Thai's Blooper Reel

[thailer]

i mean skepticism can only last so long in the face of the healthy plants you and thailer keep posting.

i wonder if the tinge in the water is humic acids or even root exudates? if either of you are feeling daring taste a little and tell me if it's sweet or not.

either way sounds like you all are keeping things increasingly happy with the tweaks and attention to detail.

i think it is humic acids myself. first time i set up the system, i used premoistened soil and so i filled it up, the perlite was wet that i added from being rinsed off, and so i just had to fill up the reservoir to start the wicking process. that water stayed perfect.

the second time i added dry soil and i didn't rinse the perlite. the perlite was dry on top where the water line didn't hit and then i added dry-ish soil on top so the wicking action didn't start. so i dumped water on the soil and the water got tinged yellow from the runoff mixing in the reservoir and it comes out and shows in the control bucket. it can't get into the big reservoir that feeds the control bucket because it drips into the control and there's no "connection" like the control bucket to the SIPs. i am trying this time to not have to do that but the soil isn't getting moist on one sip. i am gonna mist the top of it with water and then put plastic on it so it will hopefully moisten itself without runoff going into the bucket. the bucket will get an algae film if exposed to light but hasn't seemed to be a big deal so far.

 

[thailer]

i apologize for not posting as frequently but i hope this is a meaty update!!

the automated SIPs are doing great except for one minor issue with a fly getting into the reservoir so it's dead body clogged the float valve cutting off water unbeknownst to me. i found the plants flat and they didn't have water for who knows how long. once i found the clog, it was back working again.

so i found the issue with the color in the control box water getting that runoff color of yellow/brown. when you top water teas or even place some small plants on top of the SIPs to help them get better light, when you water them, the runoff from their pots goes into the SIP soil which can only hold so much moisture so it ends up getting runoff into the SIPs bottom reservoir and that over time will start to travel through the black irrigation tubes and seep into the control box.

i've competely stopped with teas and have not used the SIPs for mini platforms to lift plants off the ground so run off doesn't get into the system and that has made the water stay clear. to compensate, i've been doing top dressing of malted barley but i am unsure of how to introduce other stuff like aloe or silica. my ideas are to add rice hulls and maybe try to source comfrey meal to add to the soil for silica sources. i also saw someone take their aloe plant and slice it thin, dehydrate it and maybe grind that to add to the soil as a top dress?? basically DIY aloe flakes. also thought soap nuts might be cool to use?

also have finished curing Lemon Shiv and picked a keeper plant, but in all honesty, its not as good as others i have in the garden. i'm going to run it another round to see how well it can do because the first round of anything i've grown has been the learning experience and second time is always better. the keeper has a nice gassy smell with bud structure like mac but its not as frosty. its gets me pretty stoned with a more uplifting high.

one lemon shiv smelled like red wine but it didn't get me stoned so i tossed it. another had small yield but had a nice stink. maybe an ammonia smell with pine. lastly the runt turned out to be super frosty and had an ok yield for it's size but i didn't like the smell which was straight pine. had an indica bush growth habit unlike the others.

so i dunno if i would pay $350 for beans but these were some pretty decent free beans to run.

next i'm gonna grow some beans i got from a friend, cecilccrabtree of the orange cream clone i was running a while back but he crossed it using a male mandelbrot oil spill. the male was crossed to others and the progeny has been really nice. i'm hoping for a more greasy resinous orange flavored keeper. i might get those going today. i'll try to post more but i don't like to upload pics using my phone and prefer to upload on the computer so its just not as easy as other places. i'll be back soon with some photo's over the last few months.

 

[thailer]

lemon shiv runt

lemon shiv wine flavored

low yielder

keeper cut

 

[thailer]

wow those pics above didn't come out well. i deleted them already so that sucks. hope this one is better! i just put her into her first 12/12 today. drove all over looking for trellis nets but its stretch time for our area outdoor and there are no bamboo stakes or nets.

this Lemon Shiv 1 is about 5.5 feet tall so i'm really glad i have nine foot ceilings.

