Bree's first Aero grow... with Yeast CO2

[Pod Racer]

Excellent as always my grow buddy. However I was going to say in your PM and here as well - WHAT??? 900 EC is that like 400 ppms? This is your well water right? I'd honestly say (And this was my best investment EVER) is to get yourself an R/O unit off Ebay. They are like $75 and I can't tell you how much easier and more effective it is to use 4 ppm water as your start level.

With a TDS of 400 that is actually not recommended for human consumption as its way way way too hard. Hence 8.3 ph. There is too much bicarbonate in that salt water for sure. Might do fine, not saying it wont. Just saying for $75 you'll never have another question about deficiencies, nutrient strength, or issues with imbalance - which I'm sure all that bi-carbonate is throwing your nutes off.

Just my 2 cents. I have 400 ppm here city water and it, combined with my unknown water softener killed off 2 entire batches of clones before I realized what was going wrong. So I got my ass off my chair and drug my R/O filter out of the garage and set it up in my room. No more issues.

I think you should post whatever you want in your thread Bree. Its your house, do as you will. Lord knows I do.

Does weed make anyone else feel like just getting up and dancing? Said the grinning buddha.

 

[Guest]

Pod Racer....

Pod Racer....

I have had a $500.00 system put in but puts out less than a 1/4 gallon per day due to the high ppm and low pressure. I need it so badly. I am going to try and work with it.... do some experiments and see if I can adapt. Do you think it is possible?

Peace

 

[Pod Racer]

Absolutely, mine takes forever as well. I get about 1 gallon an hour maybe, so I just put a large black garbage can in the tub, run my line into it, make sure it can't fall out (did that once of course) and let it run till it fills the can up. If it takes overnight so be it, but in the morning I have all the 4 ppm water I want and can store it right there for weeks if I needed. Very handy, and what I don't use on my grow I use on my house plants or for my animals as we all can use a little reverse salt precipitation. lol Everyone thinks their unit doesn't work cause they just dribble, but that is they way they work.

You can...attach a Dia. Pump like you use for Aero to it to increase the pressure, that is one of their functions. Get yourself a 100 psi rated one and connect it between your house line and the R/O unit. That should increase your flow.

Man, our LEO copters are out today! They must know its sowing day. Say high to the nice black copter sweetie, hello. fuck off...lol

PS This isn't a great example, but I thought I'd show you how these aero roots are currently in about a month of flowering and then being stretched to longer days as they flipped too early for me. I revegged them and went back into flower too quickly so they are very small and staying that way, however I got a good shot of the root ball and as you can see because of the heavy aeration, there are no real tap roots. There isn't any need at this point for the plant to draw anymore nutrients than it gets from the aerosol spray so the hair mass hangs just above the water, ready to drop emergency tap lines down if drought should strike and in heavy flower if sufficent amounts of water is unavailable for absorptions.



They will completely disintergrate as the reserve water becomes increasingly carbonated or effervescent.

 

[Guest]

Looks very cool, I am going to get away from the nets and hydroton.

Looks very cool, I am going to get away from the nets and hydroton.

My roots that are closest to the drain spout that goes into the reservoir are growing down it. I am glad I put a pair of panty hose over the end so it can't get far in the reservoir. I am going to build a table next time. I need to know more about increasing pressure and where to get the small micron mist heads.

Pod Racer could you give me some urls to get started learning.

Well the plants have been in flowering 5 days if you count the 2 days dark. They are definitely starting the stretch, I have bent them (all tops) 6-8 in twice now. More tops are coming up and about every square inch is covered with a top in it. I have the usual door angle pic for comparison and a canopy pic. I will post the first door pic first so as to compare with the latest. In the canopy you will see not an inch is left. Sort of like scrog without the screen.






Here is a shot across the canopy, they look a bit a mess due to just being bent again but you can tell how it is solid tops.




Here are my Ak and Sour Diesel three days out of the ground. Only 3 Diesel on the left. So far they are shorter and popped up sooner. Those little floros put out much more heat than I expected. One close up and one of more the whole set up.





Here are the clones I am torturing to see if I can get them to root. The environment is perfect and water temps are perfect but the pH climbed back up to 8.4 but brought it down to 5.8 but with a hell of a lot of phosphate.
We will see. They look good but it has been only 3 days. No bumps or roots.




Sort of a boring part waiting for the flowering to begin so am adding these others into to add a little interest.

If you think this other stuff should be a separate thread please let me know.

