Crucial Cup Colosseum aka Twisted Towers

[Avinash.miles]

thanks hov.

and then
there is
this:
http://makeagif.com/i/j07Y8L

 

[Avinash.miles]

yellowing is continuing.... i spaced out re-upping calmag at this location..... nxt time, aside form yellowing the plants are growing well, stil had nothing but maxi @ 7 g per gal, upped it slightly to 7.5 to 8 g per gal to try to fix the yellowing, didnt work, so back to 7 and ill add cal mag and or epsom salt.

 

[purple wreck]

Damn! One day i have an idea and thro some clones in cups and take them over to Jbonez house and look what i started! I dont even grow vert but think im about to start.

Lookin good Avi

 

[purple wreck]

Did you use the same medium through out the tower. J and I were thinking maybe staight coco in the top cup the mixing more and more perilite as you go down. maybe some chunky perlite in the bottom cup

 

[FlowerFarmer]

yellowing is continuing.... i spaced out re-upping calmag at this location..... nxt time, aside form yellowing the plants are growing well, stil had nothing but maxi @ 7 g per gal, upped it slightly to 7.5 to 8 g per gal to try to fix the yellowing, didnt work, so back to 7 and ill add cal mag and or epsom salt.

Been struggling with something similar for a while now.

New location, but still RO from a high PPM well, I've been having trouble with both 6/9 and to a lesser extent Maxibloom @7g Gal.

DHF and a few others diagnosed as being cal/mag related so I started hitting with 7g + 5mL/gal of calmag. Think it was a bit too strong however because I almost immediately started getting the claw.

After seeing my Run-off EC in the high 2s I started to flush with 1.0-1.2 (however dropped the cal-mag).. The plants continued to yellow up with various issues. Continued to bump up 1.4-1.6 and back to full strength 1.8, but the issues remain. The buds look great and will finish out, but the yellowing is starting to reach bud leaves which will make trimming a nightmare and leave the door open for bud rot unless I get them down quick.


Clearly I'm not great at diagnosing and sorting problems in coco and the info/experiences of others varies so greatly across the board.

Everyone says run 1.2EC or thereabouts .. however 7G maxibloom alone is 1.8-2.0. I think full maxibloom with calmag on top locked my shit up. I've ran this "dosage" diluted but its hard to say if my problems are clearing up.


I've got purple stems and pale growth across the board...many times looking what I believe it Mg- (the lightening of the leaves with darker veins), but epsom foliar doesnt seem to remedy.

Oddly enough my plants under T5s take whatever I can throw at them and look 100% perfect.



I dunno.. very frustrating. I used to kill it with Head recipe or Maxibloom in RO w/o CalMag, but believe I was running old membranes at the time and think my "RO water" was around 100ppm vs. the near 0 I am running now.



I've used up all my Maxibloom in this location and going to be trying Jacks + CalNit.. both going the route of PPK.. and some handwatered coco plants.

 

[Avinash.miles]

thanks for the input flower farmer, i may try a feeding w just cal mag no maxi.... then go back to maxi.

 

[Avinash.miles]

more twisty towers update pics

more twisty towers update pics

bulking up nicely, despite the yellowing....

^^seems like the base pots are not yellowing the same as the cups.....
wonder if that is because of my cup colosseum design or due to strain differences... the base pots are def more sativa leaning and therefore may be content w lower nutes...

^^^ untrained verty build-a-tree, imo this one looks the nicest.

 

[purple wreck]

Honestly bro I wouldn't sweat the yellowing to much at all.... Now that you hit them with the cal-mag you've done what you can. Just snatch them yeller leave off and pretend they weren't even there... And then go to BK, snag some more cups and build another ghetto tower to thro in there

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Have you checked for root rot? If you are getting more water to the top then the bottom and the top are not drying enough to get oxygen to the roots then it could be root rot.

If this is the case you need to change the perched water level. This could be done by hanging a piece of rope from the bottom to wick the excess water out. Poke a hole and shove the rope in a couple of inches.

Just a guess from me though.

 

[gurnt]

I wish I done it that way some of my plants get yellowing as they flower and the one next to it don't

 

[Avinash.miles]

Have you checked for root rot? If you are getting more water to the top then the bottom and the top are not drying enough to get oxygen to the roots then it could be root rot.

If this is the case you need to change the perched water level. This could be done by hanging a piece of rope from the bottom to wick the excess water out. Poke a hole and shove the rope in a couple of inches.

