Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

My closet plant still has lots of Frosty buds happening.


I may still get some half-decent smoke.?









Well, no trichs yet but she's getting ready.


She's supposed to be a 7-week flower but that ain't happening for me.
That's OK. I don't mind waiting.
(she's at 7 weeks now.)

 

[ReikoX]

There may well be no oxygen at all.
That tube/snorkel is pretty much sealed.
The only real oxygen that gets to the bottom has to propagate down from the top.

I was hoping that the anaerobic bacteria would balance things out but something is really wrong right now.





Thanks.
I'm not giving up. (but I do kinda feel like ripping it out of the ground though. Lol)


I tend to learn the hard way and spend a lot of time learning. Lol

I kept telling you to drill a hole in the side of that cooler about an inch below the soil line. That would allow an air gap as well as the ability to "flush" the resivoir if need be.

 

[PCBuds]

I kept telling you to drill a hole in the side of that cooler about an inch below the soil line. That would allow an air gap as well as the ability to "flush" the resivoir if need be.

I went with siphoning instead.

I can still flush and drain quite easily but there's no oxygen at the bottom.


My last two plants have been crap and the only real difference is the lighting and a different strain.

I dunno?... I've got a hundred variables.



I didn't want to drill a hole for fear of leaks and getting the foam insulation between the layers of the cooler all rotten.


I've had a real hard time sealing leaks below the waterline.


There has always been an "air" gap between the bottom of my soil and the water.


But no oxygen.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

There may well be no oxygen at all.
That tube/snorkel is pretty much sealed.
The only real oxygen that gets to the bottom has to propagate down from the top.

I was hoping that the anaerobic bacteria would balance things out but something is really wrong right now.




Ah you'll be fine, but I'm pretty sure I don't want none of those anaerobic mfs in my grow. I think overall (anyone please correct of wrong) you want aerobic bacteria, hence all the perlite, coco and aeration talk here on ICMag...
For all I know, you could have all kinds of wild beasts at the bottom of that tub. When have you inspected it last? Your place will soon be swarming with scientists discovering new species unheard of before at the bottom of that tub.
Better don't dig anything up, you might trigger a global pandemic with unknown pathogen bacteria!


Best of goings
CC

 

[PCBuds]

Ah you'll be fine,

Yeah, it's not really that bad.
It's just sparse right now but it may still fill in with some nice buds.

but I'm pretty sure I don't want none of those anaerobic mfs in my grow. I think overall (anyone please correct of wrong) you want aerobic bacteria, hence all the perlite, coco and aeration talk here on ICMag...

Yeah, I've decided to get with the program and go with the coco, perlite, and an open bottom container.

My outdoor plant in the milk crate is doing great so I'm going to do that in the closet as well.

I like the fact that I can't overwater it.
It just drains out the bottom.

It looks like I'm going to have to use my TDS and PH meters now but I should get used to it, without too much trouble.

For all I know, you could have all kinds of wild beasts at the bottom of that tub.

I do. Lol
I've got springtails, soil mites, bacteria, worms, and the bottom of the cooler smells like sewage. Lol

Best of goings
CC

Thanks.
I'm kinda looking forward to starting over with a drain to waste setup.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Yeah if it it smells, that's the anaerobic bunch...
When I mix my organic soil (which btw also has coco and perlite as its base) it smells pretty bad in the beginning with all the amendments from dried blood over bone meal and so on...
But after two weeks, when the good bacteria have done their thing, it just smells nicely of "garden" lol
CC

 

[PCBuds]

My PH test paper arrived today, so I tested the water at the bottom of the cooler and it's reading 6.5 now.

I drained the cooler and there are just a few tablespoons of solution left at the bottom.

 

[PCBuds]

My closet plant is looking much happier.

Most of the leaves are standing up again.

I'm going to let her dry out some more and I think I'm going to water it from the bottom when she needs another drink. That should help keep her from getting too wet??

 

[Chevy cHaze]

DEpends on what's lurking at the bottom of that tub hahaha
No you're right, let her dry out a bit and then add a little water...
CC

 

[PCBuds]

DEpends on what's lurking at the bottom of that tub hahaha
No you're right, let her dry out a bit and then add a little water...
CC

Yeah, I'm tossing everything out at the end of this grow, except the clay pellets which I intend to rinse then cook in the oven.


I'm kinda thinking the roots we're getting enough oxygen when I was bottom watering but the top watering made it too wet.

I had to topwater because of my nutrient deficiency.

It's also a new strain for me and I reused most of my soil.

I may have been using too much molasses as well (almost 2 Tbsp. per gallon) which may have soured the "juice" in my cooler.

It had worked before so I don't know what went wrong.

 

[PCBuds]

The window plant appears to be thickening up.

 

[PCBuds]

I have a bunch of yellow leaves on my window plant so I checked the PH with my new digital meter and it said 7.1.

So I put a few drops of PH down in the reservoir and brought it down to 5.9.

 

[PCBuds]

I checked Amazon for PH up and down and found some for $21 but after shipping and tax, it came to $181 CAD. (Or $586 to get it in two days.)

F-that.