Peace

I better get some rep points if I can get those clones to root in EC of 900 and I think it was a pH of 8.7

 

[Pod Racer]

Just a thought here Bree, you could use the sub-aquatic Co2 for your ph control as it is ideal for hard water. The Carbonic acid formed by the breakdown of the Bicarbonate (which is why I believe your Ph is so hig and keeps climbing) should not only lower your ph without adding ppms, but should also increase availble carbon and facilitate better Nitrogen aborption. You might try a few ideas for shits and grins.

1st - Try mixing your water with a carbonated water, like seltzer that is already Carbon loaded.

2nd - Use H202 instead of Ph down, as it is a natural acid and should breakdown immediately into just H20 and O2 but busting up some of those bi-carbonate bonds again.

3rd- Use a aquarium heater to elevate the temps to 72°F to promote rooting and increase the available carbon and Co2 in the water.

Just some ideas that spring to mind.

I'm trying to get ICMAG to give us our own home Aero forum, once they do that I'll launch a Primer on Aero that should cover everything currently. I am also about to get my goodies so I'll do a blow by blow of a True Aero Setup along with a nutrient thread and discussions on advanced methods or theories like the Æromaxtrix concept.

Give a shout to the mods to get us a forum for our people, the Aero Empire will arise.

 

[Δ9-THC]

Pod Racer: H2O2 (peroxide) is not an acid, and will not react with bicarbonate in water. Also, raising the temp to 72ºF will decrease the solubility of CO2 in water if that's what you desire. The easiest way to solve hard water issues is with RO water as aformentioned, with DI cartridges, or with a water softener. Realistically, using pH down is your easiest method of overcoming hard water buffering issues. While your EC or TDS meter may read 2000ppm, it's a fair estimate to subtract the tap water you started with. The "ppm" present in tap water is not likely going to be nutrients your plant will use, it's going to be mostly things like calcium and sodium. Though this is sort of an aside from the discussion... anyhow, just thought I'd share my thoughts.

Bree: I'm workin on my buckets right now, my clones are hurtin... they needed nutes 4 weeks ago.. hah! yikes. I notice you've got lots of CFl lamps hangin over ur sprouts. I really want to get some of the grow lamp compact flourescents, you see those?

 

[Pod Racer]

Please do a simple google search before you insert your foot.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a very pale blue liquid which appears colourless in a dilute solution, slightly more viscous than water. It is a weak acid. It has strong oxidizing properties and is therefore a powerful bleaching agent that has found use as a disinfectant, as an oxidizer, and in rocketry (particularly in high concentrations as high-test peroxide (HTP) as a monopropellant), and in bipropellant systems.

Acid catalysis is mainly used for organic chemical reactions. There are mainly possible chemical compounds that can act as sources for the protons to be transferred in an acid catalysis system. A compound such as sulfuric acid (H2SO4) can be used. Usually this is done to create a more likely leaving group, such as converting an OH group to a H2O+ group.

And if you would reallyl like to go to task on it:

The mechanism and kinetics of bicarbonate-catalyzed oxidations of sulfides by H2O2 at the aqueous /cationic micellar interface have been investigated. The general term surfoxidant is introduced to describe the combination of an ionic surfactant with a reactive counterion that is itself an oxidant or activates an oxidant from the bulk solution to form an oxidant counterion. It is shown that the new catalytic cationic surfoxidant CTAHCO3 (cetyltrimethylammonium bicarbonate) significantly enhances the overall oxidation rates as compared to the addition of bicarbonate salts to CTACl and CTABr, for which the halide counterions must undergo equilibrium displacement by the oxidant anion (peroxymonocarbonate, HCO4-). General equations based on the classic pseudophase model have been derived to account for the preequilibrium reaction in the aqueous and micellar phases, and the resulting model can be used to describe any micellar reaction with associated preequilibria. Rate constants and relevant equilibrium constants for HCO4- oxidations of aryl sulfides at micellar surfaces have been estimated for CTAHCO3, CTACl, and CTABr. The second-order rate constants in the Stern layer (k2m) for sulfide oxidations by HCO4- are estimated to be ~50-fold (PhSEtOH) and ~180-fold (PhSEt) greater than the background rate constant km0 for oxidation by H2O2 at the micellar surface. The estimated values of k2m are lower than the corresponding values in water by a factor of 20-70 depending on the substrate, but the high local concentration of the bicarbonate activator in the surfoxidant and the local accumulation of substrate as a result of strong binding to the micelle lead to a net increase in the observed reaction rates. Comparisons of CTAHCO3-activated peroxide to other highly reactive oxidants such as peroxymonosulfate (HSO5-) in aqueous surfactant media suggest a wide variety of potential applications for this green oxidant.

