Al B. FAQt

[Al B. Fuct]

I thought that the CO2 would allow you to run those kind of temps without that happening.

It should have, if you didn't exceed 29C. However, I wonder if as hot as it was, the exhaust blowers were triggering and blowing it out. Possible?

 

[gvega187]

al, I was wondering what brand of rock wool granulate you use.

Also, in your continuous grow up, how much would you need to fill 20 8" pots? Do you also use clay pellets? If so, at what ratio?

 

[stickyicky77]

It should have, if you didn't exceed 29C. However, I wonder if as hot as it was, the exhaust blowers were triggering and blowing it out. Possible?

The CO2-2 Atmospheric controller Home Page automatically cycles off the exhaust when it is injecting the CO2 and then cycles it back on when the temps get too hot. It was set for only 15 minutes every 120 minutes. It's first cycle starts shotly after the lights first come on when it is cool. I bet you are right. I wounder if the rest of the cycles got the full 15 minutes before the exhaust cycled on.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

al, I was wondering what brand of rock wool granulate you use.

Depends on my supplier. Sometimes I get Grodan, sometimes I get stuff from CSR Bradford, depends on what the best deal at the time for my supplier was. I like the CSR stuff better; it is made locally as opposed to the Danish Grodan, which arrives packed into a nearly solid block as a result of long-distance shipping with other bales of the stuff on top of it. I don't have to crumble the CSR stuff up before stuffing it in pots. Sounds trivial, but it's a fair bit of work when I'm stuffing 23 pots at a time.

Also, in your continuous grow up, how much would you need to fill 20 8" pots?

An 8" pot works out to about 4L volume, or pretty close to it. My pots are not quite 8" dia, they're 175mm (6.9") on the top and 130mm on the bottom, about 3L. A 20kg bale is about 125-130L.

I don't pack pots only with RW floc anymore. I put about 25-50mm of solidly packed RW floc in the bottom of each pot and fill the rest of the way with Fytocell. Keeps the Fytocell from escaping through the pot drain holes and when wetted, the floc weights down the pots to keep the 40% air Fytocell from floating. Fytocell comes in 100L bags and I think I use about 1/2-2/3 of a bag for each 23 pots.

Do you also use clay pellets? If so, at what ratio?

No, I don't use pellets. I once did but found they were a problem come disposal time due to weight. Cleaning them for re-use is such a prick of a job, both to do and do right, that I stopped using pellets about 9 years ago. Switched to RW floc, then when Fytocell came on the market, switched to pots stuffed mostly with that as RW floc holds TOO much water and can't be flooded frequently. When I was using pellets, I also used an aerocloner so that I had plants with no media on them to nest directly in the pellets.

The CO2-2 Atmospheric controller Home Page automatically cycles off the exhaust when it is injecting the CO2 and then cycles it back on when the temps get too hot. It was set for only 15 minutes every 120 minutes. It's first cycle starts shotly after the lights first come on when it is cool. I bet you are right. I wounder if the rest of the cycles got the full 15 minutes before the exhaust cycled on.

I see this on their page:

The CO2-2 can be converted to PPM level accuracy with the addition of the PPM-1c CO2 sensor.

Does yours have this sensor? If not, the controller is doing its level best to put CO2 in the room per your settings but if the gas gets blown out, the controller simply doesn't know to put any more in as its only instruction is the timer settings.

 

[stickyicky77]

Depends on my supplier. Sometimes I get Grodan, sometimes I get stuff from CSR Bradford, depends on what the best deal at the time for my supplier was. I like the CSR stuff better; it is made locally as opposed to the Danish Grodan, which arrives packed into a nearly solid block as a result of long-distance shipping with other bales of the stuff on top of it. I don't have to crumble the CSR stuff up before stuffing it in pots. Sounds trivial, but it's a fair bit of work when I'm stuffing 23 pots at a time.

An 8" pot works out to about 4L volume, or pretty close to it. My pots are not quite 8" dia, they're 175mm (6.9") on the top and 130mm on the bottom, about 3L. A 20kg bale is about 125-130L.

