Man what a week and weekend for me hope everyone is all gravy. Well everything is growing LOL, and I have to say this is, in my opinion, my best run of girls in a while as far as health overall and having that nice natural look and feel that I always seek. Last time this was going on I was using HID, so I have had a bit of a learning curve switching to all COB's but I think I'm getting close to getting where I want to be. I want to address a few things. I've had a few folks ask me why this grow is not in the LED section, well I didn't want it there, there's just too much bickering going on and threads get hacked and clogged up with BS, just not for me at this point in my life. Secondly, I am not growing with LED's in any aspect of what is considered standard. I have tried the "standard" word of mouth forum king rules for LED growing and all I get is less yield, and stunted plants that are mag whores. So here's what "I" do that works for me and it's not that hard. Guys are using too high Watts/Sq. Ft, running the lights too close to the canopy, and thus having to feed more or extra ingredients to fix issues that should not exist in the first place. This is my opinion and I'm not here to argue it with someone trying to call me out based on some freaking chart some where, but I'd be happy to discuss this further with anyone in a "civil" manner who has input based off of actual feedback from testing in a grow no forum jocky's . What I am finding optimal thus far with my grows not hearsay, is 30" distance to canopy for veg and 24" for flower. This is for my photoperiod plants, I have a different light theory for my "Auto's". I am feeding at 1.2 EC with the nutes I am using and keeping PH between 5.8-6.0 (I shoot for 6.0 each time). So now that we got that crap out of the way let's move on huh.
Today I watered and fed again as the plants look freaking perfect running along with a lower feed but feeding every watering vs trying to guess when to water at higher feed levels and when to use just water. I have also found my Sunflower of all things to be a great determining factor on when to water the garden. When she's thirsty everything else is too but not too dry. This is just a visual aid not a replacement for the standard ways of checking for how thirsty your plants are. Feed in the 4x8 was Flora Nova Grow, Protekt, Cal-Mag Plus, EC 1.2 and PH 6.0 on the nose. I went out yesterday and picked up a nifty nozzle and a 20 gallon bin to go along with my little giant pump and hose so I can water easier and with less exhaustion as these girls are just too big now to risk messing them up moving them in and out of the tent for watering and they're not done stretching by any means.
(cut me slack on the floor I know it's dirty I will be taking care of that tomorrow)
This is a back saver and cuts my time down dramatically.
Here's the 4x8 as a whole and a shot of each side individually again, the taller two Dark Plasma cut's on the left side in the back are 42" tall from the top of the media (not including height of the pot)
Here's a shot of the veg tent, I watered and fed everything in here with the Canna coco line (A&B, Rhizo, and Cannazyme) EC 1.2 and PH 5.9. I topped of the cloner with the same nutes and made sure EC and PH was on point. I watered the coleus with plain water, and I sprayed everything down with my method 1 pps. I also have one of my bred seeds in house of the Sour Hound Auto popping the coco in a small container. Want to try and grow it out in coco with the Canna Line as well to see what's up. I also have some Auto seeds that went into a paper towel and zip lock trying to germ and see if I can grow them out as I have an empty tent right now and want to see how these turned out I hadn't really made my own Auto Fem seeds before and want to make sure they're not garbage before sharing with a few buddies.
I have some changes planned for one part of the garden. I have been at this grow now for a year + in this location (coming up on 2 years growing overall in May) and have a better idea of what the room temps and humidity will do throughout the year. I have always loved hydro because I love to tinker and I'm going to setup the veg tent for top drip hydro in hydroton and pots with a res underneath to recirculate the water. I am also thinking of mixing up the COB's between the two 3x3's to combine the 3000K/6500K in each of the two 3x3's and see what the plants do. Just need to build a frame for the flood tray order a few parts and drill a couple of holes. Also have to start getting things together for this years outdoor veggie grow which I am excited about as I have been granted a larger space than last year
I do believe that covers everything and I hope everyone has a good weekend.