Grow Making do with what I have pt 1

[LesPlenty]

Do you think that's been too much?

That sounds like a lot of watering/feeding, I would water/feed each plant until you see a little starting to flow through the bottom of the pot then stop, the amount you are using is like a flush. I used to use a fish tank heater in my nutrient tank but now only use cold...Tasmanian winter cold with no problems. When I had a similar top feed system to your set up(except in clay balls and had the plants in gutters to catch runoff and send back to nutrient tank), I had a pump set up to water each plant for 15 minutes(shortest time interval with the timer I had) 6 times per 12 hours(bud cycle) and 9 times(grow cycle) this set up draws lots of air into the root system...yours may well be getting waterlogged with stagnant nutes if they don't drain quickly.
I would look into a filter for your well water or try to harvest some rainwater to help with your 'lock-out" problems so you can feed the plants what they really need...full strength pot growing food!
At least you did not stress them in the first 3 weeks as that can reduce your final yield by up to half!

 

[NizzyJones]

One of those brain-pumping-out-ideas-while-I'm-trying-to-get-to-sleep thoughts: the plants will have a natural circadian rhythm where they perk up during the day and relax as it gets closer to darktime too.

 

[psychonaut]

Here's where I'm confused, I've heard straight coco is impossible to watterlog, it apparently holds 30% oxygen even when fully saturated. If what you're saying is on point @LesPlenty then perhaps switching to 3ga 100% coco wasn't as good of an idea as perhaps 5ga with 60/40 mix with perlite to introduce more air into the mixture? That would hold the same amount of coco in a 5ga pot as the 3ga with straight coco. I am watering every other day, some of the pots can take 3/4 of a gallon before they start having runoff.

I've also heard that you need at least 10-15% runoff to insure that you don't have nutrient buildup from the salts, so I've been shooting more for 20%. I've tried filtering my water, out here in Colorado water is very precious. When I make RO water I ususally get like 3-5 gallons of waste for every gallon filtered. We have laws about collecting rain water, I'm going to pass on that whole endeavor to eliminate further hurdles. I wanna use my well water as best as I can.

Here's the girls, looking better, the tent should be full I'm going to have to think where to position these plants and if I need to get some risers for the pots. Upped nutrients to 10ml of A & B per gallon. Gallons were filled last night, 55F degrees when mixed.

Big girl Skunk #1 auto stalk

 

[NizzyJones]

My water isn't as hard as yours (115-120ppm from the tap) but I ran my hempy buckets by just watering to runoff pretty much the whole time. Had some pH issues because of a cheap meter so it's hard to tell for sure if I had salt problems but nothing major and I should be taking the first plant down by this weekend.

Sorry I don't know much about coco, ran straight perl/verm in the hempys.

 

[psychonaut]

Last run I went 5.9 PH and 1/2 str nutrients and little runoff and had problems, lockouts I think from nitrogen toxicity. I could only explain it as salt buildup. This time I am at 5.8 PH, and now about 3/4 str nutrients though I think it may be too high, gonna just give em some time and see how they respond, runoff is 15-20%. So far the yellow on the new growth seems to persist after 3 days of 9ml of A & B per gallon. I'll have the EC meter on Wednesday and will see how my well water measures up to the current nutrient level. Bloom nutrients are here and ready to be used, I figure I'll start to add them in at 1 part bloom to 2 parts grow and slowly switch them over once we get closer to the end of stretch, and then full bloom nutes once stretch is over. I am very happy to not be changing the light spectrum on the plants from here on out, and look forward to all I've learned on this grow to apply to the next.

I wanna try arb's medium and nutrients, think that'll be what I try out next time, looks super simple. I may look into adding a 3rd SP-250 light to the tent depending on how the buds blooming under the center turn out.

 

[Madri-Gal]

Last run I went 5.9 PH and 1/2 str nutrients and little runoff and had problems, lockouts I think from nitrogen toxicity. I could only explain it as salt buildup. This time I am at 5.8 PH, and now about 3/4 str nutrients though I think it may be too high, gonna just give em some time and see how they respond, runoff is 15-20%. So far the yellow on the new growth seems to persist after 3 days of 9ml of A & B per gallon. I'll have the EC meter on Wednesday and will see how my well water measures up to the current nutrient level. Bloom nutrients are here and ready to be used, I figure I'll start to add them in at 1 part bloom to 2 parts grow and slowly switch them over once we get closer to the end of stretch, and then full bloom nutes once stretch is over. I am very happy to not be changing the light spectrum on the plants from here on out, and look forward to all I've learned on this grow to apply to the next.

