Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

One more thing: I can't tell, where is water level in your tank, but air pump should be above it. Or maybe that red thing in the tube is a valve? Anyway without protection valve, the tube can siphon back water from tank to the air pump if air pump fails for any reason. And if pump is in "underwater" height.

Good call ! Thanks

That is a one way valve but I only used it because I couldn't get the silicone tubing connected to the pump port, so I used a small piece of plastic tubing to attach to the pump and used the valve to connect the two tubes together.


Either way, it's simple enough to just raise the pump.

The water level is just below the holes that I drilled in the planter to help aerate the coco/perlite.
I can add about 2.5 liters to an empty planter before it runs out of the holes.

I was considering using the pump for the just time being while she is in convalescent care. lol

I have to remove my bobber to use the pump, and I want to keep things as simple as possible so I didn't want to use or rely on a pump if I don't have to.

While I was draining and filling the planter, I managed to spill water all over the pump. Lol

I tend to have a lot of different accidents and they say that "whatever can go wrong will go wrong".

I've got a real knack for finding every possible way that things can go wrong. Lol




Anyway,...
I've decided to go for it and I bought a new Bubbling Machine !!

I can redo my planter with another tube installed to accommodate the bubbler stone.

My aluminum tube right now is cut off square at both ends and the bottom end is blocked off pretty good by the bottom of the planter and doesn't have much water flow.
The bubbles pretty much stay inside the tube.



Anyway, I will figure out a better way to aerate the planter more effectively and hopefully have full access to the air stone to clean or replace it without emptying my entire planter.

I'm stubborn and lazy and don't like change, but I'm sure that I can figure out a way to aerate my planter that is simple easy fail-safe and idiot proof.

There may be a flood or electrocution during the fabrication process, but I got to buy a new toy for Christmas so it will be worth it. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

But I think better make changes carefully, the buffering effect of coco and peat can trick you. For example, your EC will probably rise afrer this flush, but so far, not because it's too high, only because coco and peat are stil releasing buffered salts.

Yes, that is happening.
The PH keeps going up and the PPM keeps increasing.

I've flushed it a couple more times and keep adding plain water to lower the PPM and then adjust the PH.


I don't mind flushing it and I don't think it's bad for the plant? But I don't want to drown or poison my soil mites and other bennies in my media, so I'll leave it be now until tomorrow.

Anyway, if you can't handle separately the "hydro" part, and soil (I think in this system you can't really), I think you should aim somewhere between 6 and 6,4. That's the range where both (Hydro and soil) can work

It should be quite simple and easy to deal with them separately.

I can feed the solution in at the stalk at what ever the best PPM and PH is best for my media, then drain the planter into my bucket, adjust the PH and PPM to what's appropriate for the reservoir, then pour it down the tube to the bottom.

I should be able to get into that routine without too many floods, fires, electrocutions or explosions. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

Thanks for the chart.

I saved it in my documents.

I'm guessing that with my planter and its ~15-20 liters of coco/perlite/(peat & dead roots) above the reservoir, that the reservoir and media can help to buffer each other ?

So, I figure that I shouldn't have to keep a really close eye on the reservoir or the media ?



I paid no real attention to the reservoir with this plant and things did get out of hand, but it took 2 months to get messed up.

When I did a quick bit of research on DWC it mentioned that you can have a pump failure and your plant is still OK for a couple of weeks, so I like that.

I have also managed to grow some roots underwater without a bubbler with my window plant in the little SIP container and with that big plant that I grew, so I figure that I should be able to aerate my reservoir without becoming dependent on it, and I don't think that I need to start dumping my reservoir weekly like with a normal DWC or Hydroponic setup.



I figure that I can just keep growing the way that I have been (although I will use tap water from now on) and that just adding some air to the reservoir shouldn't have any negative effects or complications and should only help ?

 

[PCBuds]

I'm glad, you finally installed a bubbler. Pretty small one (i guess it pumps about 100 liter/hour) but much more than nothing. Underwater roots need oxigen support....

I dunno???

Maybe these roots were supported with oxygen from the roots in the media above the waterline ??

 

[PCBuds]

Remember when I did this ??

I was thinking that the roots could take oxygen right from the air like how a Mangrove grows part of its roots above the waterline to get oxygen to feed to the submerged roots.

I wonder if you can graft Cannibis onto a Mangrove plant ?

