We've Skipped the Intro

[muddy waters]

great hybrid setup. i may steal this idea. but first i want to know why it was causing pythium... no inlet for oxygen? temps?

i'm also puzzled by the falling pH, could it be that the massive O2 levels are leading to excessive nitrification?

 

[Guest]

Hi, muddy waters! Between growing up on the Mississippi and enjoying the blues, I really like your handle.

I believe the pythium came from higher temperatures. My reservoir was sitting at 72-73°F, meaning the rootzone was probably a few degrees warmer... just right for pythium and I had no reservoir additive defense in place. The plants got off to a good start, slowed, and then started looking rather ugly: downturned leaves, poor turgor, all around crappy looking... some friends on another site diagnosed it as multiple nute deficiencies secondary to a pythium root infection.

On their advice, about a month ago, I lowered the rez temp to no more than 67°F, ideally 65°F, and introduced HydroGuard and Hygrozyme. The plants began recovering in about 48 hours and subsequently grew with decent vigor and awesome root structure. No signs of pythium since but one plant continues with a substantial lack of vigor... the damage was done.

O2 comes from a decent sized aquarium air pump and 2 air stones. I think I'll add another air pump for the next grow and put one pump per stone. Since so much root mass has grown down into the reservoir, perhaps they're picking up nutes directly above the airstones, which means they're absorbing the cation form, NO3, leaving the anion NH4+ around to lower the pH. Possible? Not sure... I'm interested in seeing what the pH does overnight and if the additional H2O stabilizes the pH.

I never thought I'd be putting my general chemistry knowledge to use. Good thing I was paying attention when we covered pH, although I still muck it up.

 

[Guest]

Whatever was going on with the dropping pH has been greatly helped by the addition of fresh H2O to the reservoir. The pH has continued to be stable since I added the water and adjusted to 5.8.

New pics of the veg cab:


And the flower cab:



Plants seem to be asking for more nutes, so they got 'em. Added some GH Micro and Botanicaire Hydroplex today, will be adding some GH Bloom later this evening once I get a handle on where the ppm is. Also, a couple of the clones are showing me roots and little white bumps, just as I was ready to trash them all. Looks like this grow will have a follow up!

 

[Guest]

Just a couple of recent pics...

A recent cab shot:



And the first bud shot:



The Killa Queen has been first up to sprout buds. Should be some heavy yield if it keeps up at this pace.

 

[Guest]

A couple new pics...
First, a cobbled together 'panoramic' since I can't quite get the whole cab in the shot even with my back jammed against the wall.



And another bud shot..



That's it for today, lights click on in about an hour and I can't wait to see what's happened overnight.

 

[Guest]

Figured I was overdue for an update... flower cab on day 28 of flowering. Killa Queens are looking great, the BCGA and AKs are lagging behind but still look healthy.

 

[Guest]

Guess I should at least throw up another picture on day 37 of flower...


Everything's doing well. A bit of nute and light burn on the BCGA plants, knocked down the ppm and cranked up the light. All better. Shooting for harvest sometime around Christmas.

 

[Jenna]

Wow.. those babies are looking great Skip_Intro. Nice job!

 

[Guest]

Hey, Jenna... Thanks for the kind words.

Now check these out. Flowering day 49:






All shots are of Killa Queen V2. I am very happy with it so far and it looks to finish up in the next week or two. Trichomes at 20-30% cloudy and flushing has begun.

 

[Dandaweedman]

Looking great, you'll love the Killa she's a potent wench

 

[Guest]

Wow haven't stopped by for a while and OMG things are looking great!
Killer queen looks stunning and the grow looks good all round.
Have a Merry Christmas!
~ neilspotshop shop is getting started on the merryness hehe

 

[BaBaBooeyVT]

nice set up