Sobergrower Grows Again - Gorilla Glue Seed - PPK - Mars Hydro

[delta9nxs]

hey buddy! thank you for trying the ppk!

everything looks pretty good except for the top grating in the tailpiece.

that should be removed. i cut mine out with a hole saw but a jigsaw works well too.

leaving it there could create a break in the medium that would lose the capillary effect and retain the perched water table in the media instead of moving it down into the tube.

 

[Sobergrower]

If the professor say remove it so shall it happen!

 

[Sobergrower]

hey buddy! thank you for trying the ppk!

No. THANK YOU! Seriously. Not blowing sunshine!

 

[Sobergrower]

I am hoping that by the weekend the girls are ready for their new home. I bumped up the PPM’s today and will begin prepping the modules for transplant. I got some advice to remove the grate section on the top of the down tube which I will do as well.

Here is some good bad and sad pictures. The good girl is looking strong and healthy and ready for vigor. The bad girl is still being supported by a pole (maybe she is a stripper, who knows)! Damn I love bad girls! The sad girl (because I don’t think these plants are ugly) looks to have a bit of a deficiency in the leaves.

The grow is what it is. Always learning!

 

[Sobergrower]

Thought I would put up some pictures of the modules getting prepared.


I did cut out the grate at the top fitting. The top and bottom fittings are basic floor drains from HD. I laid down a layer of chunky perlite about an inch or two on the bottom of the pipe and then filled the rest with a 50/50 mix of petite and turface.



Here is a side view of the planter module. The pipe will end up in the sub irrigation tub and will be partially submerged in nutrient water. This creates the perched water table and allows the short flat portion to be packed with roots top to bottom.


Here is the first module sitting on top of the sub irrigation tub. I added crossbars to elevate the planter for more nutrient and air gap capability. There is a tube the runs from one tub to the other. This is connected to a small pond pump and is only for recirculating the nutrients. It is not necessary though.



And here are both planters sitting on/in their tubs. The top portion of the planter will be filled with straight turface. I am done for tonight.

Peace……SG

 

[Sobergrower]

Two of the girls hopefully have found their forever home. Expecting a bit of transplant shock. Probably not going to water for a day or two and let the media dry out a bit. I also turned off the humidifier to help as well.

These are sitting under the Mars Hydro FC3000. Thank you @Mars Hydro Led !They will stay under this light for a week or two and then the FC-E4800 will go in to work!

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

looks good. now they get enough space to stretch out.

 

[Sobergrower]

Hey @delta9nxs , if you are lurking around and bored with getting into arguments about LED vs HPS…….I am hoping to get some insight from you.

In another thread there was discussion about full flood or pulse and now it looks like you are more in the pulse arena. One of my planters is getting a full flood in one minute. The other planter I tried to flood but the draining action is too much and I never get a flood. Both are fed from the same pump. I know that once the roots move out this will improve. My question is, in your experience does it really matter? And any suggestions you might have?

I am growing from seed. The plants went through a day or so of transplant shock and drooped a little. I am currently running the feed pump for one minute every four hours to allow the roots to convert to hydro roots. I recall someone had problems during this transition period and you helped them through. I am planning to continue this cycle for a few days and then will begin lowering the interval. Do you have any advice on the transition period?

And if you are so inclined, would you share insight on cycle and duration intervals and which where you are currently running on this spectrum?

Peace……SG

 

[Sobergrower]

By the way, plants are not droopy today! I am running nutrients at 600 total (100 base plus). Fluvic and kelp as you recommended. Light is at about 18” and 50%.

 

[delta9nxs]

hey, well, the full flood works great but it is much more difficult to achieve.

i have found that short pulses work great if they are going into a wet medium.

at the molecular level water "jumps" to wet but resists going into dry.

in the ppk you keep the medium wet at all times.

is that 100% turface?

has it been sifted to increase porosity?

how much of an air gap are you running?

get me a few basic answers and i'll be glad to help you dial it in.

 

[Sobergrower]

it is 100% turface above the tail pipe. Tail pipe is a 50/50 with perlite.

I did sift it to remove dust and fines. I did not run it over a window screen as you have shown though. Most of this turface is on its second run.

Air gap is currently 4”.

 

[Sobergrower]

is that 100% turface?

has it been sifted to increase porosity?

how much of an air gap are you running?

it is 100% turface above the tail pipe. Tail pipe is a 50/50 with perlite.

I did sift it to remove dust and fines. I did not run it over a window screen as you have shown though. Most of this turface is on its second run.

Air gap is currently 4”.

 

[delta9nxs]

turface on the second run should be pretty good. 4" air gap is about right.

so to go to the pulse feed you need a halo to deliver the water evenly. what kind of pump do you have? how many gph?

 

[Sobergrower]

turface on the second run should be pretty good. 4" air gap is about right.

so to go to the pulse feed you need a halo to deliver the water evenly. what kind of pump do you have? how many gph?

Pump is a 500gph.



This is the manifold and halo for both planters. There are 12 good size holes around each halo.

 

[delta9nxs]

turface alone has tremendous water retention. it will hold its own weight in water i think a 15 second burst every hour should be about right. but to be sure can you catch the water from one halo?

pull it off the plant and hold it over a container at the same height then measure what you get in 15 seconds

so the one on the left is getting the full flood right now?

what is the volume of those tubs?

 

[Sobergrower]

turface alone has tremendous water retention. it will hold its own weight in water i think a 15 second burst every hour should be about right. but to be sure can you catch the water from one halo?

pull it off the plant and hold it over a container at the same height then measure what you get in 15 seconds

so the one on the left is getting the full flood right now?

what is the volume of those tubs?

I am getting just over a quart in 15 seconds.

You are correct, the one on the left is getting a full flood in 40 seconds.

The tubs are 10 gallons

 

[delta9nxs]

i meant the media tubs, sorry.

the 1 quart in 15 sec sounds real nice! i just need to know the volume of the grow containers.

 

[Sobergrower]

i meant the media tubs, sorry.

the 1 quart in 15 sec sounds real nice! i just need to know the volume of the grow containers.

If I remember correctly they are five gallon tubs.

 

[Sobergrower]

Measures them and they are actually 3 gallons

 

[delta9nxs]

ok and what diameter are the tailpiece tubes.

also the depth of those 3 gal containers