

[MrAwder]

Right now running 600W. Intend to run 1200W eventually. This is on a 20amp breaker. The pumps are going to be 500gph mag drives. Need to double check their draw. Maybe I'll just run another box inside the room from the other 20amp circuit (veg lights and fans). I got a few feet of romex just need some 20amp outlets.

This is my first run with Midas. Never had GSC myself... don't have access to most clones.

EDIT:
7 pages and no buds... jeez. Don't want to lose ya'll so pulling some from the album

 

[postal trout]

opcorn: subbed

 

[postal trout]

Is that a purp pheno on the third pic of the midas?

 

[MrAwder]

Is that a purp pheno on the third pic of the midas?

No I think that might be deathstar or a strain called dumpster. As I said, this is my first run with Midas.


Small update. Things are moving along.

20 site aero-cloner built:


15 clones in:


Veg has been slimmed down. Finally finished the drip manifold for it. Space for a dozen veggers on this shelf.



I killed off my old moms and replaced them with smaller clones. They are on the bottom shelf next to the cloner (no pic) fed by blumats. The blumats are run off the same res as the top shelf, just hooked up via bulkhead instead of from the pump.

Friday night laying in bed I decided the fan noise was too loud. Spent Saturday moving and remounting both fans and filter. Fans are now suspended by bungies to decrease vibration and hooked up to 6" insulated ducting. Much quieter outside the basement. I think most of it was the vibration since my bedroom is right above this space.

Also got my Jacks in on Friday so mixed up 1/4 strength in the cloner plus some roots excelurator. Full strength (3g 5-12-26, 2g calcnit / gal) for flower and veg. Brought me to 1.7EC and 6.1pH with straight RO. Plants look very happy a few days later. Only other thing I plan to keep adding is SM-90 and Drip Clean. Going to skip a bloom booster this round while I experiment with the Jacks as I heard it is not designed to be used with one.

So next up is timers. Bought one ART-DNe and now it is being used on the cloner. So I need 2 more, 1 for flower, 1 for veg. Since they are kind of bulky I also need to add a few more outlets for them once I have the scratch to order them. Right now I am just manually running the pumps twice a night for feeding.

Todo:
- Outlets
- Drywall
- Door

edit: also wanted to note i switched back to perlite/coco mix. the 6 in flower are straight coco but after running that way for a while i've decided coco+perlite seems to make a nicer fluffier mix that does not compact as easily. no exact measurements but usually 1 small bag of perlite to 1 block of compressed coco.

 

[DHF]

Used bloom boosters twice in my life Mr A......Koolbloom powder and liquid I was gifted with in a care package from med-ville.....

BOTH times I tried the shit my plants got burnt to fuck and back.....needless to say I tossed that shit......

Less is more......bet on it.....Never ran my ppm`s higher than 750/1.5 EC for many many yrs with dialed results....

SM-90`s the shit and always has been.....Drip clean @ 1ml per gal is excellent insurance against residual salt buildup......

Getchas some Silicablast or Protekt for stemwall strength with bigger plants while getting a Potassium boost during stretch and mid-late bloomage....anyways...

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

 

[MrAwder]

Getchas some Silicablast or Protekt for stemwall strength with bigger plants while getting a Potassium boost during stretch and mid-late bloomage....anyways...

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

Thanks DHF. I have Protekt but I hesitate to use it. My pH is coming out right at 5.9-6.0 and I know silica increases pH. Is it still worth using even if I have to add some phosphoric acid to drop the pH back down? And would you count the added salts to your total feed EC? Or do you just measure EC by base nutes?

 

[DHF]

Thanks DHF. I have Protekt but I hesitate to use it. My pH is coming out right at 5.9-6.0 and I know silica increases pH. Is it still worth using even if I have to add some phosphoric acid to drop the pH back down? And would you count the added salts to your total feed EC? Or do you just measure EC by base nutes?

Potassium silicate will indeed raise your ph , and total ppm`s is what matters Mr A.....

@5 ml per gal , it don`t raise ph THAT much , but I`ve said this repeatedly over the yrs runnin GH 3 part , I never noticed a rise at all......anyways....

Run it Bro , and dial the juice back for proper PH and PPM parameters FTW....

Peace....DHF.........

 

[MrAwder]

stretch pics for posterity

stretch pics for posterity

Some shots from yesterday and today. On the whole things look decent for a first run with new strains, new nutes and a new space. Time will tell. The Midas looks rather unhappy but the new growth is coming in green and she continues to stretch out.

In other news I found 2 more DSD females. They took for---ever to veg up and show anything. I tossed the one into the flower room to get a hint.. going to grab some clones off it soon. So DSD#4 is in this run (front and center) and DSD#1 and DSD#3 will be kicking around until I find the time and place for them.

DSD#4:



Midas:



Pure AK (i'm only taking pics of the one side, other looks identical)

 

[MrAwder]

I forgot to mention I trimmed up all the bottoms significantly and started shaping the insides a little bit. After stretch I'll start pulling fans.

This the top of the left Afghani Mango. It was shaped into a single branch. The other is 3 solid branches (no pic). The stem is insanely thick though it is hard to tell here without context.



Shot of all 5 with DSD pulled out (yesterday)



DSD up front, all 6 today

 

[indianajones]

Used bloom boosters twice in my life Mr A......Koolbloom powder and liquid I was gifted with in a care package from med-ville.....

BOTH times I tried the shit my plants got burnt to fuck and back.....needless to say I tossed that shit......

Less is more......bet on it.....Never ran my ppm`s higher than 750/1.5 EC for many many yrs with dialed results....

SM-90`s the shit and always has been.....Drip clean @ 1ml per gal is excellent insurance against residual salt buildup......

Getchas some Silicablast or Protekt for stemwall strength with bigger plants while getting a Potassium boost during stretch and mid-late bloomage....anyways...

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

If you used Koolbloom and it burnt your plants, you either over applied it or your plants were not that healthy to begin with.

Bloom boosters will exacerbate existing problems VERY quickly. If your plants are the picture perfect example of health, there is a lot to be gained from them. If they are in the least bit stressed or deficient, then the law of limiting factors makes your limiting factor very obvious.

IME, you should not apply kool bloom over .4g/gallon concentration.

I totally agree with DHF on the silica products, but I generally use silica products until week 6, then start using kool bloom at .25g/gal, then .3, then .4 if they are taking it well.