And so you can stop questioning me on these very superficial levels:

 

[Δ9-THC]

It takes two to speak the truth — one to speak and another to hear.

It takes two to speak the truth — one to speak and another to hear.

If you're not open to suggestion, don't bother posting your opinion. The first mistake of any forum user is to automatically assume that someone elses post is an attack against their knowledge, opinion, whatever.

The PKa of hydrogen peroxide is 12, I would consider this a VERY weak acid considering the PKa of water is 16. I'm glad you can google search, so can I.. I'm merely saying.. the effect it's going to have on BUFFER characteristics of your nutrients are minimal. I don't know what the abstract is that you posted, but perhaps you can write me a reaction equation for H2O2 reacting with C03(-2)... I'm suggesting that reaction would not be a major contributor to the acid base chemistry of your nutrients.

Realistically, to look at specific reactions is not an accurate way to gauge what is going to enhance plant growth... this is a fundamental idea in biology. "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

That aside, I have one other question for you, since I've read your posts on adding CO2 to your reservoir, and carbon loading etc. How do root cells continue to live in water that is "absent" (albeit not completely) of oxygen? Since root cells cannot photosynthesize, they must use oxidative phosphorylation via aerobic respiration. I suppose anaerobic respiration could take place, but would be extremely taxing on the plants metabolic pathways.

FYI, I am a chemist.

 

[Guest]

Hi Pod and Delta.... two of my favorites together.....

Hi Pod and Delta.... two of my favorites together.....

I think I will do a test run with a couple plants with CO2 in water before I go to such a larger scale. There are more than 50 clones in those containers. I don't think there should be an issue with them rooting unless I can't keep the pH in an acceptable range. It is a test but not as sure on the CO2 in water.

I already have heaters in each tank, both set at 78 which with cool off keeps the water about 75f. I routinely use H202 once per week in small amounts to keep the the bacterial level down and as an adjunctive for preventing algae or other negative growths.

If I am not mistaken, the amount of dissolved gas in a liquid does not limit the amount of uptake of a different gas. An example with the blood, carbon monoxide blocks the receptor sites on the red blood cells but still diffuses into the blood readily as well as oxygen in the reverse-- in the presence of each gas.
I forget the law that applies but there is one that applies to this instance.

On those floros they sure put out a lot of heat. Lots of energy but lots of heat too. I added CO2 to the room in small amounts delivered directly at the plant level. They do not have a developed root system that can supply enough nutes or water to support rapid growth but figured it couldn't hurt. I think I may try that with the clones too.

I can't wait for the ladies to start putting on their white bonnets. Hate the boring period between the turn down of lights and the beginning of the changes.

Peace

 

[Pod Racer]

Why is everybody always picking on me...lol

Why is everybody always picking on me...lol

Alright Delta 9 let's dance.

The point I was making was that you were incorrect to say H202 is not an acid. It is, by definition. And you are talking about a 3% solution, I am assuming? Which is, as I am sure you know, 3 parts H202 to 97% water and stabilizer. That is a strong acid. A 30% volume of Peroxide will burn the skin right off your arm, and a solution of 70% could kill you if you drank it.

Hell, if you think that it is that 'weak' take cup of 3% internally...its only water and a very weak acid right? Have cup and tell me how you feel.
pH data are needed to maintain the pH of unit operations at target values, which in chloride dioxide and chelating stages are usually in the acidic region and in hydrogen peroxide stages usually in the alkaline region. pH measurement, especially in the alkaline region is not easy to perform, and several factors have to be taken into account.

Reality in industrial processes is that an accuracy of 0.25 units in pH measurements is rarely achieved [91]. Contamination of the electrode surface is a major problem, but temperature differences and atmospheric carbon dioxide are also notable error sources, the significance of which was investigated in this study [VIII].

Under alkaline conditions, such as those that prevail in hydrogen peroxide bleaching stages, hydroxide ion concentration is mostly determined by the amounts of added sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, the latter functioning as an acid that partly neutralizes the OH- ions. Due to the fact that the activity of the H+ ions is the ionic product of water divided by the activity of the OH- ions, a sample taken from a process and left to cool down to room temperature cannot be used to evaluate the real process pH. In this study this effect was evaluated. Figure 8 shows the difference between the results with pH measurements carried out at 85 ºC and 23 ºC. The vertical axis represents the pH values obtained with an electrode located in simulated hydrogen peroxide bleaching solutions at 85ºC, while the values of the horizontal axis are the room temperature values of the same experiments. As can be seen, the difference may be as much as 2.5 pH units. Much of the deviation can be attributed to the ionic product of water, which is 10-14 at room temperature but considerably higher, 10-12.5, at 85ºC.

