Seeking Critique on Vert Colosseum SOG concept.

[Anti]

Well I typed up a bunch of stuff and the server update ate it.

So here's some pics from tonight. The plants seem to be stacking nodes right on top of each other.

I'm currently watering 3 times a day. (Every 5-6 hours, for 15 seconds.)

 

[b00m]

Looking good there bruz

 

[~Shhh~]

Nice anti looks like they're about to take of homey

 

[DHF]

I wrote a damn book the other day and it disappeared too Bro .......I feel your pain......

Did I miss it or have you said what ppm`s/ec yas`re runnin cuz them`s lil bitty baby fuckers compared ta when I put plants under HID`s.....and....

Yas might wanna feed lil less and let em set some more roots till end of stretch Bro...but maybe not....I don`t have a clue how wet/moist your 3 feed times daily acts with the lights and ventilation as in how fast it takes the troughs ta dry out kinda sorta between feeds for more explosive root growth.....

It`s just that I think they`re experiencin lil lumen shock plus lil overwaterin/feedin by the yellowish tint with off colored tips , but maybe not.....

I never had rooted cuts that small Bro , so I`m lookin at somethin new as well cuz that`s why I was askin bout ppm numbers....

Anyways........Guess we`ll learn together on thisun.....

Git `er done...Freds.........

 

[Anti]

Did I miss it or have you said what ppm`s/ec yas`re runnin cuz them`s lil bitty baby fuckers compared ta when I put plants under HID`s.....and....

They took a few days before I saw any growth at all. It was just yesterday (when i posted the pics) that i started to see growth. And I see more today.

Plus, I didn't cut the fans in half the way I normally do when I'm rooting clones, so those bigger yellow-ish fan leaves are the ones the plant had when it was still on mama.

As far as PPM/EC, I must admit that my broke ass does not have a meter or a pen and I'm stuck with pH drops at the moment. pH is somewhere between 6.0-6.5 but hard to estimate exactly but based on "light green" being 6.5 and "piss yellow" being 6.0, we're somewhere around "piss green." I'm refilling the res today and I'm going to get it down into the "couple drops of blood in my piss" range (5.5 is orange, I'm shooting for 5.8) tonight.

I'm pissed off at myself for not having gotten at least a pen but when I tell you my finances are stretched I mean that they are non-existent at the moment. Harvest is gone, I'm smoking ABV and getting ready to make tincture out of trim.

[pity party]My girl is basically supporting me until I can find work and/or get this fucking thing hoonin'. And that's putting a lot of strain on both of us and the relationship. So I don't ask for anything, I don't eat much, I keep the house clean and the yard mowed and I put in work trying to get this thing off the ground without ending up on the street. Must... push... through... this...[/pity party]

Yas might wanna feed lil less and let em set some more roots till end of stretch Bro...but maybe not....I don`t have a clue how wet/moist your 3 feed times daily acts with the lights and ventilation as in how fast it takes the troughs ta dry out kinda sorta between feeds for more explosive root growth.....

What I've been doing is watering until I start to hear nutes going down the drain... then switching the pumps off. If I only water twice a day and let 8-10 hours go by the second watering I can let the pump run for almost a minute (instead of 15 seconds) before I start to get runoff. That would suggest to me that they will dry out substantially (perhaps TOO much) in 8 hours. So I've been trying to hit them every 5-6 hours with short blasts, so that they can dry out (but not too dry) between watering. (But I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.)

The way I figure it is that if I can figure out the right schedule to water and I can time out how long it takes for water to start hitting the drain, that I can start backing the time off by a few seconds so that by the time water starts hitting the drain, the pumps have already shut off so that I waste as little as possible.

All I can say is.. these plants SEEM to be doing better than the last plants were doing at this stage last round.

I never had rooted cuts that small Bro , so I`m lookin at somethin new as well cuz that`s why I was askin bout ppm numbers....

