Basements are the Best! wtfn strikes again

[Phases]

Looks like things are coming together for you eh
Looking good with the new lights up and everything - did you ever have any luck figuring out which seeds you popped ?

I just spend another 3-4 hours working in the room - it's amazing how time just flies by - all I did was a bit of feeding topped up the Rez tweaked some timers and did some foilar spraying on new clones - and poof 4 hours gone!

Wish this was my full time job.

How are the temps and the humidity issues going Do you have everything under control?

In case you were wondering - I managed to get things under control - the temp drop outside helped bring the humidity down - now during "day" temps are 75-78 "night" 64-68 - and the humidity in room is around 50-55 during "day" but it can climb up to 60-65 at "Night "

So not perfect but getting better still need to get rid of the Humidity outside of the room as well.

Things are looking really good, keep up the good work!

 

[whythefnot]

Looks like things are coming together for you eh
Looking good with the new lights up and everything - did you ever have any luck figuring out which seeds you popped ?

I just spend another 3-4 hours working in the room - it's amazing how time just flies by - all I did was a bit of feeding topped up the Rez tweaked some timers and did some foilar spraying on new clones - and poof 4 hours gone!

Wish this was my full time job.

How are the temps and the humidity issues going Do you have everything under control?

In case you were wondering - I managed to get things under control - the temp drop outside helped bring the humidity down - now during "day" temps are 75-78 "night" 64-68 - and the humidity in room is around 50-55 during "day" but it can climb up to 60-65 at "Night "

So not perfect but getting better still need to get rid of the Humidity outside of the room as well.

Things are looking really good, keep up the good work!

Great, I'm really glad to hear you're in an acceptable range. I just finished installing the last controller, so now my daytime temps are 75 - 77 F with 55 - 65 % rh and my nighttime temps are 66 - 69 F with 45 - 55 % rh.

Yes, I'm 99% sure I popped the right seeds. I was just super high I guess.


But all is not well in paradise. I was way too tired to post the photos last night, but I have this problem going on:

Anybody got any ideas about what causes this? I pulled out the worst (and largest) plant and watered her heavily until runoff, which was about 5.8 - 5.9, so I adjusted her manually (about a liter of solution of pH 8.0) and I adjusted the res to ~7.3. The largest plant showed some signs of improvement, but also showed more spotting on the leaves (as shown in the pics) but the rest of the plants just looked worse overnight, so I made up a solution of ~ pH 10 and gave them all less than a quart, depending on how much they were showing signs of deficiency. They seemed to perk up a little through the course of the night (their day) so that's a good sign. But I need to nip this in the bud (no pun intended), it's costing me cannabinoids as we speak...

I'm all ears here...

 

[whythefnot]

UGH I've been having a pH nightmare over here the last couple days. The canopy looks like shit :\

I've got it under control for now, and I'm not taking any more chances...the res was upped to 7.8 then lowered back to 6.7 for buffering. I've been an Atheist my whole life, but praying doesn't seem like the worst idea right now.

 

[Phases]

That's too funny that your having ph problems as well. We were both having humidity problems and now both having ph issues. My ph was down to low 5's in my promix pots - and I flushed everything out and now they are looking underfed - yellowing a bit too much and have some with brown tips and margins.

My solution was dolomite lime, it takes a bit to start working but I think it's better to have it slowly rise as opposed to dumping really alkaline water on them.
However that being said I think you are right at its a ph issue causing a lockout. How's your runoff ec? Do you have any salt build up going on? Because that can drop your ph pretty quick.

Also the thing to remember is those leaves won't get fixed even once the problem is solved so it's kind of hard to tell when things are fixed - try to keep an eye on certain leaves and see it they are getting worse or the problem has stopped. You probebly know all this but just in case trying to help cause I am dealing with the same shit and Iam 5 wks in flower.

Also make sure not to overwater and compound the problem let it dry up good before flushing or watering again.

I think your on the right track. Keep me posted. I ll grab a pic of some of my girls and see why you think I got going on?

 

[iTarzan]

Foliar feed so it does not get out of hand while you get the ph fixed. Use your veg fert mix at 25% strength and add some epsom salt 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Feed them through their leaves while you get the root zone happy.