In conclusion, if a pH electrode cannot be placed in the process itself, rapid measurement before cooling is recommended to obtain more accurate results. There is also another reason for rapid measurement, namely, the formation of a carbonate buffer with atmospheric carbon dioxide:

CO2 + H2O ↔ (H2CO3) ↔ H+ + HCO3-

HCO3- ↔ H+ + CO32-

CO2 + H2O ↔ 2 H+ + CO32-

IMHO and ONLY IMHO - If I had super hard water, 350 ppms being considered undrinkable to humans, (he is talking 900) and I didn't want to add more salts to the mix to lower the ph and make available Calcium and Mg be absorbed as well as Carbon (which by the way is why Co2 is added - to become Carbon and O2 oxygen and a free radical) without adding anything other than O2 to the solution.

H202 is an amazingly natural ph-adjusting chemical that your own body uses as its primary defense. It is only logical (in my mind anyhow) that this biological advancement is in direct relation to overcoming a deficiency in the plant kingdom—Hence the self-production of H202 in our own bodies. This advancement taken in reverse would aid the plant (lesser complex being).

I know it doesn't always make sense the way I uncover and discover shit, you just sort of have to let me draw it out and see if you can see the picture first before you start to write over it with convention. I have found all my answers outside the box, and the instructions are out here too. Not to mention enough light to read and spread it all out to see clearly. And that is all I try to do - shed a little light on an apparently overlooked biological system that is already in place to solve the problem without a drug or a pesticide.

I don't believe my friend needs to add more chemicals to his rooting clones that have no roots to absorb. He is feeding the bacteria that will force the growth of roots, and they need Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Ions and the best place to get that is in a carbonic acid reaction where Hydrogen, Oxygen and Ions are released. Why add Phosphorus? It isn't needed in this equation - chemist. Nothing is except a mechanical reconstruction of the solution that is better suited for the cutting. That would be a ph solution with less bi-carbonate, more Oxygen, More Carbon (for building), and More Hydrogen - the basic build block A.

How is that? Better?

What I love about H202 more than anything is that it appears to be self-regulating. It will only react to the level you desire by concentration, destroy all the anaerobic bacteria (you don't want) and provide the correct ph - DO levels necessary to jumpstart your cuts. Far better than a hot mix of 1000 ppms or 1.0 EC plus with added chemical acid to force the hot solution down to a ph that will basically eat the tissue right off the cutting's legs.

It will, in my mind's eye, need to create hydrophobic defense strategies ahead of its hydrophilic objectives to adjust to the addition of Ph down. Where as the H202 would just disassemble it to the correct level I would believe. But this is only my opinion; He can make his own decisions for himself. I'm cool with that as well. Let's see what works for him or doesn't. I only know what works for me.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Wont H2O2 kill pretty much all bacteria? Ive been avoiding using it during scheduled flushing because I dont want it wiping out the beneficials that the Hydroguard plants. Any thoughts on H2O2 as a regular maintenance item when using beneficials??

 

[Pod Racer]

H202 will destroy any and all organic material - think of it as Ozone for the water. However, just like Ozone, if there isn't anything to react with it doesn't react at all. But the same as Ozone, it is to be used as a bleech or an acid wash and NOT as maintenance for a biosystem.

I only suggest this strategy for this particular problem as it is an environment that needs to be sterilzed first anyhow, does not have the required biomass system in place yet, and is currently not hospitable to anything other than balancing bacteria that is not necessarily symbiotic as it needs organic resources as well.

It is just an organic way, less chemical, to basically knock the hardness out of the water by burning up excess crap that is not needed. In nature this would be achieved by a fermintation process that would be releasing Co2 into the 'bog' and the water cascading over a waterfall would 'impact' the H20 bond in a similar way. We are just using 'trapped' action to release the potential here. The H202 is in suspended animation of sorts, just waiting to react with its own kind... H20 and O2 and CO2 and OH- and H+ these are the water friendly friends.

Phosphorus is another character altogether and isn't necessary for the party yet. However it is needed. But the plant itself can manufacture any chemical it needs from 3 basic elements, without these in abundance it will die. H, O, and Carbon. Carbonic Acid creates Carbon Oxygen and Water. The latter 2 being waste for the plant.