I don't pack pots only with RW floc anymore. I put about 25-50mm of solidly packed RW floc in the bottom of each pot and fill the rest of the way with Fytocell. Keeps the Fytocell from escaping through the pot drain holes and when wetted, the floc weights down the pots to keep the 40% air Fytocell from floating. Fytocell comes in 100L bags and I think I use about 1/2-2/3 of a bag for each 23 pots.

No, I don't use pellets. I once did but found they were a problem come disposal time due to weight. Cleaning them for re-use is such a prick of a job, both to do and do right, that I stopped using pellets about 9 years ago. Switched to RW floc, then when Fytocell came on the market, switched to pots stuffed mostly with that as RW floc holds TOO much water and can't be flooded frequently. When I was using pellets, I also used an aerocloner so that I had plants with no media on them to nest directly in the pellets.



I see this on their page:

Does yours have this sensor? If not, the controller is doing its level best to put CO2 in the room per your settings but if the gas gets blown out, the controller simply doesn't know to put any more in as its only instruction is the timer settings.

The sensor is next on my list for my room.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

The sensor is next on my list for my room.

Yep, I think that might be the thing to have. Without it, you can't really be confident that the gas concentration is what you expect it to be.

In the meantime, I think I'd be setting all the thermostats to hold the temps as low as possible with current conditions. If you can get it to 25C (77F), great!

 

[gvega187]

about how many times a day would you feed this composition of 2" bottom wool and the rest fytocell. I am used to pebbles and net pots.

Cant find any fytocell locally so I will have to order online. Cant even find any on ebay....did this stuff just come out?

 

[DR. VonDankenstine]

ALL-

It's hard even for experienced grower to get the temp/venting/enrichment cycles down--a lot of growers want to use the juice but don't want to waste it by venting to waste(might as well throw your frog skins out the window) I have seen it done many different way--some better than mine and others worse---I only exhaust my room when the juice and lights are off-I run my exhaust all night long-I never vent during the on hours. My juice comes on 1 hour after lights on and 1 hour before lights out. My C.A.P. ppm3 keeps the juice at 1500ppm's---my room temp never climbs above 83 but I have an port A/C set to 85 ready to kick on if shit hits the fan or things do climb or if my passive light fans go down. I love the juice and when all things are going correctly it will def give you gains. Hope any of this babble helps.

Al- I finally picked up some spice of life-sweettooth 1.1---holy shit what a bitch to source that out. Going to germ-them this week--time to get cracking.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

about how many times a day would you feed this composition of 2" bottom wool and the rest fytocell.

3x/day (or more) for larger, vigorously growing plants (wk3 of flowering & after), 2x/day for younger plants.

Cant find any fytocell locally so I will have to order online. Cant even find any on ebay....did this stuff just come out?

It's relatively new, been in the shops for about 18 mos. Made in Australia, easily available here.

If in the USA:

USA

New Age Gardening have been appointed the US Distributor for Fytocell. Their contact details are as follows:
[email protected], Ph (562) 789 0345, Fax (562) 789 8479

 

[grandpabear3]

al i need you...i got a thread on the hydro page i am goin stupid...

 

[grandpabear3]

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/98339-transplanting-aerocloner-into-perlite.html sorry here's the thread!kiss-ass

 

[gvega187]

holy sh!T, its like....I asked questions and ....got answers. this is unheard of. What are we on a forum or something?

I also have a few cloning quetions related to your thread.

1. You say you soak the rockwool cubes with some % h2o2. I use starter plugs in a standard humidome tray. What concentration of h2o2 might you suggest for this?

2. Do you perfer rockwool over the coir starter plugs and if so why? I have noticed that my starter plugs are fairly unpopular among growers who know what they are doing.

kiss-ass
Al-B ME

 

[Al B. Fuct]

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/98339-transplanting-aerocloner-into-perlite.html sorry here's the thread!

no worries. The main reason I started this thread is that there's just no way I can keep up with every thread on the board.

If you have a question for me, don't count on me just happening across your query, put it here, like you just did. I'll get to it.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

holy sh!T, its like....I asked questions and ....got answers. this is unheard of. What are we on a forum or something?

