Hail Hydro 2.0: New Beginnings

[PetFlora]

UPDATE

Outdoor Indica: cut her down a couple days ago

Sat just about ready to harvest. I turned off the Amare Pro3 CoBs this morning, leaving the mono rings on

New seeds: One was popped this morning. I decided to move them under the Pro 3 monos which are much stronger and concentrated into a smaller area than the BML supplemental light

 

[PetFlora]

Oh Happy Days

The remaining 5 seeds popped overnight. The first to pop isi n the lower left corner. Note the plastic grate under the coco pellets, which allows for drainage if over-watered

The sat is 99% ready. Since last night was a full moon, I will wait 2 more days to harvest

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[PetFlora]

Cut down the Sat this morning

Inserted all seedlings in my DIY lpa. I might need a bigger gph pump in an effort to push more nutes through the heads

The humidity in the tent is extremely low, so I filled my Vicks humidifier. Need to monitor it until I get it dialed in

Got a real nice batch of seeds from my outdoor Indica


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[PetFlora]

Wow. Sat root ball is quite small (~ baseball size). That said the roots are loaded with nutrient loving root hairs

I attribute the small ball to:

1. winter temps and lack of RH
2. NPK Raw nutes not designed for hydro

Still, with these in mind I managed 104gm wet bud + 17gms larf
Assuming 60% dry weight = 2.2 oz


This would be unacceptable to any commercial grower, but, as a personal use grower that still saves me ~ $600 (minus electric and nute cost)

AND, I know that it has no pesticides/insecticides/herbicides or crap nutrients

It does smell lovely

This new grow is all Emerald Harvest 2 part + their critical amendments. I always had nice roots and bigger yields with them


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[starke]

Congrats on your sativa harvest and seed production.

 

[PetFlora]

Came across this today from another thread. Root Pruning.

I do it when plants are young to force more lateral roots near the main stem. My reasoning being better more roots closer than farther away then feeding into fewer roots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt7byYVgVFg

 

[PetFlora]

Thought I would post a picture and an update

I am dialing in the o//o times. Currently 2 minutes on and 15 minutes off.

I added my Vicks Humidifier to gt RH up from 40%, now around 50%

Also with all lights on temps get above 85*s. I was turning the CoBs off, running the monos only, which does bring temps down

Now open the front flaps and am cycling my fan at the same o/o times as the spray. Still dialing that in

I should have taken a close up, but all 6 seedlings leafs are growing

All-in-all, so far so good.

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[PetFlora]

I thought it a good idea to review EH HYDRO nutrient feed chart

Based on my negative experience with NPK micros and Humic, I was surprised to see EH recommending both Root Wizard and Emerald Goddess, both of which seem similar to NPK Microbes and Humic, which as they told me after the fact that microbes are intended for soii and can be problematic in hydro, and to replace them with aminos and enzymes

I wrote EH, but in the mean time, will use NPK Enzymes and Aminos

Good news:

already seeing roots coming out of the side/bottom of the net pots

Still dialing in pH, and adjusting between using CoBs + monos and just monos for temp and RH purposes

 

[PetFlora]

Seedlings looking good

Having trouble keeping RH in the zone when the CoBs are on, but it is cold this morning, so the added heat helps

6 of one...

I neglected to take a pic of the roots

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[PetFlora]

Forgot to update yesterday, I made up one gallon of EH 3 part nutes PLUS; yucca, aminos enzymes, and silica


Had a reason to use my camera so, here's a few of the roots already clearing the net pots.

Those in the back are harder to see

I put a sea shell over the humidifier outlet to better aim the fog at the seedlings


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[PetFlora]

My humidity monitor took a dump. Good thing I have spares. Roots have grown considerably since Friday, getting ready for a growth spurt.

I was hoping that eliminating air stones would stablilize EH nutes pH, but no. I set it at ~ 6.1, 24 hours later it's ~ 6.5

 

[PetFlora]

I heard back from EH regarding pH and mixing organics into hydro.

As to pH, he says (and I agree) that keeping a tight reign isn't that big a deal under 7.0

He also agrees enzymes make more sense in solution than organics, although the can be 'beneficial' sprayed on up to bloom

I think it's time to point out how a purchase mistake is a good thing. I meant to order 3" coco net pots, but got 4" instead.

You can readily see the difference in previous pictures. Now, the benefit of the larger is there is more space to infill small stones around the delicate main stalk

Also, underneath, there is more space between the net pot and the coco insert. This seems to help with over spraying.

Note how much bigger the 4 in the 4" net pots are compared to the 2 in the 3"

Interesting accident!

Pics later

 

[PetFlora]

Im also jacked up about the root development coming out of the sides of the net pots.

one pic is taken from a 5 oclock position, the other 7 oclock

The replacement monitor seems to be more accurate than the, ahem, "Accurate" monitor

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[PetFlora]

EH tech suggested to spray the veg with Emerald Goddess 1.25ml/G

I started this morning

 

[PetFlora]

Oops, he saw the pic and said no foliar until plants are ~ 6" tall

I have been aware that the leafs are on the light green side. I will add some N this morning

 

[PetFlora]

Root pics

I do something some people think is crazy: I trim my roots. Why?

Couple reasons

* They tend to grow long in search of the solution

* Not cutting minimizes lateral root development near the main stalk

Sigh, I should have taken a pic of the plants. The 4 in the larger coco inserts are developing nicely, easily 3x+ bigger than the 2 in the 3"
coco insert

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[PetFlora]

here's an excellent video about VPD, trust me, you want to know

http://www.just4growers.com/stream/...-deficit-the-hidden-force-on-your-plants.aspx

 

[PetFlora]

I did something I should have done in the beginning- place a layer of HD foil over the top of the tote. This to deflect heat away from inside the tote

Adding to the insult, I neglected to turn the light off. I did not notice the problem not doing so caused until I diverted my eyes away after placing the plants back in: Freakin Blind! FYI sunglasses needed now

Roots are going gangbusters now. I trimmed them again, but only the longest skinny taps trimmed back to the overall root mass

I have been aware that the leafs were a bit droopy instead of reaching up to the light. I decided to increase the pause time from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. within a few hours the leafs started reaching up, at least to parallel. Im going to add one more minute of on time and monitor


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[PetFlora]

Hard to believe the seeds popped on 3/2

I need to get the tote systems ready, but waiting on new 1/2" bulkheads and screens that are designed for F & D tables. My reason is to create more DO as the nutrients enter and exit each tote

I have a sample (230g) coming from a relatively new dry nutrient company (Mega Crop).

A couple hydro growers on another gro site are having success with it. I will use it in one rez for this grow

Look at these roots. The plants don't match them yet, but damn, these are only 19 days from breaking the surface

pH has been fairly stable < 6.4

I am swapping out blue ice paks every 3-4 hours

It would be a good idea to drop the tote into a cooler

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[PetFlora]

here's an important point when doing lpa

You need ample water/solution above the pump in order to get proper head pressure out of the sprayers