Until this system is more complex, I wouldn't make more. When she is ready for P she'll ask for it. Right now they are soaking in a salt bath. Its like saying, can I get you another cup of salty peanuts while you suck through that cocktail straw? Yeah, she might survive. But I think she'd much rather you just turn down the music a little and let her get into something a little more comfortable, then she'll show you what she can do.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Pod Racer]

I meant to tell you this a zillion years ago, sorry bro

I meant to tell you this a zillion years ago, sorry bro

Crap Bree , I totally forgot about this, and I know you love to pinch...you might try hormone pruning.

6-BENZYLAMINOPURINE

Another favourite, depending on the concentration used, the effects are thicker and stronger stems, healthier and larger leaves (more surface area to capture light) at 300 ppm. If you find that youwould like a plant to have more branches, you give it a foliar spray of 2000ppm. This is called hormonal pruning and the advantage is that you don't need to pinch of the plants growing tip (thus decreasing the gibberrelins), the plant stays healthy and doesn't stop growing to repair the tip.

Another big bonus. If you spray MJ with 300ppm at the end of the 4th week of flowring there is a dramatic increase in bud growth. Combined with the earlier spraying of Brassinlide that most do at the start of flowering, the end result is outstanding in terms of quality and yield.

 

[Δ9-THC]

Haha, woah big post , rather difficult to respond to everything, so pardon if I miss something. IMHO, I disagree with some of the logic you've presented. However, I do agree that experimentation is the best way to find something that works, especially in biology (in this case growing Herb). If you find something that works, stick to it.

I also agree, adding pH down to 900ppm water is going to throw things out of whack, and still leave you with a mess of a problem. I don't really see a good solution besides purifying the well water.

Keep in mind that H2O2 is not long lived at all in your reservoir. While dihydrogen dioxide may be a proton donor (lewis acid), it doesn't exist in that form for long. It will rapidly form oxygen radicals and water. The oxygen radicals are what can oxidize bacterial membranes, react with organic matter (saying it 'destroys' all organics is a bit extreme), or terminate by combining two radicals to form O2. At a cellular level, peroxisomes produce H2O2 as a means of providing free radicals which can chain terminate with other free radicals, as well as modify organic toxins to make them less so. pH at a cellular level is maintained mainly with carb/bicarb and phosphate buffers (as in the human blood stream). These same buffers are balanced in nutrient regimens.

Also, you will be hard pressed to find anaerobic bacteria in your reservoir, so I wouldn't worry about this. While H2O2 will produce an acidic environment, judging by its pKa, and the pKa of carbonic acid, the pH produced in a solution of 50% H2O2 and a slight amount of carbonate would not be very acidic.

Another imporant point, you do need phosphorous during veg and rooting, as it's a fairly major nutrient plant metabolic pathways, it just needn't be pumped up to try and bulk up the 'fruit'.

Either way... this debate is deviating rather far from assisting Bree with water probs. I'd be happy to exchange ideas further, but elsewhere rather than cluttering this thread.

Sounds like an RO unit with a booster pump would be the best option.

Bree: Yes, I think you're right... gas solubility doesn't follow LeChatelier's rule that closely. Henry's law?

 

[Pod Racer]

Oh, and by the way, I am not chemist, what does that say?

Oh, and by the way, I am not chemist, what does that say?

But you basically just repeated what I just said. So you agree.

The point is that H202 only lasts for a brief moment. That is the beauty of its use. It doesn't have a residual acidic effect, which you wouldn't want. And you are incorrect, plant tissue can survive and thrive without P added to the mix. It is the creator of all life on this planet. Due to its reactivity to air and many other oxygen containing substances, phosphorus is not found free in nature but it is widely distributed in many different minerals. Not to say P isn't necessary, but I have seen experiments where plants are grown on pure electricity with nothing but H2O and Air...they are amazing.

However this is something of interest I think, maybe worth some discussion and debate, I am open to it of course.

The growth of water hyacinth in nutrient solutions of different pH and P content was measured. It was found that pH between the wide limits of 4.0 and 8.0 did not appear to have any obvious influence on growth. The P content had a great effect on growth rate, morphology of the plant, and the distribution of P within the plant tissues. When grown in solution without P the plant roots developed until their total proportion to plant size was twice that of hyacinths growing in solutions containing P. The roots also became iridescent blue in contrast to the normal grey-black colour. Growth increased with P content of the solution up to a P concentration of 20 ppm. At 40 ppm growth declined and the effect of increasing P was increased toxicity to the plants. the P content of the plants with rising P concentration is shown, together with P distribution in the plant, in the following table:

As the P concentration in solution becomes greater it can be seen that the distribution of P within the plant becomes more uniform. At low concentrations more P accumulates in the leaves compared to the stem and roots. It was noted that the P uptake increased in the hyacinth even after some toxic effect of the high concentration in the nutrient solution (40 ppm P) had become evident in reduced growth. This “luxury consumption” appeared to be approaching its limit for plants growing in 40 ppm P.