Happy New Year 2016!​

 

[whythefnot]

Yeah, progression has slowed, but as of lights on it doesn't look like I've totally halted the problem. So, I'm spending my new year's eve taking each plant out of the tent and giving it a hard flush, then pH-adjusting it until it's in the low to mid 6's. I've gone the lime route before, I'd prefer my guessing game to pay off in short order, and I don't have any lime, so pH up it is.

iTarzan, thanks, I was thinking about doing just that, but I grow tea-only and I don't have a tea brewing right now. I have some low-strength bloom ferts (1, 1.5, 2.8) lying around but that's it for chem ferts. I'm certainly not opposed to using them for now, I just haven't sprayed my leaves with anything but tea or neem in many years.

 

[iTarzan]

Have any alaskan fish fertilizer or Fox Farm Tiger Bloom? They are organic.

 

[whythefnot]

I sure don't, but I'm brewing some tea ill spray them with this evening, a little before lights on.

Fox Farm Tiger Bloom? They are organic.

Not to be a stickler, but Tiger Bloom is definitely not an organic fertilizer. That or Grow Big. Now Big Bloom is another story...it's EWC-based, like this tea, and is definitely organic.

 

[whythefnot]

It seemed like no matter how much water I put through the soil, and seriously, no matter what pH that water was (from 7 to 10.5 -- almost ran out of pH up!) The runoff would settle to 5.9-6.0.

Not sure why that is except that the medium must be heavily buffered now. Only time will fix that, so I adjusted the res up to 9+...gonna let it stay there for the next 2 days and then test runoff again to see if it's moved at all. Soil pH issues suck, I almost wish I had gone chem hydro now

 

[whythefnot]

On a more positive note, I tried rosin for the first time a few days ago. What a treat -- it was as good as the best wax I've ever had. Very, very strong and flavorful, and super-duper simple to make.

 

[iTarzan]

Tiger Bloom is considered nearly organic by some growers. It isn't like the other products. Plus I only use it as a foliar for deficiencies. It is a handy tool but completely unneeded if you are using teas.
It surprised me when you said you didn't have a tea brewing at the moment. I was thinking "Hey the orcs are at the castle door brew some freakin tea". LOL!

I was like this guy is a workaholic on this project, super dedicated, took time to install various things and now he can't brew tea. We need to kick his ass. LOL!

But then you were brewing tea and all is back to normal.

Carry on! However, I am watching to see if you slack off at all.

You have a very good thread going.

 

[whythefnot]

Tiger Bloom is considered nearly organic by some growers. It isn't like the other products. Plus I only use it as a foliar for deficiencies. It is a handy tool but completely unneeded if you are using teas.
It surprised me when you said you didn't have a tea brewing at the moment. I was thinking "Hey the orcs are at the castle door brew some freakin tea". LOL!

I was like this guy is a workaholic on this project, super dedicated, took time to install various things and now he can't brew tea. We need to kick his ass. LOL!

But then you were brewing tea and all is back to normal.

Carry on! However, I am watching to see if you slack off at all.

You have a very good thread going.

Hah! You make a great point...both about Tiger Bloom and about kicking my ass. I didn't brew a tea right away because I haven't ruled out my first tea brew as the cause of my initial pH swing, and I've been trying to hold back on brewing like crazy -- I nute burned my last crop a little. I've started diluting my teas 50:50 with water to mitigate this effect. This allows me to brew teas all the time again.


I'm not that dedicated, I just quit my job and took a vacation and don't have anything better to do than make damn sure I'm going to bring in a harvest in mid-Feb. It's so frustrating that this can happen right under my nose during that period of babysitting my plants. I've talked to quite a few growers who have had problems like this with FoxFarm Ocean Forest in the last few years. I've switched off of it for another brand, basically any other brand, permanently, and I'm going to build it myself next round, starting with sunshine mix as a base.

On a side note, are there any in-soil pH meters that actually work? I haven't been watering to runoff so I don't have a clue what my soil pH is at any given time.


aaaand while I was writing this the cops came again. They had good reason to be here, related to the last incident ... I'd like to not go into too much detail for my own sake ... but they tried inviting themselves in. Ummm guys, it's 11:00 at night. I've been smoking WEED, you hear?? So no, you can't come in.

I didn't smell smoke, just plants, when I opened the door. Bad day to pull the plants out of the tent.

They're gone now. Man, fuck those guys.