I know it's a bit confusing. Hang in there.

I also have a few cloning quetions related to your thread.

ok

1. You say you soak the rockwool cubes with some % h2o2. I use starter plugs in a standard humidome tray. What concentration of h2o2 might you suggest for this?

2. Do you perfer rockwool over the coir starter plugs and if so why? I have noticed that my starter plugs are fairly unpopular among growers who know what they are doing.

yep, I use 50% grade H2O2 @1ml/L in cube pre-soak solutions, which are pH adjusted to about 5.0. This very low pH reacts with the limestone dust which remains after rockwool manufacturing. This 5.0 pre-soak will keep the pH in the cube more stable later on, instead of it bumping up each day between waterings. The pre-soak solution should be removed from the cubes as fully as possible before plugging clones in. I use a salad spinner to drain the cubes. Subsequent watering once the stems are plugged in should be done with a solution of 50% grade H2O2 @ 1ml/L, but pH adjusted to about 5.8.

Rockwool cubes can be tricky for new users. RW can hold far too much water if you let it. Cubes must not be allowed to be saturated. A dry 40mm RW cube weighs 5g. When properly just damp, about 20-25g. Heavier than that is too wet; water will have displaced air that is needed to form root nodes. Stable clonebox temp at about 30C as well as a heat mat really speed things along. I get consistent 100% strikes in about 7 days in RW cubes by tightly controlling conditions. See: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/15030-batch-clones-rockwool.html

I don't like organic materials of any sort (coir, peat pots, etc) in recirculating hydro systems. Organic matter can support mould and may decompose with exposure to H2O2. Bits of the stuff may wind up in the nutes and can foul pumps.

 

[Kaosisglobal]

Hey Al, I entered the grow journal contest. I am not expecting the gold prize. I just want to gain my knowledge through opinions and questions. When you have time, check out my thread. Do you know of a DIY light mover? Check out my veg box, at 2x4x4, I was thinking of running my 400HPS with a mover in there. Until I build another bloom box, I may stay with small girls and bloom in there. What do you think?

 

[Hidden Dragon]

Al, what is your opinion about constantly cloning your own female clones as opposed to keeping mothers? Does it really eventually degrade the original genetics? To what degree if any? Thanks.

 

[BigBudBalls]

Hey Al, I got a bumb response in the forums, so here goes.

I'm looking to make a love den just for seeds. A one time round. I don't wanna dump a ton of electricity, so I have a 70W HPS and a pair of 42W (150W equiv) CFLs. I only want to use either (exclusive 'OR', you're an EE, can get that part ) the 70W or the pair of CFLs. They are small plants, 10CM give or take 3cm. 3 plants a *tiny* female, a female and a male (every guy's dream, two ladies and one guy!)

Your pick?

I'm leaning towards the CFLs for better coverage.

oops, thanks!

 

[stucklikechuck]

hi al,
for people using rockwool slabs, will flushing with clearex help stabalize ph by removing the limestone residue? or will the residue always be there and ph needs to be adjusted frequently? thx!

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Check out my veg box, at 2x4x4, I was thinking of running my 400HPS with a mover in there.

You don't need a light mover in a space that small.

Light movers are not a good thing, anyway. It's better to have a stationary lamp that suits the size of the space you're trying to light rather than trying to spread light out over an area that is really too large for that particular lamp.

With movers, you have a new figure to contemplate; lux-hours (lumens per sq metre per hour). When a mover has the lamp over one end of the grow, it's not over the other. You have to derate the amount of light the plants are getting owing to the mover having the light elsewhere for a certain amount of time.

Linear light movers also do not distribute light evenly. Plants in the middle of the traverse get more light than plants on the ends. Rotary light movers don't have this problem, but they do need 'slipper ring' connections to conduct electricity to the lamp from the ballast, which can be troublesome.

Also, light movers are mechanically complex. I'm pretty handy with electronics and welding/metalwork and even I would not attempt to DIY one.

Al, what is your opinion about constantly cloning your own female clones as opposed to keeping mothers? Does it really eventually degrade the original genetics? To what degree if any? Thanks.