I wanna try arb's medium and nutrients, think that'll be what I try out next time, looks super simple. I may look into adding a 3rd SP-250 light to the tent depending on how the buds blooming under the center turn out.

Reading this, I get a low hum in my ears, my eyes start to itch, my hair becomes disarrayed, my hangnails hurt, then I realize , I'm the Other Kind of gardener. Pretty lazy, and happy to ignore such complicated formulas. I've taken various horticulture and Indoor Plant Management courses at University, and this puts what I learned to shame. You have my respect.
Let's Go Grow

 

[psychonaut]

Reading this, I get a low hum in my ears, my eyes start to itch, my hair becomes disarrayed, my hangnails hurt, then I realize , I'm the Other Kind of gardener. Pretty lazy, and happy to ignore such complicated formulas. I've taken various horticulture and Indoor Plant Management courses at University, and this puts what I learned to shame. You have my respect.
Let's Go Grow

Thanks but I am mostly mimicking what others have done at this point. This grow is a pretty far stretch from the horticulture we did in FFA and HS, to be honest, I'm basically winging it. I do enjoy the simplicity of certain aspects of soilless, but the precision needed in areas like water PH are a big downside. I prefer simple water and organic soil myself but that can even be a challenge.

 

[arb]

I also shoot for no runoff when watering.....that takes practice but does not hurt anything if done correctly.
I hate having puddles in my areas and it also jacks up the humidity provides a environment for mold,mildew and insects..........all not bueno.

 

[LesPlenty]

Sorry I don't know much about coco, ran straight perl/verm

I am in the same boat (plus clay balls a while back), I am also a fan of the fact I can rinse my medium and use it again and again.

 

[psychonaut]

Got my EC meter yesterday, plain tap water is reading 235 ppm and 0,5 EC. After filling a gallon with 5.4ml PH down, 7.4ml each of Sensi PH Perfect Coco Grow Part A & B the EC was 1,4, 5.8 PH. So it looks like I am stuck using half strength or less nutrients with my well water at this phase. According to literature out there, the EC for flowering goes from around 1,3-2,2 over the course of 6 weeks of blooming. 1,4 EC is actually on the high side at any point during veg so I guess I was probably overfeeding them in the early veg phase.

I noticed the plants yesterday looked very sad and droopy, this was with 10ml of each part A & B, so now I have gone back down to half strength nutrients as that's putting me at the right EC. I'll be increasing it as the weeks go by staying on the lower end of EC to prevent any lockouts.

BTW, it took a whole gallon of water to feed one of my bigger plants + another 1/3 of a gallon to get any appreciable runoff. This is watering every other day (feeding with every watering). I guess it's fair to rule out over-saturation being the cause.

 

[Disrupt]

Got my EC meter yesterday, plain tap water is reading 235 ppm and 0,5 EC.

You might try a simple, inexpensive tap filter to remove some of the ions. Use one, but don't have an EC meter, so can't say how effective it is. You don't want distilled or deionized water anyway, as these lack buffering capacity. Autos might not be able to handle full strength nutes.

 

[LesPlenty]

(feeding with every watering)

You don't need to water your plants after feeding, that would just flush out your nutrients.

 

[psychonaut]

@LesPlenty there is always nutrients in my water, that's what I was saying. I never use straight tap water except during the last week or two.

Now that I am watching my EC, things are looking very good. It's wild these ladies are only 50 days old since the beans popped. Cannabis always surprises me at how quickly it grows.

Left side R-F - Skunk #1 Auto (pre-flowers), Auto Blueberry (bloom starting), Auto Daiquiri Lime (not yet blooming)
Right side R-F - Auto Orange Bud (bloom) , Skunk #1 Auto (bloom), Auto Daiquiri Lime (not yet blooming)

The tent is nearly wall to wall, not sure how much of the stretch is left, I raised both lamps about 1.5-2" this morning. 18/6 lights, temps starting to warm up 'round here. I can see roots all around the bottom of the pot poking through the fabric, I expect those will light prune and really start to fill out the pots. I'm starting to wonder if I should have gone with 5ga pots 3ga should be fine for 3-4months of growth I figured? They're not really drinking much more than they were earlier in the week so I expect once these start filling out with buds I'll be watering at least daily or a couple times a day. I need to figure out a strategy for watering these girls more often, long watering can is needed!