That would be cool !!


Then you could grow weed in a swamp,. !!?
lol

 

[PCBuds]

 

[PCBuds]

 

[f2obsession]

I remember that closed, transparent sip tank very well. That was the first "Pc-Buds wonder" to me. "How in the world doesn't it rot the hell out? How is he doing it?" - I tought. Maybe lower temperature than usual in DWC.

I think mangrove effect doesn't really work for hemp. In case of a normal DWC, lot of roots are above water in clay pellets, and in the air, but underwater roots can suffer serious damage if bubbler fails only for a few hours. But for sure, in a standard DWC Most of roots are underwater, and its a really dense, "excessive" root growth compared to roots in soil (or roots in your transparent sip tank).

This is how my first DWC roots looked like lifted out from water:

Your plant seems fine anyway Buds seem greening up, and fatten pretty well.

 

[PCBuds]

... In case of a normal DWC, lot of roots are above water in clay pellets, and in the air, but underwater roots can suffer serious damage if bubbler fails only for a few hours...

I read this from this website...

https://growdoctorguides.com/dwc/

I was under the impression that if the air pump dies, I'd be OK for a couple of weeks.

I don't want to be dependent on a pump for the survival of my plant.


Perhaps if I just add a bit of air to what I'm already using, it will only be a supplement and not a requirement ?

 

[PCBuds]

There's this too...

I don't think that my reservoir stays below 72°F ?
Perhaps it does in the winter months, but the closet gets up to 90°F with the lights on.
I've never checked the temperature of the reservoir.

My plant isn't exactly sanitary either. Lol
And I won't be able to check the roots with a plant growing in the planter.
All I can do is inspect the condition of the solution in the reservoir.

I think that I can sort of do a "transitional" grow between my SIP container and a DWC setup by just pumping a bit of air to the bottom ?

I will still have huge amounts of roots above the waterline, perhaps enough to support the plant if everything goes to shit in the reservoir ?

 

[PCBuds]

Your plant seems fine anyway Buds seem greening up, and fatten pretty well.

She is looking OK.
The leaves aren't looking too happy but the flowers look good. They are kinda small but there should be lots of time for her to fill in.

Maybe I'll flower her for 200 days so she can fill in. Lol

 

[f2obsession]

In my experience, Hemp roots fill even a 40 litre (about 10 gallons) tank in 2-3weeks. Once the tank is filled with roots, it will be sensitive to oxigen level drop. Res water tends to stay a bit colder, than enviroment. On your PH and EC meter I see 18-19 'C most times, wich is ideal for DWC (18-20'C is ideal). But in a non organic DWC system 20-25'C is stil managable with some antimicrobal chemicals (Most people use hydrogen-peroxide, I prefer calcium-hypochlorite in a very low concentration about 1-2 microSiemens). Okay, those chemicals are no options in your actual system (Would kill all the good bactreria from your soil).

There are air pumps with 2 or 4 actual pumps inside, with 2-4 air outputs. I use theese type of air pumps and have no broblem. Kinda fail safe.

Anyway, you have a relatively big space with really srtong light. I think you should consider to try a "pure" DWC set for next round. A plant in DWC could take all your lumens technically all of its life. Never go pale because too much light, never need to take back light, eats all lumens up, and grows extremely fast.

I have about 20000-25000 lumens in a small space (60x45cm).

Whit the absolute same genetics (clones of each other)
this is how it worked for me in soil:

And this happened in DWC:

 

[PCBuds]

... On your PH and EC meter I see 18-19 'C most times, wich is ideal for DWC (18-20'C is ideal).

A lot of the readings were from my new solution using degassed tap water. It's winter now and the house is much cooler, I keep the house at about 18°C.
I'll try to remember to check the reservoir temperature just before lights out when it would be at its warmest.

But in a non organic DWC system 20-25'C is stil managable with some antimicrobal chemicals
(Most people use hydrogen-peroxide, I prefer calcium-hypochlorite in a very low concentration about 1-2 microSiemens). Okay, those chemicals are no options in your actual system (Would kill all the good bactreria from your soil).

I could possibly just treat the water in the reservoir and not put it through the soil.??
Or I could just leave it be like I've always done and let nature take its course.
I kinda think that the plant will find its own balance between number of roots and available oxygen.
I figure if there isn't a huge abundance of oxygen, then the plant shouldn't die if the pump fails.