I'm going to check some local hardware stores for that and calmag.

Can I use PH up and down for a pool or aquarium?

Or could I just use baking soda and vinegar for up and down?

Apparently, you can use sulphuric acid for PH down and I've got an old car battery.
It's free as compared to $90 for the fancy "hydroponic" stuff.

Apparently, the "proper" stuff is buffered but I don't get what that means?

 

[ReikoX]

I checked Amazon for PH up and down and found some for $21 but after shipping and tax, it came to $181 CAD. (Or $586 to get it in two days.)

F-that.

I'm going to check some local hardware stores for that and calmag.

Can I use PH up and down for a pool or aquarium?

Or could I just use baking soda and vinegar for up and down?

Apparently, you can use sulphuric acid for PH down and I've got an old car battery.
It's free as compared to $90 for the fancy "hydroponic" stuff.

Apparently, the "proper" stuff is buffered but I don't get what that means?

The pH stuff sold for gardens are, generally, phosphoric acid (down), and potassium bicarbonate (up). Notice these provide macro nutrients (phosphorus and potassium).

pH up/down for the pool is a big no, they are generally sodium based (sodium bisulfate), the same applies to baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). I would also give a big no on vinigar, horticultural grade vinigar is actually a weed killer, not something I want to add to my weed.

Sulfuric acid works, but dont try using what's in your old car battery. That has metals and electrolytes in it. You can get sulfuric acid dirt cheap at the auto parts store.

I would highly suggest the hydroponic solutions. They are buffered, which means they hold their pH stable, and are designed with plants in mind. Surely there is a hydro store nearby.

If there is a wine store, you can go buy citric acid and potassium bicarbonate powders. They are used in wine making, food grade, and work. They do lack buffers though.

I generally have no need for pH up as my tap water is 8.0+ and has a lot of buffers (difficult to change the pH), so I use that as my pH up, if needed. For my organic grows, I use RO water. This has zero buffers and the plant can easily manipulate the pH in the rhizosphere.

 

[q3corn]

Damn there's like 60 pages for me to catch up on here. Glad to see things are going strong and staying green here, bud!

 

[PCBuds]

Damn there's like 60 pages for me to catch up on here. Glad to see things are going strong and staying green here, bud!

Yeah, my indoor plants are doing OK but my outdoor plants are doing great.

I've decided to basically go chemical instead of organic in my closet so I've got to learn how to adjust PH and PPM's and learn how to grow in a "sterile" environment.



My thread is all scattered but it has some neat cat and dragonfly pictures. Lol

 

[indagroove]

The pH stuff sold for gardens are, generally, phosphoric acid (down), and potassium bicarbonate (up). Notice these provide macro nutrients (phosphorus and potassium).

pH up/down for the pool is a big no, they are generally sodium based (sodium bisulfate), the same applies to baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). I would also give a big no on vinigar, horticultural grade vinigar is actually a weed killer, not something I want to add to my weed.

Sulfuric acid works, but dont try using what's in your old car battery. That has metals and electrolytes in it. You can get sulfuric acid dirt cheap at the auto parts store.

I would highly suggest the hydroponic solutions. They are buffered, which means they hold their pH stable, and are designed with plants in mind. Surely there is a hydro store nearby.

If there is a wine store, you can go buy citric acid and potassium bicarbonate powders. They are used in wine making, food grade, and work. They do lack buffers though.

I generally have no need for pH up as my tap water is 8.0+ and has a lot of buffers (difficult to change the pH), so I use that as my pH up, if needed. For my organic grows, I use RO water. This has zero buffers and the plant can easily manipulate the pH in the rhizosphere.

I also use RO water, and my powdered nutes (Megacrop) puts the solution is an ideal range already, so I really don't often think about ph, except just to check once in a while that everything is still on target. I really like the Hydrologic RO systems. They are cheap, simple, and effective. You can get this remineralization filter for $25, and add that on for great drinking water as well. There's nothing like having 20 gallons of exrta filtered water on hand at all times for an emergency!

https://www.hydrologicsystems.com/products/ecospring-post-remineralization-carbon-filter

Also for pH up, I've found that liquid silica hydroponic solutions work very well for that. Something like this:

https://generalhydroponics.com/armor-si

 

[PCBuds]

Thanks, ReikoX & indagroove.

If I could save $50-$60 on PH up and down, I could put that money towards a RO filter.


In the meantime, I could buy some distilled water (which I think is what RO strives to be?), and mix up some nute solution and check the PH.


If the PH is good, then I won't need the up or down.


I still have to finish this plant and I do have a small amount of both up and down.


There is a hydro store about 45 minutes away in the same city as where I will be going to get myself a new car battery (my old one was going to be my sulphuric acid source, but, that's full of lead isn't it. Lol)


I've got a month or more before I need to go shopping (as long as I get my new battery before winter.) so I've got time to figure out what I'm going to do.

 

[Maple_Flail]

dude, crappy tire carries ph Down..

every growstore in town has ph down for under 20$ (size dependant OFC)

worse case use a lemon or watered down (ie ph'd up with de gassed water, black coffee)

 

[PCBuds]