You've kinda asked two questions there.

It's not smart to try to get away with not keeping mothers by taking cuttings from plants you later intend to flower or are presently flowering. Cuttings taken from plants in flower are notoriously slow to set root. If your only source of cuttings is a plant which has gone in to flower, should you happen to have trouble getting clones to strike (which will take you about 7-14 days to work out) and you decide need more slips, your source plants now have been in flower for a 1-2 weeks, making your problem even worse. Keeping mums is a no-brainer, just requires a little (and I do mean a 'little') space put aside for the purpose with their own 18-24h/day light.

If your question relates to replacing old mother plants with clones taken from them, no problem. I've been doing that since 2002 with Sweet Tooth #4. Taking a cutting from a plant does not alter the DNA. Clones, as the term suggests, are DNA identical to the plant they came from. All of their characters, from colour to potency, will be the same as the mother plant. You can keep replacing mums with clones taken from them for many years, at least 6 years, that I can directly attest to.

Hey Al, I got a bum response in the forums,

No! Say it ain't so! That's never happened before.

I'm looking to make a love den just for seeds. A one time round. I don't wanna dump a ton of electricity, so I have a 70W HPS and a pair of 42W (150W equiv) CFLs.

I'd use the CFLs over the seedlings. The 70W HPS is better used maintaining a (single) mother plant. Seedlings and clones don't need the intensity of HPS, even a small one like a 70.

hi al,
for people using rockwool slabs, will flushing with clearex help stabalize ph by removing the limestone residue? or will the residue always be there and ph needs to be adjusted frequently? thx!

I've searched the web for Clearex's active ingredient/s. No luck. The maker's website uses a lot of pseudoscientific words intended to convince you that this stuff does something that water won't. Get this 'sciency' gobbledygook:

Leaching with tap or deionized water can lead to hyptonic conditions which cause cell lycis with outflow of essential electrolytes and nutrients. This causes tissue damage leading to serious pathogen disorders such as bacterial and fungal infections.

WTF?

I have a very special hatred for jokers who attempt to lever people's lack of in-depth scientific/botanical knowledge to sell jugs of stuff with a high water content.

If you can't find out what's in any given jug of stuff, it's a 'magic sauce.' Magic sauces are mainly water but contain high percentages of what retailers call 'profit.' Unfortunately, the 'profit' in magic sauces seems to stop with the seller and not flow on to the buyer...

Botanicare do give a sorta-good explanation on how to flush a plant, though (unnecessary parts removed):

Pour one to two quarts of [plain water, pH adjusted to 5.8] per plant site [...] Dump waste run-off [...] Check EC or PPM in reservoir. Run system for 15 –60 minutes or until EC or PPM stops rising. Dump reservoir.

Unless you've overfertilised a plant (and we KNOW you won't do that, right?), there's no need to leach a plant.

The amount of limestone dust that's in RW will cause pH to bump up only slightly (perhaps 0.1-0.2/day, tops) and is therefore largely insignificant. I do pre-soak RW cubes with a 5.0 solution to deal with the limestone in RW cubes as this seems to aid rooting speed, but by no means have I proven that to myself or anyone else. It's not generally practical to pre-soak slabs or RW floc as it is hard to drain them fully of any low-pH pre-soak. WIth those materials, you just have to cope with the pH wobble, but it shouldn't be a big deal. Adding tapwater to your tank will swing the pH up much more than will RW.

This much I can tell you; unless Clearex has a very low pH (very acid), it won't react with the limestone (calcium carbonate) dust which remains in rockwool after manufacturing. If Clearex is acidic enough to do anything at all to the limestone dust, it will be especially bad for plants.

One of these days, I'm going to stop complaining about magic sauce sellers and start 'Barnum's Magic Hydroponic Sauces, Inc' and just get fat as hell selling jugs of coloured water to anyone I can fool.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

FYI, a good test of magic saucery is to see if there's an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) available for it. The MSDS will give you good information about the chemical content of the sauce. If there's no MSDS available, the material is likely no more hazardous/efficacious than water.