 

[thailer]

pretty fucking pumped that i got the oregon growers cup competition clone they are growing right now. got some buds too and it is just, really really delicious. its orange apricot x mac so its got that super trichome resin monster with orange flavor. been smoking it all day long.

also snagged a cut of an old 1990's jack herer and i am just walking on clouds. i had to drive 550 miles round trip but it was just the best day i've had in a long time. so nice to get out and see a part of the US i haven't seen yet. i got a tour of Oregrown and made a great friend. really feel fortunate.

i think i am gonna toss this lemon shiv. its nice but i can only keep a couple cuts size wise.

 

[thailer]

so i smoked all the buds i got and the orange apricot mac is delicious and has an uplifting high. it is really quite nice and i am stoked to see how well i can grow it compared to the others posting pics.

the jack herer buds taste good like pinesol cleaner and seven up maybe?? its not really potent so i'm a little bummed but I am going to run her once and see what i think.

I'm gonna chop mac1 today. the monster LS is starting to get stacked and frosty at week 4 or day 29. The light sucks though and i would really appreciate some advice on lights before i start making threads lol. right now i have a 6x8x9' room with a single double ended HID light in a reflector that really should be paired up because theres a shadow area in the center. i don't have a lot of cash to spend on LEDs and i'd like to get CMH but i'm not sure if i shuold get 315 or a bigger one for the flower room? the double ended really provide some added yield compared to my old tired single ended setup but they're not as frosty growing with a metal halide double ended HID compared to my single ended MH. when they move from veg which is 600w DE HID up to the 1000w DE it causes the plants to yellow a bit and not transition like i want. its not too big of deal though but i think its just extra warm and the height of my plants is too close to this hot light and i am just not sure if there is something better out there for a decent price.

how would you light up a 8x6 room?

 

[moses wellfleet]

I got the same question about lights

I'm also still on single ended and don't trust the kids who tell me to change.

 

[moses wellfleet]

Another thing I started top watering my sips just because it is quicker and easier than topping via the pipe.

The plants seemed to enjoy it and there was no problem with the res going anaerobic or anything like that. But the moist top layer eventually brought fungus gnats in their droves, i mean like so many i was inhaling them and nearly choked.

 

[thailer]

i don't know what it is but i really love the old metal halide light bulbs compared to the double ended ones. i'm going to switch the reflectors around and see if that helps. its gonna be quite the project though.

i think some of it has to do with leaf temperatures from the hot DE light. the singles are a lot less heat.

 

[moses wellfleet]

I think I mentioned earlier that I experimented with higher perlite content in the soil to improve aeration. I figured since runoff will never be a problem more perlite can't hurt.

I mixed in so much that the totes were easy to lift they became so light and I was worried there was not enough organic matter left in the soil.

But I harvested today and the plants really seem to have liked it. They really shone this round!

 

[thailer]

i was originally avoiding lots of perlite because the Earthbox instructions said to not use it because it reduced the wicking but i think it really needs the aeration because the soil is so soggy all the time. i bought some soil from KIS Organics the other week and it has lots of aeration in it. i was told that living soil is toxic and the reason we keep saying that it gets better and better is because as time goes on the fertilizer becomes less and less. dude says he is a microbiologist and people are just agreeing with him left and right. i was confused as why people are saying that a fully fertile soil is "toxic" and then i saw buildasoil doing a side by side promoting their buildasoil lite and comparing it to KNF. not only are they saying you should use a lightly amended soil and do water only, but then they compared it to KNF bottled fertilizers along with the buildasoil lite medium.

um, of course adding more fertilizer via KNF is going to produce better plants. so would the full fertile soil but you are using shitty light soil water only for comparison to what? i was pretty pissed that botox tanned femm hypocrite has done this complete backflip. i don't even know what to say.....F jeremy.

 

[thailer]

LEmon Shiv 29 days in bloom after several attempts to deleaf her. i think its like gray hairs for this one as if you pluck on, three will grow in it's place. hehe

i am thinking i will not keep this one because i have the two new clones and the OA Mac is really delicious and has a good high too. its uplifting and i think we need a little more of that right now.

 

[moses wellfleet]

Sounds like you need to give no till a try, or whatever the hipsters are calling it these days.

Let's say recycled soil.

No more buying soil for me, only top dressing dry amendments. Been using same soil since 2016.