Welcome to the jungle

 

[psychonaut]

Growth is getting a bit out of control, I am going to start defoliating the area not getting any appreciable light. The ladies in the back are 34" from the top of the pot. I think they will still stretch some. The lights are getting close to the top of the tent, and right now the big girls are about 13" away. The Skunk #1 that is late blooming is very big and I have high hopes for that one. The early bloomer Skunk #1 is looking good but I am seeing some issue starting on some of the more recent fan leaves. The Auto Daiquiri Limes have not even began to really bloom so I think they are going to be quite large plants. I've noticed some nutrient burn on the tips of the big skunk #1 and the orange bud, I dialed all the nutrients back from 7.4ml A & B to 6.2ml A & B. On the 4th day of new lower dose nutrients and seems like the problem hasn't gotten worse.

I am going to widen the base that the pots are sitting on so I can get a little more L-R space to try and uncrowd them. It's very packed in there right now.

All of the girls except the auto daiquiri lime's are now on ph perfect sensi coco bloom nutrients, the ADL's are on grow still. Daytime temps around 70-75F, night time temps around 55F. RH around 50-55% in the tent with lights on.

Early bloomer skunk #1 auto with weird darkening on leaves

Auto Blueberry

Auto Daiquiri Lime (big one) still not started bloom

Auto Orange Bud

Skunk #1 (big) later blooming pheno, not tree shape but bushy like it's been topped

The bloomers

 

[Disrupt]

Growth is getting a bit out of control, I am going to start defoliating the area not getting any appreciable light. The ladies in the back are 34" from the top of the pot. I think they will still stretch some. The lights are getting close to the top of the tent, and right now the big girls are about 13" away.

Growth isn't so bad considering concern over stunting. 13" sounds very close. What do they suggest with quantum arrays? The COBs would fry leaves that close for sure. You might want to come up with a plan ahead of time in case of light burn. If you correct it right away, it doesn't do much damage.

 

[psychonaut]

Growth isn't so bad considering concern over stunting. 13" sounds very close. What do they suggest with quantum arrays? The COBs would fry leaves that close for sure. You might want to come up with a plan ahead of time in case of light burn. If you correct it right away, it doesn't do much damage.

Yeah I was pretty surprised, the lil auto daiquiri lime definitely didnt get so big but it's larger than the auto blueberry indica.

Folks have been saying to watch the leaves from curling upward and bleaching. I still have about 8" or so from the roof and I can probably work something out to lower some of the bigger pots. So far the light doesn't seem to be too close. I've been trying to keep it 12" or higher as most have referenced "12-18" during bloom.

 

[psychonaut]

Early bloomer skunk #1 auto is coming along well, I raised her up about 6" bringing her closer to the light, have all the shorties raised to acceptable heights, started defoliating the bottom 1/3 of the plant of growth not getting any appreciable light. May defoliate further as I watch the plant. Stretch is over for everyone but the ADL's, they are just now starting bloom. I can see I'll need a separate drying tent as the early bloomer skunk #1 auto is going to be finished a week and a half sooner than the rest, and much sooner than the ADL's. I see some defeciency which I suspect is perhaps Calcium? I added in 3ml of cal mag plus to the gallon of water to feed the early bloomer skunk #1, not sure if it's made much of a difference. I figure since I am using under 1/2 strength nutrients of this PH perfect sensi coco line, the cal/mag levels are probably lower as those are included in the line.

Also looks like I may have experienced just a touch of light burn on the top of the auto orange bud. I've moved all the lights about 13" away from the tallest plants.

Skunk #1 Auto early bloomer

Auto Orange Bud

Skunk #1 Auto (big girl)

Auto Blueberry

Calcium deficiency?

 

[Disrupt]

Could be calcium deficiency. Some think this is more of a problem with LED lights. Also, one-part nutrients sometimes lack calcium, because it would precipitate at high concentration. (One of the reasons for two-part nutrients.) Of course, your water is brutally hard, so you'd expect plenty of calcium there. Is your pH good?

 

[psychonaut]

Could be calcium deficiency. Some think this is more of a problem with LED lights. Is your pH good?

Yep, PH has been constant 5.8-5.9 during watering, the nutrients are supposed to be chelated so the PH isin't supposed to matter as much.

 

[LesPlenty]

Try bumping up the PH up to 6.2 because that last shot you showed still looks nutrient deficient that can be caused by low PH. I never had much luck/good results from one part nutes, Part A & Part B for me!
Do you drink your well water? All that calcium will give you kidney stones.
I know your thread says Making Do with what I have, but as long as you use that nasty water you will run into problems, if I were you I would look into some kind of filtration or change to a closed loop system instead of run to waste and buy some water.