Back to my god damn post already ...
I compost tea'd my plants tonight and it actually caused the runoff to pH a little higher! It shouldn't be surprising considering it was ~7.3 but after last night's battle it really is. Everything is settled at ~6.1 - 6.2 for now. I sprayed them with about a quart of filtered compost tea spread across the entire room, in two separate applications. Hopefully that gives them the nutes they need temporarily.

 

[whythefnot]

As I planted them, I top dressed the clones with a layer of EWC, then a pinch of blood meal. It didn't work out very well for some of the less-rooted clones. They're fine, but their roots are not growing out into the soil, and you can see the entire cup is covered in fungus. I pulled those 4 clones out and replanted them in straight light warrior, no amendments. The rest are doing great.

I'd love to say that the plants are looking great after their flush -- they are growing very well, had a noticeable increase in vitality after the flush, and have a very healthy stature -- but they are just so spotted now I don't even want to take photos. It's not getting any worse, but 3 - 4 days of brand spankin' new buds sucking nutes out of leaves just doesn't leave your room looking very pretty.

But I see trichs!!

I'm probably going to cut this run a little short. With the damage they've taken over pH issues, there's no way I'll pull a full harvest. I've done well with worse-looking plants, but I'll be lucky to get .5g/w, based on previous experience, so I'm already planning an early harvest -- around 8 weeks -- just to get this first run out of the way. The buds will not be as nice as they could be, but I will have plenty of smoke and I will be bringing in money, with another harvest just 10 - 11 weeks away.

 

[whythefnot]

McEnroe is the brand name of the unlabeled bag of potting mix I'm using now. I mixed a good bit of light warrior in with it, since it didn't come with any perlite and seemed pretty heavy. Guy at the store said it was comparable to FFOF in terms of nutrient value, and from their web site it looks like everything is based on some rich compost. I'll be giving this soil the stink eye for a while, so look forward to an honest review of its performance as a water-and-tea-only mix.

 

[ipot]

I know you got something else already but http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Automatic-Temperature-Humidity-Controller-/

 

[ipot]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Greenhouse-Control-Humidity-and-Temperatur/

Here is a better one. I may do something like this.

 

[ipot]

my last post I promise.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Environmental-Mushroom-Control-Arduino-Powered/

 

[Phases]

So how is everything coming along? Did you get everything sorted out ?

Waiting for some shots of those ladies, hope all it well..

Good vibes brother..

 

[whythefnot]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Greenhouse-Control-Humidity-and-Temperatur/

Here is a better one. I may do something like this.

Bring 'em on. I don't have time or money at this moment to put this thing together. But what I do have in spades is confidence in my ability to do it. Once I set my mind to it, it's already done. But I have to make it through my first harvest before I can even think about trying to rely on something like that. That's been my stumbling block for moving forward with that project -- I really need this harvest to come in, and I have no idea what kind of wildcards the arduino will throw at me. Gonna need to be a second system or a veg tent that it controls while I build it up and test it out.

So how is everything coming along? Did you get everything sorted out ?

Waiting for some shots of those ladies, hope all it well..

Good vibes brother..

Everything's coming pretty well. pH has remained stable throughout the week. All the plants but 1 have had a very perky stature all week, despite some remaining discoloration. That one last plant I think just got overwatered. It's in the middle of the low side of the tent, and I think the continued exposure to runoff just got to it a little. It's either that or N overdose, but it's just the top 3 or 4 leaves, the rest of the plant looks great.

I skipped day 14 photos because things were going so bad but that's just my own self-worth issues talking. The plants are beginning to frost up and bud up nicely and I really don't think they'll be much worse for the wear, all things said and done. I did a hell of a lot of undergrowth trimming -- a lot more than I had planned, because a lot of the smaller lower branches were looking bad from the pH issues, so I gladly trimmed them out.

TL;DR Overall the canopy looks pretty good but somewhat discolored, and I'm not expecting the potency or yield to take a massive hit, but there's no way they'll reach 100%. Photos by Saturday night.



The plant labeled with a black string is pulling ahead as a clear winner for potency if trichome coverage is any indicator. It already has frost almost to the tips of its bud leaves, top and bottom. Keeping those clones extra safe.

 

[Phases]

Glad to hear things are getting back to normal - think I have things under control as well.

I ll be watching out for your new updates. Nothing better than catching an fixing the problem before it fucks everything.

Hoping things get better an you pull a good crop out of it - hey if nothing else you always learn when things go wrong An there's always next crop!