When I take cuts, I count down 4 or 5 nodes and then make my cut. Then I strip off all the leaves from those 4-5 nodes, leaving two leaves up top and then I recut the stem underwater taking about an inch off. What I'm left with fits into a jiffy pellet with just a quarter inch of stem and some leaves above the pellet. (They start out being 4-5 inches and end up being 3-3.5 inch cuttings.)

Lots of people seem to be using them (jiffy's).. should I be leaving a ton of extra stem? I've always started my plants basically buried up to their necks so as not to waste vertical space.

 

[DHF]

Bro.....No you`re cool bout countin backwards down node-wise and makin the cut ....but....

I`ve never put plants that small in the HID rooms cuz I hadta see how well they did under the T-5`s before prunin and shapin their ass sideways to even think about whether they`d make the cut for the big rooms....but....

Dewd...Keep the house clean and yard mowed so yas can dial this bitch in before GF kicks yer ass out for lack of support.........

Anti....I know all about budget so do the best yas can , but fortune favors the prepared mind , and it ain`t good ta play ketchup when your ph drops don`t work from bein too old after a while....so...

I`m pullin fer yas and let`s dial that rootzone for explosive growth RIGHT FUCKIN NOW so they`ll stretch and swell later and yas can have a bumper crop come harvey aight ?.......

Can`t have my boy homeless with a potentially killer setup for ALL ta run and profit from.....I`m just sayin.... Let`s keep GF happy by Nailin this run....

Peace....Freds........

 

[Anti]

Anti....I know all about budget so do the best yas can , but fortune favors the prepared mind , and it ain`t good ta play ketchup when your ph drops don`t work from bein too old after a while....so...

Good news on that subject is I *DID* get a new bottle of drops while I was buying nutes and dripclean (drip clean is friggin EXPENSIVE.)

I`ve never put plants that small in the HID rooms cuz I hadta see how well they did under the T-5`s before prunin and shapin their ass sideways to even think about whether they`d make the cut for the big rooms....but....

Ahh.. now I getcha. I have no experience (other than last run) with HID. The only "veg" room I have right now (another thing on the "when there's money" list) is my microcab and I have it packed full of moms. Even without the moms in the microcab, I couldn't possibly fit all 65 plants in it, even in dixie cups.

After this round I will pay some bills and then get my veg stuff sorted.

I've always just taken my clones and thrown them into flower after a day or two of veg... so this whole concept of VEGGING plants is something I am a stranger to.. except for watering my moms and taking cuts, I never really vegged before.

I very much appreciate your guidance and forgiveness when I ask stupid questions.

(That goes for all of you.)

 

[glockdoc]

fucking spectacular!

 

[TommyTwoColas]

Anti, not to be all up in your shit but IMO Drip Clean is a "luxury item" and a pH pen is a necessity............people talk about needing to buy "ultra quality" pH pens but I buy the cheapo $15 ones from eBay and they last (and the good Lord knows, I'm far from cheap about most anything grow related).

Calibration solution is where it's at.

Anyhow, keep up the good work and knock this run outta the park.

 

[DHF]

Anti, not to be all up in your shit but IMO Drip Clean is a "luxury item" and a pH pen is a necessity............people talk about needing to buy "ultra quality" pH pens but I buy the cheapo $15 ones from eBay and they last (and the good Lord knows, I'm far from cheap about most anything grow related).

Calibration solution is where it's at.

Anyhow, keep up the good work and knock this run outta the park.

Yeah....Ph knowledge is essential in ANY setup , but.....with coco....

So is Dripclean....bet on it...

Peace....DHF............

 

[Anti]

Well, you'll be happy to know that my pH is in the "watered down piss" range of about 5.8.

I raised my lights again today. The plants on the bottom are simply doing better than the plants on top (I'll get some pics tonight) and the only thing I can attribute it to is greater distance from the bulb.

Time for dinner. I'll get some pics and post 'em up before server maintenance.

 

[silver hawaiian]

As in greater distance = better plants? Or t'other way 'round?

Also

please

 

[Anti]

Exactly that, hawaiian. The plants on the lower tier (further from the lights) are slightly larger and greener than the plants closer to the light. Camera's battery is dead. Pics will have to wait. Sorry about that.

