Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

I emptied and cleaned my reservoir.

 

[indagroove]

What kind of soil mix are you doing these days? I know you are doing your thing, and will likely continue to do so, but I'd suggest you consider changing up your grow medium/style a bit. Specifically I'd suggest moving over to a coco/perlite media with a drip system and forget the SIP. I've tried hempy a couple times, which is pretty similar to SIP, in fact I have a couple of hempy going now as an experiment. But I find that coco/perlite with a hydro drip on a timer, gives the best results every time. The thing is, you drip like 3 times a day for short intervals, and all the root surface gets new nutes. On the passive SIP or hempy systems, you reply on the plant to pull up nutes from the bottom or the roots, or hope for osmosis, but drip the nutes flow from top to bottom.

 

[Maple_Flail]

I measured the light at the top of the plant and got 33,000 lux.


I figured that's too much so I raised the light.


There, ... 15,000 lux.


Temperature and humidity look OK.

33000 is alot, i would say a little early for that much but flowering that should be great.

in veg my LED puts out about 17k-18k lumens at canopy, and my CMH is around 20k at canopy.

75* would be better, personally consider 80* the high point to avoid.

little more humidity wouldn't be a bad idea. 55% before budding isn't bad at all. 40% is a little dry.

 

[indagroove]

75* would be better, personally consider 80* the high point to avoid.

75F would be better if was using HPS lighting, but with LED 80F is actually better, so that he can get leaf temp up and stomata open. Lack of IR with LED lighting and all that jazz plays a role in transpiration.

 

[PCBuds]

What kind of soil mix are you doing these days? I know you are doing your thing, and will likely continue to do so, but I'd suggest you consider changing up your grow medium/style a bit. Specifically I'd suggest moving over to a coco/perlite media

I am actually using coco/perlite in my cooler right now, except for a hole I dug in the middle about 5" across and 5" deep that I filled with Seed Starting Jiffy-Mix with some extra perlite that I planted the germinated seed in.

It was you that told me about the Jiffy-Mix.

I'm really liking it. It doesn't turn into muck.

with a drip system and forget the SIP. I've tried hempy a couple times, which is pretty similar to SIP, in fact I have a couple of hempy going now as an experiment. But I find that coco/perlite with a hydro drip on a timer, gives the best results every time. The thing is, you drip like 3 times a day for short intervals, and all the root surface gets new nutes. On the passive SIP or hempy systems, you reply on the plant to pull up nutes from the bottom or the roots, or hope for osmosis, but drip the nutes flow from top to bottom.

I don't think I want to bother with pumps, timers, and sprayers.
I like the simplicity of the SIP cooler.
I just add more nute solution when the float gauge hits the bottom.

I'm using Maxigrow, molasses, and anaerobic bacteria.

 

[PCBuds]

33000 is alot, i would say a little early for that much but flowering that should be great.

in veg my LED puts out about 17k-18k lumens at canopy, and my CMH is around 20k at canopy.

I thought it was too much as well, so I raised the light a few inches and now it's at 15,000 lux.

Keep in mind that I'm using my phone app and it's not calibrated. The numbers could be way off.

75* would be better, personally consider 80* the high point to avoid.

little more humidity wouldn't be a bad idea. 55% before budding isn't bad at all. 40% is a little dry.

I'm not prepared to adjust the temperature or humidity.
The temperature of my strips is more important to me. I might have to dial them back a bit if they start getting too hot.
They are at 39°C right now with a max of 85°C, so they're okay now.

I'm not going to bother with heaters, air conditioning, humidifiers, or dehumidifiers.

I've got a small air conditioner in my bedroom which cools off the whole house a bit so hopefully, my closet won't get ridiculously hot.

 

[indagroove]

I don't think I want to bother with pumps, timers, and sprayers.
I like the simplicity of the SIP cooler.
I just add more nute solution when the float gauge hits the bottom.

I felt the same way in the past too, and have tried the hempy method a couple of times, and while it works alright, results speak for themselves, and all other things being equal the drip method has always produced healthier plants for me.

It is true that it's a bit more complex to set up, but not that tricky really. Yes a couple of pumps, but then it's pretty much just drip tubing, drip emitters, and some drop T's. Then of course you have to figure out how to deal with the runoff. So, yeah it is a bit more complex lol, but totally worth it IMO.

 

[Maple_Flail]

gravity drips are easy peasy.

and ya, not messing with humidifiers myself just dealing with the dryness by spritzing the top of the medium so its more even in dry out and the top isn't crumble by the time two inches down is ready for water. a bucket of water on a heating mat is i get desprate.


but i will say a cheap wallymart airpump and stone wouldn't be a terrible idea.