Just a guess from me though.

thanks ich, glad ta have ya here!

um ya, its def not too wet on top, if anything top cups dry out much quicker than lower cups and base pot....

i like the rope idea from the base pot to the top cup... duno how i would do that, push it thru w a stake when i assemble the towers....

i think it's mag def.... this is coco not peat like im more used to so it may like more calmag...

 

[megayields]

Cal-Mag FTW!

 

[purple wreck]

I am "Dbonez" btw in case you missed that in Jbonez thread

 

[bobblehead]

Well Avi, I'm about 90% certain about what your problem is... It's a design flaw, and I tried telling Jbonez/Zodiac about it. Maybe you'll listen.

Molecules each have their own weight, and are affected by gravity accordingly. Once you add your nute solution, it doesn't stay in solution. The molecules separate, with the heavier ones falling to the bottom and the lighter ones staying toward the top. This also effects pH, creating a different pH at different levels. This is why we add a pump to our reservoirs, to add energy to keep things in solution. This is also why with my racks, I put a separate bag on each level. In my octagon, I use wide but short bags, to keep the root zone more heterogeneous.

It's science...

Sorry dude... but the design won't perform how you want it to and you're going to keep chasing this problem.

 

[whatthe215]

that's really interesting bobble. it sounds well thought out.

avi, are all the strains fed the same?

edit-

thanks for the input flower farmer, i may try a feeding w just cal mag no maxi.... then go back to maxi.

keep 1/2 strength base IMO. i think having waterings without a vital ingredient will just lead to issues. i don't dare water my coco without CalMag at atleast 4ml/gal.. upwards of 7-8ml when the plants really want it. 10ml/gal first watering, canna coco.

 

[hotboxes]

just feed each site for now then split the cups some how for individual sites next round. figuring out how runoff will be removed from each will be needed IMO or ph in the bottom spots will always be off.

I love the innovation of this set up soooo simple, but with the simplicity of it being counter productive having to chase PH swings the design definitely needs tweeked some how, but I love where your head's at Avi.

 

[purple wreck]

http://vertigro.com/
This is where I got the idea. Maybe is should go to one of their work shops (I live kinda close) They use a mix of coco and perlite and even sell dry nutes. maybe the "Colorado" tomato formula would work well? What ya'll think?

 

[Avinash.miles]

Well Avi, I'm about 90% certain about what your problem is... It's a design flaw, and I tried telling Jbonez/Zodiac about it. Maybe you'll listen.

Molecules each have their own weight, and are affected by gravity accordingly. Once you add your nute solution, it doesn't stay in solution. The molecules separate, with the heavier ones falling to the bottom and the lighter ones staying toward the top. This also effects pH, creating a different pH at different levels. This is why we add a pump to our reservoirs, to add energy to keep things in solution. This is also why with my racks, I put a separate bag on each level. In my octagon, I use wide but short bags, to keep the root zone more heterogeneous.

It's science...

Sorry dude... but the design won't perform how you want it to and you're going to keep chasing this problem.

im listening

also

To demonstrate this, you could put a tall piece of paper in a shallow cup of micro, and a another tall piece of paper in a shallow cup of bloom. There should be distinguishable lines where the water rises to a certain level, and under that will be the different nutrients. I bet the markings will reach different levels on the paper.

Thanks Bobble, for the input, and i believe you entirely, and perhaps will try the paper "separation" of nutrient concentrates experiment.

Any way to mitigate this issue that (you are telling me) is flawed by design by the way that i feed, or by using drip clean or something?
I've been feeding to about 20% runoff from base pot, only adding solution to the base pot and top cup of each tower

however
also ive been watering very gently, a lil bit at a time to avoid any overflow from top of the cup and hopefully avoid channeling through the coco.

 

[HOVAH2.0]

I think ive found an improvement to this design...

How bout a cylinder filled with lava rock that is setting in a rez, and in that rez a pump thats circulates water back to the top of the cylinder. In the cylinder are plants configured in the same fashion as your cups?

Im thinking of a DWC at the bottom, with an extended cylinder netpot containing plants stacked one on top of the other.

Im on the way to Lowes for the items after I leave class today, will have pics soon...

 

[Avinash.miles]

Go for it hovah! reminds me of gmax system (i think?) dwc at the base, kinda NFT on the tower.

It's day 36 here at twisty tower terrace....

^^ some 2 extra plants in there... ignore them... at bottom of pic
towers lookin alright, yellowing still goin on but swellage and bulking seem full blast ahead.