 

[paulo73]

Every time i come around here i learn a few new things.
Many thanks to all involved and specially to Anti.

 

[thesloppy]

Respect!
If you ain't got a fan controller - get one. I had some troubles with low temperatures and too dry air in vegetative period which all went away with a simple controller. There is a lot to choose from and i just happen to have the one which reduces fan speed in the wrong way - but it works.

Wrong: Same technique which is used in light dimmers. Causes slight buzzing sound.
Right: Costs a bit more but it does not cause buzzing.

As far as my shallow understanding goes: in general, light dimmers work off an induction circuit, which can be blown out by surges caused by changes in electrical load due to changing the fan speed. High powered, well-made fans are much more suited to solid-state speed controllers, which don't use any moving parts (and don't buzz, for whatever that's worth), and usually can be set to 2-3 different 'dimmed' settings, rather than the analog, infinitely adjustable light dimmers. However, some fans are just not made to handle any kind of power fluctuation, and a solid-state fan controller can fail just as easily as an induction circuit when used on the wrong fan, with possibly more serious results.

IMO you should always use a solid-state fan speed controller, unless your fan specifically tells you not to use a speed controller at all, in which case I wouldn't use any. They retailed for about $30 last time I checked.

/end threadjack

 

[~Shhh~]

Best type of fan controller is a variac based one or triac (transformer based), the variac has a dial that goes from 1-100% and you set it where you want it, Triac's have 4-5 settings and can be a pita cause the setting maybe just above or below the desired fan speed.

I built mine with 2 x variac's, one that controls min fan speed and one that controller max fan speed, wired in a thermostat and hey presto automation The variacs are 1amp and will run my intake (58w) and exhaust (95w) plus a couple osculating fans (15w each) if needs be.

You can turn this thing down to zero and there is no buzz at all. Best contraption I've thrown together for a grow.

 

[DHF]

Shhh nailed it with the variac cuz it dials down actual voltage not wattage and no hummin when the fans are dialed down.....so...

Variac`s are kinda pricey cuz yas get whatchas pay for but I always used the cheapass "router speed controller`s" from harborfreight.com and the small amount of noise that came from my active intakes never bothered me cuz it was minimal and my vortex inline fans had lifetime warranties ,so win win....

They`re the exact same thing that yas buy for 30-40 bucks at the hydro whore stores for like 12 bucks when I bought em last , so maybe 15 bucks these days ?......and they`re plug and play just like the "speedster".......

Variac`s are closer to 100 bucks or a lil less last I looked but they`re worth it......all about what`s in the budget....

On my bucket again....Freds........

 

[moonquasar]

Well, I sourced the KBWC15K for 10.60usd...Looks like a good variac no?
Mr. ~Shhh~, would you mind describing your controller in a bit more detail?

EDIT: aand the answer is no. The KBWC15K is a triac because it is solid state. I am unsure which is better, the variac vs triac thread makes me think it depends on the motor that is being controlled.

 

[thesloppy]

This thread has succeeded again, as I definitely know more about fan controllers than I did 24 hours ago.

Sure sounds like a good deal, moonquasar.

 

[prowler]

I'll bet you can DIY a variac for ~2$ and do not need an advanced engineering diploma.

The local cheap ass all-around store sells light dimmer for around 10$ and 5 speed variac for ~60$.

http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/product/category.aspx?category=heating%2fventilation:speed+regulators&id=164109742&_path=251882;85177594;88601380;164109742

http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/Product/Product.aspx?id=158072137

They also sell ip44 standard timers for outdoor use and loads of other stuff that rocks my tents. 2 bad this is only European shop - British department just might ship to US but don't know for sure... I do know that Swedish ppl know their shit. IKEA, Claes Ohlson, ... - half of my gear is from these stores. Just bought very steady iron frames for my flood tables from ikea for 16€ (~20$) a piece. In any other place it would've been atleast 50€ a piece. IKEA has saved my ass so many times.