75F would be better if was using HPS lighting, but with LED 80F is actually better, so that he can get leaf temp up and stomata open. Lack of IR with LED lighting and all that jazz plays a role in transpiration.

you realize that is a VPD of like 1.65-1.8something.. its like Kenny loggins all up in there taking you to the danger zone. getting to 55%-57% will get you out of the zone without effecting temps, alternativly the temp could be brought down while humidity stays the same. the 1.15-1.25 range is good for this stage auto.

and that is IF its 80* at the leaves vs 80* at the soil and askew of the centre

looking up his LEDs, there is IR there, miniscule amounts but with how many panels he is running it will add up.

@pcbuds Got some ideas to manage the heat a little better.. whats the spacing between the panels? enough for a 40mm or 50mm computer fan to fit?
also he is growing for smoke not for seed, Stigmata/pistils only real fucntion is reproduction.

 

[PCBuds]

... just dealing with the dryness by spritzing the top of the medium so its more even in dry out and the top isn't crumble by the time two inches down is ready for water.

I can do that.
I also installed two more hygrometers and another thermometer.

I remember having 3 hygrometers in there, all giving different readings.
They differed from each other by almost 30% RH.

but i will say a cheap wallymart airpump and stone wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Do you mean for my closet?
I understand that it's not good for my anaerobic bacteria.



I've got a semi-organic grow with bacteria, springtails, and soil mites, all living happily with my plant.
I'm feeling really symbiotic about it. Lol

you realize that is a VPD of like 1.65-1.8something.. its like Kenny loggins all up in there taking you to the danger zone. getting to 55%-57% will get you out of the zone without effecting temps, alternativly the temp could be brought down while humidity stays the same. the 1.15-1.25 range...

Okay, I don't really know what all that means.

I'll spritz some water around and call it good enough. Lol

@pcbuds Got some ideas to manage the heat a little better.. whats the spacing between the panels? enough for a 40mm or 50mm computer fan to fit?

I've got a fan I can put on the ceiling output but I don't want to use it unless I have to.

That will pull all the CO2 from my wine out of my closet and pull dust in.



I remember having a plant at 93°F at the ceiling. It was fine.
It wasn't perfect but I'm only looking for good enough. Lol



My outdoor plants are dealing with 30°C right now and dealt with 6°C a few nights ago.



I find it hard to fathom how an outdoor plant can deal with so much BS (wind, bugs, pathogens over/under watering, etc, ) and thrive but if you bring it into your house, it's gonna keel over dead because of a 2°F difference and low humidity.



I'm going to focus on water, nutes, and lighting.


This picture shows light at the apex.







I think light is the biggest factor.




We've got a thunderstorm coming.

 

[PCBuds]

 

[PCBuds]

 

[PCBuds]

The humidity in the closet has climbed to ~50% RH.

I didn't spray any water, so I don't know what happened.

Perhaps just an erroneous reading initially.









She's looking pretty good.

 

[PCBuds]

My closet plant is almost three inches taller than my window plant which is what I am after.
The closet plant is a few days older though but that shouldn't make much difference now.











I decided to turn on the sidelights back on again, figuring it's more important to get more light to her than to try to get her to stretch.

I'm going to keep a close eye on the temperatures because we're having a heatwave right now and I just added about 50 more Watts of light to the closet.







The thermometers and hygrometers are all giving different readings again.

I'm just using them as a rough guide and I'll take an average of readings.








The other hygrometers are reading 35% and 41% the other thermometer is reading 82° F.

 

[PCBuds]

My closet plant has some yellow leaves towards the bottom.
I figure I may have waited too long to start giving her nutes.








I removed a bucket to lower my window plant so now she has more direct light.
The new growth is looking a lot more normal now.










I think I'm going to leave her in that bucket for her whole life, in an attempt to keep her a bit smaller.
She might get all rootbound but I figure if she's got lots of water and nutes she'll be okay.

 

[Maple_Flail]

ya havn't feed the closet plant yet? blah.. ya she looks like she wanst some N and K touch of P wouldn't hurt lol

window still looks hurtin from the heat, but not much you can really do I'm cooking here by my computer.. ac is going lights ain't even on... and if i go near a window i feel like i'm melting LOL

 

[PCBuds]

ya havn't feed the closet plant yet?

No, I mean I probably waited too long to switch from plain water to nutes.

I should have fed her from the top down until she had grown roots down into the nutrients at the bottom.

 

[PCBuds]

window still looks hurtin from the heat, but not much you can really do I'm cooking here by my computer.. ac is going lights ain't even on... and if i go near a window i feel like i'm melting LOL

I think the leaves went wonky from having too much light and all of it aimed in from the side.


I want to keep her short so she doesn't outgrow the window sill.

I really kinda think my LST is working.
(Light Stress Training. Lol)

 

[PCBuds]

Huh???
Lol

 

[PCBuds]

The yellow leaves were bugging me...

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

Check the pH to make sure it is in range, if so then get those girls some N asap! The yellowing is happening because they can no longer produce chlorophyll and must extract it from the bottom leaves to send to the top ones, where all the light is at. If left unchecked they will continue to yellow until they fall off and the condition works its way up the plant.