 

[thailer]

i do recycled soil. not too strict on the no till aspect but i mix 50/50 new and old soil. i bought this soil from KIS because some kids think that a water only soil is too toxic for plants and won't yield like their KNF plants. buildasoil did a comparison side by side with their low fertilizer soil which people buy to use with the KNF bottled ferts but he just gave it water. the plants bud were much smaller and the plant was pure yellow, almost the buds too. then he compared it to this plant that got fertilizer and is promoting this KNF fertilizer he is selling and other crap.

so the whole toxic talk is at this other new forum. Bulldog went over there because he has a boner for backyard farmer who is there. The whole forum was making fun of him and i stupidly joined in. well he started following me around and the admins do not do shit there because they don't want it to be like other forums where people get banned or told they can't talk about stuff or make fun of others. its like a huge shit show of trolls and every personality you don't want all swirling together in this small forum. it sucks. i tried to just ignore it but every morning i wake up to notifications of ignored member (bulldog). Theres a section for Trial by Jury to solve disputes, so after exhausting all other avenues and being told they don't care, i made a thread with a poll to get bulldog voted out. the poll results from the votes agreed and people want him to leave but the fucking admin doesn't want to moderate adults and says he is gonna get another chance. so i just left there.

so now i have this stupid soil for the forum i'm not gonna even post at again. i'm pretty happy i don't have to mix soil till next spring tho. so at least there's that.

 

[thailer]

i know they're sideways. sorry.

so i've been using my tap water lately for plants. specifically the garden hose which for some reason has more ppms than my indoor water tap. i've tested the indoor water and i found it has a lot of copper and aluminum in it. when i switched water sources i could clone suddenly with repetitive 100% strikes after years of cuttings refusing to root. My potted plants were thriving too. i kept tropical fish or was attempting to but every fish would die within a few days of arriving home but it was the copper killing them.

then i made the SIPs and filled them with RO water but over time, I wondered if maybe it wasn't the copper which is at 0.4ppm and aluminum 0.15ppm which doesn't really sound like much and maybe it was those awful fabric bags. i wouldn't want to make a mess because the water goes everywhere and i don't have catch trays for these huge 20 gallon pots. So i don't think i was watering the fabric bags enough but just enough that the plants were always on the dry side. when i switched to SIPs i wondered if the constant moisture was why they were doing so well and maybe it wasn't the bags, which was stupid of me.

a lot of it had to do with not wanting to wait to fill up gallons of RO water and just use the convienant garden hose. i soaked the new dry bagged soil and i soaked all the pots that are having trouble on several occasions and now they look like this!

it is on all the new growing tips only. every branch at the end, the last two leaves get this yellow/light green edge on the tip of each finger, which graduates to lightening inbetween the veins. then each spot that lightens on the tips goes from lime green to yellow and the leaf tissue is dry and little crispy but it doesn't turn brown. after several weeks it looks pretty bad. the plant is not growing like it was and i think i've only gotten one set of nodes in quite a while. i searched for bugs and i don't see any. it isn't the soil recipe because it is happening with KIS soil and my soil. i don't think it is light because clones on the floor are getting it and the light is dialed to 600w. i showed a pic of the light setup just in case though. i don't think it is magnesium because that would show up on old growth leaves.

i think it is copper from the water because irrigation water parameters suggested for plants says that the copper at 0.2ppm is toxic and mine is twice that. both soils got the same water. they used to not care about the light so i don't think its bleaching.

any suggestions? sorry about the pics again.

 

[3snowboards]

I dont know what im looking at
You think you have high levels of copper
So you use the garden hose, which you think has more ppm of minerals and metals
Whats the pH off the garden hose?

 

[thailer]

I dont know what im looking at
You think you have high levels of copper
So you use the garden hose, which you think has more ppm of minerals and metals
Whats the pH off the garden hose?

yes i think it is due to excessive copper.

the ppm of the garden hose is like 110 and the indoor tap is 100. pH is 6.8 for both. its considered soft water with 10ppm of calcium and i think 8 of Mg. the KH is 2 so it reacts quickly with acids. wish i could find the report.

i'm just curious if anyone can confirm or deny this is copper toxicity with pics hopefully. i can find info for copper deficiency but not much at all for copper toxicity that has a pic. i have found info on how to fix it with addition of Fe and Si but no pics.

 

[3snowboards]

Do you ever adjust the pH to something a little closer to 6.2?

 

[thailer]

no i just drag my garden hose into my grow room and squirt them. do you think this is because of high pH?

 

[3snowboards]

If you never adjust then
Its definitely part of the problem