Now not basing it entirely on this study, but in a 900 ppm mix adding the volume needed of P to drop the ph to a suitable level would proably be in the neighborhood of 200-300 ppms, and there are no roots yet.

Which is why Optimal would be R/O - 4 ppms to start. Then add your beneficials (I use HG) and Cal/Mag Plus, which has the entire accompliment of nutrients and macros at very low chelated organically available levels. And you'll be right at about 150-200 ppms and 5.6 ph. IF you don't have it, H202 will burn out in seconds leaving a lower ph and nothing added by O2 and carbon ready for building whatever it needs.

I also don't agree with the 'I wouldn't worry' comment as far as the sterility of your cloner.... ah.... HUGE mistake, and Bree knows about bad bacteria. Your cloner is the first place you stick a wounded open cut on a severed limb, not a place to be careless with airborne or surface bacteria. Not at all. Sorry I do not agree there.

 

[Δ9-THC]

There are lots of aerobic bacteria in your cloner, yes, but not anaerobic. Phosphorous is essential for making phosphodiester bonds in DNA and RNA. This doesn't mean you'll need to add it, because it really doesn't take much to get to the bare minimum. Phosphorous is also used for phosphorylation reactions, such as the production of ATP, the driving force for nearly every organism alive.

 

[Pod Racer]

Exactly, and like you said, a little goes a long way in a cutting. Now if it were flowering...that is a different story altogether. :smile:

Just a little FYI - a secret I have - I use a about a 1/2 teaspoon of H202 in my bong water when I smoke that acts just like an oxy filter and removes a lot of the harshness of impurities as well as enhances the taste and O2 levels of the vapor hit. I got in trouble suggesting it on OG, they had a cow, even though your lungs actually secrete H202 in response to tar and foreign debris. Just puttin' it out there.

 

[clowntown]

I haven't had a lot of time to spend on the forums lately, but I see a lot has gone on since I last checked in. Looks like you have a lot of things figured out, and a nice well-rounded growroom!

 

[Guest]

Hello Clown.... nice of you to drop in. Thanks for coming over.

Lots of information to take in and process. I think in the future I will stick with the distilled. In a little more distant future I will have a plumber come over and see what he can do to get the pressure up for the RO.

Just carry a lot of water. I forgot to upload tonight's update pics but every thing is pretty much the same. Stretch continues. No bud formation yet. But all are showing signs of femaleness. No signs of hermies. Had two last time so hope not to see any this time. Although, I do have quite a few seeds from last time.

I will have to sit down and process all the info Pod Racer and Delta gave me. Lots of content there. Thank you, I do appreciate the input. I think I am losing one of the AK neonates to damping off. Will have pic tomorrow.

Peace

 

[Pod Racer]

Just don't push them into flower too quickly and don't cut the N too quick either. I am not sure how the NFT systems really work with monitoring, however in TAG when the plants have triggered fully into flower there is a directional change in the PH and PPMs.

We were tracking it and attempting find better methods of predicting and riding it as it is that 'hairpin' turn in the course that makes or breaks the winning Colas.

There is a point about the 2nd week of flower where the ph will all the sudden start to drop rapidly as the PPMs will stay the same. It is at this point that you should begin your P/K loading and can decide the timing of flower for your plants. It is at this time that the plants hormones have apparently flipped to flower and they start to ignore the N in the mix - dropping the ph and backing N into the solution as they would root systems underground, and beginning to consume large quantity of K.
This is where most run into the 'burning' look to the leaf tips and drying. Its actually a massive draw for K to build the bud sites and line the buds with resin. If you watch in TAG it happens almost overnight, usually in a 12 hour period and at that point you can start to gently push the P/K up to 1000 ppms and they will just fatten right up in about 4 weeks. The last 2 weeks is when they put on the most weight and if you hold on you will have thick chunky buds to chew through. If you don't, you might end up with airy popcorn farts on a stick. So keep a watch on the monitors and the continued use of N will slow that transition down allowing you time to carbo-load your pregnant bitches.