I do have roots growing around the bottom of planter now where the only oxygen is from what's pulled down through the media.

There are air pumps with 2 or 4 actual pumps inside, with 2-4 air outputs. I use theese type of air pumps and have no broblem. Kinda fail safe.

It's not just the pump failing, it's power outages that can last hours.

I really like the way that my grow is almost completely fail-safe.
I can have the power go off for a few days and it doesn't matter.
I grow Autoflowers and they just keep growing if everything fails or the power is off indefinitely.
I can just put the planter in the window if I had to.


I can just picture myself hooking up my bicycle pump to my DWC and spending all day pumping it, while I try to fix my pump, or wait for a new one to arrive or wait for the power to come back on.
lol

Anyway, you have a relatively big space with really srtong light. I think you should consider to try a "pure" DWC set for next round. A plant in DWC could take all your lumens technically all of its life. Never go pale because too much light, never need to take back light, eats all lumens up, and grows extremely fast.

My plant right now is actually taking maximum light.
The power supplies are turned all the way up.
(to test current anyway, I don't want to overheat them. So 44 strips at 1200 lumens each.)


It turns out that my leaves weren't light bleached, they were completely deficient because of PH lockouts. lol

I'm pretty sure that all my problems were because of my PH being as high as 7.5
I didn't think I needed to bother with the PH, because I didn't need to before. (so I'm back to tap water now, and monitoring my reservoir.)



I'm pretty sure that if I turn my lights up right from the start, the plant doesn't want to, or need to grow as tall.

I start off slowly and let her reach for the light to help her stretch.

I'm getting the hang of applying the lights better now.
The lights reach maximum at about 4 weeks.





So, at least for the time being, and maybe for good, I modified my planter to supply some air to the reservoir.

I pounded a fiberglass tube down to the bottom of the reservoir then put some tubing through it to feed air to the bottom.

It doesn't have an air stone, it's just big bubbles coming out of the tubing, but it should help.

I will find a way to hook it up more conveniently when my new pump arrives.
I'll put the pump outside of the grow space.

I will try to install an air tube down to the bottom and into the middle of the planter when I prepare it for my next plant.
I think that I don't want to use an air-stone because it could plug up and I won't be able to get to it to replace it.
So just some big bubbles in the middle of the planter.


I'm kind of attached to my little yellow garbage can.
I've had it for over 25 years and it has served me well.
I would hate to part with it. Lol

I can't use it as a bucket anymore, because I drilled all kinds of holes in it. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I drained the planter and made new solution to put in.

I fed in the new solution at the stalk at PH 6.0, then drained it out, PHed it down then poured it down the tube.

The numbers are lower now.

 

[PCBuds]

More pictures...

 

[PCBuds]

That looks wrong,.!?

I fixed it,... lol

 

[Sampas92]

Buds do you find the coco moist by just pouring water by the tube?
On the first pic from downlow with just a few lights on she looks majestic

I guess by adding the bubbler you will see more roots in the bottom in the next grow

Peace

 

[PCBuds]

Buds do you find the coco moist by just pouring water by the tube?

Yes. When I was bottom feeding, the moisture would wick up from the bottom and the coco was moist all the way through except for the top 1" or so that would be dry.

I've been top feeding with this plant though, but I try to not get the surface wet to help keep mold and bugs away.

On the first pic from downlow with just a few lights on she looks majestic

She is looking OK but she isn't doing as good as my plant from this time last year...
This is that plant at the same age as my plant now.

The buds are much bigger and the leaves are nice and green.

I'll see how it goes with my current plant. Maybe she will green up and fill in ?
Perhaps she might just take longer to do that though ?

I guess by adding the bubbler you will see more roots in the bottom in the next grow

Peace

That's what I'm thinking.
I won't be able to see the roots though until I chop the plant and empty the planter.

I figure the roots won't have to work as hard if she has some supplemental oxygen.

It may even help my current plant ?

We'll see how it goes...

 

[PCBuds]

The reservoir was half empty, so I drained it and checked the numbers...

​


I poured it back down the tube, then watered the plant at the stalk with new nute solution PHed to 6.0 until the reservoir was full.

Then I drained the reservoir again, PHed it down to 5.6 and poured it back down the tube.


The plant is looking OK.
She doesn't look worse anyway.

I assume it will take a while for her to fully recover and start filling in again ?

I'll keep in mind that the leaves may not turn back to green, but she could still be healthy.

I caught another fungus gnat...

I am actually glad to see it.
I'm pretty sure it proves that my soil mites are working because I only find one gnat a week or so.

If I had no gnats at all, it could just mean that there are none in my house so I wouldn't know if the soil mites are working.

If the soil mites weren't working, I would have hundreds of fungus gnats. There's no such thing as only one gnat, unless you've got soil mites.


I'm going to try to find out if my soil mites might be killed off by all the flushing and PH adjusting I've been doing.

I figure that if my reservoir starts to grow algae because of the extra oxygen now, the soil mites might take care of it.
They do eat algae.

I want to try to have my grow as natural and balanced as possible.

I like my living soil.
The soil mites aren't just a temporary soil treatment. They are permanent residents in my planter as long as I reuse the soil and I don't drown them, poison them, or starve them to death.

 

[PCBuds]

I found this info about soil mites...




"...Description
‘Stratiolaelaps’ is a native species of soil-dwelling mite, which feeds on small insects and mites (e.g., springtails, root mealybug crawlers, root aphids, spider mites).

· Adults are tan in colour, less than 1 mm long (1/20th inch). They move rapidly over the soil surface.


Use as a Biological Control

· Stratiolaelaps are used primarily to control young larvae of fungus gnats in the soil (for information on fungus gnats, see Sheet 330). They also help control soil stages of thrips and may account for up to 30% of thrips control (see Sheet 320). Stratiolaelaps do not control shore flies or moth flies, but will feed on other soil organisms, such as springtails, root aphids and root mealybugs.

· They have been used successfully in bedding and potted plant production, seedling and cutting propagation, and poinsettia stock.

· They adapt well to the various growth media and capillary mats used in plant production, but do not survive freezing or flooding conditions.


Monitoring Tips

Use a headband magnifier or 10-15 X hand lens to look for the mites in the top 1-2 centimeters (1 inch) of soil or growth media and at the base of plants.


Life Cycle

The complete life cycle takes about 18 days at 20oC (68oF).

· The sex ratio is equal, 1:1 females to males.

· Eggs hatch in 2-3 days into young nymphs

· Each Stratiolaelaps consumes 1-5 prey per day. It can also survive as a scavenger, feeding on algae and plant debris.

Populations will naturally fluctuate throughout the growing season.


Product Information
Stratiolaelaps is supplied in a pasteurized peat/bran mixture in 1 L (1 qt) containers with a shaker lid for distributing the mixture over the soil.

There are 50,000 predators per liter, or about 50 predators per cc. The mixture also contains another species of mite as a food source for the predators.

To check the product for live mites, inspect under 10-15 X magnification. The predators are tan and move quickly compared to the food source mites, which are white or translucent, and move slowly.

The predators should be applied as soon as received. Do not refrigerate.

If necessary, containers can be held, out of direct sunlight, at 16-21oC (60-70oF) for up to 7 days.



Introduction Rates

Stratiolaelaps is most effective when applied before fungus gnat populations become established or while numbers are still low. One application of Stratiolaelaps per crop cycle is usually sufficient, if used early in the season.

For Best Results

· Do not mix predators into the growth media before potting because they do not survive.

· Apply Hypoaspis shortly after planting and before fungus gnat levels reach more than 20 adults/trap/week.

· To control high numbers of fungus gnats, use of Stratiolaelaps can be integrated with insect parasitic nematodes (e.g., Steinernema spp.) and Bacillus thurinigiensis israelensis (BTI) (Gnatrol, Vectobac®), both of which control the larval stage of fungus gnats.



Using Pesticide

See Sheet 180 for expected effects of pesticides on Hypoaspis. In general, do not apply Hypoaspis to soil that has been treated with lime or pesticides (particularly soil treated with diazinon).

It is likely that foliar sprays are less harmful than soil drenches, depending upon how much pesticide reaches the soil surface.

Fungicide drenches containing benzimidazoles are known to reduce reproduction of Hypoaspis.



Microbial pesticides, such as Vectobac® (BTI) will not harm Hypoaspis ..."





So it looks like they don't take well to being transplanted.
I looked in my soil to see if I could see any, and I didn't, so I don't know what to think ?

I figure they must still be there because I only see the occasional gnat.
Unless the gnats just haven't taken hold ?